Tuesday 30 April 2013

Campaigns I'd Like to Run: III - Ars Magica in 19th Century Northumberland

There's this group of friends, right? And they're the second or third sons or daughters of aristocratic families and industrialists who never need to work again. They're what might be called, nowadays, the 'idle rich'. But they've become bored of polo, hunting, drinking and bridge. And the devil makes work for idle hands. So they spend their time researching magic, demons, evil spirits, alchemy, and things of that nature. They've learned the rudiments. And they've also learned that there is a whole other reality behind that which they know: a reality in which the rationality of the Enlightenment and the Victorian age is simply wrong. They find the thought of it truly terrifying. But they also suspect it may be the path to something greater than anything else to which they can aspire.

So they sequester themselves to a sprawling manor deep in the Northumberland hills to pursue their aims in private. A place hidden in the dark forest, out of sight from any road or track, which an indulgent parent built long ago and nowadays rarely uses. A place where they can learn the magical arts free from prying eyes. A place like Cragside:




10 comments:

  1. I'd play that, and not just because I've always wanted to play both 1890's Cthulhu and Ars Magica.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel? Pretty much this, and it's awesome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heard good things about it. Never read it. Will do, eventually!

      Delete
  3. I'd love to play in something like this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds sort of isolated, both from civilization and from adventuring locales. What is there to do, game-wise? Travel to other planes? Summon imps to do the housework?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, if its Ars Magica there are always spells to research and the necessity of collecting the ingredients to power your research and there are agents from rival isolated country houses seeking the same things and trying to sabotage your efforts and steal your magics.

      Delete
  5. I have this sudden urge to watch Hammer horror films.

    Of course, this is not uncommon for me :)

    ReplyDelete