Ars Magica - Experiences

[TarionzCousin]

It was great. Our setting was medieval Wales during the English castle-building phase, playing Nationalists. Everything was wonderful.

Then the GM's best friend and his girlfriend (both in the game) split up and the GM sided with her and his now ex-best friend threatened to kill us all if she played in "his" game.

Ah, good times.

 

[pogre]

I have tried to get a couple of games going, but alas, they were always short-lived. I always like the system a LOT more than my players.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I'm going to be playing in my first game in a few weeks. We're doing Robin of Sherwood, and I'm playing, uh, Robin.

This Robin, however, can turn into a Stag, as well as shooting bows and fighting with swords.

Most of the rest of the group are pretty experienced and I'm hoping they can guide me though the first few sessions until I work out what's going on. Character creation is very complicated, but the game itself looks like great fun.

 

[ArghMark]

I'm sorry your players aren't to your liking, Pogre D)

I thought it was interesting when DrunkonDuty is not for 'casual' gamers. I'm pretty sure most of my players are fairly casual.. what do you guys think? System is just too much for gamers who don't want to invest past beer and chips?

 

[Nagol]

I'm sorry your players aren't to your liking, Pogre D)

I thought it was interesting when DrunkonDuty is not for 'casual' gamers. I'm pretty sure most of my players are fairly casual.. what do you guys think? System is just too much for gamers who don't want to invest past beer and chips?

Running the suggested campaign structure can get involved.

Thw mages have to prepare and plan out seaonal activities and that sub-game does involve system mastery.

Troupe style play also involves creating multiple characters and deciding which character will engage with which adventure.

A covenant of mages, the basic setting, usually ends up with some intra-group political manoeuvering.

All that said, taking the game away from these precepts isn't hard. We ran two successful games with differing construction. One was just Companions (Consorti now I think) in a world ruined by Mage Wars. The other was a "Black Company" style mercenary group where the mages were slightly toned down, but their access to laboratory and vis was close to non-existent. Each player built a single character for both these campaigns.

 

[Votan]

Just wondering.. how many people play? How many people have even heard of the game, and would they play if they had heard about it? What are your experiences with the game and have you any stories to share about it?

I have owned at least one edition of it and would be interested in reading the latest (5th edition) if I came across a copy. Never quite remember to order it (and gmaing stories rarely carry the exotic games these days).


I would play it in a heartbeat as I liked the ideas behind the system quite a bit.

 

[jdrakeh]

Could I ask why players weren't interested, jdrakeh?

Sure. In almost every instance it was because Ars Magica wasn't D&D and/or WoD. Pretty much the same problem I have whenever I try to run anything that isn't D&D and/or WoD. So, to summarize, less an issue with the rules than with the player pool and their unwillingness to journey outside of their comfort zone.

 

[Fifth Element]

So, to summarize, less an issue with the rules than with the player pool and their unwillingness to journey outside of their comfort zone.

Don't be too quick to judge. Not everyone places value on trying new things. Some people prefer to stick with what they know and love.

 

[jdrakeh]

Don't be too quick to judge. Not everyone places value on trying new things. Some people prefer to stick with what they know and love.

Uh. . yes? What you have just described is precisely what I described — an unwillingness to venture out of one's comfort zone. Also, don't you be too quick to assume that you know my friends better than I do.

 

[Fifth Element]

Uh. . yes? What you have just described is precisely what I described — an unwillingness to venture out of one's comfort zone.

Sorry - I thought you were implying you thought badly of them for behaving that way. An unwillingness to do something, in that it's something they should be doing but are refusing. If that's not what you meant, my apologies.