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 madness loves company.

Show Notes

• Pooka’s A Book of Gramarye (Storytellers Vault) launch
• Philip K. Dick’s Clans of the Alphane Moon: sanity, Quiet, and Mage editions
• James O’Barr’s The Crow (graphic novel vs. film): grief vs. justice, myth vs. grit
• Brandon Lee, Michael Wincott, Alex Proyas, and goth-punk aesthetics
• Mage-adjacent hooks: Euthanatos vibes, coincidental magic effects
  • Destiny’s Price
  • Orphans Survival Guide
  • Tradition Book: Hollow Ones
  • The Book of Secrets
  • Wraith: The Oblivion’s The Risen
• Using NPC relationships and “human moments” to anchor grim settings
• Soundtrack as mood tool for tabletop scenes
• Which Mage editions this best complements (1e/early Revised vibes)

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 memorial. We hope that this episode will help you to keep Terry close at heart, and remember that Ascension is the friends we made along the way.

(Thanks to Brian Grossman, Brian Johnson, Hal Case, Harry Heckel, Jacob Klünder, Jonathan Fii, Justin Achilli, Kim Godwin, Kris Newton, Lauren Roy, Leonardo Rezeda, Matthew Dawkins, Matthew Webb, MJ, Panos Skordas, Satyros Brucato, Sebastian Yūe, and Stefan Carton for your words shared in this episode. And thank you to all of our listeners for your continued support and dedication.)

(Now go change reality. <3)

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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. Missed Part 1? Start there, then mosey back for secrets, laughs, and table-ready takeaways.

Special thanks to Stewart Wieck for permission to discuss the Zero Edition.

Show Notes

• Early Tradition names: Initiates of the Invisible World, Parmenidians, Order of the Cosmic Stream
• How Dreamspeakers, Verbena, and the Celestial Chorus first appeared
• Forgotten mechanics: Threads, General Resistance, Auspiced Damage, and “Armageddon Effect”
• Missing Dream Magic supplement and LARP crossover notes
• Discussion of Essence Families vs. Traditions and dynamic vs. static forces
• Reflections on Mage’s earliest themes of enlightenment, technology, and the human spirit

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 original cosmology: The Prime, Quintessence, and Dynamic Force
• Dream magic, the Near Umbra, and Dream Lords
• Early lore links to Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Ars Magica
• The origins of Avatars (“Gift Spirits”) and Essence Families
• The role of Pure Ones and their echoes in later Mage editions
• Differences between Zero Edition and Mage: The Ascension (First Edition)
• The concept of Evolutes — the five stages of Ascension
• Technocrats as self-aware mages upholding the “cold lie of science”
• Copernicus and the cosmic betrayal that started the Ascension War
• Early versions of Quiet, Mindscapes, and the origin of Boogeymen and Dark Births
• TryItCon2: TerryCon – Online convention honoring Terry Robinson, November 8–9, 2025

Pooka and Bryce discuss Bizarre Tales & Unusual Characters for Victorian Mage.  What was the Umbra like in that era?  What stories and characters wait around the globe for your players to discover?

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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).

• What Paradox is and how it shapes the Consensus.
• Paradox Realms as teaching tools, not just punishments.
• Inspiration from Groundhog Day and TTRPG history (like the Dread Gazebo).
• ⁠ShadowCity: Blood and Neon - A gothic punk roleplaying game with a ShadowDark-inspired approach that throws players into instant action and drama.

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.

• Sneakers - This flick is a ready-made low-Arete chronicle or intro arc to a Virtual Adept campaign.
• Sneakers Trailer on YouTube.
• Cosmo’s quote: “It’s not reality that counts—it’s the perception of reality” is textbook Mage philosophy.
• Some Tips for New Storytellers - Adam pullsa bundle of helpful tricks and tips out of his Storyteller’s saddlebag for veterans and folks just starting out running Mage games.

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 here.

Show Notes

• Overview of Laws of Ascension Companion — content, factions, rules, rotes.
• Technocracy chapter breakdown and faction quirks
• New groups like Wu-Nung; merits, flaws and LARP-usable skills
• Standout rotes and optional rules for PvP, paradox, crossover play
• Locations on Earth and in the Umbra for LARP use
• Amina’s journey from online LARP to running live Sabbat and Mage games
• Tips for starting and sustaining a LARP community
• One Word by Night
• Amena’s game

Adam chats with 4 guests about 3 projects.  Mage 20 system reference document, Book of Common Magicks and Darkness Over Dallas fiction series.

Mage 20 SRD

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_GzPNZoPabVMAKxk_y1aBpl0jic5QD8Y1TyLpCQUuKg

Book of Common Magicks

https://www.storytellersvault.com/product/462226/Book-of-Common-Magicks

Darkness Over Dallas

https://www.storytellersvault.com/browse.php?author=T.L.Webb

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In this spirited dive into Séance on St. James Street, Pooka and Josh Heath dissect the Victorian Mage jumpstart—what works, what misses, and whether it’s a fitting intro for new players. From ghostly redemption arcs to wonky stats and page-layout sins, they unravel the spectral threads of this quickstart. Is this séance a slayance, or should it be buried with a stake in its heart?

• Séance on St. James Street: A Victorian Age Mage Jumpstart
• M20 Victorian Age Mage - Josh didn’t back the Kickstarter
• Praise for Gene Gaydos’s surreal photomontage art
• Mendoza the Sahajiya gunslinger and Birgit the Sámi shaman stand out
• Hopepunk works best when it’s not yelling at you.

Adam and Bryce dive into Laws of Ascension, Mage’s guide to live-action roleplaying! They chat rotes, rubber rats, and rock-paper-scissors magic, with plenty of laughs and a dash of heartfelt critique. Whether you’re LARP-curious or just love mage lore, this one's for you. Also, Bryce shares news on a KULT: Divinity Lost deep dive over at Darker Days Radio. Truth until paradox, baby!

• Adam and Bryce take on Laws of Ascension, Mage's core LARP rulebook for the Revised era.
• Bryce shares LARP anecdotes and kicks off the show with news on his KULT: Divinity Lost 4th Edition deep dive on Darker Days Radio.
• LARP 101: Mind’s Eye Theater system explained—no dice, lots of rock-paper-scissors, and many index cards.
• Safety rules, public play etiquette, and why dressing up as your mage shouldn’t get you arrested.
• Adam reflects on Nordic LARP vs. Laws of Ascension’s American-style sandbox.
• Bryce volunteers to LARP in his backyard… as a ghost.

Writer, musician, and game designer James Curcio joins us for a warm, wide-ranging chat on magic, myth, and RPGs. From Dungeons & Dragons to Mage: The Ascension and Modern Mythology, we talk play, storytelling, and the mystery of it all. Oh, yeah, and we also shoot the breeze about goblins, game systems, and why magic might just be another name for imagination.

Show Notes

• Generation Hex - Editor Jason Louv brings together a batch of wild and thoughtful voices from the edge of things—a generation of young folks dreaming up bold new paths for spirit, soul, and what it means to grow as human beings—including an essay by James Curcio.
• Blades in the Dark - A tabletop role-playing game about a scrappy crew of daring scoundrels chasing fortune and stirring up trouble on ghost-filled streets.
• Fate Accelerated - Folks just call it FAE—is a slimmed-down, easy-to-learn version of Fate Core that still packs all the punch and flexibility of the full game. It’s quick as a whip to pick up, and before you know it, you and your pals can be off adventuring in the world of your favorite book, movie, or show—or cookin’ up a brand-new world of your own. Best part? Setup’s a breeze. You can go from idea to dice-rollin’ in just a few minutes.
• Alan Moore and his latest book, The Great When, a spellbinding new series full of murder, magic, and mayhem—set between two Londons: one picking up the pieces after World War II, and the other a hidden world brimming with mystery and wonder.
• Grant Morrison and his comic book series, The Invisibles, a scrappy little cell of The Invisible College—a secret bunch fighting the good fight against all kinds of oppression, using time travel, magic, meditation, and (when needed) a good ol’ fashioned scuffle.
• The Expanse - a role-playing game brings the big, bold world of James S.A. Corey’s hit sci-fi books right to your tabletop. Built on Green Ronin’s trusty Adventure Game Engine—the same one that powers Fantasy AGE, Blue Rose, and Modern AGE—this game drops you into a future where Earth folks, Martians, and Belters are all jockeying for power and resources out in the stars. But something old and alien is waking up, and the story of humanity’s future is fixing to take a wild new turn.
• Modern Mythologies, a podcast exploring mythmaking and mechanics in RPGs.
• You can find James’ work at:
  • jamescurcio.com
  • fallencycle.com
  • modernmythology.net
• Operation Watchtower - a podcast rooter in Kult: Divinity Lost, set in the wake of 9/11 and launches September 11, 2025.

This is the final two-hander episode featuring the brilliant and sorely missed Terry Robinson, recorded with Pooka before Terry’s passing. In this deeply personal and intellectually rich conversation, Terry and Pooka dive headfirst into the mystic heart of the Syndicate , exploring its layered portrayal across Mage: The Ascension editions—from Mafia caricature to modern myth-makers of the market.

• Revised & M20 era implications:Syndicate in charge—but how and when did that happen?
• Bourdieu’s Capital Theory: Economic, social, cultural, and linguistic capital in Mage terms
• Roland Barthes & Jean Baudrillard: Semiotics, simulation, and consumer ritual as hyper-sigil work
• Pierre Lévy’s Anthropological Spaces: Syndicate mages as avatars of the Commodity Space
• Control, Blindsight & Data Visualization: Facial recognition as magical parsing; the uncanny art of market faces
• Tate Modern installation: A stock ticker + Greek lament = sublime Syndicate paradox realm?
• The Syndicate as potential chaos magicians of the Technocracy

In this episode, legendary occult historian and ex-Blondie bassist Gary Lachman joins us to talk magic, Crowley, meme sorcery, and the reality-bending weirdness of the 21st century. From shared dreams in 1970s New York to egregores, astral hobos, and the dark gravity of Trump as a Tulpa, Gary pulls no punches.

Show Notes

• How a hit Blondie song was inspired by psychic experiences
• Colins Wilson’s books The Outsider and The Occult
• His involvement with Ordo Templi Orientis
• Why Crowley’s followers creeped him out
• Gary’s book, Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump
• The occult revival of the 1970s (and how it compares to today)
• Why reality itself is up for grabs—and what that means for Mage: The Ascension players
• The movies Dark City, The Matrix and Forbidden Planet
• Gary’s forthcoming memoir, Touched by the Presence: From Blondie’s Bowery and Rock and Roll to Magic and the Occult, scheduled for release on November 18, 2025, by Inner Traditions.
• Plus: what happened when he contradicted David Bowie at a party

What makes a great Disparate? Adam and Pooka crack open M20 Forgotten and Forbidden Orders to spotlight the most compelling crafts in Mage 20—from the dream-walking Noma to the sandstorm-riding Taftani. Along the way, they unpack what works, what doesn’t. Also in this episode: TryItCon 2, a listener review, and what happens when your RPG expectations go sideways.

Show Notes

• TryItCon 2: Tarragon Edition – Now recruiting Storytellers and GMs for this online convention (June 13–15) in memory of Terry Robinson, $20 donation-based, proceeds go to charity
• Night Rangers fiction series ready — Technocratic Texas Rangers fiction
• M20 Forgotten and Forbidden Orders - Final NPC-focused supplement for Mage 20
• The Noma - Reimagined Order of Hermes parallel with African roots
• The Templars - formerly Christian male militants, now inclusive and post-Christian
• The Taftâni - Strongest faction presence in Dubai, though questioned for realism
• The Hollow Ones - Introduces five internal “cliques” (e.g., Moles, Sound Wave Masters)
• The Kahu - Formerly Kopa Loei; modernized, open to diverse recruits

Pooka and Bryce discuss M20 Faces of Magick. One of the final two books of Mage 20, a collection of NPCs, ideas and possibilities.

• M20 Faces of Magick
• Final NPC-focused supplement for Mage 20
• Originally a stretch goal from Lore of the Traditions Kickstarter
• TryItCon 2: Tarragon Edition – Now recruiting Storytellers and GMs for this online convention (June 13–15) in memory of Terry Robinson

Arden Leigh shares her magical journey—from neuro-linguistic programming and trauma healing to chaos magic, sigils, and becoming Grant Morrison’s magical heir. We explore her concept of “repatterning,” her band Arden and the Wolves, the ethics of magical identity, and the risks and rewards of narrative magic in RPGs like Mage: The Ascension. A vivid, vulnerable, and powerful conversation on transforming belief into reality.

Show Notes

• The Repatterning Project - reprogramming life through self-directed ritual and psychology; course includes weekly lectures and group calls, focusing on assessing and resetting patterns for personal growth
• Witch blood and how it relates to her own experiences and magical practices
• The growth of magic culture with the internet, making it more accessible and efficient to learn and practice
• Competitive nature of magic today and the challenges of maintaining control over one's practice
• Bringing magic into role-playing games
• Arden’s upcoming album with her band, Arden and the Wolves, titled The Bourbon Room Sessions
• Arden’s plan to launch her own podcast and write a book, all related to her magical practices and the Repatterning Project

Adam and Pooka discuss Robert W. Chambers' King in Yellow mythos and other stories. Can they inspire Mage stories? Can these two stick to the subject?

Yellow Signs: The Decadent Movement and its Influence on Weird Fiction

Blog article on The Yellow Wallpaper, 1892

Free stories online

Cosmic vs. Abrahamic Horror

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Terry and 3 other hosts discuss World of Darkness Hong Kong

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Adam’s riding solo on this one, and he’s pulling a bundle of helpful tricks and tips out of his Storyteller’s saddlebag—especially for folks just starting out running Mage games. If you’re a veteran, you might hear some familiar ground, but if you’re new to the Storyteller’s seat, this one’s a gold mine.

• 🔍 Mysteries in Mage
  How to prep, run, and avoid dead-ends in investigative stories using the Three Clue Rule, leads vs. evidence, and flexible scene design.
• 📉 Failing Forward
  Why a botched roll doesn’t have to mean failure. Let the players move forward with consequences instead of slamming the brakes.
• 🎲 Let It Ride
  One roll covers an entire scene—less stress, more fun. A simple rule to keep the tension without constant dice-checking.
• 🏙️ Portraying Cities with Flavor
  Bring your setting to life! Split the city into districts, add landmarks and “scenic encounter” tables to make your urban Mage game sing.
• ⏰ Faction Clocks
  A slick little tool to track what NPC factions are up to, using clocks to show progress and raise stakes in the background.
• 😈 Villain Advice
  Three time-tested tips:
  • Let worthy foes emerge from play
  • Keep villains offscreen and safe until the big showdown
  • Don’t be afraid to let bad guys run away when things go south
• 📚 Source of Inspiration
  Much of this wisdom comes from Justin Alexander’s book So You Want To Be A Game Master and his legendary blog The Alexandrian, with Mage-friendly tweaks and examples sprinkled in.
• 🎧 Related Episode
  Missions, Mysteries, and Magick: Paranormal Investigation in Mage - Using weird ⁠artifacts⁠, team dynamics and investigations that make sense in the World of Darkness.