Magic

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Welcome back!

Hey all…

Yes, I’m a bit late this week. Sorry about that. First ugly cold of autumn for me and work has been keeping me busy. That didn’t stop a whole mess of people coming up with some interesting articles to keep us all thinking about gaming. :)

Friday Links Banner 150x150We’ll get the list started off this week with some Halloween-themed posts:

  • Dungeon’s Master has an awesome Zombie Survival Flowchart this week, which made my week. Definitely check it out! I started giggling as soon as I hit “Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse?” -> no -> “You wet yourself.” -> “Do you change into clean clothes?” :) Zombie Survival Flowchart
  • And from Dungeon Mastering, we have an awesome summary of all things “zombie”… You must know your enemy to combat it! And it definitely helps to follow rule #4 – “Find the Necromancer.” :) Zombie-pocalypse

A few posts about magic:

  • Tankards & Broadswords today brought up using magic actually inspired by the realms of the occult, wicca, and so on. And though I won’t be sanctioning trying to summon beings from the lower planes in real life, I have to admit to a fascination with the “rules” of magic practitioners in the real world. Great food for thought, whether your campaign is in a fantasy realm or the “real” world!Putting Some Real Magic in Your Gaming
  • At Troll and Flame, I found myself presented with an idea that I’d bounced around with Mike (our GM) a number of times. “Magic Missile” is a pretty boring spell name when you think about it. I changed it to “Finger of Death” so I could give your enemies the “finger” whenever we were in combat… The solution in the article is to NOT name the spell – but let the player name it. What a concept – easy way to get the player involved in the world by defining a part of how his character interacts with it!Magical Monday – Personalized Magic

A few posts about the RPG industry:

  • The Seven-Sided Die has an interesting article about the cost-effectiveness of POD and shipping, which I found very interesting because I’ve used Lulu for publishing Moebius Adventures Core Rules. It is definitely not cost effective for one copy, but gets more cost effective the more copies you buy.A Comment on POD and Shipping
  • LivingDice has a very interesting way of looking at the RPG business model, from The Citadel to the Beer Garden and finally to the Bazaar. Anybody involved in publishing (or trying to, like myself) RPGs should give it a look and see what they think. I know I’ll be spending some brain power on it.The Citadel, the Beer Garden, and the Bazaar
  • Another article about RPG business comes from Wondrous Imaginings by Joe the Lawyer… He contends that D&D at Wizards of the Coast might not have gone the same way it has if it had focused more on PR and customer service. It definitely makes me think that PR & customer service should be high on the priority list for any small game company or game designer. Honestly that’s a good idea in any business. :) The Role of Customer Service in a RPG Company

And finally, a scattering of posts on a variety of other topics:

  • Over at the Sea of Stars, I found a well-thought-out view of evil and why evil characters work in a campaign. It’s along the lines of my own idea that there really is no good or evil, but an individual working toward a goal. If you think it’s ok to chop off a few heads along the way, you might be evil. :) Game Theory: Moral Dilemmas – Playing Evil
  • At Abstract XP, we get a bit of a primer on the difference between plot and story. And it’s a great refresher if you haven’t considered the difference for a while (like me!).Plotting Adventures: Part One
  • Also in the vein of defining “evil”, at the World of Alidor blog we find them discussing a greedy, but not quite evil god named Yol. But what really got me thinking was the comparison of evil to a deadly virus like ebola. Sure, it can spread, but it typically kills so quickly that it dies out and becomes dormant, waiting for the next opportunity to strike. I like the analogy. :) The Good, the Bad, Gods and Spirits of Alidor
  • Critical Failure – the GURPS Podcast pointed us at a great article on the anatomy of Japanese folk monsters, with some amazing images. You have to love the Japanese for their dedication to detail, even if it’s for a mythological creature!Potential Encounters: Anatomy of Japanese Folk Monsters points you to… Anatomy of Japanese Folk Monsters
  • And lastly, in the category of “go ahead, lay some history on me” we have an amazing article on the Persian Empire from the Sea of Stars blog… This is another one I’m going to have to devour a piece at a time to milk as much as I can out of it. :) Through the Lens of History 5: The Great King

As per usual, thanks to all the writers of these great, thought provoking posts! Have a great weekend and a wonderful Halloween!

–Fitz

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So from the first three parts of this series (part 1, part 2, part 3), you hopefully have seen some of the thought that went into our slightly different take on alignment for Moebius Adventures. Again, this is totally portable and could be used with any system I think.

RPGBlogCarnivalLogocopyBut does it work? The jury’s still out. Ultimately, this may not be a usable alignment system. But it provides some interesting flexibility that the traditional good/evil scheme may not. If nothing else, perhaps it offers some methods for fleshing out characters in addition to a traditional good/evil alignment.

I think that new players should focus on the basic alignment grid of Good, Neutral, and Evil. But more advanced players may want a bit more play in how they approach decisions for their characters in a given world.

When conflicts arise between different levels of morality, it definitely gets interesting.

Let’s say that someone is trapped in a burning building and your character has enough time to safely extract the individual from harm. A character with a light moral alignment (+6 to +10) would save the individual, since Man is more important than Nature (in order of moral codes). A character with a gray moral alignment (-5 to +5) may or may not aid the trapped person. Is the person a friend? Would there be a possibility of a reward? These things may tip the scale one way or another. A character with a dark moral alignment (-6 to -10) might have started the fire or help the fire burn other nearby buildings. Maybe they consider cities dirty, unnatural structures and seek to, like Nature, clear the area for new growth.

Considering these qualities of Morality and Virtue provide some interesting insights into how our characters deal with the world around them and the people in it.

Hopefully I haven’t put anyone to sleep with this series. I think it’s philosophically interesting to approach roleplaying from more abstract ways than the old “good vs. evil” scheme.

Thanks for your time!
–Fitz

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Hi all…

Once again, the RPG community presents not only creative ideas, but thought-provoking material that crosses genres and systems. I’m always impressed by the collective knowledge in the RPG blogosphere and this week was no different.

Friday Links

Hopefully I can finish a couple of posts over the weekend about my own take on morality in RPGs, as we had a bit different perspective for the Moebius Adventures system.

But here’s what you came for… the Friday Links!

  • Gnome Stew’s Matthew Neagley has increased the paranoia tenfold against the little races of fantasy roleplaying games. Gnomes are being called out as sneaky, dangerous, and effective enemies under the right conditions and damn if they don’t have some great ideas in the comments too – Gnometroopers and Gnome-jas are now going to be added to my own repertoire of evil!
    http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/gnomes-do-really-bad-really-good
  • In the “Why don’t I have one of these in my dungeon” category, we have the Obelisk of Undeath from the RPG Dumping Ground. I will definitely be investing in some necromancer swag and hiring some undead guardians soon!
    http://rpgdump.blogspot.com/2009/10/obelisk-of-undeath.html
  • As a fan of the old MechWarrior RPG (1st ed), I was shocked and surprised to see a simplified version of the rules boiled down to 6 pages. Amazing. Chgowiz of Chgowiz’s Old Guy RPG Blog has done a great job pulling these together. I’d be curious to see how they play. Luckily I have a friend moving nearby in a few months that was my old MW GM in College. We might have to give them a shot!
    http://oldguyrpg.blogspot.com/2009/10/announcing-micromw.html
  • Taichara over at A Hamster Hoard of Dungeons and Dragons has a handful of NPCs for our GMing pleasure – extras if you will to populate your world with some people with character. I love the little touches. Great post!
    http://hamsterhoard.blogspot.com/2009/10/handful-of-npcs.html
  • I’m just getting back to GMing after a long dry spell and it’s good to know what to avoid as I get started again… So seeing the Top Ten Ways to Know Your Campaign Sucks is a good refresher course from Rule of the Dice. When the only thing the players remember is the pizza, something has to be wrong…
    http://www.ruleofthedice.com/2009/10/top-ten-ways-to-know-your-campaign.html
  • In the “bizarre, but strangely compelling” category we have Spenser Idahl’s adventure hook “Sunday Hooks – Beetle Juice Edition” from Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies. Reminds me a bit of The Mummy with Brendan Frazer, but I have to say it’s always creepy when an NPC dissolves into a swarm of bugs! Ack!
    http://www.rocksfallblog.com/2009/10/sunday-hooks-beetle-juice-edition.html
  • From Troll and Flame, we have a well thought out revamping of a magic system. I too have been obsessed lately with magic systems, so this is a timely post for me. And the author came up with a similar pattern to what I’m probably going to do with Moebius Adventures – each type of magic user has a slightly different bent. There are similarities and commonalities, but one mage doesn’t have to be the same as every other. I like the division between Mage, Sorcerer, Wyrd (Runes), Staff wizards, etc. Great food for thought.
    http://trollandflame.blogspot.com/2009/10/magical-monday-magic-yeah-we-got-some.html
  • From allgeektout, we have a thought that I’m not sure why didn’t occur to me until now… Using top ten lists to shape expectations for a project and deciding what to emphasize… Oh duh! The author provides a sample for his Six Seas setting, listing 10 things you need to know about the six seas… http://allgeektout.com/2009/10/12/10-things-you-need-to-know-part-1/
  • In the current RPG Blog Carnival on morality in games, Jade on Evil Machinations brings up some interesting crunch to consider for ourselves and our characters. We can’t purge our dark sides, but we can be aware of them. And as Jade says, RPGs provide an outlet for our shadow selves to assert themselves safely.
    http://www.rpggm.com/blog/2009/10/12/dancing-with-the-dark/

Awesome posts and I’m sure there were many more this past week!

Have a great weekend!

–Fitz

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What is Lesser Wizardry? Does it mean you’re less of a wizard than someone who practices something greater? Not at all.

Old BookThink of Lesser Wizardry as the training wheels for a beginning wizard. Lesser Wizardry provides an opportunity for apprentices and students to learn the basics of wizardry without setting their hair on fire attempting to cast a ball of fire at an opponent.

So what is Lesser Wizardry good for? All those little tasks that might not seem like much, but can do many things for a budding wizard:

  • Add a bit of flair to your appearance when you’re out in public, such as providing a well-timed breeze to ruffle your robes to get the attention of those around you or to make sure your clothes are clean, hair combed, and hair shaved so you always look your best
  • Handle those little onerous tasks such as cleaning the dishes or wrapping a gift perfectly every time
  • Make sure you always have a pen handy, never lose your place in a book, or get up on time for an appointment after a long night researching in the lab

Beyond that, there are those little tricks that might make your enemy’s day a little worse with just a little thought from you:

  • Distract an opponent just long enough to slip by unnoticed
  • Ensure that a rival mumbles at just the right time to not speak a spell correctly or when addressing a crowd of her peers
  • Turn a clean, tidy room into a disorganized mess to drive even the most well-adjusted neat freak over the edge

Lesser Wizardry is one of the oldest forms of magic known to the humanoid races. When the first wizards were trying to harness the magical energy of the universe, they were very cautious in their approach and used as little magic as possible. They didn’t want to do any damage for fear of destroying themselves in the process or incurring the wrath of the gods. After a while, it became a game for some wizards to see just how little magic they would need to create a particular effect.

These are the spells that wizards create to simplify things in their lab, ensuring that equipment stays clean and spell components are where they can be easily found. But don’t let that fool you. The most powerful wizards skilled in Lesser Wizardry can drive wizards skilled in other areas quite insane.

One of the best parts of casting Lesser Wizardry spells? No components to mess with! Each and every Lesser Wizardry spell relies exclusively on the focus and energy of the caster. No muss, no fuss.

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I’ve been a silent member of the community for quite a while now, but now that I’m active again, I thought it would be helpful to re-link to posts from the week that I found thought provoking or useful.

Friday Links

So starting today, I’m starting a “Friday Links” post tradition. This will basically gather all the links I thought were cool from the week and provide a bit of why I thought each was interesting or useful.

First we have “Bringing Back the Magic” from Brandan Landgraff at d20source.com. As someone who’s been investigating how to add more “crunch” to wizards, I have to say I hadn’t thought much about magic items until I read Brandan’s entry. As he says, a +3 flaming sword just doesn’t have much pizazz – “all too often it is easy to think of a magic item as a +3 flaming sword, rather than the legendary fiery blade wielded by the mighty conqueror Hulkgar the Bad during his annexation of the kingdoms of the north”. You can find this great article here.

Next, you have a similar article from the AbstractXP blog… Again, a +3 dagger is just a dagger with a +3, but it could be so much more. It should have a history or at least a name to inspire fear and stories in your enemies and friends. It’s definitely a trap that many D&D players run into as far as magic items – focusing on the properties of the item and not the item as his or her character would perceive it. Yet another area where some “crunch” is needed for better roleplaying. You can read the whole article here.

To change the topic a bit, as a parent I’m often struggling with when to introduce my creative, imaginative daughters (ages 4 and 6) to roleplaying. So I’m always on the lookout for “Gaming as a Parent” types of articles around the blogosphere. I found one on The Escapist this week from WJ Walton titled “Washington Post parenting blog likes D&D”, which led me to a Washington Post article I wouldn’t have read otherwise. And Walton’s conclusion – if “he’s really suggesting that more parents should play RPGs with their kids”? He couldn’t agree more. I hope to join this cadre of gaming Dads soon. :) For the article and the link to the Washington Post article, see here.

Next, we have an article from the gnomes at Gnome Stew. John Arcadian suggests you “Think About Your Game As If It Were a Movie or TV Show.” I have to say, though this isn’t the first article on this theme, it’s one of the best I’ve seen to summarize the various aspects of TV show production that lend themselves to being a GM. I’ve tried this mindset myself from time to time (in the distant past), but never really got the hang of it. With John’s suggestions, maybe I’ll try it again! You can read the article here.

And lastly, I’m always on the lookout for resources. Over at the Game Table Role-Playing Game Blog, Justin Mason has provided a list of 33 free fantasy True-Type Fonts (TTF) that can be used in your own campaigns. There are some great ones here. “Hobbiton Brush Hand” is just beautiful, and I think the capitals for “Neverwinter” would make great flourishes on any page. Thanks Justin for offering these! You can see the article here yourself.

Thanks for all the great posts and I hope to make this a regular column every Friday!

Let me know if you have any suggestions for links and I’ll be sure to include them. Have an awesome weekend!

–Fitz

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In the beginning, there were wizards with spellbooks and monsters with special abilities. Then there were superheroes and villains with powers. But I never played in a campaign where there was a mix of traditional fantasy and super powers – so we created one.

Immortals’ Wake is a world in which magic, both arcane and divine, worked together to create Fire Symbol - Alchemya being with magical abilities – the power to control raw elemental energy. Why would they do such a thing you might ask? And why not stop with one experiment? A thirst for knowledge sometimes leads down some interesting roads.

However, these “Changed” as they came to be known, gained the ability to collect and manipulate the forces of water, fire, earth, air, and spirit. Think for a second about someone who could control these elements. Can you imagine the damage they could do? Then think about the good that could be done as well… You’re really introducing traditional comic book hero abilities into a fantasy world.

And as such, these powerful individuals are often called Demons by those who mistrust the destruction the Changed often bring with them. Initially, newly Changed have little control over their abilities. Freakish fires or floods may cause huge swaths of damage during the Change. Or whole buildings may be swallowed by the Earth. What do you tell the innocents who may have lost their lives or property after such an event? “Sorry” barely scratches the surface.

What can they do with Fire? Destruction comes to mind. Simply redirecting the power of a campfire or torch to set other objects aflame, take the heat and warm up an opponent’s metal weapons or armor, or simply launch a ball of fire at an opponent to do as much damage as possible. Then reverse it. Imagine a powerful elemental Fire mage who could draw the flames from a housefire or forest fire, or draws the heat from a room to lower the temperature.

The scariest of these elemental abilities for me comes with those who can control Spirit. During one campaign, we had a character take the spirit of a person and place it in a plant, just to prove a point. During another, we had a character speak to the spirits in a haunted area and provide a shell for one of them to communicate with others. And in yet another instance, a character used Spirit abilities to travel in an Astral form and manipulate the dreams of an NPC. Remember Anne Rices’s novel The Body Thief? It’s no wonder mortals would be scared of these individuals.

Depending on the element, there may be physical changes as opposed to psychological changes in the individual as well. For example, an Earth Changed might become more angular or stony, with skin color adjusting to be more like the prevalent stones in the surrounding area. Fire Changed may simply have more anger management issues or attack their passions with more energy.

Each Changed individual may have a slightly different strength for their abilities as well. Some may be little changed by the experience, while others would then have the ability to speak with powerful Elemental beings in their own plane of existence. What would you chat about with a being made of pure Water? or Earth?

Like any fields of magic in the Moebius Adventures system, there are few limits – which leaves the power in the hands of the GM and his or her players. And like in all things, there are repercussions to holding such abilities.

Would you choose to be Changed? Or will you let the Fates make the decision for you? What would it cost you to become Changed? What would you pay to lose the abilities? These are all crunchy topics ripe for roleplaying.

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A Kind of Magic…

Hi there…

No matter what form the magic takes – arcane, divine, or raw natural magic – it is a combination of concentration, ritual, and belief. Ritual components can be anything from gestures and words to actual physical or even spiritual elements. Physical components may even be tied to beliefs or holy symbols as opposed to simple material components like ash, gems, and so on.

Wizard with Staff (from Clipart.com)But all magic in Moebius Adventures boils down to three key bits – Intent, Components, and Concentration. As such, magic is VERY flexible.

Spell creation and research consists of having a conversation with your GM (or if you’re the GM, you can chat with your players or mutter quietly to yourself) about a few things:

  1. Does the spell come from an existing magical philosophy?
  2. What results are expected or what’s the intent of the spell?
  3. What are the specific components for the spell? Some of these may be dictated by the school of wizardry or magical philosophy chosen.
  4. And what level will the spell be? Not all realms of wizardry require levels, so this may be moot.

Let’s contemplate an example…

Example 1: “Flickum Bickus”

So let’s say that a wizard wants to create a simple spell to light a small fire when flint and tinder aren’t available. Think of Harry Dresden from The Dresden Files using his spell “Flickum Bickus” to light a candle.

This would fall pretty squarely into Lesser Wizardry. Lesser Wizardry deals with small magics and this would qualify as a small utility spell.

Just to verify that, we take a look at the description of Lesser Wizardry. Lesser Wizardry philosophy is as follows:

“The energy exists around us, but never use more than you need. Minimalist magic created to test the waters of magic without annoying any possible powers that be. That was the beginning – and now it’s the major tenet of Lesser Wizardry. Nobody ever dies from or gets hurt by a Lesser Wizardry spell. These are the mundane useful mini-spells created by wizards through the ages to help them get through their day – mark a page, clean a stain, and so on.”

The results are also pretty self explanatory. The wizard wants to light a small combustible material as if it had been lit in a usual physical manner. Simple enough.

And for the spell components, as for all Lesser Wizardry spells, all that’s needed are “mystic words.” In this case, the name of the spell “Flickum Bickus” can actually become the spell’s component as a verbal component.

As far as the spell “level”, this is a pretty simple spell with a very small focus. The GM would most likely slot this as a first level Lesser Wizardry spell.

And voila, the player has created a new handy spell for use in and out of the lab.

Example 2: “Make Me Rich!”

Now let’s do a more complicated spell. For instance, let’s say that a wizard is getting greedy and wants to make himself rich. This is pretty vague, so we clarify a bit to say that he wants to attract wealth like flies to honey. This is still pretty vague and could fall into a number of categories…

If the wizard is very literal minded, they might use Runic Magic to create a runic phrase “Attract Wealth.” Unfortunately “wealth” is a very subjective term. If there were a “money” rune, the wizard would be able to create a runic symbol that would work as a money magnet, attracting coins into the spell’s area of influence.

A better fit might be Superstitious Magic. At a high level, Superstitious Magic preys on people’s beliefs to create magical effects. This might be likened to voodoo or certain forms of witchcraft. If the wizard is superstitious, he or she might believe that the powers that be would grant them wealth if the spell was cast.

This spell would only affect the target. And Superstitious Magic spells require a physical component as a focus that is sometimes consumed by the spell and a mystic ritual, typically involving some verbal element.

In this case, the wizard might bind his own hair around a gold coin, grip it in his hand, stare into a candle and call upon his ancestors to grant himself wealth. “Great ancestors I invoke thee to grant me this, grant my wish and fill my purse, enough to do my deeds, grant my wish and I will remember thee…”

As a GM, I would take this as a vague wish to powers beyond the wizard’s real control, unlike using a bit of will to light a flame. These powers may hear the wizard’s plea, yet choose to fulfill their supposed “obligation” in unusual ways. Perhaps the wizard will suddenly have a group of chickens appear in his yard overnight. The wizard could sell the chickens or keep them and sell the eggs, thus filling his purse. Or perhaps it might be a literal translation and some passer-by might press a coin into his hands while walking city streets. Or perhaps there would be consequences to fulfilling the request – finding a full purse left behind by someone seems fortuitous until you are pointed at as the thief who stole the purse in the first place and abandoned it where someone else might take the fall…

Conclusions

As you can see, there’s a wide range of possibilities here. One of the things I hope to do with the Moebius Adventures magic rules is to allow enough flexibility that players and GMs can roll their own magic systems. You like the “colors” magic in Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker novel? Go with that. You want to do some Robert Jordan Wheel of Time weaving? Go for it. The sky’s the limit.

Ultimately the GM will have the power to veto or control some of the spell effects, as I’ve described a bit in the second example. But the freedom is there for creative gamers to come up with VERY interesting systems of magic.

There are twelve… Yes, twelve… schools of magic I want to cover in a variety of supplements. And then there’s Divine magic and its offshoots for various faiths and belief systems.

I can hardly wait to see what else folks come up with.

What do YOU think? Let me know what types of wizardry you’d like to see and I’ll try and c0me up with some ways that you might define them for your own Moebius Adventures game.

–Fitz

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Hi there!

Recently I’ve been reconsidering the role of magic in a roleplaying world and how a character might take advantage of it. In traditional RPGs such as D&D, Palladium Fantasy, GURPS, and so on, magic is a static thing. In the name of game balance, system creators have chosen to create schools of magic and assorted spells with their different requirements and effects.

Wizard with Staff (from Clipart.com)

This is great for beginning roleplayers, but can stifle creativity for more experienced gamers. What if I want to start from scratch?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a wizard on your own? Perhaps magic is slowly returning to the world after millenia, or you discovered your talents by accident or someone taught you to use them, or maybe magic is outlawed as it is in the Camelot of King Uther Pendragon in the tv series Merlin.

What would that mean for magical research? It would be trial and error. It might be an environment where wizards horde their secrets or band together and share everything to oppose some greater evil or political power. Wizards might be on the run, trying things without the benefit of a lab.

Where would you begin?

I think personally, I’d start small. Think of the old chemistry sets we used to be able to get when we were kids. We could go to the garage, the basement, even our bedrooms and start mixing potions like mad scientists. Tinker and fail and see what made things tick…

Let’s think for a moment of the urban fantasy world of  Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden. Harry was taught a few things early in life about magic, but a good deal of his knowledge over the years came from research and experimentation. How many of your wizard characters ever really did that? Think about the backstory you would have and the time between adventures you could experiment and try new things…

For example, let’s say your wizard knows some lesser magics. These are little utility spells that help in the lab or in life, but not much more. Let’s say your wizard wants to create a spell similar to Harry Dresden’s “Flickum Bickus” spell to light a small fire or candle when flitn and tinder aren’t available.

Can you create a spell, even a little one, in another big system for fantasy roleplaying? Ok, maybe Rolemaster or White Wolf’s Mage, but that’s about all I can think of from my experience.

Next time I’ll tell you how you’ll be able to do this in Moebius Adventures. Stay tuned!

–Fitz

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