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Message no. 1
From: 92804168@***.UWPLATT.EDU
Subject: Re: Ritual Circle
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1993 10:49:00 CST
My comments:

As the spell stands, it is too powerful. It has its own duration, something
that no other spell in SR has. It enables the caster to make something out of
thin air in a matter of seconds that normally requires days or hours. It
does not need any form of materials, while the actual circles can need stuff
that costs _thousands_ of nuyen.

Now, I probably should take this time to let you know everything I _like_ about
it. I like the concept: being able to create a temporary circle by casting a
spell does appeal to me. I like the details on size, rating, etc. And I like
the fact that this spell is something that (for me at least) came out of
nowhere; I had never even thought of doing something like this. Good thinking.

Now, how to modify it.

First of all, as pointed out by several people, it should be sustained. Also,
if someone were to use a spell lock or quicken it, it should be locked or
quickened to an _area_, not a person. (in other words, it cant be locked onto
a person and moved around. It must be stationary.)

Second of all, I feel there should be two seperate spells, one for shamans and
one for hermetic mages. This is because the circles are vastly different among
the two types of magic. I feel the shamanic circle spell should be a bit
harder to cast (higher drain and all that), while the hermetic one is limited
to specific purpose (like the "real" hermetic circle).

Finally, someone pointed out that this may be better as an Initiate power
rather than a spell. I have been thinking while I wwrite this (and I am chewing

gum too *grin* ) and that does sound like a good idea. Maybe someone should
try that method of creating rules for this.

I just thought of something else. Now, I fully expect several people to go
"WHAT??" when I say this, but before responding, I ask that you think about it.

Can you create a hermetic circle or medicine lodge inside of a van or something,
and then drive around and park wherever you like and use the circle wherever
you like? The actualcircle has not moved; it is still drawn/set up on the
floor of the van. The whole van has moved around it. I can see both sides
to the issue, but I would like to hear comments for/against this.

Well, thats all for now. Lets see howw the masses like this one.


--David L. Hoff

92804168@***.uwplatt.edu
92804168@*******.bitnet
Message no. 2
From: "David Loewenstern, Bell Labs,
Subject: Ritual Circle
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1993 12:20:20 EDT
>>>>>[
... On Tue, 27 Jul 1993, 92804168@***.uwplatt.edu said:

[...]
} I just thought of something else. Now, I fully expect several people to go
} "WHAT??" when I say this, but before responding, I ask that you think about
it.

} Can you create a hermetic circle or medicine lodge inside of a van or
something,
} and then drive around and park wherever you like and use the circle wherever
} you like? The actualcircle has not moved; it is still drawn/set up on the
} floor of the van. The whole van has moved around it. I can see both sides
} to the issue, but I would like to hear comments for/against this.


I don't have the books with me, so I'm going to respond by "what I'd
like to see" rather than "what's in the books."

Can you create a medicine lodge in a van? A van is completely
unnatural; you cannot ground into the "natural" environment through
the floor of the van. If I'd ever allow such a thing, I'd only allow
it for shamans who get bonuses for conjuring city spirits. And at
that, the lodge would only work when the van was parked on a city
street, and not, say, in a private garage (hearth domain) or a country
road. Proper environment is important to shamans, and few totems have
an environment of "highway". 'Possum, maybe. 8^) Cat, certainly.

Hermetics: I don't see why not. I'd simply require that the van be
stationary (relative to the earth) when the circle is in use. Of
course, the dimensions of the van will make conjuration of most
elementals difficult.

Of course, if anything causes the van to move during the ritual...such
as someone crashing into the van...the circle will stop working for a
short period. This could make conjuring much more dangerous.


]<<<<< Quincunx <loewenst@****.rutgers.edu> (Tue Jul 27 12:20:12 EDT
1993)

Further Reading

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