title: Ubi Sodales?
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category: games
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    <p>Recently I found myself attending a meeting of the 
    <a href="http://oakland.pm.org/">Oakland Perl Mongers</a> with the
    threat of a party in Berkeley in the evening.  So I decided to
    bum around Berkeley for a while.  I asked where I should kill
    time and one person told me I should visit 
    <a href="http://www.gamesofberkeley.com/">Games of Berkeley.</a>
    Not a bad idea, given I have fond memories of that store.</p>

    <p>About $61 later, I had come out with the item I intended to
    buy -- 
    <a href="http://www.uberplay.com/games/alhambra/index.html">Alhambra,</a>
    a bidding and building game that could be considered a
    relative of the Carcassonne family -- and two impulse buys.
    The first of them was 
    <a href="http://www.zmangames.com/products/BFM/BFM.htm">Baby's
    First Mythos,</a> which caused much amusement and loss of sanity.
    The second impulse buy was...well, maybe not really an impulse
    buy, given that I've long intended to get my hands on it.</p>

    <p>I was first introduced to Ars Magica when the 
    <a href="http://www.atlas-games.com/arsmagica/index.php">4th 
    edition</a> was shiny and new.  As they have been threatening
    for a while now, <a href="http://www.atlas-games.com/">Atlas
    Games</a> has published the 
    <a href="http://www.atlas-games.com/arm5/">5th edition</a>.  Why
    the core rulebook was $25 hardbound and the thinner hardbound
    optional sourcebook was more expensive, I don't know.  Gateway
    drug strategy, I guess.</p>

    <p>I have fond memories of Ars Magica.  It was the first tabletop
    role-playing game I had encountered that:</p>

    <ul>
        <li>Wasn't Dungeons and Dragons;</li>
        <li>Encouraged a long-term view of the characters;</li>
        <li>Discouraged min-maxing;</li>
        <li>Had a sensible, flexible magic system.</li>
    </ul>

    <p>It looks like the new edition has kept the soul of the game
    intact, while adding some needed clarifications.  I'd love to
    run a saga again, but I'm afraid that it might take me an entire
    year of preparation (quite literally).  So I wonder if I can't
    find others who are interested who may want to help me out in
    such an endeavour.  No, this isn't an official call for
    participation, but if enough comments magically show up, who
    knows what may happen.</p>

    <p>Besides, I'd love to have a weekly game going again, and
    taking a vaction from the realm of d20 could be a good idea.</p>