Mage: The Podcast

The first Mage Storytellers screen came out in 1993 and is a late entry for Tomes of Magick. This screen had a player-facing image that has caused a lot of talk over the years. Angel of Mercy is an adventure that was included. Hear all about what’s in it and what it can do for you. Adam Simpson also adds some material to his earlier discussion of published adventures for Mage: The Ascension.

The Dreamspeakers were assembled during the Grand Convocation by the Eurasian mages who weren’t quite sure to do with the varied practices and paradigms of their indigenous peers. Indigenous magick is a varied topic with rich gaming opportunity, but how do we add it to our games while being respectful? James Sambrano, Mage writer and scholar of North American and African Indigenous practices provides some best practices, pitfalls, resources, and recommendations to adding these paradigms and practitioners to your Mage game.

A Tribe Called Red’s tracks “Before” and “Soon” from We are the Halluci Nation.

The World of Darkness is inhabited with all manner of creatures and some are not unique to one line. Ghouls and and chimera are associated with vampires and changelings, but what about spirits? Spirits are associated with mages and werewolf alike and Axis Mundi: The Book of Spirits explores both sides…but mostly werewolf. Adam and Terry walk through how to expand the Mage side, adapt the werewolf side and explore what strange and wonderful creatures you can add to your chronicle.

Mage has mechanics for injury to the body with health levels and injuries to your grip on reality with Quiet, but what about anxiety, PTSD and other debilitating conditions? James Davey is a long time World of Darkness fan who’s designed a game with that question in mind where characters glimpse the size of the multiverse granting both great power but with great stakes. The game emphasizes rapid character and story creation, and a core clock mechanic that drives plot, character advancement, tension, and possibly personal doom. Learn what you can steal!

The Dreamspeakers were initially presented as the ragtag band that has been spoken to by Gaia but in Mage: The Ascension (Second Edition) their draw and depth expanded considerably. They are the travelers through the Dreamtime, warriors of the vision quest, and keepers of the balance but what does this mean? Adam and Terry talk about their practice, history, and paradigm as they discuss Dreamspeakers: Tradition Book.

Mage is a game of hope, action, and hubris in a world that is dark. Sometimes the darkness wins and we go from punk and gothic to horror. Bryce Perry from the horror game podcast Darker Days joins Terry to talk about how to add horror to your Mage game.

Just a note, this episode contains discussion of body horror, family terror, harm to children and family conceptually and a number of other things. Look below to get an idea of what we go over.

The Umbra is explored by many Night-Folk with wraiths in the Shadowlands, Changelings in the Dreaming, and Werewolves in the Velvet Shadow. What about mages? Adam and Terry provide a tour of the Tellurian and the Realms of limitless potential full of warring gods, metaphors made real and more than one set of dinosaurs in Beyond the Barrier: The Book of Worlds.

The world of Mage is one where characters have great power which must be exercised carefully or Paradox will strike. On the other side of the subtly coin is Exalted where whose tagline is “What legends will they tell of your deeds?” Exalted’s 3rd edition is out and Chazz Kellner, Exalted author and cohost of The Story Told podcast tells Terry about the high energy energy world of Creation and the systems and settings you can steal from it for your Mage game.

Mage defaults to the Traditions, Technocracy, Nephandi and Marauders, but what about mages who’ve stepped away from the Ascension War? Crafts are groups of mages who often work tightly tied to a paradigm and culture and Book of Crafts dives into eight of these. Terry and Adam talk templars, dragon wizards, mambos, righteous crocodile gods, kahunas, and more.

Vikings! Runes! Thor! Woven anti-spear magic shirts! The Norse culture is a perennial favorite source of inspiration in the West but what was their magic like? Josh Heath of the Open Halls Project explains to Terry how to introduce Norse magic and supernatural elements into your Mage game.