Thank you so much, this was exactly the thing I was looking for and hoping to get. =) Super helpful.
Not sure if they changed if from 4th to 5th, but I am pretty sure an apprentice is only guaranteed 1 season of study. Al tho many paters, of course, will teach them or let them study more.
Liber Quaestionum is gone in 5ed. Of course, that does not mean that you cannot use them, but FYI 
Personally I find their restrictions to generate bookkeeping, so I agree with their removal. I am quite happy with using tractatus for the most part. YSMV.
They are only guaranteed one season of one-to-one tuition with their master, which may be worse than a season of self-study, but the Code requires the parens to teach one on one even when it is not efficient. That's the same across editions I believe.
In game, I find that the only sensible approach is provide lots of opportunities to study Latin and Magic Theory early in apprenticeship, lest they be a waste of space in the lab. Even without power-gaming in the apprentice's favour, they are likely to reach gauntlet well above standard starting power.
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I did something similar to Lothindil during my first game where I had a group of players who knew nothing about the system, set in the Theban Tribunal. It looked something like this:
First session: Child character creation. I did not have the players open the book. The players spent their ability scores after I explained how attributes would be used and then, what I did was give them a quiz. The quiz would give them: their starting language 5 and childhood (45) experience based on the type of childhood and lineage they had. This would also depending on choices give them some virtues and flaws based on mythic/magic/faerie blood, upbringing types, etc. I also had them select whether they wanted the blatant/normal/gentle gift, and whether they had some specific virtues and flaws related to learning, as those would be critical at this stage. Additional virtue and flaw selection was post-poned so the players could get to know the system, and they would be able to balance out their virtue/flaw points somewhere between this game and the first post-gauntlet game. Any virtues and flaws not included at this stage were merely deemed latent magical abilities. The first session also included time at the apprentice school in Polyaigos where apprentices would be taught Artes Liberales, Ancient Greek and Latin, in that order, and then some additional time could be spent on learning Philosophae, more Artes Liberales, Scribing and other skills the covenant might teach prior to the Sortition of Apprentices (the players chose how much time they spent there, 0-6 years, and I gave them experience accordingly, as if they received either training or teaching in a group). The game was concluded by roleplaying the sortition of apprentices, where they would be interviewed by potential parens, some of which would bid tokens and try to sway them to choose them. This would give them their House post-gauntlet, and gave them some introduction on how the Order works in Thebes, and the Houses.
Each successive sessions would include a fast-forward a few years. Much like Lothindil, what they received was on a per-season basis, which incidentally helped them learn how the advancement works in game. Each year would typically include: 1 season of teaching, 1 season of exposure through assistant the master in the lab, 1 season of exposure as a result of what I called "community work" and 1 season that varied by teaching style. This season was sometimes training by a mundane, sometimes it was practice experience, sometimes it was an additional lab season, sometimes it was time spent with a book. All players would, over their 15 years, get some seasons where they had choices, but how much would vary from parens to parens (and incidentally, this let me balance how much XP I gave since some teachers would give 12 xp in a season, while another might give 20), but some of those would also be enforced by the parens - for example the Jerbiton would have some practice seasons learning social skills or area lore, while the Flambeau would get some seasons of teaching using a sword.
Community Work seasons were exposure seasons where characters copied lab texts, summaes, tractatus, fixed arcane connections, etc. Each of those seasons, depending on what they were assigned towards, gave them some form of dowry post gauntlet depending on what was done. A season of copying lab texts, for example, might give them some lab texts post-gauntlet from among the copied ones, while a season fixing arcane connections might give them some silver or pawns of vis post-gauntlet. My intent was for the characters to design their covenant resources without spending points, so to speak. Each player would therefore contribute something to the pot, depending on the work done over 15 years.
The second session had some apprentice adventure within the covenant.
The third session had a tribunal game where they learned more or less about the Order and tribunal.
The fourth session was return of the Stormrider arround 10-12 years past the opening of the arts.
The fifth session was their gauntlet.
The sixth and ongoing sessions was researching covenant site options, exploring, and settling down.
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I did this several years ago quite successfully. Most players were brand new and they loved it. I had them only select a few points of virtues and flaws, letting them RP how they developed flaws in their apprenticeship to earn more virtues.
I think we started under the assumption they were all 12 or so, and had finished the 1st 5 years of their apprenticeship.
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Ah ok, well I have to take a look at the 5th editions to see what they changed. I do like the inclusion of Realias tho. I think they are a great addition to the game and have so many good opportunities for adventures that come with them.
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Thank you for sharing. A lot of interesting ideas and good points here. Again thank you.
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That sounds similar to what I hope will happen =)
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I did an apprentice game and it was a lot of fun.
The PCs began as youths, ages 5-15, as the player chose. They were gathered up by a redcap and brought to the tribunal of the greater alps, where they were chosen by various magi as apprentices. A year passed in between each session. They spent the autumn and spring being instructed by various teachers as a group, spent winters in the lab with their masters, and often had summers free. I gave them Cantations (see the Apprentices book) for free: 1 accumulated level of spells every season, which could be spent on spells no higher than level 5. So they ended up with 60 levels of these low level spells. We used the rules for teaching, and I had stats for everyoneâs master so I could calculate what they were taught every season.
Adventures ranged the gamut from encounters with faeries (the man in black with a sack on his back, German Christmas faeries) to exploration. They met St Nerius and dealt with a vampiric spirit. As the apprentices got older they were brought along on missions with their masters or were sent on tasks. I had a group of campaign villains: diabolists who tried to kidnap the PCs in the first session and steal them as apprentices, and who continued to plague the PCs throughout their apprenticeships. There were tribunal meetings in there that made for good adventure.
The biggest adventures were the Gauntlet, which was a two parter resolving a mystery of the Greater Alps and where there was a fight with a dragon, and another two-parter in 1212 when the childrenâs crusade came through the alps. But every other episode was very self contained and the whole apprenticeship ended in 17 sessions. It was a lot of work, but very rewarding.
After the gauntlet, the new magi went off to Hibernia and we played for about 30 more sessions.
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Man that sounds great, I wish I could have been apart of that. =)
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