I made failed-apprentice.com, an Ars Magica web application.
Currently, it can already serve as a global repository for Ars Magica official resources and answer the following needs :
- You are looking for a spell but don’t remember which book it is from?
- Interested in all Jerbiton mages in published supplements?
- Need a demon or an angel for the next game session, does it already exist?
Feel free to browse the master index (it is public). It still needs some improvements but is mostly working.
It is not just a copy-paste of the book's contents, it’s a full-fledged application: for example, spell-casting totals or attack bonuses for characters are calculated according to their virtues, flaws, arts, abilities, the weapon they use etc.
The Master Index part is already ready to be used. For content still copyrighted, it will only display the name and the source of the item (ex: Pilum of Fire is in Ars Magica 5th Edition Core rulebook at p140), but as soon as the content of the books are released under an open license, it will display all the relevant information (I haven’t checked but it should already be all of the 5th books).
Some content is already in the application: spells, virtue and flaws are mostly done but will need reviewing and updating with the definitive edition; some characters and creatures are also already there, but other items will need to be added one by one to the application. As it is very time consuming, I may need some help from some dedicated people ready to lend a hand…
For now, as it is still in active development, I can’t give accounts yet, but I hope to be able to do so in the near future.
My objective for the application is to be able to open it to all Ars Magica players and storytellers interested so they can not only browse all the characters, spells, magic items published in all the books under an open license, but also create and share their creations to the whole community in a single and easy to find location! For this purpose, I worked on a user-friendly interface to create new spells, characters, magic items etc. Nevertheless, it was and still is a huge undertaking on my part, so it may take some time to be ready.
What is planned for the future?
Saga Manager : invite your players to your saga so they can create their characters, magic items, spells etc. in the application. Manage your resources and let them use them: new spells, virtues, flaws, magic traditions etc.
Manage your versions of the published characters, give them a portrait of your choosing, change their virtue and flaws, make them evolve according to your saga with each season that passes if you choose so!
Make casting spell rolls by just clicking a button, everything is calculated according to the virtues, flaws, characteristics, abilities etc. of the character. Same for soak, weapon attacks, and all the formulas in the books. Make your own formulae, link them to spells, weapons, abilities…
Discord integration: send names and portraits of your characters to your discord channel to illustrate your gaming session. Make spell-casting or attack rolls and send them to your discord channel by just clicking the discord button.
Laboratories… create them, and manage them season by season. Calculate the bonuses it gives to your characters when working inside.
Season by season Manager: for the characters that you want to manage more closely (such as major npcs or player’s characters) decide for each season what their activities will be. Xp advancements will be calculated and applied automatically.
Organizations/factions explorer: Show all the quaesitores in published books ? Who are all the mages of the Provence tribunal in my saga in the year 1230 ?
Story manager: create your story, link characters, places etc. Automatically generate maps of the place where the story takes place and share it with your players
The sky is the limit (also, my time, and the hosting service resources, but you get the idea).
Feel free to send me a message if you have a question or post your question below ![]()
Some screenshots of the application (more to come) :
Example of calculating casting total :
