Mailing lists

The following are public mailing lists related to Ars Magica.

The Berkeley List

The Ars Magica Mailing List hosted at Berkeley, also known as the Berk List, BerkList, or BerserkList (due to the vigor of the discussions that characterized it c. 1995-2004), was formerly the main discussion forum for the Ars Magica community. It is still active, but has been largely supplanted by the official forum. Its primary language is English. A substantial number of Ars Magica authors are on the BerkList. Many of the playtesters and design contributors of Ars Magica 5th Edition are also on the list.

The mailing list is for the discussion of Ars Magica and related subjects. It is not a suitable forum for commercial advertising (unless you publish Ars Magica material), or for unending flame wars. Otherwise, almost anything related to the game is on topic: rules, background, medieval history, alternate rules, alternate background (although if you have alternate rules and alternate background, people might wonder whether you are still playing Ars Magica), upcoming supplements, the quality of the binding of supplements, etc. The best advice is to lurk (read the list without posting anything) for a while, to see what sort of thing is discussed.

Please do not post attachments (binary files especially): text files can be included in the body of the email. Also, if your email program is attaching things automatically (rich text, HTML, whatever), please find out how to turn it off, and do so. Note that if other people on the list tell you that you are posting attachments, you probably are: your program will be able to handle its own attachments, so they may not be visible to you.

See also the articles on the mail list's Jargon (much of which has been adopted by the broader online fan community), and the geeky block of ArM Code used by many of its members.

Subscribing to the Berkeley List

To subscribe to the Berk List, it used to be possible to visit its Web site. The same page may be used to search and browse the archives.

As of September 2014, the web site seems to have been put offline, although the list itself still works (albeit with a very low volume). A method of subscribing to it is not currently known.

Specific Lists

The following lists are smaller, and generally enjoy far less activity (if at all) in comparison with the main list.

Inter-Saga Relations: is a list aiming to set up communication between people's Sagas. The details are on the web page. (Project appears to have died circa 1998, but contains much useful content for Tribunal sessions.)

Hermetic Penpals: Hermetic Penpals is a list where members can reply to letters from other covenants as magi. The aim is to take some of the load off storyguides, and to give people away from a troupe the opportunity to play magi. (Project appears to have died circa 2005.)

Lex Hermeticum: Lex Hermeticum is a semi-moderated list dedicated to the discussion of Hermetic Law, Politics and Society. (Such discussion is also welcome on the general list, above.)

Legacy Page

The history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at Legacy:mailing_lists