Tribunals of Hermes: Rome

Tribunals of Hermes: Rome is a Third Edition supplement for Ars Magica describing the Roman Tribunal.

Rules Edition: ArM3 Author(s): Shannon Appel and Chris Frerking Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Release Date: 1993 Format: Softcover, 124 pages Availability: Out of print, electronic version available Other Editions: None

Subject and Contents

The book presents the Roman Tribunal as highly politicized. Like many ArM3 supplements by White Wolf, it is chock full of demons: several of the covenants have diabolist members and at least one consists entirely of devil-worshipers.

The book is fairly light on Real History but does contain some interesting tidbits, such as the "magician" Pope Sylvester II.

Much emphasis is placed on the Tribunal's larger covenants and their political and commercial relations with mundanes -- and their corresponding rivalries.

This version of the Roman Tribunal features Venice as city neutral in Hermetic politics: it lies outside the influence of any covenant, and magi of the Tribunal use it as a place to meet, transact business, and spy on one another.

Covenants Described

• Harco, Domus Magna of House Mercere
• Magvillus, Domus Magna of House Quaesitor
• Verdi, Domus Magna of House Verditius
• Feritel
• Literatus
• Luctatio
• Postestas
• Rellantali
• Sansaron
• Vardian's Tomb

Community Reviews

The following reviews were collected from the original Ars Magica FAQ site:

FAQ Rating: \*\* (15 reviews; 3 *, 7 \*\*, 4 \*\*\*, 1 \*\*\*\*)

• A lot more could have been done with this book, but it had to wait for The Mysteries. Instead of a seamless tapestry we are treated to a disjointed series of chapters and ideas.
• Booo, I am a Demon!
• Dull, and full of Demons.
• The Third Edition requirement for dark themes, Corruption in this case, makes this book difficult to use, and prevents anyone else writing an Italian guide.
• Good presentation of the Roman Tribunal, darkened by editorial mismanagement.
• Not that bad a depiction of a very political tribunal if you ignore most of the demons.
• Great ideas,nice done job. Tasted like Sagas which have been played for a long time by numerous players who enjoyed them.
• Interesting history, but a little too much politics for my taste.
• Details how the demons corrupts the Church and country.
• At the behest of Ken Cliffe, many demons were included in this, and the authors tried to make it work, but it comes off just too diabolical in some ways. Lots of interesting ideas, though.
• Terrific bits on backstabbing, conniving magi. Get rid of the parenthetical comments which amount to, "demons, demons everywhere!", and this is a fine supplement.
• Bad, very bad. If you remove the demons the politics makes for some good hooks, needs lots of work.

Please edit this page to add your own comments on the book.

Related Subjects

See the following links for more information.

Related Pages

• Treaty of the Roman Tribunal
• Making Money with Magic

Related Products

• ArM3
• Tribunals of Hermes Iberia
• Mythic Europe

Related Sites

• Official product page.

Legacy Page

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