One noticeable omission from the Ars Magica core rules was detail on tactical movement rates. Although this gap was eventually filled in Lords of Men (LoM), the way in which it was calculated remained problematic. The Athletics Ability, which should be an important Ability for physically-oriented characters, has no real impact on the game merely by examining the various rules.

For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, this will be rectified by including Athletics in the calculations for tactical movement rates. The modified calculations have been added to Saga Scribe as follows:

Walking movement will equal 9 + (Quickness + Athletics)/2 - Encumbrance. The calculation uses a base of 9 rather than 10 because that fits empirical data concerning preferred walking speeds. Hustle movement will remain 2x walking movement, and sprinting movement will equal 4 x walking movement.

Athletics will also play a larger role in Fatigue losses. A character will be able to walk a number of hours each day equal to (Stamina + Athletics Score) without incurring Long-term Fatigue. Walking longer than this will incur one Fatigue level per hour. Resting can remove Fatigue penalties as usual, and resting at least an hour "re-sets" the character's walking Fatigue, allowing her to once again walk a number of hours equal to her (Stamina + Athletics Score) without incurring Fatigue.

On reasonably flat terrrain, characters walk about three miles each hour. Hilly or other difficult terrain may reduce this to two miles and hour, and very difficult terrain may reduce the effective rate of travel to only a mile an hour. Available daylight, weather, and other considerations may also affect effective rates of travel or hours walked in a day.

More strenuous paces may incur Fatigue penalties in shorter periods, and Fatigue gained from sustained strenuous movement will be Long-term Fatigue, as noted in the core rules. (Stamina + Athletics Score) may be added to Fatigue rolls in such cases, potentially averting Fatigue penalties.

If two or more characters with Divine powers or Divinely-inspired support are contending against each other (as might happen during a Crusade, for example), neither power or support works.
The Divine may choose to ignore this rule if it wishes.

For example, a character who learns about an area while traveling to Prague might choose to use some experience to develop an Area Lore. If the player put the points into Prague Lore, with a Score of 1, then any time the player checked that character's Prague Lore Ability, she would add +3 to the roll. This represents the relatively higher amount of detail that the character would have learned about a specific locality such as Prague. If however, the player chose to develop the experience as Bohemia Lore, then the modifier would be +0. The amount of experience the characer had is much less detailed when applied to a region such as Bohemia than to a specific place like Prague, and in use, the character would tend to know less about the larger area.

If the player chose to put the points into an even larger area, such as Central Europe, then a -3 modifier would apply to all uses of the Ability. The character's experience is much less applicable to knowledge of a Large Region. In general, characters should probably put experience into Localities and Regions, unless the amount of travel was wide enough to justify a larger area.

In all cases, the Area Lore should indicate a geographical area, rather than an area under a specific noble or prelate. Italy, for example, is the region of the Italian peninsula below the Alps, not any specific political entity. France, similarly, would indicate the area north of the Pyranees and west of the Rhine, regardless of which King or noble controls the land or parts thereof.

Tribunalia of the Order of Hermes are never Area Lores. Although Large Regions may include most or all of a given Tribunal, the region should be defined as a geographical area, rather than as a political entity such as a Hermetic Tribunal. Knowledge of Tribunalia and their characteristics should be a component of Order of Hermes Lore. Knowledge of a specific covenant may be specified as a Locality under Area Lore, however.

The core rules state on page 82 that spells and similar effects requiring concentration may be maintained, if not distracted, for up to fifteen minutes per rank in the Concentration Ability.

This Saga Rule modifies that rule and specifies that sustained concentration on a spell or similar effect may result in Long-term Fatigue. In all cases, concentration on an effect for short periods (Diameter or less), does not count towards the accumulation of Long-term Fatigue. I.e. a person can concentrate briefly on any number of effects without triggering this Saga Rule. However, if concentration is sustained on any effect for more than one Diameter, this Saga Rule applies.

As stated in the core rules, a person may sustain concentration for a maximum period of [Concentration Score x 15] minutes. This applies to the total amount of time spent concentrating on effects without resting; if concentrating on multiple effects, add the total time of concentration together (i.e. if concentrating on two effects simultaneously, a maga would be able to concentrate on both of them for half the period she would have been able to concentrate on only one).

Sustaining concentration on effects for a total amount of time greater than the period defined above will incur Long-term Fatigue. Once the period of [Concentration Score x 15] minutes has been exceeded, a person maintaining concentration must expend Long-term Fatigue to continue concentrating. Each Long-term Fatigue level will allow continuing concentration for a period of [(Stamina +5) x 3] minutes (or part thereof). This assumes no distractions or other complicating factors.

Long-term Fatigue may be avoided if a person rests in-between periods of concentration for a period equal to one-quarter of the total time spent concentrating on effects, since the person last fully rested. Fully rested means the person has no accumulated Fatigue, either short or long-term. This may require sleep to remove Long-term Fatigue levels.

For example, a magus with Stamina 0 and an effective rank of 4 in the Concentration Ability concentrates on an effect for one hour. At the end of that period, his concentration ebbs. If the magus rests for 15 minutes (one-quarter of the time spent concentrating), he may again cast and maintain an effect requiring concentration for a sustained period, without accumulating Long-term Fatigue.
If, however, the magus continued to maintain concentration, either on that effect or another, he would need to expend a Long-term Fatigue level to gain another 15 minutes {(Sta 0 +5) x 3}. He could expend a second Long-term Fatigue level if he maintained concentration for another 15 minutes, and so on. If the magus in this example had a higher concentration score, he would be able to maintain effects longer without accumulating Long-term Fatigue. With a higher Stamina score, he would be able to continue concentration with Fatigue for a longer period.

TMRE integrates the concepts of esoteric Mystery Cults into the Fifth Edition rules set in a generally reasonable fashion. As with any supplement with lots of rules, however, there are a few things that need to be modified for use in the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga.

Character knowledge concerning Mystery Cults will be limited. Although the Exoteric Mystery Cults are generally known (four of them are Hermetic Houses), and something about the existence of mysterious abilities is known to most Hermetic Magi (i.e. Bjornaer can change shape, Criamonis are weird, Merinitae like faeries, Verditii are good at enchanting), this is not the case for the Esoteric Cults. Even the existence of many Esoteric Cults is not commonly known, and characters in general have no idea that most of the special abilities mentioned in TMRE even exist, let alone what the actual capabilities are.

Although TMRE contains descriptions of various Mystery organizations, none of those organizations exist in the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga. Even if one of the published cults did exist, its name would be different. And even if the name was the same, the details would be changed for the Saga.

Spirits
TMRE states on page 28, under the section "New Summon and Command Spells," that Mentem spells can command any spirit with Intelligence, and Animal can command beast spirits with Cunning. This statement causes problems. For a spell to target a thing, the thing must be of that Form. With the exception of ghosts, very few spirits are actually entities of Mentem.

For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, the delineation is clear: Mentem only summons or controls ghosts or similar Mentem entities (if a spirit is Intelligent but not an entity of Mentem, Mentem effects may still target the memories or emotions of the spirit). Animal may indeed command a beast spirit with Cunning, but that does not imply that Animal may command any spirit with Cunning.

More generally, the new guidelines for spirits of (Form) presented on pg 28 of TMRE are applicable. Vim spells are appropriate for any spirit aligned with one of the Realms. Elemental spirits require Vim and a requisite Form appropriate to the elemental spirit.
Faerie spirits may be affected by such spells; most faerie spirits are aligned with a Form other than Vim. Such Faeries may be warded against using only the elemental Form, but to summon or command, a Vim spell with appropriate requisite is required.

Potent Spells
Certain standard Hermetic spells are actually Potent spells, and nearly all magi who know these spells know Potent versions, with Casting Tool requirements. These spells include:

The presentation of Domus Bjornaer in Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults is inappropriate for the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga.  The inconsistent aspects presented in that book will be replaced as noted below:

Heartbeast
The "Heartbeast Wheel" shown in HoH:MC will not be used as published; instead, a consistent pattern based on the four humours will be adopted: Choleric Heartbeasts are clawed beasts, Melancholic Heartbeasts are hoofed beasts, Phlegmatic Heartbeasts are aquatic & scaled beasts, and Sanguine Heartbeasts are feathered & flying beasts. There are beasts that veer toward the cusp with another humor. Horses and stags, for example, are Melancholic beasts tending toward a Choleric temperament. In contrast, bears and hares are Choleric beasts tending towards a Melancholic temperament.

Clans
The six Clans of Domus Bjornaer have been altered as well, as noted.

The Gathering of Twelve Years
The Gathering of Twelve Years is different in several respects from the presentation in HoH:MC and GotF. The opening ceremonies are not held within the regio, but on a beach at the base of the chalk cliffs below the conventum proper. This location allows all magi to assume their Heartbeast safely (a pool of fresh water is prepared for those magi who require it). There is no opening ritual forcing participants to assume their Heartbeasts, as it is unnecessary (shapeshifters are easily detectible through Hermetic magic).

The Ritual of Twelve Years is performed at this beach location, so that regardless of the Heartbeast assumed by the new member, there will be an appropriate natural environment close by.

The Bjornaer Council
The Bjornaer Council is slightly different from that presented in the published material, but most aspects are retained. One aspect that has changed is the Seat of the Fox. This is the Seat of Clan Maruhs. If the leader of the Domus also assumes the Primacy, combining the Seats of the Bear and the Wolf, then the leader appoints a member of Clan Wilkas to the Seat of the Lynx, to represent her Clan.
There is no Seat of the Horse. Istvan Padas occupies the Seat of the Stag.

In general, debates will not be "roll-played" using the rules in HoH:S (p.90-93).  The game mechanics presented there should be taken merely as an overall guide as to the kinds of rolls that might contribute to a debate situation; role-playing will be the determination of any ultimate results.

Many players have been dissatisfied with Confidence awards as practiced since early in the Saga; the Alpha Storyguide has similarly been dissatisfied with the common practice of hoarding Confidence Points; a compromise is desirable.

Confidence Points will be awarded at the end of each session, in a manner similar to that discussed in ArM5 Core Rules (see below), with one significant limitation. Any character with more than 9 Confidence Points after Confidence awards are complete will be reduced to 9 Confidence Points. Similarly, any character who, after Confidence awards are complete, still has 0 Confidence Points, will gain one Confidence Point. This should encourage players to use Confidence Points (deliberately) rather than hoard them.

The following guidelines will be used for Confidence Point awards:

- achieve a significant personal goal (this should be something that has clearly existed as a goal from previous sessions; emergent "goals" within a session will rarely, if ever be appropriate)

- significant contribution to a group goal (again, this should be a clearly recognized covenant, gilde, or Tribunal goal; emergent "goals" within a session are rarely appropriate)

- Success in a significant difficult task (limited to one per character per session)

- entertaining roleplaying of a character's Personality or Story Flaws, especially if such roleplaying is contrary to player-motivated outcome optimization, min-maxing, and similar factors

- bonus for exceptional contribution to the story; this will be rare, and should not be expected every session

- creative use of Storypath ("Whimsy") cards may result in a bonus point, but merely playing a card will not always result in an award

In all cases, a "goal" must be something that requires substantial roleplaying and/or effort on the part of the character(s). Anything that may be reasonably completed without effort (as in, spend a season and it is done) is not a significant goal, however important the achievement might seem to the character or player.

These guidelines are stated somewhat more restrictively than the wording in the Core Rules; however, characters who are played well and who are diligent about pursuing personal and group goals, should receive an average award of 2-3 points each session.

Art & Academe provides a short rule for managing childbirth. However, it assigns the Chirurgy Ability to midwives for this purpose. While some midwives may indeed have training in Chirurgy, there are many functions of a midwife that do not involve surgery, and chirurgeons do not typically deal with childbirth (A&A alludes to this by giving those inexperienced with childbirth a -2 penalty to their Chirurgy Ability).

The Bohemian Rhapsody Saga will use the following modified rule. Childbirth will require a series of Birthing Trials, which begin with a difficulty modifier of 6+ to avoid worsening the mother's condition, and 12+ to progress to the final stage of birthing. For each roll in which the mother worsens, the baby loses a Fatigue level, and if the baby loses five Fatigue levels, it dies in childbirth. For each roll in which the mother avoids worsening, but does not progress, she loses a Long-term Fatigue level. If the mother loses five Fatigue levels, the birth may fail without surgical intervention, and the mother's life is at serious risk. If the mother succeeds in progressing to the final stage of childbirth, the difficulty of Birthing Trials is reduced to 4+ to avoid worsening and 10+ to give birth. As before, if the mother's condition worsens, the baby loses a Fatigue level, and if the mother does not worsen, but does not give birth, the mother loses a Long-term Fatigue level. If the mother succeeds in giving birth, she gains the equivalent of a Medium Wound from damage to her body, but no further Birthing Trials are required.

A midwife may assist in the birthing process, adding her Profession: Midwife Abilty Score to the mother's Birthing Trials. Other assistance, such as magical interventions, may also modify (or even obviate the need for) Birthing Trials. Someone with the Chirurgy Ability may substitute for a midwife with a -2 penalty to the Chirurgy Ability Score. This also applies to assisting in recovery from a birthing "wound."

Surgical intervention in a birth is, however, a Chirurgy task, not a midwife task. Normal rules for surgery apply as stated in A&A. Childbed fever is also a risk, as stated in A&A (48), and is treated medically as a disease.

Ars Magica (p164) states that a teacher and student "must share a common language" but gives no detail on what that entails. For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, the following rule will apply:

For each season of instruction, add together the Ability Scores of the teacher and student in the language of instruction. Subtract 9 from the result to determine the Common Language Modifier (CLM). If the CLM is negative, apply it as a reduction in the bonus to instruction (3, 6, or 9, as appropriate for the number of students). The bonus to instruction cannot go below 0. If the CLM is positive, there is no effect on instruction.

Note that in a class with more than one student, each teacher-student combination has a potentially unique CLM.

Societates (p125) and Art & Academe (63-65) provide some basic rules for Profession: Apothecary. Unfortunately, one of the stated effects is far too mild, and provides too little incentive for this essential function.

For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, the penalty to Medicine for lack of proper apothecary supplies will be reduced by one for every two ranks (rounded down) of Profession: Apothecary Ability, rather than one per rank. For example, an apothecary with an Ability Score of 2 would reduce the penalty from -3 to -2; an apothecary with a score of 4 would reduce the penalty to -1, and an apothecary with a score of 6 or higher would eliminate the penalty altogether.

As noted, a higher Profession: Apothecary scores provides no bonus to Medicine.

The arrangement of four Tenentes by "season" presented in HoH:TL is very silly, and will not be used in the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga. The Tribunal groupings do work out fairly well, however, and will be retained. The four Tenentes are:

Medius leads Tenentes, regardless of seniority. Primus Bonisagi appoints whomever he pleases as Tenentes, but a junior magus has never been appointed to any of them.

In addition, there will be certain minimum requirements necessary to earn some titles, regardless of Acclaim Rank. For Cannophori, a fifth magnitude experimental effect, or a Minor Breakthrough must be published. For Dendrophori, a seventh magnitude experimental effect, or a Major Breakthrough, must be published.

Houses of Hermes: Societates (HoH:S) introduces rules for House Acclaim for Domus Flambonis.  Unfortunately, the rules state that a House Acclaim reputation thus gained results in a general Hermetic reputation, rather than one that is only applicable within Domus Flambonis.

One problem with this statement is that, if true, it is no longer House Acclaim.  Just because magi Flambonis think certain achievements are notable, doesn't mean that all magi do.  While some of the achievements listed in the rules for House Acclaim for Domus Flambonis are suitable for also granting a general Hermetic reputation, not all of them are.  This is no different than House Acclaim for Domus Bonisagi.  In point of fact, in a time of relatively extended peace, more magi are likely to accord respect for the types of achievements of magi Bonisagi than those of magi Flambonis.  But the core issue is that House Acclaim is a mark of status, not just one of reputation.

For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, the rules for House Acclaim in Domus Flambonis will be used, but they will not result in a general Hermetic reputation.  Only events that are also suitable for creating or affecting a general Hermetic reputation, in and of themselves, will do so.

Example: Winning a Certamen match of a significant nature, whether or not that occurs at a "tournament," is likely to help establish a Hermetic reputation.  In contrast, an exceptional Gauntlet (as judged by Domus Flambonis) is not likely to matter much to magi outside of Domus Flambonis, nor is going a year without gaining House Acclaim points at all likely to affect one's general Hermetic reputation.

A Hermetic reputation is one thing, House Acclaim is something of a different nature.  Although there can be overlap in contributions, they remain distinctly separate.

Faith and Flame, the Ars Magica supplement for the Provençal Tribunal (Aquitania), makes some drastic changes to the traditional Hermetic landscape. At least in part, these can be understood as a way of divesting old trademarks of the White Wolf era. For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, however, there is no need to jettison traditional Provençal elements such as Val Negra and Doissetep, which date back to the beginnings of the game. Aquitania, as presented previously in the Saga, will retain those aspects that were introduced, and thus diverge from Faith and Flame in several respects.

Castra Solis does not exist, and is not Domus Magna Flambonis. This alters much of the Hermetic political landscape of Aquitania as presented in Faith and Flame. Domus Magna Flambonis is whichever conventum at which the Primus happens to reside.

Val Negra was not destroyed in the Schism War (which would contradict every previous edition). Val Negra is a covenent in Winter, but is certainly not "lost" (an element of Faith and Flame that is merely a lame excuse for a dungeon crawl). Val Negra is currently Domus Magna Flambonis, as the current Primus Flambonis resides there. That could change if the Primus demises or moves.

Conventa Aquitaniae remain as listed and named on this website. There are some interesting concepts and good material in Faith and Flame, and some of that may be incorporated into the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, but it will not be as published in Faith and Flame.

Doissetep has some superficial similarities to the presentation of "Aedes Mercurii," as a conventum founded and dominated by pagan magi, with a Temple of Mercury. Most other conventa have no direct parallels in published material.

The Lion and the Lilly, the Ars Magica supplement for the Normandy Tribunal (Gallia), is a well-researched and detailed sourcebook. Unfortunately, it is not entirely useable as written for the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga. In summary, although many conventa as named will be used, their locations and details, as well as many of the magi, will be changed. Some magi may not be used, while others may be altered significantly.

The placement of conventa is irrational, being clustered too tightly in higher population areas, away from the most likely magical auras and vis sources. For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, the following changes will be made:

Conventum Domus Tremeris in Gallia is Nemus Saxatilis, near Carnac. It is one of the five great lieges of Gallia, replacing Oleron (which becomes a vassal of Nemus Saxatilis)

Conventum Nidi is located in Anjou, near the town of Saumur, rather than in the far south; it is a vassal of Montverte, rather than Oleron

Montverte is dominated by magi Flambonis and Jerbitonis; Tremeris have their own conventum.

Florum is located not in Ghent, but in Arras. The location of Spider's Palace also changes as a result

Domus Merceris maintains a Sedes Caducifera in Bruges; it is a vassal of Florum.

Confluensis is not located in Normandy, but in Auvergne, in a regio in the hills north of Issoire. In this change, the name refers to the confluence of the Couze and Allier rivers.

Requies Aeterna is a vassal of Confluensis.

Expectatio is a vassal of Fudaris, but is not located in Brittany. It lies in the Haute-Vienne, south of Limoges.

Lapis Crudus, Atsingani and Atramentum Renatus will not be used.

There never was a "Lotharangian Tribunal" in Ordo Hermei, but there is a movement to form one.

Generally, some of the material in this supplement may be used as written, but much will not be, should players venture into Gallia.

The Sundered Eagle, the Ars Magica supplement for the Theban Tribunal (Graecia), will in most respects not apply to the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, which had already defined conventa for that Tribunal long before publication of the relevant sourcebook. As always, some material may be adapted in some form.

The Contested Isle, the Ars Magica supplement for the Hibernian Tribunal (Hibernia), also makes some drastic changes to the traditional (second edition) Hermetic landscape. While much of the material is well-researched and grounded in Irish culture, there are a few aspects that will be different in the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga.

There is only one Sedes Caducifera (Mercer House) in Hibernia. The material for Leth Moga will be adapted, but the location is just outside Waterford. The material for Leth Cuinn may be adapted in part, but that entity does not exist in the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga.

Circulus Ruber is located just north of Ballynagree, in central Munster. Cursus Alcis, which takes the place of "Elk Run" in the Saga, is located in the Burren.

As noted, Elk Run as described in the text does not exist. Cursus Alcis is Conventum Domus Tremeris Hiberniae.
Although Domus Tremeris canonically has a "house" conventum in all but two Tribunalia, somehow nearly every Tribunal sourcebook published doesn't have one. One supposes that the authors for every sourcebook thought that "their" Tribunal was one of the two exceptions (those exceptions must be Helvetia and Sarmatia, for pseudo-canonical reasons dating from Fourth Edition sourcebooks).

Qui Sonant Pro Quieto does not exist. In its place, the "traditional" conventum Caefloron is re-inserted. Caeflorin is located in the hills of SW Ulster, near the border with Connacht.

Paruchia of Nerius does not exist.

As a general note, the composition of magi in this sourcebook is lopsided toward Tytali. Some of the magi in The Contested Isle will not be used as written, and the "violent" nature of the Tribunal will not derive from the philosophy of magi Tytali, but simply from the Irish culture of the period.

ArM5, unlike previous editions, does not describe a "Council of Archmagi." GotF does, however, re-introduce the title of Archimagus, and describes the requirements for achieving this distinction (24). There are no significant changes from previous editions, and thus the issues that arise from the stated rules are not unique to ArM5.

Issues do arise, however, and most devolve from the stated restriction that "no archmage may grant the title to more than seven magi." A later note states that of "the 1200 or so magi in the Order of Hermes, fewer than 80 have achieved this distinction." When these statements are considered more thoroughly, the combination raises a number of issues.

In brief, for the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, the restriction will be restated as "no archimagus may grant the title to more than four magi." As with the published rules, losing the last challenge (in this Saga Rule, the fourth challenge) is considered a disgrace, and most archimagi consider a challenge to an archimagus who has already lost three challenges to display poor etiquette and disrespect for the challenged archimagus.

Those interested in a more detailed discussion of the issues and calculations behind this Saga Rule will find it here.