Ars Magica

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Ars Magica had an obscure origin, but it had long-lasting effects. We did a number of influential support products that influenced 1990s game design, and it launched the careers of five of us who were part of the Ars Magica crew. Over the years, I had bought a ton of roleplaying games, and I. 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').

Materials for the Russian version - Iskusstvo Volshebstva - available here!

  • Ars Magica Third Edition Character Sheet, Jason Buss edition
  • Maps of Austhwaite Manor & Banggarth Hall

Ars Magica Fifth Edition Sheets for Metacreator

Ars Magica Fourth Edition Character Sheet. Ars Magica Story Record. Ars Magica Third Edition Character Sheet, Jason Buss edition. The Little Boy Everybody Wanted: An Ars Magica Adventure. Map of Medieval Mesopotamia. Maps of Rabenstein Covenant. Maps of Vigil Cavernae. Map of Medieval Rus. Map of Medieval Novgorod. Later, character points can be earned and spent to improve attributes or skills, or to buy new skills or powers. In some games, such as Champions, these points are experience points; in others, such as Ars Magica, there is a more complicated relationship between experience points and character points.

The awesome Metacreator program - with its Ars Magica Fifth Edition template - is indispensible for play, but it will surprise no one I find its default character sheet output lacking in a little charm. So I've slogged through a relatively unfriendly print template interface to produce my own custom sheets, mimicking my Fourth Edition sheets below, but allowing you to use the powerful tracking capabilities of Metacreator.

Essentially, I have two versions of the character sheet and spell grimoire, using the Weiss font that Atlas uses in the official publications (and the Lombardy font that already comes with the ArM template). The better-looking one uses the official Weiss Std font from Adobe, but most folks won't have that, so I made a second version of each using a free Weiss knockoff which you can find here.

Both character sheets also use a custom macro which I tack on to the end of the Print file in the ArM5 directory (open it with Notepad or the like and just paste it at the end.)

  • Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Character Sheet for Metacreator (knockoff Weiss version) (11 megs) - updated 20 August 2009
  • Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Spell Grimoire for Metacreator (knockoff Weiss version) (6 megs) - updated 20 August 2009
  • Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Character Sheet for Metacreator (Adobe Weiss version) (11 megs) - updated 20 August 2009
  • Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Spell Grimoire for Metacreator (Adobe Weiss version) (6 megs) - updated 20 August 2009
  • Download printAbils macro text for Metacreator (32 K) - updated 20 August 2009

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Ars Magica Fifth Edition Storyguide Screen

Have you seen this thing?

Yeah, OK, so I get a tiny kickback from Amazon if you buy one from this link. But really, finally. I can make up GM screens for my favorite games and not have to rig some half-ass way of getting it to the table - just print and slide them into the slots of this baby, and you're ready to go. Switch games, and just switch panels out. Done.

So here's one for Ars Magica Fifth Edition. As usual, it uses layers galore, so if you want black and white, Third Edition-style borders, Fourth Edition fonts, etc. etc., just try turning layers on and off until you get what you want.

(Oh yeah, I usually leave out one of these panels and stick in a landscape illustration or our campaign map in the center panel facing the players, but anyway.)

  • Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Storyguide Screen (15 megs) - updated 6/16/08

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Ars Magica Fifth Edition Medieval Character Sheet

I had promised this one for quite some time, finally finished it, uploaded it, people liked it, and then somehow managed to kill the download part at some point. :^( Anyway, the exact opposite of the 'd20-style' sheets below: per request, a more 'magical' flavored sheet. At some point I'll hopefully have different font choices like I did for the 4.0 sheets, below. Requires Acrobat 6 or later to turn on and off layers like the parchment background.
  • Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Medieval Character Sheet (2.4 MB) - updated 31 October 2008
Ars Magica

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Ars Magica Fifth Edition Character Sheet 2.0

This is quite different from 1.0 below, for a couple of reasons. One, I was (perhaps ironically with a game like Ars Magica) looking for something more 'modern.' Second, I wanted something that might attract new blood to the game. To that end, I adopted a 'd20 look' to the layout, and it's a 'training sheet' in that the Arts are spelled out, as are all the things which add up to produce your bonuses. I'm already working on a more Medieval-flavored ArM 5 sheet, don't worry—but you can also turn down the d20 a bit by layer choices. Click on the block below the logo to add your character's portrait.
Ars magica minecraft
  • Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Character Sheet 2.0 (300 K) - updated 2/8/06

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Ars Magica Fifth Edition Character Sheet 1.0

A four-page character sheet for Ars Magica Fifth Edition. This sheet is due for an overhaul, but this version corrects some errors on Atlas' official sheet (namely, Body Levels being for Fourth Edition, and an incorrect Concentration formula). Click on the block below the logo to add your character's portrait.
  • Download Ars Magica 5th Edition Character Sheet 1.01 (95 K) - updated 12/9/04

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Ars Magica Fourth Edition Character Sheet 2.1

Carlisle

Goudy

Moravian

Novgorod

Rabenstein

While I like my Ars database and am fairly happy with the character sheets it prints out, its sheets lack a certain style that I wanted back. So I finally sat down with InDesign and created another version specifically to be filled out by hand. Not stopping there, I came up with six different 'flavors': font and graphics choices which I think will help you match a sheet to your saga's locale! Supplemental sheets coming soon for Volkhvy, Vitkir, Kabbalists, etc.

  • Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Goudy version (351 K) - updated 14 July 2007
  • Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Carlisle version (360 K) - updated 14 July 2007
  • Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Hibernia version (344 K) - updated 14 July 2007
  • Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Moravian version (356 K) - updated 14 July 2007
  • Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Novgorod version (396 K) - updated 14 July 2007
  • Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet 2.1, Rabenstein version (350 K) - updated 14 July 2007

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Ars Magica Fourth Edition Character Sheet

Ars Magica is my favorite fantasy roleplaying game, hands down. I'm working on a FileMaker Pro database for the game; here's a printout of the character sheet. The design is based in part upon one produced by the Alpha Storyguide of our Rabenstein saga, Jason Buss (see below).

  • Download Ars Magica 4th Edition Character Sheet (4 pages, 367 K)

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Ars Magica Story Record

In trying to help us keep track of who did what during each story our Troupe runs, I developed this simple story record. Keep track of when the game was played, who ran it, what the characters did, and what their (in)famous quotes of the night were.

  • Download Ars Magica Story Record (1 page, 83 K)

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Ars Magica Third Edition Character Sheet, Jason Buss Edition

This is the way-cool sheet that my friend Jason Buss created for the Rabenstein saga. The current ruleset then was the third edition, so you might have to write in some things by hand to use this with the fourth (like experience points for Arts), but it's distinctive. Jason has added some cool things like 'Astrological Influences' which are not in the rules, and mostly there for color. Note that where I create all mine on my computer, this is a straight scan job from Jason's fine hand crafting.

  • Download Ars Magica Third Edition Character Sheet, Jason Buss edition (4 pages, 3.09 megs)

Ars Magica 1.12.2


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The Little Boy Everybody Wanted: An Ars Magica Adventure

Adventure notes for Ars Magica based in the lands of Rus and the Novgorod Tribunal. I ran this story as part of the Rabenstein saga. This story recently appeared (in French) in issue number 18 of the French fanzine Ars Mag.

  • Download The Little Boy Everybody Wanted (7 pages, 281 K)

Map of Medieval Mesopotamia

I did the maps for the Atlas Games product Ancient Magic, with the help of the lovely Valerie Nix. Here's one of the maps from that product.

  • Download Map of Medieval Mesopotamia (1 pages, 2.3 MB) - updated 20 July 2007

Maps of Rabenstein Covenant

Maps of Rabenstein covenant, home to my first (and favorite) Ars Magica saga. Uses layering (Acrobat 6+); necessary for the first map, which toggles layers to represent all the foors of the covenant.

  • Download Map of Rabenstein (514 K) - updated 14 July 2007

Maps of Vigil Cavernae

Maps of Vigil Cavernae covenant, its environs and the village of Cavtat, and the nearby city of Ragusa (Dubrovnik). Uses layering (Acrobat 6+); necessary for the first map, which toggles layers to represent all the foors of the covenant.

Ars magica 3
  • Download Map of Vigil Cavernae (184 K) - updated 12/9/06
  • Download Map of Vigil Cavernae Environs (116 K) - updated 12/9/06
  • Download Map of Medieval Ragusa (132 K) - updated 12/9/06

Map of Medieval Rus

Ars

Always interested in Medieval Russian history, I worked up a good bit of information for Ars Magica. Here is an approximately 8' x 16' map of the principalities of Rus, including major towns, rivers, covenants, political boundaries and trade routes.

Ars Magica Minecraft

  • Download Map of Medieval Rus (1 page, 406 K)

Map of Medieval Novgorod

Another map, this time of the Russian city of Novgorod, showing streets and major buildings (sorry, key is forthcoming).

  • Download Map of Medieval Novgorod (1 page, 295 K)

Map of Medieval Novgorod and Environs

Another map of Novgorod, this time of the city's immediate environs. Useful to me, perhaps it will be to you as well if you have a game set in Novgorod.

  • Download Map of Medieval Novgorod and Environs (1 page, 129 K) - updated 12/9/06

Map of Medieval Kiev and Environs

A map of Kiev the Golden and its immediate surroundings. Useful for stories set in the Kiev area.

  • Download Map of Medieval Kiev and Environs (1 page, 179 K)

Map of Cumbria

A very detailed map of medieval Cumbria - where the Corona Montis saga is set - showing towns, baronies, and religious and magical sites. May be of use to other English sagas.

  • Download Map of Cumbria (1 page, 2.7 megs) - updated 12/9/06

Maps of Austhwaite Manor & Banggarth Hall

I worked up a map of the manor within which the noble Austhwaite family and the magi of the Covenant of Corona Montis reside. I was pretty pleased with the way it came out, and since I made a PDF of it for the members of our Ars Magica troupe I figured I might as well post it as others might find a use for it in their games. The first PDF has Austhwaite Manor's levels, before and after addition of a pele tower and an additional wing, as well as Banggarth Hall, the magi sancti, and Roland Whitney's villa: to access each, turn on or off the appropriate layers in Acrobat.

Ars
  • Download a map of Austhwaite Manor et al (168 K) - updated 12/9/06
  • Download a map of lands surrounding Austhwaite Manor (2.3 megs) - updated 12/9/06