The Danger Room

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Hello sodales !

In our saga, a Tytalus magus want to build a facility in order to have people train the "hard way". The covenant is localized in the city of Bordeaux, France in the Provence Tribunal. A nice side effect would be to monetize access to this facility to people from the Normandy Tribunal.

I have designed some effect in order to provide challenges to grogs and magi alike, but I would like to have your opinions about the gameplay effect of such a season of dangerous training on experience gain. One of the guidelines says that practicing in a situation with direct feedback on your well being is worth 5 Xp, but I found it a little disappointing to spend dozens of Vis and many seasons in order to earn one more meager xp per season. One of the idea would be to allow a risk modifier that further improves the xp gain, but with a stress roll and a number of botch dices equal to the risk modifier, with injuries and possible deaths.

What do you think ?

I will list the effect I came up with in the following post. If you have any ideas, I would be glad to read them :slight_smile:

Cheers

2

The Arena :

This stone room is surrounded by balconies, it is able to be filled up with water if necessary. There are openings on the walls accessible from the other side of the walls where you can put enchanted devices designed to affect things or people in the room. In a corner, there is a permanent PerCo circle with a spell to destroy any human body.

The Macabre Ring : CreCo 30
This gold ring with an amber piece and a green turquoise is able to create one human body up to size +1. It appears naked. A finesse roll may be used to change his appearance and characteristics, with a roll of 9+ required to make it looks like someone in particular.
base 5, +1 touch, +2 sun, +10 unlimited uses.

The Whip of Control : ReCo 40
This whip with an amber piece and a violet amethyst in the handle can be used to animate every human body in the room and to control them with verbal commands. By defaut, the command issued is "Stand and stay still". If the wearer stop concentrating, the bodies immediately stop moving and fall. It is fixed to the wall in one of the balcony.
Base 10 +1 touch, +1 conc, +2 Room, +10 unlimited uses

The Thorns Mother : CreHer : 15
This wooden statue looks like a woman giving birth. When activated, brambles and thorns grow from her insides and take a shape determined by the user's finesse roll. He can make it be humanoid or animal like, or any shape he can fancy. When the shape is complete, it separate itself from the Mother.
Base 3, +0 per, +2 sun, +10 unlimited uses

The glove of the Thorns Master : ReHer : 40
This glove with a dead oak engraved in it can be used to animate every thorns golem in the room and to control them with verbal commands. By defaut, the command issued is "Stand and stay still". If the wearer stop concentrating, the golems immediately stop moving. It is attached to a wall and the wielder has to keep it in contact with the wall for all the duration.
Base 10 +1 touch, +1 conc, +2 Room, +10 unlimited uses


The Spinnerfish : CreAq 25
This silver figurine of a spinner-fish as one of his eyes being a beryl and the other being an aquamarine. It is commonly put in one of the walls opening and handled by a grog. When is belly is caressed, it will emit a violent burst of water that the user will aim at something inside the room. A finesse roll is necessary to hit something, but, at the storyguide's discretion, a failed attempt can hit something other than the target. Being touched does +0 damage and imposes a size + stress die roll of 6+ to not being knocked back
Base 10, +1 touch, +10 unlimited uses

3

I suppose you could decide to count trips through the "Danger Room" as an Adventure rather than Practice and use the more favorable/flexible Source Quality and XP allotment rules that allows.

4

Or each challenge could be the enchantment of a book - tractatus or summa with (maybe) greater quality than 5.
There is a spell in Covenant which allow a Maga to travel in a fake Laboratory.
A variant could allow other people to travel into fake rooms/phantom arenas, which could cause mental diseases, phobia or Supernatural Flaws, instead of physical harm.

Such magical effects will not provide extra experience points, but you may house rule on the contrary. You could argue the time lost into their traps is part of the reading, and it would grant a larger choice of experience points from exposure - in any case, the hermetic effect enchanted upon the book could interact and harmonize with the text, granting a Quality bonus (maybe equaling the effect's magnitude ?)

Of course if the reader loose too much time (like a full moon in a magical trap), it makes her loose experience points from her seasonal reading.

Btw,

The Everlasting Fall
The target is trapped in a beautiful autumn with golden trees, vineyards with red and violet grapes, and the song of a cool wind in the hair. Such a place is too beautiful to quit - it requires clarity of mind and a strong spirit.
It is cast on a Leadership Tractatus : CrIm(Me) 20 effect (Base 3, +1Touch, +3Moon, +1Mentem requisite forcing the target's mind to be trapped).

The Maze of Crete
The target's mind is lost into a labyrinth of tortuous colours, shapes and emotions. The exit will only be found if the victim decipher the illusion.
It is cast on an Artes Liberales Summa : Mu(Re)Me 40 effect (Base 15, +1Touch, +3Moon, +1Rego requisite for logical changes hidden behind a whirl of emotions).

5

I suppose you could have the "Danger Room" as a Great Work (page 102 of Covenants). Those can be treated as a Tractatus or Summa, but take at least 100 mythic pounds (or magical equivalent) to set up.

One thing you haven't said is what specific skill(s) you want to train people in. If you were doing the Great Work approach, you'd have to choose a specific subject (maybe Awareness? Athletics?). It would also be subject to the usual limitations for creating tractatus/summae, i.e. you need to have at least double the level in a skill yourself for a summa.