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Ars Magica 5th edition #AG0205
Ars Magica, Fifth Edition
ATG0205 Ars Magica 5th Edition (Core Rulebook) by Atlas Games
The Roleplaying Game of Myth and Magic
Imagine an age where myth is real and where the superstitions of the common folk hold true: faeries dance in forest glades, angels protect the Church, demons corrupt the weak, and wizards wield magic beyond the ken of other mortals. You play these magi, gathered in covenants with your allies and servants, unlocking secret powers and creating wonders. You and your friends will also portray the loyal companions and grogs who stand with the magi, as a buffer between them and the mundane world that often misunderstands their power and motives. When adventures draw you out into the medieval world of Mythic Europe, your stories are the stuff of legend.
The Roleplaying Game of Myth and Magic
Imagine an age where myth is real and where the superstitions of the common folk hold true: faeries dance in forest glades, angels protect the Church, demons corrupt the weak, and wizards wield magic beyond the ken of other mortals. You play these magi, gathered in covenants with your allies and servants, unlocking secret powers and creating wonders. You and your friends will also portray the loyal companions and grogs who stand with the magi, as a buffer between them and the mundane world that often misunderstands their power and motives. When adventures draw you out into the medieval world of Mythic Europe, your stories are the stuff of legend.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
6 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Tweet
62 books49 followersTabletop game designer, children's science communicator. Grandmother Fish was a labor of love for 15 years.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 20, 2009
Just finished reading the 5th Ed of a game I've liked since I first was exposed to to it waaaay back in the 1990's. I like the 'clean-ness' of the new edition although I would never call this an elegant system!
It may not be a pretty system, but I like it just about as well as D&D 3.5 and the Pathfinder update to it! All I wish for is the spare time to start a good Saga...
It may not be a pretty system, but I like it just about as well as D&D 3.5 and the Pathfinder update to it! All I wish for is the spare time to start a good Saga...
April 2, 2007
(this review is of the 3rd ed.)
This game puts role-playing and magic on an entirely new scale - there is no attempt to make magic "balanced." In most games, magic is pretty much the equivilant of fighting, only more etherial; magicians are more like archers than warriors, and they have enough cons to balance out the pros of being a magic-user. In Ars Magica, magic is powerful, arcane, and shakes the foundations of reality. Magic users are aloof, distanc, powerful, and controlling - they are not the spell-user of D&D, but Gandolf or Merlin, the magicians you think of when you think of fantasy. Interesting rules involving thanes and followers, setting up a castle and running entire communities based around your character.
This game puts role-playing and magic on an entirely new scale - there is no attempt to make magic "balanced." In most games, magic is pretty much the equivilant of fighting, only more etherial; magicians are more like archers than warriors, and they have enough cons to balance out the pros of being a magic-user. In Ars Magica, magic is powerful, arcane, and shakes the foundations of reality. Magic users are aloof, distanc, powerful, and controlling - they are not the spell-user of D&D, but Gandolf or Merlin, the magicians you think of when you think of fantasy. Interesting rules involving thanes and followers, setting up a castle and running entire communities based around your character.
January 8, 2021
The system is fascinating in every way, but the arrangement of information needs massive reordering. Once all the pieces are in place in the reader's mind, the rules appear simple, but on first reading the system looks horrifically complicated because the information is not properly organized.
April 27, 2012
good rpg about the middle ages & wizardry!
June 21, 2020
At some point in the early days of the pandemic, I had the urge to read this book. It had been sitting there, in the shelf of the FNGS around the corner for the three and a half years I have been living in this flat. I got it the second day the store opened…and it lasted me until today. Yes, in the meantime, I have read many other things, but there is no way of denying this is not the lightest RPG around. It might be its fifth edition, but it feels old, very rules heavy, and so rich on arithmetic you might as well have a spreadsheet rather than a character sheet.
Without trying to offend anyone, this feels pretty much like D&D’s Player’s Handbook: lots of rules, and not that much background. Mind you, what little is there, is pretty cool, but I feel I need to and buy a couple more books to know what Mythic Europe is really about. I am still undecided in that matter.
I do not know how much of Rein-Hagen is still in this game, but in many ways, if feels a lot like Vampire: character as opposed to plot driven, lots of books expanding the setting, and not much in the way of a “regular campaign/scenario”. I still think The Masquerade had more setting information it its core book than this volume. That said, one thing Ars Magica has over its Kindred counterpart, is the Troupe-style gaming. I had read about it, and the truth is that it only covers about two pages of the whole book, but it is a great idea, and one that could also work very well in VtM.
If one of the reasons I got this book was to—unsuccessfully—build beautiful stories in my head while reading the game, the other was the magic system. The idea that you have a Technique—the action—and a Form—the object of such action—is full of potential, as clearly shown in the rules. I do not think is necessarily more flexible than any of the Mage games though.
It was certainly not the game I anticipated. I am quite happy with Old School games, but this is just too much for me right now. Not to bring it closer to home, but “Aquelarre”—now available in English—might be overall a much better game, despite it is more limited geographical scope.
Without trying to offend anyone, this feels pretty much like D&D’s Player’s Handbook: lots of rules, and not that much background. Mind you, what little is there, is pretty cool, but I feel I need to and buy a couple more books to know what Mythic Europe is really about. I am still undecided in that matter.
I do not know how much of Rein-Hagen is still in this game, but in many ways, if feels a lot like Vampire: character as opposed to plot driven, lots of books expanding the setting, and not much in the way of a “regular campaign/scenario”. I still think The Masquerade had more setting information it its core book than this volume. That said, one thing Ars Magica has over its Kindred counterpart, is the Troupe-style gaming. I had read about it, and the truth is that it only covers about two pages of the whole book, but it is a great idea, and one that could also work very well in VtM.
If one of the reasons I got this book was to—unsuccessfully—build beautiful stories in my head while reading the game, the other was the magic system. The idea that you have a Technique—the action—and a Form—the object of such action—is full of potential, as clearly shown in the rules. I do not think is necessarily more flexible than any of the Mage games though.
It was certainly not the game I anticipated. I am quite happy with Old School games, but this is just too much for me right now. Not to bring it closer to home, but “Aquelarre”—now available in English—might be overall a much better game, despite it is more limited geographical scope.
July 9, 2023
Arguably one of the most original Role Playing Games out there. Most RPGS, the characters are heroes for hire, who travel from place to place killing everything in their path. Murders Hobos, you might call them.
Ars Majica does not do that. It focuses on the home base of the players, the covenant. There is a realness to the world with real consequences. Murdering all the characters problems will make bigger problems.
The take on magic is very original, and has a versatility no other system offers. The world setting offers many potential story options. One can still do an old school dungeon crawl, one can set up political intrigues, an exploration, even the tedious fetch quest if one must....
Ars Majica does not do that. It focuses on the home base of the players, the covenant. There is a realness to the world with real consequences. Murdering all the characters problems will make bigger problems.
The take on magic is very original, and has a versatility no other system offers. The world setting offers many potential story options. One can still do an old school dungeon crawl, one can set up political intrigues, an exploration, even the tedious fetch quest if one must....
April 1, 2020
I went on at great length on my blog, so I'm not going to rewrite it here. This is a fine game, a complex game, and one of the best I've ever played. The Fifth Edition is the best version to date and just aces in my book. It's not going to be to everyone's taste. Frankly, it's odd that a game that is so mechanics heavy is to my tastes. But there it is. Fantastic.
March 26, 2019
Un gioco poco fruibile ma molto interessante. Il problema è che, eccetto il magus, gli altri ruoli sono a dir poco secondari e piuttosto noiosi. Le magie del resto sono davvero ben progettate.
November 10, 2022
Definitive edition of an outstanding classic. More thoughts: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
February 6, 2013
This is for the 2nd edition.
I was absolutely hooked by the opening fiction. The setting seems amazing and I have enjoyed other games by both creators (Everway, Vampire, OTE) but at this juncture I'm just not into super-crunchy games.
The setting focuses on the goings on between groups of powerful wizards in medieval Europe where the mythology of the times was actually factual. It's called Mythic Europe, go figure. Lots of room for political machinations and courtly intrigue.
I imagine a lot of the players of this game are also LAERPers, if that means anything to you. Drama club types who can handle the math.
Learning even a small amount of Latin (spells use a heavily Latin-derived nomenclature for individual spells and categories) seems both intimidating and infinitely cool.
Unfortunately, the game seems to have more crunch than I would like, so I doubt I'll ever use the system, whether the setting proves inspirational or I ever play in it via some other.
I was absolutely hooked by the opening fiction. The setting seems amazing and I have enjoyed other games by both creators (Everway, Vampire, OTE) but at this juncture I'm just not into super-crunchy games.
The setting focuses on the goings on between groups of powerful wizards in medieval Europe where the mythology of the times was actually factual. It's called Mythic Europe, go figure. Lots of room for political machinations and courtly intrigue.
I imagine a lot of the players of this game are also LAERPers, if that means anything to you. Drama club types who can handle the math.
Learning even a small amount of Latin (spells use a heavily Latin-derived nomenclature for individual spells and categories) seems both intimidating and infinitely cool.
Unfortunately, the game seems to have more crunch than I would like, so I doubt I'll ever use the system, whether the setting proves inspirational or I ever play in it via some other.
May 11, 2012
Ars Magica is one of those games that has a special place in my heart, as one of the foundations of my roleplaying experience, and very influential as I would move on to design roleplaying games. A bit more complex than some other games at the time, but the flexibility and on-the-fly use of magic was a great concept, as well as the basic structure of the "verb + noun" spell structure to build from. I own the core rulebook from the first four editions, which each offer slightly different rules and approaches to gameplay, but they are all engaging.
September 21, 2007
what I have is the fourth ed. softcover
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews