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Ars Magica is the story of magic and wizards in Mythic Europe. A Europe that matches our own at the beginning of the 13th century with one "minor" difference. The common beliefs and supersitions about faeries, wizards, dragons and magic are real.

Style. The only reason I didn't give it a perfect rating was for the reason that I thought the text was overly large and there was a lot of white space in my mind. However, this is matched with 3 very useful indexes and and easily to understand rules and descriptions. I also liked the direction they took by stating up front that Mages are the star characters and that don't expect to see any of the other character types to be in the limelight when a Mage is around. The use of latin for spell names and the insistence by the book to use latin names when using spells is a very nice touch. It lends a somewhat authentic air to AM.

Rules. Ars Magica is different from your standard RPG in character creation. In AM, a player creates one Mage, one Companion and helps create a pool of "grogs" with the other players, this then forms a covenant. Mages are individuals in Mythic Europe that can cast magic. They are not part of the "normal" social order, neither below it or above it but standing aside with it. Companions are the nobility of the social order and the ones who usually act as a go-between with the Mages and the rest of the mundane world. Grogs are the scut workers. The heavy lifters and the strong arms of any covenant.

Tasks are rated in 3 categories. Simple (little likelihood of spectacular success or failure,a 0 counts as a 10 on a die roll), Quality (no chance of spectacular failure but a chance of extraordinary success,a 1 means roll again doubling the next number, if a second 1 comes up, roll again quadrupling the next number and so on if a 1 keep appearing) and Stress (chance of there being a spectacular success or a disastrous mistake, roll a botch die if your original roll turned up a 0, if the botch roll is a 0 as well, you rolled a disastrous failure). GM determines the difficulty of the task with higher numbers indicating a more difficult task. Players roll a d10 adding their appropriate characteristic (ranging from -4 to 4) plus the relevant ability.

Character creation follows the common method in other RPGs of deciding stats in 8 attributes (Int, Perception, Str, Stamina, Presence, Communication, Dex, Quickness) and followed by a selection of flaws and benefits. Mages must select an appropriate House (describes your magical lineage) with Mages, Companions and Grogs being given a selection of templates to choose from for profession.

Since Mages are the most important people in Ars Magica, the book mostly details their creation and the use of Magic. Frankly, this rocks. I'm not sure how easy it would be to convert the system to another system (It seems to work for AD&D pretty easily) but I strongly recommend picking up this book just for the magic section. It combines the best parts of magic systems found in Mage:The Ascension and AD&D. It is well thought yet retains a sense of "magic". The creation of magic items is also given the same treatment.

Combat with hand to hand weapons is relatively simple considered to the rules on magic but given that mages are forbidden to figt other mages unless a duel is formally announced, this is to be expected.

The Storyguide. This is again a masterful innovation. The Troupe style of roleplaying where one player sets the agenda works beautifully for AM (not sure how it would work for other systems) as usually there will be one mage (maybe 2) in an adventure with the rest of the players playing their Companions and everybody taking the part of a Grog when needed.

The setting. AM gives you a pretty good background on the ley of Europe and the various realms. Realms are various other powers beside magic. Magic behaves differently in these different Realms. There is the Faerie, Mundane, Divine, Infernal. As one can guess, they talk about magic and what it can and can not do while in these areas of power controlled by faeries, the church and demons.

All in all, one can not go wrong with Ars Magica. Frankly, this is one of the best RPGs I have ever seen.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Ars Magica
Author: *Jeff Tidball, John Nephew et al, Original Ars Magica Design: Jonathan Tweet & Mark ReinHagen Category: game Company/Publisher: Atlas Games Line: Ars Magica Cost: 29.95 Page count: 272 ISBN: 1-887801-55-3 SKU: AG0204 Playtest Review by Allister Huggins** on 12/21/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Historical	Ars Magica is the story of magic and wizards in Mythic Europe. A Europe that matches our own at the beginning of the 13th century with one "minor" difference. The common beliefs and supersitions about faeries, wizards, dragons and magic are real. Style. The only reason I didn't give it a perfect rating was for the reason that I thought the text was overly large and there was a lot of white space in my mind. However, this is matched with 3 very useful indexes and and easily to understand rules and descriptions. I also liked the direction they took by stating up front that Mages are the star characters and that don't expect to see any of the other character types to be in the limelight when a Mage is around. The use of latin for spell names and the insistence by the book to use latin names when using spells is a very nice touch. It lends a somewhat authentic air to AM. Rules. Ars Magica is different from your standard RPG in character creation. In AM, a player creates one Mage, one Companion and helps create a pool of "grogs" with the other players, this then forms a covenant. Mages are individuals in Mythic Europe that can cast magic. They are not part of the "normal" social order, neither below it or above it but standing aside with it. Companions are the nobility of the social order and the ones who usually act as a go-between with the Mages and the rest of the mundane world. Grogs are the scut workers. The heavy lifters and the strong arms of any covenant. Tasks are rated in 3 categories. Simple (little likelihood of spectacular success or failure,a 0 counts as a 10 on a die roll), Quality (no chance of spectacular failure but a chance of extraordinary success,a 1 means roll again doubling the next number, if a second 1 comes up, roll again quadrupling the next number and so on if a 1 keep appearing) and Stress (chance of there being a spectacular success or a disastrous mistake, roll a botch die if your original roll turned up a 0, if the botch roll is a 0 as well, you rolled a disastrous failure). GM determines the difficulty of the task with higher numbers indicating a more difficult task. Players roll a d10 adding their appropriate characteristic (ranging from -4 to 4) plus the relevant ability. Character creation follows the common method in other RPGs of deciding stats in 8 attributes (Int, Perception, Str, Stamina, Presence, Communication, Dex, Quickness) and followed by a selection of flaws and benefits. Mages must select an appropriate House (describes your magical lineage) with Mages, Companions and Grogs being given a selection of templates to choose from for profession. Since Mages are the most important people in Ars Magica, the book mostly details their creation and the use of Magic. Frankly, this rocks. I'm not sure how easy it would be to convert the system to another system (It seems to work for AD&D pretty easily) but I strongly recommend picking up this book just for the magic section. It combines the best parts of magic systems found in Mage:The Ascension and AD&D. It is well thought yet retains a sense of "magic". The creation of magic items is also given the same treatment. Combat with hand to hand weapons is relatively simple considered to the rules on magic but given that mages are forbidden to figt other mages unless a duel is formally announced, this is to be expected. The Storyguide. This is again a masterful innovation. The Troupe style of roleplaying where one player sets the agenda works beautifully for AM (not sure how it would work for other systems) as usually there will be one mage (maybe 2) in an adventure with the rest of the players playing their Companions and everybody taking the part of a Grog when needed. The setting. AM gives you a pretty good background on the ley of Europe and the various realms. Realms are various other powers beside magic. Magic behaves differently in these different Realms. There is the Faerie, Mundane, Divine, Infernal. As one can guess, they talk about magic and what it can and can not do while in these areas of power controlled by faeries, the church and demons. All in all, one can not go wrong with Ars Magica. Frankly, this is one of the best RPGs I have ever seen. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)