A rapid fire introduction to the Ars Magica Roleplaying Game by Atlas Games. -- MUSIC CREDITS -- Tavern Song by Killian McCalla linktr.ee/smalltimecapone
We've had an Ars Magica game going as our main game for over three years, playing about one session a week, taking breaks for summers and christmas. We've covered 15 in-game years so far, and we're having a blast. We're taking turns being the storyteller, so every player in our group has their own mage and laboratory. It's probably the game with the greatest longevity our group has ever played.
That's great, love to see people actually playing. Lots of games look appealing on paper then are hard to execute in practice. A.M. has stuck with our group because of how well it actually worked. I wish more people would get their feet wet with it.
I got a group of gamers who weren't particularly hardcore RPGers at the time to play it, and it remains one of their favorites. It was one of our most memorable campaigns. I won't say it's a lightweight game, but it's not complex just for the sake of being complex. The extra crunch serves a purpose and you get a lot out of it. Show them this ^. Also we're going to stream & post a brand new Ars Magica campaign on the channel in a few months. Maybe they can pop in and see it's fun and original and not actually that daunting.
"Beckon the Lavendar Milkmaker" -- What a delightful spell xD. I never played Ars Magica, but I read the main rule book cover to cover when I was a kid!
I say it all the time, but the six plus months I played this game in the mid/late 90s is still some of the best gaming I've ever done. I don't generally have nostalgia for the 90s...but I do for that specific bit.
This reminds of the honestly magic mechanically inferior but related game mage the accession where we used scrying and space manipulation to go like 5 sessions without leaving are base
The 1e Ars Magicka heavily influenced 1e Mage: the Ascension, so it makes sense it'd click :D Edit: I just reread your comment and it seems you might know this. If so, ignore me. I'll stop posting while eating now lol.
I think I still have my 1st edition somewhere. This was a fun mechanic and system. I hope more people realize the richness of collaborative story this game produces.
Last time I played we were mostly a covenant of veterinarians and livestock dealers. The things you can do to a realistic medieval culture with Animal and a good mix of techniques is silly. :)
I only just recently found Ars Magica, and I'm getting a group together to play it. I'm having so much fun already just through character creation and the game setup, reading the extra rulebooks that help out for the part of the world we're going to play in. We've added Hedge Magic, and one player who didn't want to deal with the whole magic system complexity is playing a Folk Witch. We're also adding in the Covenents supplement to have detailed labs, the Hibernan tribunal book since we're in ireland, and the realms of power faerie so that I have stuff to pull on for all the fey magic that'll be happening in the game. I'm so excited for the game.
"Chump who buys all the books" oof got me there! 🤣 Bundle of Holding has Ars 5 and a TON of expansions for bundles this month (5x bundles total!) I wanted to see if it's worth picking up so thanks for the vid! :D
Hilarious! Thanks for coming back to this wonderful system. I remember possessing a French version of the core book, and it had wonderful artwork. I am really sad I gave it away. Hoping for some Ars Magica revival.
The non-English versions of 5th edition all seem to have incredible artwork, which makes me so jealous because the original is really quite bad in that respect (except for the cover and some legacy art).
Thanks a lot for this vid. There is so few material about this great game. Lot of said about this wonderful magic system I want to contribute a different aspect of Ars Magica very few people have in mind when talking about it. Ars Magica 5th Ed has one of the very best combat and wound systems I ever came across. It is fast simple and pretty elegant to cover it up. So much fun and thrill even to play a dungeon crawl with Ars Magica.
More Ars Magica content on CZcams, amazing! Do you have any plans to make more? ArM discussion online tends to focus on mechanical details (and to be fair, spell design in 5e can be a really fun minigame in itself), but I would love to see more people talking about the stories that emerge from this game - the mechanics are not great because they're crunchy, but because they do such a good job supporting players in entering the mindset of a scholarly wizard in a historical fantasy setting.
I can vouch this game produces great emergent stories. The character details, open-ended magic system, option to play low-investment characters you can take risks with, and covenant rules all feed into it. You end up with a critical mass of details that make it hard to run out of angles to explore.
@@thewanderersguild Absolutely agree about Grogs - though I get ludicroisly attached to them partly *because* they're so disposable. There's a sense in which their fragility really makes you appreciate their time on the stage!
@@WombatProphecyI ran a "grogs only" session we still refer to as GrogsQuest years later, and it was a legendary one. Started with a furniture sale, ended with a town block in flames.
... and to your first question, yes. A live campaign, in fact. Not enough demos of this game in action out there... Probably around the holidays this year, after we run some Blades in the Dark.
This was a really well done rundown. I got a pretty decent idea of this system. Its a real talent to be able to do this kind of thing, and communicate relivent information in an understandable way, kudos!
oh man! can you make more of these for ars magica?!! I'm about to play for the first time and this little video was so helpful fr, I'd be interested in a lil run down of the houses, more history and any other cool stuff you can make a quick vid on? great vid !
Ah, Ars Magica. The game that sent me on my quest to make my own TTRPG that evokes many of the same feelings and has just a much flexibility (if not more) while also being way more streamlined. It has been a year since I began, and it will likely be a year hence before I am done. That being said, if anyone reads this do me a favor: reply with what emotions Ars Magica evokes(d) in you that you most enjoyed.
You mention the maaaany supplements, and while I'm the kind of insane person who owns about half the Ars Magica books produced for 5th edition, I reckon the best option for a new storyguide is to stick to core, and add one of the setting books (my own favourites being Guardians of the Forest, more or less covering modern Germany, and The Sundered Eagle, covering the area around Greece and Constantinople) and one of the adventure books (Tales of Mythic Europe, Thrice Told Tales, and Calebais: The Broken Covenant, are probably the most accessible). If you want more general setting information, the 5th edition Houses of Hermes books are great but expensive, so my personal recommendation is for new storyguides to get the 2nd edition Order of Hermes (available in pdf, and second hand if you can find it). It's much cheaper and covers not only all the Houses but also the Tribunals, and what life is like within the Order. Some of it doesn't fit the 5th edition rules/setting (mostly the spells and some setting elements) but it's easily the best value for money and most of it still applies.
Good breakdown, thanks. I definitely think there's a hierarchy like Core > Essentials > Situational > Niche to the supplements for this game. Nobody needs to go shell out for the entire line to enjoy it, or even close. I've usually cracked into the Houses books only to deep-dive on the ones my players actually pick to play. And stuff like the Realms ones are great to skim when you get writers block or want some cool themes/mechanics to toy around with. And so on.
@@thewanderersguild I use the Realms books similarly - I've also stolen the odd stat block, especially from RoP: Magic. I find all the House books fascinating to read but mostly use them for setting detail rather than the new mechanics (I run a "low crunch" game by Ars Magica standards)
Yes best to start with only the core rulebook. Best advice beside the regional descriptions of mythic Europe are the Realms of Power supplements as the supernatural Realms are basic to Mythic Europe and are such a great supply for stories especially in the Realm of Fearies, Infernal and Magic. Really worth IMO
@@dirkkosel5896 I can see your reasoning, and the RoP books make good "bestiary" supplements (well, except maybe RoP: Divine). However, they are also very crunchy, so that a new Storyguide might feel pushed to absorb a whole new set of rules for designing and running magic, faerie, divine, or infernal beings. Personally I would say start with the adventure hook books, because often they can lead you to the other books you will find useful - e.g. you really enjoy the stuff about Faeries in Tales of Mythic Europe, and go buy the Faeries book. That seems, in fact, part of the intention with the adventure books.
I'm kind of fascinated by the way Ars Magica went from a much more rules-light, story focused game in 2nd edition to a very crunchy game in 5th. To the point that I'm considering going back to 2nd ed when starting a new saga, as it feels much more beginner-friendly (though by no means as simple as, say, PBTA games). All of the core stuff that makes Ars great was there from the beginning, and while I thing the 5e mechanics and setting supplements are objectively superior, they are awfully dense with a steep learning curve.
(I say "from the beginning" but I guess it's more accurate to say "from 2nd edition" because the Order of Hermes didn't exist in 1e. The again, did anyone even play 1e? I've never met someone who did, including some people who've written for the line...)
I started with 5e, but I didn't feel too overwhelmed because I just did what you said in your other comment: Start with nothing but the core book, then branch out slowly once you master it. Acquire new supplements 1-by-1 as they pique your interest, or as your story requires. Ex. If you hinted at some deep dark terrible infernal place, and the players show interest in exploring it, go pick up the Realms: Infernal book. @@WombatProphecy
@@thewanderersguild Very fair - I do think earlier editions did a better job walking new players through the systems, while 5th edition feels like the perfected version of the mechanics, for people who already play the game.
2nd edition is best for initiation games, discovering the main concepts of either the setting or the rules. Also, a touch of magic and poetry went lost when the 4th and 5th edition brought all their mechanical precision of 'magnitude of spells'. Oh, the irony.
I think you are wrong about this. In 3rd and 4th Edition the system became more and more crunchy with its climax in 4th Edition. 5th Edition is perfectly streamlined and back to its roots of 2nd Edition...... but far better. And especially the skill, combat and wound system is so much easier and faster and elegant in 5th Edition. Same for magic system. If you compare the Core Rules of 5th and 2nd Edition you will see, they are almost the same volume. The 5th Core Book is slightly bigger because of Hardcover (there is a SC newly printed now) an because it includes more material about Covenants and the Order of Hermes what wasn't included in the 2nd Edition Core Rulebook.
Just found your channel (from Forbidden Lands sub), and seeing this, are you planning on running at all? We dont get much in the way of ArM on youtube???
The French edition being comparatively more recently produced is blessed with imo better arts. It still doesn't set the tone of the game at all, but at least it's not actively trying to ruin your experience with how ugly it is.
It has been brought to my attention I misspelled the name of my cow incantation. I'm leaving it in because I'm uh... creative.
We've had an Ars Magica game going as our main game for over three years, playing about one session a week, taking breaks for summers and christmas. We've covered 15 in-game years so far, and we're having a blast. We're taking turns being the storyteller, so every player in our group has their own mage and laboratory. It's probably the game with the greatest longevity our group has ever played.
That's great, love to see people actually playing.
Lots of games look appealing on paper then are hard to execute in practice. A.M. has stuck with our group because of how well it actually worked. I wish more people would get their feet wet with it.
I've been playing RPGs for nearly 30 years, and I've never been able to convince a group to play Ars Magica, and it makes me sad.
I got a group of gamers who weren't particularly hardcore RPGers at the time to play it, and it remains one of their favorites. It was one of our most memorable campaigns.
I won't say it's a lightweight game, but it's not complex just for the sake of being complex. The extra crunch serves a purpose and you get a lot out of it.
Show them this ^. Also we're going to stream & post a brand new Ars Magica campaign on the channel in a few months. Maybe they can pop in and see it's fun and original and not actually that daunting.
@@thewanderersguildHave you ever played or come across the Legend Quest RPG? If so, what’re your thoughts on it? :0
@@SanguivoreNope!
Hope you enjoyed this exciting answer.
@@thewanderersguild LOL.
@@thewanderersguild Show them this... but don't let them watch 2:40 - 3:22 🤣
"Beckon the Lavendar Milkmaker" -- What a delightful spell xD. I never played Ars Magica, but I read the main rule book cover to cover when I was a kid!
That bit of poetry must have been divinely inspired.
Addendum: I now want to Beckon the Lavender Milkmaker
Edit* Lanvender
I loved this game concepts. It made me rethink everything I knew on magic systems.
3:55 this rhyme. Its amazing. Who do you think you are, Lin Manuel Miranda?
I do now.
I say it all the time, but the six plus months I played this game in the mid/late 90s is still some of the best gaming I've ever done. I don't generally have nostalgia for the 90s...but I do for that specific bit.
This reminds of the honestly magic mechanically inferior but related game mage the accession where we used scrying and space manipulation to go like 5 sessions without leaving are base
The 1e Ars Magicka heavily influenced 1e Mage: the Ascension, so it makes sense it'd click :D
Edit: I just reread your comment and it seems you might know this. If so, ignore me. I'll stop posting while eating now lol.
@jasonGamesMaster I am aware of the connection, but a more directe statement is good.
I think I still have my 1st edition somewhere. This was a fun mechanic and system. I hope more people realize the richness of collaborative story this game produces.
More Ars Magica videos would be great! Like a reading guide or stuff... Just... I love Ars Magica contest
Selling chairs is the only way to play
That's been my experience.
Last time I played we were mostly a covenant of veterinarians and livestock dealers. The things you can do to a realistic medieval culture with Animal and a good mix of techniques is silly. :)
I'm waiting for the hours long version that deep dives into content.
As a computer science student, Vim is definitely magic
Thank you so much for introducing people to Ars Magica! To this date, I've been unsuccessfully trying to find a group to play. I hope I do one day...
I only just recently found Ars Magica, and I'm getting a group together to play it.
I'm having so much fun already just through character creation and the game setup, reading the extra rulebooks that help out for the part of the world we're going to play in.
We've added Hedge Magic, and one player who didn't want to deal with the whole magic system complexity is playing a Folk Witch. We're also adding in the Covenents supplement to have detailed labs, the Hibernan tribunal book since we're in ireland, and the realms of power faerie so that I have stuff to pull on for all the fey magic that'll be happening in the game.
I'm so excited for the game.
We did the Hibernia setting for our first Ars Magica campaign! Had a lot of fun with it. And some fey-heavy plotlines.
Hello, I’d like to request a big ass 10 hour long video explaining further explaining this game. Thank you.
I'll see what I can conjure.
@@thewanderersguild Is a Creo Imaginem of at least 6th magnitude
"Chump who buys all the books" oof got me there! 🤣
Bundle of Holding has Ars 5 and a TON of expansions for bundles this month (5x bundles total!)
I wanted to see if it's worth picking up so thanks for the vid! :D
You know it’s a good video when the 6:19 I spent here equated to the entire rest of my day learning about this game. Thank you for the exposure!
Hilarious! Thanks for coming back to this wonderful system. I remember possessing a French version of the core book, and it had wonderful artwork. I am really sad I gave it away. Hoping for some Ars Magica revival.
The non-English versions of 5th edition all seem to have incredible artwork, which makes me so jealous because the original is really quite bad in that respect (except for the cover and some legacy art).
I got good news about that revival. Google the Definitive Edition thing they're doing this fall.
Probably my favorite fantssy ttrpg of all time.
Thanks a lot for this vid. There is so few material about this great game.
Lot of said about this wonderful magic system I want to contribute a different aspect of Ars Magica very few people have in mind when talking about it.
Ars Magica 5th Ed has one of the very best combat and wound systems I ever came across.
It is fast simple and pretty elegant to cover it up. So much fun and thrill even to play a dungeon crawl with Ars Magica.
More Ars Magica content on CZcams, amazing! Do you have any plans to make more?
ArM discussion online tends to focus on mechanical details (and to be fair, spell design in 5e can be a really fun minigame in itself), but I would love to see more people talking about the stories that emerge from this game - the mechanics are not great because they're crunchy, but because they do such a good job supporting players in entering the mindset of a scholarly wizard in a historical fantasy setting.
I can vouch this game produces great emergent stories. The character details, open-ended magic system, option to play low-investment characters you can take risks with, and covenant rules all feed into it. You end up with a critical mass of details that make it hard to run out of angles to explore.
@@thewanderersguild Absolutely agree about Grogs - though I get ludicroisly attached to them partly *because* they're so disposable. There's a sense in which their fragility really makes you appreciate their time on the stage!
@@WombatProphecyI ran a "grogs only" session we still refer to as GrogsQuest years later, and it was a legendary one. Started with a furniture sale, ended with a town block in flames.
... and to your first question, yes. A live campaign, in fact. Not enough demos of this game in action out there...
Probably around the holidays this year, after we run some Blades in the Dark.
I played it years ago, and it was a blast. It would be lovely to play it again.
This was a really well done rundown. I got a pretty decent idea of this system.
Its a real talent to be able to do this kind of thing, and communicate relivent information in an understandable way, kudos!
I have an earlier edition. Reading this and then reading Mage: the Acension by WoD about the Order of Hermes does make your metaplot head explode.
oh man! can you make more of these for ars magica?!! I'm about to play for the first time and this little video was so helpful fr, I'd be interested in a lil run down of the houses, more history and any other cool stuff you can make a quick vid on? great vid !
The one, the only, arse magic.
Excellent video! What an amazing system
Fuck it you won a subscriber this is great
Ah, Ars Magica. The game that sent me on my quest to make my own TTRPG that evokes many of the same feelings and has just a much flexibility (if not more) while also being way more streamlined.
It has been a year since I began, and it will likely be a year hence before I am done.
That being said, if anyone reads this do me a favor: reply with what emotions Ars Magica evokes(d) in you that you most enjoyed.
Thank you!
Just found your channel. Good stuff, new sub.
I haven't thought about this game in forever
Always wanted to try this game
I like the magic sistem.
You mention the maaaany supplements, and while I'm the kind of insane person who owns about half the Ars Magica books produced for 5th edition, I reckon the best option for a new storyguide is to stick to core, and add one of the setting books (my own favourites being Guardians of the Forest, more or less covering modern Germany, and The Sundered Eagle, covering the area around Greece and Constantinople) and one of the adventure books (Tales of Mythic Europe, Thrice Told Tales, and Calebais: The Broken Covenant, are probably the most accessible). If you want more general setting information, the 5th edition Houses of Hermes books are great but expensive, so my personal recommendation is for new storyguides to get the 2nd edition Order of Hermes (available in pdf, and second hand if you can find it). It's much cheaper and covers not only all the Houses but also the Tribunals, and what life is like within the Order. Some of it doesn't fit the 5th edition rules/setting (mostly the spells and some setting elements) but it's easily the best value for money and most of it still applies.
Good breakdown, thanks.
I definitely think there's a hierarchy like Core > Essentials > Situational > Niche to the supplements for this game. Nobody needs to go shell out for the entire line to enjoy it, or even close.
I've usually cracked into the Houses books only to deep-dive on the ones my players actually pick to play. And stuff like the Realms ones are great to skim when you get writers block or want some cool themes/mechanics to toy around with. And so on.
@@thewanderersguild I use the Realms books similarly - I've also stolen the odd stat block, especially from RoP: Magic. I find all the House books fascinating to read but mostly use them for setting detail rather than the new mechanics (I run a "low crunch" game by Ars Magica standards)
Yes best to start with only the core rulebook. Best advice beside the regional descriptions of mythic Europe are the Realms of Power supplements as the supernatural Realms are basic to Mythic Europe and are such a great supply for stories especially in the Realm of Fearies, Infernal and Magic. Really worth IMO
@@dirkkosel5896 I can see your reasoning, and the RoP books make good "bestiary" supplements (well, except maybe RoP: Divine). However, they are also very crunchy, so that a new Storyguide might feel pushed to absorb a whole new set of rules for designing and running magic, faerie, divine, or infernal beings. Personally I would say start with the adventure hook books, because often they can lead you to the other books you will find useful - e.g. you really enjoy the stuff about Faeries in Tales of Mythic Europe, and go buy the Faeries book. That seems, in fact, part of the intention with the adventure books.
I’m literally over here spending weeks making a system to find it’s pretty much already been done lmfao. This stuff is based off irl magic btw
I'm kind of fascinated by the way Ars Magica went from a much more rules-light, story focused game in 2nd edition to a very crunchy game in 5th. To the point that I'm considering going back to 2nd ed when starting a new saga, as it feels much more beginner-friendly (though by no means as simple as, say, PBTA games). All of the core stuff that makes Ars great was there from the beginning, and while I thing the 5e mechanics and setting supplements are objectively superior, they are awfully dense with a steep learning curve.
(I say "from the beginning" but I guess it's more accurate to say "from 2nd edition" because the Order of Hermes didn't exist in 1e. The again, did anyone even play 1e? I've never met someone who did, including some people who've written for the line...)
I started with 5e, but I didn't feel too overwhelmed because I just did what you said in your other comment: Start with nothing but the core book, then branch out slowly once you master it. Acquire new supplements 1-by-1 as they pique your interest, or as your story requires. Ex. If you hinted at some deep dark terrible infernal place, and the players show interest in exploring it, go pick up the Realms: Infernal book. @@WombatProphecy
@@thewanderersguild Very fair - I do think earlier editions did a better job walking new players through the systems, while 5th edition feels like the perfected version of the mechanics, for people who already play the game.
2nd edition is best for initiation games, discovering the main concepts of either the setting or the rules. Also, a touch of magic and poetry went lost when the 4th and 5th edition brought all their mechanical precision of 'magnitude of spells'. Oh, the irony.
I think you are wrong about this. In 3rd and 4th Edition the system became more and more crunchy with its climax in 4th Edition.
5th Edition is perfectly streamlined and back to its roots of 2nd Edition...... but far better. And especially the skill, combat and wound system is so much easier and faster and elegant in 5th Edition. Same for magic system. If you compare the Core Rules of 5th and 2nd Edition you will see, they are almost the same volume. The 5th Core Book is slightly bigger because of Hardcover (there is a SC newly printed now) an because it includes more material about Covenants and the Order of Hermes what wasn't included in the 2nd Edition Core Rulebook.
SUPER
Did you make that example just for the bit?
I think I am in love.
Believe it or not, I found your video through Minecraft mod
Ah, so that's the source of the minecraft mod!
Just found your channel (from Forbidden Lands sub), and seeing this, are you planning on running at all? We dont get much in the way of ArM on youtube???
Yes we are. Stay tuned for announcements. It'll probably be toward the end of this year.
@@thewanderersguild awesome!
The Minecraft Mod based on this game is also really neat
The French edition being comparatively more recently produced is blessed with imo better arts. It still doesn't set the tone of the game at all, but at least it's not actively trying to ruin your experience with how ugly it is.
Im a huge fan of ars magicas magic system but not a massive fan of other parts of it...
It's "magi" as in "the three magi" it's from the bible