The Magus
A downloadable game
Now live on Kickstarter! https://magus-oracle.com/ks
The Magus is a solo journaling tabletop RPG that takes you on a sweeping journey for power, ambition, and arcane mastery, at great personal and interpersonal cost.
For the entirety of February, 100% of sales went directly to charity. While that period has ended, every contribution is still dearly appreciated. See update.
About
As a journaling game, you will roll dice, track stats, create spells, and write imaginary experiences from the perspective of your character: a wizard, newly embarking on their quest for power, their head filled with grand visions of mastery.
I finally mastered the Forge Chain spell. I had to create a pact with a demon -- forgive me Elia -- but it is worth it. It has to be. It's the only way to bring peace to the kingdom...and glory to me.
This RPG is crunchy. You will use several polyhedral dice to manage four traits: Focus, Power, Control, and Scars, which shape how the protagonist overcomes challenges and meets their denouement after seven, fateful events.
Perhaps they sail to the Enigmatic North in search of the final homonculus.
Perhaps they burrow deep underground to escape their eldritch overlords.
Or perhaps they go mad with power, and plunder innocent lives for M O R E
Everything comes at a cost, however: will you spend your scant remaining time to acquire more powerful spells, or nurture the few connections keeping you human?
Overcome fantastic challenges with your fledgling power, meet strange creatures along the way, and fly close to the sweet sun of omnipotence.
Featuring fifty exquisitely-designed pages, The Magus is a memorable experience about sacrifice, loneliness, and the power of magic and pathos coursing through all of us.
Sample Plays:
- A sorcerer's climb to power, and the catastrophe that follow (credit: Kin) http://willkinchlea.com/journal-the-magus/
- An ambitious mage finds friends along the way (credit: PercyPropa) https://twitter.com/PercyPropa/status/1355422185343516673
- In which the magus aims for a better world, and finds an ally they truly care for https://twitter.com/PaulCzege/status/1357800664672264192
Recognition
On November 2021, The Magus was awarded with the Giovine Italia medal from Carbonerie Ludiche in Italy.
Folks who interested in buying the physical game in Italian may purchase it from NessunDove!
A message from momatoesPurchasing this game is deeply appreciated and directly supports me. That said, free copies are also available—no questions asked—simply email me at hello@momatoes.com ───── Other tiny ways to support:
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Status | Released |
Category | Physical game |
Release date | Jan 29, 2021 |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (101 total ratings) |
Author | momatoes |
Tags | journal, Magic, poc-made, solo, Tabletop |
Asset license | Creative Commons Attribution_ShareAlike v4.0 International |
Average session | A few hours |
Languages | English |
Links | Official site |
Mentions | ZineMonth 2024: The Magus & The Oracle |
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $15 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- Ending in three days: Magus KickstarterFeb 26, 2024
- The Magus: Through the Looking GlassMay 04, 2022
- A small typo fixed with the Clear VersionMar 14, 2022
- The Magus receives the Giovine Italia recognition from Carbonerie Ludiche!Nov 23, 2021
- Nominated for indie RPG award in Italy!Sep 28, 2021
- New! One-page summary of play now available as a stand-alone PDF.Aug 13, 2021
- New: The Magus, Clear VersionAug 01, 2021
- Session Zero LaunchJan 30, 2021
Comments
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I just finished playing and woah, this game is huge and intense! It tears and tugs and isolates and corrupts, what a great experience! I filled 14 pages of narrow handwritten text in my solo game journal. Thank you for this great piece of art!
this goes CRAZY. I love this game and I love magic and tragedy. already thinking about playing again
It was honestly a much more emotional experience than I expected. I approached the game with some skepticism, but the theme intrugued me, and I was looking for an excuse to write without the torture of editing, so I gave it a shot. I will say I definitely recommend the original printing of the game as opposed to the clear version. The little "handwritten" notes and the surreal art add to the experience. I love how unknowable and alien the aesthetic looks. It makes me wish the events themselves used fewer standard fantasy tropes and more of that. However, the events are still very solid. The game loop is simple enough that you don't get taken out of the experience, and the whole thing lasts no longer than it needs to. The game pushes you towards exploring its ideas in a nice way, and I can see anyone who likes the theme and enjoys creative writing having a blast with this.
If I were to offer some feedback or criticism, it would mainly be about one aspect of the gameplay. The theme of the game is loneliness through ambition and the seductive influence of power. Some parts of the gameplay play into this quite well. You will have to sacrifice Bonds if you want more Power and fewer Control hits. However, there is one large part where this alignment of gameplay and narrative breaks: incentives. The game tries to disguise this a bit by telling you that a magus without spells is of no use, but early on you may realise something... Spells are bad. (At least if your aim is to survive the full seven events.) After a progress roll you always choose whether to play the event you landed on or go to the next one. Sometimes both events are Spells, but often this is a choice between a Bond and a Spell. The problem is that a Bond is a risk-free resource and a Spell is almost exclusively an obstacle. The Spell could give you a point of Focus if you succeed with distinction, but that is both unlikely and a lot worse than what a Bond offers. I realise this is a narrative game, and I should not approach it from the point of view of optimisation, but it feels odd that even if your aim was ruthless ambition, the way to do that is to aim for Bonds, so you can increase your Power. It is a bit of a nitpick. The gameplay is not broken; it's quite enjoyable. There's just this odd quirk to it.
Overall, I recommend the game. It might not be the most replayable solo-RPG out there due to the very specific theming and the amount of events, so take that into considerations when you look at the price, but it will certainly be worth your time if you decide to buy it.
Haven't gotten the chance to play yet, but the prompts are great and character creation is super interesting. One of the games I've been most excited about this year, mainly because it seems to be as as good for creative writing as it as for solo roleplaying. The artwork is fun and really helps drive home the atmosphere. Def worth checking out!
I finished my first playthrough and managed to experience a good-ish? ending.
I discovered the nature of magic was to destroy your own soul during casting, so wizards would kill people en masse in order to graft extra souls onto their own for protection (kind of like an eldritch sunscreen). My parents did this to me as a young child killing themselves and all of our family's servants. I wished to stop this sort of thing from happening ever again. I managed to mostly learn spells without scars, except for becoming reviled after learning Promise of Brokenness (oops). I nurtured a bond with my frog familiar and spent 3 focus to gain power. Then when it came time to cast my final greatest spell I had to sacrifice my soothsayer companion for enough power to successfully cast Dark Paradox of Mathematics. This spell changed magic forever so that wizards would now only ever be able to hurt themselves to help others, and never the other way around. With nothing left to accomplish, I said goodbye to froggy friend and left my tower forever with a sense of peace.
So pretty cool game, thanks for making it!
You are oh so close to making this a size that can be printed as a booklet without having to trim every page. Any way to make the printable version's pages a little taller? I will convert it to a booklet and sent it back for you to use :)
This is a marvellous game and is a great introduction to solo role playing. The story, thanks to the well written prompts, took me on an unexpected journey into the heart of solitude and the cost of power. It can sometimes ask unsettling questions about what you are prepared to sacrifice to achieve your ambition, but you always have the option to step away. Playing a game that is capable of surprising you at every turn is a delight! This is a designer worth following. Thank you Momatoes! I look forward to exploring your other work.
Ok, I came back after my first run is completed. I really really liked it. I found it similar to thousand year vampire but shorter, wich is good, and with less book keeping, wich is really good.
It has a lot of replayibility due to the prompts being randomizable.
The only thing i could say, is that i tried to be good, and ended up beeing quite able to do so. I was kinda expecting the game to force me into darker places. I could have totally gone there if I wanted though.
Really good Game!
Cheers Momatoes
I just started playing and I´m already enjoying it very much. Really worth giving it a try!
A very enjoyable solo experience! The prompts are creative, the layout and atmosphere are great! The game can get really dark really quick, exploring the solitude of great power. Had a day-long playing-writing session and soon would again
absolutely incredibly solo ttrpg, the first one I've full played through in like..a year and a bit? i reckon the replayability value is through the roof - i've just sat down and written my answer for 6 hours STRAIGHT so i'll probably give it a few months before I try playing it again though haha. massive kudos to the creator, you really just dropped a masterpiece on us like I wouldn't forgo sleep to play. my playthrough can be found here (https://butchboar.wordpress.com/2023/05/12/the-magnus-response-review/) if anyone wants a nosey.
Good game. I liked the prompts and the overall idea very much. The game is very Prospero-esque and the process is flexible enough to accommodate to various character ideas.
I'd like to have more various prompts for bond progression, as currently all bond events have the same prompt in the Nurture section. I also found the endings a little bit underdeveloped. I'd like to be able to role for some final prompts, perhaps with various options depending on how good or bad my magus had fared.
Summary of my playthrough:
My wizard was an absolvent of an elite magical school who dabbled in powerful magic, trying to bring a world revolution. He ended up both causing World War I and resolving it and his final spell changed the reality to create a completely new dynamics of power in the world. He ended up as an artifact of an forgotten old world, a eccentric professor surrounded by multiple friends.
hello
Dear reader wondering if this game is worth it: it is. Everybody talk about how great the game is in the other comments, you can go and read those instead. I myself can't wait to start
But can we talk for a second about the layout? Light text on dark and evocative pictures, a bold choice of colors and fonts, and it WORKs. Seriously, this game makes a cliche gothic font just... work like it's nothing.
The destructurated page layout makes me think of mork borg -OK, which destructurated page layout wouldn't? - and I love it.
And here comes the best part: the credit section informs you that IT. WAS. MADE. ON. POWERPOINT.
I'm truly in awe, both at the game desing and at the tenacity and spite needed to pull this of.
Dear author, congrats.
Great game! I played some months ago a session and I found it deeply touching. My unnamed magus even had a happy ending, although he left behind all his magic. You can read the actual play (in spanish) in my blog: The Magus, review and actual play. Yes, in a blog, not in a video; I'm a traditionalist ;)
A deep and tragic game about ambition and isolation. Magus tempts you twice fold with impossible odds. First, embark on the path of power without ever losing control. Second, to be strong without ever being vulnerable.
My first session felt like a marathon of blood. From the beginning, Magus plays the clever trick of presenting you an out: "Perhaps the best course of action you could take is to never play". The text clearly shows how dangerous your journey of power can be. The world could be pummeled to dust if you made one simple mistake. But your path as a Magus almost feels too simple to fail. Make a compromise here, stay the path once in a while there and grab power when it's safest. What could ever go wrong with you at the helm?
Then you do make a mistake. And sacrifices must be made. But it's okay. You have power. And there are plenty of people to take the blow for you. You took on a debt for them. Now would be their turn. When the dominoes finally start falling in front of you, you will have already convinced yourself you still hold all the cards.
I really recommend taking a weekend to play this. If not give it a read.
The Magus was my first solo RPG and it was so fun. I'm a writer trying to defeat a writer's block and similiar exercises like these are perfect for that! If the physical copy ever released outside of italy I would love to buy it!
The Magus is an indescribable experience. As a writer and huge RPG fan, I was surprised by both the quality of the game and the creativity behind the prompts. In general, I had a lot of fun playing it (it took me just one day, since I was so involved with my characters and the overall experience of the game that I lost track of time).
Here’s my actual play of The Magus set in the universe of Cultist Simulator/The Book of Hours since I think it fits perfectly thematically (sadly, the actual play is in Italian).
Thank you for sharing! ^^
A play through and review of a beautiful game.
I am normally not a journaling soloist but this game is a surprise hit for me due to the little gameplay mechanics added. Recommended!
Thank you so much. I can't imagine the effort it took to edit and capture all this wonderful content. I'm glad it was a meaningful experience!
No problem and "thank you" for the great game!
I personally find video logging a nice alternative for "Journaling" as well. It captures the moment to moment feeling better than writing down a paragraph for me.
Absolutely love it! In the middle of my first playthrough, and I'm so hooked!
Just a small comprehension question (that is not troubling my play at all, it's mostly out of curiosity). In the Bonds section, there is written the following about gaining Bonds : "You only need to forego learning a SPELL every time you wish to pursue human connection."
It kind of never comes up again so I'm not sure what you meant? I understand you can forego new connections to nurture one you already have, and that you can skip one event to go to the next, but sometimes the next event after a Spell is also a Spell so I don't think that's what you meant either?
Thank you very much for this game!
Oh, no worries! I had meant it in the sense of, "you only have seven events, so if you take a bond then that uses up an event that could've gone to a spell". I hope that makes sense!
I feel like the replay value on this will be very high. I struggled a little in some places, where the prompts felt simultaneously slightly too vague and a little constricting, but I suspect that is user error rather than a fault of the writing. I'll definitely be coming back to this game, and experimenting with a different playstyle. Thank you for making this!
Thank you so much for giving it your time and attention! I hope with replay, it becomes more seamless to write. Enjoy once more!
Hey, I really liked the concept. What thought, effort, and imagination you have shared with us. Very well done and thank you!
Planning to maybe get some DND friends in on it and do some group writing.
Also this is so unnecessary, but I made a guide sheet for myself. If anyone else wants to use it please help yourself <3 Made with CSP
download image here
Your Magus character might even work as character seeds for heroes or NPCs in a future game :) I'm glad you enjoy!
I was really thinking that as well! The possibilities are endless :>
Yes thank you for making this. I was finding myself wishing for something like this after I got to my first reflection.
oh glad you like it : ) Was hoping somebody would lol! Here is the second page btw: link to image here
What a beautiful experience! I did not know solo journaling tabletops could be so immersive and and filled with dilemmas. I yearn for more.
Thank you for the kind words!
This was lovely! A really interesting conception for a game, quite enjoy it as a very meditative experience! :)
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the experience :)
Great game! do you know what is the best way to print the English version out?
Thank you, Melvinti! That's a good question, as currently the versions uploaded have dark background pages, which makes for a difficult printing experience. Unfortunately, there's no easy answer—the "one-page summary" is printable, but at the moment there's no print version that's ink-friendly for the rest of the game.
Hi Momatoes, Sorry I missed your reply. I am not too worried about ink-friendly but more on the size / layout.
Is there any version that are in more conventional size or porportion (A4 or maybe US letter)?
No, I'm afraid not at this time!
I've never seen a solo ttrpg before, this is great! Exactly what I need after repeatedly failing to start games with other people.
And the story is right up my alley too! Let's see what comes of this ~
Thank you so much! I hope your story is as magical as it is captivating.
Absolutely brilliant art, design and gameplay! Definitely going to have multiple playthroughs of this, there are so many ways a story can go with the choices provided.
Thank you so much! I always get a kick when someone shares a story and it turns out two folks had the same random roll but interpreted it so differently.
This game is everything I want to be when I grow old
It makes me cry how amazing it looks and how wonderful it is.
It's truly an inspiration.
It took me several months to decide how to response, as a part of me is still afraid you commented to troll me, but words like these are very reaffirming and I'm very glad it inspired you. I'm excited to see if it sparked more games or stories from you, too!
Oh no, I whole-heartedly commented here! But I understand! The times I've played the game everything was amazing, I'm planning to do a visual AP for it, I'll share it with you here when it is done.
Momatoes is not only a talented illustrator; she is also a talented author and layout artist. Proof of this is Magus, a single-player game laid out in PowerPoint "just because". You play as a power-craving mage, ready to make any sacrifice to acquire the absolute power, even if it means consuming the world... A game that is not very joyful and funny, but very interesting in its mechanics that leave a lot of room for randomness, which I find quite rare in the single-player games I know.
Thank you so much Côme! This is a very touching review from you, and I'm pleased you found even the touches of chaos valuable.
Currently playing this and I am enjoying every bit of it! I just wonder if it's possible to get an easy to print separate sheet for page 23 summary of play? I am struggling to select the text to print so that I can have a loose sheet to refer to. Wondering if that's a possible offering? Thank you so so much! Loving this gorgeous game.
I've added it now : )
I hope it works according to your needs!
Oh my gosh thank you!!! This indeed is perfect.
Great Game! Thank You!
Thank you so much! I hope it gives you many fantastic play memories.
Yes, I'm playing my 4th game. The Italian manual is fantastic. Here my review (in Italian) of your Magus : https://www.goblins.net/recensioni/magus-gioco-di-ruolo-di-arti-arcane-e-sacrifi...
Dear Momatoes, you rock!
Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it ^^
As it turns out, a few kind people left reviews but unfortunately Itch does not display them. I hope it is alright I share them here.
@ClaytonNotestine says:
The Magus casts serious design magic. In addition to being a phenomenal solo rpg that makes you feel like a ruminating mage, it's also a feat in visual and graphic design. Momatoes has taken ethereal, moody artwork and made it crackle on the page.
If you're looking for a reason to write and want it to linger ages after, I can't recommend this game enough
It's fantastic. I tweeted a whole thread about playing it here: https://twitter.com/PaulCzege/status/1357801443235823616@PaulCzege says:
Beautiful and impactful! Solo games are so much fun!
5 Stars!
A great solo game. The layout is immersive and brings its own kind of tone transmission. The prompts are great and the spiralling sensation of having to sacrifice something (control or bonds) in order to gain power is really well designed.
Even the world building phase is well thought and helped me build the backbone of my story.
A kinda review in french : https://www.gulix.fr/blog/2021/05/22/lecture-de-role-de-la-diversite-du-jeu/
A fantastic journaling game that balances naked ambition against the need for others. Very apt themes for people who are developing skills in our current climate.
Spell creation is a delight, as is the disconcerting art and madness layout. It's all a very tight, fun package!