Ideas on how to play out and present a wizard feast?

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Coming up my player magi have all been invited to attend a feast at an important and influential archmagi’s residence over Christmas. They are all freshly gauntleted and have began to rebuild a winter covenant. This feast would then act as a way to formally introduce and acquaint themselves with the heavy hitters of the tribunal, with these mages seeing how they can best manipulate and utilise these naive mages to their own ends.

The mages I’ve planned to attend all share some similarities in houses and ideals which should offer some interesting discussion, yet I’m unsure as to how best present this whilst maintaining the vibe that the player magi are out of their depth.

Anyone ran any feast type scenarios before and have any suggestions as to how to make it fun and engaging? I had an idea for some of the more jovial attendees to partake in games of chance (which my players would surely be up for) with wagers of vis or services. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated,

2

The current edition of Pendragon has a whole Feast subsystem that uses cards which are essentially random events that can happen during the feast, as well as describing specific dishes that are brought out.

You can see an example Feast Card here:

You might pick up the cards just for the inspirational value. They’re made for knights, not wizards, but it sure would be fun to see a magi version.

3

This is the key point. There needs to be some reason, especially if the covenant location has good vis sources, why they do not get steam rolled in to “accepting” a more experienced magi in to the covenant.

A Certamen duel with some kind of embarrassing spell done at the end. Arm of the infant so the magi has to eat with the infant arm. Trust of Childlike Faith, Confusion of the numbed will are options. The last 2 really reduce player agency, so that is a consideration.

Setting the scene would also help. Casual use of magic items. The archmage snaps his fingers and every chandelier in the grand hall lights up. The meals are teleported to the tables, etc.

4

Call for frequent Awareness, Folk Ken, and OoH Lore rolls, and unless they roll comically high give them a “You don’t notice anything amiss about her” or “You don’t pick up on any double meanings.” Let there be a sense of many things they simply aren’t aware of. You don’t even have to have anything for the rolls, as long as you have one or two things in your pocket in case they get lucky.

Pick a Player Mage’s best formulaic spell, have one of the senior mages cast it (or something much like it) as a non-fatiguing spontaneous spell. Bonus points if that mage isn’t even showing off or trying to make a point - the player mage’s specialties are simply that far below their attention.

If possible, introduce someone who can do something impressive, or who has some sort of clout that the player mages will respect. Once they’re suitably wow’d, introduce someone who is a proportionally bigger fish to THAT character, so the players become aware of the food chain and how far down they are on it.

A mage is complaining about the rude manners of some famous artist/noble/scholar they knew - a simple roll reveals that the person they’re talking about died over 100 years ago. By the same token, perhaps a servant mentions that one of the mages hired his great-grandmother, and the family’s been with the Covenant ever since. Anything to contextualize the sheer Time Abyss of the senior mages as more than just a big number.

If the players voice a concern/problem they’re having, a senior mage asks why they don’t just summon an Aspect of Brighd to have her do it, or ‘turn the mountain into smoke for a few days while you sort it out’ or some other ludicrously mighty feat. The mage isn’t being callous or sarcastic, that’s just the scale he works at and he’s forgotten what it’s like to be freshly gauntleted.

If you know enough about the players’ lofty ideas, perhaps have one of the mages, on hearing about it, launch into a (pre-prepared by you, but off-the-cuff for the NPC) speech exploring all the potential ramifications for the Order, the kingdom, peasant attitudes about birds, the implications for the Church, how it will affect the crops in years to come, etc - the goal isn’t to stymie the players from their goal, but to suggest that there are people who can, without being overwhelmed, keep straight in their heads all the different moving pieces that the player hasn’t thought about.

If interests align, perhaps one of the local mages invites one or more of the players up to their sanctum, or some other space, to ask their opinion on some mystical object or obscure writing they’ve got - the goal here is to show off a fully tricked out, Refinement 5 Lab. (This can also just be a fun way to set some characters on a mystery, or let them succeed and thus make a friend.)

5

I have just published a knightly feast scenario which might be helpful as a template:

If you want general advice on running a Feast, check out the Alexandrian's website ( by Justin Alexander), I found it to be good advice (and I cited it in my reference section).

On the whole you will need 5 to 10 important NPCs, probably 2/3 of which being magi*, and the rest being important non mage NOCs that can act as plot hooks/quest givers in the early years to propel into action.

Split the Feast into 3-5 locations that they can oscillate between, split the important NPCs between those zones, and have Feast “turns” where things change, and a few “random events” happen. Think of what interactions the NPCs might have with the other ones at the location in the same “turn” (in my feast it was a multi day affair so the turns were morning, afternoon and meal, and Night when relevant), and how the PCs might be hooked into action.

Consider what hooks you want for the feast based on PC flaws (the meddler Jerbiton comes across a dispute between two important mundanes from the Covenant and needs to pick sides fast or spend a lot of time solving the problem) and what hooks for later on you want to introduce (local Bishop/Count hates mages/has let standards slip/is in a land squabble… the faeries are spilling out from the woods and stealing children like they did 2 generations ago until a great hero brat them back and one of the important mundane NPCs relays this information to the PC as foreshadowing).

Plan then a closing event for the Feast to leave on a bang and you are set.

*: regarding the magi, having lots of heavy hitters risks making the PCs spectators.

The mirroring idea is a good one, showing them what they could be/become in an almost carricatural way is a nice narrative device.

6

I like the sound of this. One of the attendees is another newly gauntleted Tytalus who has previously humiliated the player Flambeau during their apprenticeship so this would be a good way to continue this rivalry whilst being on somewhat even footing.

With the covenants decline many of the local vis sources have been claimed by neighbouring covenants, I was thinking that the influence of the members of the feast they could try persuade and get these returned to the player covenant - likely with some catch. However, the players have already been warned about trusting the archmagus (who is a Tytalus) and have discussed the dangers of accepting gifts and help with it usually coming with certain obligations. Whilst true, I fear they may turn down all help offered out of pride (power to them!) and I am a little uncertain as where to go regarding future hooks should that be the case.

7

Thank you, the structure was the main issue I’m concerned with but a ‘turn based’ approach may be best, especially considering I have a table of 5 to juggle between.

Also a good idea which should provide quite interesting outcomes - Criamon PC is plagued by the ghost of a necromancer magi who harbours a hatred for one of the attending mages, Wife of a an attending noble may start flirting with the lecherous Guerniucs PC, etc.

Inspired by your scenario (Which I may have to have a read of) I’m thinking a jousting tournament of sorts with the mages sponsoring and imbuing the joustees with magical effects to see who wins, the winner may then receive vis or acts of service.

Would you happen to have any links to articles you found particularly relevant?

8

An important question is how you want to portrait the senior mages. I think of them as highly competent specialists, but not as all-powerful Gandalfs. Their main thing is political influence, not raw power (which they also have, but won't use directly in most cases). Powerful mages don't need to show off, because they assume that everyone is already impressed by the feats they are known for. They will make sure to mention their dinner with the Praeco last month, discuss how some vote at the next tribunal will go, or complain how their Primus is is an 80-something ignoramus who is ruining their House, when the last Primus - who was a good friend - had achieved true greatness.

They will also try to influence the PCs, draw them to their side, tell them half-truths and opinions, bad-mouth their rivals, offer assistance in return for support at a tribunal vote etc.

A feast is the classical occasion for using the Etiquette rules from HoH:S p. 48; maybe the Tytalus first tries to make the Flambeau look bad, and then things degrade into Certamen. Etiquette goes deeper than that; you can have fights over who gets seated where, as this is a declaration of your relative importance. Factions will be eyeing who is talking to whom for how long. Speeches will be made where salt may be rubbed into wounds. It might be worse than a family christmas party.

IMO this only works if they are roughly equals; I think an archmage dueling a fresh mage would look rather foolish. By challenging the PC mage, he'd publically declare that they are both on a comparable level. I could see it if he's just a real bully, but nobody would respect him for that.

That's a really good point. For me, a characteristic of most archmages is that they avoid casting spells except in very safe circumstances, because they are close to Final Twilight. They know that sometimes things go wrong, so they rely on magic items a lot.

That's a great idea. Players know that they can be killed in the sanctum, so this is guaranteed to produce some tension. It also shows that the archmage is seeing them as utterly harmless.

9

I will concede that point. I’ve always considered Certamen a chance for bullying. The opinions of observers could waver from “What is the point, it is like kicking a puppy” to “Good job, Make sure that magi knows their place.”

10

This is assuming the Certamen is with one of the archmages. Perhaps the archmage has a stooge of closer power level to the players who is being used to test their puissance, or there is another mage in attendance who intends to use a Certamen to prove herself a heavy hitter (and thus worthy of some position or task that will net glory or get her foot in the door). And then perhaps the archmage is the one suggesting the Baby Arm or what not - so the punishment is laid by the stooge/rival, but ultimately comes from the archmage.

11

There could be some truly Byzantine politics at work at a Feast. Someone could be invited, nominally as an honour but instead for ulterior motives.

Say senior mage A wants to manoeuvre mid-level mage B into having a Certamen match with starting player mage C.

If B wins, a rumour campaign can be started that he is an unfair bully, that will influence a Tribunal meeting later on. If C somehow manages to win, the reputation damage to B may be greater. Is C a willing participant to this plot, with promise of a later favour from A?

A may want something off of B, without revealing their desire. Get B to Certamen someone with the McGuffin as B’s stake. B splats C, Host A then punishes B over etiquette and iconfiscates B’s wager. But if C unexpectedly wins, and isn't in cahoots with A, then A will be trying to get the McGuffin off of player character C.

Or is B unable to be challenged by off-screen mage D, until B challenges someone else over similar circumstances?

I am sure forum users can think of other Byzantine plots.

12
13

Leaving aside my hatred for Certamen as a story device or just a concept in general.

I think it should be made clear that they are expected to bring a notable contribution to the feast or a gift for the host covenant. That should give them enough problems and opportunity for embarassment.