A Dissection of Ars Magica

My post last night about Ars Magica reveals that there are quite a few people who have never played it, read it, or head of it. I think it is important for anyone interested in the medieval genre to have at least a basic understanding of the innovations in the game.

This is not a review of Ars Magica, I want to make that clear. I have made several comments recently that the game text is written almost as densely as humanly possible. Despite that view, I think there is redeeming value to the game in many respects and I am going to detail what I think those values are so that hopefully someone else might be able to apply them to their game without having to read it.

The below is based on the 2004 version of 5th Edition Ars Magica. If you have an earlier version and it contains more innovations than listed below, let me know in the comments. Or if you think I missed something.

I think there are six things that Ars Magic does really well that can teach us all a thing or two.

1. The Fiction: Ars Magica is set in a world called Mythic Europe. It is like our world, but slightly different, much like World of Darkness. In fact, this is the precursor to WoD and written by the same guy; Mark Rein-Hagan (along with Jonathan Tweet). There are several cool things about the setting that I think people can apply to their own games, without running Ars Magica.

There is the Order of Hermes, mages that have formed a secret society which co-exists with the power structures of the world. Your primary character is almost always a member of the Order. The order has 12 "houses", each of which has it's own special in-game effects. They are voluntary associations and add some nice flavor to the world without being anything as restrictive as classes. In addition to this, the game pays a lot of attention to social class. Being a Knight or a Priest actually means something significant in this world, much as in the real world.

2. The Dice: the system is fairly basic, a d10 based mechanic with modifiers. The innovation that I think is portable is that when you are rolling dice in a stressful tension-riddled situation, there is a special resolution system that is applied to ratchet up the pressure.

3. The Characters: in this game, you play a number of different characters. You have a primary character which is your Mage. You can have a companion character which is a powerful person but still not a mage. And you have Grogs which are like hirelings or cannon-fodder in many ways. You are also encouraged to have your companion be friends with another character's mage, rather than your own. This is because gameplay is divided into the four seasons and you can send your Mage to the tower to do research while your Companion goes down into dungeon with their Mage friend (another character). This way you can rest characters, switch them out, and still keep up a realistic speed of exploration and activity in the world. You are really encouraged not to play the Mage and Companion simultaneously, but you can run a number of Grogs at any time. They are there to serve as outlets for creativity (pull that lever! jump to that platform!) and allow some creative storytelling.

All these characters are kept together through a kind of pact of friendship called a Covenant. These solve a lot of the party formation issues that other games have. You really do have group goals and those keep your group together in a way that isn't like what you might be used to. It is functional and definitely worth stealing.

4. Phases of Character Development: Ars Magica has you create a character, then make decisions about their early life, then make decisions about their apprenticeship, then make decisions about life after that but before play, and at each step you are given slightly different development tasks. So the character really feels like it is growing organically. For example, you cannot learn martial skills as a child, so it allows you to round-out the non-combat edges of your character. Stuff like that.

5. Unusual Skills: The game has a number of skills that you really don't see developed in other RPGs. There is a skill for doing intrigue at court that is different from normal lying. There are a few skills for academic knowledge that are pretty innovative because as a Mage you are really expected to be doing a lot of research and study. It is actually relevant to the game. Canon Law is a skill. It is pretty interesting to use these skills at the table.

6. Techniques and Foci: The magic system of the game uses a really cool method of creating improvisational magic. I am actually rewriting the system with some tweaks for Novarium because I think it is the most valuable aspect of the game. You have two abilities called Techniques and Foci. Techniques are how the magic interacts with the world; what you might traditionally associate with a school in D&D; changing the nature of things, percieving things, creating things, etc. The Foci are the unique elements of the magic; fire, ice, wind, animals, plants, etc. You have values in each; so you might have 4 points in Create and 3 points in Wind and 2 points in Fire. You can then combine these things improvisationally; so you can say "I want to create wind" and roll at +7. You can just create improvisational magic right at the table. Further, you can use established spells (they are easier than improvising it). But the entire nature of the magic is the crossroads between the techniques and the foci. Very cool stuff.


So now you know. And knowing is half the battle. GI JOE!