Welcome to Ars Magica

Ars Magica is a fantasy pen-and-paper role-playing game currently published by Atlas Games. Its title is Latin for ""The Art Magical"" or ""The Magical Art"" (not "The Art of Magic," whatever the cover of the rulebook may lead you to believe).

It has many features in common with other such games, and many unique features that distinguish it from the crowd. Ars Magica is a game about wizards and magic, and the characters who must deal with them, and is set in a world very similar to Medieval Europe.

Like any role-playing game, playing Ars Magica combines both rules and setting. You will need a passing familiarity with both in order to participate effectively. There is no need, however, to know the entire Ars Magica Fifth Edition core book cover to cover. Let us be your guide to the world of Ars Magica.

Fictional Magic

Ars Magica is a game, and contains no information about any magic that is purported to be real. It will not teach you anything about magic, no matter how dedicated to the game you become. Playing the game has no relation to real-world occult practices.

Superb Magic System

At the heart of the Ars Magica rules is the magic system. This is generally regarded as the best magic system in any RPG because of its flexibility. Magi learn magical Arts, of which there are fifteen. Five are Techniques -- creation, for example -- while the other ten are Forms such as mind and fire. The wizard's ability to cast a spell is calculated by adding together the scores in the appropriate Technique and Form.

A wizard in the game are called a magus (plural, magi). Magi can cast formulaic spells, which have defined effects, or spontaneous magic, which does whatever the magus wants, if he is powerful enough. Spontaneous magic is much more flexible than formulaic, but also weaker.

The game provides detailed guidelines for what can be done with the various Technique and Form combinations at different levels of power, so that it is fairly easy for the Storyguide to adjudicate the effect of a spontaneous spell.

The magic system also provides extensive rules for magical study and research. Magi can improve their Arts, invent new spells, create magical items, train apprentices, and bind familiars.

A Mythic World

The setting of Ars Magica is known as Mythic Europe. It is a medieval world, rich with fantastic elements drawn from real-world myth, legend, and wild imagination. Some plot-points actually used in published Ars Magica adventures include...

A cult of diabolists collecting shards of a fallen star to conclude the vile ritual that will summon forth an infernal army (Fallen Angel)
Saving the faerie queen of Winter Bright from the king of Summer Dark who captured her in his castle, to restore the balance of seasons to the land (Faerie Stories)
A Karaite leader, working miracles in the service of God, seeks out the aid of wizards when his community comes under threat from an angry mob ( The Bishop's Staff)
Appeasing the great dragon Pan Caudarax, guardian of Iceland, lest he destroy the land in revenge for his destroyed unhatched egg (Land of Fire and Ice)
A count is healed at a magical pool that is contested between the Church and two groups of wizards (Ordo Nobilis)

At the same time, Mythic Europe is also founded on real-world history and allows immersion in the rich world of medieval Europe. Some other points from published canon...

Bargaining with the Benedictine monks of the abbey of Glastonbury (The Black Monks of Glastonbury)
Trading blows and diplomacy with the Rhine League, formed by Mainz and Worms to combat the robber-barons on the Rhine (GotF))
Taking sides in the Albigensian Crusade
Discussing the university of Montpellier and how the Cardinal Legate Conrad of Urach is planning to increase papal control of it (Art & Academe)

Different groups place the emphasis on different elements. For some, Ars Magica is a game of wild fantasy totally removed from any historical veracity. For others, it is a chance to learn more and immerse themselves in the rich world of medieval Europe. Most groups try to strike some sort of balance, enjoying the fantasy while also taking the opportunity to learn something about what the past was like.

The ArM5 core book provides a wealth of further information on Mythic Europe (on pages 199-210), including highly useful advice on how to incorporate elements of the world into your game. If you wish to minimize your reading, however, you can skip this chapter. The information below should suffice to jump in and play the game.

The Order of Hermes

The major player characters in an Ars Magica game are wizards. All wizards of power in Mythic Europe are members of the Order of Hermes, and it is assumed that your main character will be one as well. So it's critical to understand the game and world from that perspective.

All members of the Order take a vow to uphold the Code of Hermes, also known as the Hermetic Oath. This is a detailed oath that sets the obligations of the wizards towards each other and the world at large. Although there are several fine points, there are two critical aspects to the Oath:

The wizard swears to accept the judgment of others in Tribunal. The Order is divided into regional councils, called Tribunals, in which every magus (in the region) gets an equal vote. By establishing the authority of a Tribunal session, the Oath unites magi into an Hermetic Society. All wizards are answerable to the other wizards in their region, creating peers, allies, enemies, and so on.
The Oath has many parts, but it essentially comes down to something like "don't interfere with the magical growth of other members of the Order". As whether you did is determined by vote, upholding or evading the Code is as much a matter of politics as it is of law.

The result is that your player character is limited in his actions when these may impact or anger other wizards, lest they turn on him in Tribunal. There are several powerful factions in Mythic Europe that he must be especially wary of:

The Church is a powerful social institution, wielding Divine power and aligned with saints, angles, and other Divine beings. You must take care not to turn the wrath of the Church on your peers.
The demons of Ars Magica are corrupting, vile and dangerous beings. They are so abhorred, that wizards are prohibited entirely from bargaining with them. You must avoid doing so - or at least, avoid getting caught.
There are many powerful faeries in Mythic Europe. While you may generally deal with them as you wish, their great power means that you need to be careful not to cause enmity between them and other wizards. If your dealings with them causes them to lash out against other wizards for some reason - you are in trouble.
History has taught the Order that it is necessary to refrain from creating affiliation with mundanes (those lacking in magical power, such as nobles and the people they lead), too, lest one court wizard turn on the other. Members of the Order are therefore prohibited from "meddling in the affairs of mundanes". Of all the prohibitions of the Code this is the most dire, as no one can live in Mythic Europe without relying on the toil and craft of the mundanes. Still, you best be wary of undue meddling, especially of overtly aligning yourself with one mundane faction.

When dealing with other members of the Order, two issues are often the most important. First, wizards like their privacy and resent someone else peering into their affairs. Refrain from scrying on your peers, or entering their private sanctums. Of course, more basic morality - like not stealing their property - is also expected.

Secondly, the one natural resource wizards covert is raw vis. Literally "raw (magical) power", these are rare magical things like the tooth of a magical wolf or the dew collected in a pristine meadow on the autumn equinox. A wizard can do much with raw vis, and so sources of raw vis are valued and contested. Much of Hermetic politics revolves around managing ownership rights over raw vis.

Troupe Style Play

That was enough about the setting - time to think about your character. Or rather, characters.

One of the things that sets Ars Magica apart from other games is its use of Troupe style play. This is not obligatory, but is common in most Ars Magica games. The idea is that instead of each player playing one character only, the players are combinely in charge of playing an entire "stable" of characters.

Most often, each adventure will feature a few wizards and some supporting cast. Each player has one main, wizard, character he is personally in charge of - known as his magus; typically only some magi will participate in the given adventure. The player also has one major supporting cast character, known as a companion, that he can play when his wizard isn't involved in the adventure's plot. Further background characters, known as grogs, are played by the group as a whole, or by players without either a magus or companion in the current adventure. The different character types are explained in ArM5 p. 17.

Covenants

All these different characters live in, or are in some way affiliated to, the covenant (think of "coven of witches"). This is the "home base" of the characters, and the adventures revolve around its interests. As all characters live there, its interests are the interests of all characters and the interests of the characters form the covenant's interest.

The covenant typically houses a handful of magi (one for each player), an equal number of companions, and a larger contingent of grogs and various other covenfolk (servants, craftsmen, and so on). The conditions and facilities of the covenant can form the heart of an Ars Magica game - from the contents of the library that the wizards use, to the lavish (or miserable...) living conditions that the covenfolk enjoy.

Getting Started with the Rules

Here is a quick "recommended reading" list of what is critical to read from the core Ars Magica Fifth Edition book before playing:

Introduction, p. 4-7 (basic ideas, and die rolls). The glossary on p. 8 is also recommended.
The Order of Hermes, p. 10-16 (the Houses of Hermes, the Hermetic Oath and its various ramifications, and the concept of covenants). The history of the Order (the beginning of the chapter) is of lesser importance. If you choose to play one of the Mystery Houses, you should also read on the relevant Mystery (see p. 91-93). You may also want to read the specific spells you know in the Spells chapter.
Character Types and Basics, p. 17-18. Character Templates (p. 20-28) is needed for quick character generation, and much more for detailed character generation.
Abilities, p. 62 (the basic rules). The ability list itself (the rest of the chapter) is only optional reading - the abilities are mostly self-explanatory by name.
Hermetic Magic, p. 85 (The Gift), the Hermetic Arts (p. 77-79), Raw Vis (p. 80), Casting Spells (p. 81-82).
Combat, wounds, and fatigue (p. 171-180)

A storyguide would also want to read the Bestiary, Stories, Sagas, and perhaps Mythic Europe chapters of the core book.

Further, long-term character advancement would require familiarity with more of the core book.

Overall, about 30 pagees are recommended for a minimal reading. The contents of the rest of the page should aid you to decide which of them is really needed for you, and allow you to understand them more easily.

Basic Game Mechanics

To play a character, you need to understand how the game mechanics of Ars Magica work. There is no point in going over all the mechanics here - we recommend reading the relevant parts of the core Ars Magica Fifth Edition book. However, we'll provide a brief primer, to help direct your reading.

The game determines the success (in non-trivial) tasks with a die roll. All rolls are made using a 10-sided die. Any roll can be either a Stress Roll roll or a Simple Roll. You can learn about these by reading ArM5 p. 6-7.

Each character has certain basic features (see ArM5 p. 18). These include a list of Characteristics (the character's inborn attributes, such as Strength or Intelligence), Abilities (learned skills, such as Latin or Brawl), and for magi also the Hermetic Arts. Each of these traits has a Level, a number indicating how it affects relevant die rolls.

In general, you make the roll (stress or simple, as determined by the storyguide), add the relevant traits, and add any further relevant modifiers the storyguide decides are appropriate. The higher the end result the better - if it passes the Ease Factor, a number decided by the storyguide, the action succeeds.

There are several typical types of checks. The Ability Check is perhaps the most common. To make an ability check, roll the die, add the relevant Ability, and add the relevant Characteristic as determined by the situation at hand. For example, you might add Guile + Communication to lie effectively, or add Guile + Perception to discern a lie. See ArM5 62-63 for more details on ability checks.

A second type of roll is the spell casting roll. Casting a spell involves the Hermetic Arts, which are divided into Techniques and Forms. You generally add Stamina + one Technique + one Form + any ambient supernatural aura (as determined by the storyguide) to your spell casting roll. A magus has a list of known ("formulaic") spells, whose (Level-10) serves as the Ease Factor. Alternatively, he may attempt to cast spells he doesn't know, but this is more difficult (see Spontaneous Magic). See ArM5 p. 81-82 for details on casting spells.

Finally, you need to understand how to run combat, including wounds, fatigue, and how to calculate whether you hit and so on. See ArM5 p. 171-172, 176, 178-180.

Creating a Character

In order to create a character you will need to further understand concepts such as Virtues & Flaws, and delve into character generation rules. We recommend that for a first game you adopt a ready character from the other players or use one of the templates provided in ArM5 p. 20-28. If you wish to create your own character, read carfeully the detailed character generation rules.

You may also wish to read more about Character generation here.

Preparing for the first game

As a player, you need only go over your character sheet, and perhaps obtain some 10-sided die, to prepare for the game. For a storyguide, the task is a bit more complicated.

The "Sagas" and "Mythic Europe" chapters in ArM5 do an excellent job at describing the kind of considerations that you would be wise to make. Things like how fantastic you want your Mythic Europe to be, how much Raw Vis to give, and so on. Here are some things the books doesn't mention, though.

Power Level : Even starting magi are powerful. With even a few years past apprenticeship, magi can become exceedingly powerful. This has ramifications for stories. Build your mysteries keeping in mind that your magi will have mind-reading spells, or could obtain ones. Don't rely on long travel when magi can teleport, fly as birds, or so on. Even relatively high Magic Resistance will often succumb to magi casting using Wizard's Communion or prepared with a high Penetration ability and an arcane connection (and perhaps some sympathetic connections!) to the target, or just a handful of raw vis. ArM stories are just no about raw force. The magi already have plenty of that. Instead, try to build your stories around subterfuge, politics, and so on. Only very rarely will the PCs actually meet opponents that are actually more powerful - a Saint, their angry peers, a mighty dragon or devil, or so on. Most stories are more about figuring out what is going on, what the PCs want to happen, and how to bring it about (or how to avoid being somone's stooges or so on).

The Covenant : Perhaps the pivotal character in the saga, creating a covenant can be hard work. If it suits the players, spending a session contemplating the covenant and saga is an excellent idea; the Covenants sourcebook can aid further in defining and imagining the covenant and intended saga. However, do not feel compelled to design the whole thing. Remember the cardinal rule of gaming: Have fun. If making the covenant in detail or keeping a handle on its mechanics is too much for you, just don't. The most important aspects here are the local aura, the library, and vis sources. You will probably want to keep track of raw vis stocks, perhaps on an annual basis. Instead of building an entire library in one go, decide on how many Build Points you have and allocate them as the saga progresses according to story needs; don't feel bad if you end up not sticking to your intended total. Alternatively, you may want to simply borrow an existing covenant, complete with library and all, such as Nigrasaxa, Semita Errabunda, or one of the many fan sagas linked through Project Redcap.

Things To Do

You may want to print out Character Sheets, a Covenant Record Sheet, pages for Magic Item Sheets, and so on.

Advancing and creating ArM character becomes extremely easy with the use of the Metacreator program.

Some ready-made adventures for ArM are available. Not for ArM5, unfortunately. You can see the adventures in our Adventures page (or would when someone fills it up).

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