Subject: Re: Majik (and Magic)
From: Juha Jantunen (talgor@iki.fi)
Date: Tue Aug 17 1999 - 11:55:38 EEST
Well, after reading through some of the older archives (only the messages
concerning magic, for now...) and it appears that magic is much in the
same state as everything else... Much debate, little decisions.
My own proposals, questions and such things on the matter, based on what
has been said before:
1. Is magic common?
I'd like it to be common in the sense that you don't have to be "born
special" to use magic. Of course, some people probably are more suitable
than others, but theoretically anyone who has the time and will can become
a magic-user. Presumably the "capacity" for magic would grow with
experience and knowledge, so that in theory (again) even a rather
"average" person could become much more powerful than an ordinary person
who does not know magic, but would still be noticeably weaker than those
who are "naturally" more proficient with magical energies.
I'd like to see "non-adventuring" spells as well. By this I mean that
there would be a spell for, say, making the crops grow faster or protect
them from pests, or something like that, and it would be this kind of
magic that most "ordinary" people might know. It would seem unlikely that
a farmer would take the time to learn a fireball, given that it wouldn't
do him much good on the whole...
2. Systems of Magic
There seem to be at least four different kinds of magic, more or less
developed, and all of them seem to work in different ways. I don't really
much like this over-abundance of magic systems, and would like to stick
with just a few. Two would be quite enough IMO... If people who are really
good with the symbol of fire want to call themselves fire mages or
elementalists or whatever, let them, but that's a matter of roleplaying,
not having different systems for everyone... I'd just restrict it to
divine-based magic (for believers) and then this essence-based (or
whatever you want to call it) magic.
3. Components of Magic
Apparently magic is going to have three components: symbol, gesture and
material. I quite like the idea of the spell being more powerful (or less
draining) if you know more than one component for it, even through it can
be cast with only one or two if neccesary... This system does seem to have
several problems, but it would seem quite nice, if ever implemented.
Although I'm not too keen on the material component if they are to be
these traditional spellcasting components (wing of bat, tongue of frog,
etc.) but if it's decided, then it's decided...
One alternative means of doing essentially the same but (maybe) with
not so much hassle would be to divide all the True Names (or whatever)
that the gods used into, say, three "runes", which each have only a
portion of the power that goes into the True Name. Thus two runes from the
same True Name would make for more powerful spells, just as in the
previous system. It's not that different, I just observed that there was
apparently some difficulty implementing the abovementioned system and I
thought this could be an alternative if it proves too difficult... Don't
have to pay much attention to it. ;)
Hmm... well, that strayed quite far from what I originally intended to
post, but... Ah, well. Comments/corrections/flames?
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Juha Jantunen | ========================== Talgor - Janus - Shifter
Keisarinmajantie 4 H 2 | ===== Minna baka. =============== Shadowrun - Magic
48230 Kotka | ====================== Life - Universe - Everything
Finland | ======== Anime - Manga - Babylon 5 - Trek - Sandman
talgor@iki.fi | Jean-Michel Jarre - Bob Marley - Christopher Franke
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