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| Mage the Awakening (Mage) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Kraig Blackwelder, Bill Bridges, Brian Campbell, Stephen Michae Dipesa, Samuel Inabinet, Steve Kenson, Malcolm Sheppard
Publisher: White Wolf Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $34.99
Buy New: $18.49
You Save: $16.50 (47%)
New (27) Used (13) Collectible (1) from $18.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 109898
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.2
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.6 x 1
ISBN: 1588464180
Dewey Decimal Number: 793.93
EAN: 9781588464187
ASIN: 1588464180
Publication Date: August 29, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Power to Remake the World
In an age long gone, mortals dethroned the gods and seized the heavens for their own. And for it, they were flung down into the world of clay, their minds clouded by ignorance. Only a bare few remember their birthright - the power of magic. If they cannot claim the heavens, they will make their own kingdoms on Earth.
A Storytelling Game of Modern Sorcery
* Provides everything you need to tell your own stories in the occult world of the Awakened, including details of the various orders and paths of magic, and many secrets of the World of Darkness. Requires the World of Darkness rulebook for play.
*Presents the most comprehensive and freeform magic system ever achieved in gaming, allowing characters to cast nearly any spell imaginable.
* Features Boston as a fully fleshed-out, ready-to-play setting.
* Features artwork by the acclaimed Michael Kaluta.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 Play the Game August 21, 2008
A lot of reviews cover the chapters and describe some of the stuff inside, and that's great; it's super helpful stuff and a great start to help someone decide whether or not they want to buy this book. But this isn't a book to sit down and read. If you just want to read a book, buy an actual novel. This is a Role Playing Game. You have to actually play the game to figure out if you like it or not.
Like any Role Playing Game, this game is really only as solid as the person running it (DM for D&Ders, GM for most other games, Storytellers for WoD fans). If the person running the game is clueless, the game isn't fun. If the person running the game is a creative person, already familiar with World of Darkness and has at least skimmed the rules for Mage, the game is going to be fun.
The game play mechanics are simplified so that you aren't spending an hour rolling dice to find out whether or not you've smacked someone upside the head. The magic is complicated because it's magic. You can do, literally, anything with it. If you can't think of your own applications for magic, this book provides tons of examples of things that you can do and those are all pretty simple to use, even though it may take a lot of referencing during game-play.
Bottom line:
If you don't play RPG's, start with something a little easier. Maybe start with just a mortal character in the World of Darkness or perhaps something out of the Second Sight book.
If you play RPG's, this book is worth putting aside your normal game for some test play. Chances are pretty good that you'll enjoy it, but make sure that the Storyteller knows what they are doing.
 How WW managed to murder one of the best concept mainstream RPG games July 21, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This game used to be the best by far in old WoD edition. Seriously, I don't understand how could people who developed something as cool and inventive as the old Mage come up with this piece of manure.
Just don't buy it. Save yourself the pain.
 Background Travesty May 9, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
The game rules are not terrible. They are fairly streamlined and idiot-proof. However, WW apparently could only simplify the rules by simplifying the background material. They took a wonderfully open-ended and absolutely brilliant background world (the consensual reality) and stripped it down to a cartoonish and rather silly Atlantis myth. Terrible. Just Terrible.
I also find it amusing that they cleared out all of the metaplot history in Vampire to make the game more open to interpretation and less confined by metalplot events, and then went and eviscerated the background of MAGE, the WOD game that was MOST open to interpretation. A pale and dumbed down version of MAGE for the WOW generation...
 new mage in world of darkness March 3, 2008
i used ot play the old vampire the masquerade and i had little to no knowledge of mages or mage culture except some bargains i had struck with NPCs. so looking into the new world of darkness i was pretty interested in buying this book.
it is really good, although i have not played as a mage yet, i would recomend this to any world of darkness player as a bit of research material.
white wolf does a good job making their books worth reading.
It used to be such a cool game... August 11, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I've always liked the Storyteller game system used in the World of Darkness. Back in college I had a lot of fun playing Mage using the old system, which was full of great concepts and fun ideas. I picked up the new book after I started playing in a World of Darkness campaign, optimistic about the changes they've made. Wow, what a disappointment.
I agree with many of the other critical reviews here. The 9 Traditions from the old book were far more interesting and evocative than the rather generic Paths and Orders offered in this book. The consensual reality of the old game was far inspired than the dull myth of Atlantis that they wheel out for the new version. Basically they've gotten rid of everything I really loved and replaced it with ideas that feel plain in comparison.
The book has very high production value and a cool cover, but that doesn't overcome the fact that the book is poorly organized, confusing, and overwritten.
That said, it's still a good game system and still a lot of fun to play. Given the choice, I'd rather play the old Mage, but I imagine new players to the game will enjoy this quite a bit.
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