So, I am working on a Ars Magica one shot that I could run at conventions. My goal is to have a game
suitable for beginners while still being interesting to experienced players that allows them to explore
how the magic system works and a bit about the setting,.
I made up what I thought was a diverse group of possible player characters, but I would be the first to
admit that the characters I developed don’t cover the entire range of characters that would work in this
adventure. On another thread, someone said that making player characters for this one shot might be a fun challenge. So, if you are interested, please submit a magus character with the following constraints.
a. The central concept of the adventure is that a covenant believes that the Order of Hermes
would advance if newly gauntleted magi had a chance to improve their arts prior to having
to go out into the world. They want to offer a select few the opportunity to stay at their
covenant and improve their arts and are providing a competition to allow them to
determine who to invite. Thus, the player characters need to have a reason to come and
compete. Maybe they come to compete because they just like completion (looking at you
house Tytalus) or because their house wants to know what is going on (looking at you house
Tremere and Gurnicus) or because the reward sounds appealing (see below).
b. The goal of the game is to get people to play around with the magic system but not laboratory work, as the game is about the competition which takes place over seven days. That is one reason the covenant is set in a Level 7 magical aura, to make spontaneous magic a lot easier to work. Please don’t give them Weak Spontaneous Magic, it is more crippling than usual in this scenario. Please don’t
give them Diedre Magic, it is unbalancing.
c. The goal is to allow players to explore the Hermetic Magic System. While a 55 year old
gruagach who just joined the Order two years ago might seem like a fun idea, it wouldn’t
really give a new player an idea of how hermetic magic works and would add an order of
level of complexity for me.
d. The character can be up to two years post gauntlet, use that time for XP for Arts or Abilities, not to
develop spells. I don’t want to make assumptions about the lab quality and aura. The two years after gauntlet was based on trying to have the competition every three years. I used a d6 to determine if
the character was 0, 1 or 2 years past gauntlet, you can do the same or just pick.
e. The covenant asks that those participating in the competition agree that using magic to
monitor and evaluate the competition is not to be considered scrying. Only create
characters who would agree to this. One of the characters evaluating the competition is
deaf, and without magic, it is hard for her to evaluate, this is pretty non negotiable.
f. Don’t have characters attached to the character (Dependent, True Love, animal companion)
that are susceptible to warping from being in a high aura. Winning and then having their
dependant, true love, animal companion undergo warping would be sad.
g. No Cathars or Muslims or Infernalists. I know that in the RAW, Cathars can be Divine, but I
find their beliefs particularly loathsome, and they are all unknowing Infernalists in games I
run. As for Muslims, one of the three judges of the contest has “Hates Moors” as a
personality flaw and this game is set in the Iberian Tribunal. She would veto any Muslim and
I would hate to have some so handicapped at the start. As for being an Infernalist, at some
point the game is going to switch from being a light hearted competition between player
characters to a fight against infernalists, and while I am going to use metagame information
to suggest that one of the players is an infernalist, I don’t want there to actually be an
infernalist.
h. Try to avoid flaws like Poor Student that make learning from books hard. While they don’t
have any impact on game play, the covenant will be providing invitations to those they
believe will benefit from their offer, and Poor Student makes learning from books less
effective.
i. Have to speak Latin. While you can be a mage from the Thebian Tribunal, you have to be
able to speak to the covenfolk and other players.
j .Unbeknownst to the playes, the evaluation criteria for being invited is how well the characters work well with other rather than how good they are at being on teams that win. So, piling on character traits that encourage the character to fight with other player characters is stacking the deck against the player who will eventually be playing the character.
k. Susceptible to Infernal Power is bad news in this plot,
Those are my known constraints. I bet there are further constraints that will not recognize until I see
the character and go, Wait, no, that is bad. If I come up with a constraint only after you have created
the character, please listen to what I provide as the reasoning for the constraint and see if you
understand my point of view.
Invitation. *Covenant Nani in Domum Suam is holding a contest starting on March 15 1222 AD and
proceeding to March 22, 1222 to allow up to three magi who have been gauntleted after 1219 AD to stay at their covenant for five years. This stay will include free use of the library and use of a basic lab. At the end of the fourth year, the magus or maga will be given up to ten pawns of any form vis they choose, and at the end of the fifth year they will be given 10 pounds of gold.
Interested magi should contact the Redcap carrying this message to be given directions to a
location near Barcelona, Santiago De Compestela or Toledo where they will be brought to Nani in
Domum Suam.*
Cloelia of Bonisangus was an important early figure at Nami in Domus Saum, driving the creation of the covenant, its goal of creating a place for newly gauntleted magi to improve before going out into the
world. She was first apprenticed to a Tytalus, but rescued by a Bonisangus after only a few years. She believed that conflict promoted by Tytalus is unproductive, that if magi would be brought together and became friends when they were younger, they would be able to combine their efforts and reach greater heights than if they were always competing as individuals. Her goal was to create a covenant where this could happen, where new magi would be brought in and learn together while they were young. She recruited two other magi (Hughard of Flambeau and Muriel of Jerbiton) and started Nami in Domum Suam, created the items which allowed the dwarves to masquerade as humans as well as pay them in water transformed into ale. Sadly, she died prior to the covenant first inviting magi to stay.
Hughard of Flambeau is a founding member of the covenant and the one who deals with outside
threats. He is the one who dealt with the dragon that was terrorizing the dwarves. His magical focus is
on Intellego, Perdo, Immaginem and Vim, he has raised his Parma Magica to an incredible level and has many spells useful in dispelling Infernalist and Sahir effects. He supports the idea of creating a place for newly gauntleted magi to study because he believes that this is his opportunity to share his perspective and help shape the Order. He has an Eagle as a familiar.
Muriel of Jerbiton is the other founding member of the covenant and focuses on the Hermetic Library.
Her goal is to be known as the foremost expert on Mentem, by creating the best primer and textbook on Mentem possible. She is deaf, and tends to focus on the written work to the exclusion of everything
else. Her familiar is a cat.
Anna of Verditius was brought in after Cloelia died. She was a woodworker, and it was her who created
the magical flying wagons that can change their appearance to clouds and which are used to bring
supplies to the covenant. The wagons are operated by dwarves changed into human shape, the
transformation keeping them from acclimatizing from being out of a magical aura. She hates Moors, her criteria in the competition is to help magi who dislike Moors and exclude magi who like Moors. Her familiar is also a cat.
The covenant is in a Level 7 rego, and has a Level 6 rego alongside it where the dwarves live and mine. The area the covenant is in used to be owned by a dragon. He forced the dwarves to give him gold and he ate one of them on the new moon. Hughard killed it back when the covenant was founded, which caused a lot of good feeling toward him from the dwarves. This good feeling was encouraged when Cloelia created barrels that transformed water to ale with enough penetration that the dwarves could drink it, as the dwarves were immune to deprivation, the fact that the ale didn’t have nutritional value didn’t bother them. The dwarves agreed to provide servants and gold, the magi agreed to protect them and give them ale. The covenant created a number of rings which the dwarves wear that change them into either human adults or human children so that the dwarves can serve them outside the covenant without drawing attention or being acclimatized. In the early days of the covenant, humans were brought in to train the dwarves in particular skills, even with the penalty from magical might, the
dwarves might was still low enough that they learned the skills eventually. As a result, the covenant
now has unaging servants who are skilled in all manner of human crafts. The dwarves have learned
Latin as well. The population is slowly growing now that the dragon is not eating them, it is likely that
some would enjoy serving magi when they leave, so long as they can be under a continual magical effect and not acclimatize.
The covenant is in the Cantabrian Mountains, in the west, between the border between Galicia and
Leon. The covenant has more gold than it has any practical use for, but they do their best not to flood
the market in any particular place. That is the primary reason they have the flying wagons, to spread
their purchases and sales around.