Troupe style
Unlike many other role-playing games, Ars Magica propagates troupe-style play, a sort of division of powers regarding the responsibilities of the storyguide.
Aspects of Troupe-Style Play
Troupe-style play differs from conventional role-playing games mainly in two points:
First, instead of placing the burden of the game master (called storyguide in Ars Magica) on the shoulders of a single person, that burden is shared by all or some of the players of the gaming group. It is up to the players to find a suitable way of distributing the responsibilities of guiding and running the game.
Second, each player may (and is actually encouraged to) play more than just one character. As Ars Magica is a game about magic, each player is likely to play at least a magus or maga. However, since covenants are inhabited by diversified folk, players are encouraged to take on the responsibilities for companions and grogs as well.
An important side effect of this kind of multi-person embodiment is that there is always something to do for each player, something to get involved in, even if the player's primary character, the magus, has locked himself up in his laboratory for some long-term activity, or is not available due to being away from the covenant for whatever reason.
Another aspect of troupe-style play is that there are no strict player-character relations for the secondary cast of the saga in some gaming groups, the result being that low-priority player characters, such as grogs, are pooled and shared by all players. Consequently, a magus can go on a mission while being accompanied by his own grog without having to soliloquize.