French Ars Magica subscription

Cool ones. I like the second one the best. Even if I favor flambeaus, the first one looks too much like a computer game to me. I would prefer the girl to look medieval and not 18th century, though.

Xavi

It won't be the second one, we are heading toward the first one.

for now here are the votes (not definitive) :
LAB) 32
MAGA) 8
BATTLE) 40

Lab
Battle
Girl

would be my preference, but either of the first two work for me

Personally, I'm rather partial to the Laboratory cover. It just seems more "Ars Magica-y" to me for some reason...

French ars players had unbelivable present for christmas this year! a nice collector french book with a lot of add ons (maps, hand book etc) ok after a long year , but now crowfunding is my religion!

That's absolutely beautiful. Congratulations. (Errgg... Felicitations ?)

Oh, what wouldn't I pay for some Ars Magica maps. Countries, Tribunals, covenants... All of Mythic Europe and beyond. I'd love to have those kinds of resources to hand. I know we're supposed to shun things like floor plans and battle maps round these parts, but it would even be great to have collected example plans for different types of building if only to give the storyguide a hand and let them know how the land lays.

I must say the leather-bound rulebook looks just great!

Yup, impressive. :slight_smile: I see that it has the same problem with the artwork as the Spanish edition (it is Ars Magica 1650, not Ars magica 1220), but the edition quality is amazing. Better than the spanish one, that has a more D&D feel to it (specially in the screen). Congrats on your new pack :smiley:

Two players in my troupe have bought it (I wasn't very much "Ars friendly" when the subscription came out and didn't invest my money in it since I really like the english version - which I have bought).

Thus, I saw the thing in real, and it feels nice. I sincerely hope that will raise the number of french players, because it was sometimes lame when our troupe, due to some IRL activities, couldn't gather for months. We like to have at least 3 players +1 SG... we were 5 now, we are 9 but we are never 9 in one room at the same times ^^.

The dice, maps are nice additions.

However, some translation choices are odds, and I would have a hard time adapting to them and use them :smiley:.

Hi, can you devellop by giving some examples? I'm also not quite agree whth some choices

I have to say I do not like the Alliance translation for Covenant. It does not convey the same (oldey bibley esoteric?) feeling as the original English word.

I would even prefer a semi-neologism such as "Convent", "Covent" or "Conventus", or another word derived from the same stem. Heck, "Covenant" itself is an old French word.

ho, I like "alliance" because "covent" in french sounds like "couvent" (convent, nunnery) and covenants are far from places or chastity is required
No, i was thinking more of expression like "gâchis de vis" in place of "gaspilleur de vis" (for waster of vis) and also some spells which translation is very exotical

Alianza (alliance) is how it has been translated in Spanish since 3rd edition. No biggie, really.

Same in France. The third Edition was translated by "Descartes" and they chose the word "Alliance". And we were impressed by the Europe Map. Was the first time that an american role playing game did not put Paris in Netherland and Toulouse in Portugal ! (kind of exaggerating but I remember Mage : the Sorcerer's Crusade and their "Paris in Netherland" :smiley: )

Dick Tremere, I have not read myself the book, but one of the player used it (he doesn't read english well enough to use the normal english source book we have in multiple copies around the table) and for the certamen, he had to use "vivacité" which is "quickness" (I would have used "vitesse" or "rapidité") [I know because he asked us what was vivacité on his english character sheet, and we were confused, asking in which formula he needed that], and for another he had to use "énergie" for "stamina" (I would have used "endurance" persnonaly) [this one didn't shock but I find that it's too close to fatigue related terms to be an accurate distinctive translation]. Those are the translation I find odd but well, it would just be a matter of adaptation if I had to play with french words.

That said, when you are 5 players with english books and 1 with french book, and when SGs use supplements, in English, to design their adventures, it's no wonder that you will always use the english terms anyway.

But there are translations I heard , and find awkward/strange:

  • the translation for gentle gift. I don't remember what it is, but it seemed weird when I heard it;
  • now you say the translation of waster of vis, which is a bit lame since it applies to characters and not events.
  • "alliance" for covenant. Since covenant is often used to speak about the place (and not the pact the magi form) in our game, "alliance" is odd. I personally have a hard time with that word. (The player I spoke about used to say "convenant" in place from "covenant" back when he had no rule book, I do not know why or where it came from.)

But if I have to be positive, I'd say that those translation mistakes/glitches/issues/oddities (pick your preference) are of relatively no importance for people who would start a new game using only the french version.

I think that using the english edition from a long time, we are really, and naturaly, comparing both of them now that the French translation exists, but it's something you normally do not (because you play the game in your language if it's available when you want to play it, most of the time... I do not remember buying ADD 2d edition english books because the french edition was available (and with supplements also, even if not all of them)).

Hi
Thanks, I now understand what you meant by "odd" and I'm agree. It is true that french community of ars have become accustomed to use "anglicisms" in games, since the time, and habits die hard!

To refresh your mind, the french for 'gentle gift" is "Don de velours" wich would re-translate litteraly by "velvet gift": I find myself this translation is quite suitable because it shows the gift glides smoothly on mundane people and animals.

cheers

We've never used Alliance in our game, we use instead "couvent". Yes it is technically more related to religious communities, but we feel it's closer to what a covenant is, a group of mages living together in a physical location.
Le couvent fut longtemps en Occident la ferme, l'école, l'hôpital et la bibliothèque. [For a long time in the West, a convent was farm, school, hospital and library.] A. France, Le Jardin d'Épicure,1895, p. 157.
In a sense, most Covenant are like this, no? :slight_smile:

I just tried looking up bible translations in French and the ark of the covenant seems to be translated as "L'arche de l'alliance". In fact, most places where the King James Version would choose "covenant" I see the word "alliance" being used, so maybe it is the closest usage

Synonyms for covenant are words like treaty or pact, so "traite","accord","pacte" or maybe a more legal term like "contrat"? Actually, "accord" would make a great name for covenant charter. Thinking about it, a covenant isn't just a place - it's a group of people and the agreement they have on how they will support each other in their magical endeavours.

Alliance is the most commonly used term since 1993 (the third edition in french). It will be difficult to change, and so "les ludopathes" have chosen to keep customs. Number of players use "covenant", as such, any way