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Project: Redcap; the crossroads of the Order

Grogs Chapter Three: Grogs Alone

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Chapter 3: Grogs Alone

Troupe styles vary greatly. Some may use grogs purely as supporting cast, and focus the action only on the magi and companions. Other sagas detail the background and life of each grog in detail, and their personalities are as complex as those of any other character. Most troupes tend to fall somewhere between these two extremes. Whatever the style of play, stories that only involve grog characters can be very rewarding.

This chapter is all about grog-only stories. First, it presents some ideas for why grog-only stories might be desirable, with some story seeds illustrating this type of adventure. Next, it discusses the planning of grog stories, with some typical genres that one might employ, and some consideration of important elements of such stories — why the magi are not around, designing your antagonist for non-magical opponents, and so forth. Finally, it describes some saga concepts that involve only grog characters.

Themes for Grog Stories

This section describes some themes that illustrate why you might want to run some all-grog stories rather than more standard stories for Ars Magica Fifth Edition involving magi and companions. These stories can be woven into a normal saga, or played out as part of a grog-only saga.

Switching Storyguides

Grog stories are perfect opportunities to introduce guest storyguides, or give a beta storyguide a turn in the chair (ArM5, page 220). Since grog adventures by their very nature do not involve magi, they cannot usually interfere with the alpha storyguide's plots or make major alterations to the covenant. In the case of a beta storyguide, grog stories could form a series of interconnected stories running parallel to the alpha storyguide's schemes.

Showcasing

Grog stories are an excellent way to introduce features of medieval life to a troupe. When magi are involved, they often concentrate on where the action is. They are important people, after all, and have little time to get involved in the minutiae of peasant life. In any case, there are many demands on the time of the magus: he must prepare a case for the next tribunal; attend a meeting of the covenant's council, where the business of the count will be debated; review the work that the illuminator did on his new summa; and that fool apprentice cannot be relied upon to keep the contents of the copper cauldron on a rolling boil …

In grog-only adventures, the story can be taken at a more leisurely pace. A grog might actually be interested in judging the prize cow at the county fair, acting as a juror (or witness) at a local trial, or attending the May Day celebrations at his home village. When a storyguide has been doing some research into a facet of the day-to-day life of the Middle Ages and wants to share it with the troupe, a grog adventure is a great way of doing this.

Story Seeds: Showcasing

Innocent or Guilty?

A grog is accused of a crime by a freeman. He could be innocent but framed, or he could be inadvertently guilty — while soldiers might not think twice about killing those who molest their masters, this is still a crime. The grog is ordered to attend court to answer for his crimes, and should probably consult a lawyer. He must then cope with the intricacies of Mythic Europe's legal system, which is often less about proving guilt or innocence, and more about testing the justice of a law. Depending on the saga's location and the nature of the crime, trial by ordeal might be ordered.

A Noble Hunt

A noble friend of the magi invites them on a hunt, and they bring their grogs along for the event. Hunting in Mythic Europe is a popular pastime filled with ritual and tradition. Hunts are organized by the nobility, but the common man takes part, as trackers, huntsmen, and so forth. Of course, when the hounds pick up the scent of the Great White Stag, the hunt can become a lot more interesting …

Routine Duties

Many standard stories in Ars Magica Fifth Edition involve the magi discovering a new vis source, making alliances with supernatural entities, and so forth. However, once the initial adventure has been had, the process of harvesting the vis source, or exchanging favors with the dragon, or whatever, tends to fade into the mundane routine of the covenant. It falls to the grogs to fulfill these duties. Occasionally it is worth reminding the players what is involved in such "routine duties" by staging a grog adventure. Naturally, the object of the story is the duty itself, but this time out the mission does not go smoothly, and the grogs are forced to adapt to the changing circumstances.

Story Seeds: Routine Duties

Lost Sheep

The grogs sent to gather vis are confronted by a horde of angry peasants. It seems that the last couple of times that the grogs have passed this way, sheep have gone missing immediately after; this time the villagers have been expecting the strangers, and have lain in wait for them. It seems that, on each visit to the vis source, the grogs disturb some sort of supernatural creature, which goes on a rampage right after they have left the region.

Stolen Vis

The grogs have traveled a great distance to gather the vis from a distant source, only to discover that it has already been harvested. There are signs that the perpetrators of the theft might still be in the area, so the loyal grogs are tempted to investigate rather than return empty handed.

Plot Staging, Development, and Exposition

Related to the previous two concepts, a grog story is a good way to feed information to the players in a subtle manner. Rather than tell them that they hear rumors of a bandit group in the region, the storyguide can have the grogs encounter them on the way back from a routine duty. The leader of these bandits may prove to be significant in a later story, but the grogs already have a past history with some of the bandits, which enriches the experience for all.

In addition to using grogs to set up a future story, they can also be used to advance a current plot. If the magi need some research done, they need not do it themselves — send out the grogs to canvass the town for rumors, or search the library for clues. Any time that the magi entrust a task to their subordinates, making this into a story has greater potential than simply reporting back the information that is learned. The characters learn the information, but also get an appreciation of what is needed to gain that information.

Story Seeds: Staging

Flashback

The magi have been plagued by a major foe, such as a dragon, and after several incidents decide to do something about it. They need to know where the dragon lives, which might occasion an (Area) Lore roll from one of the grogs who grew up in the region. Instead of simply telling the players that information, the storyguide instead runs a short "flashback" story to a time before the grog joined the covenant. He was exploring the woods with some of his boyhood friends (some of the other grogs) when one of them fell into a sinkhole. It becomes clear over the course of this story that this was the entrance to the dragon's lair, although the grogs saw no evidence of the beast at the time. Not only do the magi get the information they need, but they can also plan their approach using the grogs' personal experience of the region. The grogs may have even accidentally discovered the dragon's weakness, although they didn't recognize it as such at the time.

Foreshadowing

The grogs are tasked with finding someone in the local town who can make gold jewelry. While they search for such an individual, they come across an old woman who is worried because her grandson has gone missing. This event is entirely tangential to finding a goldsmith, but the grandson is an important seed for a later story; by introducing him to the characters now, they are more likely to get involved in the later story.

Light Relief

After several sessions of intense action, a grog adventure that bears no relation to the current story can provide valuable light relief for a troupe. In such stories, the players need not usually worry about the politics of the Order, the correct magical approach, or even (in some cases) the consequences of their actions.

Light relief stories need not be comical, but comedy can play an important role in a saga. Those players who don't want to trivialize their magus or companion can have great fun using their grog in a humorous encounter with Freddie the Fart Faerie. Be aware that this might not be to everyone's tastes, however! The important feature of a light relief story is not cheap laughs, but a lack of consequences. Light relief should not be part of a continuing story, or deliver important information to the characters, but instead should be self-contained.

Story Seeds: Light Relief

A Faerie Trick

A faerie decides to play a trick on a village, and everyone wakes up one morning looking like Simon the Basket-Weaver. While they struggle with the confusion this brings, several enterprising villagers decide to perform petty acts of mischief and revenge on one another, since this is a day without consequence — no one can be sure who did what. The grogs might be passing through and be affected by the curse, or they might be left to try to disentangle who is responsible for stealing their goods.

Overindulgence

The grogs attend a May Day celebration at the local village, which involves a great deal of food and drink. When they wake up, they are stranded far from the village, and someone has stolen their clothes. They must find their way back to the covenant, and avoid being seen by the village priest who is calling everyone to church.

History Intervenes

Bound as they are by the Code of Hermes, magi remain passive observers to most events of mundane history. However, such events need not go unremarked in a saga. Grog adventures can provide a historical backdrop, and allow players to experience history directly. Perhaps grogs are concerned about rescuing their families from the path of an advancing army. Maybe they are in a city on a routine mission when a food riot starts. For a more hands-on approach, grogs could make — or even alter — history. Many historical figures die in mishaps, riots, or mysterious circumstances, and an inventive storyguide can find a way to involve the grogs. Still more notables escape death through the deft work of a physician, through sheer luck, or through the beneficence of strangers; once again, grogs could play a role here without implicating the covenant through their actions.

If you permit your players close proximity with real history, you must be prepared for things to not go the way you anticipate. You should come to a decision whether you want the player characters to be able to make major changes to history, and whether the significant events of Mythic Europe need to match those of the real world. Some troupes are comfortable with the fact that, while the history of Mythic Europe has paralleled that of historical Europe at least as far as the 13th century, it may not necessarily continue in that vein. Other troupes prefer to retain history as a backdrop rather than a story element. Make sure you know where your players' opinions lie before messing with the river of time. In any case, allowing grog stories to intersect with history will probably result in less disruption than stories involving magi, so grog-only stories may be the safest kind.

Story Seeds: History

Long Live the King?

In 1223, King Louis VIII is crowned King of France. He had formerly been crowned King of England after he invaded on the death of King John; after eighteen months of fighting he was driven out, and the Treaty of Lambeth forced him to agree that he was never a legitimate king of England. Understandably, Louis VIII was unpopular in English circles, and throughout his reign he harassed Angevin territories in France, fought with the Count of Champagne, arranged the excommunication of the Count of Toulouse and declared a crusade against the southern barons. He dies in 1226, apparently of dysentery. There is a lot of potential to get grogs bound up in the short reign of this king. If the covenant is pro-French then they might receive word of plots against the crown. An anti-French covenant might be conspirators in (or instigators of) these plots. All this could occur without the knowledge of the magi.

The Fifth Crusade

The Fifth Crusade is in full swing in 1220. As an opening to a saga, this Crusade presents a dramatic backdrop to life as a grog. The two-year siege of Damietta has just ended, and the crusaders are now fighting over secular and religious authority in the port. Francis of Assisi arrived late last year, and has been preaching to the sultan; it is thought that he is now visiting Palestine but his whereabouts are unknown. The Crusade is about to march on Cairo. The players could begin with grog characters who are men-at-arms in the crusading force. They could meet up with the magi after a few battles; perhaps they are trying to smuggle ancient artifacts from the Egyptian tombs before the crusaders arrive, or maybe the magi are providing support to the crusaders.

Epic Battles

The Order of Hermes is specifically forbidden from interfering with the affairs of mundanes. Nevertheless, a covenant can easily find itself caught up in local politics; Mythic Europe in the 13th century is a time of political upheaval, and military clashes between neighboring powers are frequent (if not actually common). Furthermore, most covenants have a force of fighting men, which has probably come to the notice of the local nobility, who prefer to maintain a monopoly over professional soldiers.

Even if a covenant avoids being caught up in wars among mundanes, they may still find themselves involved in mass warfare, with themselves as either the victim or the aggressor. Once the magi have prepared the ground, using their magic to fortify their men, spy on the enemy, and snipe at the opposing forces, most of the hard work is still done with sword and shield. Magi can have a quite limited role to play once battle is joined, and the larger the force, the less impact they have.

A grog story revolving around the covenant's actions in a battle is a good way of summarizing the course of the war as a whole. The role of grogs in these stories should be limited to small-scale vignettes that highlight the specifics of the battle, and perhaps can change its course; Lords of Men devotes a chapter to the involvement of player characters in mass warfare, by focusing on the actions of small squads of men as microcosms of the day's fighting.

Personal Stories

Last but not least, grog stories can feature the achievement of an individual's or group's personal goals. This can be as prosaic as detailing a grog's courtship of his true love, or as melodramatic as a quest by a blood brotherhood to exact revenge on the monster that slew their beloved leader. Personal stories occasionally result in changes to the character, in the form of transformation (see Chapter 5), but this should always be the focus of the story, rather than incidental.

Story Seeds: Epic Battles

In the early 13th century, there is much to be had in the way of epic battles. In addition to the Fifth Crusade, there is the Livonian Crusade against the Baltic states, and the Albigensian Crusade against the Provençal barons. The reconquista is ongoing on the Spanish peninsula, and there is still an Arabic state in Sicily. As well as these large-scale wars, there are numerous smaller conflicts between kings and their vassals.

Planning Grog Stories

In some cases, a grog story can afford to be simpler in structure than a story involving magi. The sheer versatility of a Hermetic magus, and the inventive uses to which magic can be put can occasionally leave a storyguide stumped as to how to pitch a challenge correctly. However, things are much more straightforward with a group of grogs, who have a much more predictable skill set. This need not make the stories any less exciting, though. This section offers some general advice for planning grog stories once the theme has been chosen. Picking a genre is often a good start. Where is the focus of the story? Are the grogs solving mysteries, or fighting their way out of trouble? This section goes on to discuss the simple structure of a story, and the elements that should be considered at each stage. Realms of Power: Faerie has a whole chapter devoted to the telling of faerie stories, and it is full of good advice for constructing folkloric tales in general, in addition to stories that specifically feature faeries.

Story Seeds: Personal Stories

A Fallen Comrade

The turb of grogs is determined to retrieve the body of a comrade slain on a distant task; because of the constraints of the mission, they were forced to bury him far from home. They have sought and received permission from the magi, and set out. After overcoming various obstacles to get to the burial site, they discover that the makeshift grave is empty, so they must seek out the graverobbers. On the way home, they could easily slip on to a faerie trod (Realms of Power: Faerie, page 17), since these are commonly roads of the dead.

Claim Jumpers

A grog's father arrives at the covenant and asks for help. His father is a freeman who has a farm some villages over, but has been driven from his holding by an aggressive family that seems to have a legitimate deed over the land. The reeve refuses to get involved; as far as he's concerned, as long as the rent is paid, he has little interest in who pays it. The grog character must restore ownership and occupation of his family farm, but first has to prove that the interlopers have no right — and expose the reeve as being in their pocket.

Story Genres

There are seven genres that lend themselves well to grog stories: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Creature Feature, Drama, Exploration, Horror, and Mystery. However, one should note that these broad genres are not mutually exclusive, and a story can always switch genres midway through to help keep the players on their toes.

Action/Adventure

This is the type of story with which most grogs feel at home. Action/Adventures usually feature combat quite heavily, but this should not be all they contain. Chases, physical challenges, and a well-chosen "bad guy" who employs unusual tactics all add to the fun. Stories based around disasters can also make good grog stories. Action stories are usually heavy on the doing and light on the thinking; don't get too bound up in complex plots.

Examples include:

  • A bandit moves into an area near the family of one of the grogs. He is holding the children hostage to ensure the villagers' compliance, and to make them steal from their neighbors to line his pockets.
  • Grogs track down a villainous lord who tortured and killed their captain in a previous story. The magi were unable to punish him because of the Code, but they might provide surreptitious help to the vengeful grogs.
  • A fire in a town spreads quickly. The grogs must do their best to preserve their favorite establishments, and help those trapped in burning houses. But who started the fire, and how?

Comedy

Comedy has an incidental role in many stories, but it can also be an intentional element. Humor can be very individual and idiosyncratic, and a storyguide has a duty toward his players to pitch a comedic story appropriately so that it is enjoyed equally by the players and the storyguide. Not everyone appreciates the sophomoric character of slapstick or toilet humor, whereas others have difficulty with subtly crafted irony.

Not all stories of the Comedy genre need to be Light Relief. Comedy can highlight odd medieval customs, deal with plot development, or cover personal developments in the lives of grogs, just as straight stories can. Furthermore, comedy can be dark as well as light, and stories of this genre can have serious or even fatal consequences.

Don't be tempted to use faeries simply because you are planning a comedy story. This has been an overused trope in previous editions of Ars Magica, but the current edition has redefined the nature of faerie, and whimsy is less of a feature of these creatures now. Nevertheless, there are faeries who derive vitality from human laughter, although the faerie itself is never laughing with the characters — it is laughing at them, or it is being laughed at by them.

Examples include:

  • The grogs are asked by a friend to help him woo his lady love. He has an over-elaborate plan to elevate himself above his rivals for her affections. The lady herself is selfish with an overbearing and disapproving mother, and her sister — a better match for the besotted grog — is deeply and hopelessly in love with him. Add the jealous suitors into the mix, and you have all the elements of a classic farce.
  • Many parts of Mythic Europe have a tradition similar to the French poisson d'avril (literally, "April fish,"). An individual is chosen by lot — the methods vary by locale and class — and that person becomes the de facto ruler for a time. All men must obey the poisson's dictates, no matter how silly. The poisson may rule for a single day, or for longer (such as the 12 nights between Christmas and Epiphany). A child — or worse, a faerie — elected poisson can wreak havoc, and the characters might be in charge of damage limitation, or else caught up in the caprices of the "king for a day."
  • A group of grogs are transformed into animals through an unknown agency, and they must make their way back to the covenant to have the enchantment undone. On the way, they experience the communities and social structures of other animals, and come to realize that they are a parody of human society as a whole.

Creature Feature

Usually a subgenre of Action/Adventure, this type of story focuses on a specific opponent. The set-up of the story is usually specifically geared to give the antagonist the most advantages possible.

Examples include:

  • A basilisk has taken up residence right on top of one of the covenant's vis sources. This horrible creature can only be defeated by an Eagle of Virtue — but the grogs must convince the noble bird to nullify the basilisk's deadly power so that they can defeat it on more equal terms.
  • A werewolf is terrorizing a village. Everyone suspects the reclusive woodsman, but the grogs can provide him with a perfect alibi. The lycanthrope must instead be one of the villagers, and the characters have to trick him into revealing himself before he kills them all.
  • A hedge witch has taken a particular dislike to one of the grogs — for real or imagined reasons. Whenever he leaves the covenant he risks being harried by her, so he decides to drum up a few friends and sort her out. However, she is well-protected. She uses the local animals as her eyes and ears, and has trapped the land around her home with mundane and magical traps. She may have ensorcelled one or more warriors to act as a bodyguard, or have more overtly supernatural assistance.

Drama

Situations fraught with tension rather than action are the hallmark of a good dramatic story, and the cut-and-thrust of politics can be every bit as exciting as battle for the right grog. Drama-based stories usually need a good plot to hold them together, since the players don't have so many combats to distract them.

Examples include:

  • A wedding attended by the grogs is crashed by a band of courtly faeries. The grogs must negotiate their way through the obscure rules of etiquette to find out why these faeries believe they have a claim on the bridegroom.
  • A war has destroyed many families in the local area, and the grogs are approached to help bring some of the refugees to safety. What the grogs may not know when they agree is that the refugees are Jews (or another denigrated minority), leaving the grogs to struggle with their own prejudices, as well as those of the world around them.
  • A grog meets and falls in love with an unattainable individual. Perhaps she is the daughter of a nobleman, and he just a stable boy. Or maybe he is a magus, and she is a soldier. The grog must contend with the possibility that his beloved has ulterior motives for returning his affections. This drama could span several months or years until the two finally resolve their star-crossed love.

Exploration

These stories feature new experiences or take place in exotic locales, and may be combined with action or with drama.

Examples include:

  • A grog was forced to leave his father's sword in the body of a faerie on a recent adventure; he wants it back. However, the faerie has become something else now and the sword has become integral to that change. The grog and his comrades must succeed in the challenges posed by the faerie to regain the sword.
  • The grogs are shipwrecked on a mysterious island, and the magi are nowhere to be found. The secret to escaping from this regio must be somewhere on the island, but can they find it alone?
  • The grogs are required to deliver a magical item to the king of the monkeys. When they step across the borders of his land, they find themselves transformed into monkeys themselves. To complete their mission, they must foil a plot of the monkeys' enemies, the serpent people.

Horror

Ars Magica Fifth Edition is a good setting for horror stories. Mythic Europe is rich in suitable opponents — ghosts, demons, werewolves, vampires — and abounds with suitably creepy locations, such as haunted forests, abandoned castles, and fog-shrouded moors. In addition to maintaining the atmosphere, the storyguide should build tension through inconclusive encounters until the final confrontation. Horror stories make extensive use of Personality Traits (particularly the Brave Trait), and madness can be represented by the temporary imposition of Personality Traits at high values that govern the character's reactions to certain stimuli. Stories that are all about fighting a monster rather than running from it are creature features, rather than horror.

Examples include:

  • An abandoned farmhouse has been occupied by a particularly unpleasant faerie. It has become a test of manhood to spend a night in the farmhouse and return with an item from inside to prove it.
  • The grogs are at the covenant, but virtually everyone else is absent, including the magi. Strange things start to happen, including disappearances or even deaths. It soon becomes apparent that a demon is loose in the covenant. But how did it get through the Aegis of the Hearth?
  • The grogs are hunting (perhaps illegally), but they slowly realize that instead they are the ones being hunted. They never see their pursuer clearly, but are herded toward the creature's lair where it is best able to dispatch them — or so it hopes.

Mystery

Mystery adventures rely less on combat and more on quick-wittedness and sharp eyes. These stories can be more fun without magi, who can often easily solve mysteries with magic. Be careful not to allow a mystery adventure to devolve into a set of Perception + Awareness rolls to spot clues.

Examples include:

  • A disease is afflicting the grogs, but it has no apparent cause and the physicians are baffled. Clues point toward a grog who died recently, but why would he have had a grudge against the covenant ?- The oblates at a local monastery are going missing. They've been trying to cover it up, but eventually a boy connected to one of the covenfolk becomes a victim. Where are they going, and is the monastery involved?
  • The agent of the covenant's merchant contact is found hanged in a warehouse. He is discovered to have been involved in the sale of stolen relics. But who murdered him — the thieves, a rival, or a disgruntled buyer?

Sources of Inspiration

A storyguide should not be frightened of borrowing from modern films and TV series to construct stories. Such sources are usually pretty good for grog stories, since their protagonists do not rely on magic to get them out of a hole either (although sufficiently-advanced technology can substitute indistinguishably for magic). Inspiration can derive from all sorts of shows and films. Just make sure that your players are not too familiar with your sources, or they might spot the plot even after you have reframed it in a Mythic European setting!

The Beginning

The beginning of any grog story lacks a key ingredient that many stories for Ars Magica Fifth Edition have: a Story Flaw. The storyguide can usually be sure that a certain set of companion or magi characters will take part in any given adventure because it plays on one of their Story Flaws. Since grogs cannot have Story Flaws, the storyguide must use other methods for getting the characters involved in the stories.

The most common method is simply handing down orders to the grogs. They are, after all, the employees of a covenant, which they rely on for wages, homes, and food. However, it soon becomes a clichéd way to start an adventure. Here are a few alternate ideas. Furthermore, some of the story themes mentioned earlier lend themselves to particular story seeds, as the characters react to events imposed upon them.

Examples include:

  • A mysterious lady dressed all in green asks the grogs for help.
  • A character known to one of the grogs calls in a favor he is owed.
  • The grog characters are ambushed on their way to a nearby town.
  • The grog characters are tricked into getting involved by a cunning priest.

Where Are the Magi?

An important question to ask when planning a grog adventure is why the magi or companions aren't getting involved. Some types of story are of more intrinsic interest to magi, or involve the Story Flaws of the "main cast," but conventional stories in Ars Magica Fifth Edition are not intended to feature grogs exclusively. The storyguide sometimes needs to provide some pretext as to why the magi and companions are unavailable for these stories.

Examples include:

  • The magi are absent from the covenant: perhaps they are at tribunal, or visiting an ally, or fighting a dragon with the rest of the turb.
  • The magi are at the covenant, but unable or unwilling to be distracted. The grog story might be related to the circumstance that prevents the magi from taking part. For example, the casting of the Aegis of the Hearth leaves a window every year in which all the magi are occupied for an hour or two.
  • The grogs are accompanying one or more of the covenant's apprentices on their first adventure beyond the covenant gates.
  • The story initially presents itself as business normally assigned to grogs, such as vis collection.
  • The story is the personal business of one or more grogs.
  • The grogs specifically want to exclude the magi, knowing that they won't approve or consent to the story. This could be a minor act of rebellion (visiting a bordello) or a major one (disobeying orders not to return for the dragon's treasure).
  • The grogs are given the assignment by the magi. Perhaps the journey is too long for them to bother with, or too boring (apparently) to pique their interest.
  • Sometimes the magi choose not to come along when they really should have. On occasion, a storyguide presents a story seed too subtly for his players, and they assign a group of grogs to check out the issue. This might end in tragedy for the grogs if they are outmatched against a supernatural opponent.
  • The grogs could be traitors to the covenant, and actually working against it. This works best with grogs who have not yet been played — they were always traitors, but only now has the opportunity for treachery presented itself. However, known grogs could be enchanted by hostile powers to betray their masters.
  • The magi accompany the grogs, but are separated from them in the early phase of the story. The grogs might be sent away by the magi — to get help, to explore, and so forth — or the separation might be due to misadventure.
  • The magi cannot get involved because of the dictates of the Code of Hermes. By sending grogs with no magical aid, they hope to bypass the tribunal's wrath.

The Middle

The middle of any story should have a gradual increase in tension or action, or both, as the characters build toward the climax that happens in the finale. The three basic ways of building tension in the middle phase of a story are antagonists, clues, and obstacles.

Antagonists

Most stories have an antagonist, which may be an event, a person or creature, or a place. It is the source of most of the significant obstacles that the grogs will face, and many stories revolve around overcoming or defeating the antagonist. This need not be the case for all stories: the antagonist might be so vast that it must simply be weathered rather than defeated, or so powerful that it is not possible for the grogs to defeat it.

Events as antagonists usually fall into the "undefeatable" category. A plague or an outbreak of war could be an antagonist, as could a natural disaster such as an avalanche or forest fire. In such cases, merely surviving might be enough to satisfy the goals of the story, but minimizing the loss of life or rescuing valuable artifacts could be the source of drama instead.

Antagonists that are personified in an individual are more familiar to most troupes. Stories designed for servants and specialists rather than soldiers often have antagonists who attempt to outwit, outmaneuver, or escape the characters while simultaneously pursuing their nefarious schemes.

Physical threats are not generally an issue in a grog adventure; fighting is what most grogs have been trained for, and even if the magi had been present, they would not be involved in this part of the story anyhow. On the other hand, even weak supernatural creatures can pose a major threat. Grogs have no Magic Resistance at all, and are almost certain to fall under the influence of any powers or spells that are thrown against them. For instance, take the Terrifying Howl power of the Magical Wolf (ArM5, page 193). This power has a Penetration Total of zero, meaning that magi are only affected in very unusual circumstances. However, few grogs are going to be able to achieve the Brave roll of Ease Factor 12 to throw off its effects, and only a quarter of even the bravest grogs in the band are likely to stay and fight if the power is brought to bear. This makes creatures like the magical wolf a very different challenge to an all-grog group. When grogs enter into fights, a trained group can be devastatingly effective against even a tough foe, and they should not be given the opportunity to kill the antagonist before the finale. Instead, a clever antagonist sends minions against a well-armed group, to wear them down and make them less of an opponent when the showdown inevitably occurs.

Locations can also be antagonists, if they are the source of the character's obstacles. A challenging environment such as a desert or an ice floe can be as deadly as a dragon even for hardy adventurer-types. Alternatively finding a long-lost Roman fort, or the location of a mythical island, can provide challenges for all sorts of grog characters.

Clues

With all-grog groups, there is no need to worry about magi plucking answers from another's mind, or bringing other varieties of "plot-solving" magics to bear. Instead, a grog group is going to be far more reliant on their Characteristics and Abilities to pick up on clues, and this stresses the importance of a varied group of characters for grog-only adventures (see "Picking Your Team," Chapter 4).

A good piece of advice that applies particularly to mystery stories, but also to stories in general — make sure that there are at least three ways in which the characters can obtain any vital piece of information. It is too easy to stump players if they miss a clue, and with two back-ups, the chances are good that they will not miss it altogether. Make sure there are plenty of different ways of getting the information. It is too easy to allow Awareness to become a "Find Clue" Ability. Perception can be combined with other Abilities equally easily: with Folk Ken to spot lies; with Living Language to pick up the traces of an odd accent; and with Ride to spot which horse has been lathered from a long ride. Information can be gained directly from storyguide characters by using various Social Abilities, from the character's own learning, or from hunches supplied by Supernatural Abilities such as Premonitions.

Obstacles

Clues advance a plot, whereas obstacles hinder it. This catch-all category consists of all the barriers that the characters must overcome. These might be literal obstacles in the form of a mountain to be scaled, a river to be crossed, or a fortress to be breached, or metaphorical barriers such as earning the trust of the village, or finding the right person to bribe. In general, obstacles should become greater challenges to the characters as the story approaches its climax.

The End

Stories can end in one of two ways: a happy ending or a disastrous ending — the original meanings of comedy and tragedy, respectively. Some stories are specifically intended to end well or end poorly, regardless of the actions of the grog characters. This may seem harsh, but if used sparingly, it reinforces the idea that grogs are support characters, rather than the main cast.

The Showdown

The final showdown is what all the preceding parts of the story have been leading to. In many situations, this is where they finally confront their antagonist despite his best efforts to avoid them, and they must now overcome him to win the day. A cunning antagonist chooses the location for the final showdown, and ensures that everything is in his favor; wise characters attempt to do the same. The result is usually a compromise between both sides' favored location, and allows the storyguide to tune the final showdown according to how well that characters have performed until that point. For example, if they have failed to uncover the dragon's weak spot, then they might be given the upper hand in picking the location of the finale, allowing them to prepare the ground with traps and snares that even the score somewhat.

Magus Ex Machina

Sometimes, a story will end with the magi sweeping in and saving the day. This might have been the point of the adventure — the grogs do all the hard work setting up the finale to give the magi the best chance of success — or it may be entirely accidental or unexpected. This sort of end is a manner by which a happy ending can be almost guaranteed, regardless of how poorly the grog characters have done, but it also robs them of a sense of achievement, and so should be used rarely, unless the players really enjoy being the ones to ride to the rescue when all seemed lost.

Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies

An extreme form of tragedy, in this resolution, all the grogs die at the end of the adventure. Perhaps they have been sent up against a hopelessly powerful opponent, or maybe it was always a suicide mission. When the grogs fail to return, the magi and companions may be sufficiently motivated to investigate themselves.

This end to an adventure generates a lot of pathos, and can be a shocking and unexpected end to a story. It is certainly not a tactic that should be overused, and it is a brave storyguide who uses it against a group of favored grogs. However, this ending is an excellent way to enforce the idea that the life of a grog can be brutal and short.

Rewards

Grogs earn experience points at the same rate as any other character, but rarely benefit from other rewards of stories such as vis, hidden knowledge, or magical items. A slap on the back and a "well done" from a magus is little reward for putting one's life on the line, and the storyguide should consider other less traditional forms of reward. For a start, grogs who are successful gradually come to be recognized as dependable, competent, and even heroic, both at the covenant and further afield. When a mission is successfully completed, a grog character should earn experience points in a Reputation (ArM5, page 167) that represents the recognition of a task well done by the magi. This Reputation should serve as a reflection of the status of the character within the covenfolk, and may translate directly into better quarters, higher wages or pension, or a position of responsibility. As the score in this Reputation rises, the character becomes a local celebrity, as grogs gossip about his deeds to non-covenfolk. Related to fame and fortune gained through Reputation are less tangible rewards, such as the grace and favor of important locals or supernatural entities. A grog character might be able to call in favors, receive one-off mentoring, or develop an agency among the wider world (Houses of Hermes: Societates, page 140).

Another form of reward is personalized equipment. A grog can find unique weapons, armor, or other kinds of equipment while adventuring, or else be rewarded with them as a mark of the magi's favor. This equipment might be simply unusual, or it might be exceptionally well-crafted, or even magical. City & Guild, page 69, has some simple rules for the game effects of particularly well-made pieces of equipment.

All-Grog Sagas

Troupes may be hesitant at running sagas that only involve grogs, since the main focus of Ars Magica Fifth Edition is the Order of Hermes and the magic it practices. However, Mythic Europe is interesting enough on its own without having to involve the Order. The interplay between supernatural powers and mundane history is a compelling one, and some troupes are overwhelmed by the complexities of Hermetic magic or politics, or are simply more interested in history than fantasy. This section has ideas to suit such palates. You will note that the Order of Hermes is not entirely absent from many of these saga ideas. This is only to be expected; the Order is as much a part of Mythic Europe as the Church, the nobility, and the freemen and peasants. However, it is not intended in these saga ideas that the players have magus characters; instead, the magi are storyguide characters with whom the player characters interact.

The ideas presented here need not be exclusive of more traditional game play. Two sagas could easily be run simultaneously, perhaps using alternative storyguides as described earlier. One saga deals with the actions of the magi, the other the consequences that those actions have on the turb, the nearby town, village, or monastery, or so forth. Likewise, the reactions of the grog part of the saga may have repercussions on the magi, and so on, back and forth between the two story lines.

A Town Saga

Towns and cities need not simply be places that the characters pass through on the way to somewhere interesting. They can be hotbeds of political intrigue, bastions of civilization in a sea of wilderness, places to see exotic visitors from distant lands, and even the battlegrounds for the hearts of men. Just because a town is a bastion of humanity and the native environment of the Dominion aura, this does not mean that there is no place for the supernatural. Household faeries are rarely bothered by the Dominion, and magical creatures can lurk in isolated pockets aligned to the Magic realm. At night, when the Dominion aura declines and the Infernal aura rises, demons can come out to tempt the souls of mankind.

Characters who are permanently resident in towns are likely to have been trained in a particular profession, even if they do not currently follow that trade. In bigger cities, craftsmen are likely to be members of a guild, and the politicking among guilds for greater prominence in the city's affairs could be a source of many stories. Characters could also be members of the clergy, part of the town's administration staff, prominent figures in the watch, or employees of the local lord.

City & Guild is an excellent resource for a saga based in a town. It has several featured towns, details of regular fairs, concepts for craftsmen and merchant characters, and many story ideas based around cities.

A Town-based Saga: Toulouse

In the Languedoc region of France, Toulouse is famous (or perhaps infamous) for its liberal attitudes and its love of art, both in its performing and productive forms. The Languedoc region is known to be the home to the heretical Albigensian (or Cathar) sect, and it is rumored that Toulouse is steeped in their beliefs and its residents have abandoned the Church in droves. The pope has responded by creating the Friars Preacher — the Order of St. Dominic — who are specifically trained to debate theology and counter heresy. Should the Dominicans discover that Catharism is prominent at all levels of society in Languedoc, it is likely that the pope will order a crusade against the region.

Quite apart from the religious pressure, there are also political issues in the region. The eastern region of the Languedoc, around Narbonne and Perpignan, is claimed by the King of Aragon and Catalonia. The area directly to the northwest of Languedoc is owned by the King of England. Both royal houses have designs on the region, and with the Count of Toulouse showing signs of dissatisfaction with the King of France, it promises to be an interesting few decades for the region.

An Academic Saga

The 13th century is the age of the university: there are currently ten universities in Italy, Spain, France and England, and this number is set to greatly expand over the coming years. Some universities are hotbeds of heresy, others enjoy freedom from temporal authority, and at least one harbors a secret tradition of hedge wizards (see Hedge Magic Revised Edition, page 96).

Characters might be students, masters of the school, or members of its associated staff. A student character might be a simple student still studying for his first degree; a baccalaureus who has passed his exams; a master-student studying for his magisterial degree; or a specialist student who is working toward his doctorate. The masters must have achieved at least the magister in artibus degree, and are probably doctors of their faculty. In addition to these two obvious roles, universities also have places for non-academically inclined characters, employed either by the faculties or the student nations; such roles include the lupus, who imposes discipline on the students; the messengers, employed to run messages to the students' families; and the beadles, who arrange the ceremonial duties of the university. Furthermore, universities require many of the same gamut of servants and specialists as any other institution — cooks, scullions, bookbinders, ink-grinders, parchment-makers, and so forth.

Art & Academe has plenty of advice for running sagas which concentrate on life at a university or school, from earning a place at university to sitting exams, and the daily life of both students and masters.

An Academic Saga: The Hidden Coven

The player characters are grogs who hold influential positions at a university, probably one of the larger institutions like those at Paris or Bologna. While contending with the usual challenges of academic life — heresy, rowdy students, antagonism of the locals, and so forth — they also become gradually aware of an insidious secret society among the masters and students of the school. It becomes clear that this cabal is attempting to discover some dark mystery hidden in the bowels of the university, and that the player characters must race to discover it first.

The nature of the secret society is up to the storyguide. It could be a cult of diabolists trying to uncover some rite to raise a demon, or a group of churchmen trying to keep the very same hidden. The society might consist of faeries, or even a hidden covenant of magi. When the players discover the secret, they may have to re-evaluate their preconceptions about their antagonists, and may even find themselves working with them.

A Monastic Saga

While monks are supposed to be cloistered away from the rest of humanity and spend their lives in contemplation of God, many monasteries are either inside or near to towns, and cannot help but be involved in local politics. Monasteries are seen as a place of learning and rationality, and are often asked to mediate disputes, offer advice on spiritual and secular matters, and provide protection against the unknown and supernatural. Because of the dedication of their lives to God, monks may find themselves the specific target of demons, and the corruption of a monastic order is a joy for the Infernal powers to behold; if the populace can see that not even monks can stay pure, what hope does the common man have?

Mythic Europe has a number of different types of regular clergy (that is, those who live according to a rule).

Monks are contemplative, living separated from the mundanities of the world to attain purity of thought and action.

Friars are active; their principal role is to go out among the community and do good works. They distribute food to the poor, tend to the sick, and bring the Word of God to the common man.

The third basic type of regular clergy are the canons, who are supplicative. Canons staff cathedrals, making the sacred space a fit place to worship God, and providing the choir as well as altar attendants.

In addition to these three basic types, there are two other important sectors of regular clergy: nuns (who are in effect female monks or, much more rarely, friars), and the militant orders (of which the Hospitallers, Templars, Teutonic Knights, and Order of Santiago are the principal ones).

Once you have decided the type of clergy that your saga is going to feature, you should create grog characters to fit. Unlike the other saga concepts mentioned in this chapter, most of the grog characters in a monastic saga will have the same Social Status, and be relatively unspecialized in their skill sets. This means that the players have to work harder to distinguish their characters from one another, using interesting backgrounds before the character took the tonsure, and through Personality Flaws or Traits to represent particular strengths or weaknesses in the character's virtue.

It is quite possible that among the various orders there are several members of Holy Traditions, such as Ascetics or Cantores (Realms of Power: The Divine, pages 47 and 93, respectively), and True Faith might be more prevalent; the assumption of these powers represents a possible means for the characters to become transformed into companion characters (see Chapter 5).

More information on monasteries and convents can be found in The Church, Chapter 4, including details on the monastic routine, the various rules, and the internal organization and politics of a monastery.

A Monastic Saga: The Priory of St. Nerius

Nerius is often considered to be the patron saint of the Order of Hermes although he has not yet been canonized. His story can be found in Realms of Power: The Divine, page 91, and the Holy Societas of magi that follow him are described on page 94 of the same source. The Neriusians have a decidedly unorthodox approach to the liturgy that might cause friction with the clergy, should they be discovered. Naturally, they teach that magic and morality need not be incompatible, but there is a need to contemplate the nature and purpose of the spells one casts. Neriusians promote tolerance for magical beasts and faeries, which they maintain have a rational soul, and teach that the Faerie Realm is the Garden of Eden where humanity was born.

So far, the followers of St. Nerius have been guided by a modified Benedictine rule, but they are beginning to switch to a Franciscan model, allowing them to travel and dwell among other magi. Combined with this shift in praxis, the Neriusians might also accept non-magi into their ranks. The message of St. Nerius is too important to be confined to just magi, and if unGifted brothers can bring his word to mundane communities, there is a greater chance of the acceptance of the Order as a whole. The player characters are grogs who are missionaries for the Priory of St. Nerius, trying to convince people that magi are not evil, and convince magi that the Dominion need not be antithetical to magic. Naturally, it requires brave and intrepid souls to walk into a covenant and start preaching! In a Neriusian saga, the grog characters may be a little unusual; they are likely to have Supernatural Abilities or powers tied to the Divine Realm, and may be accompanied or mentored by a magus or companion character who is also a Neriusian.

A Mercenary Saga

"Satan's minions, ministers of the devil… murderers, blooded with human slaughter, night-prowlers, arsonists, the sons of Belial."

— Matthew Paris, describing the mercenaries of King John of England

The 13th century is the time that mercenaries really come into their own, although they will gain prominence — some would say dominance — over the next couple of centuries. Commonly known as routiers, mercenary soldiers are of humble origin and yet form a warrior-elite; as they cross the social divide preserved by the nobility, mercenaries are pariahs and cast in the worst possible light.

The supply of mercenaries can be an income stream for a covenant that does not mind skirting the Code of Hermes, and a company supported by covert Hermetic magic can quickly become a force to be reckoned with, and, what's more, highly sought after. Mercenaries in medieval Europe often traveled great distances to make war in the service of their employers, and a mercenary saga is a good opportunity for characters to visit exotic locales far from their homeland. They may find themselves taking part in the reconquista of al-Andalus, fighting pagans around the Baltic coast, or becoming embroiled in the Crusades.

In sagas focused around a mercenary theme, the most common sort of character is naturally a soldier. There are characteristic forces for many regions of Mythic Europe, but a successful mercenary band is one that can offer something different to its employer, either in the form of specialist troops or as a mixed bag with different skills. Not every grog needs to be a soldier however; mercenary bands still need cooks, chirurgeons, camp-followers, and characters who can repair and manufacture weapons and armor. They may have a permanent base, or be constantly wandering from place to place, looking for hire. If the company is of the latter sort, some thought should be put into the logistics of their operation: they probably have a baggage train for the more slow-moving parts of their company, consisting of pack animals and perhaps wagons. They may have a set route, or else track down rumors of conflict and offer themselves to either side.

Military Units in the 13th Century

The following describes some typical military units and mercenary companies in Mythic Europe. Mercenary units are often referred to by their nationality, as if they were a single organized force. Occasionally this is true, and a count or duke hires out his countrymen to nations; more usually there are a number of individual bands, each with their own company leader.

Aragonese and Navarrese: Two groups of mercenaries deriving from the Iberian peninsula, the Aragonese and Navarrese are light cavalry.

Biscayans: The Biscayans (also called Basques) hail from the Pyrenees between France and Spain, and are skirmish units specialized in the use of slings.

Brabançons: A notoriously brutal band of mercenaries from Flanders, the Brabançons are mostly heavy infantry. They are known for looting and brigandage, and have even massacred entire towns in an attempt to get ransom money. See The Lion and the Lily, page 77, for more details.

Capuchonnés: Originally a civil defense force raised in direct response to the pillaging of the Brabançons, the Capuchonnés of Aquitaine, Gascony, Languedoc, and Provence have become a mercenary force in their own right, in distinctive white capes with pointed hoods. See The Lion and the Lily, page 77, for more details.

Coterells: French infantry units named after the broad-bladed knives that they carry; principally Poitevins and Gascons.

Flemish Geldon: A famed mercenary force that employs long spears in densely-packed formation to foil the charges of heavy cavalry, and provide cover for javeliners.

Genoese Crossbowmen (balestrieri genovesi): Trained and organized in Genoa and armed by one of its professional guilds, the balestrieri not only defend Liguria, but are also hired out to armies across Mythic Europe for both land and naval battles. Each crossbowman is accompanied by a groom who holds up a large shield while the crossbow is being reloaded.

German Falchonners: From the Holy Roman Empire, heavy cavalry and mounted heavy infantry. The Holy Roman Emperor employs a 3,000 strong force of Germans as his personal troops. They are noted for their heavy slashing swords and plate breastplates.

A Mercenary-Based Saga: The Monjoie Company

Until 70 years ago, the Monjoie Company was just a normal mercenary band, with moderate local fame and a relatively steady employment. Then, in 1153, they were hired by a magus of House Guernicus, whose grogs had all been slain and who needed warriors quickly before his quarry escaped him. The Monjoie Company was successful in catching the renegade magus, and the satisfied quaesitor hired them again. Their fame soon spread throughout the Order of Hermes, and the Monjoie Company now works exclusively for Hermetic clients, and has grown to number more than 150 men.

The Monjoie Company has several contact houses covering most of the western tribunals. They do not ever learn the true names of their employers, but instead refer to their clients by the names of one of Charlemagne's Twelve Paladins — the founder of the company, now dead, had a bit of a thing for the Song of Roland — so a magus might be known as Roland, Ogier, Ganelon, Turpin, and so forth. The conditions of hire imposed by the Company are that they are always accompanied by a magus, and that there is full disclosure on the nature of the mission. The local captains retain the right to refuse a commission, but the work is sufficiently lucrative to make this rare. They accept payment in coin and vis; the latter is traded with the venditores of House Verditius in exchange for enchanted items.

The player characters constitute a regional band of the company, under the control of a captain. These bands usually number around 20 men, and each player takes on one or more of the grogs. The player characters might find themselves fighting hordes of revenants with a Donator Requietis Aeternae (Houses of Hermes: Societates, page 115), and then next season cornering a dragon with a member of House Tremere, followed a year later by tracking down diabolist magi with a Flambeau. It is certainly likely to be an action-packed saga!

A Noble Saga

A noble household is perhaps the closest model of a "typical" covenant, and a saga based around a nobleman and his entourage is essentially Ars Magica with the magi removed. Apart from those stories which relate directly to the internal politics of the Order of Hermes, most of the stories that apply to standard sagas can apply to a saga based around a noble household, but without having recourse to Hermetic magic.

The same soldiers, servants, and specialists found at a covenant have a place in a noble household, with the exception of those grogs who specifically support the magical activities of the covenant. In a typical baron's household, the baron himself — and perhaps his wife and a few select staff — are companion characters, and everyone else comprises grog characters. Even the baron's sons who have reached their majority could be considered grog characters, since they are not yet powerful enough to attract Story Flaws. As a result, they would be suitable player characters in a grogonly saga, particularly second and subsequent sons.

Lords of Men has plenty of good information and ideas for sagas based around a noble's household. Rules for leisure time and for war are given, along with details of the lands owned by a nobleman, both those in his immediate vicinity (the castle and associated lands) and in the rest of his demesne (including village life). Advancement of one's reputation among one's vassals and superiors is also developed in detail.

A Noble Saga: A Quiet Place in the Country

A baron with an excess of children places his third son in charge of one of his vills. The son gains a small manor house and a nearby village from this, and is expected to oversee the labors of the peasants attached to the vill, and ensure that the various sources of income from the vill are gathered on time. What the baron didn't tell his son is that the vill has a history of trouble: two reeves placed over the vill have disappeared without a trace, and the most recent one is now under the care of the local monastery, his mind shattered.

The player characters can run the baron's son, his friends (and perhaps wife), as well as certain notables in the village, although these themselves are probably new to the manor as well. The villagers are harboring a terrible secret, one which most of the time they can keep under control with appropriate proprietary sacrifices, but it occasionally runs free and does all sorts of damage. The form of this secret varies — it could be an imprisoned demon, a courtly faerie, or a lycanthrope. In addition to this secret, a village is rife with petty rivalries, superstition, and day-to-day problems associated with the production of food. The characters might get much more involved in peasant life: chasing off faeries who steal the milk; settling arguments over a girl; finding lost cows; and uncovering a witch. Over time, the baron's son might expect to transform into a Companion character (see Chapter 5), and his entourage might develop with him.

A Redcap Saga

Redcaps are the support structure of the Order of Hermes, and are a presence that is often neglected in a traditional saga, as simply the means by which news is brought to the magi. However, redcaps provide so much more than a messenger service for the Order. They are heralds, who store information about magi and covenants in a tribunal. They are bankers and merchants, exchanging and lending vis, pawning magical items, and speculating on potentially risky expeditions and ventures. They can provide a bodyguard service for traveling magi, and occasionally keep trade routes clear of supernatural menaces. Redcaps are wanderers and trailblazers, extending the knowledge and boundaries of the Order by pressing into unknown regions. Finally, in some tribunals at least, the redcaps are bureaucrats and administrators, ensuring that tribunal proceedings run smoothly and assisting the quaesitores.

Redcap characters are companion characters, because the Redcap Virtue (ArM5, page 48) is a Major Social Status Virtue and is therefore normally unavailable to grog characters. There are two ways to deal with this; either allow the Redcap Virtue as a free Virtue (much like Hermetic Magus is a free Virtue), so that all characters may take it and benefit from the additional experience points and magical items. This tends to lead to a slightly higher-powered campaign than most grog-only sagas, but since everyone will be equal, this should not interfere. Alternatively, the player characters work for the redcaps rather than being redcaps themselves; they might still be apprenticed to a senior redcap, or else serve as skilled specialists in another capacity.

Chapter Three of Houses of Hermes: True Lineages describes House Mercere and its non-magical members, including various societates to which they may belong.

A Redcap Saga: The Hermetic Agency

Taking its lead from the genres of spy and detective fiction, the player characters are agents of the Order of Hermes. They may be attached to one of the Tribunal's Mercer Houses, have a dedicated headquarters, or work from a covenant. Rather than completing the usual tasks of redcaps, they are charged with a host of tasks involved with the interface between the Order of Hermes and mundane society. Their role could be to gather evidence that a magus has been meddling in mundane politics, to cover up such involvement while the Tribunal sees that the Code-breaker is duly punished, or else to subtly manipulate matters in a manner dictated by their superiors, so that the Order of Hermes cannot be held responsible for their actions.

The characters might work for an individual covenant or for the Tribunal as a whole, but they probably have a single contact who gives them their orders (this may or may not be a magus). A common trope in this sort of story is for the characters to gradually discover that they do not work for whom they thought they did. This saga does not require that any of the characters are necessarily redcaps — it works equally well with standard grogs — but making the characters redcaps gives them a certain amount of authority in the pursuit of their investigations.


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