Douglas E. Berry

Let's go through her Characteristics, Abilities, and initial spells.

Characteristics. Ars Magica uses a loose -3 to +3 scale, although scores off that range are pretty common, but this is where we start.

Strength: -1
Stamina: 0
Dexterity: -1
Quickness: -2
Intelligence: +3
Perception: +2
Presence: 0
Communication: +2

That beating in the kitchen of the monastery so long ago still shows in Jorina's slowness to react. She can also be a touch fumble-fingered at times. On the other side, she's very smart, perceptive, and good at communicating (once you get past her speech issues.)

Generating Abilities (AM's name for skills) is done in three stages.

First is Early Childhood. I used the Mischievous Childhood template, although Crapsack Childhood better describes her life. All abilities come with a specialization, which is treated as one skill level higher.

Brawl: 2 (dodge)
Guile: 2 (lying to authority)
Native Language: 5 (Frisian)
Stealth: 2 (sneak)

Then comes later childhood, where you have a bit more latitude.

Folk Ken: 2 (clergy)
Awareness: 3 (alertness)
Living Language: (French)

At 10, a strange group visited the monastery and was forced to stay in one of the outbuildings. Since everyone hated her, Jorina was sent to serve them. Their leader, a terrifying man with leather-brown skin and his hair wrapped in a big cloth bundle seemed very interested in Jorina. The abbess told Jorina that the man had bought her and that she was no longer welcome. The leader introduced himself as Eutychus of Criamon and said that he was a Sorceror and that Jorina had the power to be a sorcerer as well. So began 15 years of apprenticeship.

Enigmatic Wisdom: 2
Latin: 4 (writing)
Magic Theory: 2
Parma Magica: 1 (Ignem)
Concentration: 2 (spells)
Penetration: 1 (Mentum)
Artes Liberales: 1 (logic)
Code of Hermes: 1
Finesse: 1 (Mentum)
Profession: 2 (scribe)

So much to learn! Parma Magica and Magic Theory are the two great discoveries made by Bonisagus the Founder in the 8th century. His unified theory of magic allowed magi from different traditions to share and learn spells from each other, and Parma Magica not only protects a magus from hostile spells but calms the negative feelings The Gift cause in all living things. Ignem (fire) and Mentum (mind) are two of the magical forms. Speaking of which. . . Jorina's scores in the Techniques of Magic are:

Creo (I create) 4
Intellego (I perceive) 6
Muto (I change) 4
Perdo (I destroy) 4
Rego (I control) 4

And in the Forms:

Animal (non-human animals) 1
Aquam (water) 2
Auram (air) 3
Corpus (the human body) 2
Herbam (plants) 0
Ignem (fire) 0 [and she's not good with this form at all]
Imaginem Sensation and illusion) 5
Mentum (mind) 5 [Jorina is skilled with mind magic]
Terram (earth) 1
Vim (raw magical power) 5

Having a zero in a Technique or Form doesn't mean you can't perform those spells, you just haven't spent a lot of time learning the basic theory around them.

She also learned a nice set of starting spells. I'll explain what spells do if asked. Each spell has the Technique and Form listed at the end. I'm not bothering with the spell levels here unless asked.

Wizard's Sidestep Re/Im
True Sight of Air In/Au
Calm the Motion of the Heart Pe/Me
Jupiter's Resounding Blow Cr/Au
The Call to Slumber Re/Me
Moonbeam Cr/Ig
Comfort of the Drenched Traveler Pe/Aq (it dries the target's body and clothing. Useful!)
The Intuition of the Forest In/He
Aura of Ennobled Presence Mu/Im
Words of the Unbroken Silence Cr/Me
Confusion of the Numbed Will Re/Me

A nice start. Jorina has passed her Gauntlet, is 25, and while I could start her now, I'm going to run her year-by-year to build her up, gain magic goodies and a familiar, and even have her perform her longevity spell research. It's not uncommon for AM mages to start the game well into their sixties, appear to be in their early 40s, and be quite powerful.

One thing I do need is her Wizard's Sigil. Every magus has one, it's a personal touch, often created by the subconscious, that acts as a fingerprint. In the saga I played in so long ago, my magus was of House Bjornaer, and his heartbeast was a large raven. All his spells invoked ravens. If he cast Rain of Stones, the stones would be black and make little croaking sounds when they hit. His Wizard's Sidestep had him dissolve into a mass of ink black bird shapes that would reform where he stepped to. So I'm going to have to think about this.

As always, suggestions and comments welcome.

The Albigensian Crusade by Jonathan Sumption

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It's funny how some things never change. Playing fantasy role-playing games as a teenager got me into studying history. Now, reading a supplement for the Ars Magica system has led me to learn about a part of history I had only the vaguest knowledge of before.

The Cathars were one of the last great Gnostic movements in the Western Church. Rejecting the material world as the corrupt work of the Devil, Cathars were virulently anti-clergy and attracted numerous followers in Provance. Which, at the time, was a patchwork of independent counties and free cities that were far more tolerant of heresy than the French nobles of the north.

Sumpton does a great of juggling the complex web of nobles, churchmen, lay leaders, and all the rest involved in a conflict that quickly went from a religious crusade to a personal crusade by Simon du Montfort to defeat Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse and build a personal empire. Montfort is continually frustrated by the harsh rules of feudal warfare, such as troops only owing 40 days service. Time and again, Montfort would win great victories only to see rebellions break out when his armies went home.

This was a war of great savagery Starting with the massacre at Béziers in 1209, neither side gave much quarter. Promises were broken, Clerics were lynched and the crusaders simply made up accusations against Provençal nobles as an excuse to seize castles.

The book is dense but very readable. There are maps where maps are needed, although I would have liked the large area map at the back to have been at the front for easy reference. The most important thing, I learned a great deal from reading this amazing history.



View all my reviews

Faith & Flame: The Provençal Tribunal by Erik Dahl

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I started this review on May 15th. That morning, I ended up in the emergency room for an aye issue that might have indicated that I had suffered a second stroke. That was ruled out but I was carted off to the ICU because of a COVID-19 scare. Wasted a weekend there. But now I can finally finish this review!

A good RPG setting book should do a few things well. It should provide a good overview of the physical setting, with maps and descriptions of towns and natural features. It should include plenty of useful bits of local color like cultural details and languages. Finally, it should inspire gamemasters with adventure seeds.

Faith & Flame excels at all three. Set in southern France in 1220 CE, the book gives Ars Magica troupes a treasure trove of opportunity and dangers. The time and place are dominated by the crusades against the heretical Cathars, a conflict that reaches into the covenants of the Order of Hermes. Several covenants have been destroyed in the crusade, and in other covenants, the conflict has led to internal divisions that could tear the Tribunal apart.

The reader gets everything they need to run a good game in the Tribunal here. Detailed examinations of the various areas of the Tribunal, including cities, wilderness areas, and important features. Vital persons, who are mostly drawn from history, are described in detail. The Covenants of the Tribunal and their important magi are detailed.

Every page of this book had a dozen ideas for campaigns, from political intrigue - both mundane and magical - and the dangers of the ongoing crusade, to magical quests to explore deep mysteries, including finding the lost Covenant established by Flambeau the Founder four hundred years ago.

One really nice touch is the author takes the time to tell what happens after 1220 to various people and cities. As many Ars Magica sagas can last for years, as the magi spend most of their time in their laboratories as the world passes by, know the shape of future events not only allows for planning but even more opportunities for the players to affect the fate of the region.

All in all, an excellent resource. This book has everything you need for an AM sage set in the south of France. I would recommend getting a book on the history of the Albigensian Crusade for more detail, but that's just how I do it.



View all my reviews