Anno Magica 2024
This is going to be a big year for Ars Magica!
Ars Magica is at the foundation of Atlas Games. Our first product, Tales of the Dark Ages, was a licensed Ars Magica scenario collection. Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein•Hagen's game was first published by Lion Rampant in 1987, then by White Wolf, and then Wizards of the Coast, who sold the game to us in 1996. Since then we've published the 4th Edition (digital bundle on sale this weekend!), the 5th Edition, and dozens of adventures and supplements. Translations have appeared in languages such as German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. Though we haven't released a new printed book since Dies Irae: A Book of Wrathful Days in 2016, the game has an active and enthusiastic audience, and the game and supplements continue to sell steadily in both print and digital formats.
For more than three years we've been working on Ars Magica 5th Edition Definitive. At long last, we expect this will be ready for crowdfunding in the fall of 2024, twenty years after the original release of 5th Edition.
We're going to have a lot more to say about this in the coming months, and we'll be looking for feedback from our fan community. Here are some things we can tell you right now:
- David Chart, Line Developer for 5th Edition, has spent the last few years revising and updating its text.
- While the underlying manuscript is the 5th Edition text, extensive revisions reflect decades of play and incorporate a host of new material published since the original rulebook's release. Ars Magica 5th Edition Definitive is a much bigger book than the original!
- We'll release a deluxe, full color, hardcover print edition of the Definitive core rulebook, with new art and layout and heirloom production quality.
- Ars Magica 5th Edition Definitive will have an open license (the lead contender is CC BY-SA 4.0, if you're curious).
We recently completed our long-term project of resurrecting original printer files for the entire Ars Magica 5th Edition line of supplements, converting them to softcover print-on-demand. This means that the entire line of supplements, fully compatible with ArM5D, can remain in print indefinitely, both as ebooks and as printed books made to order and delivered to buyers anywhere in the world. We intend for Ars Magica to be a game enjoyed and creatively expanded for generations to come.
Watch this space, as we'll have much more to say about what we're doing (and why!). And in the meantime, sign up NOW for reminders when it launches later this year!