| From: | Max Rible <slothman@*********.ORG> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: [SR3] Magical Magic |
| Date: | Mon, 7 Jul 1997 11:41:24 -0800 |
>One comment I've heard a lot of is "magic in Shadowrun should have more of a
>mystical/magical feel to it than it does now." I'm curious about the idea,
>since I don't quite understand it. Since SR magic is currently (IMHO) based
>on about 80% real-world magic theory and 20% fantasy magic (fireballs and
>such) it feels pretty "mystical" to me. I'd like some feedback on the issue.
>Is SR magic "magical" enough? If not, how could it be better?
I'd say it's closer to 30% magic theory and 70% fantasy gaming, personally.
(I'm a long-time Ars Magica player, and Shadowrun elides a *lot* of the
nitty gritty of magic.)
Astral quests are an excellent part of the system; you might want to clarify
for 3rd Ed where your karma pool refreshes during a quest. (We play that
it refreshes each time you get to a new test, and still have serious trouble
getting Great Form spirits of any respectable size.) They're one of the
most fun parts of the SR system, IMO, because they let you change genre
when you're in the mood for a different setting without requiring people to
create new characters, learn new game systems, etc.
The mystical side of life for hermetic mages seems under-represented.
There's plenty of material about shamans and their totems, but not a lot
about being a practicing hermetic mage.
Centering is one of the least magical things about being an Initiate.
The idea is excellent-- you have a particular focusing skill you use to
get into that magical frame of mind-- but if you look at the timescale
of the game, it just doesn't make sense that you'd have any time to actually
*use* the skill in combat. (Let's say your Centering skill is chanting in
Latin. Each word you chant drops your initiative number by 1, since this
isn't Champions and soliloquies aren't free. How many words do you need
to chant to get in the right frame of mind?) That would be good to clarify.
If you want to make things more magical, I'd suggest adding more ritual to
the system. Currently, spells are something you can dash off in an instant.
Try expanding the definition of the expendable fetish to include a ritual
instead of some pre-prepared packet of something, so you have magicians
drawing circles on the ground with not-terribly-mystical chalk instead of
having to buy things from a talismonger. (Though there should be more
examples of fetishes-- you might introduce the notion that every spellcaster
has to pick an appropriate fetish for their particular spells, and force
the players of magicians to come up with ideas when they learn spells.)
Other things that make things more magical are adding links to myth and
symbol,
but that's really tricky. Ars Magica makes it easy because you're *in*
the world of folktales; Shadowrun is very much about having the truth
*behind* the folktales UGE'ing into existence and chewing the bumper
off your car. Coming up with problems that are better solved through
magical thinking-- involving aesthetics, symbols, correspondences-- rather
than mechanical thinking could do that, but that's not easy to do.
Introducing some critter and/or spirit powers that are based in such thinking,
with corresponding weaknesses, would be a good way of doing it, as would
introducing such patterns in the spell design system, if you can figure
out a way to make them plausible. (I can't think of anything off the top
of my head, but it's hard for me to get into that frame of mind on a moment's
notice.)
One mechanic that I've been toying with recently is divination. (I stole
this from someone else's fantasy game that I heard about years ago.) If
a PC who is magically active wants to perform divination, have them pick
a method that the GM knows about. (This is a good thing to prearrange at
character creation time.) The character rolls their Magic rating against
a target number known only to the GM, then the GM goes away for a bit,
lays out the tarot cards/rune stones/I Ching coins, and brings them back
for the player to interpret. This ignores the notion that the character
might have more skill in interpreting the reading than the player, but
it makes for much more fun than AD&D "weal or woe?" auguries.
--
%% Max Rible %% slothman@*****.com %% http://www.amurgsval.org/~slothman/ %%
%% "So, an Arisian, a Vorlon, and a knnn go into a tavern..." %%
