A Vanilla Covenant: the Covenant of Sabrina’s Rest

…is an old project developed by fans on the Atlas Games’ forum

This is a 52-page fully detailed sample covenant, settled in the Stonehenge Tribunal, created by Timothy Ferguson and other fans.

Introduction

Premise: Ars Magica needs a book of covenants.

Consequence: let’s write one.

[At that time] Ars Magica 5th edition does not have a covenant book like Mistridge (3rd ed) or Triamore: the Covenant at Lucien’s Folly (4th ed). According to feedback to the community from the Line Editor for Atlas Games’ David Chart, a covenant style books generally do not sell well, so the concept has been vetoed by Atlas Games. Many within the fan community believed in the concept, and with the blessing of Atlas Games the fan community has gathered contributions and materials to create this book.

The purpose of A Vanilla Covenant is to provide a detailed sample covenant based upon the 5th edition rules which can be used within Ars Magica stories.

The reason this book is useful is because the creation of Ars Magica covenants can be quite demanding on a troupe. The creation of a detailed covenant and immediate mundane area is quite a lot of work, so having a launching pad of pre-generated material can be useful to make an immediate start, or to provide inspiration for a troupe’s own covenant development.

The nearest thing that exists in 5th edition is the Curse of the Rhine Gorge saga seed in The Guardians of the Forests: the Rhine Tribunal tribunal book. The idea of this book is to demonstrate how to define a covenant in detail, and to provide the groundwork for play within a saga.

This book should be especially useful for a new troupe, as a new troupe is likely to be still trying to imagine all the options that magic offers and to cope with the richness of the setting. An experienced troupe may also find ideas, story hooks, and examples which spark new ideas and new stories.

1. Why the Stonehenge Tribunal?

The Stonehenge Tribunal reflects a stereotypical medieval perspective on England and Scotland in the period, so many new readers will be familiar with the geography and the flavor of the locales. Heirs to Merlin: the Stonehenge Tribunal was the last pre-5th edition tribunal to be released and is fairly standard (and has no stats, so is 100% edition-compatible). This means that the existing source material for the region can be reused, with adaptation and assistance from this book.

2. Change It As It Fits Your Saga

The author intends for the material to be used in play as well as providing the covenant as example, so the covenant description contains suggestions and options for how the covenant may be altered to suit a troupe’s specific setting.

3. Suggested Saga Arcs, Improvements, and Seasons

The saga arcs, improvements, and other box text areas in covenant description are intended as points to be altered, explored, and extrapolated by use within the troupe. They may be freely used or ignored as appropriate.

4. Power Level and Statistics

This covenant provides a summary of the build points and the covenants are generally aimed at Medium power level within the setting. The covenant statistic are developed using the rules in the core Ars Magica rulebook and the Covenants supplement. Other supplementary source books and resources should not be required to use A Vanilla Covenant in your saga.

Ironbound Tome

Contributors

Contributors to “A Vanilla Covenant” are from the fourth corners of our pretty planet…

Concept: Xavi Eldelrol aka Elmoth - Spain

Author: Timothy Ferguson - Australia

Page layout and Magi & Faeries illustrations: David Bercovici aka Mystery Man From Outerspace - France

Additional contributors:

Ironbound Tome (Fidelus of Bonisagus’s sheet, Asteria of Verditius’s sheet, introduction and back blurb) - Australia

The Fixer (Antigone of Criamon’s sheet) - France

Links

Games From Folktales: Timothy Ferguson’s Blog

Basic design notes for the Covenant of Sabrina’s Rest

The Iron-Bound Tome

Fidelus of Bonisagus

Asteria of Verditius

La Petite boutique des erreurs… cosmiques – Download Link

PDF file may be download free from here: Covenant of Sabrina’s Rest

See also

Mr Ferguson’s Cornwall