Pyramid Pick
Ars Magica Fifth Edition
Published by Atlas Games
Written by David Chart with Tom Dowd, Jörg-Peter Friederich, Rich Gentile, Andrew Gronosky, Mark Shirley, Andrew Smith, Kevin Sours, & David Woods
Cover by J. Scott Reeves
Illustrated by J. Scott Reeves with Dave Allsop, Liz Danforth, Brian Dugan, Neil Edwards, Charles Gillespie, Josh Hoops, Eric Hotz, Janine Johnston, Alexis Liosatos, William O'Connor, Dom Reardon, John Scotello, & Jock Simpson
242-Page Full Color Hardback; $35
When it comes to RPGs that focus on magic, Ars Magica has always been at the fore. Originally published by Lion Rampant in 1988, its history found it at White Wolf and associated with the World of Darkness -- particularly Vampire: The Masquerade and Mage: The Ascension. More recently it has found a home with Atlas Games.
The publisher heavily supported the Fourth Edition, but more recently has published a slimmer Fifth Edition. More than a cosmetic makeover, the reworking has been carried out by the game's line editor, David Chart, who is also the author of several well-done campaign supplements for the d20 System, including Splintered Peace and the Medieval Player's Manual.
The setting for Ars Magica Fifth Edition remains unchanged -- the Mythic Europe of 1220. This is a version of the Middle Ages in which the Church of Rome still dominates, but in which magic is real, the power of the infernal is very much a dangerous threat, beasts of myth and legend stalk the lands just beyond the bounds of civilisation, . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: December 23, 2005
Copyright © 2005 by Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read this article online, or download it and print out a single hardcopy for personal use. Copying this text to any other online system or BBS, or making more than one hardcopy, is strictly prohibited. So please don't. And if you encounter copies of this article elsewhere on the web, please report it to webmaster@sjgames.com.
