(OT) Ars Magica

[Tempuswolf]

Hate To Rain On The Parade...

but I don't like it all that much.

I'll admit that I have only been playing it a few months and I am still reserving a final judgement, but its first impression on me is not so favorable.

I don't really like the Christian/Magic/Reason paradigm. It reads like every non-Christian in the campaign has nice toasty reservation in the afterlife.

Its too gritty for my tastes. It seems like every session a Grog, Companion, or Mage gets one-shoted by a botch or critical success due to the vagaries of the stress rolls. There is no permanent healing in the game without Corporem vis. Our mage last night when rolling to heal one wound level rolled low enough to die from it (if hadn't he retroactively added his Confidence).

The troupe thing, playing a Mage sometimes, Companion sometimes, Grog sometimes, is not really amenable to a group with 4 players playing at most once a week. There is huge difference in character development from playing a character 48 times a year and 12.

Finally, I find the focus on and resolution of lab work and research through die rolls distracting. The game seems to focus more on the vocation of being a Hermetic mage rather than the adventures of some Hermetic mages and their companions.

 

[Orcus]

I absolutely LOVE Ars Magica. It is BAR NONE the best magic system for any RPG. It is very campaign intensive. You have a covenant of mages and their affiliated characters (called "Grogs"). You normally use a fantastic ancient europe setting (which is its own wonderful sorcebook by the way). The supplemental material is almost universally wonderful. In fact, AM has one of my all time favorite adventures of any system: The Broken Covenant of Calebais.

AM's weakness is: it is not that "light". You need some pretty serious roleplayers to take the time to craft the mages and the other members of the covenant. There is lots of political intrigue between different covenants. This is not a "beer and pretzels" system. It also has some rather clunky non-magic rules. I am not a big fan of AM combat. AM actually cries out (in my mind) for a GURPS version. I think you could actually tailor the spell system to that system. But I might be on crack.

But weaknesses aside, AM is a system like no other and is a wonderful and very fulfilling experience.

Clark

 

[Orcus]

I have actually ported some AM thematic rules into my recent d20 campaign--I require vis (there is a type of vis for each of the schools of magic, plus a few others, etc), for example.

I love the vis idea and having to find and harvest it.

Clark

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I have actually ported some AM thematic rules into my recent d20 campaign

How about sharing some of the good stuff with us? On the House Rules forum maybe?

 

[Andor]

Ars Magica

I love Ars Magica. It does a great job of portraying High Fantasy mages.

As an aside another game that uses almost the same magic system (There are 2 extra verbs and a couple of extra nouns.) and a better (? I haven't actually had a chance to play yet, but it looks good.) combat resolution system is World Tree. Also it has probably the most imaginatively alien world I have yet seen in a game.

It's kind of obscure though, you can check out the website here.

-Andor

 

[The Traveler]

AM actually cries out (in my mind) for a GURPS version. I think you could actually tailor the spell system to that system. But I might be on crack.

Hey, Clark, check out the generic GURPS Magic book. They have a noun+verb casting system already developed. You'd just have to change the nouns and verbs into the ones in Ars Magica, and you'd have the whole thing converted.

That said, Ars Magica, along with Mage the Ascension and its derivatives are the only RPG's I've seen that manage to make magic seem mystical. That's something D&D just can't seem to manage.

I'd recommend picking up a copy of Ars Magica, if only for flavour for your mages in other games.

I don't really like the Christian/Magic/Reason paradigm. It reads like every non-Christian in the campaign has nice toasty reservation in the afterlife.

Er, you're in medieval or renaissance Europe. You expect this to be politically correct? It's just a game, dude.

 

[JohnNephew]

He he he.... I have that one John and I must say that while the Hotz map, my former mentor (I have his job now as mapper for Columbia Games), is awesome I prefer REAL maps such as those found in HârnWorld modules (I have created the ones in the three latest releases).

I think we may be talking about different things. Perhaps I should have clarified that I was referring to the setting of Ars Magica, which is called Mythic Europe. I think you are referring to a specific book with that title, a supplement published by White Wolf in the early '90s, when they owned the game. My point was that Mythic Europe is in basic outline the same as historical Europe (plus some magic and the fantastic); this means the supply of "real" maps out there for this game world is, shall we say, voluminous.

I'm not sure how it is that HârnWorld modules have "REAL" maps, while Eric's map in Mythic Europe is not one; is that a put-down of some kind?

 

[Patrick-S&S]

I'm not sure how it is that HârnWorld modules have "REAL" maps, while Eric's map in Mythic Europe is not one; is that a put-down of some kind?

Not at all. Did I mention that Hotz' was the one I learned my stuff from? Hotz Mythic Europe map is a poetic map which means that the sizes, distance and such are not correct. A typical map created in the middle ages if you like. What I mean by real maps are maps that have a make sense feel to them. Not that fantasy maps sucks but they are usually drawn from the fly and not all that thought out. There are of course those that do.

HârnWorld maps are however extremely detailed and you won't find any deserts, swamps etc. unless it is geographically possible. Now I am not saying Ars doesn't have realistic maps, only too few to mention. Hârn OTOH have tons of them. IMO the best maps in the industry. And you should know that Hotz created most of these to begin with.

 

[The Traveler]

Thing is, Ars Magica doesn't do as many maps for exactly the reasons John stated. Harn is a fantasy world, and thus needs more maps as it's completely fictional. Ars Magica, however, has literally no geographical changes from the real world, and thus the bibliography suffices where an ordinary fantasy world would have more comprehensive maps.

 

[Patrick-S&S]

Thing is, Ars Magica doesn't do as many maps for exactly the reasons John stated. Harn is a fantasy world, and thus needs more maps as it's completely fictional. Ars Magica, however, has literally no geographical changes from the real world, and thus the bibliography suffices where an ordinary fantasy world would have more comprehensive maps.

Well yes and no actually. I would still like to have seen more maps in Ars Magica without having to delve into history books. Have a look at this medieval site that has maps created by using CC2. All the maps are set in Europe and is a small proof that even Ars Magic could spend more pages on maps. The game is great why not let the maps be?

Link: http://www.aedificium.org/