New Ars Campaign/Common Pitfalls for new SGs

Games Discussion Ars Magica
21

Now I don't know what types of non-ArM games you all have played, but I see a very big difference from DnD-like 'kick in door' games to Ars Magica in the responsibility.
In DnD, we would travel some place, discover a strange mystery and try to solve it. If solving it included getting on the bad side of powerfull authorities (which often leads to not solving the problem at all) we would simply run away to another country/place.
In ArM, you 'own' a covenant and if you mess up with the local lords you cannot just leave. Next to that, there are so little magi that everybody knows each other. (literally they are on first-name basis, since there are no family names yet)

I play in a group of experienced RPG'ers, but we haven't played ArM before. We started out with only magi in a winter->spring covenant. (all quite cliche I believe) Now that we are adding more grogs and companions it still turns out that you have the best connection to your magus and it is therefore nicest to play your magus instead of grogs. We usually take a few grogs on trips and they allow us to explore the medieval world better.

Another great feature (at least in my group) is the multi-storyguide. We are four players and four SG's at the same time. It is a bit chaotic with the storylines, but really challenges us all to think about a logical world and how actions and reactions fall together. It also forces (sort of) us to make stories that have a longer ingame timespan, since we try to alternate SG's.

For instance: a fireman (making fire, not putting it out) is coming to our neighbouring fairy regio, we promised to help them 5 years ago. We discovered graves of past magi trying to fight of a fireman (and died apparently) 2 years ago. Had some fires in our own village and know that the fireman is not a fairy. So we are currently spending some time on ward against flame, the rush for a fairy ward was delayed and some of the magi are learning a bit of extra Ignem magic they otherwise wouldn't.
In the mean time we also have 2 other stories that drag some of the magi into adventures, giving the magi working on the fireman some 'off-time' to do research.

This way of gaming really works for me, and also for the rest of my troupe.

Sticking to some sort of reality also gives a nice backbone for the story. (though this is even more personal) We use an excisting 13th century town (of which the church and tower of the covenant are still there today and we really want to plan a trip over to Rotterdam). This means we have some maps, excisting families, a logical timeline for mundane events and a realistic idea of the surroundings and developments. It also creates a good timeline for stories, since quite a few of them are based on history. Furthermore, since the players know (or can look up) local, national and worldly events we use them in puzzles and adventure hooks. (one of my players actually got the hint on the battle for some old-Dutch province from her characters vision of a goat and a mule :smiley: )

A more sensitive issue is using famous works. The most famous being the bible I would say. I really enjoy using it, but it does incur a little blasphemy here and there. A possible pittfall is that players know the works and draw conclusions based on parts of the work you hadn't taken into account, but it does add to the feeling of grandure and importance a lot. Seeing that the message you get from some strange magus-like person is actually in the bible gives you all t he more reason to believe it. You will be surprised of the things you can find in the bible, I made the sentence (in Dutch): an angel of the Lord appeared to the magi and spoke: "magi are leaders and guard the people from an angel that was mislead and terrifically malign." I found this all by reshuffling Mathew chapter 2. (my apolosies to those that are offended by implying that God intended magi to rule the world, I know that it is not stated as such in the Holy bible)

Enough of me writing about myself, I give the floor back to whoever wishes to reply some more. :blush:

22

You know, i never even thought about using the Bible as a play aid. I mean, that just sounds sort of blasphemous (not that i'm offended or anything) but it could take all sorts of passages out of (their already somewhat mistranslated) context. For that matter, you could dip into the Koran, and Buddah's teachings, and all sorts of interesting things. If it were me, i would have to introduce a Latin copy of the Necronomicon for a little demonic innuendo, but that's just how my brain works.

23

This may have been pointed out elsewhere, but when you're getting people to generate their magus and companion characters make sure that one player doesn't have two characters who are closely connected to each other (e.g. a Caramon/Raistlin scenario). It gets silly quickly, not least when they get into conversations with each other.

24

This depends on the players. I've never had a problem with this sort of thing, and generally like the players to have strong links to justify bringing them together (less important in ArsM of course, where the Covenent is really the reason for playing, not the 'Party')

25

What I've found works better is if one player's companion is closely connected with a different player's magus. It sounds obvious, but for me and my group it was only obvious after we'd thought of it. :confused:

26

I agree - and the same certainly goes for masters and apprentices.

27

Yeah, I agree.

Another related point is to design the COMPANION as the main character, the character you really want to play. If the group's playing style is to have one or two magi with other supporting characters on a mission, it's likely you'll play him more than you will your magus.

28

Hi,

Although I like the game and genre, my own experience playing in and running sagas has been spotty.

Pitfalls, especially for a new saga.

  1. A GM should start the saga with a plot that provides strong forward momentum. A saga that starts off going nowhere is likely to continue that way.

  2. The covenant should be established as part of the pre-game show, and the PCs already there. This provides many advantages, ranging from understood expectations to PC bonding. Starting otherwise perpetuates rules and preliminaries.

  3. Players should have strong guidelines for what kind of magi (and, to a lesser extent, companions) belong in the saga, not only regarding game rules but character types. Just because the rules allow for a wide variety of characters does not mean that all of these belong in every saga. Similarly, players should be given some information about how various options are tweaked for the saga, to get common expectations about where they are. (Emphasis on Dominion? Nobility? Faeries? Power of Quaesitores? Role of Certamen? Are all magi peers, or does seniority matter a lot? etc.) Lack of guidelines promotes characters incompatible with each other and the saga itself.

  4. PCs should be designed with strong in-game motivation to hang together. Conflict can arise anyway, but unless the saga is intended to be about inter-PC conflict, PCs--especially magi--ought to have close ties. Especially for players new to the game. Ars Magica is already conducive to magi preferring to stay home and do their own thing; inter-PC conflict is a cheap way to avoid anything else.

  5. Players who join an ongoing saga ought to be integrated in a reasonable amount of time, and their characters too. Not doing so marginalizes both. This can be desirable when deciding whether a player works with the group, but is not desirable long-term, or in a new saga when players might not all show up at the first session. Including a new character in an important plot soon or immediately on arrival helps. Failing to do this will cause such characters and players to contribute less to the saga, perhaps even detract from it as they flounder around, trying to get their bearings.

Anyway,

Ken

29

Yep, good point. Nothing wrong with that at all. The reason I mention the magus/companion connection is that when I did allow a one player/ twin brother magus and companion combination it led to the players' covenant getting wiped out by a legion of angry ghosts, so...