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An online Ars Magica session


Adrian

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Answer to boat question from CJ: "It is broken. It will take a season for the replacement to be built by one of the magi using the lab text."

 

So I'm going to decree the boat remade by the time we depart for Schwarzbart's adventure - although using Sedala & skysea for the trip is probably quite a bit more efficient still.

 

In other news: When we go check on Antonius after the ritual, we are greeted by a flying boulder that narrowly misses us. So possession's still on; once we get back to the covenant the elder magi deal with it. By the time of Schwarzbart's adventure Karvith has worked his magic and Antonius is back at the covenant.

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His 4 grogs should be awarded a medal of... bravery or... madness or something - if they survived ;)

 

@ The time issue. We'll have to manage, but he looks like he is enjoying himself :) It's nice to be called a success, even if it was mainly due to being recruited.

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Given that CJ finished his Big Story for now and seems to have time constraints in the future, I think we should consider explicitly shifting towards the Alpha-Beta and/or Pure Troupe storyguide models outlined (p.220) in the core book. This is how I think it should work:

 

Players explicitly claim "sections" of the saga for themselves. Ideally, these should be sections that they are interested in themselves but that their own characters are not primarily engaged with (so they can GM sessions for such characters). The claimant then has final voice & responsibility concerning that section, but other players are free to use them as well. I, for example, might take responsibility for the senior NPC magi now that I have been thinking about them for my story any any case. Others may still use them for their stories and play them as GM as well, etc., but I'm particularly familiar with them so they can ask me if they want details on something. They also _should_ ask me if they want to expand on them somehow, such as making a story about visiting their lab. I am the final arbiter of what fits with my vision of them. I will also draft their stats, take care of their advancement, play them during casual encounters when I'm available, etc.

 

We should also have a rules GM who is the final arbiter on rules interpretations. I think CJ should do that if he's OK with it, since he has the widest scope of understanding of the rules. This makes it much simpler to settle rules disputes than discussing or voting it over and over, since Ars rules are often ambiguous and it's not possible to rule out possible interpretations through hermeneutics alone.

 

In addition to this basic infrastructure, we might consider having:

 

A power level GM, who is the final arbiter of things like "what is the highest might of a player familiar at this point in the saga" or "can I incorporate this Badass Hermetic Breakthrough in my story" or "what is the maximum hermetic age of a beginning PC magus at this point in the saga". I think we have managed this quite nicely thus far without any system, but it might be helpful to have someone designated perhaps.

 

Finally, we could have a "saga plot GM", who tries to weave things into a Grand Narrative of some kind, or at least tries to construct such a thing with their own stories. This would be something like what CJ has been doing thus far. It's not necessary to have such a person at all - we might just each do our own plots, and if someone sees a bigger picture emerging there, they might do a story that weaves some of it together. I think I would prefer going without a saga GM, but am not adamant either way.

 

If people agree with my proposition to some degree, here's what I would be interested in claiming if no one else wants them:

 

1) The city's flying powers and where they originate and what maintains them

2) The elder magus NPCs

3) The Apollonian religion in the city

4) The history of the city on a grand scale (i.e. not going into detail with respect to single quarters and such, I've just got the broad strokes figured)

If this kind of a system sounds good to everyone, I'll make a thread in the library where people can announce claims and I can keep the first post updated about who manages what.

 

The good thing about this kind of a system is that people can themselves decide how much GMing they want to do, or if they want to GM at all.

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Nagas: Is Calpurnia's adventure outside of the covenant complete? Do you think you could post it, or send it to Nyaa? He'd like to run a story about retrieving Calpurnia (I think), so he could use the details of what happened.

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(sobbing) Noooooooooo

 

(Normal talk) I'm trying to get her stuff to progress over there in Scandinavia, however due to our schedules not meshing well (talking about CJ and me) and difficulty communicating (one of these being me gone for 3 weeks) she is still stuck over there. Though much time has passed, we went to that years autumn (the one you left me) and then did a training period which stopped at the next autumn as a event would happen then I wanted to partake in.

 

[EDIT] I can't remember if we actually decided how much xp I would get from training (I think we stopped right at the point I mentioned I would do that). This is supported by only having 1 level in the skill which would be trained during it [End of EDIT]

 

If there's a timeline anywhere can someone point me too it and I'll give a exact point where she is.

 

And if you or Nyaa want to do that story, telling me now is probably a good idea as I theoretically can make it back to the city without help (which was the plan to begin with).

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Nyaa: can you tell nagas what you intend / would like to know?

 

I believe Nyaa has the story prepared already, so we'll do it like that.

 

I'll run a story about our council meeting after schwarzbart's is done unless calpurnia is ready to return before. If calpurnia is away, you can choose whether you want to play corbenik or one of the senior magi. Corbenik wont have a vote, but he may be present and speak.

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Okay she "has just finished" (she still needs xp) the summer of 1216 and preparing for a adventure in the autumn of 1216. In other words she is 1 season behind you all (though again need xp).

 

Due to the likelihood of me getting in to contact with CJ soon due to the Grand Tribunal I will be going with Corbenik, he would like to be there anyway.

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Well according to the time table you left me there in the spring of 1216, I completely finished to the autumn of 1216. I then told CJ the adventure part of the story would pick up next autumn (which would be 1217), I think at some point I told him I would train during that winter, spring and summer (though yeah the amount of xp I did indeed receive was only for autumn).

 

I would agree with you that faerie regios would operate differently, however do to circumstances that Nyaa may or may not say in his adventure log I just sent him. It would be in the best interests of the faeries to stay at a some what reasonable time scale with the real world. At worst it it would be 1 day in real world would be (more than one) days in the regio.

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Well, I've said from the beginning that I'm just tagging along. This is not my story.

 

I've gotten some fun out of these sessions but I really can't see myself becoming a long term ars player. I probably wont play it ever again after I'm done here, which is likely sooner than later. I know about it now and can recommend it to others so its not a total loss, but it requires a bit too much upkeep for my taste and so I'll probably quit when I start pulling my hair out trying to keep up with you guys.

 

I'll be around tomorrow, though.

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@freespace I would find it sad if you drop out but considering that our campaign already is running for over a 1/2 year we hit the point where my past groups started to break apart.

In the case someone else also drop out we then should consider looking for (a) replacment player(s) even if a group of 4+GM is considered normal for other rpgs.

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