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 show here.

• Beyond the Barrier: The Book of Worlds - Step through the Gauntlet and explore endless realms.
• Tomes of Magick episode - Adam and Terry take us on a wild Umbra tour: gods, dreams, and dinosaurs beyond the Barrier.
• Infinite Tapestry - Mages brave storm-torn roads to rediscover lost realms and rekindle the world’s magic.
• Tomes of Magick: Infinite Tapestry episode - Adam and Terry weave through the Umbra’s mysteries in Infinite Tapestry.
• Bygone Bestiary - Unleash your inner dragon and dance with monsters/
• Tomes of Magick: Bygone Bestiary episode - Adam and Terry wrangle dragons, unicorns, and more.
• Book of Crafts: Whispers of Dissent - Step off the main path and meet voodoo priests, alchemists and Amazons.
• Tomes of Magick: Book of Crafts: Whispers of Dissent - Adam and Terry meet mambos, dragon wizards and kahunas.
• Gods & Monsters - Meet gods, beasts and odd friends—the World of Darkness just got wilder
• Tomes of Magick: M20 Gods and Monsters episode - Adam and Terry chat Loa, HIT Marks and godforms.

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)

Mage the Podcast social media links

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Mastodon

https://dice.camp/@magethepodcast

Threads

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

Discord

https://discord.gg/7rsy59Zz

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.

• 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.

• 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 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.

• TryItCon 2: Terry Con - online convention dedicated to the idea that there are great games yet to try, great people yet to be met, and great ideas yet to be learned
• Victorian Mage: Bizarre Tales and Unusual Characters
• Expanded adventures: “Wee” Brazil’s vanishing island, Le Fleur du Mal’s decadent occultists, “Voice of God” cosmic horror
• Umbra exploration: conspiracies in the Fortress of Government, the River of Language, Victorian values embodied in the Spire of Modern Virtue

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.