I am mulling the idea of running a mage game.  I personally like the power system of Mage the awakening a bit more than Mage the Ascension, but I know it's not everyone's preference.  I wanted to see, which game had more interest, so I could decide which to work toward running.

The general opinion as I understand it is that Mage the Awakening has far better mechanics and systems, but Mage the Ascension has superior lore and theme.

That's the general opinion of all the world of darkness material. The New world has better system and works better with other splits. The old world has waaaaaay better lore. I mean in my opinion the lore for werewolf the forsaken is crafts stick. Give me a last ditch effort by the Garon anyday.

So I'd go for ascension if only for the lore.

Well, the entire purpose of the Chronicles of Darkness versions is that they very specifically stray from heavy lore/metaplot so that you can build your game how you want to. I agree that the Ascension lore is a little better, but the system is just a little worse to boot. That said, if you were thinking about running an Ascension game, I would more than likely be there checking it out.

If you were thinking of Awakening, the 2e book is probably coming out fairly soon. As of Onyx Path's last Monday update, Awakening was making a few corrections before submitting it to their publishing beach for the go-ahead.

That's the general opinion of SOME fans of the old world. I think consensus reality is incredibly lame. Saying your entire setting is a philosophical argument isn't lore, it's an interesting idea for a one-shot game taken way, way too far.

Hostile half-lost gnosticism centered around legends of an Atlantean ur-empire who stole divinity from the tombs of dragons and were cast down in the process of laying siege to the very gates of Heaven? Mystery-obsessed souls tearing free from the funeral shrouds of false gods, Awakening to a haunted world with only their human will and Wisdom to guide new miracles of sorcery capable of transforming or unmaking it?

THAT is LORE.

Voting for Awakening.

I love Owod, but I think that the Lore for Mage: Awakening is a superior product. It is not as cut and dry as the technocracy vs the traditions, but the idea of ascending up to the watchtowers is excellent.

I think that both of the games have their pros and cons. I can't comment much on the mechanics, although I had easier time grasping the magic system in Ascension than in Awakening. When it comes to the lore, both of the games have much to offer, with Awakening being more sensible and Ascension being more... wild.

When it comes to other OWoD and NWoD games? There's no clean rule that OWoD's lore is better than NWoD's. I prefer OWoD Demon to the NWoD game, but NWoD Changeling is one of the best games White Wolf has ever made. NWoD Hunter is amazing, too...

Anyway, I'd up for playing any Mage game - OWoD or NWoD one!

I'd love to play either one, though i would point out that the Mage Conversion Guide gives excellent guidelines for using either system with either setting, so it is theorhetically possible to combine OWoD metaplot with NWoD mechanics. I have actually done so myself, and it worked great.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the user at 01:31, Tue 10 May 2016.

I've been pondering over the past few weeks of starting up a nWoD mage game. I want to use a module though I'm not terribly impressed by the two on offer. I think I'll retrofit a Shadowrun module. EDIT: I just bought Revised for Awakened so I'm interested to Storytell test the new stuff.
This message was last edited by the user at 06:23, Tue 10 May 2016.

Have to agree with Sleeping Darkness!  Playing oWoD ruined me.  We played every single game for the old system and had fun for years.  When the new WoD books came out I read through them and was so happy, but we could not bring ourselves to play them.  We had spent too long with the old games and couldn't bring ourselves to cross over.
  In my opinion the lore and concept of each race in the new games is superior.  The mechanics are way better and there is no impending doom of a Gehenna/ Apocalypse/ Whatever...  Also the old Mage is forever ruined by the fact they had to cross it into all the other games to make their version of apocalypse happen.  It was cheap and I think the Technocracy is completely lame for it.

This message was deleted by a moderator, as it was off-topic, at 18:16, Tue 10 May 2016.

So here is my two cents worth.

 The Lore of OWoD is steeped in history and familiarity. NWoD is less so. That being said cross-splat OWOD was a headache unless you basically do what NWoD was designed at the outset to do.

OWoD was NEVER designed to actually have Mages, Werewolves, and Vampires in the same game. NWOD WAS designed for that purpose alone. Which is why the mechanics are "better". That being said I prefer NWOD for cross-splat because the mechanics are cleaner.

Other than the whole Atlantis thing OWoD and NWOD Mages are remarkably similar. The reasons for why and how they came to be are different as night and day. They both reference the time when matter and energy were one. They both had a reason as to why that is no longer the case (Werewolves & Exarchs). The one way that NWoD failed compared to OWOD is the endgame. NWOD doesn't have one.

Going to cast another vote for Awakening, especially if it's the recently released new edition.

I'll put my vote in for Awakening, and for 2.0 if that's the version considered.