Has the free Ars Magica pdf increased your purchases?

[Yair]

Is there any place you cans till DL this pdf for free? I always hear about this system, but have never seen it AFAIK.

Unfortunately, as of yesterday, there is no place to download the pdf for free. There is indeed a strong possibility, according to the Atlas forums, that their withdrawl from RPGNow will result in them dropping the free download entirely - if not, then it should appear on e23.sjgames.com at some point.

Their d20 stuff, some of which was written by the primary creator of Eberron (how cool is. . . no, never mind ), is generally fantastic. Occult Lore is one of my faves, as is Dynasties and Demagogues.

I really love their flavor, or fluff. Not that crazy over the mechanics. Love & War was surprisingly good, but I found Occult Lore too esoteric and complex. I always wanted to get Dynasties and Demagogues, but never got around to it...

Yes, they have excellent, original, d20 stuff.

 

[Treebore]

I downloaded the pdf but never read it. I almost bought Ars MAgica today, but it was because some members on the Castles and Crusades boards have come that close to persuading me.

As for Atlas D20, I own a lot of it. I think I am only 3 or 4 books short of all of it.

 

[Glyfair]

Yes, they have excellent, original, d20 stuff.

The worst I can say about them is that the adventures were very hit & miss. In fact, in the beginning their d20 adventures varied every single release (good, bad, great, poor, good...) Outside of their adventures, I haven't been disappointed in a single d20 product of theirs.

 

[Ace]

No. I do have the PDF and have owned Ars Magica book before. However I have no play group with any interest in the game. I don't buy games I don't plan to play.

 

[Yair]

No. I do have the PDF and have owned Ars Magica book before. However I have no play group with any interest in the game. I don't buy games I don't plan to play.

If I followed that policy, I'd have a much smaller gaming library

Getting a party to play ArM is hard, well harder than getting a D&D party. I've been in a few, but they never lasted. So now I'm setting up my old D&D gang again, and play ars magica PbPs. :\

 

[Thomas Percy]

The poll is unclear for me.
I love Atlas for Penumbra and I bought Penumbra pdfs.
I discovered Penumbra for me thanks to EnWorld reviews, not above mentioned pdf.
I download this pdf and read it, but I didn't buy any Ars Magica books, because I have old ones from '90.

 

[Eosin the Red]

A while ago, Atlas Games released the entire core book of Ars Magica Fourth Edition as a pdf for free download (through RPGNow). Years have passed, and RPGNow no longer carries Atlas' goods. What I'm wondering, is whether having the free pdf caused you to make purchases from Atlas that you otherwise wouldn't, whether Atlas Games earned your money as a result of putting out the pdf for free.

So: Has the free Ars Magica pdf increased your purchases?

I never gave Ars much of a chance but since downloading the PDF and being impressed by the work, I have accumulated half-a-dozen titles/adventures.

 

[greywulf]

I voted "The free product is (almost) the sole reason I don't purchase Atlas products", but not for the obvious reason.

The free Ars Magica book contains everything you need to start and run a campaign from the ground up. You don't need anything else. As someone else said - it's /too/ good.

I'd put it down as one of the Five Best Role-Playing Games of all time. Just don't ask me what the other four are (errmm... Rolemaster, HERO, oh I give up)

I'm very thankful to Atlas for making it available for free, though I think it was a marketing mistake for them to do so. They gave away their crown jewels, thus devaluing everything else. Not a clever move. Far better would have been to offer the usual reduced version (say, a "players' guide") then sell the Ars Magica PDF. But hey, what do I know.

Guys, if you haven't got it though, it's well worh paying for. I'm tempted to buy it anyhow - even though I've got the 4th Edition print edition and free 5th Edition PDF - just to show them my support.

It's great as a game system in it's own right, and any d20 GM worth his salt will be drooling and aching to convert the setting to his homeworld.

I'll say it again. It's /that/ good!

 

[grodog]

No. I own the paperback version of 3rd Edition and neither it or the 4th edition PDF has sparked any creativity into me. AM is DOA for me.

That's a shame, Frukathka: 3rd ArM is a rather bloated edition, which isn't the one I would want anyone to use as the basis for the game. I like the new 5th edition a lot, since it returns to many of the benefits of the 1st and 2nd editions, without the bloat and WW-universe links that permeate the 3rd edition.

If you like the premise, but the the execution of ArM 3rd/4th, you might consider checking out either 2nd edition or 5th edition, which are much cleaner games.

 

[grodog]

I love Ars Magica! I have all 5 editions and almost everything ever printed for it. That being said, I can't get my players to try playing it. Between their objections to Mythic Europe and objections to learning a new system it has proven problematic.

ArM is quite portable as a system, and doesn't have to be tied to the Mythic European setting at all. One of the most enjoyable ArM games I've played was set in the WFRP universe (we used the ArM magic system for magic, since Realms of Sorcery was still vaporware back in 1990). I've also enjoyed fantasying-up Mythic Europe from time to time, to the point of the game looking more like D&D than the traditional, rooted-in-history ME from ArM.

Year ago I was part of an Ars Magica campaign that lasted a couple of years and worked through three decades of game time. Gods that was fun.

That's one of the things I miss the most about 1e: 3e's quick level progression prevents development of long-term goals, long-term play considerations that come when it takes awhile for PCs to rise in level. These become more important as the PC increases in level, and conducts spell research, the creation of magic items, gathers followers, establishes a stronghold, etc., and the more wargaming/management aspect to the game comes to the fore. (Quick level progression is actually discussed in some letters in Dungeon 141 this month).

Anyway, ArM campaigns have that kind of longer-term view built into them, at the mechanics level, which can be a refreshing change of pace from the "hurry and level up to 20" that 3.x represents (if you like that kind of thing, of course ).