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  Hermes’ Portal
  Issue n° 1
  September 2001
  � � �
  Who’s Who   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
  Publisher’s Corner  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
  Form and Substance  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
  by David Chart
  Prelude to Forever  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
  by Timothy Ferguson
  Review  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
  by Archmagus Heracles of Tremere
  Dear Abelard  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  The Hermetic University  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
  by Niall Christie
  Revised Book Rules  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  by David Chart
  Heretic’s Corner  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  by Michaël de Verteuil
  Customizing Flaws for Your Saga  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
  by Andrew Gronosky
  hermes’ portal
  Publisher: Hermes’ Portal
  Layout: Eric Kouris
  Contributors: Abelard, David Chart, Niall Christie, Timothy Ferguson, Andrew Gronosky, Eric Kouris, Michaël de Verteuil
  Editorial and proofreading help: Sheila Thomas
  Cover and back: Radja Sauperamaniane
  Interior illustrations: Angela Taylor, Radja Sauperamaniane
  Thanks: Sheila Thomas, Neil Taylor, Michaël de Verteuil for their constant support, Angela Taylor, Radja Sauperamaniane for their illus-
  trations, John Nephew for answering my questions.
  Hermes’ Portal is an independent publication dedicated to Ars Magica players. Hermes’ Portal is available through email only.
  Hermes’ Portal is not affiliated with Atlas Games or White Wolf Gaming Studio. References to trademarks of those companies are not
  intended to infringe upon the rights of those parties. Ars Magica was created by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein•Hangen.
  Hermes’ Portal # 1, Copyright ©2001, Hermes’ Portal. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work is allowed for personnal use only.
  Contacting HP
  Email
  Hermes.Portal@wanadoo.fr
  Web site
  www.hermesportal.fr.st
  
  Who’s Who?
  David Chart
  David Chart has been writing material for Ars
  Magica since the first Wizard’s Grimoire. He was
  co-developer of the Wizard’s Grimoire Revised
  Edition, and author of Heirs to Merlin. In real life,
  he is a mild mannered teacher of philosophy.
  Niall Christie
  Niall Christie is a mediaeval Islamic historian,
  currently finishing a position at the University of
  Toronto, before spending a year researching at
  Cornell University in upstate New York. His wife,
  Steph, is a Visiting Professor in the department of
  mathematics at Cornell, and so they don’t argue
  about their work very much.
  Niall has been playing and writing material for
  Ars Magica since he was first introduced to the
  game in 1992. He is also involved in the Society for
  Creative Anachronism as a singer and storyteller.
  He says his hobbies allow him to explore the
  “what-ifs” of history that wouldn’t stand up to
  academic study, but this may just be an excuse for
  being a roleplaying geek.
  Timothy Ferguson
  Timothy Ferguson is 28 and works as a library
  locum in Thuringowa, North Queensland, Aus-
  tralia. He’s currently fossicking about for a new
  job, as locums do, and studying for his next degree.
  Andrew Gronosky
  Andrew Gronosky is a scientific programmer
  living near Boston, Massachusetts. He even knows
  how to spell “Massachusetts.” He has been playing
  Ars Magica since 1st Edition in 1988. His most
  significant gaming-related accomplishment has
  been meeting an unattached, female gamer— a
  feat heretofore believed impossible— and being
  fortunate enough to become her boyfriend. And
  he owes it all to Ars Magica.
  Eric Kouris
  Eric is 34 and teaches mathematics. He began
  playing RPGs in 1982 with FGU’s Chivalry & Sor-
  cery (instead of AD&D), then Space Opera, Call of
  Cthulhu,… In 1989, he turned to Ars Magica, and in
  1994, he began publishing a French zine for Ars
  Magica named Ars Mag. To this day, 23 issues have
  been released. He also regularly plays go and you
  can meet him on the IGS go server.
  Radja Sauperamaniane
  Radja is working in a game store in Paris. He
  worked on the card game Zoon. He has been doing
  illustrations for Ars Mag since issue #11.
  Angela Taylor
  Angela studied English Literature at Clare Col-
  lege, Cambridge, and Mediaeval History at York,
  taught for some years, then married Neil. She
  draws and paints, while making rude comments
  about Neil’s gaming (fair enough, really!); she is a
  non-gamer… almost a “gaming widow” even!
  Sheila Thomas (editor)
  Sheila Thomas has been editing technical pub-
  lications for paper and electronic distribution for
  years. This is her first attempt at doing it for game
  material. She discovered RPGs about ten years ago
  but it was a couple of years before she learnt that
  AD&D wasn’t the only RPG system around. She
  now devotes most of her gaming time to Ars Mag-
  ica but is still playing in that AD&D campaign.
  Michaël de Verteuil
  Michaël de Verteuil, Canadian political analyst,
  Ars Magica storyguide, co-author of
  Ordo
  Nobilis, amateur medievalist, occasional contribu-
  tor to Ars Mag, and a noted Berklist pugilist, is the
  lead writer for Heretic’s Corner, a column devoted
  to suggesting simplifications to the Ars Magica
  rules and to providing simple solutions to rule
  problems. Michaël (pronounced Mee-ka-el) is cur-
  rently a consultant for the pre-planning phase of
  an upcoming French language medieval adventure
  TV series based on the house of Savoy and aimed
  at young teens. Interested readers are invited to
  submit suggestions or comments concerning
  Heretic’s Corner to m_de_verteuil@sympatico.ca.
  � � �
  Publisher’s Corner
  A long time ago, following the example of
  Peter Henges’ Redcap, I proposed to my friends the
  idea of publishing a French zine for Ars Magica.
  Against the odds (I didn’t have a computer at the
  time), I managed to release issue #1 of Ars Mag, a
  20 page zine. Last July, I published issue #23, 80
  pages long.
  When Damelon Kimbrough annouced the end
  of Mythic Perspectives, I suggested publication of a
  pdf zine, getting rid of one of the problems that
  plagued the life of Damelon’s zine. Hermes’ Portal
  is the result!
  To be honest, I have to thank all the people
  contributing to this issue. Without them this zine
  wouldn’t exist. But I also have to thank Damelon.
  Many of the articles appearing in this issue (and
  also in the forthcoming issues) were first written
  for Mythic Perspectives, turning this issue of Hermes’
  Portal into a tribute to Damelon’s zine.
  What you’ll find in Hermes’ Portal has been writ-
  ten for players by players. They all have their own
  views on the game. Maybe you’ll disagree with
  them, maybe not. Either way, I’ll be glad to publish
  your comments to widen the audience for Hermes’
  Portal and make it your own zine.
  Lastly, this zine was time-consumming to pro-
  duce and the subscriptions will be given to the
  authors. To see other issues produced, please don’t
  distribute this file. This way, Hermes’ Portal will fol-
  low in Ars Mag’s steps.
  3
  
  Form and Substance
  by David Chart
  M
  ythic Perspectives held three
  annual fiction competitions. The
  stories from the first competition
  were published in the special fic-
  tion supplement, but the stories from later compe-
  titions remained unpublished. This story won the
  second competition, but this is its first publication.
  � � �
  “Hoc est corpus.”
  “Hic est panis,” Stephen thought, as he chewed
  and swallowed the Host. The cathedral was huge
  around him, filled with the chattering of the peo-
  ple as the archbishop and his deacon moved on
  among the communicants. Slowly, Stephen stood
  and made his way back into the nave. People
  glanced at him and stepped aside as he passed, but
  the magus barely noticed them, lost in disappoint-
  ment. There were sounds of a scuffle from the
  shrine as someone tried to climb into Becket’s
  tomb, but he only glanced at it. Bread. It was
  always bread.
  He stopped in the nave and raised his face
  towards heaven. Bread, but he could feel the pow-
  er, lying over him like a heavy blanket, muffling his
  Gift until he made the effort to push it aside.
  Something was real, here.
  He became aware of someone standing beside
  him.
  “Sir, are you all right? Do you wish to be taken
  to the shrine?” Stephen realised he must have
  looked like a blind man, and turned to the young
  clerk. His face was earnest, and he was dressed in
  rags. A glance down revealed that he was barefoot.
  “I was just thinking about God,” Stephen
  replied, “and his ministers.” The young man
  bowed his head.
  “Then I am sorry to have disturbed you. It is
  an ill thing, to disturb a man at prayer.”
  “Oh, I was not praying, simply thinking.” He
  began walking from the church, with the clerk at
  his side.
  “But surely any thought about God is a
  prayer.”
  “It depends what you are thinking. I was won-
  dering whether God really showed his power
  through the sacraments, whether the priesthood
  are really his vessels.”
  “We know that it is so, for the Holy Church
  teaches it.”
  “And still the bread remains bread, and the
  wine, wine.” The clerk looked slightly shocked at
  that, and shook his head vigorously.
  “No, they become the body and blood of Our
  Lord. That is the mystery of the Mass.” Stephen
  smiled, and reached into his pouch for a coin,
  holding it out to the poor man.
  “Here, have something, buy some shoes.” But
  the clerk shook his head.
  “I will not take money. I have vowed myself to
  Lady Poverty.” They were outside the church now,
  walking through the mud and filth of the fore-
  court.
  “Ah, one of the little brothers of Francis. Well
  then, let me at least buy you some food.” The fri-
  ar smiled at that.
  “May God bless you.” Stephen smiled a little
  wryly at that, and went to buy the food.
  He sat with the friar as he ate, on a stump on
  the edge of the city, watching the pilgrims pass to
  and fro. The friar waved his hand at the crowds.
  “They come sick, and they return healed. What
  more proof could you want?”
  “It isn’t proof I need. I know that God has His
  hand on the church. I can feel it when I stand in
  the nave, more strongly in the sanctuary.”
  “Truly?” the friar asked, wide eyed. “You can
  feel the presence of God?” The magus nodded,
  gazing at the horizon.
  4
  
  “I know that He is. credo, sed non intellego.” The
  friar looked a little blank. “I believe, but I do not
  understand. Anselm of
  Canterbury said he
  believed in order to understand, but I can only
  manage the first part.”
  “Is understanding that important? Aren’t belief
  and obedience enough?”
  “Not for me. I must know what I believe. I
  must know that I am not deceived, that when I
  think I feel the hand of God it truly is His hand,
  and not the devil’s.”
  The friar ate in silence for a while, and Stephen
  did not interrupt him. Finally, the clerk looked
  straight at him.
  “Come with me, and I will show you.” Stephen
  looked into his eyes. There was no deceit, only
  faith and the intention to teach by example.
  “Very well, Martin. I have looked in the cathe-
  drals and monasteries. I will look by the roads as
  well.”
  � � �
  Before they had been together a week Martin
  was commenting on the weather, and the provi-
  dence that God was showing. Stephen smiled a lit-
  tle, but did not enlighten him. He had no intention
  of slogging through mud to get his revelation, and
  it was easy enough for him to turn such weather
  aside. That knowledge might disconcert the young
  friar, however.
  He was reluctant to talk about himself, prefer-
  ring to talk about God and Francis. Stephen lis-
  tened to his prattle, enjoying the company of sim-
  ple faith for a while. But there was no sign of great
  revelations.
  � � �
  They heard the noise before they saw anything,
  and Stephen suggested that they should leave the
  road and hide in the fields. Martin shook his head.
  “God will protect us, you will see.” Feeling
  that, if necessary, he could supply God’s office in
  this matter, Stephen let himself be persuaded, and
  they continued round the corner.
  The bandits had surrounded a small group of
  women and one of them, stripped of her clothes,
  was being forced to the ground.
  “Mother of God preserve them!” Martin
  breathed, and then ran forward. “Stop! In the
  name of God, what are you doing?” One of the
  bandits turned, and casually threw his spear
  towards the friar. Without a thought, Stephen
  turned it aside. Martin came to a dead stop, and
  began to turn.
  The bandits were not stopped by awe. Two of
  them rushed towards him, pausing only to push
  Martin to the ground. As they approached first
  one, and then the other, fell to the ground in a
  deep sleep. Martin struggled to his feet, and saw
  the bandits reach Stephen and begin beating him.
  For a moment, he couldn’t decide who to aid, but
  as he wavered the remaining bandits, and the
  women, also fell asleep.
  The bandits beating Stephen vanished, and the
  magus, unharmed, walked briskly towards him.
  “Come along, we must get the women out of
  there.” He picked his way among the fallen bodies,
  carefully rolling the bandits aside. He put his cloak
  around the naked woman, and woke her up. As she
  realised where she was, her terror returned. “Hush,
  you’re safe for now. Go to the friar.” He wakened
  the next one, and realised that the women were
  nuns. He wondered why they had been travelling
  without an escort, and started to look around for
  wounded. There were none in sight. Martin was
  reassuring the nuns, and he quickly followed
  Stephen’s beckon. A short distance down the road
  the magus turned, and sent the bandits a dream
  they would not soon forget. He realised that Mar-
  tin was staring at him, but the nuns, much relieved,
  were chattering about the intervention of St
  Thomas, whose shrine they were visiting.
  They escorted them to the next village, and
  learned that one of the bandits had been escorting
  them, as their original escort had fallen ill with a
  fever. At the village, Stephen found a couple of
  trustworthy men, and gave them twelve pence
  each to see the nuns safely to Canterbury, two
  days’ journey away. The nuns thanked him, and
  promised to pray for his soul, but Martin was
  silent.
  � � �
  As they walked away from the village, the friar
  was obviously lost in thought. He kept glancing at
  the magus, and starting to speak. Finally, Stephen
  decided he needed some encouragement.
  “Say it, Martin.”
  “Who are you?”
  “Stephen, as I told you. Someone searching for
  God.”
  “But surely you have already found him. Those
  were miracles!”
  “No more than the strength of your arms or
  the sight of your eyes. No less, mark you, but no
  more.”
  “What? I don’t understand.”
  “I’m a wizard, Martin. God’s gifts to me
  include the power to work wonders. Which is why
  I am not convinced by miracles. I know of at least
  three powers that can do such things: my own, the
  fay, and the devil. I need to know that God is
  something other than that.”
  The friar was silent again, and they walked on.
  “You can’t be a devil sent to tempt me.”
  “How do you know?”
  “You haven’t tempted me.” Stephen burst out
  laughing, from pure happiness at the man’s sim-
  plicity.
  “Very true.”
  “And you took Mass in the cathedral, and in
  the church last Sunday. You can’t be a devil.”
  “I am not a devil, Martin. Just a man.”
  5
  
  “You aren’t that either. I saw what you did. No
  man can do that.”
  “Not many, true. But there are others.”
  “It must be God’s power.” Stephen sighed.
  “No more than your arm. Look.” The road
  turned to silver in front of them, leading to a gold-
  en castle. Beautiful naked maidens stood by the
  road, calling to them to come in and enjoy the
  pleasures of their bodies. The image vanished as
  Martin stood, open mouthed. “God would not
  create such a vision, would he?”
  “No. But the devil would not snatch it away
  before I could sin. So, you are a man.”
  “I am.”
  “And you seek God. Even with your power,
  you seek God.”
  “It isn’t about power, or wealth. What have you
  given up to seek God?” Martin blushed.
  “You know?”
  “Not in detail, but I do know that you gave up
  much.”
  “My father was William Marshal. I am a bas-
  tard son, but I was a favoured bastard. The child
  of his old age, like Joseph.” Stephen drew in a
  sharp breath.
  “You did give up a lot. You see, even with that,
  you had to seek.” Martin nodded.
  “Seek, and you will find.”
  “But when?”
  � � �
  The bell fell silent as they hurried through the
  streets of the village, towards the dilapidated
  church. There was a crowd of people pushing its
  way through the door, and they could hear, faintly,
  the first words of the mass. Martin plucked at
  Stephen’s sleeve, and picked up his pace.
  “We’ll be late!” Stephen looked at the church,
  its roof covered with oak shingles that almost
  seemed to be alive, shifting… He drew his breath
  in sharply, and muttered the words of a spell. Mar-
  tin heard him, and stopped in his tracks.
  “Stephen?”
  “Get them out of the church. The roof is
  going to collapse.” The friar broke into a full run,
  yelling at the top of his voice, and Stephen wasn’t
  far behind. The magus ran to the side of the
  church, laying his hands on it as he spoke, firmly,
  the words of another spell. As the last syllable
  sounded, he felt the weight of the roof, the shift-
  ing of the rotten beams, and he held them. He
  stood there, still, as the congregation streamed out,
  kept from panic by the soothing words of the
  priest. He and Martin were the last to leave, and
  the friar stopped to speak to the magus.
  “Everyone is out. They are safe.” Breathing
  heavily, Stephen stepped back from the wall. For a
  moment nothing happened, then, with a groan,
  the roof caved in, raising clouds of dust. As the
  timbers fell Stephen thought he heard a scream of
  frustrated malice, and Martin turned sharply.
  “Did you hear that?” the friar asked. Stephen
  nodded.
  “I know of three powers…” he said, quietly,
  and Martin shuddered. The priest was thanking
  them for the warning, and Stephen explained that
  he had seen the roof shifting as they approached,
  saying that he had worked as a carpenter, and knew
  the signs. As they left the village, Martin pressed
  him for more explanation.
  “You never worked as a carpenter, I’m sure.”
  “No. But the truth would not have served very
  well there.”
  “How did you know?”
  “My magic lets me see things you cannot.” He
  pointed to a clump of trees. “To you, they look
  much the same, do they not?” The friar peered at
  them for a moment, and nodded. “The one on the
  left, with the crow on it, will be dead before the
  end of the year. Already the disease has eaten away
  much of its heart.”
  “But if you can tell so much, surely you know
  about the Mass. Or do you know that they are
  merely bread and wine?” His voice shook, and the
  friar looked more afraid than he had when facing
  the bandits.
  “I know that they are bread and wine before
  the consecration. I know that I can tell nothing
  afterwards. I also know that the fay and the devil
  can do that, as can those of my sodales who sur-
  pass me in power. There is certainly a power at
  work in the Mass.”
  The friar nodded, and then smiled.
  “You are a good man, Stephen, and you are
  looking with all your heart. God will not hide from
  you for ever.”
  For a moment, the magus truly believed him.
  � � �
  They were walking past a field where men were
  mowing the hay when there was a scream, and one
  of the mowers fell. As usual, Martin hurried over,
  Stephen following. The man had slipped, and his
  scythe had sliced his thigh to the bone. His blood
  pumped out onto the ground, and he looked like-
  ly to die.
  “Heal him!” Martin urged, under his breath.
  “I can’t. I have no vis.”
  “Trust God. Heal him.”
  The magus laid his hands on the leg, and the
  wound closed, disappearing as the other mowers
  reached them. The wounded man sat up, wonder
  on his face.
  “You must get home. The wound may re-open
  in time.” At sunset, Stephen thought. The man
  stood, feeling no pain, and shook his head.
  “It’s fine. Some saint must have healed me. The
  friar’s prayers, that’s what did it.” He pulled a pen-
  ny from his belt. “I’ll vow this penny to any saint
  you choose, friar.” Martin paused a moment.
  “Vow it to the Mother of God.” The man bent
  the coin between his fingers.
  “It is done. I shall give it as an offering.”
  6
  
  He went back to mowing, more slowly than
  before, and Martin turned to leave. Stephen
  grabbed his shoulder.
  “The healing will only last until sunset. Then
  the wound will be as bad as it was before. My pow-
  er has limits, and this is one of them.”
  “Then we wait, and aid him again if necessary.”
  “He might be annoyed about that penny.” Mar-
  tin laughed, then.
  “I don’t think he’ll worry about the penny.”
  The two went to sit at the edge of the field,
  watching the mowers move as the sun sank.
  Stephen felt it touch the horizon, but he hadn’t
  worn a Parma for months, so he did nothing as his
  nerves strained for the scream.
  It never came. The sun sank, the mowers
  packed up and left, and none of them collapsed to
  the ground. Indeed, the healed worker came over
  to them, and offered to let them sleep in his house
  that night. Martin accepted, because Stephen was
  still too dazed to speak.
  � � �
  “That was the power of God.” Stephen only
  nodded as they walked towards the church. Martin
  continued. “Now, look at the Mass with the eyes of
  faith.”
  They entered the rural church, its floor dirty
  and the Doom painted on the walls faded and
  peeling. The priest’s vestments were almost as
  worn as Martin’s clothes, but he looked at the mir-
  acle-working friar with great respect, a respect that
  Martin returned. The parishioners were all present,
  crowded into the church, waiting with bated
  breath to see a miracle. The priest stumbled
  through the Mass, his tongue mangling the Latin,
  but sincerity shining through. Finally, he came to
  offer the Host to the communicants.
  “Hoc est corpus.”
  “Hoc est verum corpus.”
  7
  Appolonios of Jerbiton
  � � �
  We’ll be in Twilight Tonight
  When the young maga Medea of Flambeau meets Talos of Merinita, she does not know they will be
  the last rampart against the fall of the Order. Battling unknown enemies with great displays of force and
  facing the political intrigues of a dying Order, they follow the guidance of an old Criamon to combine their
  Gift in a way never previously thought of and save the day, bringing back peace to their sodales.
  Already 300 copies sold!
  Now, We’ll be in Twilight Tonight is available in soft leather cover travel edition. You can order it
  from any Redcap!
  What they say
  ‘Compulsively readable. From the beginning we are hypnotized. The reader feels he has glimpsed expe-
  riences no mundane ever had.’
  Harco’s Tribune
  ‘Sometimes you open a book and find within a dozen pages that the world inside is more solid than the
  laboratory where you sit; surely destined to become a classic. It is, perhaps, a work of genius.’
  Valnastium Book Review
  ‘A rich and unforgettable tale of dazzling scenes and vivid personalities.’
  Library Journal of Durenmar
  ‘Tinged with mystery, the story is involving, the twists surprising.’
  Gustavus of Bonisagus
  ‘I read it thrice from end to beginning and I didn’t understand anything. A true enigma!’
  Arnobius of Criamon
  � � �
  Don’t miss the upcoming sequel to this brilliant fit of imagination.
  Pre-order today your copy of Familiar Business for four pawns of
  Vis only (including delivery by a Redcap). Copied on high quality vel-
  lum by competent scribes, embellished with full-page plates and illu-
  minations, and bound in a luxury hard leather cover. The dream of
  any librarian!
  
  Prelude to Forever
  by Timothy Ferguson
  T
  he Prelude to Forever is an adventure
  that stands alone, but is designed to
  form part of the For Ever and Ever? arc.
  Its purpose in the arc is to prepare a
  player-character for their central role in the narra-
  tive. When played as a stand-alone adventure, it
  deepens the characterization of a magus, allows
  them to develop a Virtue, constructs a friendly
  covenant, introduces a powerful ally, and allows
  the other characters to step outside their roles for
  part of a game session. It is suitable for one-to-
  one or troupe play.
  The Prelude to Forever is a dream scenario, but
  that doesn’t mean it is without consequences. In
  Ars Magica the land of dreams and the Magical
  Realm are identical, and what happens while the
  spirit rests there affects the waking world. What
  the players do not initially know is that it isn’t their
  dream.
  Years ago, before their Gauntlet, one of the
  characters caught the eye of Kirstel, the apprentice
  of Xavier of Jerbiton. Two years older than the
  object of her interest and fearing disapproval from
  her master, Kirstel kept her feelings hidden behind
  a façade of big-sisterly interference. After her
  Gauntlet she took the name Veronica and left for
  the Levant, never seeing her childhood crush
  again. Now, because of the Heart of Forever (see
  p. 12) or the loss of her familiar, Veronica’s sub-
  conscious has the chance to see how things might
  have been, if only she’d been more forward…
  Intercut with the romantic storyline, the
  covenant is attacked by a group of the Discordant,
  the result of hideous experiments to restore life to
  the dead. They are drawn across Europe, destroy-
  ing objects mystically tied to their creator, Martin
  of Bonisagus. Martin is the hero of a popular Her-
  metic tragicomedy (see p. 12). A copy is contained
  in the characters’ covenant library. The assault by
  the Discordant is included so that characters not
  involved in the romantic plot aren’t left out of the
  game. It also links to the later sections of the For-
  ever and Ever? arc.
  A session before running Prelude to Forever, the
  storyguide should give the characters the Request
  for Information handout. The author is Antony of
  Jerbiton, one of the Discordant, who is trying to
  systematize their task. He appears in Continuing For-
  ever, a later story in the arc.
  So, what do you wear in bed?
  Begin by establishing that what follows is a
  dream sequence. Endings where players discover
  that everything was a dream irritate, so it’s best to
  be upfront. Have each player describe their
  magus’s nightly rituals. This encourages character-
  ization and development of the covenant scenery.
  Players being paranoid, they’re likely to engage in
  all sorts of unusual protective behaviour, but the
  point of this process is to warm them up for the
  game session and to firmly state that what follows
  is a dream. Scaring them a little is fine though. It
  enhances concentration and prepares them for the
  beta-plot.
  Emphasize that the night is absolutely foul,
  with sleeting rain or wind-driven snow.
  Veronica’s Dream Sequence
  Veronica’s dreams are vital for introducing her
  relationship to the romantic lead, but they can be
  boring for the other players if they have to sit
  around while he gets to do all the talking. Combat
  listlessness by rapidly bringing Veronica’s dream
  life into the players’ covenant, by intercutting the
  beta plot that awakens the characters and by allow-
  ing them to play NPCs. It is useful to avoid awak-
  ening the romantic lead until all of the PCs are
  represented in Veronica’s dream. It isn’t until he
  wakes up that the players will be certain that their
  characters are in someone else’s head. If this char-
  8
  Choosing a Victim
  For Ever and Ever? is a Gothic romance.
  Veronica is one of the romantic leads and you
  need to choose a player-character as the other. If
  you’d prefer a female PC to be the centre of the
  story, then replace Veronica filia Xavier with a
  magus called Xavier filius Veronica, or suggest
  sapphistry. The Veronica presented here should
  be tailored to suit a PC already active within your
  saga. The details provided are to save you the
  effort of designing her from scratch, but you
  should alter her so that a romantic relationship
  between your leads seems plausible.
  You may want to ask your troupe about this in
  advance. Ask, in general terms, if one of them
  would like a romantic interest for their character
  in your next campaign arc, then let them stew for
  a few weeks, then add several new female charac-
  ters. Dangle that True Love carrot, but stress that
  there will be some damage.
  Choose a player who is interested in the non-
  magical side of his character’s life, then get
  sneaky. Think about his previous girlfriends and
  steal the traits he admired for Veronica. Yes, it’s
  nasty, but play the man, not the ball.
  Don’t get caught.
  A request for information
  A young Jerbiton magus wants to stage the
  famous Hermetic story “The Tragedy of Martin
  and Petula” at the Covenant of the Descending
  Circles in the Theban Tribunal. He is attempting
  to find the oldest version of the story within the
  Order, and to trace its development into its mod-
  ern form. He has requested that every covenant
  with a copy write to him, detailing how they
  acquired their version, if they have produced
  copies themselves, and how much they would
  charge for originals, copies or library time.
  
  9
  Veronica, filia Xavier, follower of
  Jerbiton
  Veronica’s sheet looks unusual for a variety of
  reasons. She spent a year bonding a familiar which
  has since died. She also has extensive experience
  spying on the ill-defined “enemies of the Order”
  in the Holy Land, which reduced her study time,
  but improved her skills. Finally, Veronica’s pater
  allows her access to his spells, so that she hasn’t
  needed to develop many of the odd variants,
  found below, herself.
  The statistics given below are for the ages of:
  25, for use in the dream sequences; 40, for a
  young saga; 60, for a group with more experi-
  enced characters. Since most Hermetic magi don’t
  appear to age for a period after 35, the older ver-
  sions of Veronica both appear to be in early mid-
  dle age.
  Personality profile
  Veronica’s personality should be adjusted to
  suit the player character targeted as her beau. The
  following is provided so you needn’t work up her
  Hermetic attributes from scratch.
  In a word: perceptive. Veronica is a counter-
  illusionist, skilled at discerning the truth when it is
  magically obscured. She’s pragmatic to a degree
  that surprises those who consider Imaginem
  magicians flighty, and has had several scathing,
  public arguments with Merinita magi that share
  her specialization. Veronica dislikes falsehood,
  pretence and representation. Skilled at, but dis-
  missive of, illusion, she craves vivid, real experi-
  ences.
  She likes getting out of her tower and seeing
  things, and when she can’t do that, Veronica scries
  magically, in a thoroughly legal fashion. If asked,
  she’ll note that her spells allow her to sense real
  images from a distance, which means they aren’t
  illusory. Her invisibility spell is a minor concession
  to common sense. Along with the rest of her
  House, Veronica embraces artistry. Since she con-
  siders most forms of Imaginem false, she prefers
  to work in solid media., although she’s willing to
  enhance her pieces with Permanent or Instant
  spells. Veronica hates art which represents,
  although she makes an exception for tools like
  maps and books.
  The older Veronica follows in her pater’s foot-
  steps, joining the Quaesitores. She’s less dismissive
  of the Merinita after her retraining, but is still
  stubborn, and maintains a private dislike for peo-
  ple who don’t see the importance of things being
  real. She learns Aura of Rightful Authority to
  assist her quaesitorial investigations, since it
  means she can avoid learning Aura of Ennobled
  Presence.
  Statistics
  Age: Two years older than the PC chosen as
  her romantic interest
  Size -1
  Int +3, Per +3, Pre +1, Com +2, Str -1, Sta 0,
  Dex +1, Qik 0
  Virtues and Flaws: Affinity +2 (Intellego
  Imaginem), Mentor (Xavier, filius Jessica, follower
  of Jerbiton, Quaesitor), Gentle Gift +1, Free
  Expression +1, Clear Thinker +1, Quaesitor (to
  be developed during play), Minor Magical Defi-
  ciency (Creo) -3, Small Frame -2, Non-combat-
  ant -2, Gothic Romance (developed during play)
  Sigil: Clarity
  Personality Traits: Stubborn +3, Pragmatic +2
  Reputation: Annoyed by illusions (Levant Tri-
  bunal) after her time there.
  Aged 25
  Abilities (numbers after hyphens are experience
  points)
  Etiquette (magi) 3, Affinity (Intellego Imag-
  inem) 3-2, Magic Theory (Imaginem) 4-1, Parma
  Magica (faeries) 2, Scribe Latin (Church) 3, Speak
  Latin (to magi) 5, Speak (Whatever language is
  appropriate to your saga) (nobles) 4, Finesse 1,
  Penetration 1, Athletics (ice skating) 1, Awareness
  (faeries) 1, Charm (magi) 1, Folk Ken (festivals) 1,
  Concentration (spells) 2, Certamen (Intellego) 1,
  Bargain (with magi) 3, Intrigue (with magi) 3,
  Ride 2, Craft (whitesmithing) 4-2, (wherever) Lore
  (home covenant) 1, House Jerbiton Lore (art cre-
  ated by) 1, Legend Lore (illusionists) 2
  Hermetic Traits (numbers after hyphens are
  experience points)
  Creo 0, Intellego 12-3, Muto 0, Perdo 6,
  Rego 8, Animal 0, Aquam 0, Auram 0, Corpus 0,
  Herbam 0, Ignem 0, Imaginem 12, Mentem 6,
  Terram 6, Vim 0
  Spells (numbers in brackets are page references
  for ArM 4ed.)
  The Non-combatant flaw has been interpreted
  to mean that Veronica’s spells can’t injure.
  An asterisk indicates mastery.
  Eyes of the Past InIm20 (140), Discern Images of
  Truth and Falsehood InIm35 (140), The Spell We Do
  Not Admit We Know InIm35, Veil of Invisibility
  PeIm10 (142) (* by age 40), Dispel the Phantom
  Image PeIm25 (142) (* by age 40), Perception of the
  Conflicting Motives InIm25 (145), Fondling the Distant
  Object ReTe25
  Aged 40
  Abilities
  Etiquette (magi) 4, Affinity (Intellego Imag-
  inem) 5-3, Magic Theory (Imaginem) 6, Parma
  Magica (faeries) 4-1, Scribe Latin (Church) 3-1,
  Speak Latin (to magi) 5, Speak (Whatever lan-
  guage is appropriate to your saga) (nobles) 4,
  Finesse 1, Penetration 2, Athletics (ice skating) 1,
  Awareness (faeries) 2, Charm (magi) 2, Guile
  (magi) 1, Folk Ken (festivals) 3, Concentration
  (spells) 4, Certamen (Intellego) 2, Bargain (with
  magi) 3-2, Carouse (remaining sober) 1, Intrigue
  (with magi) 3, Leadership (hoplites) 2, Ride 2-2,
  Craft (whitesmithing) 4-4,
  Artes Liberales
  
  acter is going to be woken up, you should tell the
  player that their dream continued to its conclusion
  and play out their “memory” of the dream.
  Veronica’s dream includes the following sce-
  narios, but you should tinker with them. Similarly,
  you should expand the beta plot, the assault by the
  Discordant, as necessary.
  First Dream Scene
  The romantic lead’s arrival at the covenant where his
  master or mistress lives.
  Get the players to describe the covenant in
  detail and develop characters as they mention
  them. Assign some of these characters to other
  players and tell them they get Good Things if their
  characters are played vividly. Part of the reason for
  this level of detail is to make Veronica less con-
  spicuous when you add her to the character’s
  10
  New Spells
  The Spell We Do Not Admit We Know
  InIm35 Ritual
  Arc. D: Sun T: Room
  A rock crystal (+1) or water in a basin carved
  of rock crystals (+3)
  This spell is a modified form of Summoning the
  Distant Image (p. 141). Its duration has been
  increased and it allows the magus to “touch”
  objects, although this doesn’t grant the ability to
  move them. This spell is usually used in conjunc-
  tion with Fondling the Distant Object (below).
  Fondling the Distant Object
  ReTe25
  R: Arc. D: Sun T: Small
  A bit of silver (+1) or a gauntlet of silver
  chainmail (+3)
  This version of Unseen Arm (p. 153) is used to
  alter the area into which a magus is scrying. For
  example, it can be used to open drawers or turn
  pages.
  Liar’s Chime
  InMe25
  R: Eye/Sight; D: Sun; T: Ind.
  An almond (+1)
  A modification of Frosty Breath of the Spoken
  Lie (p. 145), this spell switches requisites to Imag-
  inem, so that a bell sounds when the target lies.
  Posing the Silent Questions
  InMe25
  R: Eye/Sight, D: Conc., T: Ind.
  A version of the spell of similar name (p.
  145), which allows multiple questions to be
  asked.
  Fishing Pole of the Distant Thief
  ReTe30
  R: Arc., D: Mom., T: Small
  A fishing line baited with an arcane connec-
  tion to the object to be stolen (+3)
  A version of Hand of the Invisible Thief (p. 154),
  this spell allows theft at extended distances.
  Veronica couples it with The Spell We Do Not
  Admit We Know.
  (music) 1, Civil and Canon Law (crusading
  orders) 1, Philosophiae (natural philosophy) 1, The-
  ology (crusader) 1, (wherever) Lore (home
  covenant) 3, Levant Tribunal Lore (hoplites) 3,
  House Jerbiton Lore (art created by) 2, Order of
  Hermes Lore (hoplites) 2, Faerie Lore (avoid-
  ance) 1, Hermetic Law (Tribunal) 2, Occult Lore
  (convictions for diabolism) 2, Legend Lore (illu-
  sionists) 2
  Hermetic Traits
  Creo 6, Intellego 23-13, Muto 6, Perdo 6,
  Rego 18-11, Animal 10, Aquam 0, Auram 0, Cor-
  pus 6, Herbam 0, Ignem 0, Imaginem 19-11,
  Mentem 8, Terram 6, Vim 11-3
  Spells
  As above and:
  Image of the Beast InAn5 (108), Opening the Tome
  of the Animal’s Mind InAn25 (108-9), Commanding
  the Harnessed Beast ReAn30 (112), Liar’s Chime
  InMe25, Posing the Silent Questions InMe25, Peering
  Into The Mortal Mind InMe30 (146)*, Thoughts
  Within Babble InMe30 (146) (Duration extended
  to Sun), Fishing Pole of the Distant Thief ReTe30
  Aged 60
  Abilities
  Etiquette (magi) 5-1, Affinity (Intellego Imag-
  inem) 7, Magic Theory (Imaginem) 6-3, Parma
  Magica (faeries) 5-7, Scribe Latin (Church) 3-1,
  Speak Latin (to magi) 5, Speak (Whatever lan-
  guage is appropriate to your saga) (nobles) 4,
  Finesse 2-2, Penetration 2, Athletics (ice skat-
  ing) 1, Awareness (faeries) 3, Charm (magi) 3,
  Guile (magi) 2-2, Folk Ken (festivals) 5, Concen-
  tration (spells) 4-4, Disputatio 1, Lectio 1, Certamen
  (Intellego) 2, Bargain (with magi) 4-2, Carouse
  (remaining sober) 2-2, Intrigue (with magi) 4,
  Leadership (hoplites) 2, Ride 2-2, Craft (white-
  smithing) 6, Artes Liberales (music) 2-2, Civil and
  Canon Law (crusading orders) 1, Philosophiae (nat-
  ural philosophy) 1, Theology (crusader) 2, (wher-
  ever) Lore (home covenant) 3, Levant Tribunal
  Lore (hoplites) 3, House Jerbiton Lore (art creat-
  ed by) 2-1, Order of Hermes Lore (hoplites) 2-2,
  Faerie Lore (avoidance) 2, Hermetic Law (Tri-
  bunal) 5, Occult Lore (convictions for dia-
  bolism) 2, Legend Lore (illusionists) 2
  Hermetic Traits
  Creo 6, Intellego 36-9, Muto 6, Perdo 6,
  Rego 20-4, Animal 10, Aquam 6, Auram 6, Cor-
  pus 20-5, Herbam 6, Ignem 6, Imaginem 25-5,
  Mentem 11-2, Terram 6, Vim 11-3
  Spells
  As above, plus:
  Whispers Through The Black Gate InCo15 (124),
  The Inexorable Search InCo20 (124), The Eye of the
  Sage InCo30 (124), Leap of Homecoming ReCo35
  (129)*, Seven League Stride ReCo35 (129)*, Confu-
  sion of the Numbed Will ReMe15 (148), Aura of
  Rightful Authority ReMe20 (148-9)*, Sight of the
  Active Magics InVi40 (156)
  
  childhood memories. It obfuscates the romantic
  nature of the arc, because you can age this
  covenant and then stage a visit in a later adventure.
  Lastly, it keeps the other players from being bored
  if they have characters to play. Although they
  aren’t likely to have rapport with these characters,
  a lot of fun can be had fooling about in the child-
  hood of another PC.
  Since they are seeing the covenant through the
  eyes of a child, players should be encouraged to
  use dialogue from children’s television and litera-
  ture. Choose whichever style is best. Enid Blyton’s
  stilted and over-polite English works well, but
  some troupes will prefer the coarser dialogue of
  South Park or the Simpsons. Comic sections bring
  down the players’ psychological defenses, which
  make them easier to frighten later.
  The comic elements should not so subtly hint
  that things are different to how the character
  remembers them. This should disguise the first
  clue. The character remembers Veronica, then
  called Kirstel, watching from a window when he
  arrived, looking disgusted. “Boy germs” aren’t in
  paradigm, but if the players are punning along, you
  can slide it and “bossy big sister” into the back sto-
  ry. With a little luck one of the players will suggest
  that she’s more responsive to the character than
  she was last time. If not, she smiles quizzically and
  waves.
  Second Dream Scene
  The Children’s Game
  The character awakes, in his dream, with some-
  one scratching on the shutters of his window with
  a chicken foot on a pole. This is calling out, a chil-
  dren’s folk practice from parts of England import-
  ed to the covenant by one of its magi. By tradition
  the player character should respond by sneaking
  out of his window to join whoever is holding the
  pole. If he doesn’t, after a few minutes, the other
  apprentices will try to lure him out with the minor
  spells they can cast spontaneously.
  When the character joins the other apprentices,
  there is one for each player, plus a few extras for
  the storyguide. One option is to prepare a player,
  other than the romantic lead, to play Kirstel for
  this section. This prolongs the period during
  which the players think that the victim is the focus
  of the story.
  The apprentices have arranged with a grog to
  let them sneak out of the covenant, so that they
  can make merry in the local village. They’ve decid-
  ed to pretend to be the Black Sprites, a local group
  of itinerant faeries who, they’ve been told, always
  leave crow feathers stuffed under doors when they
  visit the town. The apprentices do this several
  times a year. To keep up this façade they avoid
  doing serious damage, although they perform
  minor acts of vandalism and steal liquor, if they
  like. Certain important buildings have amulets that
  the Black Sprites cannot approach, and they can’t
  enter hallowed ground, so the apprentices leave
  those alone.
  Their masters know they’re sneaking out. The
  Black Sprites are a tradition started by one of the
  covenant’s founders to ensure that apprentices
  who skulk out for a wild night don’t do anything
  too dangerous. The citizens of the village know
  the covenant takes responsibility for Black Sprite
  damage, but only those with close ties to the
  covenant know that they’re the apprentices, work-
  ing off their youthful vigour away from their mas-
  ters’ library and laboratories. Every so often one of
  their masters will make a little mischief in the town
  and leave feathers about, so that the apprentices
  don’t catch on.
  After explaining to the players that they are
  apprentices who are cutting loose for the evening,
  the storyguide probably won’t need to supply
  much plot, since they’ll provide momentum them-
  selves. Ideas to prod things along include:
  - Trying to convince villagers who see you
  that you’re really Black Sprites
  - Getting a drunken apprentice back into his
  bed, past the grogs and his master.
  - Impromptu boasts and challenges
  - Burglary, especially while seeking alcohol
  - Elf-riding local donkeys or mules
  - Making dramatic declarations about the
  future
  - Wandering off in the woods
  The player-character remembers attending
  these jaunts. Kirstel was bossy and overbearing,
  but useful when some clear thinking was needed
  during the night. This time Kirstel is friendlier and
  more mellow, but none of the apprentices are act-
  ing exactly to character either, so she shouldn’t
  obviously be the key element to the story.
  
  12
  The point of this episode is to have the char-
  acter begin to fall in love with Kirstel. This can’t be
  scripted generically, because it depends on who is
  playing your romantic lead. Think about why you
  chose them, and about what you want Veronica,
  the adult Kirstel, to be like. Try to be subtle. If you
  can get the player to take the initiative, that dis-
  tracts the other players from Veronica’s role as
  central character.
  You may need to decide if Kirstel is willing to
  have sex with the player character. Generally the
  better answer is “No.”, because the demonstrable
  existence of demons assists chastity. If you feel it
  gives you a handle on the romantic lead you
  wouldn’t otherwise have, it can be rationalized eas-
  ily. After all, this is Veronica’s dream and the Order
  of Hermes has perfectly safe, absolutely reliable
  contraceptives.
  The Heart of Forever
  The Heart of Forever is a flawless, milky opal
  as long as a spread hand is wide. It is shaped like
  a teardrop and floats, taper downward, a few inch-
  es above whatever surface it surmounts. The
  Heart is collared by an inch-width of gold leaf
  one-third from the tip of the gem. The gold col-
  lar is decorated with a Celtic knot, the symbol of
  the Covenant of the Unending Ribbon. This Cri-
  amon clutch were the Heart’s owners, although
  they did not create it.
  The Heart is virtually indestructible, and has
  three functions. It produces a pawn of Corpus vis
  each season. It is used as a meditative focus for
  those studying Enigmatic Wisdom, allowing prac-
  tice. It projects magi into the Magical Realm
  through dreams. The comparative locations of the
  Heart and the magus do not inhibit this power.
  When a magus’s Vim score reaches 10, there is
  a tiny chance the Heart will project their dreaming
  selves into the Magic Realm. Once there they will
  relive a fragment of their existence, and have the
  apparent opportunity to change an action they
  regret.
  Magi who change their decisions
  encounter arduous consequences as the story of
  their past life skips past them, forcing them to
  deal with a rapid succession of altered outcomes.
  Those who fail to navigate this retelling of their
  lives awaken as if from a nightmare and gain a
  Twilight point. Those who successfully retell their
  story awaken with two experience points of Enig-
  matic Wisdom and regrets that a path was not tak-
  en.
  Except…
  When a magus successfully recreates their life
  in the Magic Realm they create a pool of sympa-
  thetic energy that is drawn into the Heart. The
  Heart then reaches out into the Mundane World
  and alters it in a tiny way, which eventually leads
  the magus to some semblance of the state they
  achieved.
  The Heart doesn’t rewrite reality, and can’t
  exceed the limits of Hermetic magic. Its ability is
  similar to a very precisely targeted version of the
  Bless Talent. It can take years for the effects of
  the Heart’s blessing to become apparent, so few
  magi connect their lucid dream with later events.
  Those few magi who do make this connection
  assume that the phenomenon is natural.
  The Tragedy of Martin and Petula
  (a book of mundane lore)
  Every society tells stories which embody the
  collective wisdom of its members and are used to
  socialise the young. Hermetic folklore includes the
  story of the doomed love of two magi, Martin of
  Bonisagus and Petula of Criamon.
  Although each House tells a slightly different
  variant of the tale, these lovers went against the
  norms of their traditions and died tragically. Some
  versions end with Martin wasting his life so zeal-
  ously on hopeless experiments to reanimate the
  dead that he cannot rest when his own time
  comes, his hapless shade continuing to wander
  forever, searching for the key to immortality. Oth-
  ers insist that in the moment of his triumph, God
  shattered the Covenant of the Unending Ribbon
  with bolts of lightning, punishing Martin’s hubris
  and destroying his sodales.
  Interestingly for Hermetic historians, the key
  characters of the story demonstrably existed, and
  their covenant was destroyed by a disaster of
  unknown origin. Hermetic magi are sufficiently
  cynical to not be taken in by the more dramatic
  additions to the narrative, but many accept its
  underlying premise: that monomania should be
  channelled into the study of magic. A few Jer-
  bitons disagree and interpret this story subver-
  sively, as being about romance in the face of
  opposition. Their versions are popular with
  apprentices going through what other magi con-
  sider to be a common, exasperating phase of
  growing up, where embracing the Mundane (in
  general or particular) seems like a good idea.
  Variations of this work are found in both nar-
  rative prose and verse play formats, but each is
  designed for entertainment rather than pedagogy.
  Its prose form is a Summa: Order of Hermes
  Lore 1, House Criamon Lore 1, House Bonisagus
  Lore 1, Enigmatic Wisdom 1, Faerie Lore 1. Qual-
  ity 12. Cost 90 points. In play form, it is similar to
  a liber quaestionum: Order of Hermes Lore 3,
  Enigmatic Wisdom 1, Faerie Lore 1, Quality 15.
  50 points. Several variations, which substitute
  Philosophiae for Faerie Lore, derive from a rein-
  terpretation of the story penned last century.
  These are popular since the new version was
  annotated (glossed) by the contemporary Primus
  of House Jerbiton. (Quality 18, cost 59 points).
  
  Third Dream Scene
  The Day Before Graduation
  In this scene, Kirstel needs to make major deci-
  sions about her life. She is going to attempt the
  Jerbiton Gauntlet, then, if successful, she has the
  option of travelling to the adjacent Tribunal to be
  sworn into her House. The player remembers this
  as a time when Kirstel was moody and withdrawn.
  She conversed with him, superficially, about what
  he planned to do once he gauntleted, and about
  her option of staying on at the covenant for
  another couple of years, until the local Tribunal. A
  few days after that she left for Valnastium and he
  never saw her again.
  This is the episode where you tie the futures of
  the two characters together. Most players will cut
  you enough slack to manage this, simply by mak-
  ing their characters look wise. When his younger
  self describes what he’d like to do in the future,
  encourage the player character to explain how
  their apprentice came to the saga’s main covenant.
  From there you negotiate Kirstel’s continuing link
  to the character. Perhaps Kirstel leaves, with the
  agreement that the PC will catch her up in a few
  years, possibly after she has scouted out the
  covenant’s site. Alternatively, perhaps she stays
  around for an extra two years, either as an appren-
  tice or as a junior maga, until her beau passes his
  gauntlet.
  Fourth Dream Scene
  Return to Spring
  In this scene you replay an early incident in the
  campaign, establishing that, in the dream, Veroni-
  ca is a valued member of the player-character’s
  covenant. Each of the players revisits younger ver-
  sions of their characters, dusting off the dead if
  your saga’s mortality rate is high. If the romantic
  lead makes the mistake of using Veronica’s
  apprentice name, then she’ll smile and use his
  apprentice name in return. Among Hermetic magi
  this is one of those mushy, “couple things” which
  make people (well, sour bachelors) bilious.
  If the characters do particularly well in this
  adventure, give them information which is valu-
  able and accurate. If, for example, they missed a
  clue the first time, then they might discover it on
  this occasion. The benefit need only be small, but
  it should confirm, after the scenario, that the
  dream was significant.
  Fifth Dream Scene
  The Crisis
  In this scene, one of the covenant’s greatest
  setbacks is averted by Veronica’s presence. She
  doesn’t need to take down the villain or cast mon-
  umental spells. The more minor the alteration, the
  more dramatic the effect. The new ending needn’t
  be perfect, just substantially better than how the
  crisis truly was resolved. An option is to reduce the
  damage, but focus it on one of the PCs. For exam-
  ple, a siege that killed three dozen grogs and four
  NPC magi might instead be broken with the death
  of a PC. This creates an ambiguity, where the out-
  come is better for the covenant, but worse for the
  character, and may create tension when the char-
  acter meets Veronica.
  Sixth Dream Scene
  The Morning After
  The last scene is set in an alternative version of
  the present day for your saga. It’s the capstone,
  which ends the dream and hammers home the
  message “Had things been different, they would
  have been better.” Since none of the other PCs are
  13
  
  involved, it is best to keep this vignette brief. As an
  example, the character “awakes” when he acciden-
  tally kicks away the covers. He notices his wedding
  ring, inscribed with a complicated swirl, and feels
  the warmth of his sleeping wife. Alternatively, if
  there’s a goal the character has been working
  toward, Veronica can be shown helping him get
  there earlier. Again, the hint given in the dream
  should be accurate when awake. The point of this
  section is to have the romantic lead, and hopefully
  the other characters, miss Veronica when she’s
  gone.
  The Assault of the Discordant
  After the death of his wife, Martin of Bonisa-
  gus dedicated his research to returning her from
  Twilight. Toward the very end of his life, as a
  breakthrough drew near, Martin began to experi-
  ment on humans. He removed each victim’s heart,
  then attempted to bind their ghosts back into their
  bodies. Usually this succeeded, but he was unable
  to then place the heart back into the body and
  restore it to life. When his covenant was destroyed,
  Martin’s victims escaped their confinement, and
  now travel Europe, destroying his works. Since
  Martin was attempting to revive his wife, the
  majority of the Discordant are female.
  Each member of the Discordant looks pass-
  ably human while clothed. Close inspection indi-
  cates that they do not breathe, and although they
  can eat and drink they usually choose not to. Each
  of the Discordant has a surgical wound in the cen-
  tre of their chest, wherein can be seen a spectral,
  beating heart. They appear to be somewhat magi-
  cal to Second or Faerie Sight, but they aren’t obvi-
  ously undead. Like most ghosts, the Discordant
  are monomaniacs, but they are capable of long
  term planning and are willing to achieve their goal
  by negotiation. Unlike most ghosts, they feel no
  compulsion to show mortals the site of their
  death, and are fixated not on eternal rest, but on
  the emotion which prevents them resting. They
  will, therefore, not voluntarily assist in their own
  destruction.
  Negotiating for the sole ownership of a book
  with the wizards of the Order of Hermes is tricky,
  because they usually insist on copying everything
  before they trade it away. If however, this is possi-
  ble, the Discordant simply buy the book from the
  magi, using vis gained elsewhere on their mission.
  In that case you should develop another beta plot
  for this scenario, using one of the recurring vil-
  lains in your saga.
  Before deciding to attack the covenant, the
  Discordant scout it out, to determine its library’s
  location. They hide child-sized agents inside the
  covenant, then engage in a lengthy distraction
  beyond one of the walls, to draw magi and grogs
  away from their target. So as to intercut this plot
  with the dream sequence, it should be played in six
  episodes. The six given below are simply sugges-
  14
  Statistics for the Discordant
  Magic Might: 20
  Size: Varies within human range
  Characteristics: Vary within human range,
  except for tireless Stamina. Str, Dex and Qik are
  all 1 point higher than they were in life.
  Personality Traits: Vary, include Hatred (Mar-
  tin of Bonisagus) 4
  Weapon/Attack: By weapon
  Soak: +8
  Fatigue: Tireless
  Fatigue Levels: Tireless
  Body Levels: Vary within human range. No
  penalty for injury short of incapacitation.
  Powers
  - Heal (5 points): This power allows the Dis-
  cordant to repair damage to itself, even
  regrowing lost body parts. Each expendi-
  ture of points cures one Body level.
  - Ignore Fatigue (0 points): The Discordant are
  undead, requiring neither sustenance nor
  rest.
  - Magical Projection (CrVi25, 5 points): This
  power allows the Discordant to project
  people or objects into the Twilight Realm.
  To use this power the Discordant needs to
  clutch the object to its chest, so that it
  comes into close proximity to its spectral
  heart. The Discordant themselves are
  immune to this effect, as are personal items
  they are currently using: clothing, for
  example.
  - Return to Earth (0 points): When one of the
  Discordant loses its body, it continues to
  dwell within the world as a ghost. The next
  time that a nearby magus suffers Twilight,
  the Discordant is able to possess the clos-
  est corpse, which rapidly transforms into a
  duplicate of the body it has lost.
  - Suppress Magic Resistance (1 point): This
  power allows the Discordant to hide their
  magical nature. It permits them to appear
  human to magical Sight and to step
  through wards against magical creatures.
  While their magic resistance is suppressed
  it provides them no protection.
  - Sense the Tethers (InGen25, 0 points) Indi-
  cates the direction of the closest (non-Dis-
  cordant) work of Martin of Bonisagus,
  and is used to select the targets for raids. It
  indicates copies of The Tragedy, because
  the dialogue contains accurate renditions
  of Martin’s spellcasting.
  Vis: 5 pawns Corpus
  The vis from the Discordant is horribly taint-
  ed. A magus who uses it in their longevity potion
  becomes one of the Discordant after death. This
  can be determined in the laboratory with a Mag-
  ic Theory roll of 15+.
  
  tions, since the Discordant alter their strategy in
  response to the characters’ activities. It’s the first
  three that are the most important, since the dream
  plot includes only one PC for its first three
  episodes.
  Distraction Episode One: The
  Masque Begins
  One of the grogs notices a troupe of wander-
  ing players setting up a stage a slight distance from
  the covenant. If he’s an NPC, his reaction is deter-
  mined by the degree of training the turb has. The
  Discordants’ motive is to draw the covenant’s
  inhabitants away from their usual posts. If they
  think it’s the most efficient way to destroy the
  book, the Discordant kill any small parties who
  approach their masque.
  If there’s no immediate call for magical assis-
  tance, then the Discordant make an error. One of
  their agents is spotted inside the covenant. Since
  one of the roles of this sub-plot is to keep the
  characters not involved in the romantic sub-plot
  active, it can’t be allowed to develop slowly. Pitch-
  ing the covenant into ill-defined crisis fulfils this
  function.
  Distraction Episode Two: The
  Procession Begins
  Unless it is clear that the covenant is in an
  uproar, the Discordant begin a mummer’s proces-
  sion about the walls, despite the abominable
  weather. Dressed in bright, motley clothes they
  wander around the edge of the Aegis, waving
  props, ringing bells and blowing horns. Again,
  their hope is to distract the covenant’s sentries
  from the agents already inside.
  Once it’s clear that the covenant is responding
  aggressively, the Discordant run toward the wall in
  clumps. The foremost in each group throws itself
  against the wall and uses its Projection power to
  rip a hole wide enough for its fellows to enter.
  Once inside, their aim is to distract the sentries and
  magi so that their saboteurs can make their way to
  the library and destroy the book. The Discordant
  are willing to have their bodies destroyed, since
  they know that the first time a magus at the
  covenant goes into Twilight they’ll rise as a group
  from all the sites of hidden murder and pagan bur-
  ial in the region.
  Distraction Episode Three: Burn-
  ing the Library
  The covenant’s library suffers damage during
  this episode. The degree of harm is up to the sto-
  ryguide. The saboteur tries to destroy several
  books so that it isn’t obvious which one it was
  after. An attack on the library strikes at the core of
  the covenant, and is sure to grip characters not
  involved in the romantic subplot. Less dramatical-
  ly, an enchanted library may be breached without
  the magi noticing.
  If the covenant’s library has been enchanted to
  prevent damage by fire, the Discordant uses its
  projection power to transmit the book into the
  Places of Madness in the Magic Realm. Although
  this doesn’t destroy it, it suffices for the Discor-
  dant. Characters foolish enough to voyage through
  the Realm of Madness may find a midden of
  material related to Martin of Bonisagus. Although
  the saboteur will snatch a few volumes, this
  obscures their intentions less than a blaze. Such
  theft may be discovered hours after the attack con-
  cludes.
  As the melee becomes general, the Discordant
  want to force a magus into Twilight. They under-
  stand that Twilight is one of the few things virtu-
  ally all Hermetic magi react cautiously toward, and
  hope this will discourage later pursuit.
  Distraction Episode Four: Forc-
  ing an escape
  Once their goal is achieved, the Discordant dis-
  engage and flee toward the covenant wall, using
  the same trick to force holes through which to
  make egress. They are far more cautious than
  before. Previously they were acting as decoys, to
  allow the saboteurs to reach their target. Now,
  being injured would slow their transit to the next
  objective.
  A few of the Discordant may hide within the
  covenant, sneaking away days or weeks after the
  attack. Since they don’t need to eat or sleep, one of
  the Discordant can secrete itself in some tiny
  space and wait for the magi to go charging off
  after its fellows before emerging to flee in another
  direction. If their target has not been destroyed,
  these creatures can wait until the covenant’s forces
  are pursing the main group of the Discordant
  before emerging for another attempt.
  Distraction Episode Five: Hunt-
  ing the enemy
  Magi may be sorely tempted to spread out and
  hunt the Discordant once they discover that they
  contain Corpus vis. At 4 pawns per body, the Dis-
  cordant contain a lot of magical energy for crea-
  tures so human in their abilities. The Discordant
  are aware of this and have experience in avoiding
  and combating Hermetic magi.
  15
  A reminder on mood
  Gothic romances have three key elements:
  crumbling structures, a supernatural menace who
  becomes romantically obsessed with a principal
  character, and inimical natural forces which con-
  spire against the protagonists. Keep these ele-
  ments in mind when framing your descriptions
  during the arc.
  The Prelude to Forever introduces the victims of
  the menace and destroys sections of the charac-
  ters’ covenant. To emphasize the last element, the
  Discordant attack in foul weather, which pro-
  vides them limited cover as they retreat.
  
  16
  Earlier, during the combat, the Discordant
  demonstrated their ability to send magi into Twi-
  light. If pursuit occurs regardless they have sever-
  al methods of evasion:
  - Sinking to the bottom of streams and swim-
  ming away
  - Burying themselves in recently-tilled fields
  - Finding areas of cover, subduing their mag-
  ical resistance and remaining deathly still.
  - Finding a crowd of mundanes and subduing
  their magic resistance
  - Using missile weapons, with which they
  have exceptional skill, to hurt magi at a dis-
  tance.
  - Starting fires, whose smoke blocks Sight-
  ranged spells.
  - Committing suicide, if near the covenant,
  since they know they’ll rise again.
  Distraction Episode Six: After-
  math
  During this section, the characters investigate
  the damage and hold a council meeting to try to
  determine what led up to the attack. How success-
  ful they are depends on how discriminate the Dis-
  cordant’s destruction was, and how observant the
  players were.
  Epilogue
  A long times passes before the effects of this
  adventure become obvious, possibly years. At the
  next Tribunal, Veronica is present. She tells the
  magus that she’s travelled from the Levant because
  her familiar died and she wants to leave the mem-
  ories behind. If her dream journey was successful-
  ly completed, this is a white lie. Although her
  familiar died, she could have stayed in Tyre. Her
  dream led her to reconsider her choices, and she’s
  come to the Tribunal to see how her beau’s life is
  going. She has enough vis that she can buy some
  library time at his covenant, and if he still seems
  loveable and available (which, of course, he is)
  she’ll try to rekindle a relationship between them.
  The Mechanics of Love
  Run alone, the romantic lead character has the
  option of finding True Love with Veronica. If
  one partner dies, this is transformed into the Lost
  Love flaw, or perhaps the Ghostly Warder virtue.
  If played as part of the For Ever and Ever? arc
  the characters develop the Gothic Romance
  virtue.
  Gothic Romance is a mixture of the True
  Love virtue, the Enemy flaw, and the Cursed flaw.
  Lovers within a gothic romance are repeatedly
  assailed by a supernatural menace, which usually
  forms the third corner in a love triangle. When
  the menace is unable to entice the pivotal lover
  away from their partner, it is driven to violence,
  either against the character it feels is obstructing
  its romance, the one who has spurned it, or
  against the couple. Such menaces have a habit of
  returning, even when apparently destroyed.
  For starting characters, Gothic Romance is
  usually a +1 virtue, its cost varying with the
  potency of the Enemy flaw it contains. Since the
  menace is likely to target the lovers’ associates,
  players should check with their troupe before
  selecting it.
  Review
  Appolonios of Jerbiton, We’ll be
  in Twilight Tonight
  Review by Archmagus Heracles of Tremere
  To say it simply, We’ll be in Twilight Tonight is the
  worst book I have ever read!
  It lines up the clichés from beginning to end.
  From the precociously Gifted arsonist, saved from
  the mob by a magus of Flambeau, and the young
  child raised by the faeries and bought from them
  by a maga of Merinita to become her apprentice,
  to the senile Criamon talking through riddles even
  a child of five could understand, everything in this
  book is absolutely ridiculous!
  Certainly, the most absurd scene is the certamen
  between this young Merinita and an Archmagus of
  our House and the victory of the Merinita without
  spending a single pawn of Vis.
  But the worst is not this silliness. I would not
  waste my time writing this review if this book was
  just the reflection of its author’s mediocrity. The
  danger doesn’t lie in the fairy tales for frustrated
  apprentices and the Redcaps in need of money (I
  can hardly believe these Mercere take so active a
  part in the dissemination of this tripe for free!). It
  is lurking behind, well hidden, but at the same time
  sowing the seeds of an evilness worse than any
  disease.
  Instead of recounting the glorious past of the
  Schism War, the author prefers to invent an unbe-
  lievable story mixing the “Duresca Scrolls affair”,
  the corruption of
  House Tytalus and the
  “Tremere Sundering” (but the author should first
  prove this “Sundering” ever existed instead of
  retelling this fairy tale), presenting them as the vis-
  ible elements of the conspiracy of three Houses to
  dominate the Order and pervert the ideals of Bon-
  isagus.
  What image of the Order does this book give
  to young people? Are we training apprentices to
  see them fill their heads with such nonsense? And
  who really is this so-called Appolonios of Jer-
  biton? Recently, Primus Andru assured me there is
  no magus in his House named Appolonios. The
  time has come to react with the firmest will and
  bring the authors of this insult to our House and
  our Order and all their accomplices before a Tri-
  bunal.
  
  Dear Abelard
  Translator’s Note:
  D
  ear Abelard is a column devoted to the writ-
  ings of an elderly Bonisagus who believed the
  best way to fulfill his duty to the Order was to
  share all of his advice and research in the form
  of written correspondence with a network of readers, car-
  ried by Redcaps to magi throughout Europe. If, through the
  course of your saga, you discover a question that you think
  could have at one time been sent to Abelard, please forward
  it to the editor and we will attempt to find a record of his
  answer to such a question.
  Salvete sodales,
  I am very glad to return to Normandy after
  many months of mountain travel, and to stand
  again at my writing-desk to dictate my first letter in
  years. I do not think that I will travel again in this
  body, after the experiences I have endured since
  last I wrote to you, but of course none can say for
  sure where I will go should I die or pass into the
  Final Twilight, and the ways of this world are
  unpredictable and mysterious; I may find I cannot
  avoid another long journey. Nonetheless, my tour
  of Europe was a great success, and on it I have
  learned much about the Order and my fellow magi
  who live within it. This gives me new resolve to
  write my thoughts down for you, and to send them
  on their way to where you, God permitting, may
  read them.
  While travelling, I convinced a number of my
  brothers and sisters in far lands to subscribe to this
  regular journal of musings and advice, simply by
  showing them the value of my thoughts and
  expecting no payment from them in return. Alas,
  this meant that I must be less prolific subsequent-
  ly than I would have been otherwise, since to send
  it to each of you requires that I make ten times as
  many copies of each letter as I once did. If you
  who read this wish to help me save vellum as I
  spread these words across the land, please do pass
  on these pages to others of the Art in your
  acquaintance, and urge them to reply to me so that
  I may comprehend their opinions.
  I have received several questions in my absence
  (though not as many, I admit, as I would have
  liked), and my custom is to respond to them in
  turn, by sharing their substance and my advice at
  once. Therefore, I shall begin this endeavor imme-
  diately, without further preamble; I apologize for
  not dwelling longer on my journey and I urge you
  to write and ask me about what I encountered
  should the subject be of interest to you. Here,
  then, are the letters.
  � � �
  Dear Abelard,
  Why do you call yourself “Abelard” when you
  write? Is this your real name? I will soon take my
  Gauntlet and become a full magus of the Order,
  and I wonder if I must change my name when I
  do, or if I can keep my given name.
  Signed,
  Duae Nominae
  My Dear Duae,
  I call myself Abelard because my mother and
  father gave me that name when I was born. When
  I joined the Order, I took the Latin name Lanatus
  as my Hermetic name, but I find that I prefer to be
  addressed in a more familiar sense when writing
  this way.
  When you are initiated into the Order, you will
  be given a Hermetic name by your parens. Accord-
  ing to my learned sodalis Moratamis, there are no
  legal requirements in the Peripheral Code that pre-
  vent you from later changing your name, or that
  force you to use the name chosen by your parens;
  and there are no requirements stating that your
  Hermetic name must be different than your given
  name. If you are on good terms with your parens,
  you might simply tell him that you prefer your giv-
  en name, or perhaps suggest another name that
  you would like instead.
  � � �
  Dear Abelard,
  Several years ago you wrote about a Creo Vim
  spell that could create temporary vis for use in
  boosting formulaic spells. I did not know enough
  about Vim to learn it at the time, but now that I
  do, I cannot find it. I have searched my entire
  labratory but to no avail. Could you send me the
  spell again?
  Signed,
  Immemorius in the Rhine
  My Dear Immemorius,
  I did indeed copy out such a spell several years
  ago, though the temporary vis it creates cannot in
  fact extend the range or duration of your formu-
  laic spells. You see, true vis is essentially magic
  contained in a lasting physical form. By virtue of
  this permanency, vis can extend (“boost”) a for-
  mulaic spell’s potency, allowing it to last longer
  than a month or reach a greater range. This is also
  how Ritual magic can achieve more powerful
  17
  
  effects. Temporary vis, however, can only increase
  the magnitude of your spontaneous effects, and
  can generate more magical power when used with
  formulaic magic or in certamen.
  Translator’s note: The following is a general outline of
  the spell as it would be found in Ars Magica.
  The Magical Essence of (Form)
  CrVi Gen
  R: Touch, D: Diam, T: Small
  Requisites: Form of the temporary vis created.
  This spell imbues a small object with raw magical pow-
  er, which may later be used like a pawn of vis to increase
  magical effects. This temporary vis can be used to add to
  magic and certamen rolls, but cannot be used in the lab,
  study, Rituals, or to “boost” the Range or Duration of a
  formulaic spell. Magic effects using temporary vis cannot
  result in an effect of a greater level than the level of this
  spell. Certamen rolls boosted with temporary vis cannot
  result in a total greater than the level of this spell. The spell
  can be cast on the same object multiple times, though all vis
  stored in the object must be used at once.
  This spell was originally invented by Artopa of Flam-
  beau, who believed that to fight with magic, her fellow magi
  must be well prepared. Her wizard’s sigil involves bread,
  and thus when cast, the object containing the vis grows
  slightly and becomes more rounded, as if it has risen.
  Ten distinct versions of the spell theoretically
  exist, each creating vis of a different Form, though
  the only one I have is Vim. The spell is typically
  found at fifth magnitude or higher, and is quite
  valuable for use with spontaneous magic, if one is
  very daring or very confident; like using true vis,
  temporary vis increases your chances of disaster
  should your magic escape your control.
  The spell is very similar to the Muto Vim spell
  Wizard’s Boost, except that it stores the effect for
  use with one’s own magic. If you are able to learn
  that spell, you may also find the effects of this one
  useful.
  � � �
  Dear Abelard,
  Many of my “sodales” make rude comments
  about my breath and the odors that they say they
  can smell on my body. No one will sit near me at
  mealtimes or council meetings and I must always
  travel alone. I admit I am a reclusive magus, and I
  don’t like to be bothered with such silly things as
  my outside appearance. I normally ignore this kind
  of treatment. But a young maga of House Jerbiton
  recently joined our covenant, and I don’t know
  why, but it matters to me what she thinks of me.
  Do you have any suggestions on how I can
  improve my physical image?
  Signed,
  Sordidus et Squalidus in Thebes
  My Dear Squalidus,
  There are many ways you can improve your
  appearance. I assume that you are not accom-
  plished with the Art of Imaginem, but Muto and
  Rego effects of relatively low magnitude in this
  form can help you alter your scent and general
  presence. You might also consider practicing the
  Arts of Auram and Corpus to aid you with these
  endeavors, to address the physical qualities of your
  body. However, magic only masks the man, as the
  followers of Jerbiton sometimes say, and to
  improve your image you may wish to work to
  improve yourself. There is no shame in practicing
  mundane methods of hygiene and grooming, and
  by learning to care for yourself you can begin to
  change the perception that others have of you.
  Aniseed and mint may be used to freshen and
  sweeten your breath. Once daily, apply a paste of
  honey mixed with chalk or powdered egg shells
  and honey to a piece of cloth or twig and brush it
  across your teeth, taking care to scrape the gums.
  Bathe regularly; if you do not have a bath house in
  your covenant, a nearby town may have a public
  bath. At least submerge yourself in running water
  or a mineral spring once a week to remove the dust
  and scents that lab work can create.
  Short hair is generally admired, especially when
  it is light-colored. Consider cutting your hair to a
  uniform length, about that of your shortest finger.
  If your hair is grey or white, a coloring formula
  made from the ashes of vine stems and ash wood
  boiled in vinegar will bring out an attractive light
  color. Wash your hair and treat it with olive oil to
  make it more supple. If you have a beard, rub it
  with wax before sleeping and wrap it in a cloth bag
  to protect it. Depending on the image you wish to
  convey, either careful combing or calculated muss-
  ing of your hair will improve your look.
  I hope that these hints will help you win the
  positive attention of the maga in question. If any
  of my readers have other suggestions for how you
  might address this problem, I hope they will send
  them to me, and I will surely copy them into my
  next letter for you.
  Confidential to Agnus Dei in Rome
  I urge you to seek out a Quaesitor you can trust
  with whom you can discuss the matter. You must
  obey God’s will and thus listen to your confessor,
  but I cannot advise you to break your Oath. A
  Quaesitor may be able to help you resolve your
  duty to the Order with your duty to God. Perhaps
  you need only limit your practice of magic, to free
  more of your time for your devotion and pursuit
  of God’s will. Once you know your legal position,
  you can better heed the teachings of the Church.
  Do not despair, Agnus. It is a strange world we live
  in, but while its many contradictions and mysteries
  may be resolved after death, they may also be
  resolved in your heart.
  Until next issue, my dear readers,
  Abelard
  “Dear Abelard” is written by Lanatus, follower of
  Bonisagus, and his amica Moratamis, follower of Guerni-
  cus. To receive his regular correspondence, or to ask for his
  advice, please send your name, covenant and Tribunal to
  Dear Abelard, Scriptoris Socii, Normandy. Your confiden-
  tiality will be respected.
  18
  
  The Hermetic
  University
  by Niall Christie (from an original idea by
  Stephanie van Willigenburg)
  The three girls and two boys shuffled nervously on their
  seats as they waited for their teacher to arrive. Before them
  on a table lay the corpse of a human being, which bore no
  marks to indicate how it had died.  Soon the classroom door
  opened, and Vayde Hengest of Verditius entered, a black-
  cloaked figure with craggy features and a disturbing smile.
  “Good morning, class. Gather round, please.”
  Vayde began to explain the anatomy of the corpse,
  describing how bone and muscles interacted to make it move.
  “And as you can see, the limbs move thus…”
  Suddenly the corpse sat upright, glaring around at the
  apprentices with a baleful stare. Almost all of them
  screamed and jumped back, shaking from head to toe.
  Vayde’s smile became a satisfied grin as he contemplated the
  reaction his zombie had caused.
  “Now class, you weren’t expecting that, were you?”
  Introduction
  T
  he Hermetic University presents a tradi-
  tion within the Order of Hermes of
  covenants that dedicate themselves
  wholly or partially to the fostering of a
  university atmosphere, often placing an emphasis
  on the training of apprentices. Thoughts are giv-
  en on the position of such covenants within the
  Order, as well as guidelines for creating such insti-
  tutions using the covenant creation rules from
  ArsM4 pp. 202-11. Some rules are also provided
  for training apprentices in groups.
  History
  The oldest known university covenant in the
  Order is the covenant of Literatus, in the Roman
  Tribunal (Tribunals of
  Hermes:Rome, pp. 68-75).
  Founded in 1001 by a group of Jerbiton magi, act-
  ing with the aid of the magus-pope Sylvester II, its
  revolutionary group-teaching methods, which
  enabled a number of apprentices to be taught at
  once, did not initially find a welcome within the
  Order. Two reasons may be given for this. Since
  the latter half of the 11th Century, the covenant
  has been on uncertain terms with the Quaesitores,
  which has not inspired confidence in its methods
  in the more legalistic circles of the Order. In addi-
  tion, many magi of the Order are unwilling to
  share their apprentices with others, valuing both
  their assistance in the laboratory and the potential
  to have exclusive influence over a future magus.
  This inauspicious start resulted in it being over
  150 years before another magus attempted to
  found a university covenant. Then, in 1169, an
  exceptionally outward-looking senior maga of
  House Bonisagus, Stella Tironi, obtained permis-
  sion to found a new university covenant. Stella
  dedicated her covenant, named Studium Hermae,
  to the training of apprentices in large numbers,
  seeing in this the opportunity to help revitalize an
  order whose numbers were in decline. The
  covenant quickly passed from Spring to Summer,
  and remains true to its mission to this day. In 1182
  a group of Jerbiton magi founded another univer-
  sity covenant, Schola Pythagoranis in the Stone-
  henge tribunal, which devoted itself to the other
  major feature of the university environment,
  research (although Edward of Milton, the head of
  the covenant, has trained an unprecedented five
  apprentices). More details about this covenant may
  be found in Heirs to Merlin: The Stonehenge Tribunal,
  pp. 126-8. In recent years further attempts have
  been made to found university covenants, with
  varying degrees of success. However, Literatus,
  Studium Hermae and Schola Pythagoranis remain
  the most well-known examples of the tradition.
  Relations with the Order
  The attitudes of other magi towards university
  covenants tend to be mixed, and such a covenant
  is never assured of universal support. It is not
  insignificant that the three major university
  covenants are headed by senior magi. A sample of
  the attitudes typical of each house is given below:
  Bjornaer: These places encourage magi to
  spend too much time in dusty libraries, and not
  enough experiencing what the wilderness has to
  offer. In addition, the personal relationship need-
  ed between apprentice and parens to develop a
  heart-beast cannot truly be replicated in classes.
  Bonisagus: A good way to gather informa-
  tion, but imagine all the research time which is lost
  to magi who have to teach!
  Criamon: A class is not a clutch. Never has
  been, never will be. Being taught alongside others
  who have no interest in gaining true understand-
  ing? Stupid idea!
  Ex Miscellanea: The universities reinforce the
  standard Hermetic system. We have no place there.
  Flambeau: Universities both increase the
  number of apprentices being trained, and further
  research into magic. Both of these strengthen the
  Order, so they are a good thing.
  Jerbiton: Provided the universities encourage
  apprentices to take a broad outlook, and research
  beyond the magical, they are to be encouraged.
  Mercere: Universities do not really offer what
  we need our Redcaps to learn.
  Merinita: A bit impersonal, and not exactly
  inspiring, don’t you think?
  Quaesitoris: A potentially unifying and stan-
  dardizing force within the Order, provided they
  are supervised correctly.
  Tremere: They are a useful means to reinforce
  our hierarchy, if they are run by the house, exclu-
  sively for the house. If other houses must be
  involved, we ensure that we have a hand in the
  covenants’ development.
  Tytalus: Any environment which encourages
  competition, be it between students studying in
  19
  
  the classroom, or magi researching in their labs, is
  definitely worth supporting.
  Verditius: If a university encourages innova-
  tive thinking, we will be happy to participate.
  Due to the fact that Hermetic universities are
  often involved with mundane ones, and equally
  often encourage cooperation between magi and
  mundanes, they are frequently home to a large
  number of Jerbiton magi. This is particularly true
  of Literatus and Schola Pythagoranis. To give
  themselves a stronger position within the Order,
  they also prefer to have a Quaesitor living on site.
  Of the three major university covenants, Literatus
  is the exception in this.
  Apprentices trained at the universities normal-
  ly spend the usual 15 years in apprenticeship, and
  then their entry into a Hermetic house is spon-
  sored by one of their former teachers. Apprentices
  trained at Literatus and Schola Pythagoranis usual-
  ly join House Jerbiton, but Stella of Bonisagus has
  made a particular effort to ensure that most hous-
  es are represented at her covenant, and she has
  nearby allies from the houses which are not. These
  allies also act as visiting teachers when their spe-
  cialist knowledge is required. The magus Oak of
  Bjornaer, for example, supervises the training and
  induction of apprentices with heart-beasts. Teach-
  ing methods vary widely, but are usually geared
  towards group teaching, rather than individual
  instruction, although supplemental individual
  classes may be given if required.
  Creating University Covenants
  University covenants are created in the same
  way as normal covenants, using the rules present-
  ed in ArsM4, pp. 202-11. The following are sug-
  gestions for features which are common among
  these covenants:
  Site: University covenants are often located in
  or near towns. This is particularly true of the ones
  that are dominated by House Jerbiton. This means
  that they have good access to supplies, but often
  have to deal with visitors at their gates. Magi of
  such covenants frequently masquerade as normal
  mundane scholars. Access should be positive,
  Seclusion should be negative, and Environment
  should reflect that of nearby towns.
  Buildings: University covenants often have a
  number of minor dwellings inside the town, with
  a major hall or manor house located outside. The
  quality of these dwellings varies, but greater care is
  usually taken of the major building. Size should be
  positive to reflect the extent of the covenant’s
  holdings, and Quality and Repair should be posi-
  tive for the major building, and average or negative
  for the urban dwellings.
  Defenses: The covenant’s urban dwellings are
  likely to be very poorly defended, their position
  making them susceptible to riots and accidents.
  The major building, being located outside town,
  may be slightly better defended, but magi of uni-
  versity covenants normally prefer to avoid attract-
  ing unwanted attention by building strongholds.
  Site, Extent and Repair are all likely to be negative.
  Stores: Magi of university covenants do not
  tend to put in major efforts to gather supplies, pre-
  ferring to devote their time to more academic pur-
  suits, and so Vis stocks and Supplies are likely to
  be average or negative. Reputations among magi
  are variable, according to the relations between the
  covenant and the Order as a whole, but reputa-
  tions among mundanes are usually good, as uni-
  versity covenants normally attempt to stay on
  good terms with the local inhabitants.
  Relations: University covenants that place an
  emphasis on teaching usually have positive scores
  in Allies and Contacts, as friendly magi will often
  be involved in the training of apprentices and the
  unending search for Gifted children. By the same
  token, the aggressive policy of such covenants
  regarding recruitment of apprentices means they
  are likely to have trodden on the toes of other
  magi at some point or another, leading to negative
  scores in Enemies. Research universities are
  unlikely to have the same sorts of Allies and Ene-
  mies, but are likely to make use of Contacts in
  their quest for books, giving a positive score.
  Improvement: Improvement is almost always
  negative, as university magi often give little
  thought to securing their Income or Vis Supply.
  The latter, in particular, is not that important to an
  institution which revolves mainly around books.
  Inhabitants is also often negative, with the
  covenant lacking grogs in particular.
  Library: Be they research or teaching institu-
  tions, Hermetic universities almost always have
  good libraries, reflecting in particular the interests
  of the magi. Thus the Library Characteristic is
  usually positive.
  Mystical Attributes: The Supernatural Aura
  score of university covenants is often negative, as
  proximity to towns lowers the power of non-
  Divine auras. Magical Items and Laboratories
  scores are normally average. The magi are likely to
  have ensured they have the basic laboratories they
  require, but with no startling features, and are also
  unlikely to have spent much time creating items.
  Group Teaching Rules
  The training of apprentices at university
  covenants is spread out over the years, and is con-
  ducted by a number of teachers, but in game terms
  it is considered to occupy one season per year.
  Apprenticeship usually lasts for 15 years, during
  which period each Gifted child is considered to be
  the apprentice of one of the magi of the
  covenant, who is required by Hermetic law to be
  responsible for their behaviour, and to provide
  them with one season per year of teaching. How-
  ever, if at the end of apprenticeship the apprentice
  wishes to join a different house, another magus of
  the appropriate house, either at the covenant or
  20
  
  living nearby, will be called in to administer the
  Gauntlet and sponsor their entry. This is particu-
  larly the case at Studium Hermae.
  Training apprentices in groups in this way has
  both advantages and disadvantages. Provided that
  between them, all the magi at a Hermetic universi-
  ty have scores of at least 5 in each of the magical
  Arts, they do not need to match this requirement
  on an individual basis in order to teach the appren-
  tices (contradicting the rule in ArsM4, p.100). On
  the other hand, regardless of how many of them
  there are, or what subjects are taught in any given
  year, every magus at the university is considered to
  spend one season per year teaching, and will not
  be able to use it for research. In addition, each of
  the magi must have a Communication + Lectio
  score which is equal to or greater than the number
  of apprentices at the university (since it is rare that
  a Hermetic university has more than five appren-
  tices at a time, this is not often a problem, unless
  one of the magi has particular problems commu-
  nicating).
  Provided that these requirements are met, each
  apprentice at the university will develop as normal
  (see ArsM4, pp. 100-1 and WGRE, p. 37). If
  required, Study totals using Lectio and Communi-
  cation are calculated using the average scores of
  the magi. Totals for training in other specialist
  Abilities conducted by individual magi (Faerie
  Magic and Will Over Form are two examples) are
  calculated using the scores of the appropriate
  magi. Players are encouraged to come to agree-
  ment as a group on what Arts, spells and Abilities
  they want each apprentice to develop each year.
  A Sample University Covenant –
  Studium Hermae
  Studium Hermae is presented below as an
  example of a university covenant. The covenant
  has been designed to fit easily into most sagas,
  with many of the specific details of its character-
  istics being left to the Storyguide’s discretion.
  The major building of the covenant takes the
  form of an average-sized manor situated at the
  bottom of a cliff, surrounded by forest. Its
  defences are totally insufficient, and although
  home to eight magi of the Order, it lacks an ade-
  quate number of grogs and covenfolk to match.
  Many of the rooms and outbuildings stand empty,
  while others have been turned over for use as
  classrooms and accommodation for the covenant’s
  five apprentices. The covenant does have an
  exceptional library, the magi having stumbled
  upon the remains of the library of a previous
  covenant which occupied the spot. So far the magi
  have kept this find a secret, waiting for a suitable
  moment to use access to it as a bargaining chip in
  tribunal politics. The primary concerns of the
  magi are the search for apprentices and teaching.
  This has occasionally caused friction with other
  covenants, and has led others in the tribunal to
  view them with contempt. However, while a sen-
  ior Bonisagus is the covenant’s leader, few magi
  will voice their dislike openly.
  Studium Hermae Statistics
  House Affiliation: (nominally) Bonisagus
  Symbol: A book, the cover of which is marked
  with the symbol of House Bonisagus
  Season: Summer
  Founded: 1169
  Members:
  Magi
  Stella Tironi: House Bonisagus
  Geoffrey of York: House Jerbiton
  Darius: House Flambeau
  Joan Longshanks: House Mercere
  Alexander: House Quaesitoris
  Valens: House Tremere
  Marcus the Red: House Tytalus
  Vayde Hengest: House Verditius
  Apprentices
  Sarah: apprentice of Stella
  Dominic: apprentice of Valens
  ‘A’isha: apprentice of Geoffrey
  Orchid: apprentice of Vayde
  Philip: apprentice of Alexander
  Site: +1
  Access Quality: Equal to those of prosperous peas-
  ants (+1)
  Access Distances: 20/80/0/0/0 (+2)
  Seclusion: One visitor every 2 days (-2)
  Environment: Average (0)
  Buildings: +1
  Size: Space for 8 magi, 20 specialists and 50
  grogs (+1)
  Impressive Structures: 3 houses in nearest town (+2)
  Quality: Good quality quarters for Stella and Vayde,
  townhouses are all poor quality (-2)
  Repair: Average (0)
  Defenses: -3
  Site: One side beneath overhanging cliff, remaining
  sides are surrounded by forest (-5)
  Elaborate Structure: None (-1)
  Extent: Average (0)
  Repair: Average (0)
  Stores: -3
  Vis: 50 pawns (-1)
  Supplies: Average (0)
  Reputations: Wise scholars (local townsfolk) 1, Poor
  researchers (local magi) 3 (-5)
  Relations: +4
  Allies: 3 moderately powerful magi – Oak of Bjor-
  naer, Theodore Moon of Criamon and Lissan of
  Merinita, each for 20% of their time (usually off
  and on over time as specialist knowledge is
  required) (+15)
  Enemies: Nearby moderately powerful covenant for
  10% of their time (-7)
  Contacts: Local Redcap network helps with hunt for
  apprentices (4 redcaps) (+2)
  Improvement: -1
  Income: Average (0)
  21
  
  Vis Supply: 20 pawns per year (-2)
  Inhabitants: 8 magi, 10 specialists and 25 grogs (0)
  Library: +4
  Spells: 2400 levels (+3)
  Hermetic Books: 900 levels (+5)
  Mundane Books: 540 levels (+4)
  Mystical Attributes: 0
  Aura: 1 (-3)
  Magical Items: None (0)
  Laboratories: Stella and Vayde each have labs
  with +2 bonuses (+3)
  Total Scores: +38/-28
  Acknowledgments
  The author wishes to acknowledge the contri-
  butions of various individuals towards this article.
  Stephanie van Willigenburg provided the original
  idea for the saga on which the article is based,
  Trevor Tolhurst offered his thoughts on Vayde’s
  class, and David Chart checked my Latin. Thank
  you all!
  Bibliography
  Appel, Shannon & Frerking, Chris, Tribunals of
  Hermes:Rome. Stone Mountain, CA:White Wolf,
  1993.
  Chart, David, Heirs to Merlin:The Stonehenge Tri-
  bunal. Roseville, MN:Trident, Inc., 1999.
  Chart, David & Kasab, John, The Wizard’s Gri-
  moire:Revised Edition. Roseville, MN:Trident, Inc.,
  1998.
  Revised Book Rules
  by David Chart
  I
  am very fond of the book rules in Ars Magica
  4th Edition, in no small part because I was
  largely responsible for them. However, several
  years’ experience of using them has suggested
  a number of small revisions. In this article, I will
  explain the modifications, and the motivation
  behind them. The rules are given first, with num-
  bers, followed by the motivations, with the same
  numbers. This format is so that it is possible to use
  the article for reference.
  The original rules are in the 4th Edition rule
  book and Wizard’s Grimoire, Revised Edition.
  Writing Spells: ArM4, p.80; Books: ArM4, pp. 188-
  190, WGRE pp. 122-125; Virtues and Flaws:
  ArM4, p. 34, p. 36
  Rules
  1
  The Study Total is simply Intelligence +
  Quality. Concentration is not added.
  2
  A magus can only write a book about an
  Art if he has a score of at least five in that
  Art. A scholar can only write a book about
  a Knowledge if he has a score of at least
  three in that Knowledge.
  3
  The maximum gain from studying a liber
  quaestionum or a liber quaestionum commen-
  tary is three levels in one season. The max-
  imum gain from studying a summa is two
  levels in one season. The maximum gain
  22
  
  from studying any other kind of book is
  one level.
  4
  The base quality of all books is the
  author’s Communication + Scribe total.
  Libri quaestionum on Knowledges (not Arts)
  get a +6 bonus. Summae on Arts (not
  Knowledges) also get a +6 bonus. No oth-
  er books get a bonus to the quality.
  5
  When writing or copying a summa on a
  Knowledge, multiply the level by five to
  calculate the time taken.
  6
  When writing a tractatus about a mastered
  spell, the author may choose which of the
  two Arts the tractatus is about. A character
  may write two tractatus about a given spell,
  one for each Art.
  7
  The quality of an Arts tractatus may not
  exceed the lowest of the author’s Commu-
  nication + Scribe, the magnitude of the
  spell, and the author’s score in the relevant
  Art.
  8
  When writing a tractatus, the magus accu-
  mulates points equal to his Communica-
  tion + Scribe total every season. When
  these points equal the quality of the tracta-
  tus, it is finished. It is possible to write
  more than one tractatus in a season, if
  your Communication + Scribe is up to it.
  9
  All Authorities have a quality of zero.
  10 The quality of a commentary on a summa is
  equal to the lowest of the commentator’s
  Communication + Scribe, the quality of
  the summa, and the level of the summa.
  11 An author may only write one commentary
  on a given text. Summae by one author on a
  single Knowledge or Art count as one text
  for these purposes, even if they have dif-
  ferent levels or qualities.
  12 A commentator on a liber quaestionum must
  have a score in the Art at least six higher
  than the target of the liber quaestionum.
  13 Glossing
  An author may only gloss a text if he has
  spent at least a season studying it. His Art
  must be at least equal to the score of a sum-
  ma, and at least three greater than the tar-
  get of a liber quaestionum. In order to gloss
  a commentary on a summa, the author must
  have spent at least a season each studying
  the commentary and the summa, and his
  Art score must at least equal the level of
  the summa. The quality of a summa com-
  mentary is still limited by the quality and
  level of the original summa. In order to
  gloss a commentary on an liber quaestionum,
  he must have studied both texts, and must
  have an Art score at least six points higher
  than the target of the liber quaestionum. It is
  not possible to gloss Authorities, tractatus,
  or tractatus commentaries.
  For every season spent glossing a text, the
  text’s quality accumulates a number of
  ‘experience points’ equal to the glossator’s
  Communication + Scribe. These are used
  as if buying an ability, starting at the cur-
  rent quality of the book. The highest level
  of quality it can attain is calculated from
  the glossator’s Communication + Scribe as
  if he were writing the text. ‘Experience
  points’ are not saved from one glossator to
  another, and need not be recorded with a
  text.
  For example, Scribo of Jerbiton, with a
  Communication + Scribe total of 9, is
  glossing a summa on Ignem with a quality
  of 10. The highest level to which he can
  raise the quality is 15, his own Communi-
  cation + Scribe + 6. After one season of
  glossing, the summa has a quality of 10,
  with nine ‘experience points’. After a sec-
  ond season, it has a quality of 11, with sev-
  en experience points.
  Any text can be glossed for a single season.
  A text may be specially prepared to allow
  two seasons’ glossing without any extra
  cost; it merely has to be noted at the time.
  Every additional season of glossing adds
  10% to the size of the book, as extra wide
  margins and space between lines need to
  be left. (Marginal Illustrations count as one
  set of glosses.)
  Glossing does not affect the maximum
  gain from a text.
  Authors may gloss their own texts to take
  advantage of an increase in Com + Scribe.
  14 Writers copy texts three times as fast as
  they can write them. Glossed texts are
  copied in the same way as unglossed texts,
  based on their glossed quality.
  15 It takes one season to copy an Authority.
  16 Virtues & Flaws. These are all general
  virtues and flaws, not Hermetic.
  +1: Clear Writer. The character gets +3 to
  all Communication + Scribe totals for the
  purposes of calculating qualities. This
  virtue has no effect on writing speed, and
  thus no effect on spells.
  +1: Fast Writer. The character gets +3 to
  all Scribe totals for the purposes of calcu-
  lating speed of writing. This includes
  speed of writing up spells. This virtue has
  no effect on the quality of books pro-
  duced.
  -1: Poor Writer. Subtract 3 from all Scribe
  totals when writing. This affects both the
  speed of writing and the quality of the fin-
  ished text. It also affects speed of writing
  spells, but the character can always write
  out a minimum of 10 levels per season, or
  copy a minimum of 30 levels.
  23
  
  -1: Poor Insight. The character can only
  write libri quaestionum with a target up to
  one quarter of his score, Summae with a
  level up to one third of his score, and Arts
  tractatus with a quality up to one half
  (rounded up) of the magnitude of the
  spell.
  -2: Incomprehensible. All Study Totals to
  learn from the character are halved. This
  includes totals for studying books written
  by the character, and totals generated in
  Lectio and Disputatio. The character also
  gets a -6 penalty to any rolls made to
  explain complex subjects in an informal
  setting. Note that commentaries on books
  written by the character are not affected,
  but a glossed version of an Incomprehen-
  sible book is.
  Motivation
  1
  This change slows down the rate of
  improvement in Arts, and also makes
  Book Quality much more important.
  2
  Under the old rules, it was possible to write
  a book from which you could, in principle,
  learn. This change makes that impossible.
  It also blocks characters with a score of
  zero writing libri quaestionum with that tar-
  get.
  3
  Libri quaestionum are supposed to be the
  ideal introductory texts, with summae being
  used for the middle ground and tractatus
  at the higher level. This modification
  means that a character with no knowledge
  of an Art will want to use a liber quaestion-
  um for her first season of study.
  4
  This rule makes libri quaestionum ideal intro-
  ductory texts for Knowledges as well as
  Arts. The bonus to the quality of summae
  on Arts encourages magi to switch to using
  them, and to use them in preference to
  tractatus.
  5
  This is simply a point that got missed in
  the original rules.
  6
  Mastering spells becomes a bit more useful
  with this change.
  7
  The addition of the score in Art as a limit
  is necessary now that magi can write trac-
  tatus about both the Arts of a spell.
  8
  It seems unreasonable for brilliant writers
  to spend a season producing a quality one
  tractatus. Note that tractatus on Knowl-
  edges take a season to produce, as they
  have a quality equal to the author’s Com-
  munication + Scribe.
  9
  Without the addition of Concentration to
  the Study Total, a quality of -5 would ren-
  der Authorities useless to almost everyone.
  10 This change blocks the abuse of writing a
  series of level 1 summae, purely so that oth-
  er magi can write useful commentaries on
  them. The commentaries can still be writ-
  ten, but they will be little use.
  11 This change blocks the less serious abuse
  of having a magus write several high-level
  summae for the purposes of commenting.
  12 This rule is necessary to avoid the possibil-
  ity of writing a commentary which would
  create a liber/commentary pair from which
  the author could learn.
  13 Glossing was too useful in the original ver-
  sion, allowing two seasons’ effort from a
  good writer to completely wipe out any
  unclarity in the original author. Thus,
  incomprehensible geniuses would write
  books, which would be glossed by the
  clear, in order to get the best of both
  worlds. With these rules, it is still worth
  glossing books with a very low quality, or a
  very high level or target, but it is much less
  of a quick fix.
  Tractatus and their commentaries cannot be
  glossed, because that is equivalent to writ-
  ing your own text on the subject.
  14 This is implicit in the original rules, but
  bears generalising.
  15 There wasn’t a rule for this. Oops.
  16 Strong Writer is too valuable for a +1
  Virtue; this splits it in two. However, Poor
  Writer is only a -1 flaw, because it primari-
  ly affects other people. Poor Insight is also
  a -1 flaw. Poor Writer combines elements
  of the original Incomprehensible and
  Weak Writer flaws, while Poor Insight con-
  tains the other elements of the Weak
  Writer flaw, with some extras.
  The 4th Edition version of Incomprehen-
  sible was too easy to work around. This
  version is a permanent blot on any book
  written by the character with the flaw, and
  seriously damages his ability to train
  apprentices. Thus, it is worth -2. Since
  commentaries on an Incomprehensible
  summa are still based on its nominal statis-
  tics, and don’t suffer from being halved,
  there may be Incomprehensible summae
  with lots of valuable commentaries on
  them. Just don’t expect the commentaries
  to agree with one another.
  Thanks
  Thanks to Neil Taylor for consultation on
  these rule revisions.
  24
  
  Heretic’s Corner
  by Michaël de Verteuil
  Less is More
  Heretic’s Corner was originally conceived as an
  ongoing column for the late and lamented Mythic
  Perspectives. As Mythic Perspectives is no more,
  we have decided to revive the column here in Her-
  mes’ Portal, which we hope will prove to be a wor-
  thy successor.
  In my last article, The Magic of Simplification, we
  looked at trying to help clear up the clutter of Ars
  Magica rules by reducing the number of different
  types of die-rolls (Simple, Stress and Quality) from
  three to one (Stress). We did this by proposing to
  replace Quality rolls with Stress rolls (with the
  number of botch dice set at 0), and by replacing
  Simple rolls in most cases with an automatic 4 if
  this (when modified by Characteristics, specializa-
  tions or other modifiers) produced an assured suc-
  cess for the roller. We also discussed the move
  from a d10 to a modified d6 for those wanting to
  reduce the random factor in die rolls. This last
  change would not, of course, actually simplify the
  game, but was offered as a “simple” solution to a
  perceived problem. In this article I propose to fol-
  low the same general approach with respect to
  Abilities.
  A Rationalization of Abilities
  The 4th edition has already taken some steps in
  reducing the plethoric number of Abilities found
  in the 3rd. It did away, for example, with Alertness,
  Charisma, Debate, Diplomacy, Drinking, Evaluate,
  Fantastic Beast Lore, Hermes History, Intimida-
  tion, Meditation, Pretend, Scan, Subterfuge and
  Track. The underlying principle is that all these
  activities could be subsumed within or merged
  with other wider or closely related Abilities (see
  Ars Magica 4th edition page 262). This permits
  characters to have access to the same range of
  activities while spreading their scarce experience
  points over a smaller number of different Abilities.
  So far as I can tell, no one has complained about
  the change.
  I propose to take it one step further. Using the
  motto “Less is More” I propose a partial re-jigging
  of the Abilities and a reduction of their listed
  number (excluding Play (Instrument), Craft
  (Type), (Area) Lore, (Organization) Lore, and
  Speak (Language), which are really multiple Abili-
  ties, and Exceptional Abilities which I will treat
  separately) from 58 to 49, or by about 15%. So in
  this virtual game of musical chairs, which are the
  ones that fall by the wayside when the music
  stops?
  Penetration
  (I can hear the gasps of dismay already.) Is it
  really necessary to have two Arcane Talents to rep-
  resent a mage’s practical capacity to manipulate
  magic effectively compared to one Arcane Knowl-
  edge (Magic Theory) for his capacity to do so the-
  oretically? I say merge it with Finesse and give
  those poor non Tremere/Flambeau/Tytalus guys a
  break. An argument could be made for merging in
  Certamen as well, but I think that would be going
  too far. Certamen can obviously be taught where-
  as Talents cannot. I believe that the distinction
  between Talents, Skills and Knowledges is a valu-
  able and appropriate one that should be preserved.
  Climb
  Just merge this with Athletics. There are no
  specialized rappellers, mountain climbers or
  human flies in Mythic Europe, and if you can
  climb walls you are probably in pretty good physi-
  cal condition.
  Lectio
  With all due respect to medieval academia, I
  don’t see much point in having two formal teach-
  ing skills. I will already take credit for having con-
  tributed to blurring the distinction between Lectio
  and Disputatio in Ordo Nobilis. I haven’t heard a
  murmur of dissent. Let’s go all the way and merge
  Lectio with Disputatio.
  Scribe (Language)
  This is one of my pet peeves. I am not sug-
  gesting a merger here so much as a reshuffling.
  Right now Scribe is a counter-intuitive bundling of
  “script” and “composition” as if these were dif-
  ferent facets of the same coin. This does not make
  a whole lot of sense. If you can scribe in Latin,
  what prevents you from using the same script to
  write down any other language you happen to
  know? All spelling in Mythic Europe is phonetic,
  and grammar is covered under Artes Liberales.
  Composition, on the other hand, should be a func-
  tion of your capacity to Speak (Language) and not
  of the neatness of your handwriting.
  As the Abilities are currently structured, you
  can have a Scribe Latin of 8 while having no Speak
  25
  
  Latin at all. So you can read and write the language
  as beautifully as Virgil while not being able to
  speak or understand a word of it, even if your life
  depended on it. Doh! It doesn’t take a brainiac to
  see there is a problem here, especially as the only
  practical current difference between scores of 3
  and 10 in Speak (Language) appears to be the flex-
  ibility of your accent.
  I would prefer to see Scribe (Language)
  changed to Scribe (Script) and be a function of
  your capacity to transcribe verbal sounds in a giv-
  en alphabet (Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Cyril-
  lic, runic, whatever…), to take shorthand, to
  inscribe and copy clearly, to read a known language
  effectively, and even to draw clear maps. Books
  should be composed using Speak and not Scribe.
  You don’t even need scribe to write a book as you
  can always dictate to an amanuensis. Scribe should
  only affect a book’s physical Quality, not its under-
  lying Quality.
  Combat Skills
  Ordo Nobilis has already proposed merging
  Single Weapon and Shield and Weapon. So far the
  only griping I have heard is over what to call the
  consolidated Skill (“Single Weapon” of course!). I
  don’t like Throwing Weapon as a separate Skill.
  Rock and Throwing Knife should be covered by
  Brawling. Javelin should be tossed in with Long
  Shaft weapon (along with Polearm and Quarter-
  staff. What were the designers thinking?). Throw-
  ing Axe could go under Single weapon. What does
  that leave us? Caber? (Get real!) Sling is a problem,
  but it isn’t really a thrown weapon now, is it? Pre-
  sumably you need separate skills for slings, bows
  and crossbows as they all work very differently.
  And don’t even get me started on Siege Equip-
  ment, which is so obviously a Craft (Type) Skill
  that no combat stats are provided.
  Forgery
  This should be merged with Scribe (Script) as
  above. Note that forgery, as we understand it today
  involves a generalized faith in the legal authority of
  written documents. To say that this faith was not
  widely shared in the 13th century would be an
  understatement. Most charters include long lists of
  witnesses who are to be resorted to in person to
  verify the document’s contents. As the witnesses
  die out and are less able to perform this role, new,
  even identical charters are issued with new wit-
  nesses, usually at the request and expense of the
  original parties or their successors. Your supposed
  hundred year old title deed is not going to hold
  much weight if the current holders of the proper-
  ty have enjoyed undisturbed possession during
  those hundred years.
  Carouse
  Do we really need a separate Skill for how to
  have a socially acceptable good time at a party?
  Surely this can simply be considered a low form of
  Etiquette.
  Hunt
  Does this really have to be separate from Sur-
  vival?
  Chirurgy
  I am not suggesting this be eliminated or
  merged with Medicine. In fact, I would like to see
  the distinction made clearer and eliminate the
  overlap. Chirurgy should be the treating of
  wounds and injuries. This is not the sort of thing
  that you can just learn from a book. Medicine, on
  the other hand should be the treatment of illness-
  es and diseases. It should not be asking too much
  that a physician trained in Medicine should also
  have to learn Chirurgy separately.
  Wagoneering
  This is at best a Craft (Type) Skill if it involves
  repairing and maintaining wheels and carts. If it
  just means leading an ox, it is Animal Handling.
  Otherwise, it is no Skill at all and anyone with half
  a brain can do it.
  Hermetic Law
  Excuse me? Why can’t this be subsumed under
  (Order of Hermes) Lore? Are Quaesitors expect-
  ed to know the Code but nothing about the
  Order? Can you know a lot about the Order and
  its history and not be familiar with the Peripheral
  Code? I don’t think so.
  Exceptional Abilities
  As they stand, I think all the Exceptional Abil-
  ities in the main rules are fine, though some of
  them are clearly not worth a whole Virtue point
  (more on this in a future article).
  “New Stuff”
  One of the problems with trying to simplify
  the main rules is the natural tendency of source-
  books to introduce “new stuff ”. Everybody likes
  “new stuff ”. Authors like it. Players like it. Sto-
  ryguides like it (sometimes). And new Abilities are
  one type of “new stuff ”. Hey, I plead guilty too.
  Even Ordo Nobilis introduced two new optional
  Casual Knowledges (Strategy and English Com-
  mon Law). One should be careful in doing so,
  however, as the list of standard mundane and Her-
  metic Abilities listed in the main rules is meant to
  be comprehensive. Sometimes there is a slight gap
  here and there, but these are best filled by extend-
  ing the scope of an existing Ability instead of
  adding a new one. Using existing Abilities in new
  ways can be “new stuff ” too.
  One thing that should be avoided at all cost,
  from a simplification perspective, is the carving
  out of a new Ability from the range already cov-
  ered by an existing one. The most egregious exam-
  ple of this sin was accidentally committed in
  Hedge Magic. In the main rules, Second Sight has
  a potentially very broad range. Explicitly it permits
  you to see “ghosts, demons and other invisible
  spirits”, but we know that this is not all you can see
  with it, because on page 96 the rules say that those
  26
  
  with Second Sight can also see the Bonds between
  a mage and a familiar, even though the Bonds,
  quite obviously, are not spirits. From this we could
  infer that Second Sight gives you a limited ability
  to see all invisible things and potentially even
  pierce other illusions. The rationale for this would
  be that illusions (of which invisibility is one) affect
  a specific set of senses (usually sight). Second
  Sight, on the other hand, is a sixth sense unique to
  each person possessing it. So while you could
  develop a spell affecting one specific person’s Sec-
  ond Sight, you could not develop one that affect-
  ed all forms of Second Sight. If Second Sight were
  to be a relatively common Exceptional Ability
  amongst mundanes or semi-mundanes (as it is in
  my sagas) this would seriously cut back on fre-
  quent and (in my view) often abusive uses of invis-
  ibility spells (not to mention Parmas). I find it to
  be an excellent game-balancing feature that
  encourages magi to greater subtlety.
  Now what happened with Hedge Magic that
  made this carefully reasoned interpretation go
  “Crash, Bang”? Faerie Sight was introduced as
  “new stuff ”. Not only did this blow away Second
  Sight as a useful Exceptional Ability (otherwise
  well worth the Virtue point cost and the experi-
  ence point investment) by excluding Faerie Glam-
  our from its remit, it also indirectly attempted to
  narrow the original Ability further by explicitly
  linking it “with the Realm of Magic”, even though
  the core rules explicitly state that Second Sight lets
  you see demons (which are Infernal and not Mag-
  ic). The end result was to replace one arguably use-
  ful Exceptional Ability with two largely useless
  ones which few if any players would waste Virtue
  or experience points on. Now this had certainly
  not been the intention of the authors. I suspect
  they misread the Second Sight Ability and simply
  thought they were filling a gap. My suggestion to
  future authors is, wherever possible, to fill gaps by
  extending existing Abilities rather than by adding
  new ones.
  Another similar problem is introduced when
  Hermetic variants of existing general Exceptional
  Abilities are introduced as in The Mysteries. Her-
  metic Alchemy is a variant of Alchemy, and Her-
  metic Astrology and Augury are variants of Div-
  ination. How then do these variants relate to the
  standard Exceptional Abilities? As they are meant
  to be “mysteries”, you cannot just assume that
  experience points already invested in the original
  Abilities are simply transferred to the new ones.
  But is there really no overlap? I think it would have
  been preferable to simply introduce new Virtues
  that modified the Virtue cost and features of stan-
  dard Alchemy and Divination for those acceding
  to the relevant “mysteries”, instead of introducing
  whole new Abilities. Another approach would
  have been to introduce Hermetic Alchemy as an
  Affinity that could be applied to standard Alche-
  my, and Hermetic Astrology and Augury as Affini-
  ties that could be applied to Divination.
  A New Look at Specializations
  If taken to logical extremes, simplification
  through the reduction in the number of Abilities
  would lead to there being only two of them left:
  Do “Stuff ”, and Know “Stuff ”. I am not propos-
  ing this, though someone made an interesting case
  on the Berklist recently for a single Combat Skill.
  Nonetheless, some players might argue that con-
  solidation tends to be at the expense of specializa-
  tion. It is true that the mere +1 specializations
  already provided for in the rules don’t leave much
  scope for really focused expertise. It is, for exam-
  ple, impossible to be a brilliant astronomer under
  the current rules without also being an excellent
  grammarian, and rhetorician. There is a “simple
  solution” to this but, as with the d6 proposal out-
  lined in “The Magic of Simplification”, it does not
  “simplify” the game. In fact, it complicates it, and
  I have no intention of introducing it in my own
  saga (I would get rid of the d6 too, but my players
  seem to like it, so I’m stuck with it). But here is the
  “simple solution”, for what it’s worth.
  Get rid of the current +1 specializations and
  replace them with “Specializations” in which you
  can place experience points just like in Abilities. To
  distinguish them from Abilities, however, I would
  put an asterisk in front of them like “*Astronomy”
  or “*Canon Law”. In a way, this would be reintro-
  ducing through the back door all the Abilities we
  have already purged through the front, but it
  would still permit characters to perform the tasks
  concerned using the broader underlying Abilities,
  which is something they couldn’t do before. Char-
  acters wouldn’t have to specialize in everything
  relating to a core activity to enjoy a general profi-
  ciency, as was the case before rationalization.
  So how would this work exactly? The Special-
  ization could be added in like an Affinity to all
  appropriate rolls or formulae that used the under-
  lying Ability. A player could decide to add an
  acquired experience point either to the underlying
  Ability or to one of its Specializations. Usually he
  would opt for the Ability because of its broader
  applicability, but if he only uses the Ability to do
  one thing, like using Artes Liberales to figure out
  solar eclipses, the time, the calendar, and the
  movement of the planets, it would become cost
  effective after a while to put the extra experience
  points in *Astronomy instead, at least until his
  *Astronomy score equalled his Artes Liberales
  score. Books could count as being either in the
  overall Knowledge or a specific Specialization. In
  the latter case, it could be studied as a source either
  for the Knowledge at a reduced effective Quality
  (-3?), or for the Specialization at full Quality. Any-
  way, it’s just a thought for you readers to chew on.
  That’s it for now, but stay tuned for the next instal-
  ment of the Heretic’s Corner.
  27
  
  Customizing Flaws
  for Your Saga
  by Andrew Gronosky
  C
  hoosing Flaws is one of the hardest parts
  of creating an Ars Magica character. The
  player needs to select enough Flaws to
  balance their choice of Virtues. He must
  integrate those Flaws into his character’s back-
  ground and persona, while avoiding any Flaws that
  detract from the fun of playing the character.
  Players often restrict themselves to the easy
  choices: six or seven -1 Flaws instead of a few,
  more serious Flaws. The tendency to avoid some
  of the high-cost Flaws is understandable: after
  reading descriptions of -3 or -4 Flaws, many of
  them seem hard to play, and they seem to so dom-
  inate a character as to interfere with the character’s
  concept. Should a Storyguide blame players for
  making playable choices? Yet choosing many, low-
  cost Flaws is unsatisfying: it’s difficult for the play-
  er to justify so many Flaws in terms of the charac-
  ter’s background, and difficult for the Storyguide
  to keep track of so many Flaws and bring them
  into play.
  The costs of Flaws sometimes seem arbitrary.
  Flaws of equal cost do not always have equivalent
  effects. For example, Missing Ear (p. 47) and Miss-
  ing Eye (p. 47) are both -1 Flaws, but Missing Eye
  has more serious effects in terms of game
  mechanics — it entails combat penalties. Are Non-
  combatant (-3; p. 50) and Mute (-3; p. 50) really
  equivalent?
  The answer depends on the saga. Every Ars
  Magica troupe has its own style of play. Think of
  how the characters behave in your own saga. Do
  they avoid violence, or do they readily attack any
  who oppose them? Do they rely more on magic or
  on Abilities to solve problems? Do the stories
  more often involve puzzles and mysteries, physical
  challenges, or dramatic role-playing?
  The troupe’s playing style will dictate which
  Flaws are trivial and which are debilitating. Social
  Flaws might not be a big problem in a saga set in
  the remote wilderness, but they could be much
  more important in a saga centered around a noble
  court. Flaws that entail combat penalties might be
  insignificant in a saga that eschews violence, but
  the same combat penalties could be deadly in a
  saga centered on a second Schism War. The costs
  of Flaws should take the conditions of the saga
  into account. Otherwise, there will always be some
  Flaws whose costs are out of step with their
  effects.
  Much as the spellcasting guidelines in 4th Edi-
  tion facilitate designing creative and consistent
  spell effects, a set of guidelines for Flaws can help
  troupes tailor Flaws — and thereby overall charac-
  ter designs — to their saga’s setting and style of
  play. Although they may seem complicated at first,
  the guidelines are designed to be straightforward
  to apply. The most important step in tailoring a
  Flaw is to understand the nature of the saga.
  The Basic Rating System
  Flaws can be complicated. They often have
  effects that bend the normal rules of the game.
  Some Flaws have multiple effects, or single effects
  that are very general. Before considering such dif-
  ficult examples, consider a basic Flaw with a single,
  well-defined effect.
  The system for rating a basic Flaw consists of
  five steps:
  1 Decide whether the Flaw is Physical, Social,
  or Mental.
  2 Assign an Intensity.
  3 Assign a Frequency.
  4 Multiply Intensity times Frequency to get
  “Flaw Points.” Keep any fractions.
  5 To find the cost of the Flaw, compare the
  Flaw Points to the familiar “pyramid scale”.
  The “pyramid scale” is the same relation used
  to convert Experience Points into Art or Ability
  Levels (see the Ability Cost Table, Ars Magica, 4th
  Edition, p. 52). Flaw ratings are negative, so they
  give a negative final cost. Just imagine minus signs
  in front of every number on the Ability Cost
  Table, and it becomes a Flaw Cost Table.
  Example: Dark Secret (p. 47) is a Social Flaw with
  Intensity -5 and Frequency 0.5. The method for assigning
  these numbers will be explained later. This gives -5×0.5=
  -2.5 Flaw Points. Comparing -2.5 to the “pyramid scale”
  yields a result of -1, because -2.5 falls between -1 (cost -1)
  and -3 (cost -2). Keeping the fraction until the end makes a
  difference; if we had rounded the Flaw Points to -3, Dark
  Secret would have increased in cost to -2.
  The more complicated Flaws can be rated by
  variations on this procedure. For Flaws with mul-
  tiple effects, simply rate the Flaw Points of each
  effect (keeping the fractions) and add up all the
  Flaw Points before comparing to the pyramid
  scale. Specific guidelines for rating complicated
  Flaws are given under “Special Cases,” below.
  Table 1 shows this rating system applied to the
  non-Variable Flaws in Ars Magica, 4th Edition.
  Since the rating system is based on adapting Flaws
  to a particular saga, Table 1 contains certain
  assumptions about what a “typical” saga is like (see
  “the Baseline Saga,” below). The Flaw costs in
  Table 1 may or may not be appropriate for your
  saga. You may use Table 1 “as-is,” or as a starting
  point for your own customizations.
  Understanding Table 1
  Since Flaws so commonly have more than one
  effect, Table 1 lists the Physical, Social, and Men-
  tal effects of each Flaw separately. In addition to
  these three categories of effects, Table 1 also has a
  “Misc.” column. The “Misc” rating is simply a
  catch-all for special cases: Flaws that have multiple
  effects within the same category, Flaws that expire,
  and so on. Guidelines for rating these special cas-
  28
  
  29
  Copyrighted material from Ars Magica 4th Edition used with permission from Trident, Inc., d/b/a Atlas Games
  Old Value
  Name
  Physical
  Social
  Magical/Mental
  New value
  Int.
  Freq.
  Int.
  Freq.
  Int.
  Freq.
  Misc.
  -1
  Blatant Gift
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Creative Block
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1,5
  1
  -1
  -1
  Disjointed Magic
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  0,5
  -1
  -1
  Flawed Parma Magica
  -2,5
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Follower of Verditius
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -10
  0,25
  1
  -1
  Can prevent spellcasting
  -1
  Hedge Wizard
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Incompatible Arts
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -10
  0,25
  -1
  Higher for common combinations
  -1
  Incomprehensible
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  0,25
  -0
  -1
  Infamous Master
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Loose Magic
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  -2
  Unable to gain a substantial power
  -1
  Necessary Condition
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  3
  -2,5
  -2
  2 Mental effects (inconvenience, can prevent spellcasting)
  -1
  No Familiar
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  1,5
  -2
  Usefulness of familiar is about 1 time/chapter
  -1
  No Sigil
  0
  0
  -10
  0,25
  0
  0
  1
  -1
  «Can’t vote; expires»
  -1
  Poor Reader
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  1,5
  -2
  Equivalent to -2 on non-magical die roll
  -1
  Poor Student
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  -2
  -1
  Tormenting Master
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  0
  0
  -1
  Assumes master is not actually dangerous
  -1
  Twilight Points
  -1
  1
  0
  0
  -2
  0,25
  -1
  «Assumes 2 Twilight points; affects aging and magic»
  -1
  Unimaginative Learner
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -1
  -1
  Vis Obligation
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -4
  2
  -3
  Assumes obligation is 40% of standard income
  -1
  Warped Magic
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -1
  -1
  Weak Writer
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -5
  0,25
  -1
  -2
  Clumsy Magic
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  -3
  Affects combat spellcasting
  -2
  Discredited Lineage
  0
  0
  -7
  0,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -2
  2 Social effects (Reputation, harassment)
  -2
  Lack of Concentration
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  -0,75
  -2
  2 Mental effects
  -2
  Lack of Control
  -5
  1
  0
  0
  -5
  0,5
  -3
  50% penalty to spell rate, affects combat
  -2
  Limited Magic Resistance
  -5
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  -2
  Rigid Magic
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -7,5
  1
  -3
  Assumes non-boosted spells 75% weaker
  -2
  Short-Lived Magic
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -7,5
  1,5
  -4
  -2
  Slow Caster
  -5
  1
  0
  0
  -5
  0,5
  -3
  50% penalty to spell rate, affects combat
  -2
  Stingy Master
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  3
  3
  -2
  Expires
  -2
  Weak Magic
  -5
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  Increase for important Arts
  -3
  Magic Addiction
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -6
  2
  -4
  -3
  Old
  -10
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -4
  Treats each aging roll as -2 Intensity
  -3
  Painful Magic
  -2
  2
  0
  0
  -2
  2
  -3
  Affects combat spellcasting
  
  30
  Copyrighted material from Ars Magica 4th Edition used with permission from Trident, Inc., d/b/a Atlas Games
  Old Value
  Name
  Physical
  Social
  Magical/Mental
  New value
  Int.
  Freq.
  Int.
  Freq.
  Int.
  Freq.
  Misc.
  -3
  Study Requirement
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -5
  1,5
  -3
  -3
  Weak Parma Magica
  -5
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  Resistance due to Forms still works
  -4
  Chaotic Magic
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -5
  2
  -7
  -5
  3 Mental effects
  -4
  Susceptibility to Divine Power
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  1,5
  -2
  Assumes typical aura is 3
  -4
  Susceptibility to Faerie Power
  -5
  0,5
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  -2
  Assumes typical aura is 3
  -4
  Suscpetibility to Infernal Power
  -5
  0,5
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  -2
  Assumes typical aura is 3
  -4
  Unpredicatable Magic
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  3
  -5
  -3
  3 Mental effects
  -6
  Non-spontaneity
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -10
  2
  -5
  -6
  Personal Magic
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -5
  3
  -5
  -6
  Unstructured Caster
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -10
  2
  -2
  -6
  2 Mental effects
  -1
  Magic Deficiency
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -5
  1
  -2
  2 effects: spellcasting and lab work
  (uncommon, minor)
  -4
  Magic Deficiency
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -10
  1,5
  -5
  2 effects: spellcasting and lab work
  (technique, major)
  -1
  Branded Criminal
  0
  0
  -1
  1,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Outcast
  -3
  1
  -1
  1
  0
  0
  3
  -1
  Expires
  -2
  Outlaw Leader
  0
  0
  -7
  0,5
  0
  0
  -1,5
  -2
  5 Social effects, see Extended Examples
  -4
  Infamous Outlaw
  0
  0
  -7
  0,5
  0
  0
  -4
  -3
  2 Social effects
  -1
  Bad Reputation
  0
  0
  -2
  1
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Black Sheep
  0
  0
  -2
  1
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Compulsion
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -1
  -1
  Dark Secret
  0
  0
  -5
  0,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Deep Sleeper
  -9
  0,25
  -3
  0,25
  -1
  0,5
  -2
  Sometimes affects combat
  -1
  Delusion
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -1
  -1
  Dependent
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  1
  -1
  «Consumes 25% of training time; expires»
  -1
  Disfigured
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Driving Goal
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -1
  -1
  Dutybound
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1,5
  -1
  -1
  Evil Eye
  0
  0
  -3
  1,5
  0
  0
  -2
  -1
  Expenses
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  Nominally consumes over 30% of wealth
  -1
  Faerie Enmity
  0
  0
  -1
  1,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Favors
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Fragile Constitution
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  -1
  Hatred
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -1
  
  31
  Copyrighted material from Ars Magica 4th Edition used with permission from Trident, Inc., d/b/a Atlas Games
  Old Value
  Name
  Physical
  Social
  Magical/Mental
  New value
  Int.
  Freq.
  Int.
  Freq.
  Int.
  Freq.
  Misc.
  -1
  Hunchback (M)
  -3
  0,5
  -3
  0,25
  0
  0
  -1
  Includes -3 to Brawling defense
  -1
  Infamous Family
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  -1
  0,5
  -2
  -1
  Judged Unfairly
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  -1
  1
  -2
  -1
  Lost Love
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  0
  -0
  -1
  Low Self-Esteem
  -1
  1
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -1
  -1
  Magical Air
  0
  0
  -3
  1,5
  0
  0
  -2
  -1
  Magic Susceptibility
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  3
  0,5
  -3
  -2
  2 negative Physical effects, one positive effect
  -1
  Meddler
  0
  0
  -1
  0,5
  -1
  1
  -1
  -1
  Missing Ear
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  -1
  -1
  Missing Eye
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2,5
  -2
  3 effects, all combat-related
  -1
  Oath of Fealty
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -2,5
  1
  -2
  -1
  Obese
  -3
  1,5
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  -2
  4 effects, one is positive
  -1
  Obligation (C&G)
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2,5
  1
  -1
  -1
  Obsessed
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1,5
  -1
  -1
  Offensive to Animals
  -3
  0,5
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  -2
  Can’t ride – disadvantage in combat
  -1
  Oversensitive
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -1
  Increase if you start fights
  -1
  Poor Armaments
  -4
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  3
  -1
  Expires
  -1
  Poor Eyesight
  -6
  1
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  -3
  Affects combat
  -1
  Poor Hearing
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  -1
  -1
  Poor Memory
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -6
  0,5
  -2
  2 Mental effects
  -1
  Reclusive
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Short Attention Span (C&G)
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -5
  0,5
  -1,5
  -2
  2 Mental effects
  -1
  Simple-Minded
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1,5
  -1
  -1
  Social Handicap
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  -2
  «Affects only «»appropriate»» Social rolls»
  -1
  Soft-Hearted
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -1
  -1
  Tainted with Evil (M)
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  -1,5
  -2
  2 Social effects
  -1
  Uncommon Fear
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  -2
  -1
  Weakness
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  1
  -1
  -1
  Weak-Willed
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  -1
  -2
  Clumsy
  -3
  1,5
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  -2
  Assumes no combat effect
  -2
  Common Fear
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  1,5
  -2
  -2
  Curse of Venus
  0
  0
  -3
  0,5
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  -2
  Decrepit
  -1
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  -1
  Decrepitude affects wounds and aging
  -2
  Diabolic Upbringing
  0
  0
  -10
  0,5
  -1
  1
  1
  -2
  Gives access to Occult Lore
  
  32
  Copyrighted material from Ars Magica 4th Edition used with permission from Trident, Inc., d/b/a Atlas Games
  Old Value
  Name
  Physical
  Social
  Magical/Mental
  New value
  Int.
  Freq.
  Int.
  Freq.
  Int.
  Freq.
  Misc.
  -2
  Haunted (C&G)
  0
  0
  -1
  2
  0
  0
  -1
  -2
  Haunted (M)
  0
  0
  -1
  2
  -1,5
  2
  -2
  Affects lab work
  -2
  Hunchback (C&G)
  -3
  1
  -3
  0,5
  0
  0
  -2
  -2
  Infamous
  0
  0
  -4
  1
  0
  0
  -2
  -2
  Lame
  -6
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -9
  -5
  4 Physical effects
  -2
  Lycanthrope
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -10
  0,5
  -2
  Value depends heavily on Frequency
  -2
  Missing Hand
  -3
  1,5
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  -2
  Noncombatant (M)
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -4,5
  -3
  Primary effect is ban on combat spells
  -2
  Obligation (M)
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2,5
  2
  -2
  25% penalty to lab time
  -2
  Overconfident
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  -2
  -2
  Poor
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -4,5
  -3
  Affects combat and profession. Does not expire
  -2
  Poor (Characteristic)
  -1
  2
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  This is a Physical example
  -2
  Sheltered Upbringing
  0
  0
  -3
  1,5
  0
  0
  -2
  -3
  «2 Social effects; expires»
  -2
  Small Frame (C&G)
  -2
  1,5
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  -2
  2 Physical effects (Body Level, Fatigue Level)
  -2
  Tainted with Evil (C&G)
  0
  0
  -6
  1,5
  0
  0
  -3
  2 Social effects
  -2
  Terrors
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -10
  0,5
  -2
  -3
  Arthritis
  -3
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -1
  -2
  -3
  Feral Upbringing (C & G only)
  0
  0
  -3
  1
  -3
  1
  -3
  -3
  Fury
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -9
  1
  -3
  -3
  Mute (C & G only)
  0
  0
  -9
  2
  0
  0
  -5
  -3
  Noncombatant (C & G)
  -9
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  -3
  Sense of Doom
  -12
  0,25
  0
  0
  -10
  0,5
  -3
  -3
  Small Frame (M)
  -2
  2
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  -3
  -4
  Dwarf (C)
  -8
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -6
  -4
  3 Physical effects
  -4
  Feeble (Characteristic)
  -2
  2
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -2
  This is a Physical example
  -4
  Plagued By (Supernatural Entity) 0
  0
  -7
  1
  0
  0
  -3
  -5
  Age Quickly
  -10
  1
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -4
  -5
  Blind (C)
  -10
  1
  0
  0
  -10
  2
  -7
  -5
  Dwarf (M)
  -8
  1
  0
  0
  -4
  2
  -5
  -5
  Enfeebled (C)
  -10
  1,5
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  -5
  2 Physical effects
  -5
  Pathetic (Characteristic)
  -3
  2
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -3
  This is a Physical example
  -6
  Enfeebled (M)
  -10
  1,5
  0
  0
  -10
  2
  -7
  -6
  Poor Memory (M)
  0
  0
  0
  0
  -5
  2
  -13
  -6
  3 Mental effects
  Int.: Intensity; Freq.: Frequence; M: Magi; C: Companions; G: Grogs
  
  es are given under “Special Cases,” below. The
  “Misc” column is simply a sum of all the modifiers
  due to the special cases. The brief comment after
  each entry in Table 1 explains why the “Misc” rat-
  ings appear.
  The Baseline Saga
  Since the Flaw guidelines are designed to rate
  the importance of a Flaw in the context of a par-
  ticular saga, creating Table 1 required a “baseline”
  saga as a point of reference. The baseline may or
  may not coincide with your troupe’s style of play.
  The following premises describe the baseline saga:
  - The covenant is located in a rural area, but
  not in the wilderness. Characters will
  encounter, and have important interactions
  with, mundane NPCs at least once per chap-
  ter (game session).
  - Magi have poor social skills, and have an
  even harder time relating to mundanes
  because of their Gift. Grogs and compan-
  ions are available to act as magi’s spokesmen
  in most social situations, so magi do not
  often need to deal directly with mundanes.
  - Combat is a frequent risk, but it is often pre-
  ventable. Violence is occasionally necessary
  or unavoidable. A battle, or the risk of a bat-
  tle, occurs in most stories, but not in every
  chapter (game session).
  - The saga is composed of discrete stories,
  each with a constant cast of characters and
  each with its own beginning, middle, and
  end. A story usually takes from 2-4 game
  sessions to complete.
  - The story challenges are varied. Some sto-
  ries call for combat prowess, some require
  social acumen, and others require the clever
  application of Abilities and/or magic. These
  elements are all about equally important in
  achieving story goals.
  Adjusting the costs of Flaws for sagas that dif-
  fer from these assumptions is discussed under
  “Customizing the Ratings.”
  Foundation for the Guidelines:
  What is a Flaw?
  In order to effectively rate a Flaw in the con-
  text of a saga, one must first establish what a Flaw
  is, and what it is not. A clear definition of a Flaw
  will provide a framework for the Flaw guidelines
  presented later.
  The main purpose of a Flaw is to make the
  character more fun to play. They’re a source of
  characterization and, occasionally, comic relief.
  More importantly, Flaws add an element of drama
  and challenge to the saga. The heroes of literature
  and folk-tales, from King Arthur to Cinderella, are
  characters who overcome their circumstances and
  their human weaknesses to achieve mythic tri-
  umphs. From a storytelling point of view, a char-
  acter’s weaknesses are as important as his
  strengths.
  A different, more game-mechanical purpose
  for Flaws is to “balance” Virtues. Characters need
  to take as many points’ worth of Flaws as they
  choose in Virtues. The design rationale seems to
  be one of basic fairness: characters cannot obtain
  special advantages (Virtues) unless they also accept
  special disadvantages. “Game balance” is less
  important in Ars Magica than in many other
  games — magi are vastly more powerful than
  grogs, for instance — but a sense of fairness is
  important in any game. Flaws help ensure that
  characters can have interesting Virtues without
  becoming too powerful compared to other PCs of
  their own type (magus, companion, or grog). Prop-
  erly chosen, Flaws can be interesting character fea-
  tures in their own right.
  But Flaws don’t “balance” anything if they
  don’t come up in play. A Flaw that doesn’t affect
  the story is merely an excuse for a free Virtue: it
  adds nothing to the game. Flaws also don’t
  enhance role-playing if their effects occur only
  during the down time between stories. There are
  many problems that can afflict a character without
  affecting the story at all. For example, a character
  may have an overbearing, nagging mother-in-law.
  As much as one can sympathize with his plight,
  this would only be a Flaw in unusual circum-
  stances: if the mother-in-law were an important
  character in the story.
  A working definition of a Flaw, incorporating
  the foregoing ideas, is: a Flaw is a limitation or weak-
  ness that makes a character more fun to play by providing
  challenges that are meaningful to the story.
  The exact criterion of meaningfulness to the
  story must be determined by the troupe or Sto-
  ryguide. Keep in mind that a Flaw doesn’t have to
  affect the plot directly to make itself felt. For
  instance, an Obligation (p. 49) keeps a magus from
  studying at least one season each year. This slows
  his advancement in the Arts. Even if he fulfils the
  Obligation outside of the story, the magus is a lit-
  tle weaker than he would normally be because of
  the lost study time. This can certainly affect the
  outcome of a story.
  The Categories
  The three major categories for the effects of
  Flaws are Physical, Social, and Mental. These were
  chosen not merely for convenience, but because
  they parallel three major elements of role-playing
  gaming: combat and physical challenges, role-play-
  ing and interactions with NPCs, and skill use and
  problem-solving. Dividing Flaw costs into these
  categories will help your troupe customize Flaws
  to your saga.
  Some Flaws have effects that cannot easily be
  described as Physical, Social, or Mental. The basic
  categories have been broadened a little to include
  most of the common types of effects. The con-
  stituents of the three categories are not, therefore,
  altogether self-explanatory.
  33
  
  Physical
  The Physical category includes Flaws that
  affect
  - Physical Abilities such as Climb, Ride, and
  all weapon skills
  - Combat
  - Health and Body Levels
  - Fatigue (including fatigue from spellcasting)
  - Wound recovery and aging
  - Money and equipment
  - Magic Resistance
  Money and equipment are included in the
  Physical category because they dictate the quality
  of the character’s armaments, and hence his com-
  bat effectiveness. Magic resistance is considered
  Physical because hostile spells are a serious threat
  to the character’s life and limb. Even non-destruc-
  tive spells such as Rego Mentem effects are overt-
  ly hostile actions that will often lead to a fight,
  even if combat isn’t underway when the NPC
  casts the spell. Magic resistance is generally most
  important in sagas that emphasize action and com-
  bat.
  Social
  The Social category includes Flaws that affect
  - Social Abilities like Guile, Bargain, and
  Leadership
  - Social rank or status
  - Reputation
  - Relationships with NPCs, such as a Depen-
  dent (p. 47) or Enemies (p. 46)
  The Social category is presumed less important
  to magi than to mundanes. This difference is
  reflected in the ratings in Table 1: adjust the Social
  ratings of Hermetic Flaws in sagas where magi
  often find themselves in social situations.
  Mental
  The Mental category is something of a catch-
  all that includes most activities that are not clearly
  Physical or Social.
  - Spellcasting
  - Laboratory work
  - Certamen
  - All Knowledges
  - Experience Points, training and study
  - All Abilities that are not clearly Physical or
  Social, e.g., Pick Locks, Craft skills
  Because Art scores tend to be higher than Abil-
  ity scores, the ratings of Flaws that affect magic
  are calculated somewhat differently from Flaws
  that affect Abilities. This is explained below.
  The Mental category also covers an important
  group of effects that influence a character’s behav-
  ior, often contrary to his best interest. These
  effects include:
  - The character is inclined to behave a certain
  way, with no game-mechanical effects or die
  rolls, e.g., Oversensitive (p. 48)
  - The character has an undesirable Personali-
  ty Trait, e.g., Reclusive (p. 48)
  - The character must make a die roll to keep
  self-control, e.g., Fury (p. 50)
  - The character is temporarily compelled to
  act a certain way, regardless of the player’s
  desires; e.g. Terrors (p. 49) and Lycanthrope
  (p. 49)
  The Ratings
  To compute Flaw Points, list the effects of the
  Flaw, then determine a Frequency and Intensity
  for each effect. Multiply Frequency times Intensi-
  ty for each effect to get the Flaw Points for that
  effect. The cost of a Flaw is the “pyramid value”
  of the sum of all Flaw Points.
  Intensity
  Intensity describes how pronounced an effect
  the Flaw has. Stronger effects have higher negative
  Intensities and make the Flaw cost more. General-
  ly, the Intensity of an effect ranges from -1 to -10,
  but larger negative values are possible.
  The Intensity of a Flaw that affects die rolls is
  straightforward to determine. Each -1 to a stan-
  dard, non-magical die roll (either stress or simple)
  is -1 point of Intensity. A Flaw that gives -3 to
  social rolls would thus have a (Social) Intensity of
  -3.
  Intensity has the same value whether the Flaw
  affects all die rolls in a category or just a few spe-
  cial kinds of rolls. Whether the Flaw affects com-
  mon rolls or uncommon rolls, a broad category of
  rolls or a narrow category, is described by Fre-
  quency. Intensity simply rates how powerful the
  Flaw’s effect is when that Flaw is affecting the sto-
  ry.
  The Intensity for Flaws that affect magical die
  rolls is calculated differently. A magical roll is typ-
  ically a die + Characteristic + Form + Technique,
  whereas a non-magical roll is typically a die +
  Characteristic + Ability. Magical Arts tend to be
  much higher than Abilities, so the random factor
  of the die roll has less relative importance for mag-
  ical rolls. Halve the die-roll penalty to get the
  Intensity for magical rolls.
  A -3 penalty to a non-magical roll is a signifi-
  cant disadvantage. A normal person with no rele-
  vant Ability has a 5 in 10 chance to succeed at a
  nominal simple roll of Difficulty 6. With a -3
  penalty on the same roll, the chance of success
  drops to 2 in 10: the player must roll a natural 9 or
  10 for the character to succeed. The probability of
  success is reduced by (5-2)/5 x 100% = 60% (not
  by 30%!). The revised Flaw ratings in Table 1 are
  designed to reflect how harsh a -3 penalty can real-
  ly be.
  Of course, not all Flaws have effects that are
  represented as die-roll penalties. As a rule of
  thumb, if a Flaw gives a measurable penalty of
  some kind, the Intensity should be -1 per 10% of
  penalty. Consider a hypothetical Flaw that gives a
  character one fewer Body Levels than normal
  (without affecting Fatigue Levels). A normal char-
  34
  
  acter has five body levels, so losing one is a 1/5
  penalty, or 20%. (Note: generally the Intensities
  for Body Levels and Fatigue Levels are considered
  different effects. See “Multiple Effects” under
  “Special Cases,” below, for guidelines.)
  Some Flaws, such as Hatred (p. 47), have
  effects that aren’t even represented by game
  mechanics. Flaw effects do not always have any-
  thing to do with numbers. Flaw effects do, howev-
  er, break down into several general types. Guide-
  lines for rating their Intensity are given by type.
  These guidelines are not comprehensive, but they
  do cover the most common types of effects.
  Troupes should be able to rate an effect’s Intensi-
  ty by analogy to one or more of these sets of
  guidelines.
  Percentage Penalty or Disadvantage
  - Each 10% penalty is -1 Intensity.
  - Consider Inexpensive equipment to be 30%
  less useful than Standard equipment.
  Example: Expenses (p. 47) makes a character pay
  25%-50% of his income. The Storyguide decides he’ll aim
  for taking 40% of the character’s money. The (Physical)
  Intensity is -4.
  Penalty to Non-Magical Die Rolls
  - For non-combat rolls, the Intensity is the
  same as the die-roll penalty.
  - For combat rolls, the Intensity is the same as
  the sum of all modifiers to each of the basic
  combat scores: Init, Atk, Def, Dam, Soak.
  - Inability to make the roll is a 100% penalty:
  -10 Intensity.
  Example: Missing Hand (p. 49) gives a -3 penalty to
  combat rolls (among other effects). Interpreting this to mean
  -3 to everything except Damage and Soak (which aren’t
  rolled), the (Physical) Intensity due to combat penalties is
  -9.
  Penalty to Magical (Form + Technique)
  Die Rolls
  - Intensity is half the die-roll penalty. Keep
  any fractions.
  - Each 10% disadvantage is -1 Intensity.
  - Inability to use an Art or other magical pow-
  er is a 100% penalty: -10 Intensity.
  - Consider Form and Technique to contribute
  equally to the roll.
  Example: A Minor Magical Deficiency in Terram
  (p. 35) makes a magus halve his Terram score before
  adding it to a magical roll. This is a 50% penalty to Ter-
  ram, but the Form constitutes only half the roll. The Defi-
  ciency is really like a 25% penalty. Its Intensity is -2.5.
  Penalty to Magic Resistance
  - Intensity is half the die-roll penalty. Keep
  any fractions.
  - Each 10% disadvantage is -1 Intensity.
  - Consider the Form and Parma Magica to
  contribute equally to Magic Resistance.
  - Natural resistance rolls are non-magical rolls
  (Physical or Mental).
  - For Frequency, consider how often charac-
  ters need to resist hostile spells (do not use
  the Frequency corresponding to the affect-
  ed Arts).
  Example: Limited Magic Resistance (p. 36) makes the
  Form score not count toward Magic Resistance. This is a
  50% disadvantage, so the Intensity is -5.
  Role-Playing Effects
  -1
  if the character is inclined to behave a cer-
  tain way, but there’s no game-mechanical
  enforcement.
  -3
  if the behavior is very strong but there is
  no game-mechanical enforcement.
  -1
  for each chance in 10 the character will be
  forced to act according to the Flaw.
  -10 if the character cannot resist the effect or
  has no self-control when the effect is
  active.
  Example 1: Obsessed (p. 48) influences a character’s
  behavior, but there are no rules that enforce the obsession;
  Intensity is -1.
  Example 2: Uncommon Fear (p. 48) strongly influ-
  ences a character’s behavior, but there are no specific rules
  governing the fear; Intensity is -3.
  Example 3: Fury (p. 50) causes a character to fly into
  a rage on a stress roll of 8 or lower. There is an 8 in 10
  chance the Fury will “activate,” so the Intensity is -8.
  Example 4: Terrors (p. 49) completely take control of
  the character and force him to flee, when they are active.
  Since there is no chance of self-control, Intensity is -10.
  Danger
  Flaws that put the character in danger should
  cost more than Flaws that merely thwart or inhib-
  it him. Some Flaws endanger the character as their
  primary effect (e.g., Enemies (p. 46)). In other cas-
  es, danger is an extra effect in addition to the
  Flaw’s primary effect (e.g., Oversensitive (p. 48)
  can lead to fights in addition to its normal effects).
  See “Special Cases,” below, for guidelines on how
  to add an extra Danger rating to a Flaw. Never add
  a “danger factor” to Flaws that include combat
  penalties — the Intensity for combat effects
  already takes the risks into account.
  -1
  Inconvenience. An enemy who is more an
  annoyance than a threat.
  -3
  Slight danger, risk of story setback. An
  enemy who is about equal to your power.
  -5
  Moderate danger, risk of injury. An ene-
  my more powerful than yourself but
  weaker than the combined strength of
  you and your allies.
  -7
  Serious danger, risk of death or defeat. A
  powerful enemy equal to the combined
  strength of you and your allies.
  -10 Deadly peril. An overwhelmingly power-
  ful enemy.
  Example: Infamous Outlaw (p. 39) makes the charac-
  ter hunted by the authorities. Since punishment in Mythic
  Europe is often carried out by hanging, this is a deadly
  risk. Intensity is -7.
  35
  
  Denied a Power or Ability
  Some Flaws prevent a character from pro-
  gressing in certain Abilities, or from gaining other
  advantages that most characters accrue through
  play.
  -1
  Cannot start with one Ability, but may
  gain it later.
  -2
  Cannot advance in one Ability.
  -3
  Cannot start with a group of Abilities.
  -6
  Cannot advance in a group of Abilities.
  -3
  Prohibited from gaining a substantial
  power or advantage.
  A group of abilities is one boldface heading on
  the Abilities Table (p. 53), e.g., “Performance
  Skills.” When several Abilities are affected, use
  either the cost for a group of Abilities, or the sum
  of the costs for the individual Abilities —
  whichever gives a lower Intensity.
  Being unable to use an Ability is only a Flaw if
  the character would normally be entitled to that
  Ability. Grogs don’t get points for being unable to
  start with Scribe Latin, because grogs can’t nor-
  mally start with that Ability anyway.
  A “substantial advantage” is some power or
  privilege that the character could normally gain,
  and that most characters of his type would nor-
  mally gain. Examples include a familiar for magi,
  land ownership for companions, etc.
  Example: Noncombatant (p. 49) makes a character
  unable to learn combat skills (among other effects). Combat
  skills are a group of Abilities, so the Intensity for this effect
  is -3. Noncombatant also has other effects; see “Special
  Cases,” below, for how to rate Flaws with multiple effects.
  Frequency
  Flaws that affect the story more often should
  have a higher overall cost. Remember that, accord-
  ing to the definition of a Flaw, above, the impor-
  tant factor is how often the Flaw affects the story,
  not how often it affects the character.
  Some Flaws aren’t used in play, but instead
  affect a character through season-to-season aging,
  lab work, and character development. These Flaws
  are assigned a Frequency based on how many sea-
  sons of the year they have their impact.
  A nominal Flaw comes into play about once
  per story. A “story” for this purpose consists of
  2-4 chapters (game sessions) that comprise a sin-
  gle, continuous plot. If your stories are longer or
  shorter, you may need to adjust the Frequency of
  Flaws accordingly. Flaws that arise more than once
  per story have higher ratings than normal; those
  that arise less often have lower ratings.
  More so than Intensity, the Frequency of a
  Flaw is likely to vary from one saga to the next,
  depending on the troupe’s style of play, the setting,
  and the troupe’s interpretation of the Flaw’s
  description. See the “Baseline saga,” above, for the
  premises that were used to assign the Frequencies
  in Table 1.
  Players will usually take steps to avoid having
  their Flaws come into play. For example, a charac-
  ter who has a Missing Eye (p. 47) will probably
  avoid using missile weapons. Choose the Frequen-
  cy based on what is normal or representative for
  your saga, not according to the player’s or the char-
  acter’s individual behavior.
  Frequency is a factor from 0.25 to 3. Multiply
  Frequency by Intensity to get the Flaw Points of
  an effect.
  Special Cases
  Flaws are, by their nature, complicated, often
  working outside the normal rules of Ars Magica or
  Value In-Play Frequency
  In-Play Examples*
  Seasonal Frequency
  Seasonal Example*
  0
  Effect does not meaningfully affect the story
  0.25
  Less than once every
  Casting Rituals,
  Rare activities
  Lectio, Disputatio,
  2-3 stories
  Certamen
  Writing books
  0.5
  Less than once a story
  Form/Technique Combination
  Once every 2-3 years
  Enchanting item
  Using Social Skills (M.)
  1
  About once per story
  Combat, Wound Recovery,
  About once per year
  Aging, Inventing spells,
  One Form (not Corpus or Vim)
  Learning spells
  1.5
  About once per chapter
  Using Social Skills (C. & G.),
  Several times per year
  Studying books, Training,
  Fatigue (C. & G.),
  Practice, Studying vis,
  Corpus or Vim, One Technique,
  Using Lab Total
  Important resources (cash, vis)
  2
  Several times per chapter
  All social interactions,
  Every Season
  All seasonal activities
  All formulaic magic,
  All spontaneous magic,
  all skill use, Fatigue (M.)
  3
  Frequently
  All spellcasting, Vision,
  N/A
  Speech, Walking
  M: Magi; C: Companions; G: Grogs
  * Examples are applicable to the “Baseline Saga” (see above). Frequency of the same activity in your Saga may vary.
  
  interacting with the rules in complex ways. The
  following guidelines help accommodate compli-
  cated or tricky Flaws.
  Multiple Effects
  Many Flaws affect the character in more than
  one way. For example, Obese (p. 47) has three
  effects: it gives a penalty to rolls for “moving
  quickly or gracefully,” a penalty to Fatigue rolls,
  and an extra Body Level. The Flaw guidelines were
  designed to accommodate Flaws with multiple
  effects. Simply rate each effect separately and add
  the ratings.
  Flaws that affect combat should generally have
  their combat effects rated separately from any oth-
  er Physical effects they might have. For instance, a
  hypothetical Flaw that gives -2 to all Dexterity-
  related rolls, including Attack rolls, would have two
  physical ratings: one for the Dexterity penalty and
  one for the Attack penalty. The reason for rating
  the combat effect separately is that combat might
  have a different Frequency than other Physical
  rolls. See “Customizing the Ratings,” below.
  Some Flaws have beneficial effects embedded
  in them. Follower of Verditius (p. 35) includes a
  powerful Ability that works like a Magical Affinity
  (Variable Virtue, p. 34) with enchanting items. Pre-
  cise ratings for this kind of beneficial effect would
  require a full set of guidelines for rating Virtues;
  such a system is beyond the scope of this article.
  The best estimate for beneficial effects is to con-
  sider a Flaw with the opposite effect, and add its
  absolute value in Flaw Points as a positive value.
  It is difficult to display multiple-effect Flaws in
  table form. For convenience, multiple-effect Flaws
  in Table 1 show only the highest-rated effect in
  each column. Additional ratings are grouped
  together in the “Misc.” column.
  To summarize, the guidelines for Flaw with
  multiple effects are:
  - Rate each effect separately.
  - Add the ratings together.
  - Rate beneficial effects by analogy to Flaw
  ratings.
  - Usually consider combat penalties separate-
  ly from other Physical effects.
  - Remember that combat effects are exclusive
  with an Intensity rating for danger.
  Example: Obese (p. 35) has three effects — four,
  counting combat. The penalty to moving quickly or grace-
  fully has (Physical) Intensity of -1 and Frequency 1. The
  Storyguide rules that this effect also applies to Init and Def,
  so it is also a combat penalty of Intensity -2, Frequency 1.
  The -3 penalty to Fatigue rolls is also Physical, with Inten-
  sity -3 and Frequency 1.5 (Fatigue rolls are important in
  long-distance travel as well as in action scenes). Finally, the
  extra Body Level is a 20% advantage, so it has (Physical)
  Intensity +2 and Frequency 1. The final rating of this
  complicated Flaw is (-1×1) + (-2×1) + (-3×1.5) +
  (2×1) = -4.5 Flaw Points. Comparing -4.5 to the “pyra-
  mid scale,” the revised cost of Obese is -2.
  Single Effect Affecting Multiple Categories
  In some cases, a single effect of a Flaw can
  cause a penalty that crosses the broad categories of
  Physical, Social, and Mental. An example would be
  a Flaw that affects “all rolls.” Treat these types of
  Flaws as if they were multiple effects. Remember
  to count combat penalties and general Physical
  penalties separately.
  Flaws that Expire
  Many Flaws affect the character forever, but
  others do not. Enemies (p. 46) can be defeated or
  reconciled; a Dependent (p. 47) may grow up or
  pass away; a Curse (p. 46) can be lifted. Flaws that
  affect starting Experience Points, spells, or equip-
  ment gradually lose their impact as the character
  develops in normal play. Flaws that are easy to
  overcome should cost less than Flaws that persist.
  Expiration is reflected in the Flaw rating by a
  positive adjustment from +1 to +3. The more eas-
  ily a character can overcome the Flaw or the more
  rapidly it loses its impact, the higher the positive
  modifier. Flaws that are very easy to overcome
  should not be considered Flaws at all.
  +1 The Flaw requires great efforts, many
  years, and/or a long and harrowing story
  to overcome.
  +2 The Flaw can be overcome eventually if
  the character dedicates himself to the
  task.
  +3 The Flaw wears off or expires normally
  over the course of the saga.
  Customizing the Ratings
  The Flaw guidelines are most beneficial when
  the troupe uses them to re-evaluate the cost of a
  Flaw that seems over- or under-valued in their
  saga. The guidelines break down Flaw Points in
  detail to allow the troupe to make individualized
  changes and re-calculate the cost of the Flaw.
  The three categories of ratings — Physical,
  Social, and Mental — loosely parallel three differ-
  ent playing styles. Physical ratings correspond to
  the elements of action and physical danger in the
  saga. Social ratings correspond to relationships
  and interactions with NPCs during role-playing-
  intensive scenes. Mental ratings correspond to
  problem-solving and inventive use of magic. If
  one or more of these playing styles has special
  prominence in your saga, you may want to cus-
  tomize the costs of relevant Flaws accordingly.
  The “baseline saga” assumes all three categories of
  activity are about equally important; that is, they
  affect the outcome of a story about equally often
  (though they do not necessarily occupy equal
  amounts of play time).
  To customize a Flaw’s cost, change its Fre-
  quency rating(s). Replace the “baseline” Frequen-
  cy in Table 1 with an estimate of how often the
  Flaw will affect the story in your saga. Re-calculate
  the total Flaw Points and derive a new Flaw cost.
  37
  
  Example: In the baseline saga, magi need to interact
  with mundanes only occasionally — they have grogs and
  companions to act as their spokesmen. In the saga of Arx
  Lucis, the magi need to deal with mundanes directly because
  the covenant has no capable servants on hand. The troupe
  decides to re-evaluate the cost of Blatant Gift (p. 35)
  accordingly. In the “baseline saga,” the rating is Social with
  Intensity -3, Frequency 0.5. The troupe agrees magi in Arx
  Lucis will need to interact with mundanes as often as do
  companions in the “baseline saga”; about one NPC inter-
  action per chapter (game session) will be significant to the
  story. Therefore, they change the Frequency of Blatant Gift
  to 1.5 (as per the Frequency guidelines). The new rating of
  Blatant Gift in Arx Lucis is -3×1.5 = -5.5, so its cost is
  -2.
  There are two approaches to customizing Flaw
  ratings: to adjust them on a case-by-case basis, or
  systematically for the whole list. If the differences
  between your saga and the “baseline saga” are
  minor, it’s easier to customize Flaws one at a time,
  as the need arises. Even if the differences are more
  extensive, you need not throw away Table 1 and
  start from scratch. Your changes will probably be
  confined to one category — simply scan down
  that column and pencil in a new Frequency for the
  non-zero entries. Then re-calculate the cost of
  those Flaw where you’ve made changes.
  The guidelines are designed so only Frequency
  will need to be changed. Since Frequency is a mul-
  tiplier, a one-step change in Frequency is likely to
  change the final cost of the Flaw. You may, of
  course, alter the Intensity ratings as well — espe-
  cially in the ambiguous cases where one must
  assign a number to an inherently numberless
  effect. The Intensity guidelines contain assump-
  tions of their own, for instance, that the Parma
  Magica skill and the Form score contribute about
  equally to Magic Resistance. Most of these
  assumptions were made for simplicity — feel free
  to change them if you find them questionable.
  Extended Examples
  The following examples illustrate how to rate
  complicated Flaws and how to customize ratings
  to your saga.
  Outlaw Leader, Baseline Saga
  The Companion Social Class, Outlaw Leader
  (p. 39) is a complicated Flaw with several effects.
  Taking the Flaw description one sentence at a
  time, the effects are:
  - You have 3-6 followers who look up to you
  and do what you say (a beneficial Social
  effect).
  - You must provide for the group and occa-
  sionally stick up for its members.
  - You have to deal with challenges to your
  leadership.
  - You are well known as an outlaw (level 3
  Reputation).
  - You are actively sought by the local lord or
  sheriff.
  In the “baseline saga,” these effects can be rat-
  ed as follows:
  Having 3-6 followers is a beneficial effect.
  Without a set of guidelines for Virtues, the best
  way to rate a beneficial effect is to rate the oppo-
  site Flaw. The opposite of having 3-6 reasonably
  loyal followers would be having 3-6 reasonably
  serious enemies; that most closely matches a
  description of “Danger,” and has an Intensity of
  -3 (assuming the outlaws are collectively weaker
  than the leader’s PC comrades). Frequency will
  depend on how often the outlaws can help: Once
  per story sounds reasonable. Therefore, the posi-
  tive effect has a rating of -1×(-3×1) = + 3.
  Providing for the group is a burden, but it
  won’t affect play too often. The Storyguide decides
  that taking care of a bunch of outlaws might pro-
  vide interesting story hooks, so he assigns an
  Intensity of -1 (behavioral quirk, no game-
  mechanical enforcement) and a Frequency of 0.5
  (less than once a story), for -0.5 Flaw Points.
  The challenges to leadership require some
  judgement. Usually, the challenges will be verbal
  — the outlaws will balk at following their leader’s
  instructions. There is, however, a chance that the
  challenge will turn violent. The Storyguide decides
  that the Flaw description indicates the challenges
  will be frequent, so he decides that they are usual-
  ly not dangerous, if dealt with properly. He assigns
  an Intensity of -1 (Inconvenience) and a Frequen-
  cy of 1 (about once per story): -1×1 = -1 Flaw
  Points.
  Being well known as an outlaw carries a Social
  penalty. The Reputation of 3 has an Intensity of
  -3. The standard Frequency for social interaction
  (for non-magi) is 1.5. The Storyguide decides that
  the penalty doesn’t apply to all Social rolls — after
  all, being considered an outlaw is not always a dis-
  advantage. He reduces the Frequency to 1, so the
  Reputation is worth -3×1 = -3 Flaw Points.
  Finally, being hunted by the authorities is prob-
  ably the most serious effect of this Flaw. The Sto-
  ryguide decides that the local sheriff or lord is a
  match for the whole covenant — not necessarily
  meaning he would win a pitched battle against the
  covenant, but that he has enough soldiers, inform-
  ants, wealth, and guile to be a worthy opponent.
  This is a danger of Intensity -7. The Frequency
  really depends on how often the Storyguide wants
  to bring the authorities into play. He decides he
  won’t do so too often, because he doesn’t want to
  distract too much attention from the main plot of
  the saga. Frequency will be 0.5, for -7×0.5 = -3.5
  Flaw Points.
  The Flaw Points of Outlaw Leader in this saga
  are therefore +3 -0.5 - 1 -3 -3.5 = -5, for a final
  cost of -2. (Note: Only the strongest effect, -3.5
  for being hunted by the authorities, appears in the
  Social column of Table 1. Everything else is
  lumped together in the “Misc” column.)
  38
  
  Small Frame (magus), non-violent Saga
  In the saga of Arx Lucis, combat has minimal
  importance. Instead, the main conflicts in the saga
  are political intrigue, both mundane and Hermetic.
  The troupe wants to re-evaluate the Physical rat-
  ings of Flaws in order to reflect the diminished
  role of action in the saga.
  Small Frame usually has two effects, both of
  them Physical:
  - One fewer Body Level than normal,
  - One fewer Fatigue Level than normal.
  (Note: Size also affects Soak and Defense, but
  the modifiers- -1 and +1, respectively, cancel out.)
  Since a normal person has five Body Levels
  and five Fatigue Levels, one level fewer than nor-
  mal is a 20% disadvantage. The Intensity for each
  effect is therefore -2.
  The nominal Frequency for combat-related
  effects in the “baseline saga” is 1. In the saga of
  Arx Lucis, combat is considerably less common
  than in the baseline. The troupe decides to assign
  a Frequency of 0.25 to all combat-related effects;
  the missing Body Level therefore is worth
  -2×0.25 = -0.5 Flaw Points. (If the saga of Arx
  Lucis avoided combat entirely, then the troupe
  should have chosen a Frequency of 0 for combat
  effects, eliminating them from consideration
  entirely).
  The Frequency of Fatigue-related effects for
  magi is 2, because Fatigue is a likely outcome of
  most (but not all) spellcasting. The troupe decides
  that, although combat and physical action are
  uncommon in the saga, Fatigue is still very impor-
  tant to magi. They decide to keep the Frequency at
  2, so the Flaw Points for the missing Fatigue Lev-
  el total -2×2 = -4.
  In the intrigue-ridden saga of Arx Lucis, the
  troupe feels that Small Frame might also have
  some noticeable Social effects. It makes the magus
  easier to recognize and harder to disguise. The
  Storyguide rules that the Disguise skill (p. 55) can’t
  change a person’s apparent Size. This is more of
  an inconvenience than a serious restriction — the
  magus can still disguise himself as a youth or oth-
  er small person, and of course MuCo spells can
  work around the Disguise skill’s limitations. Inten-
  sity is -1 for inconvenience; the troupe guesses that
  disguise will be important in less than 1/3 of their
  stories, so Frequency is 0.25. The effect is worth
  -1×0.25 = -0.25 Flaw Points, not enough to make
  much difference.
  Small Frame for magi in the saga of Arx Lucis
  is worth -0.5 - 4 - 0.25 = -4.75 Flaw Points, for a
  cost of -2 (instead of the normal -3).
  Small Frame, magus, violent Saga
  In the saga of Llewellyn’s Vengeance, House
  Diedne has returned from Arcadia to wage war on
  the Order of Hermes. Magi will be involved in
  combat frequently.
  The missing Body Level still has Intensity -2,
  but the troupe raises its Frequency to 1.5 because
  of the prevalence of combat. This effect is now
  worth -2×1.5 = -3 Flaw Points.
  Because combat is more common than in the
  “baseline saga,” Fatigue is also more common.
  The troupe increases the Frequency of all Fatigue-
  related effects by one step, from 2 to 3. The miss-
  ing Fatigue Level is worth -2×3 = -6 Flaw Points.
  The overall rating of Small Frame for a magus
  in the saga of Llewellyn’s Vengeance is -3 -6 = -9,
  for a cost of -3. Although Small Frame has more
  Flaw Points than in “baseline saga,” the change is
  not enough to make a difference on the pyramid
  scale.
  Conclusions
  To properly rate a Flaw’s relative importance in
  a saga, one must anticipate a priori the events like-
  ly to occur in a typical story. Although this is diffi-
  cult for novice players, established troupes proba-
  bly have some understanding of their own playing
  style. The important thing is to get a general idea
  of how the characters behave in a story and what
  actions they take to pursue story goals. The Sto-
  ryguide should have an idea of what types of con-
  flicts and obstacles he will tend to present in the
  saga.
  The Flaw guidelines make no attempt to edit or
  modify the descriptions of Flaws in 4th Edition. A
  few of the descriptions do seem to need some
  changes. Flaws with multiple effects are difficult to
  rate and could, in many cases, be simplified. Some
  Flaws could benefit from clarification — Flaws
  that confer Physical penalties often don’t specify
  whether those penalties extend to combat rolls.
  Troupes undoubtedly make their own decisions
  about how to interpret Flaws’ descriptions, and the
  guidelines can help ensure the costs of the Flaws
  are consistent with the troupe’s interpretation.
  Applying these guidelines need not be a time-
  consuming process. Much of the work has already
  been done in Table 1. In customizing Flaw costs,
  concentrate on Flaws that seem over- or under-
  valued according to the troupe’s interpretation of
  their descriptions. Usually, there will only be a few
  of these.
  The guidelines are also useful for assigning
  costs to Variable Flaws or to any new Flaws the
  troupe invents. Sometimes, even different manifes-
  tations of the same Flaw might have different
  costs. For example, a character who is Oversensi-
  tive (p. 48) may tend to start fights. If so, the Flaw
  may well cost more than it would for a character
  who is less prone to violence. The guidelines blur
  the distinction between standard Flaws and Vari-
  able Flaws, allowing the troupe to assign fair costs
  even when they wish to try a non-standard inter-
  pretation of a stock Flaw.
  39
  
  Coming in Issue #2 of
  Hermes’ Portal
  Continuing Forever &
  Ever After?
  by Timothy Ferguson
  Stories of formed stones
  by Sheila Thomas
  Bjornaer Mysteries
  by Erik Dahl
  On the Road to Adventure
  by Niall Christie
  …
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Hermes' Portal/Hermes' Portal 01.pdf