"Entry level" covenant book: ROLL CALL

@ Arthur, @Xavi, @Timothy Ferguson and al.

Please just have a glance at this.

:arrow_right: EDIT: URL deleted. See that post instead.

I have made a .pdf file with the current work of Mr Timothy Ferguson. This is a layout focusing on his covenant project — I picked it among all the other projects just because it was the most developed at the time I began to put my nose into your respective works.
It is a draft of an eventually future "Covenants Book" (or whatever you'll want to call it) with a layout "à la manière de" Atlas Games' productions.
I propose you look at it and tell me what you (all) think about it.
It looks like there is a lot of contributors for your project of Covenant(s). I hope you won't make your own project unconnected to the others' ones, but want to put them all together into a one and single work.
I would like too to contribute to it, but english being not my native language, I don't speak/write it so fluently so as to write something accurate.
Also what I can do the best for it is putting all your works together into a pretty well presented .pdf file.
Of course I 'll do it for free as I hope you'll all want to make your covenants freely accessible to all "Ars Magica" fans.
So, tell me all of you if you're ok to let me doing so.
I'm not in hurry because I'll wait each and every project being achieved before I make it into a layout.
Looking forward to your answers and pieces of your thinking about that.

That's some beautiful layout work Manfromouterspace!

I'd just run it past David Chart, though, to make sure Atlas is OK with you using their trade dress. He might ask you to change the cover a bit (or not) so that it doesn't look quite so much like an official supplement.

I'm happy you appreciate it. Thanks. :slight_smile:

OK. I shall be pleased to make all changes that David Chart (or you) will ask. My intent is not to infringe Atlas' (copy)rights.

I agree. I think it looks great. But personally, I feel a little uncomfortable with it using the line's trade dress. Of course, I don't make the rules up so it could be totally fine. I do think though, given what you've done there already, that you could probably do a damned fine job without reference to that trade dress.

English is not my native language either, and by the time I am more or less done with the general idea I expect to have my text heavily edited by whoever wants to do it :slight_smile: For what I have read in your message you are more than qualified to write in English; I do not think that this should be a barrier to your own contribution to the project.

Awesome work on the layout. Taking timothy's bit for the project was a sound idea. It still is the most and better developed one. :slight_smile: I am also undergoing the creation of a wild west town for an upcoming game so I am falling slightly behind my own schedule. Will try to correct that in the next days. My text is not definitive in any way, though, since I am posting in the blog what I think as I think it, not the final version.

An alternative to using the official line (if Atlas does not like it) might be to talk to Mark and Ben and see if we can use Sub Rosa's layout and patterns. Fan stuff keeping a common theme et al :slight_smile:

Funny you should say that. I think we're going to be experimenting with some new layout and design elements in Sub Rosa starting with the next issue.

As to this project? I'm happy to help out with any layout and design, but I think you guys already have someone on the case far better qualified than me. I'll be in the corner if needed so I don't step on anybody's toes.

Hello.

:arrow_right: EDIT: URL deleted. See that post instead.

The "Covenants Book" .pdf has been updated and it comes now with its all new brand own dress…

(stlll a little bit inspired by the Atlas dress layout, I must confess. :blush: )

…but it uses no more the former/actual/original background files extracted from Atlas Games preview .pdf files.

Beware: this .pdf is still a Work In Progress file… Just for you to make your own idea about the thing!

To everyone working on the Covenants book, this is great stuff and so valuable. Thank you so much for everything you have already done and please keep it up! You have an audience!

Mark, since you brought it up, please step back and take a look at the Mappamundi pages. That image behind the text makes that column remarkably hard to read.

I'll take care of that. Thank you.

Haven't had much time to add stuff to Wiggon's Kiln this week. Started a new job last Monday, so things have been very busy. It means that I have a lot to learn, which wasn't as much of a problem on the previous job.

That doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about what to add and detail, just that I haven't got much chance to write it. Hopefully things will calm down in a week or three, although I certainly have less time overall for the project than what I was hoping for. But don't count me out! :smiley:

I am in a work peak, so in a similar situation to Arthur. Iusto Foedere is progressing slow as a consequence. Will try to catch up in the next weeks. I will try to post the specialists later today.

If anyone has specific information on Chester, Wexham or their general area, I would appreciate it :slight_smile:

Xavi

Same for me, regarding West Sussex. :slight_smile:

I appreciate your work and that you are not a native English person and, like many other lurkers on the board, I am enjoying following this idea and thread.
Minor nitpick: the county is nowadays called Cheshire not Chestershire so it doesn't sound 'right' to modern people, although it was Chestershire in the Domesday Book. I have no idea when it officially changed name.

Basic info, cribbed from the web:
It was ruled as a 'County Palatine' from the Norman Conquest until 1237 (when the male line died out and King Henry III grabbed it and gave it to his son, later King Edward I. This means that the Earl of Chester (in 1220 this would be Earl Ranulf (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranulf_de_ ... of_Chester) rules as if he were a King, without any higher mundane authority. He grants land, baronies, etc. Receives taxes and raises armies. This area was effectively in a state of perpetual war with the neighbouring Welsh regions.

A very interesting area to set a covenant, where mundane issues would strike regularly as welsh raiders attack the more settled norman lands and in turn would suffer full-scale invasions of reprisal. I'd definitely want good mundane defenses! And look to make a strong alliance with the Earl, eventually as the saga progressed.

The Earl of Cheshire is arguably the most powerful guy around in England, other than the Regent. He's virtually an independent king. He clearly has an indepedent foreign policy, for example.

After quite some time being unable to update this, I bring you the second entry on the covenant inhabitants: specialists and companions. I have taken an open ended approach here, listing some as priority posts, but providing quite a few extra characters for the specialist role in case the post is taken by a companion.

tira1d6.wordpress.com/2013/11/20 ... ecialists/

Next, I will have to start defining the library. I will take a "all arts covered, but at a low level so you need to move your ass and go out of the covenant if you want to improve your specialist arts".

Nice list. :slight_smile:

I'm taking the opposite approach, since I am aiming for a Winter covenant. Not all of the Arts will be covered by the library at Wiggon's Kiln, because much of the library has been ransacked by departing magi when the covenant fell into premature Winter. Only a few of the good books remain, with the rest either seen as less valuable, or recent additions to the library. I will provide options for changing the subject of some of the books, depending on the specialties of the player-magi joining the covenant.

I also started working on the library before thinking about the specialists. Nothing new posted yet, but it's interesting to see the creation process of others! :smiley:

Glad you liked the list.

I find it GREAT that we are taking diverse approaches. Diversity is a boon of the covenant bundle IMO :slight_smile: And yes, looking at different approaches amazing. I have to redo my organization since you and Timothy have much neater frameworks.

I have the library levels all worked out, but I need to raid the official books and the online sagas for book titles, authors and the like.

Xavi

Salve sodales,

Fisrt of all my congratullation to Xavi for the idea, and to all for this great job just to improve that game.
Since i saw this i just wanted to help, but my inexperience i think its crippling.
Anyway i found a way to help, if you are looking for a diferent aproach for a cov.

Im from Mallorca ( for those who don't know it, an island in the middle of the mediterranean sea in iberia tribunal)
And before my pc become cursed by an alluring faeri... I set down the guidelines for a covenant i think could be more than delightfull to play.

Short after the game begun the island is conquered and bring a lot of headaches for pc
The island is part of an archipelago full of posibilities with natural caves, and pre cristian ruins in perfet preservation in that age ( all with all the photos you want at one google click)

So here the covenant offers tons of hooks for many sagas.

After it if you complete the whole imput of posibilities and find all the sources of vis etc...
The island becomes a sort of Babilon5 of the mediterrantean where a huge amount of materials and people come from all around the world ( sort of what is now)
Well if that you think could be usefull just tell.

Hi Messor,

Mallorca is really a nice place :slight_smile: Why don't you give it a shot at building a covenant there yourself following this same project? :slight_smile: I am sure native English speakers can help with the writing once you have the whole thing set up. I certainly hope someone reviews my text! :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Xavi

I just added something to my Design Concept page on the Wiggon's Kiln wiki. I thought I'd quote it here so that people could follow my thinking process: