vnend@ukecc.UUCP (D. W. James) (11/25/86)
In article <684@husc6.UUCP> may@husc4.UUCP (jason may) writes: > > What do people out there think of the various magic systems that >come with role-playing games? I think that most of them are far too limiting and just generally poorly thought out. But then, I think that about most role-playing games in general. > I am familiar with AD&D and RQ and both >of these games have magic systems that have a set library of spells. > Has anyone experimented with the idea of magic as a skill? Rather >than learning a whole set of spells, why not study particular fields of >magic, eg. illusions, enchantments, fire-spells, etc. Without going quite to the extreme that you are describing here this is what a friend of mine's system does. In some of the areas you mention, such as illusions, you do have a list of spells, but the idea is to be so complete that almost any spell you would want to design is already there (you just have to implement it correctly). In others, such as fire, you have a short (10 or so) list of spells that you must learn. Once you do you can use them to create almost any effect you could imagine. Note that you are not required to know all of them before you have a usefull skill; I believe that you can have a functional weapon if you learn the right 3 spells, but as you learn more of them you get more proficient, in this case by being able to cast a 'package' of them, say 'create', 'move' and 'hasten', to through a fireball that goes off instantainiously. You could get the same effect but slower if you don't know enough fire spells to cast a three spell package and had to cast them piecemeal. And once you have 'mastered' a class of magic (say, fire) you could then start doing your own research. I'm not sure what you mean when you say 'enchantments', the term has been used so broadly that it could mean any of several classes of magic as I am used to thinking of it. Whatever you meant, I'm sure we have a class of magic that it would fit into. > Then one could >combine his or her knowledge of a number of fields to create his own spell. >This would not necessarily supplant the idea of learning specific spells, but >an experienced mage could use his knowledge to design his own magical effects. >Certainly, wizards of fiction don't seem to spend all their time relearning >spells and carrying huge volumes of spells around with them. Nor do ours. In our system once a mage learns a spell it is there for them to use as long as they have the strength to do so (barring certain extreme exceptions, such as a massive backlash from trying to cast a spell at something rediculously more powerfull AND getting really unlucky. At least this is true of combat type spells; rituals and a few other extremely complex spells may recommend reviewing the details before casting, but again, these are exceptions rather than the rule. Spellbooks are for notes and archival uses, or as textbooks, not to be the source of the magician's knowledge. > In L.Sprague de Camp's 'Incompleat Enchanter' series, Harold Shea >can cause basically any effect he likes just by design a spell for it, in >the form of a song - though his spells didn't always come out as he liked. >In a fantasy world, the 'science' of magic would be more well developed, perhapswith different schools of though as to how a spell s >study different aspects of spell-casting and learn thoroughly a specific >field, sort of like majoring in a subject at college, perhaps - 'I have a >Ph.D. in elemental conjuration...' While I enjoyed the Harold Shea stories, I don't think that that particular type of magic would lend itself to anything but a FRP along the lines of 'Toon'. Fun, and funny, but not what most of us are wanting when we play FRP's. As for the idea of 'majoring' in different areas, we do have that basic idea. We don't have one generic "Magician", we have a whole class of magician types, of varying skills and capabilities. Each has branches of magic that they excell in, as well as others that they are very poor at (Wizards are good at Transformations, Mystics at Rulership, Illusionist at Phantasims, Diviners at Locating, ect. ect.). And others that they have a slight advantage or disadvantage, as the case may be. They each have their own pluses and minuses. > What do you think of this sort of idea? Topic open for discussion. > Jason > The game system I have been descibing is called "Monsters and Mayhem" (copyright (c) 1985) by William Boston. We have been playing and playtesting it since approx. 1979. At first it just grew out of our dissatisfaction with D&D, C&S, Tunnels and Trolls, AD&D and everything else we tried. (For you RQ fanatics out there, that was tried too, but I missed that season.) Bill keeps up with the other games as they appear, but so far niether he nor I has seen anything that fits what it is we want an FRP system to do. We got into FRP's by way of traditional wargaming, time and movement are a neccesary part of the game, and 'real- ism' is a must. The system that we have evolved over the years is fairly complex, I don't know if a rank novice could start right out with it, though Bill has tried to allow for beginning DM's by marking several rules as optional. This way you can start out with the basics of the combat/spell system, and add the more complex rules to taste. We have had (or have) a total of six or seven people running this system, each with his/her own idiosyncracies and had few problems. I'm sorry to say that at the rate Bill is working the system may never be ready for general release. He is constantly making trivial adjustments to already completed parts, and seldom seems to do much typing on the parts that have yet to be put on his wordprocessor. We have a playable system, and have demonstrated it for both Yaquinto (before they went under) and Genesis games. Bill has also talked to several other companies. Maybe one of these years... Till then I'm just waiting for my own copy. All I need are the last of the cleric rules... Have fun. -- ******************************************************************************* Later y'all, Vnend Ignorance is the Mother of Adventure. **UUCP:cbosgd!ukma!ukecc!vnend; CSNET:vnend@ecc.engr.uky.csnet** ************BITNET:cn0001dj@ukcc.BITNET (but only as a last resort)************
kstevens@vino.dec.com.UUCP (11/25/86)
---------------------Reply to mail dated 21-NOV-1986 21:37--------------------- Actually in the Fantasy Hero sytem, one's own magic spells can be created.... My mailbox will always accept letters... (DEC E-NET) LATOUR::KSTEVENS (UUCP) {decvax,ucbvax,allegra}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-latour!kstevens (ARPA) kstevens%latour.DEC@decwrl.ARPA The opinions expressed here are definitely my own and not necessarily those of Digital Equipment Corporation.