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Message no. 1
From: Todd Montgomery <tmont@****.WVU.EDU>
Subject: Ritual Usage
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 11:45:15 -0400
I just had a thought concerning the SR magic system. Tell me what
you think about this idea.

Ritual Sorcery is very limited. The reason being that it builds
energy slowly then allows it to travel over a long range.

What about mini-rituals? Like the classic incantations, or the
single individual casting his spell for several minutes, building
the power up until he releases it into the world. In SR these
issues are not really resolved. Magic does not involve this massive
build up in power, it is just done much quicker. Theatrics you may
think. But could Ritual Sorcery (or a form there of) be used to
produce spells which are beyond the normal power level? Or could
it be used to lower the drain or target numbers of magicians casting
deadly spells? An example may be the classic Merlin standing on a
hill over looking a battle. He starts to prepare a spell which he knows
will take some moments. He gradually builds the power and then flings
the spell at the opposing army. Instead of just a single fireball,
the magician sends a trio of very powerful fireballs at the army.
And because he elected to spend that time gradually building power the
drain he suffers is only a fraction of what it could have been.

How could this be implemented? One thing that comes to mind is
using Jason's Gradual Initiation rules make this ability another
Metamagic power. Something that can be used like centering to reduce
T# and drain. But at the expense of being a ritual (under ritual sorcery)
and taking a much longer time to perform (on the order of several turns
or even minutes).

Back to the grind of hum drum existence at work.

-- Quiktek
-- Todd Montgomery
tmont@****.wvu.edu
tmont@***.wvu.edu
un032507@*******.wvnet.edu
Message no. 2
From: "Jason Carter, Nightstalker" <CARTER@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: Ritual Usage
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 10:59:46 -0700
>>What about mini-rituals? Like the classic incantations, or the
>>single individual casting his spell for several minutes, building
>>the power up until he releases it into the world. In SR these
>>issues are not really resolved. Magic does not involve this massive
>>build up in power, it is just done much quicker. Theatrics you may
>>think. But could Ritual Sorcery (or a form there of) be used to
>>produce spells which are beyond the normal power level? Or could
>>it be used to lower the drain or target numbers of magicians casting
>>deadly spells? An example may be the classic Merlin standing on a
>>hill over looking a battle. He starts to prepare a spell which he knows
>>will take some moments. He gradually builds the power and then flings
>>the spell at the opposing army. Instead of just a single fireball,
>>the magician sends a trio of very powerful fireballs at the army.
>>And because he elected to spend that time gradually building power the
>>drain he suffers is only a fraction of what it could have been.

Well, the Shadowrun explanation for spells not taking a longtime or massive
amount of power is quite simple. Those things were needed during the Low Mana
Fifth World, but with the increase in Mana of the Sixth World these spells can
be achieved with minimal effort and time. In other words there are two ways
to get your hose to spray water a long distance. Put your hand over the end
to build up pressure or just turn up the water. The water has bee turned up.

Of course this brings up the question of what would happen if you used the old
techniques in the Sixth World. I would probably burn out the mage due to the
huge amounts of power he was using, but what if he was an initiate of high
enough level...

It might be a good basis for a new Metamagic Power, but I wouldn't use it unless
you were using some rules that made the gaining of Metamagic Powers slower and
then made it a Level 2 Higher Mystry (i.e., get the other six and then we'll
talk about this one).

See Ya in Shadows,
Jason J Carter
The Nightstalker
Message no. 3
From: "Dark Thought Publications." <JEK5313@*****.TAMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Ritual Usage
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 14:12:00 -0500
The Nightstalker:
]Of course this brings up the question of what would happen if you used the old
]techniques in the Sixth World. I would probably burn out the mage due to the
]huge amounts of power he was using, but what if he was an initiate of high
]enough level...


Perhaps, just perhaps what we call ritual magic is what they used to call
spellcasting in the Fifth World. . .


--Flare <NULLSIG COURTESY OF DOOM>

Dark Thought Publications & Doom Technologies, Inc.
>>> Working on solutions best left in the dark.
Message no. 4
From: "Richard C. Osterhout" <rcoster@*****.NET>
Subject: Re: Ritual Usage
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 16:53:09 -0400
On Wed, 11 Aug 1993, Todd Montgomery wrote:

> I just had a thought concerning the SR magic system. Tell me what
> you think about this idea.
>
> Ritual Sorcery is very limited. The reason being that it builds
> energy slowly then allows it to travel over a long range.
>
> What about mini-rituals? Like the classic incantations, or the


i like this idea...it occupies the spell caster for a couple of turns,
thereby allowing the sammis to wreak havoc...somehow though, i think doing
something like this would only be reasonable for instantaneous spells,
like healing or combat...if you were to stand there for a couple of turns
and build up this astral energy, it would be very hard to contain for a
sustained spell, and also the energy that you built up would leak
away...kinda like generating a tornado from whipping together somes
breezes, it would be smarter to let the tornado go than to try and control
it once its created....

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| rcoster@*****.net Currently in Baltimore, MD |
| Richard C. Osterhout but hope to be home in |
| professional nerd Orlando, FL soon!!! |
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