Do you own Ars Magica? Will you?

[HOT]

Started playing when 4th ed came out and liked it although it had it's quirks. 3rd ed might have had more flair, but I found it unreadable, and also it lacked guidelines. I preferred the clarity (at least of fonts) of 4th. I've looked at the prevoius editions and I think 5th is the best of the bunch really.
I've played several campaigns of Ars (Rome, Normandy, even Middle-Earth) and GM'ed one based loosely on Triamore. Now I'm a player and an occational GM in our Novgorod (Polotsk) campaign, which has lasted for three and a half years. We converted to 5th in January and we never looked back. The time used for rules discussion has been quite reduced, and the new lab rules are a beaty.
HOT

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Can't vote to reflect my answer - I'd download it to read, but with no prior intention of playing or expectation that I'll be inspired to do so.

 

[MummyKitty]

It's most disappointing, in a way, that it is 4e that is the free edition. It is the most boringly written (IMHO; I haven't read 2e or 1e). 3e and 5e have much more flair, and 5e is also easier to pick up.
Still, enjoy

Not to mention art work-- 3e has much better art work. What happened in 4e? I can see not using the same art work but they also seem to have really cut back on art, and what is there is not very good. How is the art in 5e?

 

[Yair]

Not to mention art work-- 3e has much better art work. What happened in 4e? I can see not using the same art work but they also seem to have really cut back on art, and what is there is not very good. How is the art in 5e?

What happened in 4e is that Atlas had a much lower budget then White Wolf, and much lower artistic qualtiies as well. Ars Magica 3e is the predecessor of Vampire, and looks that way too.

5e art is... problematic. It's far better than 3e in quality, that's for sure. But it is a mixture of styles, and one dominant style (seen on the cover) is apparently trying to mimic medieval art and ending up looking more like a bad cartoon (to me, anyways). There are some fine pieces of art in 5e, some cartoony ones, and some who are just not very good, but overall I'd say the art is superior to 4e.
The graphic design is certainly superior to 4e, much more colorful and slick.

 

[Hand of Evil]

HoE, I may want to talk to you about AD---I've been looking for details/copies of that for _years_.....

It is interesting.

 

[Hand of Evil]

You wouldn't happen to be one of the very few special people who own a copy of The Bats of Mercille?

I have been hunting that one missing book for at least 5 year now. It's the only whole in my otherwise complete collection

I have more or less given up any hope of finding it, but maybe a copy could be bought?

Håkon
long time ArM-fan

You know I think I do have that! Let me double check.

 

[MaxKaladin]

Interesting. I don't think it fits Pavaric magic all that well but I might be wrong about that

He's still using Ars Magica magic rather than Pavaric magic. What he is doing is sticking AM into the context of Harn. The Order of Hermes, for instance, replaces the Shek P'var as Harn's secretive magical organization and so on.