Ars Magica, mostly
Jun. 19th, 2005 07:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofastolatThis weekend I have mostly been reading… "A treatise on the majik of destruction," by Regius of House Flambeau, "Dominating the weak of mind," by Cygnar of House Tytalus,…. oh, and "Memories of ice" by Steven Erikson, far more so than I ever intended.
The first ones I didn't read for real, unforunately. ("Dominating the weak of mind" would be very useful at work.) It's all part of Ars Magica. In this system, character development takes place as much off camera, as it does during our actual adventures. At the end of every adventure, we're sent away to work out how our characters spend their down time before the next thrilling installment.
In our last adventure, we were hardly stellar. We were en route to Germany to buy furniture, but our very clever leader said, "Ooh, look! There's an enormous Black Bird of Obvious Evil over there, shouting out "I am trying to lure you to your doom!" Let's follow it into that fog bank, and… oh dear. Have we run aground on a rocky island strewn with half-eaten bodies? Oops."
My character, Eglantine, performed admirably, with a very inspired Phantasmal Donkey saving everyone's life. But the others all let me down, and we ended up stranded on the island for a year, with the GM saying worryingly, "If you end up dying because you've been stupid, I won't feel remotely guilty."
Anyway… We got off finally, and our GM has now given us three whole years to play with, clearly hoping that we spend those years becoming halfway decent mages, and will actually suceed in the next adventure.
(Actually, the main reason for our patheticness is not that we're no good at magic. It's because we've all taken "rounded characterisation" to extremes. Instead of creating a bunch of power-mages who work well as a finely oiled team, we've all created dysfuntional chaps who bicker all the time, keep secrets, and stab each other in the back.)
But, even so, I plan to spend the three years studying. There's lot of other things I could do, like creating an Item of Exciting Magicness, or inventing a Killer Spell of Amazing Sneakiness, but I'm quite a new mage, and am just not clever enough for that. So reading it is. Three years stuck in a library, reading.
I've only played this mage for one adventure. My previous character was a knight, Sir Archibald, a pretty-but-dumb paladin type, whose obsession with smiting evil makes him a liability to all around him. It soon transpired that Archy was in love with his 18 year old squire, Cyril. I don't think our GM approved of Ars Magica slash, because he hastily promoted Cyril to Knight, married him off to the local baron's daughter, and left Archy broken-hearted and Squireless. He has now gone off to France to smite Frenchmen, and I've created a second character to play with instead for a while.
Admittedly, this three year reading list is rather academic, since before the three years' down time even start, I'm scheduled to fight a duel with a mage who delights in burning things to a crisp. I rather suspect that Gouts of Searing Flame will beat Phantasmal Donkeys any day.
Back in the real world…. King Pellinor has gone off questing in the Lake District all weekend. I had to work yesterday, but I had great plans for my Sunday. I would do such creative and wonderful things. I would work on those plans for world dom… I mean, I would clean the house. I would garden. I would write… Okay, I was probably going to spend the day playing KOTOR2, but, still…
Anyway, I woke up early, and decided to read in bed for a short while, hoping it would make me dozy and I could sleep again.
Six hours later, I was still there. Oh well..
So time only to work on my Ars Magica plans for a while, do a belated website update, and now it's the evening and it's time to go role-playing…
I hope Eglantine is still alive tomorrow, not burned to a fiery crisp.
The first ones I didn't read for real, unforunately. ("Dominating the weak of mind" would be very useful at work.) It's all part of Ars Magica. In this system, character development takes place as much off camera, as it does during our actual adventures. At the end of every adventure, we're sent away to work out how our characters spend their down time before the next thrilling installment.
In our last adventure, we were hardly stellar. We were en route to Germany to buy furniture, but our very clever leader said, "Ooh, look! There's an enormous Black Bird of Obvious Evil over there, shouting out "I am trying to lure you to your doom!" Let's follow it into that fog bank, and… oh dear. Have we run aground on a rocky island strewn with half-eaten bodies? Oops."
My character, Eglantine, performed admirably, with a very inspired Phantasmal Donkey saving everyone's life. But the others all let me down, and we ended up stranded on the island for a year, with the GM saying worryingly, "If you end up dying because you've been stupid, I won't feel remotely guilty."
Anyway… We got off finally, and our GM has now given us three whole years to play with, clearly hoping that we spend those years becoming halfway decent mages, and will actually suceed in the next adventure.
(Actually, the main reason for our patheticness is not that we're no good at magic. It's because we've all taken "rounded characterisation" to extremes. Instead of creating a bunch of power-mages who work well as a finely oiled team, we've all created dysfuntional chaps who bicker all the time, keep secrets, and stab each other in the back.)
But, even so, I plan to spend the three years studying. There's lot of other things I could do, like creating an Item of Exciting Magicness, or inventing a Killer Spell of Amazing Sneakiness, but I'm quite a new mage, and am just not clever enough for that. So reading it is. Three years stuck in a library, reading.
I've only played this mage for one adventure. My previous character was a knight, Sir Archibald, a pretty-but-dumb paladin type, whose obsession with smiting evil makes him a liability to all around him. It soon transpired that Archy was in love with his 18 year old squire, Cyril. I don't think our GM approved of Ars Magica slash, because he hastily promoted Cyril to Knight, married him off to the local baron's daughter, and left Archy broken-hearted and Squireless. He has now gone off to France to smite Frenchmen, and I've created a second character to play with instead for a while.
Admittedly, this three year reading list is rather academic, since before the three years' down time even start, I'm scheduled to fight a duel with a mage who delights in burning things to a crisp. I rather suspect that Gouts of Searing Flame will beat Phantasmal Donkeys any day.
Back in the real world…. King Pellinor has gone off questing in the Lake District all weekend. I had to work yesterday, but I had great plans for my Sunday. I would do such creative and wonderful things. I would work on those plans for world dom… I mean, I would clean the house. I would garden. I would write… Okay, I was probably going to spend the day playing KOTOR2, but, still…
Anyway, I woke up early, and decided to read in bed for a short while, hoping it would make me dozy and I could sleep again.
Six hours later, I was still there. Oh well..
So time only to work on my Ars Magica plans for a while, do a belated website update, and now it's the evening and it's time to go role-playing…
I hope Eglantine is still alive tomorrow, not burned to a fiery crisp.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-19 10:33 pm (UTC)Hmmn, why does that seem strangely familiar? Does she get a BA at the end of it?
no subject
Date: 2005-06-20 08:20 am (UTC)So tell us more about Eglantine! ;-)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-20 04:54 pm (UTC)Eglantine can remember little of his first five years, but he knows for a fact that a jealous half-brother or an evil uncle was behind his loss. He knows that his mother (a fairy queen, obviously) is still looking for him all over the place, desperate to find her little boy. When she finds him, he will assume his rightful place at her side, honoured by all.
His natural magical talents led to him being trained as a mage, but his main obsession is in finding out more about fairies, and he likes to rush off to wherever fairies are sighted, in case this will be the long-dreamed-of reunion with his family. I have to work fairly hard to provide him with the motivation to join in with the adventures the party encounters.
Actually, I rather suspect that his family kicked him out because he's an arrogant spoiled brat, but I can't be sure of this. Maybe one day the GM will allow Eglantine to meet his family, and I can find out the truth about his backstory.
Since he is half fairy, his magic is very much of the "messing with people's minds" variety. He's great at imaginem, and pretty good at mentem. He's recently started learning corpus, since it seems fun to mess with people's bodies, as well as their minds.
He's handsome - of course! - and charismatic and charming... when he's not being an arrogant brat, that is. He's easily bored and easily distracted, but probably good at heart, perhaps, maybe. He's the sort of mage who would never dream of going out without having cast an illusion of prettiness on his clothing and hair.
The year is currently 1217, by the way, and the setting is northen England. We started playing with 4th edition rules, and switched (rather confusingly) to 5th edition half way through.
I've not played other systems (though I've played lots of computer games that use D&D rules) but I think this one is great!
no subject
Date: 2005-06-20 06:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-21 07:31 am (UTC)Well, except when I play UT as Killer Kitten. But that's just because it's fun. When I've crept up behind one of my fellow male players and blown their head off, the victory feels all the more sweet for knowing that they've had to suffer the humiliation of being killed by a girl.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-21 11:49 am (UTC)Where do you think all the "Asthmatic Ant" and "Fluffy Bunny" names I use came from? :-)
Cheers,
Pell.R.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-21 03:50 pm (UTC)Ahem
Date: 2005-06-21 12:03 pm (UTC)On sighting the bird, you will recall that I identified it firstly as magical in nature and secondly as a guide of some sort. Being unwilling to leave magical activity so close to the covenant uninvestigated I proposed that we inquire further. Now being but second among equals I would expect (and hope for) my suggestions to be commented on by my sodales where they suspected I might be in error; as I recall, one mage was curled up in the cabin whimpering, another idly looking for flammable items, and the third distinctly uninterested in events.
Having decided, with tacit fraternal approval, to sail in that direction I naturally left the actual running of the ship to the captain and crew - I being no sailor, of course. The blame for the subsequent wreck of the ship must surely be laid at the door of the fellows who had charge of the vessel and quite evidently neglected that duty.
I would also point out, although it is perhaps somewhat irrelevant to this tale, that my honoured sodales find themselves able to spend time in their library due solely to the preparation of the Potion of Homecoming, a brew which Roland proved incapable of devising until such time as I stepped in to the laboratory - after which a much more potent brew that he had even been aiming for was made. One might have thought a little credit to be due.
Yours,
Robin ex Bonisagus.