Ars Magica Open License FUNDED

Official Announcements
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Proctor, MN – 10/15/24 – The myth and magic of Ars Magica is now FREE! Atlas Games®, publisher of the legendary Ars Magica™ roleplaying game, is thrilled to announce the successful funding of its Open License.

Launched through crowdfunding on BackerKit.com, the Open License has just been secured by an outpouring of support from fans. The game's award-winning core mechanics and Mythic Europe™ setting are now both covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. Details of the license are at atlas-games.com/openars

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"We are absolutely blown away by the incredible response from the Ars Magica community," said John Nephew, co-owner of Atlas Games. "This open license empowers players and creators like never before, allowing them to freely share, adapt, and build upon the foundation of the game. And there's even more to come!"

The Ars Magica Definitive Edition crowdfunding, featuring an expansive 600+ page full-color rulebook, met its funding goal in only 3 minutes and served as the launchpad for this groundbreaking initiative. An early Stretch Goal within the campaign unlocked the standard 5th Edition core rulebook's text and setting as Open License, and the expaned Definitive Edition text was close behind. Future Stretch Goals are planned to release even more content, further enriching the creative landscape. The Stretch Goals in total include:

  • The standard text of the 5th Edition core rulebook
  • The Definitive Edition expanded text, more than doubling the standard text's wordcount.
  • Finis Terrae: El Tribunal de Iberia, published by Spanish Ars Magica translator Holocubierta Ediciones
  • Nine tribunal and world region sourcebooks
  • Twelve realms and world topics sourcebooks
  • Twelve Order of Hermes sourcebooks
  • Nine legacy tribunal and world region sourcebooks, from 4th Edition and 3rd Edition
  • Nine scenario books
  • The classic Mythic Europe map from standard 5th Edition's core rulebook
  • Semita Errabunda, Ars Magica's "living covenant"

If the entire Ars Magica line is unlocked by the campaign's close on November 14th at 8pm Central, then the Creative Commons content will include over 60 books, plus supplementary materials. The campaign ends November 14th at 8pm Central.

"For decades, Ars Magica has fostered a passionate and creative fan base," said Michelle Nephew, co-owner of Atlas Games and Co-Producer of the project. "This open license is a way to formally recognize that dedication and empower our community to take the game in exciting new directions."

The successful funding of the Ars Magica Open License marks a new chapter for the beloved Ars Magica tabletop RPG. With the core mechanics and setting now readily available for its vibrant community of creators to explore, the magic of Ars Magica will continue to captivate players for generations to come.

Contact: john@atlas-games.com

Links to Ars Magica Awesomeness:

About Ars Magica:

Ars Magica is the award-winning tabletop RPG set in a Mythic Europe teeming with magic. Players take the roles of powerful wizards, bound by a complex covenant system and dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of the arcane. Widely regarded as the benchmark for magic systems, Ars Magica is also the pioneer in troupe-style, storytelling games.

About Atlas Games:

At Atlas Games, our passion is offering exceptional games to the world. Our first release was in 1990, making us one of the most reliable hobby game publishers in business, too. We believe in creative curiosity and sensible operations. We love new ideas and always keep our word. If that appeals to you, boy have we got a treat for you!

Ars Magica and Mythic Europe are trademarks, and Atlas Games is a registered trademark, of Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games. Order of Hermes is a trademark of Paradox Interactive AB and is used with permission

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Atlas Games has very kindly shared the draft word files of the Definitive Edition with the backers. I've found them very useful, and I know I'm not alone.

Now that the book is finally going to printer, I wonder if you would release the updated draft documents. I know the files have been updated with corrections and feedback, before being combed over and sent to print. It would be nice to have the updated draft files, as close as possible to the actual book that's going to print.

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Hi there. So, let me explain the role of the draft documents in the publishing process …

The draft text we shared with backers is the exact text we put into layout, which had already been edited by David Chart and then proofread. After it was in layout, it then went through several more rounds of proofreading/layout checks by myself, my co-producer Ben Hartfield, and Atlas Games staff. We made many small changes to accommodate the layout, add page numbers, and implement corrections and feedback as you mentioned. But those changes aren’t things that were ever updated back in the draft … the draft is a step in the process that’s then set aside after we move on, not a definitive reference that we ever go back to.

If you’d like an exact copy of the text of the final layout, you’ll need to take the final layout PDF (coming very soon!) and export the text from that. I know from experience that’s a laborious task, but it is possible.

I wish I had better news for you, but thank you for asking and I hope this explains our process!

-Michelle Nephew
Ars Magica Co-Producer
Atlas Games Co-Owner

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Thanks, that clarifies the situation.