Doesn't mean that I will use all the suggestions exactly as described, but I will use them for inspiration.
From the recent discussion: I'll adjust Regulus' seasons so that he studies from our Muto summa on Summer, ok? I'll need to reduce his Intellego score by one as result of that, but nothing that makes his 1206 Spring unfeasible.
With this he will be able to invent a lvl 20 Vigil from lab text as long as he finishes setting up his lab.
I will be mostly offline today and tomorrow.
I'll have reduced access to my PC over the next week.
I have undone Alba's advances on the sheet, since it was too early and also many things changed in the early future planning.
(I also updated the Saga Calendar until Spring 1206. But since this first summer Alba will be busy with her adventure, I'm not sure if she will be able to read the Vim root at the end)
@Gaxxian Spring 1206: I think Stella needs to be taught Artles Liberales before she can read books on her own.
True Then she will help with the lab text... at least she will get some passive exp xD
So... is Alba going to be the one casting our Aegis in the end @Gaxxian? Casting tablet or regular invention?
@Arthur, for my information, what are you waiting for before starting La Roche d'Or?
Yes. She will invent it from the lab text.
At the next summer we should be able to have Aegis.
Sorry, I have been mostly absent on the last few days.
I'm preparing to move to a new home and dealing with a bunch of stuff at work that must be done before the year ends.
I'll try to take the time to read and post, but my schedule will likely be inconstant until mid January.
Hey all.
Just to let you know that I'm back! My schedule has become normal again, a bit sooner than expected.
Welcome back Rafael!
Hey all.
So, for several reasons, I feel like things have gotten a bit lukewarm here. Is this just my impression, or does enyone else also shares it?
What are everyone's expectations for the future? I'd very much like to see the saga going onward, but things seem to be on a stalemate.
I would also like the saga to keep going. And to join the story arcs whenever/wherever it makes sense!
Sorry, part of it is me. I have been down since my country is at war. Am getting better able to cope, but to facilitate, I took a vacation till the 23th. Hope to get back into things when I return.
Hi
Cool, today I learned a new word
The truth is that you are not the only one, that has been my impression for around 2 months ^^!
When 2 weeks went without updates, not even to finish clarifying the topic we were discussing in my character thread, I thought about that... although I wanted to attribute it to the fact that in reality only Arthur and I were active.
Now, a week after you and Emelric's return in which there are still no updates, I am beginning to seriously wonder about the future of the saga.
Of course, I would like to continue. I have put a lot of work and love into my character, and the saga has great possibilities. But I will also not deny that the fact that continuing without being clear about the rules for the magic that we want to follow in this saga causes me problems and prevents me from setting medium/long-term goals, which I consider very problematic in a game like Ars Magica.
Just don't dissapear again without warning, please I thought that you left the forums for good.
Don't worry. You are the last one that should ask for sorry, man. You didn't choose the situation in your country, so there is no fault.
Just take your time and get better
Seconded. You surely have a lot on your mind right now, and a pretend game won't be the biggest priority. Take your time, and let us know if we can do something to ease your burden.
Greetings all,
I've been wrestling with how to proceed with the saga since mid-december. Not regarding the story, mind you, but regarding the rules. The long arguments about rule interpretations frustrate me, tire me out, and demotivate me. Makes me question whether I want to continue being a storyguide at all.
In all the sagas I've played in, I've taken for granted that the Alpha SG may have different views on some rules. I may disagree with their interpretation, but their word is law and I try to adapt to their version of Ars Magica. It doesn't matter if these interpretations are broad-reaching House Rules or very specific points. It doesn't matter if there are exemples contradicting it in some sourcebook, or if they require me to redesign some part of my character because I made an assumption that differed from the SG's view. The Alpha SG's word is law in their saga.
So being repeatedly challenged once I've made my interpretation clear... What does that tell me? That is the question I've been wrestling with for a month now. And the reason why I haven't posted anything in the saga since.
I want people to enjoy the saga. But I also need to enjoy the saga. And lately I have not been enjoying it, because we have been bogged down in rules discussions, even after I have made my rulings clear. It needs to stop, or the saga will.
There it is.
I've seen a lot of PbP campaings dying due to people not spoking their minds and abandon the saga after being progressively less and less involved with it because they don't feel comfortable/represented.
So personally, I would prefer people telling me what they expectations are and what they dislike before that happens.
But ofc, thats me, and I commited the error to act like everyone wants the same.
I'm sorry, I just have wished to know before to avoid making you uncomfortable.
If its ok, since this is a personal topic and not about rules, I will try to answer your points and offer my own feelings too.

I've been wrestling with how to proceed with the saga since mid-december. Not regarding the story, mind you, but regarding the rules. The long arguments about rule interpretations frustrate me, tire me out, and demotivate me. Makes me question whether I want to continue being a storyguide at all.
I also greatly dislike having long arguments about rules and about the specific wording used into a rule. Maybe this can come as a surprise, since I'm usually at the center of such topics.
But, to me, it's even more important to have a fair saga where everybody can have protagonism. If that means having to discuss for days about the exact ruling of Beast of Virtue, so we can all be on the same page, so be it. Even when I strongly disliked that discussion and ended being very unpolite.
I dislike those discussions doubly since I know that I tend to express in an aggressive manner even when I try to avoid it, so I need to dedicate around double/triple the time to write each post... and even then, usually it doesn't work.
Why I stood against your last ruling if I dislike those long rants? Because I find it unfair. Not because a +1 extra Size of a single spell, but because it makes impossible (to me at least) to be able to have any expectation about what I will be able or not to do in the future.
So, even when for me it's really frustrating and demotivating talking for so long about rules, I hate even more being unable to know which will be the next houserule what will appear like a mushroom the next time that I try to design something.
Also, there is something that I don't understand from your explanation.
If you don't want to focus into the fine letter of the rules, why do you focus so much into them? You try to rule and maintain everything under a strict rule, starting even discussions about the rules when its not really necessary (like when the Charcoal Chest).
If you don't want to talk about rules, that means being more lax with them, thus having less control about the exact scope of the powers... yet in your case, I cannot avoid but feel the contrary, that you want to have everything inside your expectations.

In all the sagas I've played in, I've taken for granted that the Alpha SG may have different views on some rules. I may disagree with their interpretation, but their word is law and I try to adapt to their version of Ars Magica. It doesn't matter if these interpretations are broad-reaching House Rules or very specific points. It doesn't matter if there are exemples contradicting it in some sourcebook, or if they require me to redesign some part of my character because I made an assumption that differed from the SG's view. The Alpha SG's word is law in their saga.
Even within the importance of the Alpha SG, every role-playing game is a collaborative activity, in which everyone must be able to contribute and give their opinion. We all are part and shape the saga.
From my understanding, if the Alpha SG is the judge, the other participants are the jury. When you read any forum about role-playing, the sentence (or variation) "into our sagas, my players prefer (...)" arise a lot of times for a good reason.
Yes, as an Alpha SG you can declare that it rains stones and we all die, but you can't blame anyone if the occurrence is not well received among the other participants.
So, from your text I don't know exactly what you expect from the rest of us.

So being repeatedly challenged once I've made my interpretation clear... What does that tell me? That is the question I've been wrestling with for a month now. And the reason why I haven't posted anything in the saga since.
I don't find that you are being fair here, since I think that you are forgetting other moments in which you have expressed your interpretation of the rules and the conversation about it has been quickly settled with as much as one last clarification (funnily enough, I didn't agree with many of those decisions, but I did not discuss them because, although subjective, they where fair decisions. And I don't discuss subjectivity with the Alpha SG).
So, quickly and without searching, I remember a few times in which I was directly involved:
- When you allowed "Watching Ward" to be created with a custom duration.
- When you decided to add a maximum difference between Str and Sta.
- When you made the decision about the magical animals, I think that everybody agreed to it without further discussion.
- When you clarified that Circle duration spells could not be used in the laboratory without adding Warping for balance reasons.
- When you clarified the rules for using "Wall of Thorns".
You are also forgetting the times when you decided on the rules hastily without thinking about the specifics. I remember because then, yes, I jumped to talk about them:
- When you initially did not want to allow the creation of Lencor because he was too powerful, even when the character fell within the correct power range and he is still strictly inferior to a standard familiar.
- When you wanted to reduce the Herbam's Base size to something like 37cm3.
With this, I don't want to say with this that you don't have your reasons to feel bad, at all, but I want to point this to you so you can see that not all occasions where like the last one, so you can have a bigger picture, since it seems like you are focusing too much into the negative side.
Now, the issue started when you exposed your interpretation about Base sizes and, later, when you added a new interpretation for how the Base works in tandem with Group target.
To me (ofc, this is open to interpretation, but its what it made me talk about it), a houserule must be either something that people what people want by majority because it is something that best suits the wishes of the group... or well a clarification/simplification of existing rules.
For example...
Right now, to me it would be impossible to try to predict how the Base sizes would work for a given TeFo combination.
How I should treat the size of a ReMe spell with target: Group? If the "mass" of Mentem is infinite, according to your interpretation with said spell I can affect infinite people (because infinite x 10 = infinite and I can affect several objectives inside the total mass). If the "mass" of Mentem is zero, then minds have no weight, so Group would be strictly worse than Individual since the spell wouldn't be able to affect anyone (because 0 x 10 = 0).
I can make similar examples with Ignem, Imaginem, Auram, Vim...
If due to a rule that you have created, the system ends up being less understandable and more problems appear... perhaps that houserule should not exist or at least it should be formulated in a different way.
It's very hard to me to go forward with the saga without understanding how things work. If telling you that make you unconfortable, when what I'm supposed to do?
I must redo my character to make use of some Forma without mass, just to be exempt from the system?
If thats what you prefer, one of the early concepts before I did Alba was an Imaginem specialist, I can pick it up and work from there if you want.
I am giving everyone a chance to chime in.