Recently, I began researching Ars Magica as I had heard much that was good about the magic rules. I have never played this game. It looked like a lot of work, but after thinking about it and the monetary investment, decided it would likely be worthwhile. Imagine my surprise when, after buying the 5th Edition core rules a few days ago, I come to this thread and discover that the 5th Edition is either dying or already dead. Not quite sure what to do, or say. I suppose the supplements for the 5th Edition will be around for a while. My concern is now that they are no longer being published, the prices will rise considerably as the supply decreases.
Given my predicament, I'll recommend that whatever happens in the 6th Edition, it is backward compatible (though after reading this thread, I have little doubt that the core rules will not be compatible with the book I just bought). I'm not familiar enough with the game to give specific recommendations; however, it may be worthwhile to take a look at the strategy WotC used in compiling 5th Edition D&D. Take the best of each edition and simplify (not dumb down) or eliminate the rules that have proven problematic over the years. Sorry for derailing the thread with the first paragraph.
I wouldn't worry too much - the product line is huge, and the game is pretty much complete at this point. There are years and years and years of material to work with already.
The product line isn't dead. It's just not being expanded with additional books once the last (two?) in the pipeline are out. I think there has been discussion of reprints of books, too.
Since the announcement, I don't think the forum (which is really the sign of a living game) has slowed down one bit.
Don't go away with that impression. The published line is ending because it's as close to complete as it can be. What that means is that whatever you want to do in fifth edition, Atlas have you covered.
Want to play a divine companion character to a master Hermetic boatbuilder supporting an entire covenant at sea? While rival traditions fight for control over the magic realm and the infernal infiltrates the classes of a scholastic university magister companion? There's support there. Want to play a magical troubadour? A band of hedge wizards? Or take your saga into North Africa and beyond? All covered.
There's now a wealth of published scenarios and saga frameworks too, so you have a lot of support for ramping up your saga and introducing new ideas all the way.
As far as getting hold of the supplements goes, they'll all be there in pdf at least, so I'd recommend those.
Bottom line is, fifth edition is there. It's current. People are using it. There will be a sixth edition one day, but it won't be soon. When the day does come, you'll have had a blast with fifth and you can decide how you want to roll sixth into your group. Until then, go explore Mythic Europe through the fifth edition. It's really rather good, you know.
Fifth edition is not complete, nor is it "as close to complete as it can be". If it was, I would not be so reliant upon the WGRE for information on Hermetic culture, Tribunals, and the Code.
Rather, fifth edition is "finished", or soon to be, as opposed to "complete". They are at the end of their strategic plan. Which is unfortunate. And a mistake on the part of Atlas. But what can we do to change their minds on this? Not much unfortunately.
I too get a little irritated by fans of particular generic game systems always wanting to covert every other game and setting over to their preference.
However, I do think that Ars Magica could generally afford another look at trying to make the overall system lighter. It's just a bit too crunchy in my view, and it's gone away a little bit from it's roots because of that. If I wanted to look at developing the game to appeal to the sensibilities of fans of FATE and Savage Worlds, I'd probably start with something like the HeroQuest system used for the Glorantha setting, maybe. I do like the way in which this system matches it's 'narrativist' goals to mirror the 'storytelling' motif of the Ars Magica game. The system is very simple and open-ended in power scale, which does suit the Ars Magica style in my view, but even beyond the actual mechanic, I just like the way in which a character can be more organically defined by keywords and prose rather than crunchy, formatted character sheets and shopping lists for traits and skills.
Maybe it would be fruitful to chuck the game over to Robin D. Laws and ask him what he'd do with it? I do note that there is a Gumshoe version for the Inquisitors coming soon anyway.
The problem is the availability of the books. I just checked Amazon, and the Divine hardcover starts out at $100. As the supply decreases, the price will go up, simple supply and demand economic.
As far as pdf's, I'm not interested. I enjoy holding a book in my hands. I suppose it's my own fault for getting involved at the wrong time. Let this be a warning to anyone who is thinking about diving into this pool.
The hardcovers will become scarcer, because only the first print run is done in hardcover. (And scenario books are softcover from the start.) The softcover reprints should be more reasonably available. This has nothing at all to do with the line ending, and everything to do with the economics of print runs.
I like the book too, but I also have the PDFs (most of them, at least). But then, I have a tablet that I've found useful at the gaming table.
The content is out there for when you need it. It's really good, too. I respect your position with regards to your own preferences, but I'd urge others coming into the game at this point to go PDF where the hard copies might not be readily available.
If they did care they would disable printing functionality of the PDF, forcing those who wished to print to defeat the security features. But Atlas sells the PDFs without any security, so....
The people that are probably harder to convince are the print-on-demand service, unless you already have a working relationship with them. Librarian powers, indeed!
(amusingly, I've had companies decline my custom due to suspicion of illegal activity of this regard in the past even when I've presented them with the written permission from the IP holder. My guess is they assumed it was fake, probably in part due to having never seen what legitimate permission looks like - and possibly assuming such permission with regard to a well-known IP would look grander than it typically is)
I should note that this is one of the reasons John hired me and why I'm the RPG Director for Atlas. Some things need a facelift, some things need to be rebuilt from the ground up, others need to be left alone. I'm very, very serious about Ars Magica and its future, as is everyone else here. Right now, Unknown Armies is getting a new edition, rewritten and revised by one of its creators, Greg Stolze. That's due out next year. I'm working on a brand-new RPG called Pillar of Fire, which is a science fiction epic with heavy spiritual and social overtones to it. And we've got Tales of the Quaesitors, AKA Magic Shoe, awaiting further development. There's a lot going on, but it's all looking ahead to a stronger future for existing and original RPG lines, and that includes ArM.
Well, the work you did with Marvel Heroic and now Feng Shui does show that you've got a great track record of doing this sort of thing!
The thing with Atlas Games' RPGs is that they tend to garner a lot of cult following and professional accolades from within the industry - as such there is probably a high degree of protectiveness over their development. My view is that all games need to be modernised periodically to ensure they stay relevant to current audiences, but the 'essence' of a game indeed needs to be identified and preserved. In the case of Ars Magica, I just think that the ongoing accumulation of rules and complexity over the years, is just slightly at odds with it's actual original purpose - that being a narrative, storytelling game of medieval wizards.
There are some exciting progressions ahead for Atlas from the sounds of it, and I do have Feng Shui 2 which I've ran a few sessions of now as evidence of how good these new things could be, so I'll follow the news development here with interest.