GURPS Mage: The Ascension [Paperback]

Robert M. Schroeck (Author), Jeff Koke (Editor), Dan Smith (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Steve Jackson Games; 1st edition (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556342845
• ISBN-13: 978-1556342844
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,377,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Gaming > Mage

More About the Author

Robert M. Schroeck (1962-present) is a life-long New Jersey resident. Although he majored in Creative Writing at Princeton University, he has made his living as a computer programmer since the middle 1980s. His secondary career as an author and editor came about mostly by happy accident, when a stray post in an early online forum earned him an invitation to write a chapter for an upcoming book from Steve Jackson Games. Although he has worked almost entirely in roleplaying games, he still hopes to break into fiction writing, just as soon as his life calms down a little. Although he has won no formal awards for his work, he is unconcerned; he considers Peggy, his wife of twenty years, prize enough.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful Stuff!, December 14, 2000

By 

Christopher Dudley (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: GURPS Mage: The Ascension (Paperback)

This GURPS supplement is derived from White Wolf's Mage game, from when that game was in its first edition. It adapts White Wolf's much more free-form magic system into GURPS mechanics. It's not really compatible with the (then) pre-existing magic system for GURPS, as this version is far more powerful, and if your GURPS game mixes genres, old-style wizards and magic-user types are liable to feel ripped off, as they will have paid more character points for less power.

I feel that this adaptation captures much of the feel of the original White Wolf game, while adding the ubiquitous game-mechanics of GURPS in an appropriate manner. Much of what makes the White Wolf version hard to play is the absence of hard-and-fast system rules. The GURPS version attempts makes up for that without eliminating the open-ended feel of the original magic. In the end, a compromise is reached. This version strikes a balance between total game mechanics-oriented and free-form story-oriented magic.

2.0 out of 5 stars Other Books, September 3, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: GURPS Mage: The Ascension (Paperback)

Mage The Ascension was a fairly groundbreaking game, to me. Just like the GURPS version of Vampire the Masquerade, Steve Jackson's shot at transporting a White Wolf game to their system just did not seem to measure up, which was a shame, as integrating that into other areas of GURPS would have been pretty cool. An example of an attempt that failed.

3 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hate to Burst Your Bubble, May 14, 1999

By 

Grissium "The Gnome" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: GURPS Mage: The Ascension (Paperback)

No offence to Robert M. Schroeck, but just buy the original game. The GURPS version is good, but seriously the game was designed under a COMPLETELY different dice mechanic. The original Mage the Acension is VERY good, with a huge amount of support, most of it quite good. So if you want to play a Mage game, buy the original. But if you want REALLY powerful Magick Users in your GURPS campaign get this book.