Most, if not all, of my focus on this blog has been oriented towards OSR and retroclone content, and will likely remain so. However, it is not my only wheelhouse.

Case in point: Ars Magica! A game system for which I have a lot of respect, from its setting to its magic system; I find it to be a terribly compelling game.

Another system in the same vein, though one I have a good deal less respect for, is the World of Darkness and its games, such as Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse.

I find that the setting of the World of Darkness went downhill with the introduction of Mage: The Ascension and some of the usage of its ideas.

The Context⌗

Prior to the release of Mage: The Ascension back in 1993, it was quite clear in the other 1st edition books of WOD that Ars Magica and the Order Of Hermes were canon to the setting, as was Hermetic Magic.

This is all the more evident when you realize that the 2nd edition of Ars Magica was released in 1989 and Vampire came out shortly after in 1991, only a two-year gap.

Vampire 1st edition had very explicit references to the Order of Hermes, with House Tremere of the Order of Hermes now becoming Clan Tremere of the Camarilla, a reference that only players familiar with Ars Magica would have understood.

Likewise, references to Hermetic Magic in Mummy 1st edition in 1992. Both Mummy and Vampire’s magic systems drew heavy inspiration from Ars Magica, though cut down and simplified for the Storyteller system.

Even references to fairies and demons in these early editions are clearly a nod to the fact that Ars Magica influenced the World of Darkness’s cosmology.

This was all later retconned in 1993 with the publishing of Mage 1st edition, which recontextualized the references to the Order of Hermes and magic as a whole.

Mage made magic a product of reality framed by consensus and the battle for reality and how it might be defined, Mage made magic the explicit framing device, as opposed to the politics and delving of an implicit magic system like Ars Magica.

Likewise, the Order of Hermes was fed through the woodchipper of reality consensus, emerging as a tired old bunch of wizards and stubborn fools, one among nine equals in the Traditions, compared to before when they held a dominant position as de facto Magi of Europe.

Mage retconned this further as they moved away from Ars Magica being the pre-setting of the World of Darkness and supplanted it with the Dark Ages line of games, further changing the Order of Hermes from their prior incarnation.

Outside of the Order of Hermes, the connection between the two games is nonexistent at this point, and the copyright holders of both also severed ties, leaving only the name and a few houses as a dim reminder of what might have been.

What I Propose⌗

Let us consider a universe where the influences and DNA of Ars Magica had not diminished in relation to Vampire, where the connections in the World of Darkness were merely an extended timeline of Mythic Europe.

But at the same time, let’s keep in mind the assumptions Vampire, Werewolf, and Mummy introduced between 1991 and 1992, while also retaining the cosmology of the four realms from Ars Magica and framing that with the Umbra and the politics of Mythic Europe.

I propose we clean house and work from the early assumptions of both game lines, tying together the settings in the best way possible.

This would be an interesting experimental idea of seeing what direction the World of Darkness would have taken, given that the more cosmological and mechanically messy games would not be introduced into the setting.

Though I must concede that while many complained about the cosmological and setting inconsistencies, I found they enriched the mood and idea of the setting. However, it did not make for a very playable setting, as any multi-book game became a rather involved affair, requiring a good deal of research and choices.

Goals And Expectations⌗

It’s all good fun to propose an idea and fantasize about an alternative timeline of development, but it’s a different affair to put that work into pen and paper (or bits and bytes).

That’s why I want to set some limited goals for this project and expectations.

Goals

  1. Create and convert an edition of Ars Magica to the Storyteller system.
  2. Modernize the setting to the 1990s or the current year.
  3. Tie Ars Magica into Vampire 1st edition lore and setting (and maybe Mummy).

Expectations⌗

  1. The mechanical translation may not be perfect.
  2. Time requirements—I’m not as well-read in either system to quickly do this.
  3. The result might not be better or worth playing.

Again, this is much more a thought experiment than a focused project of mine, and there will certainly be slow periods in this.

I also have a very biased and not often positive view of World of Darkness, White Wolf, or the current Onyx Path and Paradox Interactive as the current stewards of the IP.

That said, this also ties into my general opinion that World of Darkness needs its own OSR-type event, where the older editions and ideas are reconsidered, and some of the more narrativist game elements are purged, along with the pretentious idea of “mood” and “personal horror,” which often obstruct good or merely functional and playable game design.

Credits A good percentage of this idea and concept comes from a friend who prefers to remain anonymous, and who had voiced this idea to very little or no fanfare before.

Also, to Everitt P. Long, who seemingly considered this idea in part decades before either me or my friend, and who, to a decent degree, converted Ars Magica’s magic to the Storyteller/Vampire system. You can find a link to said project.

(Note: Be cautious, the website is not HTTPS; I recommend having an up-to-date browser before visiting, as it’s an old page.)