Ars Magica Definitive Edition Hits The Shelves and Opens Up Nearly 40 Years of RPG History

Atlas Games’ Ars Magica Definitive Edition has finally arrived in print, more than 20 years after the publication of the Fifth Edition and nearly four decades after Ars Magica first appeared.

I’ve been jealously looking at photos a friend has been posting of the set they received. It is *big* and looks gorgeous. The Definitive Edition takes the Fifth Edition rules, incorporates material and revisions accumulated over the last two decades, adds new artwork and graphic design, and has expanded the game into a 600+ page full-colour rulebook. The physical slipcase set also includes a Storyteller Guide, 14-page Reference Guide, and a map of Mythic Europe, packaged alongside the gilded leatherette core book.

From $15,000 to more than $840,000

Atlas launched the Definitive Edition on Backerkit in October 2024 with an initial target of just $15,000. That target was reached in just three minutes, and by the time the campaign closed in 14th November it had attracted 5,046 backers and $841,123 in funding, more than 56 times its original target. When additional post-campaign orders, that were received through their pledge manager, are taken in to account, then the Definitive Edition raised over $1 million!

In addition to the fantastic looking book one of the campaigns Stretch Goals stands out, and has already made a difference to the game. At $50,000 Atlas released the standard Fifth Edition core rules under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. The campaign continued adding additional material to the license as it progressed, eventually encompassing the expanded Definitive Edition material and a substantial collection of Ars Magica sourcebooks - 53 books in total!

This means creators can share, adapt, and commercially publish material derived from the licensed rules and Mythic Europe setting, provided they comply with the terms of CC BY-SA 4.0.

For a game with nearly 40 years of accumulated setting and mechanical material that’s an awful lot of material and scope for creators, and a lot more significant that simply making an SRD available.

The RPG that helped create its own publisher

Ars Magica was originally created by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen, and published by Lion Rampant in 1987. The combination of troupe-style play, long campaign timelines, covenant building, and unique magic system, made it really different - and stand-out - from most fantasy RPGs of the period. It also was the stepping stone for current publisher, and IP owner, Atlas Games to come in to existence.

John Nephew had worked at Lion Rampant before establishing his own company, Atlas Games, in 1990. Atlas’ first release was Tales of the Dark Ages, a licensed Ars Magica adventure collection. Atlas continued producing licensed material until Ars Magica changed hands from Lion Rampant to White Wolf, and was then eventually sold to Wizards of the Coast.

Then, in 1996, Atlas Games brough Ars Magica from Wizards of the Coast.

So the game whose license helped launch Atlas eventually travelled through three different publishers before coming back to become an Atlas-owned property. Atlas subsequently published both a Fourth and Fifth edition of the game, as well as dozens of supplements.

Several Ars Magica terms, including Order of Hermes, Tremere, Doissetep and Grimgroth, remained as trademarks of former publisher White Wolf, who used them in their World of Darkness games such as Vampire: The Masquerade and Mage: The Ascension. To make them usable within the new open framework, Atlas reached an agreement with White Wolf’s current owners Paradox Interactive covering their use in adapted material.

Ars Magica Definitive Edition is available now from Atlas Games and has begun reaching UK, and other, retailer stores.