Information Ars Magica CRPG Kickstarter from Creators of Academagia

[Zed]

Where is that abomination from?

1931 Scheherazade, one of their previous titles.

 

[jewboy]

The Ars Magica system may be great, but who the hell are they? How am I supposed to have confidence that they can and will finish the game? That they have the ability to make a good game. The artwork from their previous title is pure jRPG. Pointy chinned chicks with humungous eyes. Too high risk for me. With a kickstarter you really do face a lot of the same challenges you'd have with any other attempt to raise capital. You still need to convince your investors that you can actually do what you claim.

 

[laclongquan]

You even look at their first title yet? www.Academagia.com

Heck, you need to try it. It will tell you reasons better than that.

 

[oscar]

Looks sorta like a Harry Potter sim.

 

[Morkar Left]

The Ars Magica system may be great, but who the hell are they? How am I supposed to have confidence that they can and will finish the game? That they have the ability to make a good game. The artwork from their previous title is pure jRPG. Pointy chinned chicks with humungous eyes. Too high risk for me. With a kickstarter you really do face a lot of the same challenges you'd have with any other attempt to raise capital. You still need to convince your investors that you can actually do what you claim.

Why not look at the artwork on the kickstarter page? Ars Magica is as conservative graphicswise as it can get.

 

[Tigranes]

But the artwork on the page is terrible, it's like the worst generic kind of deviantart.

I backed $20 to give it momentum, but I'll wait for udpates to see whether I stay there or not.

 

[Morkar Left]

What's so bad about the artwork there?


First update is out: Spells and Magic!

 

[Black]

ASS MAGIC?! Now this is worth baking unlike some horrible chimeras like rtwp games

 

[Morkar Left]

Two interviews are up:

Sub Rosa: Larry, thanks for taking time out to talk to Sub Rosa. For the Ars Magica fanbase who might not already know, can you give us a quick introduction to the team and a bit of background to Black Chicken Studios?

Larry Sawh: Black Chicken Studios was founded in 2007 with the goal of creating unique and unusual games for markets abandoned by the larger developers. As games have become more and more expensive to produce, entire genres have dropped out of favor, and now virtually exist only in our memory. Ars Magica is a great example of this: for magic, role-playing and history, it’s like nothing in the marketplace…but no AAA developer would ever look at doing this game, because it can’t be reduced neatly to a MOBA/FPS/MMO. It’s beyond the ability of their marketing teams to understand, let alone classify.

Looking to the gameplay a little more, we can see from the project page that this is a single player experience, playing out across the century, but what more can you say about the kinds of activities open to the players?

LS: Firstly, if it’s in the 5E rulebook, it’s a mechanic in the game, one way or another. All the long term events and laboratory mechanics will be in, as well as training, teaching, crafting, and so on. On top of that, though, there are new mechanics for Covenant Resources, Personalities (and especially their conflicts) and a Covenant Destiny mechanic, which follows you through the course of the game. Each Character has their own plotted storyline, and you will be able to follow a person’s career from birth to death, and fulfill their destinies along the way. Actually, which destiny you choose for a character to fulfill is the interesting part- there’s going to be a lot agonizing decisions for your favorite characters.

Here's the rest: subrosa Ars Magica magazine

Why Ars Magica? Don’t get me wrong, I love the setting, and have written on a lot of the 5th edition books, as well as organising the Grand Tribunal convention.I’m just wondering what particularly appealed to you about Ars, given the obvious complexities of the setting?

It is exactly the complexity of the setting that drew us to it. At BCS, we are committed to making the unique and unusual- there’s more than enough of the normal to go around already. And, in all seriousness, we believe that Ars Magica has the potential to uplift, challenge and perhaps even transform modern gaming, by showing players what *might* be possible, if only they demand it.

It's from the blog of Chris Jensen, one of the Ars Magica p&p authors. You can read the rest here: jerome23.wordpress

 

[Modron]

Shame this hasn't picked up more traction 30 thousand in first 5 days with a goal of 290,000 prognosis is bad... which is sad because these guys are fairly good writers and could probably deliver a fun rpg. Launch video left a little to be desired in terms of fleshing out game design; but if blackspace can show a fairly developed game and fail to reach it goals who knows how kick-starter momentum works.

 

[Crooked Bee]

It works on mainstream media coverage and name recognition, which is pretty ironic considering the main point of Kickstarter is to make non-mainstream games possible.

 

[Modron]

It works on mainstream media coverage and name recognition, which is pretty ironic considering the main point of Kickstarter is to make non-mainstream games possible.

And i imagine there is kind of a banker's paradox about kickstarter by that i mean people are less likely to pledge if a game looks like it isn't going to reach its goal.

 

[Turisas]

Moar like ARSE Magica, amirite guys.

 

[Morkar Left]

It works on mainstream media coverage and name recognition, which is pretty ironic considering the main point of Kickstarter is to make non-mainstream games possible.

And i imagine there is kind of a banker's paradox about kickstarter by that i mean people are less likely to pledge if a game looks like it isn't going to reach its goal.

Personally I didn't know that Ars Magica is still such an unknown p&p rpg for people. I thought that most p&p gamers had at least heard of it. The name recognition doesn't seem to work here.

Maybe the core fans are too traditional p&p gamers to look for a pc game? Still this strikes me with surprise because the developers have a very nerdy approach by even allowing to export your covenant and chars for the p&p game.

 

[clemens]

Maybe the core fans are too traditional p&p gamers to look for a pc game? Still this strikes me with surprise because the developers have a very nerdy approach by even allowing to export your covenant and chars for the p&p game.

Well, if that's any indication, the announcement of the video game doesn't seem to have unleashed a crazy wave of enthusiasm on the Atlas Games boards...
I think many core fans are, while excited, maybe a bit doubtful that ArM can be well adapted in cRPG format. (as i am myself).

Still, the guys at Black Chicken seem to have a good idea of what they're doing. The KoDP model would certainly work best for Ars Magica. The categorization of spells between covenant/adventure/battle also seems like a decent design concept...

 

[Morkar Left]

I have already a pretty good vision how the game will be from a design pov. The KoDP seems to me the only really viable model to get this thing right. Only thing I don't know how they want to implement combat and how much dialog there will be.

I don't expect to get the full Ars Magica "immersion". That's impossible. But even if the rpg parts were barebone the management part and the simulation of the timeperiod should be interesting enough for every AM fan to invest at least 20$ to be honest.

For example Birthright was a mediocre game at best but still fun enough to see the setting come alive on pc.

 

[Saxon1974]

Game not getting much traction, doesn't appear like its going to get funded. I love quasi-historical settings especially british ones so very interested in this. I cant seem to tell how the game is going to work though. Will it be mostly a game of handpainted still images with dialog and movement options like some of the pieces of the darklands game?

Is the game heavy with over use of magic? Does it have historical flavor in the writing or is it just dumped into the setting and then everything else is made up fantasy?

 

[Morkar Left]

To your first paragraph I'm pretty sure the answer is yes.

To your second paragraph; you could just play an Ars Magica pnp game without mages and you would have the most historical medieval setting ever. There are no orcs and similar things. Everything has a connection to medieval believes. Dwarves are usually feyfolk and not your dwarves from fantasy etc. The Ars Magica setting always payed A LOT of attention to historical authenticity (e.g. no cutted gems, only polished ones).

The mages are the "main actors" in the sense that they are the most important ones and control the direction your covenant will take. They are the rulers and make the important decisions. They are usually the most powerful chars, too but you want to keep them more involved in studies and all things magical and less in mundane tasks. Their magical aura is often inconvenient for common people (and horses), but there are exception (House Jerbiton mages don't get a penalty).

The companions are more your typical adventurer party. They either live in the covenant or are allied to it in some way or another. They could be hardy warriors, valiant knights, troubadours, thieves, cunning merchants, fay folk, clerics whatever. They have more and better mundane skills than mages and are usually experts in their fields.

Grogs are your standard fighters, levies and commoners who protect the covenant and do the daily common tasks (gathering food, watch duty, cleaning toilettes, caring for the horses etc.). They aren't as skilled as companions and are the peasants. Still, it#s up to you how the quality of the grogs will be. I have a lot of good memories with adventures where we played with grogs only and had a lot of fun.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Aaaahhhhhh I want this funded

 

[Trash]

Same here. Setting reminds me of Darklands with extra mages and gameplay has a lot of that King of Dragon Pass meets King Arthur's text queests vibe. Upped my pledge.

 

[Saxon1974]

To your first paragraph I'm pretty sure the answer is yes.

To your second paragraph; you could just play an Ars Magica pnp game without mages and you would have the most historical medieval setting ever. There are no orcs and similar things. Everything has a connection to medieval believes. Dwarves are usually feyfolk and not your dwarves from fantasy etc. The Ars Magica setting always payed A LOT of attention to historical authenticity (e.g. no cutted gems, only polished ones).

The mages are the "main actors" in the sense that they are the most important ones and control the direction your covenant will take. They are the rulers and make the important decisions. They are usually the most powerful chars, too but you want to keep them more involved in studies and all things magical and less in mundane tasks. Their magical aura is often inconvenient for common people (and horses), but there are exception (House Jerbiton mages don't get a penalty).

The companions are more your typical adventurer party. They either live in the covenant or are allied to it in some way or another. They could be hardy warriors, valiant knights, troubadours, thieves, cunning merchants, fay folk, clerics whatever. They have more and better mundane skills than mages and are usually experts in their fields.

Grogs are your standard fighters, levies and commoners who protect the covenant and do the daily common tasks (gathering food, watch duty, cleaning toilettes, caring for the horses etc.). They aren't as skilled as companions and are the peasants. Still, it#s up to you how the quality of the grogs will be. I have a lot of good memories with adventures where we played with grogs only and had a lot of fun.

Sounds great, want more games with historical settings where the folklore is real. Think I will pledge hope it gets funded.

Any idea how the combat will work? I think the page said something about old school turn based on the RPG's initiative rules. Anyone know how those work?

It also mentioned you can use environment in combat, i like that but the part about using furniture to attack your foe sounds weird

 

[Morkar Left]

Combat can be pretty deadly and without magical healing regeneration takes a lot of time like in reality. With magic you have to spend vis (some kind of collectible mana) to give the healing a permanent effect. For combat the game has different fighting styles/ skills (sword, sword & board, twohanded, two weapon, spear etc.) and differentiates between combat range depending on your weapon.

For a detailed look I can only recommend to have a look in the rules: http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=AG0204.

Using the environment is not really a special part of ArM but spontaneous casting opens a lot of possibilities there if you have a mage with you.

 

[CappenVarra]

Project Update #4: Your Friday morning Ars Magica update: Combat!


17%!

We're still a good long way to funding, but we are marching right along. Speaking of marching, today’s Update is about Combat, struggle, and hopefully victory.

Getting into Trouble

As mentioned in previous Updates, Combat can come as a result of Opportunities (your Covenfolk are ambushed, you prepare a raid against the local banditry, something goes terribly wrong and so on) and during the course of quests. Combat is party based, highly tactical, abstract and very old school.

The Middle Ages were Lethal

First of all, combat in the Ars Magica tabletop game is not something to take lightly. For those of you unfamiliar with the rules, hitting or missing is determined by a simple roll based on Attack and Defense factors, with degree of damage based on your weapon and the defender’s ability to ‘Soak’, or resist, wounding. A strong and well-armored warrior can dispatch many foes...but eventually even the greatest will fall due to fatigue and wounds. A weak and unarmored wizard, on the other hand is hopeless in a melee, and a dagger in the right hands can end your favorite character in a heartbeat.

Be careful.

Combat in Years of Conquest uses the tabletop system in full and adds in an extra dimension of environmental effects. On the tabletop, you have a GM to tell you what your surroundings are, and in the video game you have the Environment. This is an abstract set of features and conditions which are reachable by any party (with some restrictions on positionality) within the bounds of the combat. It’s very diverse, and can range from a tree, your wagon, a muddy pool and a boulder, all in one encounter.

Negotiating with the Battlefield

Your party, and your opponent, use these environmental features to take shelter, improve their defenses, carry our special attacks, and to gain other bonuses. Unlike other tactical rpgs, the limits of your positional tactics aren’t flanks and area of effect cones, but rather the interaction of where you’ve positioned your characters versus where they’ve positioned their characters, and how you can best use that to your advantage. Characters themselves can be features, too- an important distinction when you really need to protect someone, for instance your mage.

A quick example of a typical combat situation might be helpful here: a warrior is making use of a ‘Narrow Ground’ feature so that your melee can only attack him, and no one else on the field. Meanwhile, an archer is at a ‘Tree Limb’ feature, which improves his ranged attacks. You might instruct your characters to contest the ‘Narrow Ground’ feature and rob the warrior of its bonus, direct your mage to snap the ‘Tree Limb’ and send the archer plummeting, take cover behind a ‘Boulder’, or make use of a ‘Witty Taunt’ action to bring the warrior to you (thereby removing the feature from them.) Only through careful use of the Environment will you be victorious- and since unused parts of the Environment refresh each round to reflect the shifting circumstances in combat, you’ll need to be constantly adapting tactics to succeed.

Magic and the Environment

For most of your covenfolk, features offer variations on key concepts: attack, defense, denial and movement. For your mages, however, features offer unique ways to set your opponent on fire, snare them, charm them to your side and empower your magic. Every feature usually has one or more spell action associated with it, allowing mages proficient with spells (or good at Spontaneous Magic) the ability to use the Environment against your foes. Turning your opponents ‘Narrow Ground’ into a muddy trap, using tree branches to capture the archer or tossing the boulder on top of a bandit is just the beginning...

Sweet Victory

Combat continues until one party flees, surrenders or is charmed into submission. And if you hold the field you’ll able to recover your wounded, loot, and progress...if not, well...you might find some of those lost items in a merchant’s inventory down the road. No promises.

Thanks for a great week!

Thanks to everyone again for the bumps, posts and conversations going on around the net. We’ll need that if we’re going to get our project out to a wider audience, and we thank you all for the help and support now and to come! The next Update will feature the Schism War, and give you all a bit more insight on what that is, and why it’s so exciting for Ars Magica fans.

See you Monday!

 

[Morkar Left]

Update Number 5 is up: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.../342928?ref=email&show_token=ec1ff631ceccc177

Basically it's about the overarching Magi society and how they interact with each other. Additionally it describes a bit how the Ars Magica medieval age differs from the real counterpart by incorporating the magic (inexplicit).

For more clarification from my side:

There are magical Houses which are magical traditions in the Order of Hermes. E.g. Tremere are good in Certamen (magical almost unbloody duel), Bonisagus are the best in developing new spells, Flambeau the best firestarters, Verditius the best magic item crafters etc. Mages often have some responsibilities to their houses (but not necessary) and some common quirks
they share e.g. house Tytalus enjoys conflicts in every form, meridna are often enigmatic and enjoy riddles etc.

The Order of Hermes is the main organization all magi belong to and there are pretty good reasons for a magi to be a mage of the Hermes Order - mainly political power, protection from the mundane world, protection from other mages, resources, powerful unique spells and the most versatile magic system you can built your magic on (but there are still a lot of wild mages who aren't part of the Order).

Tribunals are pretty important meetings of different covenants from one area to form political decision (mundane and magical, innerhouse and outer affairs), e.g. the Stonehenge tribunal which covers roughly the GB region or the Rheintribunal in Germany. Every mage from the region can go to a tribunal and has one vote. Which obviously causes always a lot of politics, intrigue and plotting. But a mage don't have to vote and can even pass his right to vote to some other mage. This is a common practice between members of a covenant (traveling is such a distraction from studies after all...).

 

[Black]

I wish them well but doubt it's going to ~5 times as much as they got now.