experimentation, we need a bank of idea

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Ok, here the problem, me and my friends are playing a bunch of mad magi doing a lot of dangerous experimentations. ( exemple: I experimented on my familiar :exclamation: )

sadly we are CURSED with the dices... we usualy get a 8 on our results... the other half of our rolls is a 9: story or special events.... and our dm sometime lack of idea to deal with it... us to actual :confused:

So I tough a bank of idea for such results might be a good thing, realy helpfull...

Right now we are stuck with my god damn familiar, I got the result: special or story event AND modified efect result on the chart of modified: 9-10 the actual efect of your experiment is modified (ex goat to pig)...(worst, it happened a long time ago in game so we can't change the cords without making a story bug)

there is no real guideline for special or story event and we keep getting this result.... it's getting old :frowning: Personaly I was wondering, can we do a breakthrough accidentaly doing this?

2

I'd be skipping around the room if I got story/special events.

Rather than reduce the game to a statistical measure why don't you embrace the store telling element of the game.

Give me some material to work with. So you experimented on your familiar. What was your intended goal. What is the personality of the familiar, what is your personality. What other tidbits could help me weave this into a story that you and your troupe would find interesting?

1 Like
3

I would also be interested in any detail of the experiments leading to story event results.
Some background on the magi and the covenant would help.
(even just an overview , not extensive campaign notes)

4

good point about the story but the problem is, we have somthing like 15 quests waiting for us already and we keep rolling this special or story.... we are not novice in rpg in general but we are kinda lacking of idea right now and time to dig them up(damn university) Story is nice when you lack of plot to put but we don't.... still I can give some information about, it might inspire someone...

(by the way sory for all mistakes, wrong spelling and such things, english isn't my language)

Ok first about the location of our alliance: We are located on the island of Terra near the Greek coast(it's a real place, the Cousteau team made researches there about the Atlantide myth) It's a dead volcano(erupted in helenistic periode it might have caused THE tidal wave who destroyed what we call now the atlantide... speculations of the scientifics about this... but anyway the point is: we are on one of the bigest remains of the atlantide realy strong aura 8.... there is a faerie regio on the island as well... We had a lot of plots with demons and faerie and we are getting bored of it actualy..... (we quited our old alliance to build a new one since the last one was awfuly plagued by these pests. )

My character is a germain used-to-be traveler verdicius optimistic(major and I play it a lot.... ) who actualy build the alliance itself. (awfuly enormous place 4x Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral in volume). Officialy I've started on muto teram/herbam but I turned quickly as a rego user. 40 years old, gluton(but not fat........ yet) a bit sadistic but more generaly sympathic. Driven by his desire to make a new kind of automaton by binding them to spirits and giving those spirits the control of the automaton... erase their memory and make brand new persons.... crazyer, he want to bind their magical powers and who know, the gift....(yhea, he is insane) He isn't made to fight but still act all the time recklessly all by himself.... his epitaph will probably be: ASSSSSh don't worry I'm sure everything will be alright. hum, so much to say about him but to hard to explain, you need to see him to understand :S I nearly forgot the most important parts: megalomaniac (for his creations) but still have some humility and he have TONS of idea and projects(I'm already boocked for the next 300 years with little exageration...) but no time to realise any... so I start stuff and never finish it.

His familiar is a Spider (as big as a human head) binding arts rego teram, up to now it only make steel webs, help in lab and dislike other magi presence, shadowy creature but don't lack of courage and try his best(not more than nothing) to help his reckless master even in the weirdest fights.... I know it's prety short, the dm didn't had time to finish it all and then we got this.... so we delayed a bit for this....)

Personal notice of the writer: don't experiment on familiar and longevity rituals, it usualy turn out as a disaster :wink: (up to now on 4 longevity ritual experimentation we have a Lich to be mage and 2 total failure, and for the familiar a special or story+ modified efect.... and 4 of my 5 magical items turned as a total failure.... still the last one catch up forall theses crap, 2x increased effect :stuck_out_tongue:)

I don't want a list only for this special case, I think a lot of idea for general special or story events could be a good idea since we can have trouble with this when it happen.... damn dices...

5

Here's an idea (tailored to your situation, sorry :stuck_out_tongue:).

Have the spider start weaving gold instead of steel, the covenfolk notice and gossip about it, which will cause people to want to come and capture the Spider That Weaves The Golden Webs. :smiley:

"Come on, let me experiment on you. What could happen?" :stuck_out_tongue:

6

lol that's a funy one, I like it hehehehehe

7

"The Spider that spun the Golden Webs" :confused:
I'm sure i've heard that story somewhere before. :wink:

House Tremere have spiders that weave special webs.
(Used for making robes or something , i can't find the reference)
Maybe they would like your Familiar to volunteer for breeding purposes.

8

I had an idea at one point for someone's familiar who had the independent flaw (I think it was) decide to start hanging around with other magus' familiars. This "association" eventually would get around to thinking about how they were treated, wanting more rights, and generally grousing about the life of a familar/secondary character.

The political fall out was going to be the magus being hauled up in Tribunal for taking other magus' magical power... well the familiar keeping other familiars from doing stuff for their magi. It was meant to be more humorous but could easily be very serious if you wanted it to go that way.

Rich

9

you gain dragon breaths of differing types!
you can't speak any language but native american!(this language probibly would be indisiferable to native europians)
good ideas no?

10

There are no such thing as dragon "types".

There is no such thing as America.

[color=darkred]No.

11

You'll probably will not be able to do a real breakthrough in such a way, but you might be able to lay the foundations for a new mystery... (and this gives me an idea for my magus)...

12

probably too mean, but:

Have your spider - I assume the sex is not known - become pregnant. During the pregnancy the magus developes a familiar connection with all the little hatchlings - which when hatched start to eat the familiar, and spread through more of the ruins.

The increasing numbers means more utility for the magus, he can spy on more locations, otherwise the bond remains the same. But the increased input of sensations starts driving him insane.

13

What's really annoying is that Ignore doesn't work when you aren't logged in.

14

What is really annoying is that ignoring the original poster doesn't prevent seeing the post quoted...

15

The ignore feature is very annoying. :smiley:

16

I have by now developed quite a splendid mental ingore feature to ignore mental ignorance. :laughing:

So far it only blocks out one poster, but it does so even if that poster is quoted. I warmly recomend it. :wink:

17

What I find most amusing about abe's posts is that it immediately turns every thread he posts in, into a response to him rather than a discussion on the topic.

Can we get on tangent again?

18

I have a story result for the spider, but since the experiment was in the past, the unexpected effect will have to be delayed until a later moment. After you experience some unusual or powerful Corpus effect (e.g. your longevity ritual), your familiar unexpectedly turns into a dead woman. Investigation reveals:

She is wearing classical Greek clothing.
She died by hanging.
She does not decay.
She is aligned with the magic realm*.
Your familiar cords remain intact, but they aren't functional.

Your story, should you choose to accept it, is to convince Athena to turn Arachne into a spider again. This will resore the status quo ante. If you are particularly persuasive, she may be granted a new, useful power (for example, the ability to turn into a living woman**).

*[size=75]Arguably Faerie would make more sense, but presumably the creature is already magic-aligned, and in any case you've had enough of faeries.

**In which case, you should remember the tradition of spiders eating their husbands.[/size]

19

you can't speak any language but native american!(this language probibly would be indisiferable to native europians)
[color=orange]this is part of an adventure idea![size=18][/size]

20

An experiment attracts the interest of a powerful being of some kind.
A magus begins sleepwalking. He repeatedly wanders into his soldales' sancta, despite the usual locks, wards, etc.
A comparatively modest experiment unexpectedly dispels the covenant's Aegis of the Hearth. The magi quickly notice, and are able to repeat the ritual. Is it worth experimenting some more to try to reproduce the effect?
A maga requests a rare, exotic ingredient for her research, and a merchant manages to find some and delivers it. It turns out to contain raw Vis, but tracing it to its distant source will be a challenge.
A magus's experiments cause his clothing to slowly fade ... and then start affecting the clothes of everyone in the covenant. If he persists, his hair starts turning white too.
The fumes from an arcane process produce strange visions that foreshadow future events.
A magus accidentally replicates Exchange of the Two Minds on himself and a companion or grog.
A ritual is more potent than expected, but only works with vis from one source.
A spell or item works correctly, but has the sigil of another maga in your Tribunal. She has been working on something similar, and accuses you of spying on her research.
A strangely small but menacing black cloud appears over the covenant. It remains there until the magi decide to investigate how to dispel it.