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Ars Magica Definitive Edition

Created by Atlas Games

Ars Magica's deluxe edition with vastly expanded text, new art and graphic design, and luxurious upgrades. Did you miss the crowdfunding campaign? We can take pre-orders! Be sure to visit atlas-games.com/arsmagica to see the whole line of printed books, digital books, and regalia that are already available today!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Featured Art: Jeff Menges Reveal + News
over 1 year ago – Sat, Nov 02, 2024 at 08:15:40 AM

 

Get YOUR $5 Grand Tribunal Board Game

We've unlocked the Ars Magica board game Grand Tribunal for ONLY $5 plus shipping! Go to our website NOW to get this excellent deal for the remainder of the campaign. Yes, your backer coupon for 20% can be combined with it! (The code is in Backer Update #2.) That's basically just enough to pay our warehouse staff to put your copy in a box for you.

Learn more about Grand Tribunal at atlas-games.com/grandtribunal, then download the updated Grand Tribunal rules before your first game!

Thaumavore Interview with John &  David

A NEW interview about Ars Magica is now up, which includes BOTH our President John Nephew and Ars Magica Line Developer David Chart, who are apparently "Visionaries from Atlas Games!" LOL!

https://thaumavore.substack.com/p/ars-magica-preserving-30-years-of?triedRedirect=true


John's Recommendation: The Mason of New Orleans

Charles Ryan has been active in the game industry about as long as I can remember, and it's always tickled me that he is a fan of Ars Magica. Back in the late the 90s, we published his covenant, Triamore, as a sourcebook for the 4th Edition. (You'll find it in the 4th Edition PDF bundle!)

Earlier this fall I noticed Charles had a crowdfunding campaign in BackerKit's Booktopia. The campaign includes an existing novel, The Mason of New Orleans, and a sequel in progress called The Angel of Ecbatana. I'm a sucker for time travel in general and the Middle Ages in particular, so it was a no-brainer get Mason as an ebook when it came out.  I backed the new campaign just because I want the sequel!

The campaign has concluded, but late pledges are open. If instant gratification is your jam, you can buy the eBook for Mason right now from outlets like Barnes & Noble and Amazon.



Featured Art: Jeff Menges Reveal

Back the Ars Magica campaign for $1 or more to see ALL FIVE of Jeff Menges' new FULL COLOR art pieces debuting in Ars Magica Definitive Edition!

Featured Art: Covenant FULL COLOR Reveal & News
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 29, 2024 at 06:02:11 PM

Make Your Character Magical RELEASE INFO

Our stretch goal at $600k unlocked 10 custom spots in the Bestiary chapter art by Doug Shuler. Unfortunately, Backerkit doesn't have a way to limit the quantity of an Add-On, or to schedule release at a particular time, so our original plan to spread them out for different time zones isn't going to work (because we have to sleep).

Instead, we're going to put up the Add-On at 9am CST on Thursday, October 31st, which seems convenient for the most time zones we can manage, then monitor it so we can manually hide it if it gets to 10. We'll also put a big note in the description that there are only 10, which you'll just have to respect if you're number 11 and it's 3am here in Minnesota! Thanks for understanding, and thank you for your support.

DriveThruRPG Category for Ars Magica Open License!

Speaking of stretch goals met, we'll be giving everyone at the Companion level and above a FREE copy of Timothy Ferguson's Open License sourcebook, Mythic Venice, via DriveThruRPG!

Thanks to the amazing support of independent creators, DriveThruRPG now has a category for it and other Ars Magica Open License products! Visit those folks at:  https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/browse?ruleSystem=1000228-ars-magica

Grand Tribunal Convention 2025

The 18th Grand Tribunal Ars Magica convention is taking place in Cheltenham, England on the 15th to 17th of August 2025. Tickets are available at https://www.grandtribunal.org/wiki/Main_Page


Featured Art: Covenant Reveal

Back the campaign for $1 or more to see the FULL COLOR reveal of Doug Shuler's Covenants chapter piece!

Featured Art: Laboratory FULL COLOR Reveal & News
over 1 year ago – Thu, Oct 24, 2024 at 07:42:24 AM

Interviews with David Chart

Ars Magica Line Developer David Chart has been busy, with TWO new interviews just released! Check them out at ThoughfulDane.com and MagethePodcast.com

Crowdfunding We Like: City of Hope

David would also like to recommend a City of Hope, an RPG being produced by Solarpunk Magazine to fund both the RPG and the next year of the magazine. "Solarpunk is optimistic science fiction, often but not always about the environment," writes David. "They publish a lot of stories imagining what the world might look like if we solved, or at least greatly mitigated, the climate crisis." Their campaign on Kickstarter runs through October 31st.

Featured Art: Laboratory Reveal

Back the campaign for $1 or more to see the big FULL COLOR reveal for Doug Shuler's Laboratory chapter piece!

Medallion Add-On, Trail of Cthulhu & Popular Medieval History
over 1 year ago – Mon, Oct 21, 2024 at 01:56:23 PM

Ordo Hermae Medallion

As we're pushing into a really incredible number of stretch goals, we've decided to open up "Marketplace" stretch goals that unlock new Add-Ons. The first is the metal Ordo Hermae Medallions handcrafted by Atlas Games president John Nephew. You can find those in the Add-Ons tab now!

Vim Vis Tokens

Also, note we have similar but smaller "Vim Vis Tokens" on our webstore, made of recycled plastic, for a much lower price. These tokens are made to each represent one pawn of vim vis. We make them one at a time with our benchtop injection molder, using a mold that John hand carved from aluminum with a dremel tool.

Another Project We Love: Trail of Cthulhu 2nd Ed

If you love ancient magical tomes as much as we do, try Trail of Cthulhu 2nd Ed. Uncover the clues to solve mysteries, face cosmic horrors, and dive into unforgettable campaigns. Dust off your tomes and ready your sanity checks, then pledge now for the GUMSHOE-powered game of 1930s occult investigation and cosmic horror, from our friends at Pelgrane Press.

VISIT THE TRAIL OF CTHULHU CAMPAIGN NOW!



Book Recommendations: The Bright Ages and Oathbreakers

For many of us, our love of Ars Magica marches alongside a fascination with the Middle Ages. If you're looking for some historical context for your saga in Mythic Europe, I'd like to recommend a couple of popular history books by Matthew Gabriele and David M. Perry -- one available now, the other due to be released soon -- rooted in the latest historical scholarship. (Perry and Gabriele also have a free newsletter, Modern Medieval: https://buttondown.com/ModernMedieval)

The Bright Ages challenges the myth of the "dark ages," a purported time of ignorance and isolation. The medieval world was rich, complex, and interconnected. As members of the Order of Hermes, your magi and their companions have plenty of occasion to experience or embody this diversity.

Oathbreakers is about the collapse of the Carolingian Empire. It's due for release on December 10th. I placed my pre-order today at Zenith Books in west Duluth! For the Ars Magica fan, this book promises inspiration, especially for sagas early in the history of the Order of Hermes.

According to Ars Magica game lore, thirteen wizards swore an oath in the Black Forest in 767, creating the Order. A year later, Charlemagne became King of the Franks. Coincidence? As Charlemagne built the Carolingian Empire, the Hermetic founders spread across Europe, demanding that wizards join the Order or die. How about a saga that begins at the death of Charlemagne, when the order has blossomed across Europe, perhaps even as the true "Carolingian renaissance" ... but now the mundane world is about to plunge into division and civil war!

Share your own recommendations in the comments below. What books about history would you recommend for Ars Magica players and storyguides, and why?

Thanks for your support, and be sure to share the campaign!

-John Nephew
  Atlas Games President

$831k UPDATE Atlas Games Staff Pool
over 1 year ago – Thu, Oct 17, 2024 at 01:13:21 PM

A week before launch, we took a staff pool at our Wednesday lunch meeting. We secretly wrote each of our guesses for the Ars Magica Definitive Edition final funding total on a piece of paper, then put them up on our dry erase board. Then we made Jackie re-draw it so it wasn't just pathetic-looking, and so we could take photos of each of us with the much-improved Atlas Games Official Staff Pool illustration. We'll post them here as we surpass our guesses!

$250,042 • Michelle Nephew

Atlas Games Co-Owner & ArMDef Co-Producer



$300,000 • Shane Demos

Replay Workshop Manager



$375,008 • Woody Eblom

Warehouse Manager



$450,000 • Jackie Sue Lozano

Customer Service Coordinator


$666,666.66 • Jenae Floerke

Administrative Manager & Sales Manager



$718,281 • David Chart

Ars Magica Line Developer



$755,000 • Ben Hartfield

Ars Magica Definitive Edition Co-Producer



$831,000 • Ross Waataja

Warehouse & Replay Workshop Assistant