From: hall@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Robert J. Hall)
Subject: net.rpg - magic
Organization: Boeing
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 19:40:19 GMT

>hall@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Robert J. Hall) writes:
>>
>>How about this: "Mundane magic is weakened magic". If you use a spell
>>over and over, it develops into an ordinary physical phenomenon and
>>loses its special magical nature. Thus, each time you use a particular
>>spell you have developed, it becomes weaker and harder to cast.

sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan) writes:
>I'm not sure how you mean this: develops into an ordinary physical
>phenomenon.  Do you mean everybody can shoot flame jets from their
>fingers after a while?  If so, this obviously won't work.  If you mean
>it simply gets harder to cast, though, that's a good effect.

Not quite. I mean that magic is not a logical phenomenon in the
physical sense. The very act of casting a spell makes that spell a
more mundane phenomenon and part of the physical universe. Since
this is a contradiction, the spell gradually loses it's ability to
be cast.

It's the very ability to perform this contradiction: casting magic in
a mundane universe, that makes the Wizard so special.

>>You could also have a property that says: "Shared magic is mundane
>>magic." If a Wizard shares his particular secrets with another, then
>>the magic becomes more mundane and is weakened.

>True - and not just shared, but analyzed.  Thus, if you cast a spell in
>front of another magician, he'll be impressed and start watching you
>closely.  After another couple of castings, he might be able to analyze
>the spell, thus making it "shared" even though the sharing was
>involuntary.  There could easily be rules for this, such as making a
>roll vs. IQ or Magic Lore or whatever, to figure out a spell.  The
>first casting: no chance to figure it out.  The second that you
>observe, a hefty penalty, the third, a slightly less hefty penalty, and
>so on until about the eight time you've seen it is at straight IQ or
>Magic Lore, maybe.

While this is true, I also had in mind the knowledge of how to use
the components to create the spell. I see the spell as being made up of
components in the form of Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, etc. (Or some
other arrangement of components, such as you had listed in your
original post.) These components have to be researched by the Wizard,
then put together to be used in the form of spells.

Example: a Wizard has researched components for, say, 'Fire', 'Sphere',
'Water', 'Create', 'Combine', 'Destroy', 'Cone'. He can then try to
form those components into spells:

  Create Fire in a Sphere
  Destroy Water in a Cone
  Combine Fire and Water
  ...

Now each of these spells has a resulting rating that is, say, the sum
of the individual components. Each time one of these spells is cast,
the spell rating is reduced and it becomes less powerful (or more
difficult to cast.) However, the use of the Fire component in that
spell does not effect the rating of a different spell that uses the
same Fire component.

Once 'Create Fire in a Sphere' spell has been 'used up', the Wizard
must research new components for 'Create', 'Fire', and 'Sphere'. Next
he must research how to combine them once more into 'Create Fire in a
Sphere'. Spells, in effect, become 'items' that gradually become
weaker and need to be 'recharged' with more research.

Back to your point: when the components are shared with other Wizards,
they become more mundane. The 'rating' of the component is reduced
for all Wizards. The spells that use those components are weakened.

>Another thing I've been mulling over is the infinite universe theory of
>magic (mentioned in Bonewitts).  If there exists a universe in which
>fireballs are possible, the magician is able to switch to that universe
>- no one else notices the change, except perhaps another magician.  In
>this new universe, everything else is identical, except that fireballs
>can be magically created by those who know how.  Well, not *quite*
>identical beyond that ability though . . .

Or maybe his spirit switches over, somewhat like Astral travel?

>What if switching to the fireball universe means some other possible
>spell effect is lost?  You can't cast a spell to see through walls in
>such a universe, perhaps.  So to cast such a spell, the magician has to
>switch universes again.

So he is limited to one class of spells at a time? Perhaps spending
part of his time researching new universes and the spells they allow?
Or maybe Wizards, Sorcerers, Witches, Necromancers, etc. all draw
their spells from different universes, and they begin to take on some
of the characteristics of those universes?

Just turning over rocks to see what scurries out... :-)
-- 
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