Ars Magica ("The Art of Magic") is the award-winning roleplaying game by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen that focuses on wizards who are as powerful as those we know from legend and literature; in the land of Mythic Europe, those legends are real. The rules encourage players to develop their characters over long periods of time, and make the covenant -- the home base of the characters -- central to the stories. Troupe-style roleplaying allows players to take on the roles of multiple characters, so that the players have equal access to power even though the characters do not.
This new edition is rewritten to improve the rules for existing players, and to be more attractive and accessible to new audiences. It features all-new graphic design, two-colour interior printing, hardcover binding, and a special introductory price.
This book contains descriptions of nine forms of ancient magic, and rules for integrating their secrets into Hermetic theory.
From the frozen north to the westernmost edge of the world, from humankind's earliest homes to grand temples of the classical world, the quest can lead your characters anywhere in Mythic Europe, and even beyond. How far will they go for knowledge?
The magi of the Order of Hermes are not the only scholars and artists in Mythic Europe. In the Greek and Muslim lands, traditions of learning stretch back unbroken over centuries, while scholarship has emerged from long centuries of neglect in the Latin West with great vigor. From parish schools to the new universities, learning and creativity are everywhere.
Nor is this learning entirely theoretical. Doctors can cure many illnesses, and preserve the health of their charges. Natural philosophers can manipulate substances in a way that appears magical to the ill-informed, and gain some hints as to the future from the positions of the stars. The natural laws of Mythic Europe are very different from those of our world, and many strange things can be achieved by those who understand their secrets. Artists create the great cathedrals, but also more humble paintings, songs, and sculptures. The greatest of them draw the attention of the supernatural, and become part of the legends of the land.
Art & Academe provides background on the academic life of Mythic Europe, and rules for activities reaching from the astrology and alchemy of the natural philosopher to the regimens and treatments of the medic, from university disputations to the creation of masterpieces of art. Art & Academe takes your saga to the very limits of medieval scientific knowledge.
Ars Magica Scenario
No one knows how or why such a powerful and well-defended group of wizards could possibly fall. The truth behind the tragedy only comes to light when you and your friends uncover this mystery. From faerie-inhabited forests to the longabandoned ruins of a wizardly palace to the inner chambers of a secretive convent, The Broken Covenant of Calebais goes to the roots of roleplaying -- to the early days of fantasy stories -- when realism, romance, mystery, and magic were foremost in mind.
In the thirteenth century towns and cities are growing all over Mythic Europe. Covenants that were once in remote forests find themselves within sight of city walls, and regions that were once cut off from the world are now visited by traders from distant parts. For many covenants, cities are a great opportunity; craftsmen and merchants can provide anything that the covenant needs, and buy its surplus. Some covenants are even established within towns, or as small towns.
This supplement for Ars Magica Fifth Edition provides background on the facts of life in the towns of medieval Europe, and rules for craftsmen and traders. Clever magi could become the greatest merchant princes of Europe, or gain renown as suppliers of the most valuable tapestries. Less clever magi could find themselves manipulated by existing merchant princes, or tricked into buying shoddy goods. With an emphasis on stories rather than accountancy, this book opens a new stage for your Ars Magica saga.
The covenant is the home of magi and the heart of an Ars Magica saga. Much more than just a base camp, its prosperity determines the power and safety of the characters who live there, and the challenges faced by a covenant shape the whole saga. The Covenants sourcebook includes:
* New Boons and Hooks, for a wide range of saga styles
* Guidance on governance and covenfolk
* Story-based rules for determining the covenant's wealth
* Rules for developing libraries and enchanting books
* Rules for personalizing and improving a magus's laboratory.
Everything you need to bring your covenant to life is here!
The covenant of Fanum has broken the Code of Hermes by interfering with the mundane population of Germany. Their interference has resulted in the near-destruction of another covenant, and now the members of Fanum have been summoned before the Rhine tribunal to face Hermetic justice. You are that tribunal. Fallen Fane is a live-action Ars Magica scenario for 12 to 24 players. It's equally suitable for Ars Magica veterans and those who have never played the game before, and can be run in an afternoon.
Guardians of the Forests reveals the many unique traditions of the First Tribunal, its archaic politics and lost glories, its reverence for its founders and its woodlands, the workings of the Great Library of Durenmar, and the secrets of those who pursue obscure wilderness paths in search of the primal power of the Forest. The richness of the German landscape is fully explored, replete with numerous story and saga ideas. The region of the Rhine Gorge receives a special focus -- its lost covenants, vis sources, sites of legend, towns, castles, inhabitants, and a mysterious curse are all detailed -- providing a perfect location to jump-start an Ars Magica 5th Edition saga.
There are those within the Order of Hermes who transmit secrets of magic incomprehensible to outsiders. Pre-eminent among them are the four Mystery Cult Houses, gatherings of magi Initiated into the same Mysteries. This book details the Mystery Cults, including full details of their Inner Mysteries.
Within the Order of Hermes, four Houses are drawn together by a common cause. These are the Societates.
House Flambeau celebrates fighting for a cause; the justice of the cause and the honor of the fighter are equally important. House Jerbiton seeks beauty in life: creating it, preserving it, and living it. House Tytalus thrives on combat: between nature and law in the soul of the magus, and with the world around him. Finally, House Ex Miscellanea gathers many diverse traditions, from healers tracing their lineage to ancient Greece, to necromancers with barely a century of history.
This book details the Societates, providing vital rules and background for your saga.
The True Lineages are the backbone of the Order of Hermes. In these four Hermetic Houses, each magus was taught by a magus of the House, and that master-apprentice relationship goes back to the founders. This sourcebook details the four True Lineages, including rules for original research, unique forms of magic, and new Virtues and Flaws.
The Ars Magica Sourcebook of the Normandy Tribunal
In much of Mythic Europe, magi build covenants in remote wildernesses to avoid contact with mundanes. In northern France - the Normandy Tribunal - this is all but impossible. The wildernesses have been tamed and plowed under, the Church plants monasteries in the wastes, noble lords build castles to enforce their rule, and great cities grow up where once was nothing but fen. The magi of the Order of Hermes have adapted to living closely with mundane society in Normandy, even distributing their limited magical resources by way of contests modeled on the chivalric tournaments of the nobility.
But while magic is under pressure in Normandy, it is far from dead. Ancient megaliths stud the landscape, faeries control many forests, and caves and burial mounds hide relics of the past. Demons and monsters imprisoned in ages past by saints and sorcerers stir uneasily in their confinement, and magi wield potent and spectacular magic throughout the land.
The Lion and the Lily provides full details for the Normandy Tribunal, where magi must balance the demands of the nobility, cities, Church, and Tribunal.
There are Mystery Cults beyond the four Houses within the Order of Hermes. They keep their secrets from other magi, revealing their knowledge one piece at a time to those who undergo gruelling initiations. This book reveals all, from alchemists seeking immortality to theurgists trying to become gods. Now your magus can also walk the path of The Mysteries.
The Divine Realm is not completely beyond human comprehension, and this book explains the power of God in Mythic Europe. From descriptions of each of the three great Divine religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, to rules for Divinely empowered wonder workers and angels, this book contains everything needed to include the Divine in your Ars Magica saga.
Demons work to corrupt all the people of Mythic Europe. They take on attractive forms, but ultimately they seek to drag all of humanity down into damnation with them. No matter the nation, the creed, or the race, they are the true enemy. The thirteen chapters of this book cover all of the manifestations of the forces of the Evil One.
The Ars Magica 4th Edition game system template provides whole-character and covenant management, from creation, to study and training, to spell research and enchanting magical devices. Game system rules and adjustments are built in with thousands of data items ready to use from fourteen Ars Magica source books. All data is fully customizable, with character sheet, spell book, encounter group, HTML and RTF stat block outputs.
Some of the Features Include:
Includes data from Ars Magica, 4th Edition, The Wizard's Grimoire, Faeries, Hedge Magic, The Dragon and the Bear, Ordo Nobilis, Ultima Thule, Kabbalah, A Medieval Tapestry, The Mythic Seas, The Mysteries, Blood and Sand, A Mediaeval Bestiary, The Black Monks of Glastonbury and Land of Fire and Ice.
Create covenants--Metacreator does all the bookkeeping
Create creatures such as dragons--ability data from the bestiaries are included.
Print grimoires with the full text of spell descriptions--no more digging through books for spell details.
Spring 2001 Issue; Available whilst stocks last
