The Bats of Mercille

The Bats of Mercille at a Glance

A complete adventure for Ars Magica second edition, with resources designed to help introduce new players to the game.
The first jump-start kit for the RPG. This digital edition provides a unique slice of Ars Magica history.
A short, exciting adventure with a unique threat keeps the action moving and the players interested.

A Legendary Adventure: More about The Bats of Mercille

The distant village of Mercille is found burned to the ground, most of its people mysteriously vanished into the night. A handful of survivors tell of swarms of deformed bats bringing with them a horrible black terror. Surely such talk is just madness, but just what is the doom that befell Mercille?

When Ars Magica debuted at conventions like Gen Con and Origins in the late 1980s, at its side was a modest ready-to-play scenario sold in plastic sleeves, labeled a "Jump-Start Kit," entitled The Bats of Mercille. It included a short adventure, eight pregenerated characters, and game briefings for players, designed to get new players into the game with a minimum of preparation. Since only a few hundred copies were ever printed (by photocopy), and even fewer made it into circulation, this has long been one of the most sought-after curiosities for the Ars Magica collector.

This digital edition reproduces the 1989 edition, which was re-released with Ars Magica 2nd Edition, and requires Ars Magica 2nd Edition to play.. Because that version lacks several descriptions and statistics for storyguide characters and monsters, we have supplemented it with text taken directly from the 1988 edition that was sold alongside Ars Magica 1st Edition.

The Bats of Mercille is out of print as a physical product. With only a few hundred copies in circulation, it’s a sought-after curiosity for Ars Magica collectors.