Easily the worst book for the M20 line to date.

It has no soul, little creative zing, no compelling vision of the Traditions as a unified whole, and much of the writing is mediocre to outright bland. It spends so much time addressing or calling back to old editions of the game that it forgets to tell us what's cool and interesting about playing a Tradition mage NOW. It feels more like a lesser offering of the Storyteller's Vault than an official Mage release.

The good: The write up of The Cult of Ecstasy was engaging and thought provoking. The bad: The Verbena section felt like a particularly weak pastiche of previous work with little to inspire players. The Celestial Chorus bit was so busy trying to expand the appeal of the group or give us alternative takes that it lost the soul of the Tradition.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why I found this book so disappointing. Lore of the Traditions spends too much time, energy, and word count -- particularly for a book this thin -- apologizing (or, should I say, doing apologetics) for events that took place in previous editions of the game. Future Fates was sensible and cool in the 20th anniversary core book, but there's WAY too much of that in Lore of the Traditions. It feels repetitive and overstated in this book, and it's really unnecessary. Just tell us what's fun, interesting, and new about the Traditions. Inspire us without all the "but if you didn't like Mage Revised or the end of the old World of Darkness metaplot, just ignore it," which is what most of the Future Fate stuff boils down to.

Also, a thread of didacticism runs through every Tradition in this book in a way that feels REALLY tedious by the end. What I want from a book like this is playability, fun, and cool in-game goodies (Tradition-specific Merits & Flaws, anyone?), not the subtle (or not-so-subtle) finger wagging that feels like it takes place on nearly every page of this book. Lore of the Traditions should inspire me to want to play a member from each and every Tradition; it should NOT make me feel like I'm being lectured or told what to think. Give me the vehicle; spare me the map. Give me a book that makes me say "Cool!" not a book that makes me say "Sorry." like Bart Simpson after being reprimanded.

This review is, obviously, highly subjective, as all reviews are. I've been playing Mage since 1996. I've had the luxury of reading multiple editions of Tradition books, and this one just feels threadbare in comparison. Players who are new to Mage might find more to love in this volume than I did, and I hope they do.

I still have high hopes for the Disparates book, but it needs to be much better than Lore of the Traditions, otherwise I'll be going back to my sweet old 2nd ed and Sorcerers Crusade books.

Don't buy this book, it's not worth the paper it's printed on.

This book has been written by Americans, for Americans, with the assumption that nothing of value exists outside of America. It's a racist tract of American cultural imperialism.

In order to be transparent, I'm a European, whose family experienced ethnic and political persecution.

The authors bend over backwards to rewrite the lore of the traditions, to make them evil and supportive of crimes against humanity. But it's selective, for example the book is mum about Akashics and Imperial Japan, barely mentioning their support for the real life evil of Chinese Communism. The book however makes sure to tell you the Sons of Ether, when not busy persecuting scientists of color, were supporting Japan in WW2 and their human experiments. The chapter on the Celestial Chorus even states as a fact there are 21st century crusader states in the Middle East, and it's clear the authors mean real world countries (which exactly, they don't say).

Whenever the blame can be put on someone, it's always the white mages who are all collectively racist and sexist, and only women and people of color can stop them.

This book takes established lore, and throws it out, for no gain at all.

And it gets worse when you realize how the book makes everything USA centric. The Verbena are reduced to Wiccan mages in the USA. Not a peep is said about Norse pagans, Neo-Hellenes, or Old Slavic faith. It's all ley lines and covens of witches. The Dreamspeakers chapter, is one long winded rant told from a Native American perspective. Austronesian spirituality? Not there. Siberian shamans? Not a word.

When looking for something, anything, that would be useful, one has to recognize the dearth of material in this book. It has only a handful of pages with rotes, wonders, etc. Some, like Enochian or the Kitab al Alacir are copy pasted from older books. Others, like NFTs, are already outdated as hell.

If you really want solid lore about the Traditions, try finding the old Revised edition guides. They at least offered unbiased takes on the traditions and more crunch.

If you want a book about how and why Traditions exist as "traditions" from the various cultures and have a values both as themselves and as a inspiration for fictionnal interpretation in the game lore, this book is not for you. But if you want a book that reinterpret the various cultures throught the lenses of the very progressive american left, go ahead, cultural assimilation is just a clic away.

Exactly what was missing in lieu of not having tradition books for M20. Fleshing out the tranditions a lot more and give opportunities for more intra-tradition and inter-traditions politics.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It exceeded my expectations. Each of the Traditions have been updated to reflect 2023 conditions, and they make them feel more accessible to a newer player such as myself. Even better, they do it without ignoring or rewriting the past. Instead the make logical descriptions of how each Tradition has been forced to take a look at itself, and decide how it wants to organize and move forward in the modern day. This works best if the Avatar Storm is considered canon at your table, but isn’t necessary. I enjoyed all of the Tradition updates, including those Traditions I generally ignore. In my opinion this is the first time the Cult of Ecstasy/Sahajiya received a decent, in depth, USABLE description. I especially loved the Virtual Adepts, as the description of the Mercurial Elites sounds like a group I would identify with and would want to be a part of if I Awakened in real life. This is an absolute must buy for M20 players and storytellers. I’d even say it’s a great product if you are using Revised rules but want an update for your lore.

This one is SO great! it fixes a lot of issues the traditions have as concepts,updates them. above all else it makes them feel real!