Not an actual dog

And my notes on... her.

Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub

Tytalus is in the middle of a leadership crisis as two individuals with legitimate claims refuse to back down and the rest of the house members keep switching support between them to prolong the feud because they think it’s funny

Criamon’s religion is called out in two (2) separate sidebars as being straight up Factually Incorrect. They’re super chill though and let other wizards that got kicked out of their houses just kinda be in theirs so they don’t get in trouble for being houseless

Jerbiton (probably) saved the whole order from a secret vampire coup

Merinita’s founder disappeared and then a few years later someone who looked nothing like her showed up from the fae realm claiming to be her, don’t worry about it, and the house just kinda went along with it EDIT: apologies, it was her next in line that ollied outie and then came back with weird ruby eyes, not the founder

Mercere is stereotyped as the d&d horny bard due to their extra restrictive membership requirements

The main concept of Ars Magica is that you play a mage in mythical Europe. So it's like your 13th century Europe, but all the legends are real: feys have their court in deep forest, demons tries to corrupt human souls, dragons sleep between mountains of fly higher the eye can see, and magic can do wonders.

The mechanical strength of the game is obviously its magical system: you really feel like a researcher and you have a great freedom. You can be a pyromancer who turns all their problems into ashes, or a politician mage, a sleuth, a mage who is also an animal, a mystical who mutters incomprehensible half-truths, a magic maieutician, a mage-soldier, an expert es fae, etc... You can use easy guidelines to create your own spells and magical items, and you have a lot to do with your laboratory.

The game is a bit unique in that you're not playing a group of adventurers to whom things happen. You're playing a covenant of mages living somewhere, wortking for their interest, meddling with local politics and/or looking for magical wonders, developping their ressources, fighting a local evil or trying to gain power inside the mage Order.

And that's only the beginning! Just let me know if you want more information about it!

That sounds so interesting! I hope you enjoy playing it :3

Let me tell you about the Gift and the Hermes Order. In Ars Magica, your mage can do magic because they have the Gift, a rare ability (about 1 person among 1000) that allows them to learn about magical power, as long as you can study it. However, it comes with a serious downside: someone who has the Gift makes the other people defiant and uncomfortable just by being next to them. They don't need to know the person practices magic, just being in the same place makes them feel like the mage was as dangerous and untrustworthy as a known criminal, and the effect takes years to overcome. This perk of the Gift limited for a long time to possibility for mages to form more than a shallow network of alliances and long-distance friendships, as they feel that the other one is always about to betray them when they meet.

Fortunately, a mage named Bonisagus invented something powerful and very useful: the Parma Magica. The Parma Magica is a technique allows a mage to protect themselves, which makes them very dangerous for mages without such a protection, but also, and maybe more importantly, a mage with a Parma Magica doesn't suffer the defiant effect of other mages' Gift. Trianoma, Bonisagus' apprentice, understood the possibilities opened by this technique. With her master, she meet the most famous and powerful mages in Europe and convinced them to join and form an Order: the Order of Hermes.

When you play Ars Magica, your character is a mage from this Order, which is by far the most powerful in Europe. It is divided in twelve Houses, created by the twelve Founders, and your mage is part of one of them:

Bonisagus: politicians and theoricians of magic.

Guernicus: lawyers, detectives and judges.

Tremere: the army, extremely hierarchised. Hate Tytalus.

Mercere: courriers and administration. The House is the only one of the Order with member that cannot do magic. They are considered mages nonetheless.

Flambeau: magical knights, warriors and boasters. Pyromancers go here.

Jerbiton: diplomatic link between mages and the mundane. Often artists.

Tytalus: conflictmakesyoustrongerconflictmakesyoustrongerconflictmakesyoustronger. Scheme and spy. Hate Tremere.

Ex Miscellanea: mages from other traditions that are integrated in the Order, not really united.

Merinita: study faes. Do fae magic.

Criamon: seek to answer the Enigma of Twilight.

Bjornaer: equally humans and animals.

Verditius: mystical enchanters that carved in their Gift the power to build magical objects.

Also we don't talk about Diedne.

It can also be found on Google Drive here and on Bluesky here.

We are the cuñadest

Anyway

I figure a ttrpg all about dwarves needs to have interesting and diverse dwarves.

In one instance, I've been into the idea of dwarves inspired by central american, First nations, and Mexica influence (imo a criminally untapped wealth of culture and vibes for fantasy). Here's the resulting ancestry draft from my ttrpg, Those Under the Mountain.

Espantekatl: the Redmane

“If a mild-mannered Redmane exists, they likely plucked the feathers and left to live with the bloody gnomes.”

—Arnja Bor, year 704, the age of heroes.

Redmane Features

Jungle Ambushers: Redmane begin play proficient in stealth and marksdwarfship.

Mistsight: Vision tuned to jungle mists, Redmane can see twice as far through obscuring fog.

Volatile: Redmane receive disadvantage on diplomacy checks when dealing with non-dwarves.

Heritage (choose one)

Children of the Great Dragon: The most prolific of Redmane lines, these dwarves are particularly resistant to poison, and thus have built a strong cultural identity as those who make and hunt with it. All Children of the Dragon have resistance to poison damage, and are proficient in herbalism.

The People of Crimson: These Espantekatl worship the blood god, and are passionately militant. Adorning their bodies with deep red tattoos. They wear and display trophies of their kills such as teeth, claws, and fine jewelry of bone. They begin play proficient in a martial skill as well as butchery, and have the Bloodbath feat.

The Leopards of the Old Jungle: Proud, wise, and known for their vast stone citadels in the deep green places of the west, the Leopards have distinctive skin patterning of darker and lighter greens and grays, typically tiger stripes or leopard spots. Their plumage is patterned with black and brown. The affect altogether is that they are well camouflaged in most forest and jungle environments. They gain the Natural Camouflage Redmane feat, +1 to DEF, and begin with proficiency in masonry and riding.

Appearance, behaviour and lore

Hailing from dangerous jungles and ancient swamps, the Espantekatl are the most mysterious of the dwarvenkin. Little is known of them by the outside, and their reputation is as red as their plumage. With bright feather-manes, the Espantekatl roam the deepest forests atop giant snapping turtle mounts, and employ poisons to paralyze prey. They favor weapons made from fine obsidian, and are known for their blowguns and atylatyl.

Espantekatl are slimmer than mountain dwarves and have complexions ranging from dark jade green to seafoam. They sport feather hair and beards of incredible colors, all in patterns unique to the individual, often bright red. Their eyes are typically all black with thin greenish or red irises, and they’re known for intricate tattoos, usually with feathered serpent and snapping turtle motifs.