For this to be official I'll have to post something properly in the GM looking for players section so that our campaign will have a proper spot on the board. But I'd like to have some guidelines first.
I'm not locked into Stonehenge or the Schism War. However, I do want to use printed materials from either 5th or 4th edition to save on some work. I have a pretty sizable collection of books, but only a few Tribunals. So here are some of the options for the setting:
Stonehenge
Rhine
Loch Leglean
If we want to keep it current, I'm fine with using the Rhine (Guardians of the Forest). It has rich possibilities for politics and conflict.
So the next question is the type of Covenant. Do we want to use some that are already in the Tribunal? Make our own? I favor making our own, as it will produce plenty of likely adventures. Then from there, what Season of the Covenant? I usually prefer Spring covenants, but the last time I ran one we started with an old Winter Covenant (the one I referenced in that link), and that was a lot of fun.
Then the magi. I think it's best if they start after apprenticeship. So that means a character that started apprenticehip at age 5-10.
Give me some input on these questions, then I can post something to get our own thread.
Not the Schism War. As neat as that is, I doubt I could do it justice.
We'll put it in the Rhine in order to keep it current both in the canon and the rules. We could put it in France, but I don't have the book and haven't read it.
I like the concept of a Spring and Winter Covenant, so I've decided to try and mix them. I have the idea of an old and venerable Magus who, for reasons of his own, decides to start a Covenant before he dies. So it will be a Spring covenant with an old sponsor.
Now then having said that, this is the result of me basically flinging stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks. This stuck...so far. Please give me your thoughts. Once I have some more in mind I'll post our request.
I would also like to stay out of the Rhine. Like LadyP I've got stuff going on in Rhine currently.
In any case, of the three you mentioned, Loch Leglean would be my first choice. I think the Highlands have a supring amount of story potential. I ran a campaign in the Orkneys which was fun.
Stonehenge is good for me too. I've never played there, so willing to give it a shot.
OK, hmmm...that offers some problems with a few of the plot ideas I had in mind with the unique politics of the Rhine. Not that big of a deal though. I still like the idea of the old Magus starting a new Covenant.
I could pick up the Lion and the Lily maybe, or go with Stonehenge as planned.
I wish to be a part of the new campaign and I would like that the new saga takes place in the canon time of 1220 and I like to use the Rihne tribunal. Most important however is to be a part of a game. I think that one of the advantages of using a tribunal book that is published and everyone or at least a few got is that it gives a whole frame to the stories. Personally I own every Ars Magica book for the fifth edition with the exeption of the fallen fane and the broken covenant.
I'm impartial to the tribunal we play in. All tribunals have story potential, I think it just depends on what kinds of stories you want. Besides, you don't have to use the tribunal books if you don't want to. The political environment could be anything the sg wants.
Having said that, what kind of game do people want to play? High in action/adventure? High in politics?
I like to know in the begining because I have gotten stuck making a more political character in a game where everyone else was more into adventure and battle, in which my character was fairly useless at the start and it took years to "fix" it so I had a character that would fit into most of the story lines.
Personally, I am more interested in the interactions of the different characters and role playing as opposed to blowing things up.
I am thinking of doing my first quaesitor character. Considering the games I am in (several online and one offline that meets every two weeks), a lot of my most desired concepts are in use. (I got a battle maga with perdo, shape shifter, holy maga and mentem lab rat).
My style of play lends itself towards adventures, however I tend to tailor make the adventures for appropriate magi. A political Magi will definitely be the right fit for certain adventures, and blowing things up has its place as well. I try to make the players stretch to accomodate the goals and needs of the adventure.
There will also be plenty of interaction time and threads.
I'm liking the idea of the Stonehenge Tribunal now, the nice thing is I can taylor make some things and use the printed material as needed. It will take place just after the Tribunal meeting of 1222, technically it will start there with the introduction of the new crop of apprentices.
I'll be making a regular magi as well (not the elder magus he'll be an NPC) that I can use when someone else wants to run a story. Someone that can stay in the background easily.
For character creation purposes, every magi should start between 20-25 and no years out of apprenticeship.
I'll be designing the covenant and there will be some points that the PCs can spend on different things. There won't be a lot of points to go around necessarily, so think of things that would be like their own personal donations to the covenant. I'll have more on that later.
OK, it looks like we have enough of a base to ask for a thread to be created. I'll do that when I get home from work later today.
I can agree with qcipher on the nature of adventures that they should suit the magi that are involved I also like that sometimes players can set to do their own agendas and go through with it rather than only be in the receiving end of stories. Are there any other restrictions upon the magus characters are we allowed to use all material published? How about spells can we make up our own to have from the beginning? I have some ideas of a transformed human magus. Personally I like when magi get a few years out of apprenticeship but that’s just me I can go with newly gauntled magi. However I must point out that the Yule/Christmas is coming soon and I will have an extremely slow posting rate perhaps not be able to post anything until the next year and a few days into the next year.
I could see 1-2 totally custom spells and a couple that are standard spells with minor deviations to reflect their Paren's inventing spells and modifying spells (ind to group, Concentration to sun or vice versa)
As for age: Min age for a magus is 22 (apprentice must be at least 7 before starting + 15 years apprenticeship) and max of 30 (older versions of ars magica said apprenticeship was generally by age 15 or not at all). Givng an age range of 22-30 with nothing after apprenticeship instead of 20-25.
I'm thinking of a Verditius. It's been a while since I played one.
If we're also doing Grogs up front as well: anyone want to play my shield grog? I'll play yours. For some reason I just find it boring to play my own shield Grog.
I'll be honest, I haven't found any rules that say the earliest you can be an apprentice (in 5th edition) is 7. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'd rather limit the age to 12 max. If you want to take a young (5 year old) prodigy feel free, but an appropriate flaw would be Covenant Upbringing. So basically 5-12, meaning a magus of 20-27. In all honesty I'm not going to make this much of a sticking point. If your concept is for a late starter or an early prodigy just make the virtues and flaws work.
I have all the books that have alternate stuff in them (the different House books, Mysteries Revised, Ancient Magic, Hedge Magic, the 3 Realm books) except for Art and Acadame and City and Guild and the Lion and Lilly. So if there's something in there I might need some info from you.
As for the other books, if the concept works I'm willing to allow it, subject to approval of course.
As for location, I'm keeping that a little mysterious for now, but it will be more isolated than cosmopolitan.
The grogs are intended to be more communal than anything. So the Grogs that are turned in will go into their own thread. My intention is that typically when a Magus is ready to take the field, he will likely inform his Companion to form the Turb. Once the Turb is formed the remaining players (the ones not playing the magi or companion) will play those Grogs and can decide among themselves who they will play, maybe the first to volunteer?
So Personality Traits as will as acting tips would be a nice addition to the Grog's stats since the Grogs will be traded.