Ars Magica AW hack: Ars Apocalyptica or Magica World...

Actual rules for troupe style play that work, rules for group research (something like...everyone comes to the table with 3 things:

• Some bit of history about the year or the region in which the covenant is set
  
  Some bit of mythology/religion from the region in which the covenant is set.
  
  A vague idea for a magical place whose true nature will be discovered through play.[/i])

With a bunch of different kinds of wizards ala the Houses of Hermes, maybe 3 different kinds of custos (Those Who War, Those Who Pray, Those Who Toil) and grogs as public property for the table. 

Magic as a move with really cool failure bits.  I used to GM Ars Magica, praying that players would botch their magic rolls.

Oh, this makes me ache.

Me too, me too! Ars Magica was the first game I ran (for something like 4 years?), and the game Vincent and Emily and I hacked to hell and back for six years and through masses of cool stuff. Go with this Judd, please.

Me too, me too! Ars Magica was the first game I ran (for something like 4 years?), and the game Vincent and Emily and I hacked to hell and back for six years and through masses of cool stuff. Go with this Judd, please.

Margolotte, one of the things me, Vincent and Emily realized on our long car rides to Gen Con talks is that we had all been playing Ars Magica at about the same time and having very similar experiences.

I recall that the game I GMed was called Griffon's Vale and y'all's game also had a griffon in the title, no?

Anyway, I'm with ya.  Its-a-comin'.

Oh man! I would be all over this shit.

Oh man! I would be all over this shit.

Thanks, Peter.

This is a slow burn.  I'd like to play AW first but I'm already jotting down notes.  I will write more as I can.

But I can't help but jump WAY ahead of myself and wonder how much the ArM license could possibly cost.

Things to do before I start hacking proper:

• Play AW.
  Get my old Ars Magica books back from a buddy.

I loaned them to JJ over ten years ago and haven't had the urge to grab them back.  I reckon I will grab the main book and the Houses of Hermes to gander at.

I just picked up second edition of ArM off of ebay for 20 bucks or so.  I haven't gotten my ArM books back from my buddy yet.  He just moved and they are in boxes...somewhere.  No big deal, he's been holding those for me for ten years.

And honestly, more importantly than becoming re-aquainted with ArM color, is to play some apocalypse-y AW and see how it runs without wizards and such.

I'm happy about any progress here, Judd :)

Pick a period of history.  Everyone in the group should go to the internet, the library or a scholar outside the gaming group (for best results, all 3) in order to do research on the period in history when your game will take place and the place where it will take place.  The scholar can be someone with a degree, someone the group just trusts or an old lady at the super-market who comes from where your game is set and loves to talk about the Old Country.

Make a doomsday clock, mark it up with historical events.  When the clock hits 12, the campaign will end.  Will the covenant be swept up by history or will it change the tide and overcome what is to occur?

I don't know.  Play.  Find out.

State what the goals of your research are for this season.  Decide with the MC, what the minimum vis needs are for this research based on your goals.

What are you trying to prove/make/disprove/write/study?

The MC will choose 1 to 4 from the Needs List.

Needs List
 - You need a book/vis source/access to a regio that is firmly held by a rival covenant.
 - You need something from a mythical beast will not easily party with.
 - You need a holy relic of the church/mosque/temple.
 - You will need help from a magi in the covenant for a season's worth of work.
 - You need to send your custos out to get _______.
 - This needs time to gestate - items = one year...spells = one season, everything else...something in between, MC's call. You may do other things while the research gestates but someone Gifted must check in on it while it does so, or else the research will go bad.
 - Pursuing this will turn you into a crotchety bastard, out of touch with covenant politics, take -2 Hx with everyone but your custos.
 

 Every season you work on it, roll on the following:

When you do research...roll + Sharp (haven't changed the stats yet...leave me alone, dammit, I don't have time for this).

14+ God's wounds! Your research will break one of the Hermetic Laws of Magic and it is done this season.  If this works, it will be the talk of the next Grand Tribunal and your name will be written among the founders. Hold 3.

10+ you only need to complete one more check on the list, next season, no further research rolls necessary, it will be done.  You may hold 2.

7-9 This is going to get done but it is going to be rough.  Hold 1.

Hold List:
 - Cross any one thing off of the needs list but open the research to infernal taint or fairy tampering.
 - Cross any one thing off of the needs list but it won't work as well as you'd hoped.
 - Cross any one thing off of the list but someone else will get the credit.
 - Cross any one thing off of the list but you will get the unwanted attention from a mundane power.
 - Cross off any one thing from the list but the MC will add a secret descriptive tag that will complicate the use of the research and will come out in play.

Working on a certamen move that doesn't suck.

We'll see.

Might start working on playbooks soonish.

This hack is a great idea, I'm following its advancement.

This hack is a great idea, I'm following its advancement.

Thanks.

I think, at this point, it is something I don't plan to ever play nor (obviously) publish.  It feels like a practice hack, like a warm-up for something else.

We'll see

Thanks for following. 

When you certamen, roll +weird (unless you are from House Tremere, they can use +sharp as per their move that is not yet written).

If the duel is between two PC's and there is a tie, the older Magus wins.  If the magi are the same age (really?), the magi who comes from the older covenant wins, if their covenant's are equal in age (oh, fuckin' come on) the magi who last went to church for worshipful purposes wins.

On a 10+, take 3

On a 7-9, take 1

On a miss, you lose consciousness and comes to with a non-lethal magical effect put on them based on form and technique used to conduct the duel.

 - The subject of the duel is won by you, you have proven that you were right or that you deserve an apology or that you have a right to harvest said vis...whatever it is.

 - You have dueled with your fellow magus and gained insight into how they react to the fire of conflict, take +1 forward when next in conflict with them.

 - You have gained insight into the ways of magic through this conflict.  Take an XP.

 - You have come away with a sliver of knowledge about your opponent, you may ask them any one of the following questions:
           - What was the most humiliating moment of your wizard's apprenticeship?
           -  If you were not a magus, what would you be?
           - When you die, what do you want your legacy to be left on earth in your name?

A trusted advisor suggests that the certamen move isn't done baking yet, into the oven with it.

Maybe only the person who is challenged rolls (if it is two PC's engaged in certamen)?