I really want rituals to be an interesting part of my Ars Magica hack. Any thoughts on this ritual move?
When you spend time in your lab figuring out how to create a powerful magical effect through a ritual, describe what you want to accomplish and the GM will tell you what you’re going to need, based on the scope and scale of what you describe.
Vis (at least two rooks, possibly more)
Time (certainly an hour, could be as long as a whole season)
Mastery (at least two arts, possibly more)
Materials (might be a special kind of moss; might also be the still-beating heart of an ancient dragon…)
Expertise (you might need to skim over a book on stonework; or have a master sculptor assist you; or you might need to sacrifice the world’s greatest living architect…)
There will be more granular rules in the GM section, but I think the basic concept comes across.
For reference: vis is raw magic in physical form. A rook is a measurement of vis (it’s the smallest unit players are required to track). This is a significant but deliberate variation from Ars Magica.
I’m not sure it’s a good idea to remove the option of “you’ll have to settle for something less”, though I admit I’m not at all familiar with Ars Magica.
I went back and forth on that several times. I settled on this version because I felt like if the players are so intent on the ritual that they’re willing to collect and preserve the beating heart of an ancient dragon (or something equally difficult) they should be able to do whatever they want 🙂
In other words, rather than reduce the effect: increase the difficulty.