Ars Magica

This article is about an overview of the Ars Magica game. For an introduction for new players, see Welcome to Ars Magica.

Ars Magica (abbreviated ArM) is a tabletop fantasy role-playing game centered on wizards and magic.

Ars Magica is mostly about wizards who try to excel in the art of magic, hence the name. Its setting is Mythic Europe, a fictional equivalent of Europe in the early 13th century. Unlike the Europe we know, however, Mythic Europe is filled with even more peril and adventures than the historic equivalent was, because magic, demons, and faeries all have a powerful effect on the world.

Ars Magica was first published in 1987 and is currently in its Fifth Edition (see History of Ars Magica for more details). Compared to other tabletop games, Ars Magica has a small but very active fan community. The current edition of the game, Fifth Edition, is widely seen by the fan community as the best yet. In addition to the Fifth Edition core book, supplements are issued regularly (approximately once per quarter) and the Fifth Edition product line is now quite extensive.

Major Features

Ars Magica is strongly centered on wizards, who are called magi in the game world. Other characters -- grogs and companions -- exist, but they are explicitly less powerful than wizards. The wizards are usually the primary characters who drive the plot.

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

Main article: Magic Rules

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.

A wizard in the game are called a magus (plural, magi). Magi learn magical Arts, of which there are fifteen. Five are Techniques -- creation, for example -- which determine the action the magic performs, while the other ten are Forms such as mind and fire, which determine what it acts upon. The wizard's ability to cast a spell is calculated by adding together the scores in the appropriate Technique and Form.

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.

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.

Ars Magica emphasizes the wizard's personal quest to master the Art of magic. There are detailed rules not only for the things a wizard does while out on adventures, but also for for magical study and research. Magi can improve their Arts, invent new spells, create magical items, train apprentices, and bind familiars.

A Mythic World

Main article: Mythic Europe

The setting of Ars Magica (called Mythic Europe) is perhaps its second drawing point. It is closely based on historical 13th century Europe, to the degree that some groups use the game to engage with medieval history and mindset. However, the setting also puts a lot of emphasis on fantastic elements. Most of these are adaptations of real-world myths and legends, such as saints, angels, demons, local legends about healing fountains, and so on. There are also orginal fantasy elements woven out of whole cloth -- for example, the Enigmatic Order of Hermes, the magical society to which all wizards belong.

Since most fantasy fiction is loosely based on medieval society, Mythic Europe seems familiar to anyone who knows the genre. It is perfectly possible to downplay the historical details and concentrate on the magic and fantasy. Players can rewrite history to have an original, fictional King of England, for example -- perhaps one who is also a werewolf! -- but on the other hand, they can obtain ready-made maps of the realm from a historical atlas if they don't want to create their own. Contrariwise, some players revel in the historical details of Ars Magica and think of it as a historical game (the presence of wizards notwithstanding).

The setting is therefore quite flexible, supporting everything from a low-magic game about medieval Europe to a high-fantasy game only loosely set against a pseudo-medieval Europe.

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 Order of Hermes

Main article: Order of Hermes

Magi belong to their own pan-European society called the Order of Hermes. The Order has its own law, known as the Code of Hermes, nominally to keep the peace among wizards. The Order of Hermes governs itself in democratic fashion, somewhat like the ancient Roman Republic. The political affairs of the Order provide ample opportunity for stories of intrigue, if the players are so inclined.

The Order is sub-divided into twelve Houses of Hermes, each descended (via apprenticeship, not blood) from one original Founder. In 1220, the date of a nominal Ars Magica saga, each House has grown to include dozens of members and is quite diverse. None the less, the Houses are institutions unto themselves. Members of the same House tend to share some common elements in their magical powers, political aims, or philosophy.

Covenants

Main article: Covenant

Magi usually, but do not always, form alliances called covenants for convenience and mutual protection. A covenant can consist of two to about twenty wizards who live near one another. Very often, all the magi of a covenant live together in a lonely tower, a village in the midst of an enchanted wood, or a sprawling, haunted castle. With the magi live their servants and a few talented experts who aid them in their studies and adventures.

The covenant thus provides the "home base" of the characters, and adventures can 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.

Other Features

Ars Magica has a few other features that are different from most other role-playing games, but aren't as fundamental as the magic system and the setting.

Long-running Sagas

Ars Magica treats adventures as rare and remarkable events. Between adventures, magi pursue their studies and, slowly but surely, advance in power. Other characters practice their trade, learn from teachers, read books, and so on, improving their skills over years and decades. The game is thus more "realistic" in this sense, and encourages long-duration sagas that span decades. Wizards, in particular, enjoy great longevity, and may thus achieve great skill in the magical Arts (or some other, more "mundane", skills, if they invest in learning them). They typically spend much of their time learning magical Arts, inventing new spells, enchanting magic items, and so on.

Troupe Style Play

Main article: Troupe style

While in most roleplaying games each player controls a single character, Ars Magica encourages troupe style play where each player plays different character(s) in different adventures or game sessions. Each player typically has one main, wizard, character, but also one Companion character that plays the role of the supporting-cast and that can often be played on adventures the main (wizard) character does not participate in. Background characters (called Grogs) are often played jointly by the group as a whole, or are taken on as extra (often, multiple) characters by a player. A typical Ars Magica adventure will thus feature one or two wizards, accompanied by a few companions and a small entorouge of grogs. Each player will control one or more grogs, although he will probably also have a companion or wizard character that will be more pivotal to the story (or, at least, to the saga as a whole).

Combat

Main article: Combat

Combat in Ars Magica is deadly and fairly abstract. Like many roleplaying games, combat is divided into combat "rounds" where each character gets to act on its turn in the round. There are no clear movement rules (see the FAQ entry, Movement), however, and what a character can precisely do on its turn is left somewhat vague. Combat skills are focused on broad technique (such as Single Weapon), are used both to hit and to avoid being hit. Characters may defend other characters, and groups may act jointly and enjoy benefits if properly led and trained to act as a group. Characters' wounds penalize actions, generally leading to a death spiral, and can often be deadly very quickly. Wound recovery without magic is slow and dangerous, as wounds can actually become worse in time. While magic can be used to provide quick and safe healing, this is expensive (requiring vis, a rare commodity) so will not often be used.

Simulation and Narration

The rules for long-term advancement, laboratory work (such as inventing new spells), and in some respects combat are "simulationist", encouraging a 'realistic' perspective and tinkering with their baroque options. In many other ways, however, Ars Magica encourages a more "narrativist" approach to the game. For example, characters receive Flaw-points (see Virtues and Flaws) in return to providing story hooks (see Story Flaw), and design their covenant on the basis of the kind of stories they want to tell. Overall, the game generally allows "simulationist" and rules lawyering in the down-time between adventures, but incorporates significant "narrativist" elements in the rules framing saga, adventure, and character design and, to some extent, which often bear on the sessions themselves.

Legacy Page

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

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