Campaign Title: The Black Sheep
System: Ars Magica 5th Edition
of Players: 3-6
Deadline: May/June 2016
Starting Level: Newly Gauntleted.
Advancement Rules: As per the book.
Combat Rules: Combat is a very much a time consuming distraction in a play by post game, as a result it will generally be handled abstractedly. Important conflicts, in which there is a realistic chance of character death, will be broken down into detailed turn order.
Dice-Rolling Rules: I will handle all dice rolls.
Special Rules: I will be keeping to the core book, appeals for something special will be handled on a case by case basis.
Posting Rate: Once a week at a minimum, however I’d prefer players to tailor this to the flow of the game, so if your character is the focus of a fast moving plot line I’d expect you to post more often.
Absences: I will be fairly tolerant of slow or absent players, people are naturally unreliable and life can always get in the way, when it becomes a problem I will give a polite nudge, I’ll write absent characters out of the immediate plot so they can be returned to later, after long absence I reserve the right to kill characters off.
Writing Expectations: I think that interested and invested players will naturally write what needs to be written, basic descriptions are fine, but paragraphs of epic prose are not required. Proof reading is appreciated!
Text Formatting: Rules/Mechanics will be in red, descriptions will be italics, paragraphs should be short for ease of reading.
Plot- or Character-Driven: Primarily Character-Driven. Though the Saga will be seeded with plot hooks it is up to the players to discover them and decide what to do with them.
Focus: Survival, roleplaying and politics.
Character Types: You are a Black Sheep of the Order, for whatever reason you start with a negative reputation within the Order (you all have the homebrew flaw Hermetic Infamy, an inversion of the Hermetic Prestige Virtue, for which you do not get a corresponding virtue). This reputation may be the result of your poor conduct a foolish parens, or false accusations. As a miscreant and ne’er do well you have full license to essentially create a totally obnoxious Magus. You may not have Hermetic Prestige nor be a member of House Guernicus.
Campaign Description: Newly Gauntleted but ill-regarded by the Order, established covenants have closed their doors to you, the Quaesitors eye you with suspicion. You find yourself with other such miscreants, however at this point your luck may have changed. Your unlikely cabal has discovered the ruins of a former Covenant, all but forgotten by the Order, possessed of a powerful aura. Your group starts play with no money, no laboratories, no grogs, just the ruins of a covenant. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain as you try to carve out a place yourselves in the Order.
NB: You will not be told prior to character creation where your covenant will be, this is because firstly I have yet to decide, secondly as disposed Magi you have simply gone where opportunity has taken you so realistically you may find yourself in a completely foreign land, thirdly this amuses me.
Additional Notes: In addition to your Magus please create a companion. Companions can be played whilst your Magus is otherwise engaged, however as a twist the companion you create will be randomly assigned to another player.