"Go to the sign of Marvel's Axe, a dubious inn on the edge of the Thieves Quarter, in the City of Greyhawk, and look to your own wrist. If you perceive a bracelet and dangling dice, watch for the next throw in the war between Law and Chaos and be prepared to follow the compelling geas." -Signal

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Houses of Hermes, Disposable Wealth


In my entire collection (inventoried so far) I have two items from Ars Magica  that I can find. I suspect I have more but just not inventoried yet. I have  never played the game and know very little about it. I am actually surprised I  have anything from it and that I payed as much for this book as I did given I  know nothing about the game. It is packed away in storage so I can't speak to  why I bought it. I can only imagine it has to be amazing for me to pay $9 for a  game I have no interest in playing and have really no knowledge about. It is  possible I payed that much since it was a Wizards of the Coast product at one  point or that I recognized the name Jonathan Tweet. Regardless I am afraid I  can't offer much insight into it. I wish I could say more but I am only posting it because it was next in line in the inventory.


Published: 1994
Pages: 152

From the publisher website:


Learn the Secrets of the Magi

Houses of Hermes describes the twelve houses that compose the Order of Hermes,  their origins, their histories, and their recent actions. It provides important  and dynamic information for players and story guides alike, adding detail and  drama to any Ars Magica saga. It includes:

* A plot connected to each house. Each plot is grand enough to serve as the  focus of your troupe's saga.
* Story ideas for each house, for shorter-term play. These ideas bring the  natures and styles of the various houses to life.
* Sample magi who can serve as the player characters' masters, as non-player  character in your saga, or as models for mid-level magi.
* New spells and abilities representing the houses' differing specialties,  including faerie magic and the special spells of the quaesitoris.
* An in-depth treatment of apprenticeship, from the apprentice's and master's  points of view.
* A record of the Order's history, from ancient times to A.D. 1220, including  the crises that have shaken the Order and the growing threat from mundane  civilization.



From RPGGEEK:

This book was published with an Ars Magica fourth edition logo on the cover.  This logo does not refer to the fourth edition of Ars Magica that was eventually  published by Atlas in late 1996 (two years after Houses of Hermes) but to a  fourth edition that Wizards of the coast had planned to release in 1995.

The game mechanics in Houses of Hermes are completely compatible with third  edition Ars Magica they do not reflect the game mechanics changes that took  place with the release of fourth edition.




Spell:

Disposable Wealth


Level: Second
Range: 6"
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: 2" Sphere
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 2 Rounds
Saving Throw: None

With this spell the magic user is able to convert magical items directly into  coins or at their discretion gems. The amount received will be a small portion  of the actual value of the items.

When the spell is cast the magic user will need to have placed all of the items  they wish to convert into coins all in the same place. The items can not be  piled on top of each other and all of them must fit in a circle whose diameter  is no more than 20'.

When the spell is completed the coins or gems will appear in the middle of the  circle in place of the magical items. Only working magic items will be converted  and for items with charges the value will be a percentage based off of the  remaining charges. After the value is calculated the caster will receive 25% of  that value in money. This amount will be modified by the Reaction Adjustment percentage for the caster's charisma.

The material components of this spell will be the inks and chalks required to  draw the circle the items are to be placed in. This spell can not be cast  without some sort of magical items in the circle of course.

Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups last,  were all written up or conceived of back in the 80's so the terminology may not  appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I did back then  it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of spells  that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :) Please feel free to  comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If anyone wishes to use these  in anything they print please let me know in advance and all I ask is proper  credit.

1 comment:

Paul said...

I always wanted to play Ars.

Popular Posts