Mage: The Podcast

Tomes of Magick: Zero Edition, Part 1

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