Wait…
When Mages level up they also have to roll for a random spell they get instead of choosing the one they like?
ACKS doesn’t specify whether the Mage choses his spell or the GM decides or it is rolled on level up, only that it is taught to him by his master. Once they are 9th level they must research their spells.
However my example on levelling was from BECMI (Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortal)D&D back in the day. When my teen DM rolled for my (single) 1st level spell and the extra 1st level spell I got on achieving 2nd level as Magic-User. Ah the good old days 
Spare time isn’t too hard to come by, as long as your fighters are taking occasional mortal wounds or being RL&L’d regularly. I’m also of the opinion that “the campaign” doesn’t “give” spare time - to take time off from adventuring is a choice the party makes, not something typically dictated by the DM in an exploration-focused game. Yes, stuff might happen in that time, but I’m not one to put barriers to free time in place - only consequences. In practice we settled into an equilibrium of about one delve per two weeks, with the intervening time being used to recuperate from wounds, recruit henchmen, swap spells, and wait for the class IV market to refresh on oil, holy water, war dogs, and hirelings.
(Further, as you get to higher levels and the time to rep-swap goes up with spell level, the expected availability of free time goes up - when the cleric starts wanting to make magic items and rituals, the thief wants a full month for hijinks, there’s not a whole lot stopping you from going ‘guys, I need six weeks to swap in Death Spell’, and the fighter will probably get overruled or go do something on his own. At 1st-5th level, taking a week to swap a 1st-level spell isn’t so bad either; it’s swapping out your highest spell levels that is the most troublesome)
F* yeah, I can post again! No longer howling into the void of nginx 504s!
I found this part of the rules very confusing. My interpretation is:
A mage has a set number of spells they can cast per level per day.
These spells are a fixed list, the same spells every day. This is the repertoire.
If the mage wants to change the list of spells they can cast per day they change their repertoire.
They can copy a spell into their spell book if they are able to cast it - ie it isn’t too high a level.
If they copy from a scroll, the scroll is used up.
If they copy from a spellbook, the spell remains in the book they copied from.
They can have as many spells in their spellbook(s) as they like, and this is the pool of spells available to build their repertoire.
Is that right?
Regards,
David.
I think it’s important the difference between casts and spells. the mage’s repertoire is all the different kinds of spells they can choose to cast at any given time, but the mage can cast any combination of those spells on an ad hoc basis over the course of the day. so for example if I have a repertoire that has six different spells of first level and I’m allowed to cast four first level spells per day; then I could cast any four of those 6 spells once, or one of them 4 times, or any other combination thereof. What I don’t have to do is stipulate beforehand which of those four spell cast during the course of the day.