Wizard Playbook Names
I’m having some trouble coming up with cool names for the playbooks in Wizard World (my Ars Magica hack). At the moment I’ve got:
Artisan
Analyst
Politician
Scholar
Warrior
They are functional, and they accurately describe the angles the playbooks take, but they don’t have much… pizazz.
Hit me with your best Ars-Magica-appropriate playbook names! (or tell me why I should just leave them the way they are).
NOTE: While I do like them, I feel like the classic D&D sub-types (diviner, evoker, etc) are too close to D&D to be appropriate for Ars Magica.
Just to be sure: we’re talking about playbooks for wizards, right? Not for the companions or grogs?
How about?
Artifactor
Oracle
Cantor
Scholar
Adept
Ah, thanks Jeremy Strandberg! Yes – I’m looking for names for the different roles/focus areas of the wizards.
Why not just look up the Latin words for each?
Robert Bohl interesting. That gives us:
Artifex
Investigator
Orator
Scholar
Bellator
I shied away from including too much Latin in case it made the game unapproachable (jargon heavy) but those are actually not so bad.
Any particular reason the Investigator isn’t called Quaesitor? 😀
Heh, I feel like Quaesitor may already have some baggage in the setting 😉
Huh. Who knew there was so much Latin in English? =)
If you’re interested in other terms, perhaps:
Maker
Seeker
Influencer
Thinker
Contender (?)
or
Architect
Seeker
Politico
Theorist
Millitant
George Austin
I like Seeker
Anyone else notice the almost perfect alignment of these 5 templates and the 5 Techniques?
Artisan >> Creo
Analyst >> Intelligo
Politician >> Regio
Scholar >> Muto
Warrior >> Perdo
Okay, scholar/muto is pretty weak. But otherwise…
What’s the difference between the Scholar and the Analyst?
Jeremy Strandberg yeah, Muto is a serious troublemaker. 😉
Paki Spivey the Scholar focuses on books and experiments in the lab while the Analyst is out in the field gathering information. I know, I know, that’s not what you think of when you say Analyst. That’s one of the reasons I started this thread 🙂
Jared Hunt is the alignment intentional? Or coincidental?
Jester (for Merenita oriented)
Shaman / Sage Man /Beast Friend (for Bjornaer)
Maybe use mystical symbols for each one, instead of literal names? “The Sword” instead of Warrior, “The Eye” instead of the Scholar, etc.
Jeremy Strandberg totally by coincidence. I think it’s just a natural result of the way techniques line up with typical approaches to problem solving.
Oooh, Paki Spivey that is very interesting…
The master of transcendent beauty and other works of the hands
The seer of hinden patterns and natural conclusions
The spinner of lies and all other important truths
The knower of all important thoughts and many that are less so
The bloody hand that know naught but destruction
Gotta love this community! How about:
The Anvil, who masters craft and invention
The Eye, who masters secrets and perception
The Voice, who masters motives and manipulation
The Quill, who masters lore and erudition
The Blade, who masters blood and destruction
Too cute?
Jared Hunt I feel like that it’s either troublesome or an opportunity.
Like, when I see that sort of close-but-not-quite alignment, it makes me think that my categorizations are askew. I’d be tempted to look at the playbooks and ask if I’m categorizing them on the right axis.
So for example, you’re currently doing it based on verbs: the artisan creates, the analyst investigates, the politician influences, the scholar studies, the warrior fights. But (assuming you’re using Ars Magic techniques) you’ve already got a series of 5 crucial verbs (create/know/control/change/destroy) that PCs can be better or worse at. It feels like two gears that almost fit together but don’t.
So I’d encourage you to consider making the playbooks based on something else. “House” is an obvious choice (if going full Ars Magica), but other categories that jump to mind include:
Motive: Fame, Respect, Knowledge, Power, Challenge, Vengeance, Faith, Purpose, etc.
Age: Spring (apprentice or new initiate), Summer (flexing your muscle), Autumn (established & clinging to power), Winter (immensely powerful but losing it)
Tradition: fae magic, diabolic magic, elemental magic, “internal” magic, animistic/shamanic magic, formally schooled in magic, etc. (this gets pretty close the Houses, but could probably do so without having them rigidly defined)
Alternately, you could look to more closely align the playbooks with the techniques. So there’d be a “Creo” playbook and an “Intelligo” playbook, etc.
Btw, I never played ars magica, so instead I was doing orc names from burning wheel.
How about using a compilation of “playbooks” or backgrounds like uncharted worlds? You could then have multiple choices having a House background, a tradition backgrounds, etc.
Leo Maradan yep, that’s how it’s set up now. You pick one of 5 playbooks and then choose a House.
I’d generally advice against making playbooks about what a character is good at. That was what I first tried with my Star Trek hack, so sure, you have Security Officers and Doctors. The result was quite dull. I think a pretty good test is: Could a character dislike belonging to that playbook and still be it?
So “expectations that the (magic) world has about you”, might work nicely. The suggestions by Jeremy Strandberg point in the same direction.
Like
The Councilman
The Apprentice
The Enforcer
The Pawn of Higher Powers
The Mad One
The Foreigner
1of3 I really like where you’re going with that. It means pretty much scrapping the current character creation section entirely, but maybe that’s what I need to do…
Jared Hunt Vincent baker did say to “Kill your Darlings”. Just remember to save what you had already written, for posterity
I don’t have any ideas for you at the moment, but, I have wanted to play Ars Arcana or some incarnation of Mage for a while. I’ll keep my eye out to see if you complete this, as, perhaps I’ll have a chance to test it out. Or better yet, please let me know if you plan to run it online.
As someone who played the heck out of Ars Magica for a decade: why are you not using the houses with the serial numbers filed off?
Firelords
Beastwalkers
The Hidden Mystics
Messenger House
The Fair Affiliates
The Order of Magic
Wisdom Warriors
Artificer’s Guild
Etc, etc. In AM, the number one most important aspect is what House you are as a mage, not your personal quirks.
(Also I am obviously interested in this hack!)
Meguey Baker Thanks!
The first iteration used the houses as playbooks but one of the most common pieces of feedback I got was that people didn’t seem to like that format. House is still an important factor in character creation in this version but it’s a secondary choice…
Looking back at the last few months of playtesting, I think you’re right – house is such an important part of ArM it deserves to be front and centre.
What if you did something like Masks of the Mummy king and have 2 halves of the character sheet, one for house, one for role.
Ok, that gave me a idea for a game I now want to make
I’m sorry Jared Hunt, but I think I’m going to have to use all the suggestions I just game you to make a try at my own game (too in love with a possible route to take). On the plus side if it works out somebody will get to play The Wretched Master of Transcendent Beauty of The Unstained Butchers of Jilo.
David Rothfeder I look forward to seeing it!