Mage: The Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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.

• 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.

Adam and Terry discuss Mage20 Sorcerer. What do the sorcerers and psychics of the World of Darkness get up to when they can't learn Sphere magick?

Mage the Podcast social media links

Website

http://magethepodcast.com

Patreon

https://bit.ly/MagePatreon

Bluesky

https://bsky.app/profile/magethepodcast.bsky.social

Mastodon

https://dice.camp/@magethepodcast

Threads

https://www.threads.net/@magethepodcast

Discord

https://discord.gg/7rsy59Zz

What’s the state of Enlightened technology in the 16th century? How do Craftmasons view Artificers? Adam and Terry talk sacred geometry, Ars Preclarus, and SC-era submarines in The Artisans Handbook.

• The Artisans Handbook - This book
• Sorcerers Crusade Companion - Next book
• Book of Days - Changeling book of holidays and events
• Bog Bodies - MOAR MUMMIES
• Paradigms Explored: Fairy-Faith - Another paradigm book!
• Kithbook: Dullahan - Book on headless horsefolk
• Magickal Capital - Mage corporations

The Mythos crawls with cosmic horrors but what of the smaller ones? Can we add the Yithians or Shuggoths to the World of Darkness? Bryce and Terry talk Bokrug, Mi-Go and Deep Ones and how to add them to your games.

Dark Days Radio - Bryce's other podcast

Monster Man Podcast 

Michael Shea

The Egg by Andy Weir 

S. Petersen's Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands

S. Petersen's Field Guide to Lovecraftian Horrors

Petersen's Field Guide to Cthulhu Monsters: A Field Observer's Handbook of Preternatural Entities

Lovecraft wiki

Delta Green, Agent's Handbook

Esoterrorists 2nd Edition

McSweeney's Olive Garden Menu 

Werewolves have caerns, vampires have havens, what do magi have in the Renaissance? Adam and Terry talk Order strongholds, Doissetep, Horizon, and strange other places in Tomes of Magick: Castles and Covenants.

Castles and Covenants - This book

Trilemma Adventure Maps - Detailed period maps

How have Bygones changed across editions, where do they come from, and how can we use them in our games? Josh and Terry talk theories, dealing with Paradox, how to make your own, and a hearty helping of plot hooks.

• Myths and Legends of Our Land - Book of NA folk lore
• Esoterrorists - Gumshoe game on the odd things that can sneak through reality
• Book of Unremitting Horrors - Esoterrorist monsters
• Magimundi Bestiary 5th Edition (5e) - Folklore inspired monsters
• Gods and Monsters -M20 book of building your own monster
• Tomes of Magick: M20 Gods and Monsters - Our review of Gods and Monsters
• Bygone Bestiary - Book of Bygones for World of Darkness

Technomancers have a strange relationship with paradox, so what of their tech is likely near and what's far off? Dr. Steven Novella, author of The Skeptics' Guide to the Future discusses telepathy, AI experts, and pet chupacabras.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Future - The book this conversation is based on

Skeptics' Guide to the Universe Podcast

2d20 Fallout - Modiphius's licensed Fallout RPG

Genesys Star Wars - Fantasy Flight RPG

Time perception as we fall experiment

The Renaissance world crawls towards the light of enlightenment but shadows lurk with infernalists, demons, and horrors. Adam and Terry talk the Absolute, Aesfotedia, and Ahrimanites in Infernalism: The Path of Screams.

Infernalism: The Path of Screams - This book
Castles and Covenants - Next book
M20 The Book of the Fallen - A large contemporary version
The Garden of Adompha - Story by Clark Ashton Smith

World of Darkness has varied views on the divine while In Nomine is clear: A distant god and a bitter lucifer brood while their angels and demons pursue their agendas. Griffin and Terry discuss how to jam that into Mage.

In Nomine - Core Rulebook

The Story Told - Podcast where Griffin runs the Promethean actual play

Promethean MtP Episode - Also with Griffin!

Demon the Descent

Demon the Descent Quickstart

Demon the Fallen Core