Ars Magica 5th edition Ars Magica 5th Edition. Troupe-style roleplaying allows players to take on the roles of different characters in different stories, so that the players have equal access to power even though the characters do not. Some even oppose the rise of the Dominion, or cling to pagan deities. Download Adventures in Mythic Europe. Abilities Worksheet.pdf - 422.12kB AG0205 - Ars Magica.pdf - 18.53MB AG0274 - The Fallen Fane LARP.pdf - 1.95MB AG0275 - Calebais - The Broken Covenant.pdf - 21.37MB AG0276 - Guardians of the Forests - The Rhine Tribunal.pdf - 23.60MB AG0277 - Houses of Hermes - True Lineages.pdf - 13.44MB AG0278 - Realms Of Power - The Divine.pdf - 5.75MB. Here you can find ars magica pdf shared files. Download Ars Magica AG0261 Ultima Thule Mythic Scandinavia 4th Ed 1999.pdf from 4shared.com 131.64 MB, ars magica.pdf from 4shared.com 112.46 MB, Ars Magica - Realms of Power - the Infernal.pdf from mediafire.com 70.71 MB. ARS MAGICA COVENANTS PDF - The covenant is the home of magi and the heart of an Ars Magica saga. Much more than just a base camp, its prosperity determines the power and safety of.
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Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen first published Ars Magica in 1987. It was a revolutionary game, including:
- A system of spontaneous magic (allowing you to cast any spell you could imagine at any time).
- Troupe-style play, in which players took on the roles of many different characters (and could even swap GMing responsibilities) in the course of a single campaign.
- Long-term play, in which the group created a covenant of wizards and developed not only their individual characters, but the covenant as a whole.
The 5th Edition, revised by David Chart, was released in 2004 by Atlas Games. When David took over the Ars Magica line he proposed a series of 40 supplements. He then released them like clockwork, one every three months for 10 years, until all 40 books were released. The result is arguably the single most complete and deliberately comprehensive RPG product line to ever exist.
Part of my job at the current RPG Producer at Atlas is to figure out what’s next for Ars Magica. When I got the job I ironically noted that I had played all of Atlas’ current RPGs, but none of the current editions. (This was also true for Ars Magica, which I’d been introduced to via 3rd Edition in the ’90s and did some brief dabbling with 4th Edition around 2001 or 2002.) I’ve spent much of the last year familiarizing myself with these games one by one (and also diving deep into everything we’ve published for them) and the time has come for me to run a full-fleged 5th Edition campaign.
To that end, I’ve developed one of my system cheat sheets for Ars Magica 5th Edition.
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED
These cheat sheets are not designed to be a quick start packet: They’re designed to be a comprehensive reference for someone who has read the rulebook and will probably prove woefully inadequate if you try to learn the game from them. (On the other hand, they can definitely assist experienced players who are teaching the game to new players.)
The cheat sheets also don’t include what I refer to as “character option chunks” (for reasons discussed here). In other words, you won’t find the rules for character creation here.
HOW I USE THEM
I usually keep a copy of the system cheat sheet behind my GM screen for quick reference and also provide copies for all of the players. Of course, we’ll also keep a copy of the rulebook at the table, too. In the case of Ars Magica, I’ve found it even more advantageous than usual to have a copy of the book for EVERY player:
- Character creation features a lot of detailed decisions from rich lists of evocative options. You’ll find that the whole process can be finished in literally a fraction of the time if access to the rulebook isn’t a chokepoint.
- Play in Ars Magica will intermittently see the players break apart into essentially simultaneous solo play (particularly during season-based play), during which access to various elements of the rulebook is frequently useful. Once again, removing this chokepoint speeds things up tremendously.
- The spontaneous magic which is the crown jewel of the game is greatly facilitated by having easy access to the Technique & Form guidelines on pages 116-161. (I’m looking at potentially prepping these as a separate quick reference packet.
Another way of understanding this is that Ars Magica is a game intensely interested in the “character option chunks” — not just during character creation at the beginning of the game, but throughout the entire campaign. Even character advancement is usually not a bit of bookkeeping separate from play, but rather an organic part of the character’s lives. As such, while these cheat sheets will, like my other cheat sheets, speed things up by serving as a comprehensive system reference and cutting down the amount of time required for many rulebook references, I’ve generally found that there many aspects of play unique to ArsMagica (compared to most other RPGs) that will still benefit from easy, frequent access to the rulebook.
The organization of information onto each page of the cheat sheet is designed to be fairly intuitive. The actual sequencing of the pages is mostly arbitrary (although topics are obviously grouped together if they require multiple pages):
PAGE 1: Core mechanics.
PAGE 2: The Botch Table. Kind of weird for this to just be hanging out on a page all by itself, but I haven’t found a better place for it. You can probably also skip this page if you’d like.
PAGE 3: Less fundamental core mechanics.
PAGE 4-8: Hermetic magic. All basic Casting rules on page 4; all the rules for Magic Resistance on page 5; additional rules on pages 6-7. Page 8 has the rules for designing spells.
PAGE 9: Warping & Twilight.
PAGE 10-12: Laboratory. Basics on Page 10, Projects on Page 11, and Enchanted Items on Page 12.
PAGE 13-16: Texts & Books, Familiars & Apprentices, Advancement, Aging.
PAGE 17-19: Combat, Advanced Combat, and Fatigue & Wounds. This includes non-combat damage.
PAGE 20: Realms & Creatures. These two topics are only lightly associated with each other, but they both fit on the same page to round things out.
This cheat sheet includes the Ars Magica 4th Edition rules for movement, filling in what I consider to be a fairly essential bit of utility that got dropped from 5th Edition. These rules are indicated in blue text.
This proved to be the largest cheat sheet I’ve done to date, which I actually found quite surprising. The 5th Edition rulebook is generally so well-organized and clearly presented that reading it and using it belies how much detail is actually packed into the game. You can get some sense of that from the cheat sheets themselves, which — despite their bulk at 20 pages — nevertheless break down comfortably into very clean modules.
MAKING A GM SCREEN
These cheat sheets can also be used in conjunction with a modular, landscape-oriented GM screen (like the ones you can buy here or here).
Personally, I use a four-panel screen and use reverse-duplex printing in order to create sheets that I can tape together and “flip up” to reveal additional information behind them.
Due to the bulk of the Ars Magica cheat sheet, though, even this technique (which puts 12 pages of data at your fingertips) is insufficient. You’ll either want to create an additional “flip layer” (so you have a front sheet; can flip that up to reveal two more; and can then flip up the next sheet to reveal two more) or make some editorial choices. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I haven’t had a chance to actually experiment with this in actual play.
As a newbie 5th Edition GM, my gut instinct is to prioritize:
- Page 1: Core Mechanics / Page 20: Fatigue & Wounds / Page 4: More Core Mechanics
- Page 4: Hermetic Magic – Casting / Page 5: Magic Resistance / Page 6: Hermetic Magic – Casting Options
- Page 8: Hermetic Magic – Designing Spells / Page 18: Combat / Page 19: Combat – Advanced
- Page 11 – Laboratory / Page 12: Laboratory – Projects / Page 13: Laboratory Enchanted Items
If I was going with just four panels:
- Page 1: Core Mechanics
- Page 18: Combat
- Page 4: Hermetic Magic – Casting
- Page 6: Hermetic Magic – Casting Options
But, as I say, these are currently just best guesses. And your mileage would probably vary in any case.
FUTURE THOUGHTS
Moreso than most, this cheat sheet is still a work in progress. You may notice that the sheets are a little more “loosely packed” than similar sheets I’ve done in the past. This is partly in anticipation of laying in additional material from the previously mentioned voluminous library of supplements. Not all of the mechanics to be found therein (that way lies madness), but key stuff that jumps out. (For example, you’ll already find a reference to the laboratory personalization rules from the Covenantssupplement. I’m probably going to actually move those onto the sheets in some capacity.) This is likely to be at least somewhat idiosyncratic and a reaction to the immediate needs of the Rhine Tribunal campaign I’m currently running, but I think there’s decent odds you’ll see an “advanced” version of this sheet popping up here at the Alexandrian in the future.
If you’re still on the fence about trying Ars Magica, the 4th Edition of the game is currently available as a free PDF. Although obviously different from 5th Edition in a number of ways, the game is fundamentally unchanged and this can give you a pretty good sampler of whether or not it would be something you’d be interested in.
Materials for the Russian version - Iskusstvo Volshebstva - available here!
- Ars Magica Third Edition Character Sheet, Jason Buss edition
- Maps of Austhwaite Manor & Banggarth Hall
Ars Magica Fifth Edition Sheets for Metacreator
The awesome Metacreator program - with its Ars Magica Fifth Edition template - is indispensible for play, but it will surprise no one I find its default character sheet output lacking in a little charm. So I've slogged through a relatively unfriendly print template interface to produce my own custom sheets, mimicking my Fourth Edition sheets below, but allowing you to use the powerful tracking capabilities of Metacreator.
Essentially, I have two versions of the character sheet and spell grimoire, using the Weiss font that Atlas uses in the official publications (and the Lombardy font that already comes with the ArM template). The better-looking one uses the official Weiss Std font from Adobe, but most folks won't have that, so I made a second version of each using a free Weiss knockoff which you can find here.
Both character sheets also use a custom macro which I tack on to the end of the Print file in the ArM5 directory (open it with Notepad or the like and just paste it at the end.)
- Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Character Sheet for Metacreator (knockoff Weiss version) (11 megs) - updated 20 August 2009
- Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Spell Grimoire for Metacreator (knockoff Weiss version) (6 megs) - updated 20 August 2009
- Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Character Sheet for Metacreator (Adobe Weiss version) (11 megs) - updated 20 August 2009
- Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Spell Grimoire for Metacreator (Adobe Weiss version) (6 megs) - updated 20 August 2009
- Download printAbils macro text for Metacreator (32 K) - updated 20 August 2009
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Ars Magica Fifth Edition Storyguide Screen
Have you seen this thing?
Yeah, OK, so I get a tiny kickback from Amazon if you buy one from this link. But really, finally. I can make up GM screens for my favorite games and not have to rig some half-ass way of getting it to the table - just print and slide them into the slots of this baby, and you're ready to go. Switch games, and just switch panels out. Done.
So here's one for Ars Magica Fifth Edition. As usual, it uses layers galore, so if you want black and white, Third Edition-style borders, Fourth Edition fonts, etc. etc., just try turning layers on and off until you get what you want.
Ars Magica 4 Pdf
(Oh yeah, I usually leave out one of these panels and stick in a landscape illustration or our campaign map in the center panel facing the players, but anyway.)
- Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Storyguide Screen (15 megs) - updated 6/16/08
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Ars Magica Fifth Edition Medieval Character Sheet
- Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Medieval Character Sheet (2.4 MB) - updated 31 October 2008
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Ars Magica Fifth Edition Character Sheet 2.0
- Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Character Sheet 2.0 (300 K) - updated 2/8/06
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Ars Magica Fifth Edition Character Sheet 1.0
- Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Character Sheet 1.01 (95 K) - updated 12/9/04
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Ars Magica Fourth Edition Character Sheet 2.1
Carlisle | Goudy |
Moravian | |
Novgorod | Rabenstein |
While I like my Ars database and am fairly happy with the character sheets it prints out, its sheets lack a certain style that I wanted back. So I finally sat down with InDesign and created another version specifically to be filled out by hand. Not stopping there, I came up with six different 'flavors': font and graphics choices which I think will help you match a sheet to your saga's locale! Supplemental sheets coming soon for Volkhvy, Vitkir, Kabbalists, etc.
- Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Goudy version (351 K) - updated 14 July 2007
- Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Carlisle version (360 K) - updated 14 July 2007
- Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Hibernia version (344 K) - updated 14 July 2007
- Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Moravian version (356 K) - updated 14 July 2007
- Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Novgorod version (396 K) - updated 14 July 2007
- Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Rabenstein version (350 K) - updated 14 July 2007
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Ars Magica Fourth Edition Character Sheet
Ars Magica is my favorite fantasy roleplaying game, hands down. I'm working on a FileMaker Pro database for the game; here's a printout of the character sheet. The design is based in part upon one produced by the Alpha Storyguide of our Rabenstein saga, Jason Buss (see below).
- Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet (4 pages, 367 K)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Ars Magica Story Record
In trying to help us keep track of who did what during each story our Troupe runs, I developed this simple story record. Keep track of when the game was played, who ran it, what the characters did, and what their (in)famous quotes of the night were.
- Download Ars Magica Story Record (1 page, 83 K)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Ars Magica Third Edition Character Sheet, Jason Buss Edition
This is the way-cool sheet that my friend Jason Buss created for the Rabenstein saga. The current ruleset then was the third edition, so you might have to write in some things by hand to use this with the fourth (like experience points for Arts), but it's distinctive. Jason has added some cool things like 'Astrological Influences' which are not in the rules, and mostly there for color. Note that where I create all mine on my computer, this is a straight scan job from Jason's fine hand crafting.
- Download Ars Magica Third Edition Character Sheet, Jason Buss edition (4 pages, 3.09 megs)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
The Little Boy Everybody Wanted: An Ars Magica Adventure
Adventure notes for Ars Magica based in the lands of Rus and the Novgorod Tribunal. I ran this story as part of the Rabenstein saga. This story recently appeared (in French) in issue number 18 of the French fanzine Ars Mag.
- Download The Little Boy Everybody Wanted (7 pages, 281 K)
Map of Medieval Mesopotamia
I did the maps for the Atlas Games product Ancient Magic, with the help of the lovely Valerie Nix. Here's one of the maps from that product.
- Download Map of Medieval Mesopotamia (1 pages, 2.3 MB) - updated 20 July 2007
Maps of Rabenstein Covenant
Maps of Rabenstein covenant, home to my first (and favorite) Ars Magica saga. Uses layering (Acrobat 6+); necessary for the first map, which toggles layers to represent all the foors of the covenant.
- Download Map of Rabenstein (514 K) - updated 14 July 2007
Maps of Vigil Cavernae
Maps of Vigil Cavernae covenant, its environs and the village of Cavtat, and the nearby city of Ragusa (Dubrovnik). Uses layering (Acrobat 6+); necessary for the first map, which toggles layers to represent all the foors of the covenant.
Ars Magica Pdf
- Download Map of Vigil Cavernae (184 K) - updated 12/9/06
- Download Map of Vigil Cavernae Environs (116 K) - updated 12/9/06
- Download Map of Medieval Ragusa (132 K) - updated 12/9/06
Map of Medieval Rus
Always interested in Medieval Russian history, I worked up a good bit of information for Ars Magica. Here is an approximately 8' x 16' map of the principalities of Rus, including major towns, rivers, covenants, political boundaries and trade routes.
- Download Map of Medieval Rus (1 page, 406 K)
Map of Medieval Novgorod
Another map, this time of the Russian city of Novgorod, showing streets and major buildings (sorry, key is forthcoming).
- Download Map of Medieval Novgorod (1 page, 295 K)
Map of Medieval Novgorod and Environs
Another map of Novgorod, this time of the city's immediate environs. Useful to me, perhaps it will be to you as well if you have a game set in Novgorod.
- Download Map of Medieval Novgorod and Environs (1 page, 129 K) - updated 12/9/06
Map of Medieval Kiev and Environs
A map of Kiev the Golden and its immediate surroundings. Useful for stories set in the Kiev area.
- Download Map of Medieval Kiev and Environs (1 page, 179 K)
Map of Cumbria
A very detailed map of medieval Cumbria - where the Corona Montis saga is set - showing towns, baronies, and religious and magical sites. May be of use to other English sagas.
- Download Map of Cumbria (1 page, 2.7 megs) - updated 12/9/06
Ars Magica Pdf
Maps of Austhwaite Manor & Banggarth Hall
Ars Magica Pdf Francais
I worked up a map of the manor within which the noble Austhwaite family and the magi of the Covenant of Corona Montis reside. I was pretty pleased with the way it came out, and since I made a PDF of it for the members of our Ars Magica troupe I figured I might as well post it as others might find a use for it in their games. The first PDF has Austhwaite Manor's levels, before and after addition of a pele tower and an additional wing, as well as Banggarth Hall, the magi sancti, and Roland Whitney's villa: to access each, turn on or off the appropriate layers in Acrobat.
Ars Magica Pdf Download
- Download a map of Austhwaite Manor et al (168 K) - updated 12/9/06
- Download a map of lands surrounding Austhwaite Manor (2.3 megs) - updated 12/9/06