PbP Ars Magica- Recruiting [Closed] - covenant/character design on the go!

[Old Fezziwig]

I'm fine with that time and place -- Southern France, late 12th century -- if everyone else is (and, actually, being new to AM, I think that going covenant first might help me create a character -- I'm a little out to sea with some of the rules, but it's kind of hard to read them on a computer screen). I also like Someone's idea. Maybe the two can be combined?

Nick

 

[Someone]

It wouldn´t be difficult. I also like the languedoc in the 12-13th century; it´s a classic, the society is near to the popular idea of the middle ages and the relations between nobility and church are complex and a good source of ideas for adventures.

If nobody has any other idea, it´s time to go a little deeper. Where exactly would the covenant be located, in a city or near one (Carcasonne would be a great choose) or more isolated in the Pirinees (sp?)? Did our group create the covenant, or are our characters "fresh blood" joining an existing one?

BTW, KL, don´t worry too much about the rules; they can be detailed (or extense), but not difficult. The difficult part is actually to have a clear concept of what you want.

 

[taitzu52]

If nobody has any other idea, it´s time to go a little deeper. Where exactly would the covenant be located, in a city or near one (Carcasonne would be a great choose) or more isolated in the Pirinees (sp?)? Did our group create the covenant, or are our characters "fresh blood" joining an existing one?

Well, as Ghostknight said, the covanent needs to define it's direction. I'm not too sure if he said it simply to avoid the stereotypical D&D motley crew of 7 iconoclasts who dedided to work together, but it does make for a great challenge of making characters with at least one solid common interest. I say challenge because most systems provide a vehicle which I find players overuse to define their characters as unique, that is, the character creation rules. Here, we are all human, all European, and have decided to plant their roots in a certain place. If some characters are indeed deviant to the covanent's norm, I'd rather it be for the purpose of driving plot, not to show the other players how damn special you are.
Sorry if I sound rude, but I'm trying to avoid the "Look at me, I'm a drow!" syndrom. It's tempting, we are making characters that wield rediculous powers, I just want everyone to make good characters, not just vehicles for the stats. I'd like to go cliche in the theatrical form, and ask ourselves, "What is this character's motivation?"

So now that I've jumped the gun on character creation, let's go back to the covanent. Let's ask ourselves some questions about this:
Do we have a common magical interest?
(scools, philosophies, style of practice)
A common enemy?
(The Church, a rival covanent, malevolent forces)
A common lifestyle?
(hermetic, aesetic, militant, vegan )
Do we posess a unique object or knowledge?
(magic item, library, names, etc.)

Any more you folks can think of?
Thanks for hearing me out!

TZ

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Some questions: How old is the covenant? Do we have any allies (which would be the back end for taitzu52's question about enemies)?

As far as location, I slightly prefer something quasi-removed from the city, although not too far away. Maybe a day's ride outside the city?

For a common enemy, if we run with Someone's idea of a covenant trying to establish its independence from the Order of Hermes, then we're going to be locking horns with the Order fairly frequently, although they wouldn't necessarily be an enemy. This would probably also put us between the Order and the Church at times as the two try and play us off each other. If we're mixed up in the Cather heresy, then we'll have to deal with the Church, too, I imagine.

Nick

 

[Someone]

Sorry if I sound rude, but I'm trying to avoid the "Look at me, I'm a drow!" syndrom. It's tempting, we are making characters that wield rediculous powers, I just want everyone to make good characters, not just vehicles for the stats.

I agree, that´s why I suggested to make (design?) the covenant before the characters. I´m merely not a good communicator.

I'd like to go cliche in the theatrical form, and ask ourselves, "What is this character's motivation?"

So now that I've jumped the gun on character creation, let's go back to the covanent. Let's ask ourselves some questions about this:
Do we have a common magical interest?
(scools, philosophies, style of practice)
A common enemy?
(The Church, a rival covanent, malevolent forces)
A common lifestyle?
(hermetic, aesetic, militant, vegan )
Do we posess a unique object or knowledge?
(magic item, library, names, etc.)

Any more you folks can think of?
Thanks for hearing me out!

TZ

Let´s say we all make characters that are not trusted by the Order, and have gathered to allow themselves a bigger deal of freedom. That could be theme 1. To follow that, we only need magi with ideas, past or behaviour that could make them ostracized or be watched carefully by the order; no other common traits or restrictions on character creation would be needed -flaws like bad reputation in the order, hedge wizard, infamous master, etc, would do the trick-. Though those characters would have little in common, they also should have a powerful motivation to work for the covenant, and there´s no need to make them all solitary freaks.

We also know that in a few years a very bloody crusade will ravage the region, with complex interactions running right now between nobility and church. That could be theme 2. A crusade running near you is bad enough, but the covenant could be even more involved if some of the magi had ties with the local nobles or the catharoi. Maybe those ties could be the reason for some of the wizards that they are in the border of hermetic code (tieing that to theme 1) For that, at least some of the wizards should be native to the region and have such ties, through background or by virtues/flaws.

 

[taitzu52]

For a common enemy, if we run with Someone's idea of a covenant trying to establish its independence from the Order of Hermes, then we're going to be locking horns with the Order fairly frequently, although they wouldn't necessarily be an enemy. This would probably also put us between the Order and the Church at times as the two try and play us off each other. If we're mixed up in the Cather heresy, then we'll have to deal with the Church, too, I imagine.

Nick

Again, I am going to throw my vote in to avoid a totally iconoclastic/rebellious basis for the covenant. I think that working within the Order of Hermes will allow us to use an abundance of source material that I, frankly, wouldn't want to put on anyone to rewrite by themselves. I think it would allow for much more subtle intrigues if we retain some strictures, and not define ourselves in such a black and white fashion, at least in that rather large respect.
My view on the Order is that it is large and loose enough to have a massive amount of socio-political workings within it's own structure. It also allows us to play off of established canon much more easily. And just for the record, I don't wanna be a funky druid, guys!!!

Again, I enjoy the more subtle aspects of this game. I'm not trying to make this a vanilla covenant, but I think that some confinements present a challenge that is just as enjoyable, and malleable, as those that are totally off the beaten path. Now, let's talk about the devil.......
So are we good, are we bad, should we even be asking? What forces exist aside from us? Is the Church corrupt, and if so, how? What else is out there, demons, werewolves....the French?!?!? But really, all of these can be interposed back on the Order of Hermes at large as well. It's harder to fight an entity that you're supposed to be loyal to.

But hey, I'm just throwing my vote around. Shoot it down at will. Or not!

TZ

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I'm fine with keeping the Order as is -- I was just playing around with the ideas suggested -- mind you, I think trying to establish independence from the Order and rebelling against are two different things. We could just as easily be loyal to the Order and straining against nonloyal factions within it (corrupt, supernatural, or otherwise). If we're talking about the covenant's morality, I'd prefer that we were good, generally speaking. I'm personally not interested in playing a villain for my first go-round with AM (although I don't want to play a boy scout, either).

Nick

 

[Someone]

Ah, I didn´t want to mean totally out of the Order or rebellious, could be something as simple as having a collective bad reputation. Regarding the other questions, that treads into the storyteller terrain, I think. I don´t know if Ghostknight has something already in mind.

 

[Ghostknight]

What can I say- I had an idea, posted and got an extremely positive response!

So, I am looking at the character creation. covenant creation cycle to throw out plot threads from virtues and flaws etc. (plus afew unformed ideas I am slowly fleshing out )

A faction within the order is fine (including suspect ones) but rebellion is a call for a wizards march against the covenant!

In terms of age of covenant, a spring covenant makes the most sense. A bunch of young magi under suspicion are going to get themselves kicked out of older covenants post haste (a covenant with a few older magi plus seven new magi has a lot of voting power and is going to attract a lot of unwanted from the Quaesitori if the new magi have bad reps. Something older magi will resent (unless they are aslo the same but then the covenant is on the edge of having a wizards march called against it- could be fun, but dangerous!)

 

[Someone]

Good. So far, it seems that we have a spring covenant, big, mazelike and stony located in southern france, created and inhabited by relatively young magi, some of them would be frowned upon in other covenants. Several of us want to play politics, both outside the Order and inside it; after all, even if the rest of the wizards don´t like us, votes are votes and there are not so many wizards in a tribunal. It´s a good start.

With that, I´ll start thinking in character concepts for my wizard and companion; for the first, maybe strong in weather magics or Animal and Herbam, with strong relationship with the local peasants or nobles.