Ars Magica PBEM Campaign
What is Ars Magica?
Ars Magica is a role-playing game that deals primarily with magi and their
activities in middle ages Europe. In the game all myths and legends are
real. Faeries, demons, and angels all walk the earth and are integral to
the game. The campaign revolves around the magi of the players who group
together and form a "covenant". The members of the covenant then spend
their time going on adventures together. These adventures could include
searching for a wondrous magical item, entering the faerie realms, trying
to protect a magical place from the depradations of the "mundanes", or
any number of other exciting possibilities. In the time between adventures
the individual magi are left to their own devices. They can research new
spells, study magical items, write books, or any of the other activities
that magi are supposed to engage in. More information on Ars Magica can
be found at the
Atlas Games web
site.
What type of characters do I create?
Every player generates at least two characters, one magi and one companion.
The magi is fairly self-explanatory, though there are lots of options as
to what kind of magi you can create. A companion is a valued member
of the Covenant, taking on those tasks that the Magi themselves can't complete.
In regular RPG terms the Companion would be a Ranger, Merchant, Thief,
Mercenary, etc.
Players also create as many Grogs as they want. Grogs are the
basic grunts of the Covenant, the soldiers who defend the Covenant and
the Magi. Grogs are kind of single-minded but they can still be given
well-rounded personalities that will make them fun characters to play.
The most important thing to remember when creating your character(s)
is to really think about his or her background and personality. This
is a role-playing game after all. :) Make sure you do at least a
brief background write-up for each character.
What the heck is a Covenant?
Very simply the Covenant is the base of operations for your group.
It can be a castle high in the mountains, a manor in middle of a city,
a keep hidden deep in the woods, or anything else you and your group may
desire. Your group will get together and design the characteristics
of the covenant to your liking. The Covenant is almost as much of
a character as your magi or companion!
How do we play?
Ars Magica differs somewhat from the standard role-playing campaign in
that large amounts of game time can pass between "adventures". In a standard
role-playing campaign the group will go on adventure after adventure with
very little "down time" between sessions. In Ars Magica you might
go on an adventure in October of 1220 and then not go on another one until
Spring of 1221. The intervening months are when your magi gets to
do all sorts of cool magical stuff like; researching spells, creating/studying
magic items, writing/studying texts, etc. All of the above laboratory
activities gain you experience points (aside from whatever cool stuff you
may learn from your activities). This down time will also be perfect
for doing any sort of individual activities you may want your magi to do.
When there is an actual adventure for which the whole group will gather
you won't necessarily play your magi character either. The adventure
will be presented to the group and then the group will meet as a whole
to decide who goes on the adventure. Thus, you may wind up playing
your magi on one mission, but your companion (or a grog) on the next.
The Houses of Hermes
One of the most crucial decisions that you'll make when generating your
magus character is deciding which House he or she
is a member of. Each of the 12 houses is very unique in its own
way and your decision will influence what kind of magus you
wind up playing. Follow this link
to get a short description of each of the houses. If you have any
further questions about them
get in touch with me.
Send me e-mail here.