My towel and I are at your service. 
Have you played ArM with mystic companions? They change the balance of power considerably in the early stages of a campaign. My hedge was more formidable than any of the magi or the fighting companions–he could have taken all the grogs by himself when he was pumped up.
I honestly don’t know what a mystic companion is. I haven’t played ArM in a depressingly long time. My Verditius did have a Scottish Deerhound familiar, which was a kick-ass addition to a kick-ass character (I waited until my Vim score was terrifically high, so I got a lot of good Bond characteristics).
Boy are we a pair of gaming nerds. Ever do PBEM? I haven’t, but at this point I am so hard up for a good game that I’d consider it.
Make that three gaming nerds … and I would love to get an ArM saga going … my personal favourite game system.
Well, Steve, you are really too far away for table top. I mean, I’m midway between you and Balance, and that ain’t sayin’ much.
Could ArM be played over e-mail? I personally could NEVER run such a thing, as GMing isn’t my forte, but I’d love to try roleplaying over the computer. Not sure how die rolls would be simulated, or what, but do either of you guys find this idea remotely appealing? Or possible? Or am I just wishfully thinking?
Heh, I bet Nobilis would be a fairly easy system to convert to PBeM… no dice, after all. That might be another possibility. It’d be a good way to get some practice in the system, anyway. Let me know if either of you is remotely interested. I won’t be at all insulted if you aren’t, b/c I realize it’s a PITA to organize and run these things.
Mystic companions were introduced by the Hedge Wizards sourcebook. They’re companions who work magic of a sort, but don’t cast spells like the magi. Hedge wizards make charms and potions (my hedge walks around loaded with three charms at all times–one anti-lycanthrope charm to keep him from wolfing out, one strength charm that boosts his strength to 5, and a skill charm that boosts his great weapon skill to 7) and do lots of healing stuff. Ascetics do things to transcend physical law–powerful ascetics can go for long periods without sleep or nourishment, have visions, or even teleport. Natural magicians are alchemist types who have figured out ways to use raw vis in ritual magic without being able to sense it directly. Summoners can, well, summon things using rituals.
I don’t really like PBEM that much, and it would be really hard to do ArM that way. Nobilis might be easier, but you’d lose a lot of spontaneity. I couldn’t GM it anyway–I have IFGS games to write just now (I’ve been promising to get them into sanctioning for several months). I may look for a copy of the Nobilis rules anyway–it sounds like a good read. How’s that for geeky? I read RPG rulebooks for fun.
Yes … Hedge Wizards sort of codified an idea that’d been hanging around ever since the second edition’s Faeries supplement, when they introduced Faerie Companions, an alternative to either a standard companion or a magus, depending on, well, how your Saga worked out in terms of relative power levels, I guess. (How long is it I’ve been a fan of ArM? Well … I don’t have a copy of the first edition … )
I do think ArM works better tabletop … Nobilis, though, seems to be more of a possibility, doesn’t it? I know lots of Amber games take place over the net successfully - no reason why Nobilis should have any worse problems. Hmm. Food for thought.
(You want geeky? I’ve got both editions of Nobilis, the little pink one and the big white one. The latter being far and away better - no changes in mechanics, just loads more ideas on how actually to play the game … )
Steve, if you decide you want to try a PBeM Nobilis game, count me in. You can reach me at catcherinthewry@excite.com
Hmm. It’s possible, certainly … mind you, I’ve never actually run a PBeM game of any kind. Bearing that in mind as a caveat … I wonder if anyone else would be interested?
Steve: You might have to create a new thread to ask people, since I think only you, Balance, and I are still reading this one.
Actually I’ve been following it. I’ve wanted to get into Nobilis for a while but could never find the core book. Well actually I found it once, in a wizard of the coast store on sale for 30% off. Insanely I decided that it would be there when I went back so I left it there instead of borrowing money from my friends to get it (my own money was going towards Christmas gifts for my family at the time so I wasn’t going to buy it on my own dime at the moment).
Amazon seems to have the first edition only, so I hunt around in hope of finding a copy fallen behind shelves or in a discount bin or something. However as it turns out the mechanics are exactly the same I may go with that. I also read RPG books for fun and I’ve been interested in Nobilis since I got into In-Nomine, the official mailing list community of it brings up Nobilis a lot and I checked out what I could on-line and decided that it would definitely be something that would interest me.
If you want to start one, Steve, I’m willing to give it a shot. On reflection, I can see advantages to playing a game like this by email–it gives everyone the leisure to think about actions and responses. I still need a sourcebook, though. I’ll check eBay, and if that fails I may get the first edition from Amazon or B&N.
It’s a game which I like to read, but never dare play. The art is fantastic! I reading it for inspiration and treating it as a muesum piece.
The hard part is to find players (among my friends) who know how to appreciate the rich setting of the game.
Okaay… Anyone who’s interested, drop me a line at steve_j_wrigh9 at hotmail dot com (not the address in my board profile, a less work-related one), and let’s see if we can get something organized … I’ve got a vague idea for a storyline taking shape …
I’ve just ordered the core rules from http://gamersattic.com (I think it’s the new edition, but as long as the rules are the same, I’ll make do). As I’m a total rules-junkie, I also ordered the LARP rules. They may offer some inspiration for my IFGS game world, which has certain similarities.
I’ll be in touch, Steve.
A tidbit for any interested. R. Sean Borgstrom co-authored the Ethereal Player’s Guide for In-Nomine with David Eidelstein. Just occured to me now.