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Before I begin my regularly scheduled World Development column, I have one thing to say: The creators of BESM d20 are pure evil, their product should not be allowed to blight the shelves of gaming shops, and that book shall never taint my collection. It has crushed what little faith I had left in the gaming industry and has left me a broken, bitter woman. I cling desperately now to EarthDawn, a bastion of non-d20ness, and pray that it shall never be corrupted. The day I see an EarthDawn d20 book is the day my spirit dies and I become a lifeless husk living in the past.
*ahem* Now that that's out of the way . . .
Yes, I am back from my hiatus! I recently spent a bit of time working on my world. Not that I got much done. I made up six necromancy spells because my husband wanted to play a necromancer in the game I was going to run for him and our friend who was visiting. Of course, between Munchkin, Call of Cthulhu, D&D, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Rolemaster, and visiting various game shops, we never got around to playing. Or even making characters. But at least I made those six spells! WOOHOO!
Thusly, this month I shall write about magic. Much to the dismay of Fundamentalist Christians everywhere, nearly every role playing game comes with a big helping of magic. Most gamers will innocently claim that the magic is entirely contained within the game and doesn't taint the players, but I know the terrible truth. Some of these spells indeed have separate effects in the real world. I've seen them. Yes, every time a mage casts Meteor Swarm, the player casts his own terrible spell: "Inspire Shadowrun Flashback" (again I hear echoing in my mind the terrible cries of "NOOOooo, I don't even OWN that many six-sided dice!").
Ok, I'm just kidding, but I had to work that joke in there and pad out my terrible little column. Seriously, despite being a Christian (admittedly a very cynical, disenfranchised one), I've never had any problem with magic in roleplaying games. In fact, I've been fascinated by mages ever since I started reading Barbara Hambly books at the age of 13. I've played mages in every game I've played. Then when I started working on my world, I threw in all sorts of different, varied magic systems based on how each magically inclined race worked. Boy, was that a mistake. Making all those different systems fit into one set of rules is an ongoing task . . . as is creating spells for all of them. What was I thinking???
I suppose I'm here to offer some advice on making magic systems, though I'm admittedly very scatterbrained today. Here are a few things to consider when getting ready to put magic in your world:
- Mommy, where does magic come from?
Magic can come from a variety of sources... Mages may draw on power within themselves, power from nature, or power from sacred items. It's good to decide where magic comes from for a variety of reasons. If magic comes from within the mage himself, then that mage will be able to work magic anywhere at anytime, so long as he hasn't exhausted his power. If, however, magic comes from the world around the mage, he may be unable to work magic when he finds himself suddenly stranded in a magicless land (either a cursed country or a new world, RP is full of strange possibilities). If the magic is drawn from items, then clearly the mage will be out of luck if he loses these items.
- How is magic worked?
Do spells require complex rituals, a simple gesture, chanting, or only that the mage focus his will? This is important so that you know how incapacitated a mage has to be before he can no longer cast spells. As well, for those who like to be descriptive, it allows them to do something more than say "I'm casting magic missile."
- How do you learn magic?
Mages may instinctively figure out how to shape magic, or more likely they must learn it from a teacher or read it in a book. You need to decide how spells are learned, so that mages have a way of acquiring new spells throughout the game.
- What does the average person think about magic?
It's good to have an idea of what the populace thinks of magic, so you know how mages will be received. Remember that people fear the unknown. Also remember that most peoples' opinions on things are shaped by their religion.
- How common is magic?
Remember that the more common magic is, the less people will be impressed by it, and the more likely it is they'll have countermeasures against it. The less common magic is, the more likely it is that people will be unreasonably fearful over even the smallest magical spells.
Once you've answered these questions, you can get started. Of course, then you have to make up the spells, assign magic point costs or spell "levels", decide how long they take to cast, etc etc etc. Oh, and there are little things like spell failure and magic resistance to be worked out. I'd love to give you tips on that, but I don't have it figured out myself! In the meantime, though, here are a couple more things to consider:
- Life isn't all about going out and slaying monsters. That's a disappointing lesson which we all have to learn, especially since here in reality, there aren't a lot of monsters to be slain. Many mages will know a lot of spells with practical and non-combat applications, such as spells to remove warts, love potions, contraceptive spells, divination, and spells to bring money and luck.
- Different races may work magic differently. No elaboration needed, just think about it.
- Here on Earth, magic tends to be a highly ritualistic art. Want some examples? Just look at Chinese magic.
- There will always be people to abuse power. Not necessarily to take over the world, but in little ways to get money or revenge.
That's about it for this month. I intend to spend some time GMing and world-developing over the next month, so who knows what the next column will bring? Happy Gaming!
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