(Mine will only take 2-3 weeks to reach Oz... aargh!)
In the meantime, why don't you check out the preview of Issue #2 of Sub Rosa for the Line Editors thoughts on the new book or even better still show Alex some appreciation and subscribe to get the full fanzine @ only US $4.50 an issue? (blatant plug "on"):
More Criamon Paths, more Templars, Adventures, Locales, Recurring Characters, a Bestiary, more Hohenstuff (sic) ...and a small piece about Jinn by some new guy
Yeah! Looking forward to this one (as with anyone prior to it hehe )!
And if I'm not getting at this week much anticipated local yearly conventions (the stores going there carry Ars Magica) I'll be ordering it from my usual overseas supplier next week.
According to Esdevium games, it should be in UK games shops on wednesday this week. From previous experience the local store in Leeds will get it in then , and I think they also have a shop in Manchester
Of course. And since I have it in my grubby hands, the authors are now free to talk about it as well.
I read it through quickly last night, skimming some bits and concentrating on others. I love the diagrams. I'm especially impressed with the mechanics, such as those in the Medicine chapter (treating disease and wounds) and in the Experimental Philosophy chapter. The formulae are really cool, but simple as well! I was immediately taken by the interesting ramifications of Inceptions, but the image of an alchemist throwing a Reagent on a fire to change its color really delighted me.
For those of us being tantalised by Amazon's shipping dates, is there any chance of a breakdown of chapters? The table of contents teaser gave more questions than it answered.
I suppose, really, just a question about how rules-dense the various chapters are. The chapter headings and breakdowns suggest lots of lovely philosophical and historical breakdown and flavour but I'm curious as to how much of that ties into game rules.
Specifically, new game rules and new systems. There've been a lot of new systems built in of late which work in manners utterly divorced from the hermetic guidelines and frankly I can't keep them in my head. Even the names of the Divine/Infernal methods and whathaveyou just flow out of my head.
Erm ... so yes, are the rules expansions on previous stuff, or are they new things entirely?
I'm not surprised. I think John has taken to shipping out every other order before he moves a pile of books to the Game store side of the warehouse. Gone are the days such as when I spotted the excited arrival of bloood and sand on the berk list and thought to myself "What's the big deal?, I've had that for over a month?". Also The game store didn't call me when the book came in. They've managed to loose my pre-order again (They're 1 for 3 and not inspiring much confidence).
The chapter on Medicine expands on what to do when a character is injured or sick, and elaborates on Hermetic guidelines for same. There's some neat guidelines stuff in the section on the mind as well, showing how Mentem affects the wits. The way diseases and injuries are done is slightly different than in the core rules, creating new opportunities for surgeons, herbalists and apothecaries to shine, but basically the disease has an Ease Factor that the specialist has to overcome on one or more rolls.
The chapter on Experimental Philosophy describes how characters can use Artes Liberales, Philosophiae, or Medicine to create natural spell-like effects, like a powder to change the color of flames, or a horoscope to tell whether the Duke of Burgundy will make war that summer. All these things effectively new, though they use the basic idea of guidelines with levels and a formula to determine a result.
All the non-systems stuff doesn't disappoint, either. The material on the cosmology of Mythic Europe and how things like medieval physics and philosophiae actually work is some of the most engrossing and interesting material I've ever seen in an Ars Magica book.
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