Magical politics can get deep.

[gridlore]

Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults by Erik Dahl

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


To be brief, this takes your Ars Magica magus up to eleven. It supercharges the saga with endless plot ideas. It is amazing. And there are two more books in the series.

For those not familiar with Ars Magica (AM), the players each have as their main character a mage of the Order of Hermes. The Order is divided into twelve Houses. Four Societies that anyone can join, four True Lineages where every member traces a line of master and apprentices back to the House founder, and four Mystery Cults.

These four houses wrap their magic in secret rituals and hidden wisdom. They are:

House Bjorner, who mages can transform into their Heartbeast and have close ties to the wilds.

House Criamon, who seek to understand the great Enigma, and whose magic manifests as mystical tattoos.

House Merinta, who are fascinated with the Fey, and seek to meld their magic with Hermetic magic.

House Verditus, mages who sacrifice some spellcasting ability to enchant great magical items.

All four of these houses receive a basic write-up in the main AM rulebook, but using this book opens whole new worlds of possibilities. We get a history of each house, its Founder, rituals, inner and outer mysteries, and new character options.

To use Bjoner as an example, you go from a basic "I can turn into a bear" to history with roots in the deep woods of the dark north, a political divide on how to protect the wild from encroaching human civilization, a secret cult of Diana, and paths to make your Heartbeast a powerful perfect form, or even a chimera! For the player, the House isn't just a description of the sort of magic she uses, but an important part of the maga's life.

I highly recommend this to all AM players. I've ordered the other two Houses of Hermes books through my local game store, I expect them to be equally amazing.



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