| From: | Smiling Wolf <SLEIBOWITZ@****.HAMPSHIRE.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: magic oriented |
| Date: | Tue, 6 Oct 92 18:44:00 EDT |
out that Paul Hume is the FASA designer most in favor of making magic
"powerful". Apparently, he was responsible for those 1st edition rules like
the one that said that victims of spells must roll against the caster's sorcery
skill instead of the force of the spell (those of you unfamiliar with the rule
can imagine what a scary prospect _that_ is). Anyway, that stuff apparently
drew so much criticism that Tom Dowd requested that magic be curbed a little in
2nd ed. For what it's worth.
One good way to make things a little more interesting is to eliminate the
table of spells from the rules. Yup, that's right. If they want a spell,
they have to describe in advance what they want the spell to do. If the spell
they want is in there, you can decide whether or not they can get a hold of the
formula - after all, you don't find hermetic formula for hellblast spells just
lying around, and shamanic formulas can't be recorded on electronic medium. In
short, they'll be doing a lot of hunting down good teachers (who have their own
motivations), or be shacked up in their lodge/library all day trying to work out
a formula on their own.
If they come up with a spell _not_ covered by the rules, you can apply the
spell design system from the Grimore (if you have it), modified for the 2nd
edition drain codes. I've been working on such a system: I'll post what I've
got as soon as I can remember to bring the stuff with me.
Anyway, as another game once put it, "Ignorance and fear, fear and ignorance.
These are our watchwords."
Your humble servant,
Smiling Wolf
sleibowitz@****.hampshire.edu
