Try to keep non-game related talk in this thread and out of the story thread, including rules questions, congratulations for good play, side comments, random musings, historical corrections and the like. This is the place for side conversations, announcements, and anything OOC.
Story threads should be as clean and readable as is reasonable. To that end, please keep OOC talk in them to things that directly affect play - spells you’re actually casting, abilities you actually intend to use, questions about what something I’ve described might represent in rules terms, and the like.
Keep the Cast of Characters and Covenant threads clean as well. Use this thread for discussion, questions, and arguments about information contained in those threads.
Formatting: I am going to try to avoid using too many colors in my posts, if only because I find it can be distracting. They are useful for dialogue, but I will try to use writing and spacing alone to distinguish dialogue from narration when I can. Feel free to do whatever you want
Storytelling: Please, have every post both respond to something and put out something to respond to. This doesn’t have to be anything huge (sometimes you just need clarification) but it can and should be if necessary. If you want to do something and it fits, please do it, even (especially!) if it’s risky, daring, or likely to fail. This improves the speed and quality of story substantially.
Description: Include details of what you see going on as your character speaks or acts. If you describe that brief period vividly and concisely it enriches and places the game without binding other players. Catch the place where you are, describe it with a few interesting details in your minds eye, and move on if necessary. Grab the game with both hands and shape it; nothing is sacred to me alone. If you have a cool idea, go to town, please.
Communication: Tell me what you want. This doesn’t mean be rude, but it does mean express yourself fully. I want to know what you want!
Brevity: Posts don’t have to be long or dense to be good. The good ones are to the point and easy to read.
Finally, please introduce yourself. Tell us about the kind of game you would like to see and the kinds of stories you want to tell (this will become a common theme ), and a little about yourself if you want.
I shall begin, then. I’ve been playing Ars Magica for about four years, and I currently have a tabletop saga set on the coast of the Black Sea and am involved in several excellent Play by Posts here on the forums.
I want this saga to something that grabs everyone by the horns because it has something in it that you want your character to deal with. I want it to be driven by the PCs as much as possible, with me pushing the narrative and raising the stakes. In my perfect world, this saga will end in the fullness of time, with us all building towards that ending - we'll see how it goes. Feel free to PM me or post here if you have comments, questions, suggestions, or things you want to embark on. I'll start putting story threads up in the next day or two.
Speaking of stories . The first sort-of story thread is up. This is for you to write something short featuring your magus and perhaps some bit characters or Redcaps. It can be a monologue, a description of a chance meeting, a letter to or from a friend, enemy, or senior magus of the White Lady, a description of a hook or unfinished adventure, even a memoir, looking back on "how it all started". Anything works, as long as what's described occurs before you arrive at the covenant, introduces us to your character, and hints at what's to come. I want a sense of him or her, and an inkling of what she's thinking as she comes to live in a new place. I encourage you to tie back to earlier posts to give continuity.
Your post can be as short or as long as is reasonable; if a few good sentences is appropriate, that's great. Ostentisbly, none of you have met yet, so there will probably be no dialogue between you, I will post "proper" story threads in the next day or so, as more magi come in.
I started playing AM in college with version 3. Found it harder to find a decent play group after college and was not a fan of 4th ed. Got back into it recently because of the online post games and have been picking up the 5th ed books.
Normally, I end up being a SG(alpha/beta/zulu) at some point. I get ideas about adventures from hints or background stories of other characters or the Covenant. I write a plot outline and then turn the characters lose on it. Of course the plot never survives contact with the players.
I tend to flesh out characters slowly. I say " I need to wrap my head around this character." Which means I need to understand their motivations more. So many times, when I start a game, my characters will have very base motivations/goals which will change based on the story. I tend to play either "plumbers" or "the pro from dover" as character types( old Champion players will know those player types).
I have two young kids(1 and 4) so my online times on the weekends can be very limited.
I also started playing 3rd edition in college. I actually ended up being SG right off the bat, and could only run a few games. I enjoyed the system but it was difficult to find players or someone else to SG.
Came across the 5th edition rules recently and bought it on a whim. I haven't been able to find a group but finally came across the board here.
There's no one way I create a character, but I usually end up starting out with the Flaws first. If I can't get a good combination of flaws, a character doesn't interest me. It usually takes me several drafts to find one I like.
I think this is a good group and I'm looking forward to a good game. Here's hoping we get to live and die like rock stars high up in the Alps.
I started when 4th ed came out, and had a bunch of 3rd ed supplaments. My favorite bbook is Iberia, but I use what I call a "White Wolf Translator" that filters out the excessive references to the Infernal . I am usually ASG, and the PbP games have allowed me to be more of a player. I have a long running Iberian saga set in Andorra, which I recently revived for a 5th edition PbP saga of my own. I also ran an Ultima Thule saga that lasted through the start of 5th edition.
I am an Ars Magica junkie. I keep buying books as fast as my meager funds allow, and I spend almost all of my free time designing and inventing things. Two of my favorite aspects of the game are the rules for magic and the setting of mythic Europe. I grew tired of generic fantasy worlds back in 2nd edition AD&D (yes, I have been gaming since I was born). My very favorite aspect of the game is the culture and society of the Order of Hermes. Especially House Flambeau. Old School style, when he was a Spaniard named Reculed Seneca and his master was Delendar.
I have a different approach to grogs and mundanes than others do. I see them as valueable assets, human beings just as worthy and important as a magus. Magi are just people who happen to be able to use magic. Sometimes you may find a grog is a more worthy human being than an archmagus. Literature wise, I am more so influenced by classics and comic books, skipping the middle stage of fantasy novels . I like old school fantasy; Howard and Moorcock and Anderson and Aspin. Old stuff, not much past 1980.
Golly, I feel like the newbie now. I didn't get into Ars until 5th ed. came out, and have been playing it exclusively ever since. I'm a player in a Stonehenge saga with a group, and I do some sole SGing in a one-on-one Greater Alps saga for my husband. I don't have much PbP experience, but I will not let that stop me.
I'm one of those cursed gamers that never rolls well. In my group saga, my character has been in twilight 9 times, with a warping score of 7. Everyone else has been in twilight twice, maybe. This is just to show you how bad I roll. Over the years, I've learned to deal with it, and tend to create characters that take failure in stride. I don't play fighters, or people with big egos. With my roling, the first test of character would have my character fall on his face. So I use it to my advantage.
I like convoluted stories that grow over time and keep poping up to poke at you here and there and get tied all together in a big end scene. I don't mind charater death as long as it flows with the story. Make it part of the entertainment and my character can take anything. Don't be afraid that I'm going to get my feelings hurt, they would only get hurt if the story got cheated.
I'm a personal friend of Falls from college, and he got me into Ars Magica two years ago. It hooked me immediately - I'm a student of medieval literature, so pretty much every class I take has something to do with Mythic Europe. I also have an abiding love for wizards, so there you go. My main RP background in terms of years spent is DMing in D&D and the RP I put most time into per week is in-game RP as my troll shaman in WoW. I feel really low-brow now.
Probably my favorite thing to do (in any game) is to create different characters. They could be odd, nice or mean or both, or just completely normal - the most important thing is that they stand out. I can be very vocal about my opinions, and it rubs off on my characters, who are almost always vocal about their opinions (even when we have no opinions in common). I'm prone to grandiose, archaic sentence structures, and I'm addicted to the dash.
I tend to only post once a day, and they tend to be fairly short, because I improvise straight to paper and I never revise. I have found that when I overthink characters, they're considerably less fun. My goal in a game is to create conflict between players - not necessarily violent conflict, but that lovely little rubbing they get when two people's ends are slightly at odds brings out facets of personality that otherwise would never show.
My thoughts exactly . The new story thread is up, for those of you just arriving at the covenant. Feel free to describe the group you're traveling with and what you've been doing during the wait as you post (if you want).
Also, a question: which of you have been living at the covenant, and for how long?
Winds has just arrived, never before having been here, even though this is my parens' home covenant. They traveled during her apprenticeship and after, and she is currently registered as a travelling magi in the Rhine. (If I remember my sourcebooks correctly, I believe you can do that in the Rhine)
I’ll give us another day or so for our last two magi to get character sheets in if they want, and then jump into Chapter 1 in earnest for everyone who has a character finalized. If you're not able to get a character in by then, no big, we'll call you a late arrival and slip you in after dinner.
For now, feel free to post your preparations, moving into your guest rooms if you've just arrived, meeting each other to go down to dinner, etc.
Well, if you want to make an interesting story of it, we can say that Jonathan has not yet started on his longevity. His mentor has simply agreed to provide him one when he is ready. He can put it off a few more years perhaps
That reminds me. The aura here is 4ish, and you all have a token to the Aegis (it’s about 5th magnitude). This is subject to change when we do covenant design, but if you need those parameters, there they are.
That is a retty weak aegis, the kind you set up around an outpost. We should list that as our #1 priority for things to fix. Not that we should change it before game, make it an in-game effort.
), and a little about yourself if you want.
. The first sort-of story thread is up. This is for you to write something short featuring your magus and perhaps some bit characters or Redcaps. It can be a monologue, a description of a chance meeting, a letter to or from a friend, enemy, or senior magus of the White Lady, a description of a hook or unfinished adventure, even a memoir, looking back on "how it all started". Anything works, as long as what's described occurs before you arrive at the covenant, introduces us to your character, and hints at what's to come. I want a sense of him or her, and an inkling of what she's thinking as she comes to live in a new place. I encourage you to tie back to earlier posts to give continuity.
. I am usually ASG, and the PbP games have allowed me to be more of a player. I have a long running Iberian saga set in Andorra, which I recently revived for a 5th edition PbP saga of my own. I also ran an Ultima Thule saga that lasted through the start of 5th edition.
. The new story thread is up, for those of you just arriving at the covenant. Feel free to describe the group you're traveling with and what you've been doing during the wait as you post (if you want).
