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Hedge Magic is an excellent supplement, and should be a useful addition to any Ars Magica library. It provides rules, stats, and most important, a wealth of background information for "hedge wizards," the common magicians that are considered beneath the notice of the "real" magi of the Order of Hermes who are the focus of Ars Magica.

I liked Ars Magica from the beginning because it captured the essence of the "wizard in the tower" of so many fantasy stories and fairy tales. Too many fantasy games sacrifice the essentials of the genre to "fairness" and "play balance." In Ars Magica, wizards are wizards; they start out commanding the fear and awe of the local peasantry, and can work up to hurricanes, earthquakes, and striking down armies.

However, by focusing on a society of magi isolated from the world at large, the game loses one of the main benefits of a setting that is based on our own history -- the ability to draw on historical information for material. Hedge Magic restores that connection, and opens up a whole new area for play -- the concerns of anyone in Mythic Europe, from common people to petty nobles to kings.

The book opens with a chapter introducing the types of hedge wizardry that will be covered, including material (in the form of personal accounts) which express the attitude of the Order of Hermes toward each of them. Chapter two tells part of a story, "The Mystery of Michael Scot," involving the four main types of hedge wizard, each telling their part in first person, conveying how they conceive of their own magic and each others', and the world they live in. The story is well-written and entertaining enough that it is not obvious that it is a lead-in to an introductory adventure, though it serves that function very well. It is followed by stats for all the characters and suggestions on various ways to use the story as an adventure. This pattern is continued throughout the book, and helps to reinforce the concept, still too often forgotten in RPG's, that the stats do not create the character, item, or ability, they just describe it in game terms, and the idea behind the stats is primary.

The rest of the book describes in detail the various kinds of hedge wizardry, the abilities of such wizards, and the materials and beings they work with, as well as information connecting all this with the rest of the Ars Magica world. Some of the most important material is in the section on creating new varieties of hedge wizards. While most role-playing games include the standard "feel free to modify these rules as you see fit," this book goes beyond that with guidelines on how to create things that will work. The emphasis is on concepts with a real-world theme -- Hermetic magic only needs to have an internal consistency, but hedge magic is part of the mundane world, and must fit in with it.

All in all, an excellent book. I would recommend it to gamemasters running a game in any fantasy world as an antidote to generic, hodge-podge magic, as well as to Ars Magica players. If I were starting a new Ars Magica campaign, I would probably go with an all-hedge magic scenario. The Order of Hermes can be just as interesting from the outside.

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

Hedge Magic
Author: Aaron Link and John Snead Category: game Company/Publisher: Atlas Games Reviewed by Jim Edwards-Hewitt on 07/31/97. Genre tags: none	Hedge Magic is an excellent supplement, and should be a useful addition to any Ars Magica library. It provides rules, stats, and most important, a wealth of background information for "hedge wizards," the common magicians that are considered beneath the notice of the "real" magi of the Order of Hermes who are the focus of Ars Magica. I liked Ars Magica from the beginning because it captured the essence of the "wizard in the tower" of so many fantasy stories and fairy tales. Too many fantasy games sacrifice the essentials of the genre to "fairness" and "play balance." In Ars Magica, wizards are wizards; they start out commanding the fear and awe of the local peasantry, and can work up to hurricanes, earthquakes, and striking down armies. However, by focusing on a society of magi isolated from the world at large, the game loses one of the main benefits of a setting that is based on our own history -- the ability to draw on historical information for material. Hedge Magic restores that connection, and opens up a whole new area for play -- the concerns of anyone in Mythic Europe, from common people to petty nobles to kings. The book opens with a chapter introducing the types of hedge wizardry that will be covered, including material (in the form of personal accounts) which express the attitude of the Order of Hermes toward each of them. Chapter two tells part of a story, "The Mystery of Michael Scot," involving the four main types of hedge wizard, each telling their part in first person, conveying how they conceive of their own magic and each others', and the world they live in. The story is well-written and entertaining enough that it is not obvious that it is a lead-in to an introductory adventure, though it serves that function very well. It is followed by stats for all the characters and suggestions on various ways to use the story as an adventure. This pattern is continued throughout the book, and helps to reinforce the concept, still too often forgotten in RPG's, that the stats do not create the character, item, or ability, they just describe it in game terms, and the idea behind the stats is primary. The rest of the book describes in detail the various kinds of hedge wizardry, the abilities of such wizards, and the materials and beings they work with, as well as information connecting all this with the rest of the Ars Magica world. Some of the most important material is in the section on creating new varieties of hedge wizards. While most role-playing games include the standard "feel free to modify these rules as you see fit," this book goes beyond that with guidelines on how to create things that will work. The emphasis is on concepts with a real-world theme -- Hermetic magic only needs to have an internal consistency, but hedge magic is part of the mundane world, and must fit in with it. All in all, an excellent book. I would recommend it to gamemasters running a game in any fantasy world as an antidote to generic, hodge-podge magic, as well as to Ars Magica players. If I were starting a new Ars Magica campaign, I would probably go with an all-hedge magic scenario. The Order of Hermes can be just as interesting from the outside. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)