Tried to read Ars Magica for some reason

[FiveBlinkNurse]

Since I got into the hobby back in my early 20s, I've seen some gatekeeping being done in gaming. I've seen it and heard of it being done by gamers to other gamers, but interpersonally.
I didn't think I'd ever actually run into an RPG's core rulebook that did it – at least, not an RPG that wasn't some obscure insane rant scribbled-together in crayons in someone's parents' basement.

And that's when I tried reading Ars Magica 5th Edition.

With the lockdown, I wanted to try some RPGs that one can play solo – just for fun. Yes, I know what video games are, but I felt like more of a tabletop RPG feel. I found some games like Ironsworn but then saw some post somewhere about how you can play Ars Magica solo and that sounded fun.
I've never actually played Ars Magica before, I read some bits of the 4th edition book when they made it free way back when, but then my group wanted to do some other game and I just sort of forgot that Ars Magica existed.

I don't think I've ever read through a core rulebook before that actively tried to get potential new players to put it down and walk away from it forever, but boy Ars Magica fucking does a great job at that.

Basically, unless you had prior knowledge of Ars Magica or are getting the book because you actually got into an Ars Magica group (which I can't believe there are many of, worldwide), the 5th edition rulebook is seemingly written to dissuade you from getting into it.

The book doesn't explain things – it mentions things.
For example, it mentions magi, but doesn't explain how people become magi (not unless you're bouncing around the book, collating bits about the Gift here, crumbs about Gauntlets and apprenticeships there). You would think that should have been the first fucking thing the book should have gone into, but David Chart preferred to shart a bunch of crap about the Order of Hermes' 8th century background (game is set in the 13th century, btw), instead.
It mentions Companions, Grogs and covenfolk, but doesn't bother explaining how magi can gather such people around them (what with the Gift turning you into a People Repellent). No, fuck it, you just have companions. May seem like a minor detail, but at least one miserly sentence about it is very much needed considering how magi are, as mentioned, not great at interacting with mundanes and how you're apparently supposed to go through Grogs like socks.

I'm guessing maybe this stuff may have either been gone into back in YouHadtoBeThere Edition or it never was explained and nobody cared – either way, the book seems to assume that you already know all this, because it certainly isn't written for someone who is just learning what magi are and how to play one.

In general, the book is written and structured as if it's just the Patch Notes for an older edition, laid out for the benefit of veteran players.

Another thing about this book is that it has a fucking attitude.
Again and again, the book says things like "oh, this will probably be a little too complicated for you. You can't really be trusted with something like this." – it does so when it comes to Character Creation, suggesting that new players shouldn't try to create their own characters, but use one of many horrid Templates laid out in the character creation section, instead.

I actually got stumped trying to figure out the basics. I just wanted to create a character and a Covenant so I could learn the system by testing it solo – but the Covenant creation rules are… not laid out in a way written for someone who doesn't already know what they're on about.

Am I just stupid, or is the book just… not written in a way that a player new to the system is supposed to figure out except by intense fucking study?

In the end, I just couldn't be Arsed with this Magica (fucking gottem, bois).

Just to salt the wound, it reminded me of how some fanboys tried to do a Kickstarter for an Ars Magica video game that one time almost a decade ago and the best they could come up with for a pathetic Trailer looked more like a commercial trying to sell a product that solves an incredibly specific problem that only a tiny fraction of a subsection of the population might have… (their Kickstarter failed - although, amazingly, some people did burn some money on it...)

[Foxwarrior]

Isn't figuring out Ars Magica by intense study of arcane, poorly organized writings like the best possible way to get into character?

[Orca]

In general, the book is written and structured as if it's just the Patch Notes for an older edition, laid out for the benefit of veteran players.

It is. When they made 5th ed they did so for the benefit of a section of their 4th ed fanbase (ed: specifically those who loved their Mythic Europe and wanted to do research on in-period tales and details for the game), and made no attempt to go outside that section of their fanbase for ideas or playtesting.

[FiveBlinkNurse]

Isn't figuring out Ars Magica by intense study of arcane, poorly organized writings like the best possible way to get into character?

It certainly is.

[Username17]

Am I just stupid, or is the book just… not written in a way that a player new to the system is supposed to figure out except by intense fucking study?

I did an in-depth review of this particular book Here. And my conclusions are much the same as yours. 5th edition Ars Magica reads like a web post from an obsessive fan arguing for changes and interpretations of 4th edition more than it does a stand alone product. Without the benefit of having read at least one earlier edition of Ars Magica I don't know how you could get any information out of the 5th edition core book.

-Username17

[corneliusphi]

As someone who absolutely loves Ars Magica... yeah the 5th edition core is a bit of a train wreck

[Daniel]

Speaking as an owner of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th edition.
I'm pretty sure there never was a beginner friendly edition of the game.

It is a bit like early D&D in which a load of basic assumptions also were never explained.

5th edition Ars is an improvement over the earlier editions in the sense that the rules and the assumptions of the setting line up reasonably well for the first time.

[virgil]

I started on 5th edition, with zero knowledge of its history. I absolutely went through that book with intense study, and I didn't get a really good handle on the rules until my players started going at it and asked questions, which drove me to do extra research through the book and online.

[Neeeek]

I haven't played Ars Magica since high school, which I assume would have been 1st ed (25 years ago). All I remember about the game mechanics was it was extremely difficult to actually do anything.

[Daniel]

25 years ago means it may actually have been 4th edition, brand new in 1996.

[Libertad]

25 years ago means it may actually have been 4th edition, brand new in 1996.

What's its current edition if it's still being published? How much has been improved since 5th?

[Daniel]

Current edition is 5th. They stopped publishing new stuff in 2016, because Atlas Games did not consider the game to be commercially viable* at that point.

*If you were to put a gun to my head and force me to develop a commercially viable 6th edition...
I would say, go print on demand on a site like drivethrurpg, mostly using the 5th edition library of supplements instead of new ones. Only write 4 new books.
5th edition revised. Like the original 5th edition book but longer. Using the extra pages to explain basic stuff better and tackle some issues that cause problems, but which are usually ignored.
A Bestiary, (those sell reliably well).
An equipment/spells book, (those sell reliably well).
A book about the House of Diedne. The mysterious branch of the Order of Hermes that got disbanded, but still sort of secretly sort of exists maybe. It has never really been explained. (this ought to sell well).

[Daniel]

Look, Ars Magica is a lot of fun, but it is a very niche game. I don't think that there is all that much meaningful improvement that you can do beyond 5th edition. You can explain stuff better and remove some unneeded complexity in some places, but after that it just is what it is.

[Heaven's Thunder Hammer]

FiveBlinkNurse summarized a lot of what is wrong with the core book in a way that actually makes sense to me. As someone who started the game in during 4E in the mid 90s when I was 12, the 5E core "made sense" as I was part of the target audience.

Also explains when I ran a game the new players had a hard time groking the book without explanation.