Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Neal A Porter <nap@*****.PHYSICS.SWIN.OZ.AU>
Subject: Re: Sword Ally and limiting Astral
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 15:32:42 +1100
>] You cant hide an ally with an astral quest so people can still drop spells
>] on you from astral space.
>
> You can't hide any ally, regardless of the form. Also, unlike
> other foci, this one is sentient and always astral so unlike
> you power foci, this one can warn you, and it also can provide
> spell defense since allies receive your sorcery at creation.
>
> As a side note, dropping spells is difficult to do in our game;
> see my previous posts about my modifications to astral space.
>
> Da Minotaur

Regarding this discussion related to your increase in difficulty in astral
for mages. If you insist on making astral space modification you must
remember that astral space is were all magic comes from. Not just spell
tossers, by reducing the scope of astral you also reduce the scope of all
creatures that come from there or beyond. Your lovely sword for example
would have to cope with all the trials and tribulations of astral space in
exactly the same way as a mage has to.

I like the idea of the sword, but it belongs in a magic rich world. You
shouldn't have this sort of thing if you are aiming to cut back on magic.

BTW if you cut back on magic what happens to the creatures that rely on
it to exist, Dragons, vampires, mages, elves, orks etc. You cann't kill magic
without taking them with it.

A'Deus.
Message no. 2
From: steven mancini <mancinis@******.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Sword Ally and limiting Astral
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 12:09:22 EST
To quote Neal A Porter:
]
] Regarding this discussion related to your increase in difficulty in astral
] for mages. If you insist on making astral space modification you must
] remember that astral space is were all magic comes from. Not just spell
] tossers, by reducing the scope of astral you also reduce the scope of all
] creatures that come from there or beyond. Your lovely sword for example
] would have to cope with all the trials and tribulations of astral space in
] exactly the same way as a mage has to.
]
Let's see if I can clarify this:

The only modification that we have in our game is that magicians
cannot assense from a distance, you must come in contact with
the object you with to assense, in effect, allowing your astral
presence to contact theirs.

Full astral creatures, who only home is the astral plane, are not
affected by this rule. Thus the spirit that is bound to the sword
originates from the astral plane(s) and is not limited to the
touch requirement, per se. I can imagine how my previous post may
have mis-represented this position.

And yes, if a magician has a fully astral ally, they can in effect
"re-enter" the astral projection game via Sense Link in our game.

] I like the idea of the sword, but it belongs in a magic rich world. You
] shouldn't have this sort of thing if you are aiming to cut back on magic.

It was not our intention to "cut back" on magic, in fact I would
argue that this modifcation makes magic a bit more powerful in ways
that enhance role-play rather than power-gaming.

] BTW if you cut back on magic what happens to the creatures that rely on
] it to exist, Dragons, vampires, mages, elves, orks etc. You cann't kill magic
] without taking them with it.

The astral plane is fully charged and as strong as it is in any
other game; the only difference is that fleshlings that are not
natural to that plane (by this I mean that since all humans cannot
employ magic that they are not natural to it) are restricted because
of their physical body.

Da Minotaur
Message no. 3
From: "Jason Carter, Nightstalker" <CARTER@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: Sword Ally and limiting Astral
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 17:40:14 -0800
This has been bothering me for awhile, so I think I'll vent.

>> The only modification that we have in our game is that magicians
>> cannot assense from a distance, you must come in contact with
>> the object you with to assense, in effect, allowing your astral
>> presence to contact theirs.

I guess your magicians can't cast spells at range. That's what a mage is doing
when he cast a spell. He assenses the target and alines his aura with that of
the target. Once that is done the spell will leap from the magician to the
target. Thus magicians must be able to assense at range.

>> Full astral creatures, who only home is the astral plane, are not
>> affected by this rule. Thus the spirit that is bound to the sword
>> originates from the astral plane(s) and is not limited to the
>> touch requirement, per se. I can imagine how my previous post may
>> have mis-represented this position.

On the Weapon Focus/Ally combo, no way. The Homoculus is bound to the Ally
not the magician. Since that object is alreadly bound to one creature (the
ally) it cannot be bound to the magician. QED

>> It was not our intention to "cut back" on magic, in fact I would
>> argue that this modifcation makes magic a bit more powerful in ways
>> that enhance role-play rather than power-gaming.

Cutting back on Astral Perception does not enhance role-playing. It's just
an easy way for the GM to avoid dealing with aspects of Astral space that he
does not like.

Also, on the subject of the Assencing Lie Detector, it does not exist. You can
read emotions with astral perception, but lies are not emotions.

===============================================================================
See Ya in Shadows, "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer."
Jason J Carter -- Deep Throat, The X-Files
The Nightstalker Carter@***.EDU
Message no. 4
From: steven mancini <mancinis@******.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Sword Ally and limiting Astral
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 1994 12:45:25 EST
To quote Jason Carter, Nightstalker:
]
] I guess your magicians can't cast spells at range. That's what a mage is doing
] when he cast a spell. He assenses the target and alines his aura with that of
] the target. Once that is done the spell will leap from the magician to the
] target. Thus magicians must be able to assense at range.

Excellent point, guess that is where this idea fails in theory
but not in practice (ie they can cast spells at a range).
]
] On the Weapon Focus/Ally combo, no way. The Homoculus is bound to the Ally
] not the magician. Since that object is alreadly bound to one creature (the
] ally) it cannot be bound to the magician. QED
]
Good point. shame you are about 3 posts behind us Jason :)
The discussion has turned more toward whether the sword is
feasible.. :)

]
] Cutting back on Astral Perception does not enhance role-playing. It's just
] an easy way for the GM to avoid dealing with aspects of Astral space that he
] does not like.

Now it is my turn to vent...

Yes it does enhance role play because now paranormal creatures
which may otherwise be able to blend into society are not
immediately revealed for what they are by the group magician(s).
This way a character such as Lupis, there werewolf music producer
can keep his true nature a secret and not have some pc magician
assense him and be able to reveal it. It also allows the mystery
of Nemesis to remain a mystery. It also allows Free Spirits
to exist without the consistant threat of magicians. There are a
wide variety of yet unmentioned paranormals that all lose their
ability to blend by the simple words "I want to assense" The
same can be said for illusion spells. Their whole purpose goes
to hell as soon as a magician assenses.
And no, I do not believe in strong arming my way through it
by bestowing aura masking on everything I want thidden; I
personally find the GM who does that MORE offensive.
But I digress; my players and I arrived at this point through
mutual agreement and it has improved the game. We have all
enjoyed the magical aspect of the game a great deal more now that
the pc magicians do not drop the game to a screeching halt while
they Astrally project...


] Also, on the subject of the Assencing Lie Detector, it does not exist.You can
] read emotions with astral perception, but lies are not emotions.

Now you have really lost me. I haven't seen this topic for
sometime and as Irecall Dowd agreed it could be used in
an indirect way to sense the deceptive nature of a person's
response...

Da Minotaur

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Sword Ally and limiting Astral, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!