{"id":411,"date":"2024-12-05T18:18:54","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T00:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/?p=411"},"modified":"2024-12-05T18:18:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T00:18:54","slug":"deep-musings-on-mages-recommended-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/2024\/12\/05\/deep-musings-on-mages-recommended-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Musings on Mage’s Recommended Books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As I type this I’m in the final stages of finishing my Web application for letting people peruse my database of books and films recommended in Mage the Ascension books. I condensed all the recommendations into a database so I could save time pulling books off my shelf and trying to find them. In the process, I realized I could sift through and find patterns. For example, do the first edition authors like the same books as the Mage 20 authors?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While working on this project I developed opinions on RPG book recommendations. Reading through Dungeons & Dragons’ Appendix N list<\/a> helped too. I believe there are right ways and wrong ways to suggest further reading for RPG fans. This post required me to sit down and refine my opinions. Sitting in an armchair converts one’s thoughts to “deep musings”. Try it sometime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First off, whether book or film, a recommendation in an RPG book should help the reader run or participate in the RPG. If the RPG book’s author advocates something for any other reason he’s either misunderstanding his job or abusing his privileges. There are many recommendations in Mage books that really look like the authors pushing their lifestyle or worldview. When Brucato listed Barefoot Doctor’s Handbook for Modern Lovers<\/em> in Book of Secrets, did that help anyone run Mage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My thoughts on how to properly recommend books in the pages of Mage the Ascension falls into four categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Core Books<\/strong> – Core rule books, players guides, Storytellers Handbooks. These are books that address the game as a whole. Reading lists in these books should not get specific but try to help people run the game in a general sense. “Help” can be rather vague when you try to dissect it but gamers know it when they see it. Ideas for running games, books that express the themes or mood of the game, etc. Although longer than it needed to be, Book of Mirrors’ list was quite good. Also, giving the inspirations behind the game. The 1st Edition rule book did an excellent job of that.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Faction Books<\/strong> – Books that focus on a faction that is open to players should give ideas for portraying the group. This can be rather expansive. The culture or customs that inspired the faction are fair game. Stories that involve the kind of activities the faction would pursue are good too. The first Celestial Chorus Tradition book and the first New World Order Convention book featured great reading lists.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Location Books<\/strong> – The lists in these books should focus on the place the book covers. They don’t need to be long to be effective. Fallen Tower: Las Vegas did an exemplary job. It gave a Fodor’s travel guide, a book describing how casino games work and several books and films that covered stories that take place in the city as well as the organized crime groups that have always been associated with it. Isle of the Mighty covered the British Isles but it also did a good job. Travel guides, famous authors of the Isles, the Mabinogian. I was disappointed they left out A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend & Folklore<\/a> but you can’t have everything.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Other Supplements<\/strong> – Mage books that don’t fit into the above three categories should help people run games with recommendations specific to their topic. Book of Worlds is more about an aspect of Mage’s setting than a location. It has a wonderful list of books and films to inspire Storytellers and players alike. It hits the sweet spot of having enough to keep a person busy but not too much.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    That sums up my thoughts on recommendation lists in RPG books. Hopefully it will help you when working on your own projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As I type this I’m in the final stages of finishing my Web application for letting people peruse my database of books and films recommended in Mage the Ascension books. I condensed all the recommendations into a database so I could save time pulling books off my shelf and trying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,36,7],"tags":[29],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gearsonline.net\/fantasy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}