It's a great game, and I have got (and hopefully will continue to get) a lot of enjoyment out of it. Thank-you.
This is not true. Patience has not been necessary.
This is true. No-one else in this business has been Ars Magica Line Editor for 14 years.
I'd like to believe this, but I suspect that Ars Magica's low profile even within gaming (someone added it to a list of dead games on io9 a couple of years back, for pity's sake) indicates that there are other reasons.
In any case, I'm very pleased to see that the authors seem to have enjoyed working on the game. I really did demand an enormous amount of work for a tiny amount of pay.
Again, thank you everyone for the kind words.
Might I just mention that someone (I wish to blame Sheila Thomas, but that may not be fair) convinced me that David was the spitting image of Morten Harket: a belief I kept for many years until he joined Facebook?
I've just finished recording an interview with David for Arcane Connection. It has a few serious sound issues but I'm hoping to get it cleaned up and out tomorrow. If not we might have to replace it with his rendition of Take On Me and The Sun Always Shines on TV. In fact with Karl, Leif and Håkon making up the rest of the band we will have to book David to sing at grandtribunal.org
Go buy tickets!
CJ x
I'm sad to read that you are stepping down from being Line Editor, as I feel the work you did with the game is outstanding, though I understand sometimes one needs to move on to new things. You took what was already a great game, and proved it could be much more than it was, while still being the same thing instead of something completely new. You took its potential and fulfilled it completely.
I already posted on the comments section of the announcement, so I won't repeat all I said there. But I still want to say here, as I did there, that you are responsible for the absolute best edition of the game, and that for me this is more your game than eanybody else's.
Thank you for what you created for us, for all the hard work, effort and love you put into this for all of us. You have gifted us something wonderful, and I am grateful to you for that.
It's been a pleasure working for David intermittently over the past several years. The way I got involved with Ars Magica was that I wrote a letter to the editor of Mythic Perspectives, and David reached out to encourage me to develop that idea into an article. He was my mentor.
He's also been one of the most capable, pleasant, and fair bosses I've had the pleasure to work for. The way he treats people, it's no wonder everyone loves him.
Wow, this is what I get for not checking the forums regularly anymore.
Well, let me join the chorus. Thank you David Chart, on behalf of myself and my players, for everything you have done to give us the fantastic game we've been playing for many, many years. All the best in your future endeavors.
So, you had what in Danish (translated word for word) is called an "Aha experience"?
I think at some point I imagined David with a beard, and older. When I first met him in person I realised I had actually already seen a picture of him, so I wasn't surprised to see he had no beard.
Just to add my thanks. David, I think you've done a fantastic job as line editor. You can be proud of the leadership and direction you have given to ArM5.
I hope to read more from you in the future whether in an Ars Magica context or another.
Thanks so much for all your time and work, David Chart!!! The 5th edition you ushered in is a masterpiece, and I have really appreciated your communication with your fan base.
David, thanks for all the hard work over the years - and being patient with me when I posted that big 6E thread a few months back.
I didn't realize we were so close to the end of 5E - the timing of David's retirement is a surprise. However I have read in the past David saying he didn't want to be the Line Developer for 6E and figured someone else should do it. So, that he is retiring now that 5E is over is not a surprise.
Anyhow - I think it's a real testament to David's skill and hard work that Ars Magica had almost zero edition wars from 4E to 5E - something I think he should be really proud of and take as a serious complement. 
Thank you Mr. Chart, for a game that has provided me with a lot of enjoyment and great times with friends. There's nothing else quite like Ars Magica 5th edition, and its allure and magic is all due to your oversight and hard work.
Thank you again.
Vrylakos
Wow.
This comes as a shock, even now.
I am sad to see you go. Ars Magica has been a constant source of joy and wonder for a good number of years, and this is in no small part thanks to you.
And I fear for Ars Magica's future. A game that doesn't publishes is a game that dies, sadly. And while I look forward to Tales of the Quaesitors, I don't care for a 6th edition. I'd have loved to see your take on the old tribunals, on the diedne, on different eras or settings...
All that being said, you've given us so much already, this doesn't matter one bit. If you feel it is time to go, whatever your reasons, then go, with our thanks and affection.
I've just realized how long you've been line editor, David. I think that's a record! For the best.
What a game - what a loss!
Thank you a lot for what you have done with ArM.
I'm a bit late to the party - but I just wanted to add my voice in thanks to David Chart. He gave us a wonderful Fifth Edition, by far my favorite edition of my favorite game. Thank you!
What do the rules say?
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I'm pretty sure David's made Dendrophori rank if you apply the Bonisagus House Acclaim rules to him, based on the published books of 5e and the talent (apprentices?) he's nurtured.
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A positive "Order wide" reputation of 4 or 5?
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A Karma Magica score of what? At least 5?
Any others?
David, I wasn't going to say anything, as I made my comments on your announcement (both as a gamer and fellow philosopher!), but my fiance and primary player has reminded me of something that I think I should mention:
I've been running games for approximately thirty years, now, and in the near-decade that I have been running for my darling girl, she's noted laughingly that I can't seem to leave any of the systems be - I tinker with all of them, rewriting portions of the rules to make them capture the setting better, to make them work more to my liking, or just to make them work at all. All of them, that is, except one - Ars Magica 5th.
It just never occurred to me. Not once in all the time we've been playing have I ever had the slightest urge to change one jot or tittle. It's fine that others do - nothing wrong with the urge. I'm merely pointing out that the system works so smoothly, captures the setting so well, and make so much sense - to me, at least - that the very prototype of the inveterate tinkerer has never had the impulse to tinker.
So make of that what you will, good sir... and thank you.