Re: Idle mage time
 

You mean, you wouldn't be surprised if neither of them have heard of it? :p

Anyway, I may be missing something, but considering that the term "Vis" is used to refer to magic gems in that game, and there are a couple of references to "Vis" buried in Dominions, I would not be surprised if there was some influence.

But, that's like pulling up the first game to ever mention "mana", and drawing a correlation to a newer game that uses mana - that is to say, it's a basic similarity, and doesn't necessarily extrapolate very deeply onto the game and gameplay.

Re: Idle mage time
 

Well, Ars Magica is referenced in the intro to the manual, so I guess they did draw some inspiration from it.

Re: Idle mage time
 

Gregstrom:

Like totally base magic system on Ars Magica? :)

Re: Idle mage time
 

That's interesting. Sadly I never played Ars Magica, though.

Re: Idle mage time
 

Ars Magica is one of the best RPGs out there. Especially for fans of Dominions, since it also draws on real world history and folklore.

The more familiarity you have with Ars Magica, the more the similarities between the two become apparent. It's definitely not 100% by any means, but there are some strong similarities.

Re: Idle mage time
 

Put away those sarcastic quotation marks. If I was making a guess, I would have phrased it as a guess. I know the game has AM inspiration since Kristoffer told me so.

Isn't it referred to in the manual too?

Re: Idle mage time
 

The manual does mention Ars Magic as one source of inspiration, so "partly inspired" is defensible. "Largely inspired by Ars Magica" as a justification for adding in the Ars Magica feature of mage-created gems is pushing it; it seems clear to me that gems as natural resource (vs. artificial resource a la electricity) is a deliberate feature of the Dominions magic system.

-Max

Re: Idle mage time
 

You should read a bit more about Ars Magica.


In Ars Magica, groups of mages gathered in Covenants usually located near sites of magical power. The magical resources, called Vim, were differentiated by the path they belonged to: there was Ignem(fire) Vim, Herbam (plant) Vim etc. Vim could also be found or extracted from magically powerful entities, such as dragons, or antlers of an exceptionally large, white elk, etc.
Vim could be used to create magical items, in rituals to create more powerful and/or permanent effects, or to temporarily boost the casting mage.

In Ars Magica, mages have skills they can use to cast spells. A mage skilled in Creo (create) and Ignem (fire) could light up fires and create ribbons of fire to burn his enemies, but unless he knew Perdo (destroy) he couldn't extinguish flames and unless he knew Imaginem (images, illusions) he couldn't create an illusionary fire. He could try any of these effects spontaneously, but it is quite ineffective unless he had researched a formulaic spell for the spesific effect. These researched spells could be shared between mages of the same convenant, but everyone tends to have his or her own host of personal spells.

The verb-noun pairs that formed spells were chosen from these. The nouns match pretty well into Dominions paths.

Techniques (verbs): Creo (create), Perdo (destroy), Muto (change, transform), Rego (command, control, manipulate), Intellego (perceive, understand)


Forms (nouns):
* Animal: animal bodies and minds as well as animal products
* Herbam: plants and plant products (wood etc)
--> Nature

* Auram: air (weather is Auram or Aquam, depending; think Storm and Rain in Dominions)
* Imaginem: Illusions
--> Air

* Aquam: water and liquids
* Ignem: Fire
* Terram: Earth. Included Ice in editions that would have inspired Dominions, so that was changed.
--> other elements

* Mentem: human intelligence, ghosts
* Vim: Pure magic, banishing magical creatures
--> Astral

* Corpus: human body, including healing
-- no direct comparison; Death in Dominions is more D&D-ish necromancy combined with life drain



Also, there's no mana in Ars Magica. Mages can cast as long as they don't get too tired. The easiest spells can be cast without any fatigue, but more complex spells fatigue the mage when they are completed.

Oh, and there are auras that affect areas. Areas under Magic or Fey are easier to cast in, areas under Dominion (near and especially in churches, cathedrals and basically anywhere where lots of christians gather together, like big cities) were harder to cast in, and areas under Infernal influence could be dangerous in some way I don't remember any more.

Re: Idle mage time
 

No, because I tend to think of Illwinter as three people, even though I know that KO's brother technically isn't an employee.

I completely forgot about that passing reference to AM in the intro of the manual.