Ars Magica is a role-playing game set in 'Mythic Europe' – a historically grounded version of Europe and the Levant around AD 1200, with the added conceit that conceptions of the world prevalent in folklore and institutions of the High Middle Ages are factual reality (a situation known informally as the "medieval paradigm"). The players' involvement revolves around an organization of magi and their allies and foes both mundaneMundane. "In fantasy literature the term is sometimes used to apply to non-magical people or the non-magical society." and supernatural. The game was originally developed by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen at Lion Rampant, with its first edition published in 1987.
The current edition (the game's fifth) was written by David Chart, and published in 2004 by Atlas Games, who continue to develop new material for it. A definitive edition, based on the fifth edition was crowdfunded in 2024 and shipped in 2026.
In conjunction with the definitive edition, Atlas Games released the entire texts of all fifth edition books, as well as selective supplements for third and fourth edition, under open license. Subsequently, community projects have made the complete texts available online.
Ars Magica was one of the first examples of a troupe system. Early editions recommended that the players collaborate to create the campaign world and story with: Each player having an opportunity to be Story Guide. (e.g. alternating by play session, 'chapter' of a story, or at the whim of the troupe) Each player having more than one player character; when the primary character lacks opportunity or reason to participate in a session (typically due to laboratory or library activity), a secondary character is played.
The Story Guide scheme has been de-emphasised in recent editions; in the fifth edition it is relegated to an optional play style described at the back of the book. Alternatively a troupe may select one player as the primary story guide responsible for the overall plot, and one or more secondary story guides who run peripheral sessions and/or stories.
To enhance the 'authenticity' of the historical setting, the game uses medieval Latin for a number of key terms, including its Hermetic Magic system.
History
The first two editions were published by Lion Rampant Games, with several adventures published by Atlas Games. In 1991, Lion Rampant merged with White Wolf Magazine to form White Wolf Game Studio. White Wolf published several adventure modules for the game before adding its third Edition rulebook, co-authored by Rein-Hagen with Ken Cliffe. This revision greatly expanded the settings and peripheral rules while leaving the core system intact. White Wolf then released at least a dozen supplements for Third Edition, including the addition of Divine and Infernal mechanics, rules for shamanic magic, beginning the Tribunal series and completing the 'Four Seasons' tetralogy of stories begun by Lion Rampant.
In 1994, publishing rights for the game were sold to Wizards of the Coast, who brought in Jonathan Tweet and started development on a fourth edition. The company published one supplement for the upcoming edition while republishing two supplements for the older edition. Development fell behind schedule, and on December 5, 1995, Wizards of the Coast announced they would leave the tabletop role-playing business altogether, although this turned out to be a temporary departure.
The next year the rights were sold to Atlas Games, who published the fourth edition developed by Tweet and Jeff Tidball. The core book was nominated for the Origins Award in 1996 for Best Roleplaying Game. Continuing to develop the line, Tidwell added several new stories, continued to expand peripheral material and released an extensive line of Tribunal books.
Atlas then assigned David Chart as line developer and released a fifth edition in 2004. This release made extensive changes to the system, especially the mechanics for combat, experience, and character creation. Many players felt that the alterations to the combat system were long overdue, especially the rules for armour, which in previous editions made wearers much more likely to die in combat. This edition won the Origins Award for "Best Role Playing Game of 2004".
Since 2014, the fourth edition has been distributed for free at Warehouse 23 fronted by Steve Jackson Games.
Many characteristics of the Storyteller system developed by White Wolf can be traced to Ars Magica and the fact that the Storyteller system was developed by one of Ars Magica co-authors; White Wolf's Mage: The Ascension was envisioned as "Ars Magica in the Modern World", and many of the changes in the third edition of ArM were to make the game-worlds more compatible."World of Darkness" section of the Ars Magica FAQ. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
On January 12, 2024, Atlas Games announced that Ars Magica 5th Edition Definitive was in production and would be crowdfunded later in the year."Anno Magica 2024" Retrieved January 15, 2024.
Setting The setting, Mythic Europe, is primarily based on Europe of the 12th and 13th centuries; the geography is the same, and the mundane (non-magical) politics are practically identical. However, in Ars Magica the "Medieval paradigm"The Medieval Paradigm section of the Ars Magica FAQ – the way the world was described or understood in that time period – is the literal truth. In this setting, Faeries actually do steal lost children, Demons cause disease and crop failure, Angels help the righteous, and dragons and other Magical creatures are real (though perhaps forgotten or hidden). In the third edition, to tie the game into the World of Darkness line, this was reality because of the beliefs; other editions distance themselves from this interpretation, simply taking place in a world where those beliefs happen to be true.
Player characters typically alternate between the role of a magus (plural magi; female maga/magae), and a companion (Consors). Companions are select skilled non-magi who help wizards conduct their affairs (as magi tend to be distanced from "mundanes" due to the effects of their magical "Gift"). Additionally, there are a number of Grogs (usually skilled peasants, often bodyguards or watchmen) who can be controlled by any player. (As of the third edition, Grogs are also a viable player 'class'; the fifth edition has added an entire supplement dedicated to 'fleshing out' Grogs.) The wizards generally gather in specialized strongholds called covenants, which are often built in places of power. A covenant is typically a 'home base' where the magi are in charge (though they may travel Mythic Europe for reasons of politics, resources, study or even leisure). Some consider the covenant to be the central character of the game,Covenants on Project Redcap and the official rules encourage troupes to develop the covenant along those lines.
The Order of Hermes
Standard player-character magi belong to the Order of Hermes, a society of magically "Gifted" humans which was inspired in 767 A.D. by the witch Trianoma and magus Bonisagus after the latter developed a breakthrough in communicating and manipulating magic (termed 'Hermetic Magic' for its roots in both the Greek deity Hermes, upon which the ancient Roman Cult of Mercury was based, and the works of the legendary figure Hermes Trismegistus). While magicians at this time were scattered, rarely social and highly distrustful of each other as a rule, two factors strongly favored mutual co-operation. One was Trianoma's political vision of an organization that would unite the Gifted for their mutual benefit. The other was Bonisagus' second breakthrough, the Parma Magica (loosely translated as "magic shield"): a highly efficient and easily taught personal ritual which could allow these disparate individuals and traditions to meet on common ground with some assurance of safety. Over subsequent centuries, with very few exceptions, magi who quit or refuse to join the Order have been hunted down and destroyed, giving the Order a definite monopoly over magical resources within its 'jurisdiction'.
While each of the Order's twelve Houses maintains a distinct baseline or tradition in pursuing and transmitting knowledge and power, the Order is also divided into Tribunals, each defined by a geographic region of Mythic Europe. Each Tribunal holds a gathering of its magi once every seven years; attendance is not mandatory, though it is essential for certain procedures (e.g. those who have completed their apprenticeships are formally presented for official membership; the Quæsitores judge the types of disputes deemed beyond simple inter- or intra-covenant resolution). Once every 33 years, each Tribunal sends a representative to the Grand Tribunal at the site of the Order's founding in the Black Forest.
The Tribunals loosely correspond to groupings or portions of modern-day nations; each has a distinct cultural and historical flavor which is expanded in the Tribunals of Hermes series. For example, the Roman Tribunal is a densely populated area with a shortage of magical resources, offering highly politicized plot-lines (both within and without the Order itself); Novgorod features vast areas of harsh wilderness, where pagan tribal warfare and magical beasts are significantly more common than elsewhere.
Greater Alps – including Switzerland with the Alpine regions of Austria and northern Italy. Iberian – the precursors to Spain and Portugal; note the Reconquista as current political climate Normandy – Northern France and what will soon be known as the Low Countries Provençal – Southern France Roman – Italy Theban – Greece, Bulgaria and Western Asia Minor Transylvanian – what will become the Balkans Rhine – centered on the Rhine River, core of the Holy Roman Empire Novgorod – the broader cultural region known as Rus', including Poland Stonehenge – England and Wales Loch Leglean – Scotland Hibernian – Ireland Levantine – lands of the Eastern Mediterranean known as the Levant
As with any system of borders not contingent on clear demarcation such as a river or wall, the territory of each Tribunal is rarely defined with precision; this is partially illustrated (via the fifth edition Covenants book) with the 'Tribunal Border' characteristic, which situates a covenant in a location that could place it in more than one Tribunal (depending on political favors, conflicts over resources, and so on). Such ambiguity can exist even with "clear" borders such as rivers or mountain ranges, since incorporating supernatural aid or power into the structure (and perhaps the constituency or lifestyle of its inhabitants) can allow them to thrive even in the middle of either such feature.
Realms of Power The overarching premise of the Ars Magica setting is that the "mundane" world of ordinary, physical existence is a place where four great supernatural forces have varying degrees of influence and presence.
The Divine realm This is the supreme, holy force of Creation – God as represented by the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, and his agents in the world. Divine influence diminishes anything not attuned to it (i.e. anything of a Faerie, Infernal or Magical nature) and is categorically opposed to all things Infernal. One of the Order's struggles is in reconciling their avoidance of mundane politics with the inexorable spread of the Dominion (Divine influence permeating the land as more land is settled by Christian and Muslim nations and more centers of Divine worship are constructed).