From:	"Bruce H. Nagel" <NAGELBH@******.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU>
Subject:	Re: [SR3] Fetish & Exclusive Spells
Date:	Tue, 8 Jul 1997 20:58:34 -0500

You wrote:
> I'll start by saying this needs to be done carefully to prevent
> powergamers from raping it, but I really like the idea.
Anything can be raped, neat ideas still need to be used, regardless.

> One of my great complaints about SR magic is the way that it can be
> reduced to killing a foe from a kilometre or more with a blink of the
> eye. I'd like to see magic demanding more mystery, more ritual, more
> strangeness: having to sketch complex runes, even if only in pencil on
> the sidewalk, to make a Clairvoyance spell work, for instance. Pulling
> down enough magic to kill a foe shouldn't be quite as casual as it can
> be in SR2.
And I still say there is something to be said for allowing this to be roleplay
rather than a game mechanic (since I've seen it done, when playes weren't too
bogged down in the game meachanics, which are getting more complex as tome goes
by, not less, with all the choices). I recall a shaman who created bonfires in
his apt and danced naked around them in homage to the spirits, not to summon,
just to relate to them and rejoice in his connection to magic. Char's like
that, well, they have a habit of not showing up when you already *have* to do
certain things in order to work magic, and the more have-to's you add, the less
of it you see. YMMV

losthalo