World of Darkness

2014-01-30T18:40:18Z

24.130.70.182: /* Relationship of World of Darkness to Ars Magica */ Added historical info RE: LR/WW merger & V:tM, also Mark RH & JoT.

The '''World of Darkness''' is a popular game line and game setting published by [[White Wolf|White Wolf Game Studio]]. The World of Darkness line includes such games as ''Vampire: The Requiem'' (formerly ''Vampire: The Masquerade'') and ''Mage: The Awakening'' (formerly ''Mage: The Ascension'').

== Relationship of World of Darkness to Ars Magica ==
Ars Magica is not related to the World of Darkness. IT'S NOT! NOTNOTNOT!!!

Seriously, though, at one time things were heading toward some kind of connection between the two settings. Back when [[White Wolf]] briefly owned Ars Magica, they seemed to be working toward the idea that the World of Darkness grew out of [[Mythic Europe]]. This appears to be the meta-game reason for such [[Third Edition]] features as "[[True Reason]]" and the [[vampire]]s in [[House Tremere]]; note also the inclusion of an [[Order of Hermes]] in the World of Darkness game ''Mage: the Ascension'' (now ''Mage: the Awakening''). It is worth noting that the seminal World of Darkness game, '''Vampire:the Masquerade''', was largely the brainchild of Mark Rein-Hagen, who, with Jonathan Tweet, co-founded [[Lion Rampant]] and was part of the original team creating Ars Magica. When Lion Rampant merged with White Wolf, Ars Magica came along for the ride.

That was a long time ago. [[Atlas Games]] now owns Ars Magica, and Atlas has nothing to do with the World of Darkness. White Wolf wrote their own medieval-themed World of Darkness "prequel" setting, so there is no need for Mythic Europe to fill that role. The [[Fourth Edition]] of Ars Magica eliminated [[True Reason]], and the Fifth Edition removed vampires from House Tremere.

You can still portray Mythic Europe as eventually turning into the World of Darkness if you want to, but there is no longer anything in the official Ars Magica books suggesting that it will (or won't).

== External Links ==
;[http://www.white-wolf.com/classic-world-of-darkness (Old) World of Darkness home page]: Official Old World of Darkness page at the [[White Wolf]] Web site. The "Old" world is more connected to Ars Magica than the "New" world.
;[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Darkness Wikipedia article on the World of Darkness]:

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Meta Topics]]

Canon

2014-01-30T18:24:51Z

24.130.70.182: /* Canon and Game Editions */ Called out ArM3 differences, as glossing ArM2 through ArM4 as "mostly self-consistent" seems misleading...

The '''canon''' of Ars Magica refers to the official rules and setting of the game, as presented in the [[Ars Magica]] [[Products|product line]]. This is in contrast to unofficial fan fiction, [[House Rule]]s, and the like.

== Importance of Canon ==

Canon is only as important as you want it to be. It's common and acceptable, even encouraged, for [[Troupe | troupes]] to change the canonical setting a little to suit their own tastes. [[Robbies Mantra|Robbie's Mantra]] takes precedence over canon.

The [[fan community]] often talks about canon simply because it forms a common point of reference for everyone's game. Because the canon is by definition the collection of what's published and "official," everyone more or less understands what it is, so it helps players talk about the game.

== Canon and Game Editions ==

The canon of Ars Magica has evolved over time; every new product published adds to it. For example, when [[First Edition]] came out, the [[Houses of Hermes]] hadn't been written into the game. They became part of the canon in [[Revised Edition]] when the supplement, ''[[Order of Hermes (book)| Order of Hermes]]'' was published.

When [[ArM5]] was released, [[Atlas Games]] started over in defining the canon. Sourcebooks from past editions are no longer canonical in Fifth Edition. They are still perfectly usable in play, but there is a chance that some current or future [[ArM5]] product will contradict them.

The correspondence of canon to game editions works something like this:

:[[ArM1]]: There were not a lot of supplements for First Edition, so canon wasn't really well established yet.
:[[ArM2]] through [[ArM4]]: These shared a contiguous canon that was mostly self-consistent, though it got very complicated over dozens of supplements. [[ArM3]] in particular (published by White Wolf) made several notable changes, apparently planning to make Ars Magica the official "prequel" game & setting for Mage & their [[World of Darkness]].
:[[ArM5]]: [[Atlas Games]] started over, though a lot of the canon from past editions was quickly re-adopted, sometimes with changes. The major elements of the [[Order of Hermes]], Hermetic history, and [[Mythic Europe]] are unchanged, but noticeable details have been altered. For example, the portrayal of [[House Tremere]] and [[House Flambeau]] have changed quite a bit, and Fifth Edition contains no reference to the covenant of [[Doissetep]].

== About the Term ==

The word "canon" literally means "the body of ecclesiastical law" -- note that it is spelled differently from "cannon," a large gunpowder weapon. Taken figuratively, "canon" refers to a body of material that is accepted and sanctioned by some recognized authority. In the case of Ars Magica, the authority is [[Atlas Games]].

== Related Topics ==

* A non-canonical rule that players devise for their own games is called a [[House Rule]].
* The acronym [[RAW]] ("rules as written") is sometimes used to refer specifically to the official [[game mechanics]].
* Games set in non-canonical world are listed under [[Alternate Settings]]

== Related Sites ==

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_%28fiction%29 Wikipedia: Canon (Fiction)]
=== Legacy Page ===
The history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at [[Legacy:canon]]

[[Category:Meta Topics]]

Project: Redcap - User contributions [en]

World of Darkness

Canon