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''Ars Magica'' is a Role-playing Game set in '' Mythic Europe '', an idealized (or quasi-historical) version of Europe around AD 1200 . The game revolves around Magic -using Wizards and their allies. The game was originally developed by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein·Hagen in the late 1980s . The current edition was written by David Chart , working for Atlas Games and published in 2004. ''Ars Magica'' was one of the first examples of a , and each player would have more than one character, so that if they felt their main character would not go on an adventure (for example, if they were busy with their research) a secondary character may be used. Troupe play has been de-emphasised in recent editions, however, and in the latest (5th) edition of the game is relegated to an optional play style described at the back of the book. Many "troupes" opt for a more traditional system with a single story guide, or have one player be the "Alpha" story guide with responsibility for the overall plot, and a few "Beta" story guides who run side-adventures. In order to get an "authentic" feel from having such a historical setting, the game uses Medieval Latin for a number of key terms. HISTORY The first two editions were published by Lion Rampant Games. In 1991, Lion Rampant merged with White Wolf Magazine to form White Wolf Game Studio .1 White Wolf published the 3rd edition, which greatly expanded the settings and peripheral rules while leaving the core system intact. White Wolf also published many supplements, detailing specific regions of Europe, or outlining stories that could be played in the original setting. ''Ars Magica'' was later sold to Wizards Of The Coast , who produced several supplements, but just before publishing a 4th edition sold the rights to Atlas Games . Atlas published the fourth and fifth editions, and new source-books and supplements. The 5th edition was released by Atlas in 2004, including extensive changes to the system, especially the combat system and character creation. Many players feel that the alterations to the combat system were long overdue, especially the rules for armour, which in previous editions simply made wearers much more likely to die in combat. ''Ars Magica'' 5th edition won the Origins Award for ''Best Role Playing Game of 2004''. Many characteristics of the later '' was envisioned as "Ars Magica in the Modern World," and many of the changes in ''Ars Magica'' 's 3rd edition were introduced in order to make the game-worlds more compatible. "How is ''Ars Magica'' related to White Wolf's Storyteller Games?" section of the ''Ars Magica'' FAQ. SETTING The setting, Mythic Europe, is based on Europe of the '' line, this was the case ''because'' those were the beliefs; other editions distance themselves from this interpretation, simply taking place in a world where those beliefs happen to be true. Player Character s take on the role of both a Magus (or if female, '''Maga'''), and of a '''Companion''', otherwise called "Consors". Companions are select skilled non-magi (warriors, foresters, castellan, and so forth) who help wizards conducting their affairs, as Magi tend to be distanced from "mundanes" due to their study of magic. Additionally, there are a number of '''Grogs''' (skilled peasants) who can be controlled by any player. The wizards live clustered in specific citadels called Covenants, which are often built in places of power. Covenants are the home base for the Magi, but the magi tend to roam the Magical Europe for their adventures. Some sources for the game consider the ''covenant'' to be the central character of the game Covenants section of the ''Ars Magica'' FAQ. The Order of Hermes See Also: Order of Hermes (Ars Magica) Magi belong to one of the houses of the Order of Hermes, a society founded by the wizard Bonisagus who created a consistent way to describe magic, allowing Magi to share information, and the ''Parma Magica'', a magical shield which allows a measure of protection against hostile magics (and, in some cases, non-hostile magics as well) which allowed Magi to trust each other. Magi from outside the order must join or die, though the Order doesn't insist that magi present both options. The Order is divided into ''Tribunals'', which each administer a large country-sized region of Mythic Europe. Once every seven years, the magi within a Tribunal stage a meeting, also called a Tribunal, where new magi are presented to the order and the Quæitores judge disputes which cannot be resolved within or between covenants. Once every 33 years, each Tribunal sends a representative to a ''Grand Tribunal''. Each of the thirteen ''Tribunals'' corresponds to a set of modern countries. Each tribunal has a distinct cultural and historical flavor which affects play. For example the Roman tribunal is a densely populated area with a shortage of magical resources but offers high political plots while Novgorod is a hostile environment where barbarian invaders and magical beasts can be a recurrent problem.
Like any Middle Ages border the Tribunals area are not definitive. Realms of Power Four "realms of power" influence Mythic Europe: ;The of the Abrahamic Religion s and His agents in the world. The Divine realm is opposed to magic (see Christian Views On Witchcraft ), and magic is weaker in areas where the Divine is stronger (in cities and around churches); yet, the Gift is part of a Mage's soul, and therefore a gift from the Divine. ;The and his minions. In the medieval context, this includes everything from Satan himself to illnesses and bad smells. Demons tempt the faithful to sin, and while the Order of Hermes refuses to explicitly name the Infernal as their enemies (which could provoke their anger) their laws state that they can "never be allies". Magic is weak where the Infernal is strong, though infernally-tainted magics do exist, and are usually of great power, in order to tempt magi. Any Magus found guilty of Diabolism is expelled from the order and hunted down. ;The ; the Seelie and Unseelie courts. These creatures are capricious and often malicious; however, their study can be rewarding, since magic is strengthened somewhat in faerie areas. Magi are allowed to ally with the Faeries, as long as they do not incur their wrath and thereby bring their fellows into danger. ;The realm of Magic: A mysterious and largely unexplained force in the world, which the Magi manipulate to create their spells. Additionally, a "Realm of Reason" appeared in the 3rd edition. "Reason" was associated with skepticism and scholarship, and its "rational" aura alleviated the effects of the other four realms. Many fans of the game consider this to be paradoxical and inconsistent, since applying reason and rationality to the world of ''Ars Magica'' should really lead to the conclusion that magic exists and fairies are real, and yet the "True Reason" promoted by the realm of Reason claimed the opposite, and thus resembled a delusional state of mind rather than a rational one. "True Reason" section of the ''Ars Magica'' FAQ The realm of Reason had additional counter-intuitive effects - for example, imposing penalties on wizard's magic use in libraries, despite the consistent portrayal of wizardry in ''Ars Magica'' as a scholarly pursuit. Reason proved a highly controversial addition to the game, and was perceived as part of an attempt by White Wolf to make ''Ars Magica'' the backstory for their '' World Of Darkness '' role-playing games; neither the 4th nor the 5th edition of the games has included the realm of Reason, and all references to it have been stricken from the Canonical setting. SYSTEM The game system based on the D10 . When an action is performed, one of the character's eight Attributes is added to the relevant Skill , and a d10 is rolled. The total of attribute + skill + d10 is compared to a '''target difficulty.''' The action succeeds if the rolled total is greater than or equal to the difficulty. If the action can only result in a simple success or failure, the die roll of 1-10 is merely added to the total (called a "Simple roll"). If there is opportunity for ''exceptional'' success or failure, it's called a "Stress" roll. On a Stress roll, results of "1" and "0" have special meanings: a ONE is rerolled, and the result doubled (additional "1"s lead to successive doublings: quadrupling, octupling, etc; the final non-"1" being enlarged by the multiplier); a ZERO is treated as a zero (rather than a ten), AND one or more additional d10 botch dice are rolled. If any of these botch dice show a zero, the character has Botched - failed in some disastrous way; if none of the botch dice turn up zeroes, then the die-roll is treated as a zero. Assuming the roll didn't botch, the total is (as above) compared to the difficulty of the action to determine success or failure (and the degree of success or failure). The focus of the game is the Magic System . There are 15 Arts divided into 5 '''Techniques''' and 10 '''Forms'''. The Techniques are what one does and the Forms are the objects one does it to or with. This is sometimes called a "Verb/Noun" magic-system. The Arts are named in Latin. The Techniques are named after the corresponding first-person singular present tense Indicative mood Latin verb.
The Forms are named after the corresponding singular Accusative Latin noun.
Thus, ''Creo Ignem'' spells create fire, and the normal effects of fire, such as heat or light; a ''Perdo Ignem'' spell may drop the temperature in a room. A typical ''Perdo Imaginem'' spell is granting invisibility to the caster by making one's image disappear. ''Rego Aquam'' could turn water into an unusual, but natural form (e.g. creating a pillar of water), while ''Muto Aquam'' could turn water into, for example, oil or wine; or change the nature of water so that it's murky and green but still healthy to drink. An ''Intellego Mentem'' spell may permit the caster to understand any language, or to read minds; and so on... A mage's skill when casting a spell is the sum of their scores in the appropriate technique and form. If a spell involves more than one technique, or more than one form, this is known as a requisite; The lowest technique and form scores are used. For example, a spell to turn a person to stone would involve ''Muto'', ''Corpus'' and ''Terram''; The player would add the character's Muto score to the lower of their Corpus and Terram scores to determine their casting total for the spell. By combining these techniques and forms, the magi may achieve any effect and spontaneously cast a spell with that desired effect. However, there are often severe limits to the level of power a magi can generate by casting spontaneously, and so he may also choose to learn a spell with that desired effect. A magi/maga is further limited in terms of the spell's application: Ars Magica features a set of magical 'laws', similar in concept to those of physics, defining the upper limits of any magical spell (Creo Corpus, for example, cannot create 'true' life, nor can it restore the dead; magic, in general, cannot affect the flow of time, nor can it affect the 'lunar sphere or anything above it') Magic is treated in this game-system as a serious object of study: Magi are supposed to spend a long time in their laboratories: preparing new spells, studying their Arts, creating magic-items, etc. The game system provides rules for magical research on a timescale of 3-month ''' Season s'''. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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