Ars Magica Sandbox-y, Narrative-esque Campaign

[Raparth]

I've recently purchased the fifth edition book of Ars Magica and, the more I read it, I consistently think more and more about a campaign idea that I've had (though it's still very much in development).  I know there seem to be a lot of "Mage games" out there but, so far as I'm aware, both Mike James' Mage game and the Explosive Mage game are either ending or, at the very least, winding down.  Plus, Ars Magica is a ~very~ different feel from Mage, and even considerably different from Dark Ages: Mage.
Let me just lay out some qualities that I really want in the game, or ones I at least think would be awesome...

1. Sandbox/Player-Driven Stuff: I really think it would be awesome to play a group of magi who have just gotten out of their apprenticeships and now, being fully-trained magi, go out into the world and found a covenant (which refers both to their agreement to work together {i.e. the party} and the place at which they live {Ars Magica stories generally have these as the 'home base' of the campaign}).  Not only would this be a great way to grow, learn, and develop the characters (and, as players, do those things along with the characters), but it would do something that I've always wanted to do (and D&D, much as it's structured to do so, has never done for me) and that is to build a base.  At least to me, it's intensely fun to think about sitting down and planning out the tower and town schematics, figure out how they look ascetically and how they are built, as well as figuring out where the food, money, and other resources come from...  Then it's really our town and our covenant.

2. Narration/Story-writing/Roleplaying: Much connected with the first point, I think it'd be awesome to, perhaps between sessions, have a lot of roleplaying going on...  What do our characters do between sessions?  How do they interact with each other and other people, behind the scenes?   This might even operate as something of a play-by-post that compliments the actually session-bound campaign.  Essentially, I think of it as the troupe working together to write a story, a narrative, almost a novel...  smithing the very world, together.

3. Party-Integration:  Something that not nearly enough campaigns have and none have nearly enough...  I love the idea of the GM position getting passed around, so everyone gets a chance to be player and Storyguide (Ars Magica's specific term).  Furthermore, in Ars Magica, you have at least two characters: one a magi, and the other a companion (i.e. normal person who helps the magus, and particularly helps them deal with the mundane world)...  Even better, it's highly recommended that you don't play your magus's companion.  Someone else in the group does, and you play someone else's companion... (e.g. I play Emily's maga's companion, Emily plays Dan's magus's companion, Dan plays my magus's companion {though it need not be a round-robin})  Players would actually have a superb excuse to talk to each other, roleplay with each other in a very serious way...


I'm sure there are other reasons, but those are the big three (and all my mind can come up with at this hour).  This is not a game I can do alone (either designing, GMing, or playing...) and I really want to at least try it.  So, here's this post, to see if anyone else even remotely likes this idea....

P.S.  This game would probably start next semester, if it can become a regular game.  I can see it running for as long as people have fun, since there would only be the looses conception of meta-plot.

[gryffscholar]

Explosive, last I heard, isn't winding down.  We've just reached the end of a chapter.

[Raparth]

Ah.  Sorry, it was just the wording Jason used, I guess, comparing it to the end of a TV series (and reaching similar conclusion/closure)...  Excuse the misinterpretation.

[Becarem]

Well, I have to wind my Mage game down.  The story's just gotten too muddled, people jumping in and out.  Also, I intend to graduate soon, so it would be best to be done with it.  At least those players that have stayed can see that it was a good run!

I would be most interested in playing in an Ars Magica game, but you knew that.

[chibi_emily]

Yay Ars Magica!  I fully endorse this idea.

[Monad]

I am also all for this, though I need an education in Ars Magica.

[Salahdihn]

This does sound interesting, but I also would need to learn about the game in order to help with the DMing.

[Monad]

Today we meet at 2 in West Campus to discuss various roleplaying, and I currently have the Ars Magicka book to be discussed.

[Salahdihn]

Gah! read this too late 

[Raparth]

I have some of the books on .pdf, if you'd like a copy.  I could bring them, in a flashdrive, to the meeting this week, if you have a laptop.  Or, if you don't have a laptop and do have a flashdrive, I could bring my laptop to the meeting.

First of all, none of us are terribly familiar with the rules (I think I've got a fair grasp of how it works, if not the exact mechanics, while Mike James is the only one {I believe} that's actually played Ars Magica before), so that's not a problem.
Secondly, not everyone will have to DM/GM/Storytell/Storyguide/whatever, I just want to make it troupe-style in the sense that anyone ~could~ DM if they had an idea they wanted to run with, for a session or a few sessions or whatever.

We did a fair amount of talking on what we might like to do (start in the Rhine Tribunal {i.e. the Holy Roman Empire} and then progress to the Novgorod Tribunal {i.e. what will be European Russia} in order to pioneer and start fresh, away from too many old magi telling us what to do, and so we can find power/vis/resources easier)...  Dan/Monad liked the idea of finding a the ruins of an old covenant ("Winter Ruins" for our Spring covenant), so someone could talk about what might lie within them, at a later time. *shrugs*  This seems cool to me, though I'd like to keep us from something like finding an abandoned, but still perfectly intact, castle...  Maybe nearby ruins that haven't been explored, or the like?
Also, talk has been made about having the covenant be in a regio (an area where reality is sort of in layers, so that, if you know how, you can walk "up" layers to a reality farther and farther from the mundane plane {the flavor of which depends on whether it's a Magical, Faerie, Divine, or Infernal regio}), which would give us some protection from mundanes, with a bit of magical mystery (and potential threats).
Anyway, given that at least two players (Mike and Emily), and maybe now three, weren't there, it's still not final decision making, but rather just... The world is becoming more distinct, but is far from set.

This is looking to be a fairly big game (I have now had 8 {7+me} people mentioning that they might be interested), but, given the troupe-style play, I don't think it'll be too much of a problem.  At 10, we start battling for our spots. *shifty eyes*

Oh, also, the first few sessions of the game will probably go pretty fast, time-wise.  Particularly if we start in Germany, I can see saying, "Okay, we travel for a season or two and get to Russia."  then we look around for magical areas, then maybe a little designing of the covenant, then "okay, for a year we build and settle down" and the like.  *shrugs*  Just a thought.  If no one else likes this pulsated-time-speed, then we certainly don't have to do it.

[M0R5]

I'm always down for a narrative game, although it would appear I'm a little late in finding this thread.

If the game is too full, too setup already, or whatever that's fine just let me know, I might not have time to do another game next semester anyhoo.

[Raparth]

Well, I suppose it depends on whether everyone who's said something about it actually joins...  Anyway, you're welcome to try to join and I'll arbitrarily put a stop to anyone else joining, unless we know someone else isn't going to play.  9 (i.e. 1 GM and 8 players, per session) might work, but I don't want to threaten 10.
We're certainly not too setup yet... Joe, Lieren, Dan, and I have started to work on some characters (mine particularly might not be final, since I'll probably fill in any gap that the covenant has at the end {so long as I actually have a concept for that I would like to play, of course}).  After everyone makes a magus/maga, we'll do a sort of Secret Santa thing (with voluntary changes afterward) to determine who plays whose companion, and then we'll make companion characters.

Anyway, I and a couple of others (showing up and leaving at different times), are meeting in 4th floor Grim (in the comfy lounge, probably) tomorrow (i.e. Wednesday) night let's say, at 7 (though I, at least, will be there until at least 9:30/10, since Emily and Mike won't get there until 9).  We'll talk about stuff, and let everyone look at and get a good idea for character creation (and make/start to make a character to either play or at least to better understand the way they're done).  Feel free to come around and join the discussion/creation.

[Raparth]

Here's a running list of people, characters, and rough concept/important Arts, so that everyone can see a "God's eye view" of what's developing. A)'s and B)'s denote alternative characters (i.e. one hasn't been chosen, but both/all are being made/considered).
Please correct me if I'm off, and I'll edit this post.
Also, I've asked for a sub-forum, were this thread can be moved to, and everyone who's a thoroughly-confirmed player (and on the RPG Forum) is a probably going to be a moderator, so everyone can help maintain interest/correct mistakes.

William/Raparth:
   A) Verditius, humble dwarf-blooded smith/architect: Creo (6), Intellego (6), Rego (6); Ignem (4), Terram (12), Vim (4)
   B) Bonisagus, reclusive magical theorist/researcher (Blatant Gift and Curse of Venus), awesome with rituals and wards: Creo, Rego (high); Vim (high)
Emily/chibi_emily:
   A) Criamon, sneaky anti-social loner,
   B) Bonisagus, researcher (Curse of Venus),
Dan/Monad:
   A) Tytalus, leper-magus who's all about inflicting or curing diseases: Creo, Perdo; Corpus (high)
   B) Merinita, Undine-blooded pirate-chick:
Mike James/Becarem:
   -   Ex Miscellanea, nature-loving, incidentally magical normal guy: Creo, Intellego; Herbam (high)
Joseph/ZCat:
   -   Bjornaer, feral-child lycanthropic giant-blooded bear-man (Blatant Gift and Inoffensive to Animals): Creo, Perdo, Rego; Animal (high), Corpus
Leiren:
   -   Criamon, criminal-branded mute "previously-diabolic" sneaky "ninja":
Celeste:
   -   Bjornaer, feral-child wolf-woman:

It may be important to note that the Criamons, the Merinitia, the Ex Misc, and the Bjornaer all have at least a little wilderness-y lore (e.g. Survival, Wilderness Sense, Animal Ken, Animal Handling)

[M0R5]

oh crackers, looks like i missed character creation

is it still too late to join?

[Raparth]

Not at all.  I'm not sure when, exactly, this might take place, but I plan on having another character creation/campaign discussion/system familiarization meeting in the next couple of weeks.  I'll have to check my schedule to find a day (a weekend day might be likely, given that mine have mostly opened up in these final weeks), but I'll try to at least have one possibility up before the end of break.