From: kucloak@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Bryan Kennedy Reed)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII Is Magic getting out of hand?
Date: 18 Dec 92 00:26:25 CST
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

dIn article <1992Dec17.225222.20929@ncsu.edu>, pjmelody@eos.ncsu.edu (PATRICK J MELODY) writes:
> I agree that magic is definitely out of hand in shadowrun.  I GMed a game
> a while ago and the magicians were so pumped up with increase attribite 
> spells, various foci, and elementals assisting them that it was ridiculous.
> Part of this was a result of some poor campaign design decisions, but there 
> were also problems with the game.  Usually the combat mages won initiative
> and then hammered with their spells doing lots of damage.  Even if the 
> samurai/merc types managed to go first, their contributions to combat were 
> small compared to the mages'.  The mages were also superior at surveillance.
> Non mages and non deckers didn't do as much as mages and deckers.
> 
> I have come up with a few tweaks that I think balance the game more which
> I can post soon.
> 
> Paul Hume and the other designers apparantly don't want the game to be 
> balanced, instead saying that magicians are REALLY powerful.  There is also
> the dichotomy that magicians are supposed to be really rare, and society
> hasn't had a chance to deal with the existence of magic yet (we see this
> claim in several places) yet we have talismonger shops in malls (who's 
> supporting all these businesses if mages are so rare?) univerisites offering
> BS degrees in magic, police forces seemingly have plenty of magic at their
> disposal... sounds like society has dealt well to me...
> 
> FASA's line is that mages ARE really great, and should be better than other
> characters at almost anything (except computers/decking).  This is supposedly
> checked by a scarcity of mages, but I don't see this as viable in a gaming
> environment.  Why should I play a samurai/merc when I could do it better as
> a mage? 
>

Wait just a second.  You have problems with mages.  Read the Grimoire,
reread the standard rules.  If you are playing second edition and your
mages are having to easy of a time affecting people, up you NPC's
willpower.  This will increase the force that they will have to cast
the spells and will cause them to take drain.  If you players have
tons of foci (another reason for not taking drain) and too many dice
to roll, then teach them a lesson an have an enemy mage nail them from
the astral and ground a spell right through the focus.  Make it a area
affect damaging manipulation and your other player won't like standing
near the mage.  Problems with elementals.  Well, enemy mages can
dispell them, or worse yet take control of the elemental and turn it
against you players.  

There is a section in the original Grimoire that has a point (lessened
a bit by second edition, but still true.):  A team that has magical
support will almost alway be on the winning side.  So make sure that
the badguys have some mages along.  And remember, almost everything in
Shadowrun has its down side, even magic.
-- 
		
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  Invincibility depends on one's self;	   kucloak@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
  The enemy's vulnerability on him.	    bkreed@oread.cc.ukans.edu
 		  --Sun Tzu 		      Bryan Kennedy Reed
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Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc