What does /tg/ think of Ars Magica ?

>>53501714
Is it true that you play as a shitload of guys at the same time or I am being confused by another game with a similar name?

>>53501714
It's really hard to predict in advance what you need to cast a spell, which makes character creation difficult. There's a lot of grey areas between different magic schools and you pretty much have to hash out with your GM where one stops and another starts, and if they have overlap, and how much, and etc. etc. So, that's a hassle. I don't know how you'd fix it without just providing a list of spells like D&D, which wouldn't really fit the tone of the game at all, but whether or not I have any idea how to solve it, it is still a problem.

I'm also not a fan of dumping this much magic into an otherwise historical setting, but that's personal taste.

Last I checked it never really outgrew the whole 80s design style where everything is kind of a hacked together mess and no effort has been made to streamline systems at all.

Concept is cool enough to make it worth checking out in spite of its issues, though.

>>53501911
Sure, but that magic is bound by a proto-WoD masquerade. If House Guernicus finds out you've been charming the locals for tail or shaking down a local church for its vis, you are hosed.

>>53501825
Ars is one of the earliest "troupe" games, yes. Each player will have a Mage, a Companion or two, and a gaggle of Grogs available, and MAY direct any or all of them over the course of a session, but will rarely be worrying about more than one or two at any given moment. If the current situation is your time to Grog, knowing you have a bunch of redshirts and high-function morons to handle makes it simpler.

Unless you run an all-Grog session for variety. That shit's hilarious.

>>53501714
Cool concept, execution doesn't carry through.

>>53501714

Grad Student: The Dissertating, medieval edition. Actually, it's more fun than that, but there's some truth to it.

Playing in a game right now set in the Theban Tribunal, in Thrace. That's been a lot of fun. Playing a Jerbiton with Gentle Gift and I'm basically the face. We're trying to get rid of some local iron deposits as a favor to a nearby faerie boss.

>>53501911
How doe these different schools even work, We only ever dealt with the default Hernetic system so I am genuinely interested

>>53502807

I think he's just talking about the arts and forms; that is to say, where does Muto start and Rego end?

I'm personally having an issue with (5e) the determining what level a spell is going to be. It's clearly some things I'm supposed to be adding together, but hell if I can figure out what they are, and how the interplay of Level and Magnitude affects them. Like, I got a lot of Muto, Corpus, and Herbam, and want to figure out how to stoneskin myself at some point, but it turns out that's fuckin' hard to do.

>>53503227

Muto, Corpus and Terram, not Herbam. Derp.

On that note, what do you guys think are the best forms and arts? Will my group regret blowing off Aquam?

>>53504699
If they are anywhere near the coast, or have to interact with river spirits or, you know, a well, then yes.

The Ref can make them regret any art choice.

>>53505115

We're way the fuck up in the mountains in northern Greece, by the modern Bulgarian border. Thessaloniki and the coast aren't that far, though, and I think there's a river in Serras. It seems to be earth stuff that keeps coming up for now. Like, we just cut a deal with some kallikantzaroi for Terram vis, and we've got a Muto source at our crib that's a butterfly garden full of cocoons and such.