A podcast for Mage: The Ascension players, storytellers, and World of Darkness fans.
Session Zero is the conversation before the campaign begins.
It is where players and Storytellers agree on what kind of game they are playing, what kind of experience they want, and what everyone needs to have fun.
For Mage , this is especially important because the game is big.
Very big.
Mage can handle almost anything. That does not mean your chronicle should include everything. Session Zero helps you decide what this version of Mage is going to be.
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.
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.
A relationship map is a visual tool that shows how characters, factions, locations, secrets, and conflicts connect.
This week we’re back on the PAX Unplugged floor with a second round-up of lively, occasionally dusty-but-still-gold interviews from 2024. Terry chats with some absolute heavy hitters and indie darlings of tabletop RPGs about gods with day jobs, Afrofuturist sci-fi, cozy cosmic horror, zines, libraries, and why games should be played—not locked behind glass. Pull up a chair and enjoy the noise, the passion, and the love of the hobby. We’ll see you behind a table at PAX this coming December.
This episode scuttles into the World of Darkness to talk Ananasi, the shape-shifting were-spiders from Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Adam covers the Weaver, the Triat, creepy spider lore, and why these eight-legged schemers make surprisingly good allies for mages. From Umbra webs to spider rebellions, we look at why bringing were-spiders into Mage games can be strange, spooky, and downright fun. 🕷️
Mage characters are more than stats. The best ones have beliefs, contradictions, obsessions, mentors, enemies, tools, rituals, and a theory of reality that can get them into trouble. That is what makes character creation in Mage: The Ascension so rewarding. It is also what makes it difficult.
This episode travels back in time to PAX Unplugged 2024, where Terry Robinson captured interviews and loose, late-night conversations with creators and friends. This first installment (of two, or possibly three) features interviews with folks from AED Publishing, The Bodhana Group, and a rambling roundtable with Pooka and Mike from Darker Days Radio. We hope these final recordings from Terry are a fitting addition to his memorial and a little gift for the end of your year. Go forth, Mage strong!
Adam and James walk you through the Digital Web books. Then James discusses topics to consider when taking your players to the digital realm. Where is it in the Mage cosmos? How do you get there? How do you move around and work magick? What might you meet there? How does Augmented Reality really work? These topics and more are laid out to help you make the Digital Web a part of your games.
What hath Empire wrought? Pooka and Jenna poke at that question today as they open up the supplement Weird Wonders and Revolutionary Magicks for Victorian Age Mage. The book features dozens of items, rotes, and story hooks, and while your mileage may vary with how much use you get out of them, there's no shortage of ideas to enrich any historical game.