From: cffitzge@IASTATE.EDU (Charles F Fitzgerald)
Subject: net.rpg: magic.ideas
Reply-To: cffitzge@IASTATE.EDU (Charles F Fitzgerald)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 06:57:00 GMT

I have mentioned before that I think magic is a very sticky kettle of
fish, and it should not be added if not necessary.  If net.rpg is to
be multi-genre, I believe it is necessary to add magic.  I also feel
that it is necessary to know some things about the magic system before
proceeding very far in the generation process.

Some questions I feel ought to be addressed are:

1.)  Should we have any magical abilities?
        a.)  Should magic be mostly ability governed or skill 
                governed?
        b.)  Should magical abilities be incorporated into the
                non-magical list (_eg._ Wisdom or Intelligence)
                or should they form there own branch on the
                ability tree?

2.)  What types of magic are there
        a.) in other role playing games?
        b.) in books and stories?
        c.) Which of these do we wish to model?

3.)  How is magic balanced with the rest of the game?

4.)  What kind of magical skills should there be?

I will provide my answers to these questions.  Note, these are my
current feelings towards these questions and, as such, are subject to
change.

1.)  Yes.  See my previous post on what abilities I would choose.
        a.)  I think most spells should be governed by skills.
                Faith magics, like prayers to gods, might be skill
                based.  Abilities should provide information on
                how many spells can be cast and possibly how much
                resistence to magic a character has, in my opinion.
        b.)  No.  I believe they should be in their own branch
                because in certain genre magic is unnecessary, so
                the magic branches could be disregarded for the
                most part (see my previous post on abilities for
                more details).

2.)     a.)  Magic can generally be divided into two or three types
                in rpgs.  First and foremost is Spells.   These are
                magical formulae recited to produce magical results.
                By far the most common type of magic in rpg's.

        Second would be what I refer to as "Faith Magics".  These
                are prayers to gods.  They generally are handled 
                like Spells, only their source is different, and
                hence a slightly different mechanic is used.

        Other types of magic used could be viewed as Mind Magics,
                Enchantments, or Rituals.  These vary widely
                between different game systems and I do not feel
                like saying too much about them.

        One thing I do not like about the types of magic in most
                rpg's is that it is very strict and ordered.  Each
                spell does exactly the same no matter who or what
                is casting it.  Spells and Faith Magics differ only
                by the specific mechanic used and what sorts of
                things may be accomplished (_ie._ the effect of the
                magic).  In so doing, _magic_ becomes a _science_,
                and I do not believe that this is right.  
        I feel there should be a certain uncertaincy to magic, even
                among those who are extremely adept.  To me, magic
                is the control of forces beyond the limit of human
                knowledge, and as such, must contain a certain risk
                and danger.  I do not think it should be a system
                whereby a set of given inputs produces a desired
                result for everyone, each time it is attempted.

        b.)  Enchantments, spells, magic items, etc.

        c.)  I think we should model as many as possible, keeping
                in mind the note in part a.)

3.)  Too hard to say without more information as to how other things--
        like skills, abilities, etc.--are going to be handled.

4.)  I would say some type of Spell casting spell should be included,
        as well as an enchantment or magic item creation skill.

        I think Faith Magic should be left to abilities.

Well that's all for now on this subject.  I hope I have given
something for the rest of the group to talk about.        

--
Charles F. Fitzgerald | '....Life's but a walking shadow,
Iowa State University | a poor player, that struts, and frets
cffitzge@iastate.edu  | his hour upon the stage,
                      | and then is heard from no more....'
                      | _MacBeth_, by W. Shakespeare.