Would there be interest in an Ars Magica PC game?

[Baldren]

This is looking good.

I am not sure if this would be helpful or harmful, but as an idea to manage the open ended nature of magic, since you cannot create a system to reflect all possibilities, there could be something like challenges or obstacles that requires X/Y amounts of different TeFo for the Magi to succeed, so its left to the imagination what kind of spell it was used and you don’t have to program a million possibilities, but I am not sure how sterile this would be or interesting, or get people interested in Ars Magica

[LadyAth]

I plan to implement magic in two ways: You can have the spell or need to spontaneous a form/tech effect which is pre-determined based on the scenario. Story mode will have a simplified form/tech effect like using Intelligo to learn more about a person, etc with the math happening in the background. With luck, it will get more people interested in how Ars Magica works by trying the RAW mode and then who knows, maybe picking up the books to play like it should be played

[WilliamEx]

I’ll submit my selfish wishlist

If there could be a mode where it runs all the life outside of the convenant. You set the simulator settings and can add/remove active “plots”. Have a resource so that when players visit other covenants we know who is there doing what at current time and what. What can be found in the libraries. Allies/Enemies of all involved. Set it so you can generate an event like a tribunal or a covenant visit, etc. Have a map that shows known Mundane/Magical/Infernal/Fey activity.

W

[LadyAth]

Having the tribunal as an active ‘entity’ is part of the design. So magi will have reputations with other tribunal magi, story plots will occur and evolve depending on what the covenant does about it, magi can visit and trade with other covenants (relationships matter). I have not thought much about visuals as yet. Might be something I can do, but no promises

[DrMindermast]

Holy crap yes I would be so on board with this!! So much so that I created a forum account just so I could reply here. I actually just posted elsewhere the other day about how my dream video game would be an Ars Magica adaptation focused mostly on the covenant (with maybe occasional forays into individual characters) that would be something like a blend of Dwarf Fortress, Crusader Kings, and Heroes of Might & Magic. And someone responded to that by linking me to this thread.

As far as this project goes, I have zero programming skill, but I would be happy to help with story elements, tinkering with game mechanics if needed, or anything else along those lines.

[LadyAth]

Once I am further into development I will certainly be asking for a few playtesters to give feedback and suggestions. That would include more story event ideas, helping me improve the writing as needed and of course, find bugs!

Welcome to the forums!

[LadyAth]

New UI design that I think looks a LOT better than my first draft. Still very much a work in progress, but starting to look more like a game than just a proof of concept.

[raccoonmask]

This looks amazing. Are you planning on having the magi all pre-generated and advancing along a set path, or will there be notable variance/RNG in their advancements?

[OriginalMadman]

Wow! Looks great! Excited to to take it for a spin

[TimOB]

Imagine being the master chef for a covenant.

Come to think of it, imagine a Verditius mage whose craft was cooking.

[Jank (Medusa)]

There is a canon one who is specifically a wine maker in Fengheld…

[LadyAth]

Magi will start as pre-gens, but will then have flexibility to pursue progression in their house as well as mysteries. They can develop arts, skills and learn formulaic spells. I do have to constrain spontaneous magic since that can just get crazy to try and code. So that will use a much more basic system based on scores in arts rather than an actual spell.

[LadyAth]

A big challenge with a game like this is to keep it from becoming a repetitive slog through seasons. Yes, there are random events and activities that become available or not as things change. Considering a covenant can exist for a long time, that can be a lot of seasons to just be ‘clicking through’ - which is what I do not want. The overall ‘win’ conditions do at least set a goal to work towards, but what would make you as a player stay interested instead of just ploughing through to finish a saga run?

Currently my feature list includes:
Covenant Management
Manage a medieval Hermetic covenant across decades of play.
Balance food, finances, vis, morale, loyalty, security, and infrastructure.
Grow from a small Spring covenant into a legendary power.

Seasonal Planning
Assign Magi, Companions, and Grogs to seasonal activities.
Research, adventure, negotiate, build, explore, train, and govern.
Multi-season projects and long-term development.

Two Play Modes
RAW Ars Magica Mode with laboratories, Twilight, vis management, Tribunal obligations, and Aegis maintenance.
Story Mode focused on narrative progression and lighter management requirements.

Dynamic Story System
Narrative events, crises, opportunities, and supernatural encounters.
Story leads, follow-up events, and long-term consequences.

Tribunal Politics
Interact with canon Ars Magica Tribunals and covenants.
Build alliances, create rivalries, and influence Tribunal affairs.
Gather intelligence and navigate Hermetic politics.

Covenant Ambitions
Choose a long-term goal:
Tribunal Dominance
Hermetic Renaissance
Legendary Autumn Covenant
Regional Magical Hegemony
Faerie Friend
Sanctuary of Wonders

Character Progression
Manage Magi, Companions, and Grogs.
Character abilities, personalities, reputations, aging, and warping.
House progression for all twelve Hermetic Houses.

Magic & Research
Study books and magical texts.
Invent spells and conduct magical research.
Create enchanted items.
Pursue Mystery Cult initiations and magical breakthroughs.

Living Covenant World
Recruit new members.
Build spy networks.
Undertake pilgrimages.
Manage relationships with other covenants in the tribunal.

But this could all still feel ‘grindy’. I’d appreciate some ideas and thoughts - what would /you/ enjoy?

[Jank (Medusa)]

That sounds very cool. If you want some help/ideas for stories, events etc feel free to poke me, I'd be happy to help.

[OakRover (Joseph L Brown)]

@LadyAth

Two Play Modes
RAW Ars Magica Mode with laboratories, Twilight, vis management, Tribunal obligations, and Aegis maintenance.
Story Mode focused on narrative progression and lighter management requirements.

Something I think would help keep me interested is using 'story mode' to drive the higher-level (seasonal / annual / Tribunal) mode. For example, if a 'Local Faerie Lord' story seed has six possible (from Disastrous to Incredibly Favorable) outcomes (ie, ways they affect the Covenant and other story seeds) , then playing through on Story Mode (within a season) can affect or determine the outcome. When playing at higher level, those same story seeds and outcomes are available -- but without direct player input the result is from a RNG, modifiers from other stories, the game 'difficulty' settings, what activities the Covenant is engaged in, and who (if anyone) is (maybe randomly) assigned to the various Covenant activities.

The high level play still generates the same story as someone playing on story mode -- but players know that they can switch to 'story mode' and try for specific results, because the same mechanisms and outcomes are available in both.

[WilliamEx]

@LadyAth

But this could all still feel ‘grindy’. I’d appreciate some ideas and thoughts - what would /you/ enjoy?

This is impressive already. Every idea I’m thinking of you have it listed. I guess it will be more on the delivery side where you can keep it “Stressful”. Maybe some sort of market to Buy/Sell stuff. Health of the Order and sub cults with varying levels of details depending on initiation levels and/or spy network and/or scrying. Don’t forget Talismans & Familiars. You could embed a sub story of the Familiar cats lol.

XCom has this “Alien attention” trigger and when you do something you gain attention up until the final sanction is triggered and then you have limited time to avoid complete world invasion

Vampire The Mascarade has blood you need and attention you need to keep low or face additional difficulty

Edit1: Almost forgot. Combat & Wizards Wars & Certamen & Illegal actions

W

[ExarKun]

In my troupe, I think we ALL would love such a game.

[DrMindermast]

You mentioned XCom, that reminded me about how one of the great ways that game stays tense is that there are always more problems happening than you can actually respond to, and each one that you neglect has consequences that might hurt you in the long run. So, in a similar vein, story events in this game should not only have consequences for how well (or poorly) you dealt with them, but should also have an option to ignore them and that itself has consequences - maybe a rival covenant claims the vis source that you didn’t explore, maybe there are suddenly demons running loose because you chose to ignore the first clues that would have led you to discover that cult, etc. Though of course sometimes ignoring a situation might be the better move, like a conflict between the duke and the bishop where you might be interested in weighing in but then you risk breaking Hermetic law.

---

And a separate idea, coming back to @LadyAth‘s question about being less grindy… maybe make an option to skip a few seasons at a time, provided that no random events interrupt you? If the concern is that season after season of clicking on what to do in the lab and where to spend my xp is going to get tedious, then maybe a viable solution is to set an “autopilot” directive (“increase Ignem,” “enchant this item that’s going to take several seasons,” etc) and then you can automatically skip ahead some length of time, like maybe a year. But you could still get pulled out of that sooner if a random event pops up, or the next event in a chain that’s already been triggered.

[OakRover (Joseph L Brown)]

@DrMindermast

And a separate idea, coming back to @LadyAth‘s question about being less grindy… maybe make an option to skip a few seasons at a time, provided that no random events interrupt you? If the concern is that season after season of clicking on what to do in the lab and where to spend my xp is going to get tedious, then maybe a viable solution is to set an “autopilot” directive (“increase Ignem,” “enchant this item that’s going to take several seasons,” etc) and then you can automatically skip ahead some length of time, like maybe a year. But you could still get pulled out of that sooner if a random event pops up, or the next event in a chain that’s already been triggered.

Maybe just let the player queue up character activities; if all the characters have stuff in the queue, then the season can be automatically quick-resolved. If one or more characters have nothing queued up, then prompt the player for 'What does this character do?' -- and maybe default to 'Work in the workshop to meet annual obligations' or 'Drink & Relax to recover Confidence' or something basic like that.

I like the idea of having limited actions available, and more story-lines than actions -- but ignoring a potential story should not be catastrophic, After all, some stories must be neglected simply by the way the game is designed; and that should not cause an auto-lose for the player.

[DrMindermast]

Oh yeah, definitely not auto-loss. But possibly interesting complications.