Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary glossary

Modern occult fantasy RPG

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary is modern occult conspiracy fantasy. All nine Spheres, Arete rolls, a Paradox tracker and vulgar-vs-coincidental magick.

Mage (M20) is a dice pool game where your magical capability is expressed through Arete and Spheres. Coincidental vs Vulgar magic changes risk (Paradox). The roll flow has 3 steps: Decide the effect and which Spheres apply. Roll your pool (often Arete with modifiers) and interpret successes as effect/scale. Track risk: Vulgar effects can generate Paradox and consequences.

This page is the entry point to the Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary glossary. The glossary currently holds 70 terms for this game, grouped so you can jump to mechanics, character terms or combat terms.

How to use this page

1. Keep the glossary open at the table when a word in the Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary rulebook is unclear, and use the category cards below to browse instead of scrolling a long list.
2. Open the Mage M20 dice roller when a rule asks for a roll, so the result follows the same mechanic described above.
3. Track what changes on your Mage M20 character sheet, which supports 3 creation modes, so the next session starts from the current state.
4. Move to a sibling page when the question changes: quickstart, rules reference, GM resources, or advancement guide. Each one is built from the same Mage M20 data, so terms and numbers match across pages.
5. Return to the Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary guide for the full overview, including character creation and every tool for this game.

Nothing on this page replaces the published Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary rulebook. It is a working reference for the table: short summaries of the 70 glossary terms listed here, plus links to the tools that act on them.