I have recently begun running an Ars Magica saga for the first time (we are currently six sessions in). I think it is going well overall and I continue to have great admiration for the line. But a number of puzzling things have come up, some of which I would like to raise here. I am going to start with what is a pretty foundational issue that has left both my players and I scratching our heads. For all the great detail that ArM has on the practices, rules and allegiances of magi within the Order of Hermes there is comparatively very little on magi psychology - how magi think and feel. Magi have this extraordinary gift that gives them immense power, but both the Gift and the rules and practices of the Order cuts them off to a greater or lesser extent from ordinary society. Most don't have children or other close family connections (which must be so important for giving life meaning to members of the wider society). Nor do most seem to be particularly oriented towards using their magic for hedonistic reasons (pleasure and comfort) or altruistic ones (helping those in need, such as the sick or starving).
So what do magi choose to do with their time? Well, they do many different things of course, but we are led to understand that most magi choose to spend most of their time locked away in their labs engaged in study, research, creating enchanted items and, perhaps, writing books. The image we have of many magi is that of the scholar. Which certainly makes sense for some magi, but back in the real world only a small minority of people are suited for this kind of life. It takes a particular combination of talent, inclination, self-discipline, and enjoyment of solitary pursuits, to make a go of it. Should we assume that everyone with the Gift has the right disposition for the scholarly life? It seems unlikely. Furthermore, even a casual look at the published books shows that many magi have tendencies that would seem to make them rather different kinds of people: the hoplites, the mystics, the Jerbiton aesthetes, etc - are we meant to believe that for most of the year these magi simply put aside their main interests, perhaps their vocation as they see it, to work away day after day by themselves in a lab? Why would they want to do that? It seems unlikely to me.
I have three PC magi in my game. Firstly, there is a Bjornaer who is fascinated by the natural world, especially the large, magical forest where the covenant is located, and he wants to spend as much time as possible as a raven living there. Secondly there is a Rusticani potter who wants to live close to the local peasants making bowls and cups and so forth. Thirdly a Magus Trianomae who has deviated from his parens in being as much interested in mundane politics as Hermetic politics, and whose noble birth gives him connections that he wants to explore extensively in game - probably meaning he will spend a lot of time away from the covenant. Now I think these are all characters who make sense in the setting, but none are going to want to head to the lab any time soon. If they realise they need to improve their arts or learn spells to achieve a goal they may do so inasmuch as they think it is necessary, but no more. It will be a means to an end, not an end in itself.
The workaround that I have been pondering is this. Firstly, the Gift is distributed pretty randomly amongst the population, but being a successful magus of the Order of Hermes requires talents other than just the Gift. It requires intelligence, independence and strength of will, amongst maybe other things as well. So a maga looking for an apprentice would not take any child with the Gift but would cherry pick so they can choose someone with the right mental aptitude as well. This means that the vast majority of people with the Gift do not join the Order. I think this suggests an environment with stronger hedge traditions than is usually imagined (and in particular traditions which value or at least can make use of different kinds of people - perhaps cults based on an ecstatic magic, or more ceremonial, performative magic as just two examples). While 'Join or Die' may have been the policy early on, later the Order learned to live with hedge traditions and confronted them only they presented a threat. But I think most people with the Gift never get picked up by any tradition but rather find themselves living a troubled life in some remote village, confused by their magical nature, and likely regarded as marked by the devil in some way.
Secondly, I am imagining that the actual seasonal practices of magi in the Order are not as lab-based as suggested in the rules. I suspect in my game PCs will be involved in stories in three out of four seasons per year, and the players will largely be using their magi characters - and so might expect to receive story XP for two seasons out of four. For the other two I imagine I might be rather generous in my interpretation of what entails practice rather than exposure, given the freedom magi have. And I imagine the range of activities typical of my PCs will not be that unusual amongst NPC magi as well.
Any thoughts on this would be very welcome!
David