Mage: The Podcast

The World of Darkness is as global a phenomenon outside the games as it is within. Many of the books have been translated by one licensee or another over the years, and a precious few have been created by and for the fans in other countries. In this installment of Tomes of Magick, Pooka cracks open the Mage chapter from 1997's Le Monde des Ténèbres: France, a French-only general WoD book that expl...

Adam and Heilong discuss the Sphere of Prime. Is it worth keeping?  What can it do for you?  How does it affect quintessence and other things?  Is Primal Utility a thing? Tune in and hear about new possibilities for bringing the Sphere into your games. Mage the Podcast social media links Website http://magethepodcast.com Patreon https://bit.ly/MagePatreon Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/magethepo...

We climb John H. Steele ’s Tower of Babel , a Mage novel full of creators, characters, conspiracies, and reality getting mighty leaky around the edges. It’s metafiction, Technocracy trouble, dream-tower theology, and one poor writer learning that when your fiction talks back, maybe don’t answer after drinking. Show Notes Tower of Babel - Book man invents fascist action guy. Fascist action guy beco...

Adam swims with the sharks to bring you information and ideas to help you add the Rokea , the shape shifting sharks of the World of Darkness , to your games.  What are the Kahu hiding? What lies at the bottom of ocean trenches? Why don’t sharks floss? Tune in and find out. Show Notes Rokea - Immortal weresharks, ancient sea-born shapeshifters who form Slews, use electric “Sending,” heal in saltwat...

Adam and Pooka discuss Dark City (1998). Another movie that paints the World of Darkness on the screen for you to see. This one aligns so closely with Mage: The Ascension (First Edition) ; watch out for Paradox . Can this inspire you to portray Sphere effects in your game? Is it a good example of a mage’s Awakening? Can bald, creepy kids boost your game to the next level? Tune in and find out! Sho...

Adam talks about Emmy Allen’s Stygian Library, the library that doesn’t end. Will your players find the knowledge they’re looking for? Can they evade the mysterious librarians and their super computer? The sister volume to Gardens of Ynn is full of ideas that may find a place in your Mage games. Just watch out for the ink blots. They stain. Show Notes Stygian Library overview (DriveThruRPG) - A st...

Pooka and Lee discuss Such Pain, the first Mage novel published in 1995.  Can novel-length stories help you envision the world of Mage?  Did the author hit it out of the park with this one?  Hear Pooka and Lee’s review of the book.  Their commentary highlights how the World of Darkness was a little different during Mage’s first edition. Mage the Podcast social media links Website http://magethepod...

Adam and Pooka discuss the weird fiction of Arthur Machen , Welshman extraordinaire. Do turn of the century horror stories offer anything to modern Mage games? Is this a boon to Victorian Mage Storytellers? Do the powers of darkness really want to redecorate your office? Tune in & hear story ideas, horror commentary and hermetic code names. Show Notes The Great God Pan and ”The White People” ,...

Adam, Jenna, and Pooka take a gleeful ride through The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension , celebrating its pulpy charm, wild 80s style, oddball science, and Mage-ready Etherite energy. They cover what works, what wobbles, how to “Mage-ify” it, and why this messy cult classic still sparks game ideas, big laughs, and deep affection. Show Notes The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai A...

Truth Until Paradox Pooka and T.L. Webb crack open Truth Until Paradox , Mage ’s first fiction anthology. They chat why tie-in stories matter, then speed-tour 17 wildly uneven, very ’90s tales— Technocracy vs Traditions , Nephandi schemes, HIT-Marks, odd Wonders , and fan-fic energy. Show Notes Truth Until Paradox (Mage anthology, Feb 1994) - Tucked inside are seven tales from the World of Darknes...

The most powerful skill in Mage is uncovered at last.  Join Adam and Pooka as they lay bare the stone cold facts about Stone Lore.  The mystic qualities of malachite, how to use Stone Lore in your games and the merits of marrying Spanish dancers are all discussed as your hosts try to penetrate the deepest secrets of Ascension. Show Notes Geologist’s Primer⁠ - A friendly, picture-packed g...

Once again, we’re going back in time to PAX Unplugged 2024 and a series of interviews conducted by Terry Robinson. This installment features five conversations with various folks in the gaming space. We hope you get some joy and wisdom out of these chats. Perhaps they’ll inspire you to jump into writing and creating as well, and we’ll see you behind a table at PAX this coming December… The intervi...

Adam talks about bringing the Ananasi into games of Mage the Ascension. Ananasi are the were-spiders of Werewolf the Apocalypse. Where do they come from? How do they operate? What can they bring to your Mage games? Whether enemies or allies, the spider folk have much to offer. This is the first in a series of crossover episodes. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/12/ananasi Mage the Podcast s...

This episode travels back in time to PAX Unplugged 2024, where Terry Robinson captured interviews and loose, late-night conversations with creators and friends. This first installment (of two, or possibly three) features interviews with folks from AED Publishing, The Bodhana Group, and a rambling roundtable with Pooka and Mike from Darker Days Radio. We hope these final recordings from Terry are a...

Adam and James walk you through the Digital Web books. Then James discusses topics to consider when taking your players to the digital realm.  Where is it in the Mage cosmos? How do you get there? How do you move around and work magick? What might you meet there? How does Augmented Reality really work? These topics and more are laid out to help you make the Digital Web a part of your Mage games. M...

What hath Empire wrought? Pooka and Jenna poke at that question today as they open up the supplement Weird Wonders and Revolutionary Magicks for Victorian Age Mage . The book features dozens of items, rotes, and story hooks, and while your mileage may vary with how much use you get out of them, there's no shortage of ideas to enrich any historical game. Show Notes Weird Wonders and Revolutiona...

Ever wandered into a garden so beautiful you forgot the way out? 🌿 In this week’s Mage: The Podcast , Adam explores The Gardens of Inn — a mysterious, decaying fae realm from the OSR classic by Emmy Allen — and shows how it can bloom in your Mage: The Ascension game. Plus, a new “Paradigm Shift” series connects unexpected RPG books to the World of Darkness . 🎲 Download the transcript for today’s...

Howdy, Mage fans! Adam and Pooka are back with big news, a new Changeling magic book, and invites to TryItCon2: TerryCon and PAX Unplugged . This time they dig into The Crow , from comic grief to film justice, goth rain, Brandon Lee , and Mage -style ideas. A quick stop with Philip K. Dick , a chat about sanity and Quiet , and a reminder that it cannot rain all the time. Tell your friends, because...

Today's episode is a memorial to our departed friend and co-host, Terry Robinson. Join Adam, Bryce, Charles, Josh, and Pooka as they share some memories, followed by a series of messages submitted from our community and some words from Joseph. We also invite you to download the free PDF of the Book of Tributes , a collection of written tributes from our Discord that was produced for Terry's memori...

In Part 2 of our Mage Zero Edition deep-dive, Adam and Pooka sift the fun esoterica—early Tradition names (Parmenidians, Initiates of the Invisible World), a clearer Celestial Chorus , Dreamspeakers ’ true remit, quirky rituals, big willpower walls, Paradox wrinkles, the dream magic that never was, and share their thoughts on what was best left behind and what is ready to drop into your games. Mis...

Adam and Pooka crack open a lost treasure — Mage: The Ascension, Zero Edition, a 1993 manuscript that shaped the game’s future. They share laughs, lore, share their thoughts on what was best left behind and what is ready to drop into your game, and a few “what were they thinking?” moments, from cosmic origins to dream magic and immortal mages. Don’t be a Copernicus. Show Notes Stuart Wieck ’s orig...

Pooka and Bryce crack open Victorian Mage: Bizarre Tales and Unusual Characters . From ghostly X-ray photos to occult artists and Umbra conspiracies, what stories and characters wait around the globe for your players to discover? Plus, TryItCon 2: Terry Con Edition is set for Nov 7–9 on Discord & Zoom, honoring Terry Robinson with games and a Twitter Pig charity auction. Show Notes TryItCon 2:...

Adam and Pooka explore the wild world of Paradox , those cosmic smackdowns that keep Mages humble. They chat about realms where magic bites back, share tales from the table, and review Never-Real Worlds , a Storyteller’s Vault toolkit full of roll tables to spark your own strange Paradox adventures. Grab a seat, pour a drink, and join the ride toward Ascension (without all the headaches). Show Not...

Welcome to Reality Deviants Movie Club! Pooka, Adam, and Jenna dive into Sneakers (1992), a techno-thriller packed with heists, hacker mages, and Mage: The Ascension plot seeds. From Virtual Adepts vs. Technocracy to teamwork and codebreaking wonders, we break it all down—plus ideas for running this as a chronicle. Show Notes Sneakers - This flick is a ready-made low- Arete chronicle or intro arc...

Adam and guest Amena dive into Laws of Ascension Companion , the last Mage live action role-playing game (LARP) book. From Technocracy quirks to oddball factions, wild rotes, and Umbra adventures, they cover what works, what’s weird, and what’s worth borrowing for your Chronicle . Plus, Amena shares how she built a thriving local LARP scene from scratch. Download the transcript for today’s show he...