Worth it!

Yes the book is very LARGE. Thats because they had to fit so much in. Everything from more clarity on how magic dificulties work, how to explain paradigms to your players (which was a problem ive seen even so called experinced players have issues with) to having entries on ALL of the groups of mages. Every tradition, every convention, and every craft.

Is it new player friendly? Yes and no. As far as how the rules have been cleared up? Absolutly. The only factor against new players and this book is again its sheer size is nothing short of intimidating. An experinced storyteller however can easily help guide their players, and a new one starting out couldnt hurt getting a quickstart guide.

How hard is it for new players to grasp? Well I have a friend who had NEVER played a single storyteller system game in his life and a week after getting the book was running a Mage game of his own. Storyteller system has always been more intuitive for new players then most other TTRPG's out there and Mage 20th only made it better.

Beyond the rules mage 20th does a fantastic job catching the world of mage up on the last 20 years. Current technology and events are factored into the plots and some of the meta plots of ages past are presented in a "Take your pick" fashion so a storyteller doesnt have to include things like the Avatar storm if they really dont want to. The golden rule still applies and always has- Have fun!

All in all Mage 20th is the very best of all of the old World of Darkness anniversery editions and was worth every penny.