Previously, several of my Rulebook Ruminations have involved World of Darkness books. I hesitate to call it "new", simply to differentiate it from the "old". It's not new anymore, and the "old" books are ancient history. So why do I ruminate on these books more than some others?
First of all, it's not secret that I enjoy the World of Darkness line over the "old" line. It's just better. I know there are a lot of folks who will gnash and growl at that statement, but for me it's not only true - it's a hands down win for the "new" line. There is no contest. I'm not even going to go into all that, as we've already done that before...I just wanted to clarify that bit for anyone who was just joining us. I believe that almost every aspect of the new line is better...that is, production standards are higher. The books look nicer, and reading through various titles you get the idea that this was all designed before it was broken into sale pieces such as this volume. We'll get back to this later.
We've played a couple of chronicles with the new system...but this is the first supernatural chronicle we have embarked upon. The others were explorations of the system as normal mortals (for the most part), and certainly no one had a supernatural template in Hunting Humans or The Rough Edge of Night. All that malarkey about vampires or werewolves back in the day is out - and mages are in. This will definitely color the scope of the system for us in the years to come, and I think this was the best decision. Nobody really has been into vampires since the 90's, and werewolves went out when Twilight came in.
The new system lends itself well to this sort of play. Some names are turned around from Mage: The Ascension and the "old" World of Darkness in general, such as Gnosis being a mage trait and the ten different arcanas names and functions. Yet everything is very familiar if you've come from that older world, and once you have a bit of the newer lexicon committed to memory you'll be flinging spells left and right. Virtual Adepts? No sir, we have the Free Council instead.
The biggest part of the book are the descriptions of the actual spells you can do with the various arcana. However, it's a huge step forward for this type of system. There's still improvisational magic, and the system for that is beefed up as well. Yet there are a multitude of "common" spells for each arcana, including all the ones new players might be looking for. Even masters for whom Ascension is old hat will find these training wheels very helpful in the beginning.
It seems that a lot of the old Mage game was based on having much of the source material outside the main volume, and this line assumes much the same. There's just too much material for one volume, so it's spread out over the line. Tome of the Watchtowers and Sanctum & Sigil are necessary reads if you want your game to resemble the "default" World of Darkness game world.
That being said, the new world isn't as couched in metaplot as the old. I was very excited to get my copy of Ascension back in what must have been 1996. Yet when I began to read it, I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't make heads or tails of what it was talking about, and as a result I never ran a game with that volume. I wanted to, but after reading the book I was so confounded as to what was supposed to be an adventure in that system that I simply went back to being a Dungeon Master. Which brings me to my real point.
Though the ease of approach to and the general playability of Mage: The Awakening is much higher than its predecessor, the game itself is very different from some other games we play. Adventure design, awards and penalties, etc. are all very different from the standard "dungeon-delve" paradigm we're used to. Yes, this is a roleplaying game, but you have to remember there are different genres of rpg.
For instance, there's the staples of Swords & Sorcery, Epic Fantasy, Space Opera, Western and all the rest. You'll have to learn to look at the system for guidance. What about Horror games? I still think of the World of Darkness as a horror system, and obviously it thinks of itself that way as well. Horror, mystery and suspense are the hallmarks of this system...even though you're wizards, Epic Fantasy Dungeon Murder this is not.
We usually play World of Darkness games, old and new, as the cliche "supers with fangs" or "supers with claws" style game. Yet I will give you this warning, Gatekeepers: I do not design World of Darkness games as a dungeon. Neither do the publishers. Don't get me wrong, I like dungeon hacking as much as the next guy, and probably more. World of Darkness is different, and presents much different opportunities for scenario writers like myself. Much like Dark Heresy and Call of Cthulhu, these games should be about mystery, suspense and horror.
The scenarios you face will have to be resolved without the sort of end that most barking mad dungeon murder-hobos come to. They aren't designed for that, and the world isn't either. Too many bloodbaths and your campaigns will come to a screaming halt - unless of course, your Storyteller is doing a "supers with magic" chronicle.
For myself, I'll take my cue from the system. Players need to be reminded what sort of game you're running, however. Make sure you're all on the same page before all the mages pull out guns and everyone ends up dead.