| From: | Luke Kendall <luke@********.CANON.OZ.AU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Magic and belief - a dissenting voice (Was: Re: my questions II) |
| Date: | Fri, 31 Mar 1995 09:57:28 +1000 |
> > True, anyways we have no proof that the "magic sight works with
photons"..
>
> Well we had a prety interesting thread a coupla weeks ago (didnt we Damion
:)
> and the gist of it is that it probably doesnt.
Yep.
> What is important however
> is that the current world view (what your average magician considers to
> be the facts) is that you cant see through rocessed stuff in the astral.
> WYTIWYG (What You Think Is What You Get :)
This is Jani's opinion, I'd like to emphasise. In my opinion, the beliefs
of the mage have little to do with what's possible and what's not. And
before you ask about Shaman vs Hermetic - I see that as resulting from
some world views opening the mage to existing possibilities. But reality
itself is not determined by the observer.
There are rules for magic that are based on a magical reality, and a mage's
beliefs can't change that.
> > To inspect things astrally from a great distance EX: You are hidden
> > in the woods, using astral perception and see some presences about 300
> > meters from you. You try to identify them but the evil GM smiles and says
> > "sorry, you are too far away".
>
> Yep, but who sez that distance plays the same role in the astral as it does
> on the physical plane ? I'd say that a mage can see as far as he wants.
I'd say a mage can't.
I think the difference of opinion about this is because Jani is playing
in a campaign where there aren't many PC mages - so mages are usually
the opponents. Interpreting the rules to make them more powerful makes
it tougher on the players.
And I suspect Vincent's game is more like ours was - lots of PC mages.
Which means that interpreting the rules to limit their powers makes
for a tougher game.
I think this is a wiser choice in the long run. I don't know what
happens in groups that go the former route (mages favoured) when a
PC decides to run a mage. Do you change the way the world works, all
of a sudden?
luke
