I agree, it should not be a top priority, but considering the difficulty in getting it right, I think that no matter when it comes up, it would be nice to have some kind of template. And considering that by the normal game timeline the Tribunal of 1221 happens within a few seasons of the start of the game, I think that it would be a "nice-to-have".
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The answer is, do as much as we can in the next 8 months! (I believe the countdown was 240 days when I signed up on backerkit yesterday)
Good scenarios that are straightforward for the SG to run are an obvious win, and will benefit everybody in the Ars community as something to run if your saga runs into a spot where you're short of things to run or someone in your troupe wants to try being a storyguide for once.
Perhaps the long desired "Jump start kit" of sample characters, scenarios and covenant would be perfect? I will post some thoughts later today.
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Adventures for newbies is an obvious one I had not thought of. For me, the quintessential Ars adventure is a vis hunt—rumors of a potential vis source take the characters out of the covenant to a magical site, which they explore.
Imma write one of those!
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So now I wonder, what are the other archetypal adventures for an ArM party.
I agree that a Vis hunt, with a Mage, a grog with a supernatural sense, a shield grog and a face grog is one of the basics. But what else?
A monster hunt? Rumours of a terrible beast have reached the Covenant, so they need to hunt it down, kill it, harvest the vis and get earn the gratitude of the local powers that be.
A more social adventure: there is a quarrel between the local town, noble and or church, each can offer something to the Covenant but aligning with one will make an enemy of the other(s). The gentle gifted mage needs to help come up with a diplomatic solution possibly using their Mentem tricks to minimise the fallout/get to the point. Various charters of the different power blocks lead to competing claim over a ressource, maybe one of them is forged?
The “explore the ruins of a former covenant” is also a classic Ars adventure, but it is usually longer than one session, depending on the size of the covenant and the player approach. But imagine, for example, a single Wizard’s Tower that was home to a small covenant of 1-3 magi. Maybe a few outbuildings. You’ve got a couple labs to explore, maybe a familiar that’s survived, hiding in the tower, local faeries or magic creatures that have moved in, or the demon someone unfortunately summoned.
Sounds like a great, contained, adventure to me!
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Classic Ars adventures - and their classic archetype using Polti's Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations
Vis hunt - which is "Obtaining"
A monster threatens somewhere nearby - depending on power levels, Conflict of Inferior vs Superior or Conflict with a God
Something mysterious happens and the magi investigate using their magics - The Enigma.
This also covers the classic "A mysterious location is uncovered, and the magi investigate"
Something threatens the covenants vis/money/covenfolk - Falling prey to misfortune or Deliverance.
I like the "recon, back to the lab, solve" approach as it pushes your mindset toward cultivation rather than extermination. It's when you're juggling 5 issues that you have to make hard choices.
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Ars adventures are distinguished by their “investigate the situation, return to the lab, and enchant something or invent a spell to solve the problem” structure, I totally agree. And this poses challenges, because that structure can drain away all the tension. When the magi return to the dragon’s lair with their sword of dragon slaying, how do we keep the story interesting?
But to your point I absolutely agree and Ars noobie adventures should absolutely include this structure. It’s how the game is played.
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What about dealing with an aggressive Witch Hunter as an antagonist, whipping up hostility from the local mundane population and possibly, covertly, trying to plant a crime on the Covenant that the characters need to investigate and solve in order to clear their names?
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Sounds like a great story, you should write that!
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I can help with some graphic design, but am not sure how to do it in a way that others can just slot their text in, other than me doing it manually.
Somebody recently posted somewhere to say that they had converted the Nigrasaxa minisaga to 5ed. Having that polished and typeset in colour, as @Red-Shadow-Claws has done with the Grimoire and the Bestiary sounds like a low-hanging and nourishing fruit.
Supplementing it with a well-drawn map would certainly not hurt.
I keep pointing to Nigrasaxa because gives a workable and concrete example of how a saga can be paced with significant downtime. Other story supplements only give uptime, and inexperienced artists magica can easily be tempted into uptime only.
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I’ve been in a Nigrasaxa saga and I agree. It’s a great setup and very playable!
I would rename it, however. Saying “Nigrasaxa” out loud is just painful.
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Something that would be nice to have in an introductory adventure is events that are based on character Story flaws. This would of course require pre-generated characters, but it would be good to show how Ars Magica adventures are "supposed" to work, as opposed to dungeon-crawls that could be transplanted to just about any fantasy RPG.
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That’s a great point.
We’d really benefit from more live play videos on YouTube. A brief campaign of maybe 6 episodes would still be enough to spotlight Story Flaws and show companions off, really give people a clear view of what makes the game different.
A lot of potential players learn to play from videos!
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Honestly the biggest hurdle is all the bookkeeping. Not just for characters & covenant -- although that's a lot -- but for antagonists.
The skill packages in Grogs and rules for magical creatures in RoP:Magic are good, but what would really help is if they were automated. And character/covenant tracking software would help too. Probably outside the scope of what Atlas would get up to, but maybe with an open license it might be feasible for someone else.
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One of the ideas that we need to get across to new players to avoid disappointment is that you don't want to do advancement and lab work at the table, or at least not at the same time that you're rolling dice and talking with NPC's.
Perhaps the automated software would make the game more appealing for some, but I am skeptical of someone being able to create a program that both makes things considerably easier and doesn't screw stuff up.
My personal preference is to do everything on a spreadsheet where I can go back and see the values that went into each total and where I can still experience the story that numbers are telling. The strength of Ars Magica is how descriptive the mechanics are. The conversation that the players have about the magic is very close the conversation that the characters have about the magic. Having the mechanics done by a program is like getting the Cliff's notes for a book that you'd have preferred to have read yourself. That's my preference and not necessarily what everyone wants, but I am a bit leery of pushing new players into skipping a thing that's really rewarding.
On the other hand, I am completely in favor of automating upkeep of NPC's. To my mind they exist only to provide challenges and detail to the stories of the PC's so it wouldn't have to be "right" it would only have to be believable. A tool to quickly update any NPC's would be nice, but then you'd have to stat them out in the first place that would involve having those numbers in the software. It isn't a sure thing that you could craft a software that made this less work rather than more work.
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You're making great accurate points written in a very clear manner. Thanks for that. I enjoyed reading your post. 
I truly think the same about the first part of the text. It would truly take something magical out of the game. Although, I can see some people could see it as a good thing. Not all people love to get nerdety nerdy about magic.
At the same time, I do agree with you to a certain degree with your point about the second problem, I also disagree a bit. Just a bit. I happen to be one of those players and Game moderators who love to dibble dabble with NPC creations and who enjoy the bookkeeping about the changes in NPCs. Yes, I admit I am a bit weird. 
Ideas I have so far:
Solo adventures for Ars - the one in the Runequest starter box encourages you into the game setting and some rules, and I have fond memories of the one in the little red book for D&D. (In fact, given people's laments about wanting more Ars or not being able to join a game, I've had thoughts of creating a fanzine full of ideas for satisfying that urge only Ars Magica can fill and calling it Ludi Solitarii )
A jumpstart saga - over the years many people have mentioned the lack of a published saga for Ars Magica (including me, and I've asked about what would make a good published saga). A good one for new characters, giving a sequence of adventures and how things could progress, could make a really good addition and help reduce the learning curve for new GMs. (I could even bundle in advice on running sagas and call it Liber Tirocinii as the latin term "tiroconium" can be used to refer to a soldier's first campaign or a craftsman's apprenticeship)
A set of adventures designed for troupe play - as troupe play is one of Ars Magica's great strengths, a set of adventures using different bits of the setting so everyone can have their own little sandbox could be great. I'd envision having a set of booklets, each to be read by the person who would SG that area (or all to be read by one person if you have a single SG). One booklet with covenant grogs in, and an adventure where the grogs have to try and fix problems without bothering the magi. One booklet detailing a nearby monastery and a healing well, and an adventure involving the divine. One booklet on a nearby hazardous area, and a vis hunt adventure and a couple of monsters statted. One booklet on a covenant in the same tribunal, and an adventure where the magi go to visit. This could make a great set and be useful both in encouraging troupe play and as a set of adventures and setting material for new SGs to use.
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