Product Review
For those of you unfamiliar with
Mage the Ascension, it was (and is) White Wolf’s
third instalment of the popular World Of Darkness
game system, allowing players to experience the first
of the not ‘angst ridden monsters’ character
archetypes, that of Magi. As wielders of significant
powers, the Nine Spheres which encompass (in association
with the players inventiveness) all of Reality, Magi
are the magical heavy hitters of the WOD, but were
originally presented with an over-complex set of systems
and a rather lack-lustre background to play within.
Many of these minor problems were set to rights with
later sourcebooks and revised editions of the main
rules, but Mage The Sorcerers Crusade is the most
complete and unflawed take on Magic in the White Wolf
universe.
Episode eight (nine if you count
Hunter) of the World Of Darkness series and the third
‘historical’ re-issue, and it’s
the best of the bunch in my humble opinion. Vampire
Dark Ages is good, don’t get me wrong, and we’ll
gloss over WereWolf Wild West quickly and instead
embrace the wonder of Renaissance Mage. Set on the
cusp of the Age of Reason, it presents a far more
playable version of the Mage rules in a period infinitely
more interesting than our own. Plus the Order of Reason
(the nascent Technocracy) are presented as Player
Character types, as it’s all set before they’ve
gone irredeemably mad, plus intrigue, dervishes, duelling,
a thousand demonic elephants, and much much more.
Oh yes – and magic or science. By god, it’s
a fabulous game.
Set loosely in the 15th Century
(1400 – 1499) and early 16th, the choice of
time period allows them to draw upon a great many
real world personages and events which easily lend
themselves to the Mage setting. Also, the formation
of some of the big power blocks that dominate later
World Of Darkness history (such as the Camarilla,
Sabbat, the nascent Technocracy and Magi Council of
Traditions) in this period and it’s close proximity
to a major event in the Changeling timeline, (The
Shattering in the 1320’s) makes it an attractive
time to run adventures in.
At this time Europe is awash with
new ideas and experiments in science and politics,
old institutions like the Church face an uncertain
future in the face of secular statesmanship, and the
world is bigger than it ever was before with trade
spreading right across Europe and Asia. The Americas
are discovered at the end of the period, which also
sees such other groundbreaking real world events such
as Joan of Arc, The Reconquista of Moorish Spain,
the flowering of Italian city-states and their artistic
and patrician citizens and many more. It is the cross-roads
between the magical and superstitious world of the
Middle Ages and the rational, scientific Modern Period,
and a point of relative equilibrium between the rival
Wonder Workers of the two opposing world-views, the
Magi and Reasonite Scientists.
Many of the modern day Traditions
are presented as player-character types, but the really
interesting and clever addition is the historical
counterparts of the Technocratic Conventions. As earlier
incarnations of fairly inhuman and malign institutions,
the developers do an excellent job of making the Sorcerers
Crusade period Order Of Reason morally no better or
worse than their Magi contemporaries, just fundamentally
different in their ideological approach to reality.
The systems for magic are revised to allow Reasonite
characters access to the same rules with only minor
additions in methodology, and indeed the Mage The
Sorcerers Crusade take on the Spheres is the most
lucid and coherent yet. Gone are the clumsy Paradox
mechanics, replaced by Scourge, which is regulated
by an extra die rolled as part of all magical/scientific
workings. If you get a 10 on the Fortune die, good
things happen. If you get a 1, well, let’s just
hope you weren’t a Reasonite Cannon maker with
a large supply of gunpowder on you…
As a real fan of science and magic
and a general history buff, it’s hard to put
across my enthusiasm for this setting. The juxtaposition
of Science and Magic are essential in any real world
study of the period, and so it’s perfect spot
to open a window on the Mage/WOD timeline. Being able
to play through the volatile and incredibly varied
range of cultures and political situations is a real
treat for those who like that kind of thing, especially
with White Wolf laying their own spin on top of real
world events. With so much real background to integrate,
the developers wisely present the back-plot as optional
snippets you can include or ignore, meaning on the
whole; the game is uncluttered from self-referencing
plot points that require thorough explanation before
play can begin. Although that said, this is perhaps
not a system you’d expect a group of novice
role-players to get right into as they’re first
experience of gaming. Not unless they’re all
renaissance history graduates that is.
Mage The Sorcerers Crusade has some
very good sourcebooks, The Sorcerers Crusade Companion
has some excellent historical information and some
interesting new cultural Magi templates. The Swashbucklers
Handbook also deserves mention for it’s exploration
of uniquely Renaissance stuff like duelling, intrigue
and courtly romance, Machiavellian politics and so
on. Unlike other White Wolf games, there is little
in the way of online fan resource and far less hype
on the whole. Overall, this is a remarkably fine game
that cannot be recommended highly enough by this gamer.
At the very least, it’s an educational read
for most, and at best it’s the finest ‘high
magic’ game set in the most realistically wondrous
age of relatively modern history. Go out and buy it
now!
Reviewed By Harry Albany |
