Interview Ars Magica CRPG Kickstarter Postmortem Podcast at PodOmatic

Tags: Ars Magica; Ars Magica: Years of Conquest

PodOmatic has an audio interview with Larry Sawh, President of Black Chicken Studios (the studio that made Academagia). The first half of the interview (starts at about 4:00) is devoted to the failed Ars Magica CRPG Kickstarter, which you may remember since we posted about that Kickstarter and even did an interview about it together with Obsidian's Josh Sawyer. After that, the interview turns to the new, small-scope Kickstarter they have launched for an adventure gamebook about a Dwarven tale, Holdfast.

In this special episode of Arcane Connection CJ is joined by the President of Black Chicken Studios, Larry Sawh. We discuss our mutual love of Ars Magica, the Ars Magica computer game Kickstarter (and will it ever happen again?) and whether we will ever learn the secrets of House Diedne. CJ runs a IRC chat Ars Magica saga based on Black Chickens forums that began during the Kickstarter, and we mention that, as well as exciting projects coming our of Black Chicken Games in the near future and of special interest to rpg fans the new Holdfast gamebook Kickstarter.

You can find the Kickstarter for Holdfast at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-a-gamebook-of-dwarven-vengeance?ref=category

Black Chicken Studios are at http://www.blackchickengames.com/​

In particular, Larry says (at about 7:30) that they wanted to make a series of Ars Magica CRPGs, telling the story of one covenant from 1066 to 1966. Damn.

 

Oh yes, go ahead, rub even more salt into those fresh wounds, woman.

 

Sigh. That would have been awesome. Oh well.

 

Ars Magica? As in "This is how entire World of Darkness ball started rolling" Ars Magica? As in "prelude to Mage The Ascension" Ars Magica?

A sad loss indeed.

 

I missed this Kickstarter back in 2012, which is a pity, but ultimately irrelevant, as I wouldn't be able to pledge the remaining 200K anyway.

 

I was rooting for this but it was doomed to failure. The pitch was weak and the IP is relatively obscure. To pull something like this off as a kickstarter you need well known developers and plenty of press coverage.

This had neither.

 

Maybe a watch/codex contest would've gathered those 200k.

 

Yes

No (Setting and rules system of ArM and Mage are nothing alike...)

This could have been so great...

 

Though they were more connected, I think names of most Hermetic houses appear in Ars Magica or stg like that.

Also since its mentioned that much. How playable and fun is Academagia? For non OCD people.

 

Maybe when people get tired of playing the same shit all the time CRPGs like this will get funded.

 

I never met an Ars Magica player who didn't scoff at cRPGs.

 

I really wish this would have been made, both the setting and theme could have made for a unique CRPG.

-Spectacle

 

Here I am. But you're not wrong, people on the Ars Magica boards were not that excited about the video game (50/50 maybe).

 

Almost as cool as the story of one man who saved the galaxy over the course of several years.