Your experiences with (quasi-)historical settings for D&D

[Jhaelen]

Ars Magica is the reason I was never tempted to try playing D&D in a (quasi-)historical setting.

OTOH the problem with this game is that it is for wizard PCs only, so presumably you cannot easily drop-in PCs of other classes because you would have to convert them to the Ars Magica system, which presumably is balanced only with regards to wizards. Also it seems like wizards are too organized and socially powerful in the world, and this maybe means that the setting will have to consider what are the consequences for everyone else in the world (e.g. magic as technology).

Actually, Ars Magica support playing non-wizards quite well. Mechanically an 'Advanced Companion' replaces your Wizard 'slot' (assuming troupe-style play). Such an advanced companion can be anything from a powerful noble, knight, bishop or merchant to fantastic creatures like a (minor) faerie.

You can also decide to play a wizard not belonging to the Order of Hermes if you don't like the political/social implications of that. A member of House Ex Miscellanea would also be a good choice. And Houses Jerbiton and Mercere feature several ungifted members, i.e. non-spellcasters protected by the order that mostly specialize in 'public relations'.

Imho, everyone interested in rpgs should have a look at Ars Magica because the game and particularly the setting doe so many things right, even (or particularly) if you just use it to integrate bits into your homebrew for a different system or setting.