This is for the actual playtest report. This is the place to elaborate things. I got the impression that the other two files should be fairly brief and this is the place to elaborate points that may or may not have been raised in other files.
I wrote up some paragraphs for the report. Have a look at it and add to it what you think is missing.
The chapter presents a good balance between new rules and background information on House Bonisagus, providing flavour for characters and rules to enhance the game. The history section does not only contain information on the founding of the Order of Hermes, it also provides insights on Bonisagus' personality and presents him in an less than ideal way. This helps to make him a more interesting character. But it did not do the same for Trianoma which we felt was an opportunity missed.
The chapter focuses mostly on the Bonisagus lineage of the house. Most of the history section concerns Bonisagus while the information about Trianoma is comparatively limited. We especially missed more information on her magic tradition. Song magic is mentioned once but there is no further information how it works or how it was integrated into magic theory. It would be very interesting to see more information on this. Generally there is not enough information on Trianomae characters. They represent a very interesting concept but with the information available in this chapter it is difficult to incorporate them into a traditional saga. Their focus on politics and their commitment to patrol the borders of the Order mean that they will travel most of the time. In a saga that is not focusing on Trianomae there seems to be a considerable risk that they will see only very little play. We would have liked to see some more background and story seeds for Trianomae as well as some ideas on how to run stories for these characters - especially ones that integrate a range of different Magi. This would help to integrate them better into the game.
Some of the paragraphs dedicated to Trianoma discuss the Seekers, a group only very loosely associated with House Bonisagus. The only real link is that they are lead by a Trianoma. To us this suggests that they may be better suited to appear in a different book. Integrating them into the game poses similar problems as Trianomae in general. They are bound to spend most of their time travelling and 'seeking'. Seekers are very interesting characters but they seem to work better as non-Player characters. Seekers are useful for bringing stories to a covenant. Nevertheless we think that the space could be used for other content that would improve the Trianoma linage and address some of the issues discussed above.
The introduction of folios gives magi Bonisagi a way to share their research with others and get known for their successes. We like the idea in general but think that the way folios are working now feels too modern. A folio is essentially a peer reviewed journal. The idea of publishing peer reviewed material is a concept of modern science and doesn't seem so fit the setting.
The rules for original research are a great addition for Bonisagus characters and potentially useful for magi from other houses as well. Some more guidance regarding limit breaking breakthroughs would be useful. Especially a discussion of possible social and political responses to such big changes to Magic Theory, for example how different members of the Order of Hermes would possibly react. When testing the rules for original research we encountered the problem that we were not sure what projects could be used to work towards a breakthrough. In particular we were missing guidelines for the use of Longevity Rituals and Vis. Both can be subject to experimentation which suggests that they can be used for original research but it is not clear from the rules how they should be handled. We also had trouble coming up with suitable projects towards breakthroughs concerning talismans and familiars.
The rules for original research encourage a series of small projects towards the breakthrough. Using projects that take longer than a season to complete seems to be a waste of time since it takes the same amount of time to stabilise the discovery. And there is always the risk that no discovery is made. And of course large projects carry the risk of triggering a twilight episode. This results in original research consisting of a series of fairly ordinary projects that most magi could undertake. It would be nice to see a mechanism that gives a bigger advantage to specialists who are prepared to invest a numner of seasons, years or a life-time of research.
The different examples for original research take up a large amount of space without adding much to the game. Although it is useful to have some examples we think that the examples presented in the chapter are too long. This is especially true for the Arma Magica example. One of the Arma Magica folds, the Parma Custodia, seems to contradict the concept of Parma Magica which is a general protection against magic. Turning it into a defence against mundane attacks strikes us as strange. The rules for this example contradict themselves. The initial description states that the modified magic resistance is calculated by modifying the original Parma Magica score (rounding down) while the description of the individual folds states that the modified score should be rounded up.
Still missing:
Below is the list original list.