Review: Order of Hermes
Written by Johnathan Tweet in 1990, and developed by Mark ReinSPLAT!Hagen, Order of Hermes is the orgasmically amazing book on the organisation of the same name. For the Ars Magica game line, OoH is, to my knowledge, a second edition book, by Lion Rampant, before any of the White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast or Atlas Games malarkey. To sum up the book: it is quite simply a sourcebook dealing with every aspect of the Order, from apprenticeship, the Gift, dealings with faeries, the individual houses, clothes, covenants, tribunals, history, the Díedne, new spells and virtues, and just about everything you will need to run an Ars Magica game that concentrates heavily on the Order of Hermes.
Overview: Visual
All of the internal art in this book is done by Josh Timbrook, with a few pieces by Eric Hotz and someone I couldn’t identify (the cover is by Richard Thomas). Now, I have a major grudge against recent Ars Magica products with relation to artwork─ the standard quite simply has been atrocious, from Wizards to Atlas. All I can say is: ‘thank god for Lion Rampant.’ Unless you don’t like Josh Timbrook, 99% of the pictures in this book are good to very good. The variety ranges from portraits to epic scenes of certámen duels and much more. Richard Thomas’ House symbols are also top quality, with the single exception of the House Mercere symbol, which is missing the triangle on the cap-brim.
On the general visual side of things, I can only comment on my copy, which is second hand and possibly twelve years old. The paper is the type of paper that old DnD modules were printed on, and the fonts and internal layout are simple and concise. It certainly isn’t up to today’s standards of presentation-- it is minimalist, with the emphasis on the content, with Josh Timbrook occasionally getting a few pics in, and the amazing House symbols towards the end. You can certainly see the age of the book, just in its appearance, but again, the importance is the content, not the looks.
Overview: Content
There are seven main chapters in this book, although they aren’t numbered. The first chapter is the Introduction (although there is a Preface: for those familiar with White Wolf books- if you ever wondered where they got the “How to Use This Book” section, look no further than Lion Rampant), which is largely flavour text, setting the scene for the rest of the book. It is only two pages- the Preface is longer.
The Life of the Magus deals with aspects of playing a mage of the Order of Hermes─ from apprenticeship to initiation, joining a covenant and finally becoming a great mage, even an archmage. Each section includes a quote from Caecus of House Tytalus, who joins us through most of the book, and gives us an insight into how a mage thinks and how he lives. Be warned, for those who don’t like reading fiction, there are a lot of story seeds and advice in Caecus’ quotes, although some of them are overly long.
We also get the details of Wizard’s Twilight- something (IIRC) that was missing from the Second Edition rulebook (but which is in the current 4th Edition).
The History of the Order gives us a detailed history, from the Old Ones (a kind of fantasy Atlantis), to the Cult of Mercury, the Schism War and so on. We get an account of the first Tribunal and it ends with a little list of legends within the Order, all of which serve as story-seeds. This chapter is shorter the first, but is rife with plot hooks and other meaty goodness. There is enough information to give a game master a good idea on how to run a game set in the periods spoken here, without being overly detailed and getting bogged down─ there is room to move in other words.
Given the background-lite nature of both the Second Edition and the Fourth Edition of Ars Magica, this section is really really useful for any gamemaster who plans on using the Order in their saga.
Politics gives us internal and external conflicts and antagonism involving the Order. The Code is discussed, and its various passages explained (something that is also useful for a game that involves Tribunal meetings or a Quaesitor), and there are also Peripheral Code rulings. Crime and punishment and details on how Tribunals work are also covered here in depth and concisely.
The Thirteen Tribunals deals, obviously, with the Tribunals that makes up the Order. Each is given a small section, varying from almost a page to a quarter of a page. The geo-political region that the Tribunal is located in is given, as well as the covenants that are members, although entries only say that ‘x’ number of covenants are members, while others give the names and details, such as Hibernia. All of the Hibernian covenants in fact get a two page spread (total, not each), as a guide on how a game master can make his or her own tribunal (they also serve as plot devices and hooks). Finally, there is a graph showing the population details of all of the Tribunals.
Outside Relations gives that vital information that can determine the flavour and direction of a game─ how does the Order interact with the outside world. Non-Hermetic magi, Demons and Faeries, but not the church, except in a more general ‘mundane society’ view. Given that the Church can be one of the main non-Hermetic antagonists, this is an oversight.
The final chapter is the longest, and details all thirteen Houses, from a general description, history, and traditions, as well as an example member and for a lot of Houses, new virtues and flaws, spells and other neat stuff.
Just to forestall people’s ideas that Houses are cookie-cutter splats, the book does point out, early on and here, that Houses should be considered more like political parties (the examples given are the Democrat and Republican parties in the USA). Houses determine general outlook, but doesn’t restrict any (or at least many) aspects of the character’s stats. Each House also gets a few story ideas.
Conclusions
I got this book today, and already own most of the 4th edition books, a few of the third edition ones, and most importantly, Houses of Hermes, by Wizards of the Coast. For someone without this book, but with a few other Ars Magica books, how useful is Order of Hermes?
Well, a lot of what is in Houses of Hermes, the Wizard’s Grimoire Revised and Ars Magica Fourth Edition is in Order of Hermes. This is perhaps the seminal Ars Magica book. It is prodigious in what it covers, and it covers it well and with great skill and evocativeness. And a lot of what is in here is not in the other books, or rather, this book does it better. This has a lot of flavoursome text, and it conjures up some fantastic images of what the game is all about that has been expurgated from the recent edition, which is more concerned about the clarity of rules than giving a great and desired feel.
You don’t need this book if you have all of the others, but this book does in a single book, what those books do in three or four. And it does it better.
In itself, this book has to be one of the best Ars Magica books that I’ve read (and I’ve read a lot of them). If we assume that it is a resource for Ars Magica 2nd Edition, then it is superb─ opening new ground, giving new rules and detailing the detail-less Order from the ArM2 book.
The fact is, of course, that Ars Magica is now in its fourth edition, and Order of Hermes is an old book. Most of what is in here has been reprinted. The spells are outdated, as are the virtues and most of the information about the Houses, Tribunals, traditions and politics have been reprinted in later books, specially Tribunal books and the Wizards Grimoire Revised.
Nevertheless, OoH is still a great book. I really like it, but you may find that you don’t need it and that it is unnecessary. When it comes down to it, it is up too you: an out of date, but nonetheless complete book that is compatible with the new system.
I give The Order of Hermes a Style of 3 and a Substance of 5.
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