Reflections on RPG Design: Modern Magic(k)
Merging Mage the Ascension and Unknown Armies into an unholy(er) abomination
As a creative exercise, I decided to rebuild Mage the Ascension from the ground up. Mage has always been my favorite tabletop RPG, since it first came out in the 90s. Its free-form magic system, Robert Anton Wilson-style “consensus reality” High Weirdness, even just its general vibe were a testament to a very special time and place. What The Matrix was for movies, Mage: the Ascension was for TTRPGs.
By contrast, Unknown Armies was definitely more on-brand for White Wolf Game Studio’s “personal horror” schtick; perhaps UA only exists as a reaction to Mage’s weirdly gonzo take on post-modern sorcery in a world otherwise dominated by vampires and werewolves.
The thing about Unknown Armies is, it has — hands-down — the best sanity/morality system ever made for any TTRPG. Just importing the Broken/Hardened sanity system into Mage improves it immensely.
But we can go deeper.
Ladies, gentlemen, and that whole technicolor spectrum in-between, I present to you:
Mage: the Awakened
Character Creation
Step 1 - Attributes
Prioritize Physical, Social, and Mental Attributes. You have 9 points to spend on your highest priority, 7 points to spend on your middle priority, and 5 points to spend on your lowest priority. The cost for each level of an Attribute is:
⚀: 0 Attribute points
⚀⚁: 1 Attribute point
⚀⚁⚂: 2 Attribute points
⚀⚁⚂⚃: 3 Attribute points
⚀⚁⚂⚃⚄: 5 Attribute points
You may not begin with an Attribute at ⚀⚁⚂⚃⚄⚅ at this stage.
Step 2 - Skills
You have 15 points to spend on skills. The cost for each level of a Skill is:
6+ (Untrained): 0 Skill points
5+ (Novice): 1 Skill point
4+ (Professional): 2 Skill points
3+ (Expert): 4 Skill points
You may not begin with a Skill at 2+ (Master) at this stage.
Step 3 - Qualities
You have 3 points to spend on Qualities. There are many Qualities to choose from; a list will be provided in the next section
Step 4: Arcana
You have 6 points to spend on Arcana. The cost for each level of an Arcanum is:
6+ (Untrained): 0 Arcana points
5+ (Initiate): 1 Arcana point
4+ (Acolyte): 2 Arcana points
3+ (Adept): 4 Arcana points
You may not begin with an Arcanum at 2+ (Master) at this stage.
Step 5: Spheres
Each Hardened Sphere rank gives you 1 Exchange point, and each Broken Sphere rank gives you 5 Exchange points. You may spend these points as follows:
+1 Attribute Point: 5 Exchange points
+1 Skill Point: 3 Exchange points
+1 Quality Point: 2 Exchange points
+1 Arcana Point: 10 Exchange points
Your three lower Spheres are limited in the number of Open and Hardened ranks they can have, based on a corresponding Attribute:
Your Comfort is limited by your Endurance
Your Courage is limited by your Composure
Your Control is limited by your Willpower
Each of these Spheres cannot have more Hardened ranks than its limiting Attribute. If its limiting Attribute is ⚀⚁, it cannot have more than 5 Open ranks; if its limiting Attribute is ⚀, it cannot have more than 4 Open ranks.
Additionally, your three higher Spheres are also limited at character creation to no more than 3 Hardened ranks and no more than 2 Open ranks.
Qualities
The following Qualities are examples, to give a sense of the kinds of traits that can be purchased and their approximate values. Work with your Storyteller to come up with appropriate Qualities for your character, if you have an idea for something that you don’t see here.
Exceptional Attribute (6 points)
If you have already raised an Attribute to ⚀⚁⚂⚃⚄, it becomes ⚀⚁⚂⚃⚄⚅ instead.
Exceptional Skill (4 points)
If you have already raised a Skill to Expert (3+) level, it becomes Master (2+) level instead.
Attractive (3 points)
You are exceptionally appealing to others. This will often result in unwanted attention, but also allows you to reduce the success threshold for any Presence roll you make by 1. If your Empathy is higher than another character’s Presence, you may also use this Quality to reduce or increase the success threshold for any Presence roll they make by 1. Your intended audience must be able to see you for you to apply this Quality to any roll.
Common Sense (2 points)
You have a gut intuition that warns you when something is likely to be a bad idea, further informed by a significant amount of practical, everyday wisdom. Whenever you are about to act in a way contrary to this intuition, the Chronicler can make suggestions or warnings about the implications of said action.
Motivated (5 points)
You have a particular driving goal, whether it is a loved one, a lifelong passion, or a deep-set fear. Whenever your motivation is directly affected by the success or failure of a roll, you can choose whether to Push yourself after the primary roll has been made. If you would Break in the pursuit of your motivation, you may spend a charge from any Sphere to attempt to Harden instead, whether or not it was the Sphere that was being Pushed.
Flaws
Flaws are negative Qualities, which grant you Exchange points to spend on Attributes, Skills, Arcana, or other Qualities. The following Flaws are examples, to give a sense of the kinds of traits that can be taken and their approximate values. Work with your Storyteller to come up with appropriate Flaws for your character, if you have an idea for something that you don’t see here.
Impaired Attribute (+4 points)
One of your Attributes is impaired, either congenitally or from an accident. Reduce that Attribute by one die, to a minimum of ⚀.
Impaired Sense (+3 or +6 points)
One of your senses is impaired, either congenitally or from an accident. Whenever you perform an action that relies on that sense, you reduce your dice pool for that action by one die. You may take this Flaw twice (for a total of +6 Exchange points instead of +3) to represent a more severe impairment, which reduces your dice pool for all actions relying on that sense by half (round down).
Inept Skill (+2 points)
You may select this Flaw multiple times, choosing a different skill for each instance of the Flaw. Each skill chosen for this Flaw must be at Untrained (6+) or Novice (5+) level.
You do not gain an additional die to your dice pool whenever a die in your dice pool rolls a ⚅; instead, two separate dice must each roll ⚅⚅ for each one die added to your dice pool.
Additionally, whenever you attempt to raise this skill by experience, you require twice the normal amount of experience. If you ever raise a skill to Professional (4+), you lose this Flaw for that skill.
Core Rules
Whenever you attempt any action or response, the Storyteller will decide on an appropriate Attribute and Skill for the attempt, as well as one or more appropriate success thresholds and options.
Attributes → Dice Pool
Your Attribute determines your dice pool for the attempt. For example, if your Agility is ⚀⚁⚂⚃⚄, you roll five six-sided dice whenever you attempt any Agility-based action or response. Likewise, if your Endurance is ⚀⚁⚂, you will roll three six-sided dice whenever you attempt an Endurance-based action or response.
Skills → Target Number
Your skill, on the other hand, determines which of these dice count towards your success threshold. If your Athletics is 3+ (Expert), then any die that rolls a ⚂, ⚃, ⚄ or ⚅ counts towards the success threshold of any Athletics roll that you make. Likewise, if your Investigation is a 5+ (Novice), then any die that rolls a ⚄ or ⚅ counts towards the success threshold of any Investigation roll that you make.
Exploding Dice
A ⚅ always counts towards your success, since no skill can be worse than 6+. Additionally, whenever any die in your dice pool rolls a ⚅, you add an additional die to the roll. If this new die also rolls a ⚅, you continue to add dice until no new die rolls a ⚅. This is called an exploding die.
Success Thresholds
Each attempt that you make will have one or more success thresholds. Each success threshold is an effect that might happen, and a number of successes necessary for that effect to occur.
For example, if you are attempting to jump over a moving car, you might need to make an Agility/Athletics roll to do so. The Storyteller might decide that, due to the speed of the car and the conditions of the road, you need a success threshold of 3+ to avoid getting hit, and a success threshold of 5+ to land on your feet afterwards. If you roll an Agility of ⚀⚁⚂⚃⚄/Athletics 3+ and only four dice roll a 3 or higher, then you manage to jump over the car, but fall prone onto the asphalt while doing so.
Options
Options are additional perks that you might decide to invoke as a roll resolves. An option is like a success threshold, but you “spend” successes from your roll to make them happen. The Storyteller will list your options, the number of successes that each of them “costs”, and the minimum success threshold you need to reach before you can exercise them.
For example, the referee might declare that, as you pass over the car, you have the option of grabbing onto the roof. The referee declares that you need a success threshold of 4+ to exercise this option, and that exercising it will cost 2 successes.
Since you rolled 4 successes, the option is available to you, but it will cost you two successes - which will lower you below the threshold of “avoid getting hit by the car”. So, you have a choice to make: do you grab hold of the car but get hurt in the attempt, or let it pass you by?
Pushing Yourself
Whenever you are attempting an action where both failure and inaction are likely to result in one of your lower Spheres (Comfort, Courage, Control, or Compassion) becoming triggered, you can preemptively Push yourself instead. Pushing yourself means taking extra effort, and extra risk, to make sure the job gets done.
The Storyteller will be the ultimate judge of when the opportunity to Push yourself presents itself, and which Sphere will be relevant to the attempt; when it does, it is entirely up to you whether to take it or not. If you do take it, you immediately suffer one Fatigue to the Attribute you are rolling, then add each of the Sphere’s Open ranks to your dice pool for the attempt. For example, if your Courage is ☒⚁⚂⚃⯀⯀, and the Storyteller declares that you can Push your Courage while leaping over the car, then you may suffer one Fatigue to your Agility (reducing it from ⚀⚁⚂⚃⚄ to ⚀⚁⚂⚃⧄), then add three dice to your Agility/Athletics roll – granting yourself a total of seven dice for the attempt.
Breaking
Beyond the fatigue, Pushing yourself has an additional risk: if you fail, you become triggered and break. Breaking is a deeply unpleasant experience, where you dissociate and become compelled to do whatever it takes to restore the broken Sphere. If your Courage breaks while attempting to flip over the car, for example, you might fly into a blind panic and attempt to flee, no longer in control of your own actions. The Storyteller will decide what the exact result of a break is, with some amount of input from you.
Charges
On the other hand, if you succeed when Pushing yourself, the Sphere you Pushed gets a charge. Charges typically last a long time, and represent a sense of security and accomplishment in your ability to take care of yourself, within the Sphere’s purview. For as long as you have a charge, you can spend it whenever you Push yourself to avoid gaining Fatigue as you do so.
Hardening
If you would break while you have one or more charges in the relevant Sphere, you may spend one to attempt to harden yourself instead. Hardening does not by any means mitigate the trauma you just experienced; on the contrary, it numbs you to it – often permanently. Before you would break, you spend the charge to roll the triggered Sphere against a success threshold set by the Storyteller, based on the intensity of the events you are enduring. If you succeed, you still lose an Open rank of that Sphere - but instead of it breaking, it hardens. For as long as you have one or more hardened ranks of a Sphere, every time that Sphere would break, each hardened rank in that Sphere counts as an automatic success – you could consider it a die that automatically rolled a ‘7’ (higher than the maximum of 6+, but it’s not actually a ‘⚅’ so it doesn’t explode.)
Being Triggered
Many events will trigger a Sphere. Triggering operates identically to Pushing, but is involuntary – an event will simply trigger a Sphere, and the Storyteller will choose an Attribute, Skill and success threshold to avoid breaking. This will almost always be a resistance Attribute: Endurance, Composure, or Resolve.
Damage
Sometimes, failing an attempt means suffering damage; or, sometimes someone or something is actively trying to harm you. Your physical, social, and mental Attributes can each take damage; physical damage represents assaults to your body, while social damage represents assaults to your self-image and confidence, and mental damage represents assaults to your will and comprehension.
Whenever something would damage you, the damage will either be fatigue, injury, or trauma. Fatigue is recorded by choosing an appropriate Attribute, and marking the rightmost undamaged die with a slash (/). Injury is recorded by marking the rightmost uninjured die with an X; if the rightmost uninjured die has already suffered fatigue damage, simply mark it with a backslash (\) to complete the X. Trauma is recorded by completely filling in the rightmost die, even if it is currently injured or fatigued; effectively, the trauma has permanently removed that die from your character. Fatigue is almost never triggering on its own (although other circumstances that lead to the fatigue might be); injury is usually triggering if the amount of damage sustained exceeds a relevant Sphere’s Hardened threshold, and even a single point of trauma is almost always triggering.
Trauma typically imparts additional problems as well - while fatigue represents pain, bruising and tiredness, and injury represents broken bones, frayed nerves, and open wounds, trauma typically represents amputations, psychoses, and other deep losses of functionality. The Storyteller will decide what the additional effects are.
If an Attribute runs out of dice to be fatigued, replace the rightmost fatigued die with an injured die; if it runs out of injury, replace the rightmost injured die with trauma (destroying the die and permanently impairing your capabilities).
Healing
Healing fatigue is simple - after an hour of rest, roll each of your appropriate resistance Attributes (Endurance for physical fatigue, Willpower for mental fatigue, or Composure for social fatigue), in order – each success heals one point of fatigue from any one Attribute in that category.
Healing injury takes longer - after a day of rest, choose one of your resistance Attributes and roll it; the success threshold is equal to the total amount of that kind of injury. If you succeed, you heal a single point of injury from that Attribute group.
Trauma doesn’t heal without active support from trained medical professionals.
Magic Rules
Arcana and Magisteria
Mages divide the reality into three Magisteria, or Realms. Each Realm can be thought of as a “way of seeing the world”, or might be seen instead as an entire “parallel reality” – the interpretation differs from Mage to Mage. Within each Magisterium, three Arcana govern its rules – one Arcanum for rules relating to the substances that make up that Magisterium, another for rules relating to the processes that govern that Magisterium, and a third for rules relating to the Beings that inhabit that magisterium. A Being, at its core essence, is a self-sustaining pattern of substance and process, which seeks to preserve and protect itself.
The Material
The Material Magisterium is the Realm of solid, tangible objects, forces, and living bodies. It is governed by the Arcanum of Matter, which governs its substances, the Arcanum of Force, which governs its processes, and the Arcanum of Life, which governs its Beings.
The Formal
The Formal Magisterium is the Realm of intangible ideas and patterns in their most abstract. It is governed by the Arcanum of Form, which governs its substances, the Arcanum of Cause, which governs its processes, and the Arcanum of Mind, which governs its Beings.
The Primal
The Primal Magisterium is the Realm of desires, experiences, and meanings at their deepest. It is governed by the Arcanum of Prime, which governs its substances, the Arcanum of Time, which governs its processes, and the Arcanum of Spirit, which governs its Beings.
Primal Arcana are particularly useful for dealing with paradox-induced backlash - Prime may be used to move charges about from one Sphere to another, and Spirit may be used (over long, intense meditation and therapy) to gradually soften Hardened Sphere ranks.
The Higher Spheres
In addition to the nine Arcana, Mages have access to three more Spheres than sleepers do. Sleepers possess all seven Spheres, just as Mages; but for Sleepers, the higher Spheres are not “active”, and cannot be Pushed or Triggered.
The Sphere of Logos represents a Mage’s sense of surety in what is and isn’t, and supplies the dice pool for all magical effects used to preserve, fortify, and reinforce a Pattern in its current configuration.
The Sphere of Gnosis represents a Mage’s ability to see the world as it truly is, including the occult undercurrents of magical reality, and supplies the dice pool for all magical effects used to detect, perceive, and understand a Pattern.
Finally, the Sphere of Arete represents a Mage’s ability to inflict their will upon the world, altering it to suit their desires, and supplies the dice pool for all magical effects used to create, transform, or destroy a Pattern.
Paradox
Whenever you perform actions using magic, you run the risk of damaging reality. The more potent the effect you attempt, the more risk of damage there is. For each option you spend on a magical effect, the Storyteller will evaluate the impact on reality’s fabric, based on how plausibly coincidental the effect might be. The more vulgar – or clearly magical – an effect option is, the more paradox it might incur.
Paradox manifests as the universe triggering the Sphere used to perform the effect, in an event called a backlash. Charges may be spent to “buy down” paradox before the trigger occurs; each charge so spent allows the Mage to allocate one success towards reducing the success threshold of the paradox backlash. If this reduces the success threshold to zero, the risk of backlash is averted. Otherwise, the Mage must break or Harden that Sphere, as normal.
Techniques
A technique represents a formalized magical process, often called a spell or a ritual. Each technique must be learned separately from the raw Arcanum that informs its principles of operation, but its ‘skill’ level is always the same as the Arcanum that it was derived from. A Technique might even combine multiple Arcana into a single effect; in which case, the Mage’s lowest-skilled Arcanum in the effect determines their skill for the entire Technique.
When a Mage employs a Technique, they employ an Attribute in addition to their Sphere to execute it, both increasing its potency and severely decreasing its risk of backlash. Some techniques may even be designed completely coincidentally, in which case they may be executed using only the Attribute in question; such a technique only risks backlash if the Mage performing it fails to surpass a success threshold of zero. It is much easier to create a coincidental Logos or Gnosis technique than a coincidental Arete technique, for obvious reasons.
Cooperative Magic
Mages who know the same Technique can attempt to work together, to augment the potency of the Technique’s effect. The successes of each Mage are added together to determine effect, but each individual Mage’s successes are used to determine whether a backlash occurs. If any Mage in the group triggers a paradox backlash, the total power of each Mage’s backlash is added together, and that combined backlash then affects each of the Mages that attempted the Technique together.
Paradigm
Techniques are not merely “magic spells” that any Mage can learn; instead, they must fit into a coherent paradigm, or way of seeing the world. Just like all humans, each Mage has their own unique paradigm – but some paradigms are more “compatible” than others.
A Mage can only learn Techniques that work with their paradigm, and can only work with other Mages to perform group Techniques if everyone in the group shares compatible paradigms. Thus, Mages with highly compatible paradigms tend to band together into “magical traditions”, supporting each other in their efforts to understand and affect the world.
As mages grow, their paradigms tend to evolve – some towards greater flexibility, others towards narrower focus. A Mage’s open Logos ranks represent the flexibility of their paradigm, while their hardened Logos ranks represent the rigidity and focus of that paradigm. If two mages with different paradigms attempt to perform magic together cooperatively, each must Push their Logos to make a Prime Arcana roll, to attempt to “translate” their understanding of magic into the other’s paradigm; they must achieve more successes with this roll than their erstwhile companion’s hardened Logos ranks.
Magical Traditions
The following Traditions and Alliances operate within the shadows of the Awakened world, each trying to steer the Consensus Paradigm towards its own goals. Thus far, the Technocratic Union and the Nihilists seem to have gained the most ground.
The Technocratic Union
The Technocracy fancy themselves the masters of the modern world. The guiding force behind the industrial revolution, this guild of scientists, engineers, and philosophers traces its roots back to the early days of the Enlightenment. Their paradigms all share a belief in rational, empirical materialism, but each has a different idea of how to wield their power within that paradigm.
The Steering Council (Spirit, Time)
The Steering Council, also known by their nicknames “the New World Order” and “the Inner Circle”, is the “leadership” of the Technocratic Union. Various members of the other Divisions will be inducted into the ranks of the Steering Council if their work proves sufficiently central to the Council’s current timetables.
Security, Containment, and Protection (Form)
The SCP foundation considers themselves the “guardians of consensus reality”, and take their job extremely seriously. Also known as the “Men in Black”, SCP tends to be the first responders to any serious breach that threatens the Consensus.
The Syndicate (Prime, Cause)
While the Steering Council decides on the “big picture”, the Syndicate’s job is to keep the metaphorical wheels turning. By managing resource allocation, logistics, and macroeconomics, they ensure that the correct projects get funded and supported, and that funding for progress deemed too destabilizing to the Union mysteriously dries up.
The Engineers of Iterated Progress (Matter, Forces)
If the Syndicate’s job is to keep the metaphorical wheels turning, the Engineers’ job is to keep the literal wheels turning. The true masters of “nuts-and-bolts” tend to resent the other Divisions for interfering in “real, hard science”, which in their mind is the true backbone of the world the Technocracy has created.
The Pharmacopoeic Progress Board (Life, Mind)
The Pharma Board is the group responsible for innovations in medicine, biotechnology, psychology and sociology. Like the Engineers, the Pharmas often find themselves relegated to the “lower ranks” of the Technocracy; also like the Engineers, they frequently resent their perceived lack of respect and control within the Union.
The Rogue Alliance
The Rogue Alliance is a breakoff group of the Technocracy, primarily composed of scientists and engineers whose work was deemed “potentially destabilizing to the New World Order” by the Steering Council.
The Society of Aetheric Engineers (Matter, Forces)
If the Aether Society aren’t a rogue’s gallery of mad scientists, they certainly enjoy playing the part. Within their ranks, all manner of strange inventions and revolutionary technologies can be found.
The Virtual Adepts (Form, Mind, Time)
The Virtual Adepts are a breakoff group of the Engineers who invented the modern computer and ushered in the digital age, only to be betrayed by the Steering Council when it was determined that their proposed radical transformations to society would render the Council obsolete. It was their leadership which gathered together the Aether Society and the Biopunks under their wings, and the Adepts continue to run security and coordination for all three groups.
The Biopunk Underground (Spirit, Life)
The Biopunks are the Rogue Alliance’s answer to the Pharma Board, just as the Aether Society is its answer to the Engineers. Self-experimentation and self-modification are the twin values of the Biopunk Underground, placing them directly at odds with the Pharma Board’s authoritarian approach.
The Accelerationists (Prime, Cause)
The Accelerationists are an offshoot of the Virtual Adepts that have taken to dabbling in economic manipulation, filling the same niche within the Rogue Alliance that the Syndicate fulfills for the Technocracy. Most funding for the Alliance comes from their cryptocurrency speculations and market manipulations.
The Mystic Council
The Mystic Council is a loose alliance of “pre-modern” practitioners, forced together by circumstance as the Technocratic Union’s paradigm rose to dominance and slowly replaced their own.
The Fire-Bringers (Force)
The Fire-Bringers are an ancient tradition of artificers, smiths, and hearth-tenders. They claim that they were the first magical tradition, the inventors of fire, and the teachers of magic and technology to humanity.
The Fire-Bringers are often looked at with suspicion by the rest of the Mystic Council, because the Technocratic Union originated from within their ranks.
The Wycc (Life)
The Wycc are a loose coalition of druids and healers, dedicated to the preservation and worship of nature.
The Solificati (Matter)
The Solificati are a guild of alchemists who set about the life goal of manifesting the divine within the physical world.
The Celestial Choir (Prime)
The Celestial Choir are a collection of Abrahamic and Zoroastrian monotheists who channel their faith into miracles. Their relationship with the rest of the council is often strained, due to their insistence that other forms of magic are inferior or dangerous compared to those that come from their own interpretation of the Divine.
The Dream-speakers (Spirit)
The Dream-speakers are a loose network of shamans, spirit guides and tribal elders who strive to maintain the connection between the material and the spirit world against the encroaching tide of technology.
The Seers of Chronos (Time)
The Seers are a group of oracles tracing their origin back to the Pythian temple at Delphi. Their mastery of prophecy has allowed them to adapt to the changing times better than most members of the Mystic Council; by inducting potential Technocrats such as Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna and John Lilly into their ranks, they helped launch the cultural revolution of the 1960s.
The Disciples of Solomon (Form)
The Disciples of Solomon are a group of Hermetic Qaballists tracing their lineage back to King Solomon of Israel.
The Akashayana (Mind)
The Akashayana are a collection of Chan buddhist warrior-monks and their spiritual descendants. Often seen by the other members of the Mystic Council as merely the “hired security”, they are typically content to stand by in silence until the moment that their advice and insight will be most appreciated and understood.
The Chakravarti (Cause)
The Chakravarti are an ancient order of Hindu priest-kings dedicated to the preservation and proper administration of society at all levels. In the modern era, which they call the Kali Yuga, they interpret this duty by identifying and removing those elements of society which would “trap” humanity and prevent it from evolving into the next stage of the Yuga cycle.
The Nihilists
The Nihilists are barely a Tradition, linked only in their belief that reality is a cruel joke, and that power can only be measured by which side of the punchline you end up on. Madmen and sociopaths to the last, the Nihilists explore the darker paths to power, gleefully cooperating on one day and then stabbing each other in the back on the next.
Nihilists use human sacrifice and other dark rites to deliberately Harden their Spheres beyond normal human limits. Once they experience what some Nihilists call a “breakthrough”, they discover that they can use their Hardened ranks as if they were Open ranks, so long as they continue to follow their twisted anti-morals – but reminders of their humanity that do manage to penetrate their calloused souls will tend to Break them in unimaginably painful ways.