Deep dives, interviews, book clubs, and Storyteller tools for Mage: The Ascension and World of Darkness fans.
Tower of Babel
We climb John H. Steele’s Tower of Babel, a Mage novel full of creators, characters, conspiracies, and reality getting mighty leaky around the edges. It’s metafiction, Technocracy trouble, dream-tower theology, and one poor writer learning that when your fiction talks back, maybe don’t answer after drinking.
Show Notes
- Tower of Babel – Book man invents fascist action guy. Fascist action guy becomes real. Magic happens. Bureaucrats get spooky. Reality files a complaint.
- John H. Steele – wrote lots of White Wolf fiction, helped shape the Clan Novel Saga, and used the pen name Gherbod Fleming.
Executive Producers
Oracles
Bad Company • Buck Gregory • Christopher Phillips • Derek Semsick • DrawnCap • DrunkDez • Jason Vines • Rebecca Pool • Sean Gallagher • Spartacus • The Krewe of Erebuss
Archmasters
Berto • Brad-O-the Blue • Dan Svensson • Glacial Indifference • Jeffois • Leroy Bryce • Morgan Aran • Wolf Larryson
Acolytes
Aleks • Alexia • Ambiversion • Anders S • Ben Bandelow • Blaise Hebert • Bruno Teixeira • Bryce Perry • Bubba, The Pale One • Chartan • Cig • Curtis Hendricks • Darren Hennessey • Daniel Cuppen • Daniel Scribner • Dan Svensson • David Röhe • Ean Robertson • EBG • Eric Schwenke • Gray -Trilug- H • Guy Stewart • Ia Bull • James B • Jason Kennedy • Jenna F • Jeremy Z • Jervis Johnson • Kathleen Hailperin • Kevin Fitzpatrick • Khris Kinner • Leslie Weatherstone • Lolz & stuff • Loren Jensen • Manel Canós • Matthew Proehl • Maurice Hopkins • Melissa Krause • Michael Parker • Nebero • Nikita Kleymenov • Patrick McNamara • RobH • Ryan • Ryan Kendy • Ryan Stray • Samuel Tobin • Sev Nessus • Shell Konch • Starfish • Stefan Carton • Tyler Bryan • Will Vincent • Ygard
Become a supporter of Mage: The Podcast.
Contact us at magethepodcast@gmail.com with feedback and comments, and please help extend the reach of the show by sharing it with friends.
Follow Us
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app.
Join our Discord server.
Crossover: Rokea in Mage
Adam swims with the sharks to bring you information and ideas to help you add the Rokea, the shape shifting sharks of the World of Darkness, to your games. What are the Kahu hiding? What lies at the bottom of ocean trenches? Why don’t sharks floss? Tune in and find out.
📄 Transcript of Crossover: Rokea in Mage
Show Notes
- Rokea – Immortal weresharks, ancient sea-born shapeshifters who form Slews, use electric “Sending,” heal in saltwater, and ally with Mokolé.
Executive Producers
Oracles
Bad Company • Buck Gregory • Christopher Phillips • Derek Semsick • DrawnCap • DrunkDez • Jason Vines • Rebecca Pool • Sean Gallagher • Spartacus • The Krewe of Erebuss
Archmasters
Berto • Brad-O-the Blue • Dan Svensson • Glacial Indifference • Jeffois • Leroy Bryce • Morgan Aran • Wolf Larryson
Acolytes
Aleks • Alexia • Ambiversion • Anders S • Ben Bandelow • Blaise Hebert • Bruno Teixeira • Bryce Perry • Bubba, The Pale One • Chartan • Cig • Curtis Hendricks • Darren Hennessey • Daniel Cuppen • Daniel Scribner • Dan Svensson • David Röhe • Ean Robertson • EBG • Eric Schwenke • Gray -Trilug- H • Guy Stewart • Ia Bull • James B • Jason Kennedy • Jenna F • Jeremy Z • Jervis Johnson • Kathleen Hailperin • Kevin Fitzpatrick • Khris Kinner • Leslie Weatherstone • Lolz & stuff • Loren Jensen • Manel Canós • Matthew Proehl • Maurice Hopkins • Melissa Krause • Michael Parker • Nebero • Nikita Kleymenov • Patrick McNamara • RobH • Ryan • Ryan Kendy • Ryan Stray • Samuel Tobin • Sev Nessus • Shell Konch • Starfish • Stefan Carton • Tyler Bryan • Will Vincent • Ygard
Become a supporter of Mage: The Podcast.
Contact us at magethepodcast@gmail.com with feedback and comments, and please help extend the reach of the show by sharing it with friends.
Follow Us
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app.
Join our Discord server.
Reality Deviants Book Club: Dark City
Adam and Pooka discuss Dark City (1998). Another movie that paints the World of Darkness on the screen for you to see. This one aligns so closely with Mage: The Ascension (First Edition) ; watch out for Paradox. Can this inspire you to portray Sphere effects in your game? Is it a good example of a mage’s Awakening? Can bald, creepy kids boost your game to the next level? Tune in and find out!
📄 Transcript of Reality Deviants Book Club: Dark City
Show Notes
- Dark City (1998) – An amnesiac fugitive hunts his identity while evading police and reality-warping “Strangers.”
- The Paradox Wheel – An online resource for Mage fans by DrunkDez.
Executive Producers
Oracles
Bad Company • Buck Gregory • Christopher Phillips • Derek Semsick • DrawnCap • DrunkDez • Jason Vines • Rebecca Pool • Sean Gallagher • Spartacus • The Krewe of Erebuss
Archmasters
Berto • Brad-O-the Blue • Dan Svensson • Glacial Indifference • Jeffois • Leroy Bryce • Morgan Aran • Wolf Larryson
Acolytes
Aleks • Alexia • Ambiversion • Anders S • Ben Bandelow • Blaise Hebert • Bruno Teixeira • Bryce Perry • Bubba, The Pale One • Chartan • Cig • Curtis Hendricks • Darren Hennessey • Daniel Cuppen • Daniel Scribner • Dan Svensson • David Röhe • Ean Robertson • EBG • Eric Schwenke • Gray -Trilug- H • Guy Stewart • Ia Bull • James B • Jason Kennedy • Jenna F • Jeremy Z • Jervis Johnson • Kathleen Hailperin • Kevin Fitzpatrick • Khris Kinner • Leslie Weatherstone • Lolz & stuff • Loren Jensen • Manel Canós • Matthew Proehl • Maurice Hopkins • Melissa Krause • Michael Parker • Nebero • Nikita Kleymenov • Patrick McNamara • RobH • Ryan • Ryan Kendy • Ryan Stray • Samuel Tobin • Sev Nessus • Shell Konch • Starfish • Stefan Carton • Tyler Bryan • Will Vincent • Ygard
Become a supporter of Mage: The Podcast.
Contact us at magethepodcast@gmail.com with feedback and comments, and please help extend the reach of the show by sharing it with friends.
Follow Us
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app.
Join our Discord server.
Paradigm Shift: Stygian Library
Adam talks about Emmy Allen’s Stygian Library, the library that doesn’t end. Will your players find the knowledge they’re looking for? Can they evade the mysterious librarians and their super computer? The sister volume to Gardens of Ynn is full of ideas that may find a place in your Mage games. Just watch out for the ink blots. They stain.
Show Notes
- Stygian Library overview (DriveThruRPG) – A strange old place, part haunted mansion, part endless library tucked outside the world.
- Coins and Scrolls – OSR procedural dungeon design basics
- Mage: The Ascension (White Wolf overview) – At its heart, Mage is all about the long road to Ascension. Nt just for one soul, but for all of humanity. Trouble is, nobody’s pinned down exactly what that means or how you get there.
- Umbral Realms & High Umbra concepts – Folks also call it the Spirit World, the Shadow, or the Velvet Shadow, one of those places that’s right there beside our world, even if you can’t quite touch it. It runs alongside the everyday, separate but close, like a reflection in a dark window just waiting to be noticed.
- Procedural generation in RPGs (design concepts)– “Xandering” a dungeon means designing it like the old-school masters did (full of branching paths, secret routes, and meaningful choices) so players truly explore and shape their own adventure instead of being led down a straight, railroaded path.
- Ternary computing background (for Virtual Adept ideas) – A ternary (sometimes folks say trinary) computer is just a machine that counts a little different than most. Instead of using the usual on-or-off binary way of thinking, it works in threes. So where regular computers use bits, these use “trits,” giving them an extra option to work with each step of the way.
Executive Producers
Oracles
Bad Company • Buck Gregory • Christopher Phillips • Derek Semsick • DrawnCap • DrunkDez • Jason Vines • Rebecca Pool • Sean Gallagher • Spartacus • The Krewe of Erebuss
Archmasters
Berto • Brad-O-the Blue • Dan Svensson • Glacial Indifference • Jeffois • Leroy Bryce • Morgan Aran • Wolf Larryson
Acolytes
Aleks • Alexia • Ambiversion • Anders S • Ben Bandelow • Blaise Hebert • Bruno Teixeira • Bryce Perry • Bubba, The Pale One • Chartan • Cig • Curtis Hendricks • Darren Hennessey • Daniel Cuppen • Daniel Scribner • Dan Svensson • David Röhe • Ean Robertson • EBG • Eric Schwenke • Gray -Trilug- H • Guy Stewart • Ia Bull • James B • Jason Kennedy • Jenna F • Jeremy Z • Jervis Johnson • Kathleen Hailperin • Kevin Fitzpatrick • Khris Kinner • Leslie Weatherstone • Lolz & stuff • Loren Jensen • Manel Canós • Matthew Proehl • Maurice Hopkins • Melissa Krause • Michael Parker • Nebero • Nikita Kleymenov • Patrick McNamara • RobH • Ryan • Ryan Kendy • Ryan Stray • Samuel Tobin • Sev Nessus • Shell Konch • Starfish • Stefan Carton • Tyler Bryan • Will Vincent • Ygard
Become a supporter of Mage: The Podcast.
Contact us at magethepodcast@gmail.com with feedback and comments, and please help extend the reach of the show by sharing it with friends.
Follow Us
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app.
Join our Discord server.
Such Pain
Pooka and Lee discuss Such Pain, the first Mage novel published in 1995. Can novel-length stories help you envision the world of Mage? Did the author hit it out of the park with this one? Hear Pooka and Lee’s review of the book. Their commentary highlights how the World of Darkness was a little different during Mage’s first edition.
Show Notes
- Such Pain – Playboy Aaron Barry inherits an empire, fires his father’s allies, courts a reporter, and returns to a haunted home he fears.
- Don Bassingthwaite – Born in Ontario, Bassingthwaite excelled in school, won awards, studied anthropology at Toronto, and began a publishing career while playing D&D.
- Truth Until Paradox (short story collection) – Reality is mutable; mages shape it. In a dark mirror of our world, stories explore power, truth, and rival visions of Ascension.
- Mage: The Ascension (RPG) – ou play reality-bending mages using belief to shape the world while battling rival factions and risking paradox.
- Dragonlance Chronicles – Dragons return to Krynn, bringing war. A band of friends—knight, mage, and more—rise as unlikely heroes to seek the legendary Dragonlance.
- The Holy Mountain – 1973 surreal film by Alejandro Jodorowsky, funded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono; shown at festivals like Cannes Film Festival. A Christ-like thief meets an alchemist, joins seekers, and climbs a holy mountain, only to learn the quest is illusion and reality lies beyond.
Executive Producers
Oracles
Bad Company • Buck Gregory • Christopher Phillips • Derek Semsick • DrawnCap • DrunkDez • Jason Vines • Rebecca Pool • Sean Gallagher • Spartacus • The Krewe of Erebuss
Archmasters
Berto • Brad-O-the Blue • Dan Svensson • Glacial Indifference • Jeffois • Leroy Bryce • Morgan Aran • Wolf Larryson
Acolytes
Aleks • Alexia • Ambiversion • Anders S • Ben Bandelow • Blaise Hebert • Bruno Teixeira • Bryce Perry • Bubba, The Pale One • Chartan • Cig • Curtis Hendricks • Darren Hennessey • Daniel Cuppen • Daniel Scribner • Dan Svensson • David Röhe • Ean Robertson • EBG • Eric Schwenke • Gray -Trilug- H • Guy Stewart • Ia Bull • James B • Jason Kennedy • Jenna F • Jeremy Z • Jervis Johnson • Kathleen Hailperin • Kevin Fitzpatrick • Khris Kinner • Leslie Weatherstone • Lolz & stuff • Loren Jensen • Manel Canós • Matthew Proehl • Maurice Hopkins • Melissa Krause • Michael Parker • Nebero • Nikita Kleymenov • Patrick McNamara • RobH • Ryan • Ryan Kendy • Ryan Stray • Samuel Tobin • Sev Nessus • Shell Konch • Starfish • Stefan Carton • Tyler Bryan • Will Vincent • Ygard
Become a supporter of Mage: The Podcast.
Contact us at magethepodcast@gmail.com with feedback and comments, and please help extend the reach of the show by sharing it with friends.
Follow Us
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app.
Join our Discord server.
Reality Deviants Book Club: Arthur Machen
Adam and Pooka discuss the weird fiction of Arthur Machen, Welshman extraordinaire. Do turn of the century horror stories offer anything to modern Mage games? Is this a boon to Victorian Mage Storytellers? Do the powers of darkness really want to redecorate your office? Tune in & hear story ideas, horror commentary and hermetic code names.
📄 Transcript of Reality Deviants Book Club: Arthur Machen
Show Notes
- The Great God Pan and ”The White People”, both tied to Machen’s reputation in weird fiction.
- Machen’s ties to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a hush-hush British magic club from back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, where folks mixed Rosicrucian ideas, Masonic style, and occult study in hopes of climbing a little closer to the spiritual stars.
- Reality Deviant Book Club: King in Yellow – Adam and Pooka discuss Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow mythos and other stories.
- Video on ternary computers – Ternary computing is a 3-state system (−1, 0, + 1 or "trits") offering higher information density, faster processing, and greater energy efficiency than binary.
- Oldstyle Tales Press – Publisher of classic horror, ghost stories, and weird fiction from Mary Shelley to M. R. James. Annotated and illustrated.
- The Great God Pan, The White People, and Other Horrors: The Best Weird Fiction and Ghost Stories of Arthur Machen (Oldstyle Tales of Murder, Mystery, Horror, and Hauntings) – This illustrated collection gathers Arthur Machen’s finest eerie tales, where hinted-at horrors and hidden sins creep beneath everyday life, revealing a world of dark magic, ancient evil, and the uneasy split between humanity’s light and shadow.
Executive Producers
Oracles
Bad Company • Buck Gregory • Christopher Phillips • Derek Semsick • DrawnCap • DrunkDez • Jason Vines • Rebecca Pool • Sean Gallagher • Spartacus • The Krewe of Erebuss
Archmasters
Berto • Brad-O-the Blue • Dan Svensson • Glacial Indifference • Jeffois • Leroy Bryce • Morgan Aran • Wolf Larryson
Acolytes
Aleks • Alexia • Ambiversion • Anders S • Ben Bandelow • Blaise Hebert • Bruno Teixeira • Bryce Perry • Bubba, The Pale One • Chartan • Cig • Curtis Hendricks • Darren Hennessey • Daniel Cuppen • Daniel Scribner • Dan Svensson • David Röhe • Ean Robertson • EBG • Eric Schwenke • Gray -Trilug- H • Guy Stewart • Ia Bull • James B • Jason Kennedy • Jenna F • Jeremy Z • Jervis Johnson • Kathleen Hailperin • Kevin Fitzpatrick • Khris Kinner • Leslie Weatherstone • Lolz & stuff • Loren Jensen • Manel Canós • Matthew Proehl • Maurice Hopkins • Melissa Krause • Michael Parker • Nebero • Nikita Kleymenov • Patrick McNamara • RobH • Ryan • Ryan Kendy • Ryan Stray • Samuel Tobin • Sev Nessus • Shell Konch • Starfish • Stefan Carton • Tyler Bryan • Will Vincent • Ygard
Become a supporter of Mage: The Podcast.
Contact us at magethepodcast@gmail.com with feedback and comments, and please help extend the reach of the show by sharing it with friends.
Follow Us
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app.
Join our Discord server.
Media Club: Buckaroo Banzai
Adam, Jenna, and Pooka take a gleeful ride through The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, celebrating its pulpy charm, wild 80s style, oddball science, and Mage-ready Etherite energy. They cover what works, what wobbles, how to “Mage-ify” it, and why this messy cult classic still sparks game ideas, big laughs, and deep affection.
📄 Transcript of Media Club: Buckaroo Banzai
Show Notes
- The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) — brain surgeon, rock star, test pilot, alien-fighting chaos agent.
- The Hong Kong Cavaliers — Buckaroo Banzai’s loose but capable inner circle: a half rock band, half super-science/adventure team built around gifted oddballs, runaways, scholars, hackers, and fighters. They include veterans like Rawhide, Reno Nevada, Perfect Tommy, Pecos, New Jersey, Billy Travers, Big Norse, plus close Institute allies like Professor Hikita, Mrs. Johnson, and Pinky Carruthers.
- Dr. Emilio Lizardo — Brilliant but doomed physicist who, in 1938 at Princeton, tested an early Oscillation Overthruster and briefly entered the 8th dimension, where he was possessed by the alien tyrant John Whorfin of Planet 10; returning to Earth apparently insane, Lizardo became the vessel through which Whorfin plots to escape Earth and conquer again.
- Watch it: stream on Tubi.
Executive Producers
Oracles
Bad Company • Buck Gregory • Christopher Phillips • Derek Semsick • DrawnCap • DrunkDez • Jason Vines • Rebecca Pool • Sean Gallagher • Spartacus • The Krewe of Erebuss
Archmasters
Berto • Brad-O-the Blue • Dan Svensson • Glacial Indifference • Jeffois • Leroy Bryce • Morgan Aran • Wolf Larryson
Acolytes
Aleks • Alexia • Ambiversion • Anders S • Ben Bandelow • Blaise Hebert • Bruno Teixeira • Bryce Perry • Bubba, The Pale One • Chartan • Cig • Curtis Hendricks • Darren Hennessey • Daniel Cuppen • Daniel Scribner • Dan Svensson • David Röhe • Ean Robertson • EBG • Eric Schwenke • Gray -Trilug- H • Guy Stewart • Ia Bull • James B • Jason Kennedy • Jenna F • Jeremy Z • Jervis Johnson • Kathleen Hailperin • Kevin Fitzpatrick • Khris Kinner • Leslie Weatherstone • Lolz & stuff • Loren Jensen • Manel Canós • Matthew Proehl • Maurice Hopkins • Melissa Krause • Michael Parker • Nebero • Nikita Kleymenov • Patrick McNamara • RobH • Ryan • Ryan Kendy • Ryan Stray • Samuel Tobin • Sev Nessus • Shell Konch • Starfish • Stefan Carton • Tyler Bryan • Will Vincent • Ygard
Become a supporter of Mage: The Podcast.
Contact us at magethepodcast@gmail.com with feedback and comments, and please help extend the reach of the show by sharing it with friends.
Follow Us
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app.
Join our Discord server.
Truth Until Paradox
Pooka and T.L. Webb crack open Truth Until Paradox, Mage’s first fiction anthology. They chat why tie-in stories matter, then speed-tour 17 wildly uneven, very ’90s tales—Technocracy vs Traditions, Nephandi schemes, HIT-Marks, odd Wonders, and fan-fic energy.
Show Notes
- Truth Until Paradox (Mage anthology, Feb 1994) – Tucked inside are seven tales from the World of Darkness, a place that looks a lot like our own, except the supernatural is real, and shadowy forces are always moving just out of sight. They’ve been chosen and edited by Stewart Wieck, the creator of Mage: The Ascension and co-creator of the World of Darkness.
- Key faves: “Silver Nutmeg, Golden Pear” + “Grim Reminders” (Penny Dreadful)
- Concepts: Ascension War vibe, coincidental magic, backstabbing, Wonders, Paradox oddities
- T.L. Webb on Bluesky and Tumblr
Stone Lore
The most powerful skill in Mage is uncovered at last. Join Adam and Pooka as they lay bare the stone cold facts about Stone Lore. The mystic qualities of malachite, how to use Stone Lore in your games and the merits of marrying Spanish dancers are all discussed as your hosts try to penetrate the deepest secrets of Ascension.
Show Notes
- Geologist’s Primer – A friendly, picture-packed guide that mixes myth, folklore, old-school magic, crystal lore, and real science, giving writers and game masters everything they need to make rocks, metals, and gems feel alive in fantasy worlds or modern tales alike.
- Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones – Told through art, myth, power, and a bit of hard science, this wide-ranging tale follows sixty unforgettable stones to show how rocks shaped human history, and how our hopes, work, and wants shaped those stones right back.
- Amulets and Superstitions – This old-school, picture-filled classic by Egyptologist E. A. Wallis Budge shows how folks across the ancient world leaned on stones, symbols, numbers, and amulets to heal the sick, keep bad luck at bay, fend off evil, and make sense of fate and the unseen.
- Gemlore: Ancient Secrets and Modern Myths from the Stone Age to the Rock Age – This down-to-earth guide rambles across cultures and centuries, mixing the hard facts of geology with myth, symbols, and old stories to show how gemstones have both shaped our beliefs and mirrored the way people make sense of the world.
Executive Producers
Oracles
Bad Company • Buck Gregory • Christopher Phillips • Derek Semsick • DrawnCap • DrunkDez • Jason Vines • Rebecca Pool • Sean Gallagher • Spartacus • The Krewe of Erebuss
Archmasters
Berto • Brad-O-the Blue • Dan Svensson • Glacial Indifference • Jeffois • Leroy Bryce • Morgan Aran • Wolf Larryson
Acolytes
Aleks • Alexia • Ambiversion • Anders S • Ben Bandelow • Blaise Hebert • Bruno Teixeira • Bryce Perry • Bubba, The Pale One • Chartan • Cig • Curtis Hendricks • Darren Hennessey • Daniel Cuppen • Daniel Scribner • Dan Svensson • David Röhe • Ean Robertson • EBG • Eric Schwenke • Gray -Trilug- H • Guy Stewart • Ia Bull • James B • Jason Kennedy • Jenna F • Jeremy Z • Jervis Johnson • Kathleen Hailperin • Kevin Fitzpatrick • Khris Kinner • Leslie Weatherstone • Lolz & stuff • Loren Jensen • Manel Canós • Matthew Proehl • Maurice Hopkins • Melissa Krause • Michael Parker • Nebero • Nikita Kleymenov • Patrick McNamara • RobH • Ryan • Ryan Kendy • Ryan Stray • Samuel Tobin • Sev Nessus • Shell Konch • Starfish • Stefan Carton • Tyler Bryan • Will Vincent • Ygard
Become a supporter of Mage: The Podcast.
Contact us at magethepodcast@gmail.com with feedback and comments, and please help extend the reach of the show by sharing it with friends.
Follow Us
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app.
Join our Discord server.