I've decided I need to recruit some new playtesters for Ars Magica, because we've increased the amount of playtesting that books get, and there are no longer quite enough playtesters to go round. I don't need an enormous number of people, however; it's very likely that I'll have to reject some applicants.
There are a few conditions.
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You must have a group (at least three people) that can get together to play at least twice a month.
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You and your group must all be comfortable with reading and writing English. You will all have to read and write a substantial amount of English in a limited time. English need not be your native language, however.
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Your group must be willing to either send your existing saga off on unexpected tangents, or to run mini-sagas unrelated to the main one, in order to use the new material.
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You must be familiar with the whole of the ArM5 line to date. Familiarity with earlier editions is neither required, nor an advantage. In fact, I'd quite like at least one group who started playing Ars Magica with the current edition.
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You must be ready to follow instructions carefully, and meet deadlines, even though you are volunteering.
If you are interested and meet the conditions, send me an email at arsmagica@davidchart.com saying so. I will assign you part of a published book to write a playtest report on, and send you the standard playtest instructions, including a deadline. People who follow the guidelines and submit a good report will be asked to playtest future supplements.
Note that you, and all members of your group, must sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement before starting actual playtests, but that is not necessary before you do your sample playtest; I won't be sending you any secret material.
Please bear in mind that playtesting is not an opportunity to get new books early. The drafts you get will have broken mechanics, incoherent bits of background, and may not accord at all with your vision of Ars Magica. Playtest reports play a vital role in making our books good, which, obviously, means that the published books are better than the drafts that playtesters get to see.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me, or ask here.
I look forward to hearing from people.