For a while now I have had a nagging question. Why has there been no high fantasy ArM setting in a non-ME world been developed? I am not suggesting that the ME setting be tossed out, just that other settings could also be developed.
There have been so many people I met who dig many ArM feature, troupe play, covenants, etc., but cant get past the ME element. They want more high fantasy and dont like to attend to all that historical background tht we tend to savour. (Personally, I would prefer ArM in ME to a nonearth high fantasy setting.)
But it seems to me ArM could produce quality high fantasy too. It also seems to me the market is ripe for: I have been hearing a lot of grumbling about the newest edition of D&D. Sure the typical ArM player probably wont buy ArM high fantasy books. But then, most gamers prefer highfantasy, right? And the idea is to make money and not just please people like me.
So if money is to be made why hasnt it been done? Is there a legal issue? Or am I wrong in thinking there is room in the market for such a product? Or is there some other reason?
I don't know about high fantasy but one of the members of my group has done Ars MAgica into the 17th and 18th century. He just makes it a lot more subtle and such.
We doubt that there is money to be made. People who want to play high fantasy generally play D&D, and the competitors generally do not sell as well as Ars Magica.
Mind you, if John Nephew suddenly decided that it was likely to be viable, I'd love to do it.
One reason amongst others that made me unconfortable with ME is the status of the Divine. You have well exposed an aspect of this problem in another thread and I follow you totally on this ground.
In a high fantasy setting such issues would be avoided as well as the other complex issue of the future of ME.
I'd like to add I love A&A and particularly the way aristotelician and platonician cosmologies (that i have discovered there as i m a scientist) are decribed. A high fantasy guide should be cautious the way it changes this cosmology.
I'm looking into adding more fantasy to ME with other Realms and such. In my campaign, the Magic Realm provides the high fantasy setting in a way, but I have big hopes for RoP: Faerie (maybe we can get a table of contents soon? Pleeeaaaase?)
Anyway, I can see the point. It would be interesting to use Ars Magica in a fantasy setting with a Tolkien flavor to it. I feel that D&D has strayed too much away from those roots. I would love a setting with the Tolkien-elements. Anyway, I add much of that into my regular Ars Magica campaign, at least when it comes to mood.
