The 5th Edition rules removed any experience that does not come from a seasonal activity, even for adventuring. While this does bring in-game advancement more in line with "fast rate" advancement, it has some undesirable side effects. One side effect is that players in a "slow rate" saga don't gain a strong sense of character accomplishment.

In a typical slow saga, the group might play for many weeks or months before even a single season passes.
To mitigate this side-effect, a single experience point will be awarded in each session to each character that significantly contributed to the role playing in that game session. This point will be awarded to a specific ability or art, appropriate to the character's actions in that session.

5th Edition describes a concept known as a "Pulsed Saga" that allows for periods of extensive role playing alternating with periods of fast seasonal development. If all of the characters are lab rats, this poses no special problems for character advancement. However, if one or more of the characters is not likely to spend ten years in the lab and library, this extended period might not fit the character concept and/or personality.

For some characters, it may be appropriate to assume a certain number of "adventures" during the pulsed speed period of fast seasonal development. The question then arises of how many experience points to award, and how to account for some of the other changes to the character that tend to happen to characters that are out adventuring, rather than sitting safe in their sanctum.

This rule attempts to address this gap by providing a trade-off system for acquiring more than five experience points during pulsed "adventures." The base rule is that for any "adventuring" season that was not actually role played with the group, the source quality of the adventure is five points. The source quality of that season may be increased to a maximum of ten points through selecting one or more of the following options:

A magus character may increase the source quality by three points for electing to gain two Warping Points in a single event, thus requiring a check for Twilight effects. The character may similarly elect to increase the source quality by five points by electing to gain three Warping Points in a single event.

A magus character may increase the source quality by three points by spending a pawn of Vis. No other gain is acquired from such expenditure of Vis, and no more than one pawn of Vis may be spent in this fashion in one season.

Any character may increase the source quality by two points for each Confidence Point spent. No more than two Confidence Points may be spent in this manner in any single season. Characters never gain additional Confidence Points during pulsed adventure seasons.

Any character may increase the source quality by one point for each Warping Point gained during the season. Such points are assumed to each be gained separately, and thus normally would not induce any additional special events (such as Twilight).

Any character may increase the source quality by one point per penalty point of Wounds gained during the season. No more than two Light Wounds may be taken in this manner, and no more than one wound of Medium or greater severity may be taken.
- this option must be selected for any season with a source quality of greater than five in which experience is applied to Martial Abilities
- all Wounds and associated penalties are in effect at the time the saga returns to normal pacing, and must be healed / dealt with at that time.
There is one exception to the above rule regarding Wounds: any character may choose to convert up to five penalty points of wounds gained in a single season into an adventuring "scar" by assigning an aging point to Presence or any physical characteristic. All of the wounds converted must have been taken in a single season: if wounds were taken in several seasons, each season's worth of wounds must be converted separately. This option applies even to characters who are not yet subject to normal aging.

Any character may increase the source quality by three points by taking a "temporary" flaw that will act as a story hook. This may be an actual flaw, such as Enemy, Plagued by Supernatural Entity, or Depressed, or may be just a situation hook devised by the Storyguide. The flaw or hook is chosen by the Storyguide and will last until the story hook is resolved. Since resolution of these story hooks cannot occur during the pulsed-rate seasons, these flaws will always be in effect when the saga returns to normal pacing. Unlike normal "permanent" flaws, these flaws are not part of the character's essential nature.  Only one such "temporary" flaw may be taken during any pulsed Saga period.

Base Quality is the quality with which each book starts, before modification according to the author's traits.
Text Quality is the result of applying bonuses or penalties according to the author's traits (virtues, flaws, or abilities).
Final Quality is the result of applying further bonuses that are independent of the author's traits.

The Final Quality of a tractatus cannot be less than one.

The Final Quality of a summa cannot be less than one.

An additional factor, which is not specifically mentioned in Covenants, is "Poor Illumination." If the book contains no illumination, reduce Base Quality by 3. If the book contains illumination, but is of poor quality (either due to inferior materials or inexperience on the part of the illuminator), then reduce the Base Quality by 2; these modifiers may reduce the Base Quality below 3.

The effects of these rules can be seen graphically in charts for tractatus and summae, which show the resulting quality ranges by the Author's Com score, for a mix of assumptions.

Covenants (102) states that a realia collection may be studied as a tractatus, with a quality based on the number of specimens in the collection. However, in a later paragraph, it is stated that a realia collection may be studied as many times "as it has levels of quality."

As tractatus generally do not allow multiple seasons of study for benefit, nor do they have a "level of quality," this statement makes little to no sense. It is possible that the author intends that realia may be studied repeatedly for benefit, but chose a poor comparison. Neither tracatus nor summae fit the mechanics described.

For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, realia collections will therefore be considered as a unique type of study source, which is capable of being studied repeatedly for benefit. Each realia collection has a Source Quality, determined as noted in Covenants, based upon the number of "unique and highly informative pieces" in the collection. Each realia collection also has a new factor, called the Iteration Score, which is the number of times each collection may be studied for benefit. The Iteration Score initially is also determined by the number of "unique and highly informative pieces" in the collection, but decrements with each season of study by a magus. Thus, the Iteration Score should be tracked individually for each magus. Once the Iteration Score for a given magus reaches 0, that realia collection may no longer be studied for benefit by that magus, even if new pieces are added to the collection.

For this reason, some covenants or magi may maintain multiple smaller collections of realia, representing earlier studies with no remaining iterative benefit, and a later collection or collections, which represent current studies.

The rules regarding styles or schools of Certamen in True Lineages are either unclear or undesirable regarding how magi become "followers" of a School, rather than merely trained to duel in the "style" of a School. The following clarification will be used regarding Schools of Certamen for the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga:

Apprentices are normally trained in the basics of Certamen by their parentes, in the style of the Gladiator. This does not make that apprentice a "member" of the Gladiator school, as that school has no known members per se (although rumors persist that there is some secret school). If a magus has been trained in Certamen at all, they are always able to duel in the style of the Gladiator. As stated on page 137 of True Lineages, this also enables them to fight in the style of the Gladiatrix as well.

An apprentice whose parens is a member of one of the Schools is normally trained to duel in the style of that School, as well as in the style of the Gladiator/Gladiatrix; this is normally done at the same time The Gift is Opened (and indeed, provides a convenient medium for ensuring that all of the Arts are functional). The parens may, if they choose, induct their apprentices as "followers" of their School as well, and often do (although stingy or tormenting masters may not have done so). This requires a separate season of instruction.

Magi may study with a teacher of a new School for a season, learning the rudimentary techniques of the School. This enables them to duel "in the style" of that School. Further training (at least another season, perhaps more at the Troupe's discretion) is necessary to become a member or "follower" of the School. This enables the magus to duel "as a follower" of the School, using the full capability of the School.

Magi may learn the rudimentary techniques of as many Schools as they wish, but may not become members ("followers") of more than one School unless they possess the Harenarius Virtue, which allows them to master two Schools. No magus has ever mastered more than two Schools, and very few outside of Domus Tremeris have this Virtue. It is rumored that Domus Tremeris has a secret ritual that can imbue a magus with this Virtue, although at what cost to the magus?

The rules for magical creature advancement in RoP:M are internally consistent with the conceptual nature of magic and magical creatures presented in that book. However, those rules are incongruous with some of the Core rules statements regarding familiars. One pertinent example comes from The Familiar In Play (page 105): "Over the years, your familiar learns what you know, provided that you keep the familiar with you when you study and that you share your knowledge with it."

Note that no mention is made of the need to feed vis to your familiar to overcome the reduction in advancement totals due to Might. This is perhaps understandable, given that RoP:M was published several years after the Core rules; not every innovation that is introduced in subsequent supplements could be anticipated by the authors of the Core rules. However, there remains no good reason that familiars should be entirely limited in advancement in the ways that other magical creatures are limited. It is not the intent of this rule to remove the hindrance to learning/changing that is part of the nature of a magical being.  It is solely to improve how the rules from RoP:M align with the Core rules about familiars.

There are a few possible ways one can interpret each separate phrase of that sentence in the Core rules, but taken all together, the possible meanings narrow.  For example, the statement "learns what you know" could support the idea that the familiar can learn any ability the magus has.  However, this is only "provided" that the familiar is with the magus as the magus studies.  That indicates that the familiar is learning as the magus does; thus the learning referred to in this sentence is not independent.  This is further supported by the "over the years" phrase, implying that the learning is a gradual thing.  Further, the magus can choose whether or not to share his learning with the familiar, so it isn't some automatic-by-osmosis-through-the-Bond thing.  If the magus doesn't allow the familiar to read over his shoulder, so to speak, then the familiar can't learn what the magus is learning, even if the familiar can read.

There are some other statements in an earlier section of the Core Rules that are potentially applicable: "Familiars can learn Abilities in the same way as humans.  They cannot, however, learn magic, although they can learn Hermetic Theory and serve as laboratory assistants."  This is informative, as it does allow for the possibility of the familiar learning independently of the magus, but the key difference is that these statements are "can" statements.  They are possible, but not mandatory.  Thus, although it is possible that the familiar can learn Abilities, it is also possible that it needs to consume some vis to do so.  In contrast, the later statement in the Core rules is a positive declaration: the familiar does learn what the magus knows, if the stated conditions are met.  This is a big difference, and the reason for this Saga rule.

Because it is not the intention of this rule to do away with the way the nature of magical beings affects their advancement, some comprimise is desirable. The core difference between a familiar and some other magical creature is the Bond it shares with a magus. Thus, it is reasonable to allow that Bond to influence the familiar's advancement, reducing the impact that the familiar's Might has on its advancement totals, when the familiar is learning along with the magus.

Use the Bond strength (i.e. the Lab Total of the Bond enchantment) as the number of experience points in an Art. The resulting Bond score reduces the effective Might of the familiar for the purposes of applying a penalty to advancement totals. The penalty may be further reduced by consumption of vis, as noted in RoP:M.

This reduction only applies when the familiar is learning along with the magus (i.e. the same source of Advancement, although not necessarily the same assignment of resulting experience points); it does not apply to independent learning by the familiar. It does apply to direct one-on-one teaching by the magus to the familiar.

Exemplia Gratia: Caitlyn has a familiar cat, Humphrey, who has a Might score of 10. Caitlyn's lab total for the Bond is 32. 32 points translates to an Art score of 7, so the strength of the Bond is 7. Whenever Humphey processes an advancement total, he would subtract 10-7=3 points from the total, rather than the 10 as a normal magical creature would. If Caitlyn also feeds Humphrey a pawn of vis, the penalty would be further reduced from 3 to 1.

Later, Caitlyn strengthens the familiar Bond, with a lab total of 46. 46 points translates to an Art score of 9, so the strength of the Bond is 9, and Humphrey can now subtract 9 from his Might when determining the penalty to his advancement total when learning alongside Caitlyn.

Apprentices introduces rules for how Hermetic Virtues are passed from parentes to filii. These rules are somewhat useful, but problematic in several regards. There are several issues surrounding the acquisition of the "House" virtue that are muddled and there is no provision made for Hermetic Virtues to manifest independently of the parens, even though most characters created have significant variation from the Hermetic Virtues of their parentes. There is also a significant difficulty in passing along Hermetic Virtues, in that the rules as stated would make it nearly impossible for the average magus to pass along a Major Hermetic Virtue.

For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, a few changes will be made. First, the process of Opening the Arts allows a single Hermetic Virtue to be passed from parens to discipulus. This may be the "House" virtue if desired, or may be another virtue. The rules for required Source Quality as stated in Apprentices must be met (15 for a Minor Virtue, 21 for a Major Virtue), but with one modification; during the Opening of the Arts, a +6 special bonus applies. This means that most magi will be able to initiate a Minor Virtue without an accompanying flaw, and magi may be able to initiate a Major Virtue more readily (although typically still requiring a Hermetic Flaw of the parens to be passed on to the discipulus). This is a typical method for passing along the "House" virtue to a discipulus, but a different virtue may be passed along if the parens desires.

Secondly, even non-Hermetic virtues may be passed along in this way, as appropriate for a desired "House" virtue. This is important for Bonisagi, Jerbitonis, Tytali, and some Ex Miscellanea. Guernici typically have Hermetic Prestige, which is unaffected by this rule, but those who are Terram specialists may pass an appropriate virtue along in this manner.

Note that some Virtues may not be taught, and thus are not capable of being passed along through this mechanism. Virtues such as Mythic Blood, Faerie Blood, Personal Vis Source, Ghostly Warder, etc are not appropriate because they are not teachable Virtues.

These changes do imply that some discipuli may not receive initiation into one of the specified "House" virtues, if the parens chooses to do something else. This situation already exists to some extent in the Societates, but these rules do allow a member of a True Lineage to do something different if desired. This is unlikely in the case of a True Lineage, but possible.

This potential is desirable, as it allows for the creation of new lineages. Most parentes will do things the traditional way, but a few may choose not to do so, and this Saga Rule allows for that possibility.

A third change is as follows: previous Hermetic Virtues do NOT add to the difficulty of passing along additional virtues. This is a very silly inclusion into the otherwise reasonable analogy with Mystery initiations. Instead, we are going to take an additional page from the Mystery rules, and allow Hermetic Flaws to provide additional Source Quality bonuses to later initiations of Hermetic virtues by the parens, on a reduced scale as defined in TMRE. Minor Flaws apply a +2 Source Quality bonus to the next subsequent initiation, and a +1 bonus to the second subsequent initiation. Major Flaws provide a +6 Source Quality bonus to the next subsequent initiation, and a +3 bonus to the second subsequent initiation. No bonus is provided after the second subsequent initation from either Minor or Major Hermetic Flaws.

Finally, there is the issue of indepently manifested Hermetic Virtues. Nothing in this rule prevents an apprentice from manifesting Hermetic virtues that are not passed on by the parens, with two constraints. As stated in the Core Rules, no starting character may have more than one Major Hermetic virtue, and the character must comply with the limit of ten points of starting virtues, balanced by equal points of flaws (except for the "House" virtue).

The core rules (p102) define two functions under writing laboratory texts. One is writing out a text for a spell or enchantment that the magus has notes for, and the other is copying an existing, fully written-out text. Each uses a separate Ability. For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, it is possible to combine these two functions within a single season of writing lab texts, subject to the following constraints.

Each function may take up no more than half a season. Use the following formulae to determine the half-season allowances:

More granular combinations of these two functions are not possible within a single season.

Correspondence Collections

Covenants (p90) discusses texts that are collections of correpondence. However, the rules as stated do not make much sense, and the quality mechanic does not correspond to existing Saga rules for tractatus. For the Bohemian Rhapsody Saga, the following rules will be used for collections of correspondence.

A collection of correspondence, to be of value, must contain at least twelve exchanges (24 total letters). Quality is determined as for a Tractatus, with the Base Quality determined by the lowest Profession: Scribe Score used for any of the included letters, but a minimum Base Quality of 1. No modifier for high-quality Illumination is applicable for a collection, but increasing the number of letters may increase Base Quality. For every six exchanges (12 additional letters) added to the collection, Base Quality may be increased by one point, up to a maximum Base Quality of 7.

Text Quality is determined as per tractatus, with the Communication Scores of the corresponding magi added together and divided by four, rounding up, to determine the applicable increase to Text Quality. Other bonuses to text quality may apply, but the lowest modifier applicable must be used. Thus, to qualify for a Language bonus, for example, both magi participating must have had an applicable Language Score of 7+ for the entire duration of the correspondence. This will tend to eliminate modifiers for Text Quality, but may not in exceptional circumstances.

Collections may not be Commentaries unless all correspondence was specifically written about a specific text. Collections may be glossed by a third magus who has a higher Communication Score than either participant. Collections may benefit from applicable resonances or clarification.

A character can review a text without reading it for gain, or without using the text to invent a spell in laboratory. However, to do so requires a day of time per text, which counts as a distraction from other seasonal activities.

Once reviewed, the character may estimate the quality of a text by making a Com + Latin (or applicable language) 9+ roll; or the lab total required with a Com + Hermetic Theory 9+ roll; and may make a Per + Craft: Percamenarius roll 9+ to identify any physical problems present for that specific copy of a text. Higher results may yield increased information.