Atlas Games (Fourth Edition)

http://www.atlas-games.com/

Atlas published a number of Ars Magica supplements while it was still owned by Lion Rampant, which are listed last. They bought the line in 1996 and subsequently published Ars Magica Fourth Edition and many other supplements; you can jump directly to these older supplements if you like.

There are also several supplements that were released as free PDFs online, which I have added to the list. You can download them from Atlas's web page by following the links.

Each of the following publications includes a rating on a scale of one to four stars, based on a given number of readers' feedback, and comments if they are available. If you'd like to add to the reviews, check out the new form, or email the FAQ's maintainer.

AG0274 The Fallen Fane, by David Chart
FAQ Rating: - (0 reviews; 0 *, 0 **, 0 ***, 0 ****)

AG0273 Cause and Cure, by Michael Geller and John Kasab
FAQ Rating: - (0 reviews; 0 *, 0 **, 0 ***, 0 ****)

AG0272 Living Lore (hardback), edited by David Chart, written by Robert Angeloni, Keith Baker, Niall Christie, Erik Dahl, Rich Evans, Timothy Ferguson, Adam Gauntlett, Nathan Hook, Eric Kouris, James Maliszewski, Patrick Murphy, Matt Ryan, and Sheila Thomas
FAQ Rating: - (0 reviews; 0 *, 0 **, 0 ***, 0 ****)

AG0271 Faerie Stories, by Phil Masters and Neil Taylor
FAQ Rating: - (0 reviews; 0 *, 0 **, 0 ***, 0 ****)

AG3402 Sanctuary of Ice: The Ars Magica Sourcebook of the Greater Alps Tribunal (hardback), by Timothy Ferguson
FAQ Rating: ** (1 reviews; 0 *, 1 **, 0 ***, 0 ****)

The Covenant of Tarragon Vale (PDF), by Timothy Ferguson
FAQ Rating: ** (1 review; 0 *, 1 **, 0 ***, 0 ****)

AG3402 Black Monks of Glastonbury, by David Chart
FAQ Rating: *** (2 reviews; 0 *, 0 **, 2 ***, 0 ****)

• This book is just crammed full of story hooks and ideas. Suits a Western saga.

AG0270 Land of Fire and Ice (hardback), by David Woods and Mark Shirley
FAQ Rating: *** (3 reviews; 0 *, 1 **, 1 ***, 1 ****)

• Some interesting story ideas, with complicated game mechanics. Not really part of Mythic Europe.
• In a word, I ADORE this supplement! History, particular habits, indigenous magic and creatures, all are there!
• Works very well as an alternative location for a saga to move to for short time.

AG0269 Blood and Sand: The Tribunal of the Levant (hardback), by Niall Christie
FAQ Rating: ** (1 review; 0 *, 1 **, 0 ***, 0 ****)

Secrets In Sand (PDF), by Niall Christie
FAQ Rating: ** (1 review; 0 *, 1 **, 0 ***, 0 ****)

AG0268 The Bishop's Staff, an Ars Magica adventure by Michaël de Verteuil
FAQ Rating: *** (9 reviews; 1 *, 2 **, 6 ***, 0 ****)

• A good adventure with lots of stuff to do and neat ideas to improve the game.
• An interesting look at a new magical hedge-tradition with a simple adventure to boot. Could be frustrating to those who have to deal with the NPCs, and has a dubious Jewish money lender with unfortunately stereotypical personality traits.
• Didn't like it much. I fail to see why PC magi would go, and once there, why they would stay. A wonderful central idea is lost in the midst of an unengaged tale.
• Highly detailed but highly generic adventure, lacking punch. Very much set in the middle ages and avoids the high-fantasy sheen that plagues so many ArM products. Probably requires considerable work to adapt to a running saga. Magi may be very weak for their ages, depending on local power level.
• All round good as adventures go.

AG0266 The Medieval Bestiary: Revised Edition, compiled by John Kasab
FAQ Rating: ** (13 reviews; 2 *, 9 **, 2 ***, 0 ****)

• Useful, but much less interesting than it could have been.
• Lacks a bit of flavour.
• Decent resource, although it requires some thought to get into. The allegories involving animals are a good source of inspiration. Not very much use as a "monster manual", though.
• A good book to have, since every saga has animals in it somewhere.
• A complement to but not a complete substitute for the original Bestiary. Suffers from a lack of art and mystery.
• Big book of animals and monsters. Its best feature is a story-seed that comes with every critter.
• A book of beasts without illustrations, too bad.
• No illustrations, too short descriptions; as in the rulebook, each creature should be enough for one session.
• Lacks many of the things I liked about the old Bestiary.
• Biggest disappointment of a new release. The original was much better. The art was scant and awful.
• Packed statbook with better balanced beasts than most ArM products. Thin, poor art detracts from the surface polish, leaving this a plain utility book. Too bad they didn't recyle Eric Hotz's art from the earlier edition. Lacks the beast-builder system of the earlier edition.

AG0265 The Mysteries, by Adam Bank and Jeremiah Genest
FAQ Rating: **** (16 reviews; 0 *, 1 **, 4 ***, 11 ****)

• Very good: an excellent Storyguide idea resource, and a somewhat different view of the Order. I found its view of Hermetic magic slightly too rigid, however.
• This a must-have if you want an Order over 1200 members.
• Excellent stuff if you have the time and creativity to integrate it to your saga. For "experienced users," however.
• The most used book on my Ars shelf. Details magical cults and societies, including new rules, spells, virtues, critters and sample NPCs.
• Hard to get into, but once you do, hoo-boy! Expert-level Ars.
• Difficult to read and suffers greatly from the lack of an index, but nonetheless a seminal work on individualizing magi and increasing their variety. Will definitely have a fundamental impact on the evolution of the game.
• Great stuff, anchors ArM into real myth.
• The One True Way to handle magic with a medieval feeling, the core of Ars Magica.
• A classic, and should be considered essential.
• Advanced Ars Magica that broke the developing genre boundaries.
• I have to agree that this supplement is an important addition to an SG's library, especially with the anticipated wave of upcoming mystery-type magic. This sets the tone for the game's magic, which is different from every other wizardly rpg.
• Adds tons of flavor, and moves ArM from its modernist high-fantasy leanings, albeit with post-medieval magic. Plays up mystical lineages and points a way to an ArM revamp.
• Excellent. Packed full of goodness.
• Excellent concepts, but wildly unbalanced game mechanics. Would get 4 splats from me if it were a stat-free book.

AG0264 Triamore: The Covenant at Lucien's Folly, by Charles Ryan
FAQ Rating: ** (9 reviews; 0 *, 8 **, 1 ***, 0 ****)

• I really hated this at first, because of the new rules, but it grew on me. The setting material is very helpful for a saga set in the western Rhine.
• A detailed if uninteresting look at a covenant in the Western Holy Empire. New XP advancement systems and some neat spells at the back.
• Much better than Mistridge.
• Good, if bland, for new players but with a twist of "My book will rock the campaign world" that left a sort of aniseed aftertaste.
• It offers a complete setting for those unfamiliar with a covenant or medieval history.
• Solidly presented sample covenant. Not especially useful unless you want to play there, or use as a rival, but sets a possible comparitive standard. Suffers from some modern-fantasy sheen.
• Not glaringly bad, but not very interesting.

AG0263 Ordo Nobilis, by Michaël de Verteuil, Ian Hargrove and Robin Steeden
FAQ Rating: *** (10 reviews; 0 *, 0 **, 7 ***, 3 ****)

• A detailed and comprehensive look at noble society in Mythic Europe, with a rundown on each major kingdom, an optional combat system, new virtues and flaws and three small adventures.
• This is an essential "companion" book. It's long, but full of useful material. The adventures at the back are great!
• Background, rules fixing, scenarios, perfect.
• All about nobility, combat, but nothing about the Order and nobility.
• A good ressource on all things concerning nobility. Great adventures, too.
• Solid treatment of the subject, but ignores mages almost absolutely.
• Lives up to its title but doesn't offer more than any good historical/social/feudal survey. The combat patches don't save ArM4 combat.
• Great for noble characters, less useful for other characters. New armor rules, simple mass combat system, a high level of medieval flavor and detail, lots of guidance for everyday life. Very little on magic or the Order, or Order-noble relations. Would have preferred the adventure section in the back be used for something else.
• Rules useful, background useful scenarios all good.

AG0262 Heirs to Merlin: The Stonehenge Tribunal, by David Chart
FAQ Rating: *** (14 reviews; 0 *, 3 **, 7 ***, 4 ****)

• An excellent resource for anyone running a Saga in Stonehenge. My only complaint with it is that it is a bit short on mythic detail, but other than that it is quite possibly the perfect Ars Magica supplement.
• Not bad, good flavour, details are good with lots of hooks.
• Raised the standard for Tribunal books.
• Excellent sourcebook, though it has been legitimately criticized for ducking the "power level" issue by failing to provide NPC stats.
• A solid look at England and Wales. Concentrates overly on the mundane and ecclesiastical aspects and suffers in the Mythic department. No stats or kewl new powerz.
• Nice, maybe not mythic enough.
• Sorry, but I thought the lack of stats was a cop out. I've never set a saga in England, so I didn't find it very useful.
• A very good tribunal book, although the number of magi described leaves less room than I would have liked for the SG to manoeuvre. I was particularly pleased by the absence of stats.
• Well detailed, integrates the Order into the local setting. Dodges the power issue almost completely, probably the only viable solution to the power level issue.

Promises, Promises (PDF), by David Chart
FAQ Rating: *** (1 review; 0 *, 0 **, 1 ***, 0 ****)

Nigrasaxa (PDF), by David Chart
FAQ Rating: *** (1 review; 0 *, 0 **, 1 ***, 0 ****)

AG0261 Ultima Thule: Mythic Scandinavia, by Paul Williams
FAQ Rating: ** (9 reviews; 1 *, 7 **, 1 ***, 0 ****)

AG0260 The Dragon and the Bear, by Simeon Shoul
FAQ Rating: *** (13 reviews; 0 *, 4 **, 6 ***, 3 ****)

• Excellent sourcebook except for too many Mongols and grossly overpowered elder magi.
• All your Slavic needs. Greatly divides the Mythic from the mundane, but gives a good overview of Russia, the Novgorod Tribunal, new slavic hedge-magic, the Slavic Fae and the soon-to-be-arriving Mongol Hordes.
• Great Tribunal book, made me want to play in Novgorod.
• A great Tribunal Book, although I couldn't care less about *another* brand of hedge mages.
• Yet another book set in the distant wilderness, about being in the distant wilderness, but this time with a millenial theme.
• Thick and meaty, but only useful for sagas set in Russia and Poland. This is the only book whose narrative prose chapter beginnings are actual good reads.
• Seemingly very complete treatment of Russia and Slavic lands. I would like to see the Covenant sheet format used here made the standard presentation format. The Slavic magic and faerie power levels may be too high.
• Good background, interesting setting, of limited use in most games.
• Good, the shaman section is worth it, the other aspects need to looked at closely.

AG0259 The Mythic Seas, by Alan Smithee with Roderick Robertson
FAQ Rating: * (13 reviews; 9 *, 4 **, 0 ***, 0 ****)

• A missed opportunity. The subject deserved a much better treatment.
• The seas are apparently not all that Mythic. Constant first person interludes don't add much. A few interesting spells but otherwise a rather vanilla treatment.
• A decent treatment, though dull at times.
• A book set in a distant wilderness where there are no other objects.
• Not very necessary for a storyguide.
• Utilitarian and important if you're going to be spending a lot of time in and around ships. Seems to lack focus and organization, and has an unnecessary and distracting fiction element.
• If there was a lower ranking it would get it. Very bad - avoid.
• Haven't found a use for it yet.

AG0258 The Wizard's Grimoire: Revised Edition, compiled by John Kasab and David Chart
FAQ Rating: *** (14 reviews; 0 *, 4 **, 10 ***, 1 ****)

• Terrific resource, and much better balanced than the earlier edition. Faerie magic is -way- too powerful, however.
• Good, a bit dated and has a number of rules that are optional
• Very usefull for adding flavour to laboratory work. Easy to use.
• Some interesting ideas, extra spells, but on the whole a bit too eclectic and insufficiently playtested. Many if not most of the features may not appeal to most troupes.
• A broad treatment of Hermetic culture and traditions. Reprints a lot from previous books, and introduces a lot of spells and a faerie magic system that are possible game-breakers.
• Hit and miss. Parts of it are essential, others read like someone threw it in at the last minute. Test whatever you intend to use.
• Maybe not revised enough for me.
• The Mysteries is now more useful to let magi grow.
• An improvement over the old Grimoire, but still not enough.
• A flawed but necessary acquisition for most storyguides.
• I like the laboratory creation, book, and peripheral code sections. The spells scream "munchkin" and I don't like most of them.
• Much of the missing stuff from the rulebook.
• Patchy, but the good bits are very useful.

AG0257 Festival of the Damned: Anniversary Edition, by Jonathan Tweet and John Nephew
FAQ Rating: *** (9 reviews; 1 *, 1 **, 3 ***, 4 ****)

• Excellent reissue of a classic adventure.
• Two adventures revolving around a single village. Potential for a great game, also for a dull one. Demons are the main antagonist in both stories.
• Loved it. The players didn't want it to end.
• The greatest scenario I've ever GMed.
• Best. ArM. adventure. ever. Period.
• A very medieval-themed and difficult adventure.
• One of the worst adventures I've ever played. The first half is a bit over the top. The second half suffers from a lack of goals and vague clues about what's going on lead to a horrific disaster. In-your-face demons rear up late and go on an over-the-top rampage after the characters fail; requires the characters to fail for anything really interesting to happen, and by then it's too late!
• Ghoul is only OK, but Festival is terrific.

AG0256 Return of the Stormrider, by J.D. Wiker
FAQ Rating: * (5 reviews; 4 *, 1 **, 0 ***, 0 ****)

• The Ars start-up kit that returns to the classic Stormrider in 2nd or 3rd Ed. Sample characters, NPCs. Gives old-timers a chance to face off with the Stormrider again.
• Bad for newbies, bad for ArM fans... Bad!
• Read it but don't remember it. Didn't play it. I guess that speaks for itself.
• Didn't make me want to run it.

AG0255 Kabbalah: Mythic Judaism, by David Honigsberg, Adam Bank, and Jeremiah Genest
FAQ Rating: *** (12 reviews; 0 *, 2 **, 11 ***, 0 ****)

• Excellently researched, and a beautiful work. However, it very accurately reflects the fact that Judaism's prohibitions against idolatry leave virtually no room to play a devout Jew of any stripe in a standard Saga.
• An excellent treatment of Mythic Judaism, though the topic is inherently narrow. Profiled NPCs tend to be overpowered.
• An overly narrow focus for a book, it presents Jewish mysticism, history and culture, but fails to open up to any broader uses.
• Generally very good ideas, but very hard to introduce to the saga.
• Excellent!
• Very complete, but the Kabbalists aren't equal to magi with the rules, contrary to the background.
• A good and interesting treatment. Great ressource!
• A wonderful read, which I've never been able to incorporate into any of my campaigns, due to the prohibition on Jews to avoid the main PC class.
• I have read it twice and incorporated a Jewish section into one of our sagas. The players loved fighting a Golem-gone-bad who had accidentally created an Infernal regio in one of the blocks of the Jewish slums.
• Highly detailed, flavorful, chocked with medieval-setting stuff, but marginal to the setting.
• Really interesting. Only flaw is limited applicability in most games.

AG0254 A Medieval Tapestry: Personalities of Mythic Europe, by Cheryl Arbuckle, John W. Baichtal, Benedict Chapman, David Chart, Neil Laughlin, John Nephew, Tim O'Brien, Chris Pramas, Jakob Ryngen, Steve Saunders, John Snead, Jeff Tidball, and Jan Wagner.
FAQ Rating: *** (10 reviews; 0 *, 4 **, 4 ***, 2 ****)

• Some interesting snippets of varying quality.
• A big list of NPCs, with backgrounds and stats included from every concievable strata of Mythic European society. I found the archmage rather a lightweight. Didn't engender much interest. Could be useful as a list of templates.
• Nice "pick an NPC" book.
• Not only NPCs, but some background and interwoven ideas, more than what was expected.
• This offers many guides and insights into medieval characters.
• Handy for NPCs. The best bits are the sidebar articles. With so many authors, the presentation comes off unevenly.
• You are bound to find some useful parts.

AG0253 The Fallen Angel, by James P. Buchanan
FAQ Rating: ** (11 reviews; 5 *, 5 **, 1 ***, 0 ****)

• Somewhere inside this incredibly bad railroad trip of an adventure is a really good story idea struggling to get out. I haven't found it yet, though.
• A powerful demon arrives in Ireland and the PCs are the only people who can stop him.
• A bad linear paint-by-numbers adventure, not quite the worst ever published for Ars Magica.
• Linear scenario, treasure is too big.
• It seemed thorough enough, but I didn't find it exciting enough to play.
• Overly linear, with a couple of severely high-fantasy concepts, but salvageable with some work. Includes adaptation notes to several other periods.
• OK. Didn't inspire.
• The appendix is thick with stats for a variety of men-at-arms, the usual "heavies" my group runs up against. I find it in my pile of books game after game after game.
• Not bad, not good, lots of cultural errors the whole basis of the plot is a little too Demonic, and a little laughable.

AG0252 Hedge Magic, by Aaron Link and John Snead
FAQ Rating: *** (14 reviews; 0 *, 7 **, 5 ***, 2 ****)

• Much space wasted by indifferent fiction. Could have benefited from profiling more hedge traditions, even if only to consolidate others scattered throughout the canon. An opportunity to flesh out some of the traditions of House ex Miscellenea was also missed. Nonetheless a seminal work.
• Half the book is spent on fiction which I didn't read. The other half has new hedge-magic systems which were not adequately detailed but are still of use. Includes new animals and other assorted goodies.
• Some mechanics broken, but nice overall.
• Rules are ok, but some background should have been better.
• Not that exciting. Why exactly is this considered a "core" supplement?
• Very useful, but let down by the Summoner tradition which does not work and has been superceded, and the lengthy bit of fiction at the beginning that lacks any direct use.
• This, too, helped define the idea of a medieval wizard - albeit hedge wizard - for my troupe. This is just as important for those outside the order as The Mysteries is for those inside.
• Great for hedge magic; some balance issues crop up. The fiction could have been exercised entirely and the space used to put more game in the game. Sets a higher power bar for magi of the Order, if they're more powerful than hedgies.
• Has some oddities, but overall quite useful.
• Very good, nice ideas for lesser magi.
• Very good for adding flavour to NPCs. Still have to decide wether Ascetism is too overpowered for companions or not.

AG0251 Parma Fabula: The Ars Magica Storyguide Screen, by John W. Baichtal, David Chart, Peter Hentges, John Nephew, Robin Steeden, Jeff Tidball, and Ian Welsh
FAQ Rating: ** (7 reviews; 0 *, 5 **, 2 ***, 0 ****)

• A lot of this should have been in the core book. The screen is strong enough not to bend like a rag, and most of the info in the booklet is guaranteed to be of use for someone.
• I like screens, and as screens go, this one isn't half bad.
• A late addition to my collection and a good one. The constructed library alone was worth the cost. However, I never used, nor will use the shield.
• The screen is durable, with utilitarian tables at hand (unlike the previous screen). The insert contains an uneven hodge-podge of rules and items, with terrible Scotillo art.
• It's a screen. The added stuff is mildly useful.

AG0204 Ars Magica Fourth Edition, by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein*Hagen, and Bill Brickman, Bob Brynildson, David Chart, Nicole Lindroos Frein, Geoffrey Grabowski, Peter Hentges, Lydia Leong, Marc Philipp Messner, John Nephew, Chris Pramas, Wade Racine, Roderick Robertson, John Snead, Jeremy Strandberg, Jeff Tidball, and Robbie Westmoreland
AG0204 Ars Magica Fourth Edition (Second printing, with error corrections)
AG0204HC Ars Magica Fourth Edition (Second printing, hardback)
FAQ Rating: **** (14 reviews; 0 *, 1 **, 7 ***, 6 ****)

• A revision of the most amazingly detailed magic system for any RPG, ArM4 would be the perfect medieval fantasy RPG if not for the combat system and the dearth of information the Houses. Apart from that, everything you need to play is included here.
• Introduces many insufficiently playtested features, some of which fall flat. Has unfortunately dropped much of the flavour text from previous editions often leaving raw game mechanics to bear the load of creating colour and context, a task which is often beyond them. Nonetheless a significant improvement over earlier excellent editions of an excellent game.
• Less background and more rules than 3rd edition.
• Much better than 3rd. Ed. I own two copies. 'nuff said.
• Necessary, of course, but neither beautiful or particularly functional.
• Well done and the core book. Combat "updates" are bad, and the art is inappropriate for a medieval rpg.
• Better update of the rules; too many issues to cover in a short review.
• Good overall, lacks flavour of 3rd Edition, but rules are easier to follow in parts.
• Very good overall. Possible improvements: combat system (it's way too complex for such a poor result) and characteristics (there are too many).