Season One

First Season Issues

The first season of our game is set in the Greater Alps Tribunal and the PCs are all apprentices.

More Power, Less Sovereignty, More Unpredictability: As your characters advance through their apprenticeship, they will be more powerful than standard apprentices made with the Rules As Written. However, you will not have complete control over your own advancement. For example, you may want your master to teach you Creo this year, but he decides to teach you Corpus instead. You want to learn Pilum of Fire, but he teaches you Chirurgeon's Healing Touch. Such is the life of an apprentice. Your character's ability to choose what he learns will depend a great deal on the opportunities he makes for himself, his connections, his relationship to his master, his natural gifts (Virtues and Flaws), his master's specialty and access to books. I know this can be frustrating; my intent is that the rapid growth of your characters will keep the story entertaining and fun. When you pop out of Gauntlet at the end of the game, you won't have exactly all the Arts and Abilities you planned on today. But if you embrace the unpredictability, you will have fun.

Turbulence: Turbulence is the name for spontaneous and uncontrolled manifestations of the Gift, found in children and prompted by emotional stress. Characters age 14 and older aren't victims of Turbulence; they get Twilight instead.

Training Schedule

By the spring of 1213, all the Alpine Apprentices have had:

• One season learning spells, probably 50 levels worth, and 2 Exposure XP.

• One season learning Profession: Scribe 1 for 5 XP.

• Five seasons of instruction in the Arts, typically 13 XP per season and a total of 65 XP.

• Four seasons under Scamandrius of Tremere, learning Code of Hermes 1, Order of Hermes Lore 1, Concentration 1 (1), Finesse 1 (1), Penetration 1 (1), Parma 0 (5) and 1 XP in Magic Theory. In addition, Concentration, Finesse or Penetration will be raised to 2. The apprentice also has 9 XP to put in Scamandrius's other magical fighting skills (but not Parma). Total of 52 XP.

• Six seasons under Profundus, learning Artes Liberales 2, Latin 5, Magic Theory 2, Philosophiae 2. The apprentice also has 12 "Profundus XP" which can be spent on anything he has. Total XP: 132

• 16 seasons in the lab, earning 32 Exposure XP.

For a total of 33 seasons and 288 XP. If the apprentice has had any additional training, it has come out of the lab seasons. Adjust XP accordingly.

The Standard Apprenticeship

Players may find it interesting to see how their training in the Alps compares to the standard apprenticeship, which is discussed first in Apprentices and then corrected in Errata. I have broken down training year-by-year with a "sample student" I have named Simplissimus, in comparison to a student taught in our game, who I have named Compleximus. Neither Simplissimus or Compleximus begin with Latin or Artes Liberales. Compleximus does not have any Fan points to spend. The total XP the sample student gains will not change, but those points might be spent a little differently.

1205

Simplissimus: Opening the Arts, four seasons of Exposure. Total: 8 XP for Magic Theory 1 (3).

Compleximus: Opening the Arts, two seasons of Exposure, two seasons under Profundus. Total: 48 XP.

1206 and 1207

Simplissimus: Three seasons of Exposure, one of instruction, for 19 XP each year. Total: 46 XP for Artes Liberales 0 (3), Latin 3, Magic Theory 2

Compleximus: Two seasons of Exposure (one season of Profession: Scribe), two seasons under Profundus, for 48 or 51 XP each year. Total: 147 XP, for Artes Liberales 2, Concentration 1 (7), Latin 5, Magic Theory 2 (10), Philosophiae 2, Profession: Scribe 1.

1208 and 1209

Simplissimus: Three seasons of Exposure, one of instruction, for 19 XP each year. Total: 84 XP for Artes Liberales 1, Latin 4, Magic Theory 2 (14).

Compleximus: Three seasons of Exposure, one of instruction, for 19 XP each year. Total: 185 XP for Artes Liberales 2, Concentration 1 (7), Latin 5, Magic Theory 3 (3), Philosophiae 2, Profession: Scribe 1, two Arts at 5 each.

1210

Simplissimus: Three seasons of Exposure, one of instruction, for 19 XP. Total: 103 XP, for Artes Liberales 1, Latin 4, Magic Theory 3, and one Art at 6.

Compleximus: Two seasons of Exposure for 4 XP, one of instruction for 13 XP, one with Scamandrius for 13 XP. Total: 215 XP for Artes Liberales 2, Code of Hermes 1, Concentration 1 (7), Finesse 0 (1), Latin 5, Magic Theory 3 (8), Order of Hermes Lore 1, Penetration 0 (1), Philosophiae 2, Profession: Scribe 1, and Arts at 5, 5, and 4 (3).

Analysis

• Compleximus currently has about twice as much XP as his brother.

• Simplissimus's master spent the first five seasons of actual instruction (1205-1209) opening the Arts and teaching the basic skills of the Order: Latin 4, Magic Theory 3, Artes Liberales 1. Simplissimus did not get a season of instruction devoted to the Arts until 1210.

• In contrast, his brother got his first season of instruction on the Arts in 1208. By 1210, when his brother has only a single Art of 13 XP or more, Compleximus has 3.

• Compleximus is measurably better at Ceremonial Magic thanks to his training in Artes Liberales and Philosophiae.

• Simplissimus's best Art is higher than his brother's best Art.

Episode Guide

Episode 101: Presentation (Spring of 1205, Jason Tondro)

Episode 102: Ghosts (Autumn of 1206, Jason Tondro)

Episode 103: Shopping (Summer of 1207, Jason Tondro)

Episode 104: Tribunal (Winter of 1208, Jason Tondro)

Episode 105: Krampus Comes to Town (Winter of 1209, James Seals)

Episode 106: Down, Down to Goblin Town (Winter of 1210, John Post)

Episode 107: Peregrinatio, Part One (Summer of 1212, Jason Tondro)

Episode 108: Peregrinatio, Part Two (Summer of 1212, Jason Tondro)

Episode 109: The Frog and the Ox (Spring of 1213, Jeremiah Wishon)

Episode 110: The Trouble With Alys (Spring of 1214, John Post)

Episode 111: Choices (Spring of 1214, Jason Tondro)

Episode 112: Krampus II: the Re-Gifting (1216, James Seals)

Episode 113: Choices (1217, Jason Tondro)

Episode 114: Gauntlet, Part One (Jason Tondro)

Episode 115: Gauntlet, Part Two (Jason Tondro)

A Note on Terminology

• • An apprentice to a Hermetic magus is called a discipulus (if male) or discipula (if female).

  • The discipulus refers to his master as dominus (if male) or domina (if female).

  • Apprentices refer to each other as tiro, which means "young soldier" or "recruit."

  • Apprentices of the same master are frater ("brother") and soror ("sister")

Apprentices Copying Books

What to Copy: An apprentice with a free season, working in a library of the Greater Alps covenants, might choose to scribe one of the following:

• A summa of Level 15 (for an Art) or 5 (for an Ability): The apprentice's amateur skill, and a lack of magically resonant materials, will result in a book of Quality 10. However, this book could be recopied by professionals later, significantly improving its quality. If the apprentice is willing to spend two seasons instead of one, the summa is Quality 11 instead. Add 4 to these Qualities if your book is on a mundane Ability instead of an Art, or add 3 if it is on an Arcane Ability like Magic Theory.

• Three tractati: Again, because they are copied quickly and with little skill, the resulting books would have Quality of only 7. However, they could be recopied later and their Quality greatly improved. If the apprentice is willing to spend an entire season on one tractatus, it would be Quality 8. Add 3 for a book on an Arcane Ability, or 4 for a mundane Ability.

• Spells and Casting Tablets: An apprentice can copy 60 levels of spells with Scribe 1 and 120 levels with Scribe 2 (or a 1 and an appropriate speciality). Copied spells can later be used by any magus to invent that same spell. Alternately, spells can instead be copied as a Casting Tablet. These are not used to learn the spell, they are used to directly cast the spell from the "tablet". You cannot learn a spell from a casting tablet, and spells cast from tablets must always be cast in exactly the same way, but many covenants find it useful to have casting tablets for high level or common spells which no one wants to learn. Any spell in the Ars Magica 5 book, or known to your own master, can be found in the libraries of the Greater Alps for copying. Spells from other official sources may be available; check with the GM. Wholly original spells of your own creation are not available.