Ars Magica is one of my favourite games. As others have said, it is built around fundamentally different concepts to most RPGs.
Each player has a Magus and a Companion, and we have always had a grog of our own as well, rather than sharing them out as you are technically supposed to. Also we have never shared the GM duties - each campaign we've played has had only one ref.
The mages are indeed head and shoulders above the rest. Consider one particular spell - Aura of Righteful Authority. This is a Rego Mentem spell (Mind Control) that gives you total control over all mundane characters within range (i.e. pretty much anyone who isn't a mage). This spell alone will stop most 'traditional' adventures in their tracks.
There are three clever mechanisms that make this work, however:
Firstly, mages get more powerful by staying home and studying than they do by going on adventures, so you normally only have one or at most two mages who want to go on an adventure.
Secondly, as the mages normally all want to stay home on study they normally end up taking turns on going on the adventures, meaning that each player gets to be the 'super character' for a few sessions then someone else gets to be in the power spotlight.
Finally, the campaign world is created such that the mages are stopped from meddling in non-magical matters (so no dominating kings or bishops e.t.c.). This keeps the mages grounded and means that they still have some mundane concerns to worry about.
The game is great fun if you like political games. All the PCs normally live in the same covenant, a magical comune if you like. These are usually run along democratic lines, with mages holding meetings and voting on issues that affect the covenant, such as how the vis will be shared out. The twist is that your vote is based on your mage's sigil which is their personal symbol and badge of membership of the Hermetic Order. But you might not have your own sigil, your master might have it. Or you might have the sigils of other magi won through Certemen (magical duels) or some other machinations. So there is lots of opportunity for petty squabbles and politicing between mages, which is fun if you like that sort of thing. My wife described it as like being on a negotiation skills training course, though, and didn't enjoy it one bit.
Another aspect that we have always enjoyed is that if you make your three characters very different to each other, then playing each usually becomes a joy in itself. For example, your mage might be a crafter of magical devices, whilst your companion might be a knight and your grog might be a serving maid with a nose for gossip (one of my friends played this character and she was hoot)! Depending on the tone of the adventure, one of your characters is likely to fit in and want to go, but the others will be happy to stay home. And you get a totally different RP-ing experience for the duration of the adventure.
If you have a group of players who are into fantasy and full-on roleplaying then give it a go. If your group are more into action-RPGing (nothing wrong with that mind) then it's probably not for you.
If in doubt, give it a go!
Cheers,
Dan
)that are shared by everyone. You only play one PC at a time though - if the "adventure" calls for your Bjornaer wilderness-mage to go out and do something, your city-bred Companion stays home (it's recommended that you make your companion and magus rather different from one another, so they'd logically have little reason to adventure together). In addition, the GMing (or "storyteller") role is supposed to be shared by the players, though I think that's far less common than multiple characters.
