The covenant/multi-character/troupe style of play is one of my favorite features of Ars Magica!
We have three players who are completely new to Ars in our saga. All of them have commented on how much the like this system after having actually gotten a chance to use it in play.
For those who don't know. In Ars Magica it is assumed that you will be making a minimum of four different characters.
The first character that you make is the Covenant. This is the base locale that all of the other characters will be working from. This can be the traditional wizards tower off in the wilderness or could be a townhouse in a city, or a series of caves, etc, etc. All of the players get together at the begining of the saga and have a hand in creating the Covenant.
The next character is the Magus/Maga. This is often thought of as the player's main character, and is the most powerful or versitile character that the player will have.
The player then creates a Companion. This usually a mundane but skilled character that is associated with the Covenant (not the player's Magus). Examples include troubadors, rogues, huntsmen, knights, merchants, priests, etc. It can also include fae, and minor magic workers like old wise-woman, or prophets.
Lastly the player makes a number of Grogs. These are the spear-carriers of the saga. Men-at-arms, servants, artisans, etc. All Magi have a shield-grog that protects them in case of battle, and then you can have any number of others (depending on how things went during covenant creation). The grogs are held in common amoungst all of the players, and are made in an intentionally 2 dimensional manner, so that they are easy for multiple people to roleplay.
The great thing about this system is that it allows you to split up the party without having any of the players feeling left out.
For example, a common session will go something like this:
A problem occurs and the covenant must deal with it. The Magi convene a council to decide what will be done. Here everyone will play their Magi characters and come to a consensus on how the problem will be dealt with and who will take care of it. It is decided that Cassius the Flambeau magus will be the one to lead the group that will deal with the problem. William the woodsman goes to scout the way, Lady Janice the scholar wants to study the problem, and Magda the cut-purse goes in case things get sticky. In addition they take four grogs as muscle. Now you can cut scene between what is happening with the adventuring party and any addtional situations that might crop up back at the covenant. Also, if the companions all decide to go into town and the magus decides to stay away (since his Gift might cause problems) the grogs can stay with him and as the story focuses on one group or the other, the players all still have a character to play.
It sometimes takes people a bit of playing to get into this system, but it is much more flexible and allows for many more styles of storytelling than the standard one player, one character system.
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Speaking of Covenant creation... In the fifth edition they made covenants a bit more like actual characters. You have a number of base stats (Library, Spells, Vis, Enchanted Items and Specialists) that are bought with a pool of points that are determined according to the age of the Covenant. Then you have a set of Boons and Hooks that work much like Virtues and Flaws for rounding out the covenant. It's pretty simple, but does the job. I would still like to see something like the Covenants book from 2nd edition, but this will do for now.
