[net.games.frp] On spells, religion, and secular dungeonism

jj@alice.UUCP (10/04/85)

Well, guys, you may (or may not) find my system interesting...

First, the gaming system used is Rolemaster, which has three kinds of
magic.  The first is "Essence" which is described as manipulating
the 'mana' or 'essence' of the world to do something for you. It's
roughly equivelant to elemental spells, or spells that have to 
do with the physical.

The second is "channeling" which is described in the book as having to 
do with 'spiritual power'.  I handle it slightly differently, considering
that it taps the spiritual power of the surroundings, population, etc.
Thus, deities are not particularly necessary, (although perhaps
they do seem to exist, I don't want to give too much away... :-) for 
channeling to work.

The third is "mentalism" which is just what it sounds like.  The
'power of the mind' is used for various things.

I contend, that since in this universe spells are a product of science,
and spellcasting  is essentially engineering, that this is a secular
dungeon, hence the term secular dungeonism.


P.S.  I reccommend Rolemaster (Tm Iron Crown Enterprises) 
as a system.  It's much more consistant and less hokey
than others to my thinking, and it doesn't automatically
assume that a first level character will have a harder time
making a living than the local garbage collector.

-- 
SUPPORT SECULAR TEDDY-BEAR-ISM.
"From the cradle to the grave, from the cradle to the grave..."

(ihnp4/allegra)!alice!jj