It was solidly written and helped to introduce the settings take on mages and mage society but it just didn't have the imaginative "spark" and tone that I've come to expect from White Wolf introductory fiction (see more about this at the end). The story, written as a journal by a new mage, frankly left me cold. Mage: The Awakening opens with eight pages of introductory fiction. An index, and finally a character sheet at the end. The book is divided as so: A prologue of setting fiction. Overall it's a nice piece, though I think it falls short of the Vampire and Werewolf core books in terms of visual vitality. As an example - the idea of making the Rote section three column - like a certain game publishers Player's Handbook - is cute, but it makes the text hard to follow when combined with art and the large script used in the spell titles. Sections of the book look rushed and the typography can make some parts difficult to read. The book is designed to look like a sorcerer's diary complete with handwritten pieces and a stitched spine look. ![]() Kaluta is superb in creating the runes of the Arcana and I personally loved his illustrations of the Watchtowers and Path Pentacle but he sometimes falls short in his illustration of characters. But I think the game, in terms of aesthetic appeal and also presentation of the setting, would have been stronger with a mix of artists. Let me simply state that I like Kaluta and always have. There has been much debate as to whether having one person do all the art was a wise decision. Kaluta produced all of the illustrations in the book. Problems, the new World of Darkness Books are far better in appearance and production value than most of their predecessors. Two, that the gold ink makes reading sometimes difficult depending on the light. One, that the black ink smeared at the touch in my book when I first purchased it. I do have two issues with the interior production of the book though. The pages are solidly stitch square bound and I have not experienced any problem with loose pages or the books spine breaking. The interior is two-color, black and gold metallic inks. A 400 page hardcover book with a full color cover, gold metallic ink type and a nice coated varnish presentation of the Path Pentacle. In general Mage is a pleasant looking product. Mage: The Awakening is the fifth iteration of the game (Mage: The Ascension 1, 2 and Revised, Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade and Dark Ages: Mage) originally created by Stewart Wieck and White Wolf Game Studio(WW). With that said, here's my review of the new World of Darkness (WOD) game of high magick (oops.) - Mage: The Awakening. ![]() Second, both reading and playtesting the new Mage: The Awakening has formed my opinion of the game. First, yes this is my first review for RPG.net.
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