Oh, goodie!!! Two potential games starting up soon! I keep checking the listings with hope. This news is my early Christmas present. :)

I'll give you a heads up in your game when I'm about to start mine. I just need work to settle down before I go crazy and start a game.

Thanks.

Yes, craziness at work. Ugh. Fortunately, my work is now calm for the foreseeable future: coaching is over for the year and I don't expect another teacher to accidentally release my exam for next semester. So it should just be normal busy for quite a while. Great for running my game and joining others.

New game?  new game?

I'd be pretty interested in a new game too, although y'know, still new to Ars Magica and get that it's eh to bring a newbie into a pretty complex game. Still, fun potential news!

There are some experienced players around who can help.

I would be up for a game in the near future, especially if the GM is going to take care of the covenant details and we can go right into the story.

As I'm thinking about it, something else that I've found tends to slow games down at the start (and thus increase the risk of premature game death) is requiring players to create a whole cast of characters at the outset - magus, companion, and multiple grogs.  It's extra time and energy before the game can start, and in my experience most of it winds up being wasted if the game doesn't last beyond the first season and all those extra characters never even make more than a cursory appearance.  So there's my additional advice for those of you who are looking for it.

In reply to Dr. Mindermast (msg # 73):

Yes, you and I have similar insights into what seems to kill games. I think the same: keep character creation fairly short and get things moving along. For me, its all those multiple grogs and covenant details that add so much more effort, and the case of the covenant, require a lot of back and forth between players. If each player only needs to make a magus or a magus plus a companion (I do like the idea behind having the pair so your magus can do lab work.), there isn't a lot of up-front effort and momentum can be built up.

Also even though this might seem obvious to people with more experience its important to tailor the difficulty of tasks to something actually achievable. One of my first experiences with Ars Magica ended rather abruptly after our newly formed Covenant was besieged by a band of well-armed warriors.

If memory serves we had no grogs at the time and only one Magus with any true offensive ability.

You're absolutely right.

Now, I like to populate worlds, including placing obstacles the PCs can't deal with at the time. But I never force them to confront those obstacles. And if they do end up going against something like that, there are ways around it. So, for instance, when you see the super-ancient, super-powerful dragon, maybe you want to back off or talk to it instead of deciding to try to kill it. While that dragon could exist and might later present an interesting challenge, when they're not ready I wouldn't make such a dragon attack the covenant and force them to fight.

Hello everyone. As you saw I started a new game and was wondering how people most effectively divide there threads. Do you do it by locations or common threads for chapters/arcs/etc. I understand if the covenant, or some portion of it, goes adventuring that would necessitate a new thread but other than that.

Also how much roleplaying is involved with laboratory work. Considering its mostly, from my limited understanding, dice rolls and planning do you need individual threads of lab work? Is is a meaningful portion of gameplay or an extraneous distraction?

Lab work is very important to Wizards for advancement and development. It is also possible for interesting results in the lab to drive stories.

I would have a thread for each Wizard's lab work. If you use Groups, you can make these threads invisible to the other players.

Yeah, so that one Tytalus diabolist can feel safe...

But yeah, private threads are a good thought.  Especially if there are mystery cults in play.

Yes, this is a good idea. In my game I have a secret thread for each player where we can do lab stuff, mystery initiation, etc. It helps keep things in one place.

I would say lab stuff generally isn't role-played much, but there is a need to document things and double-check the process. So it's good to have a place for that. Even if there is room for role-play, I would tend to place that elsewhere. For example, a visiting magus for whom one of the magi is making something might be assisting in the lab, but that magus would be generally around the covenant to interact with everyone much of the time. So I would stick those things more publicly. There is always the PM option to the GM when something private needs to be stated in a public spot.

New Topic

If you as a Storyguide were going to make an Ars Magica 5E game set in colonial Massachusetts is 1692, What alternations to character creation would you make. I've just binge watched all of Salem and really enjoyed it. Also saw the Witch horror movie and it got my thinking. That might be a fun era to play in using Ars Magica. I know Magi would be more rare, Maybe even just two total, the game would have more Companions for the PCs, The Divine/Dominion would of course be taking over, Magic as a whole would be going towards Winter. The Order of Hermes would only be a myth. I know there are rules for actual witches in Ars Magica. Just suggesting a topic,

In reply to Thruxus (msg # 81):

Well, I'd be tempted to throw in some native magics. Possibly something similar to the Bjornaer, actually.  Or maybe amazingly similar to the shaman/shapechangers.
I wouldn't expect to see any Merinita.  I'd even go to a Castle Falkenstein idea that the native spirits and the fae don't get along very well.

Man that would be an AMAZING covenant to play a Pralician Ex Miscelania in...

I'd do a LOT more research into the Native tribes/bands of the area before lumping them into a single tradition of magic, especially one like you suggest.  It's trope-y and fairly inaccurate.

Honestly, it's really difficult to rectify European fantasy magic and Native magic.  There isn't a tradition of 'high fantasy' magic use in North America that wasn't invented by colonizing whites in literature and that totally skews the whole process.  There are cool and interesting monsters, heroes and legends but those are stitched together like a crazy-quilt from multiple tribes and lose a lot in the translation because so much was erased, suppressed or lost from those tribes.  It was ILLEGAL for Natives to practice their religion in the US until the 1970's...

There are a few historical traditions in Native magic but nothing like the Order of Hermes or even any of their rivals.  To be perfectly honest, 99% of Native magic could be summed up with hedge/folk traditions and most high powered/fantasy level magic accomplished by spirits.

An interesting take on the matter is that the land itself resisted European magic, acting like the Dominion in a way but separate from it's influence.  Magic auras rarely compatible with European magic and the fae refuse to set foot on the land.  That would definitely make things more challenging but maybe a bit more accurate.

As a Native, it's kind of cringe-y for me when stuff like this comes up because of a whole host of issues that come with it including the backdrop of what is to come whether or not the PCs are involved in the impending genocide or not...  I'm not trying to throw a wet blanket on your idea but I'm just saying that it's more multi-faceted than Disney's Pocahontas.

So I'm starting on the framework for the Ars Magica game I have set in Salem during 1692. I think I am going to make it a Location based game, Using a bunch of locations as areas around Salem. I have the Hedge Magic Revised book for 5E which has Folk Witches in it, which I think will work. Not sure when I am going to open the players wanted for it, But I'm not going to make it that large of a game, Its going to be small.

As for Native American Magic, I am thinking that I can use the Hedge Magic and Rival Magic books to piece together a Native American Tradition, if not a full Tradition, at least something mechanically that allows for Visions, Weather, Spirit, amulets and charms, Totems, Shapeshifting, etc. Most of which can just be picked up using minor virtues. I don't foresee the story having a PC as a Native American character, they would primarily be used in the background, unfortunately at the time many were antagonists because of the King William’s War, that wouldn't end for another five years.

So, I'll keep people updated if they are interested, If I post again it will be in the Advertisement thread.  I know I will need companions to flesh out some of the characters of the town. I wont be basing this off of an official timeline of events, nor will I be using the actual Salem Witch Trials. I might pick and choose parts from them, but I wont be following any particular story, plot, movie or show.

Invested Item Question: Could you have an invested item have the trigger "successful attack" to deliver a spell, lets say Wounds that Weep, along with the attack? My thought is that it would replicate the effect of the Tethered Magic virtue but not sure if its legal.

Personally, I wouldn't all "successful attack." I would allow "edge strikes something violently," though. I say this because I don't know how an axe would know if it hit a tree versus some animated wooden statue the user is fighting. That also means Wounds that Weep will be cast on each wolf, tree, etc. the axe hits without affecting nearly any of them.

I wouldn't worry about Tethered Magic. The cool thing with Tethered Magic is you can somewhat replicate these triggers with Formulaic and Spontaneous magic without needing a season. Magic items have always had triggers and have always been more flexible in this regard anyway.

In reply to callen (msg # 86):

Staying on that line of thought: Would adding He or An requisite add +1 magnitudes to Wounds that Weep?

Adding the requisite to allow it to work on animals or plants, yes, it would add +1 magnitude.

Excellent. Thank you.

So Magical Resistance does not extend to the items that a magus is carrying unless it is a talisman. If that's correct then wouldn't a spell that changes carried weapons, lets say MuTe(He) X, make all weapons wielded against a magus have to pass their Magical Resistance?