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  1. I've seen the Red Book of Magic mentioned in the FB group as a sorcery magic expansion. Is there more information about it or a shelf date?
  2. Magic is tricky to implement in any roleplaying game. Implementing it in a modern game is problematic, to say the least. First of all, let's address the main issue that very few game designers have actually come from a profession which practiced magic, either of the stage variety or of the occult variety. Not many workplaces send out advertisements saying that they are hiring wizards and witches. There aren't many people on LinkedIn who pursue occult interests - or if they do, they keep it off their feeds. The issue of magic in roleplaying games is that they are presented as some form of superpowers - wizards flying, summoning fireballs, creating rays of intense cold, conjuring walls of fire or entities of pure shadow and darkness. None of this really presents magic as something magical -what we would recognise as displays of supernatural prowess, the marshalling of occult forces, and the unleashing of arcane powers. Magic should not look like displays of CGI superpowers in some summer tentpole movie. Let's take a look at what is called The Subtle Art. The Subtle Art Let's start with a definition of magic. Magic is the Art of making things happen. Magic makes things happen which would otherwise not be likely to happen. Your chance of being shot by a dog is low, but not zero, for instance. Magic makes the odds of something weird happening so much greater as to be almost certain. The force which defines magic is the Will of the magician. All workings are an act of Will, to bend reality to favour the magician's desired outcome - whatever that outcome may be. The greater the Will, the more likely that the magic will trigger the necessary changes. But here is where roleplaying games get things wrong. Small Hinges Open Big Doors Magic is not about big, flashy effects. The best example of this heinous sin is the Mythras Core Sorcery spell Wrack, which casts a spectacular spray of harmful energies towards the target to overwhelm them. The image accompanying this spell shows a wizened old man casting a spray of darkness from his hands. Only, what is the sorcerer's goal - to expend all that energy in a big flashy spray, or to inflict damage on the target? Consider a subtler-looking spell which has a similar effect - the sorcerer dangling a poppet of the target over an open brazier, lowering it slowly towards the fire as the victim screams in agony from flames which they alone can feel. Or perhaps, the sorcerer jabs a pin into the poppet's face, causing the target to feel a lancing pain between their eyes. The sorcerer could simply tie a red thread about the target's right arm, temporarily paralysing it, or begin dropping alcohol onto the poppet's mouth to induce a state of drunkenness in the staggering target. The power of the magician comes from the application of their accumulated body of arcane knowledge to accomplish major effects through the expenditure of as little force as possible. You can make a pendulum swing wildly from one almighty push, or through a series of small, well-timed pushes. Magic is the small push, applied many times to achieve a great effect. Magic turns on small hinges, but those tiny hinges open huge doors. Invocations Magic operates on a number of levels, called invocations. The lowest levels of invocation begin with a much-overlooked level of magic: the most subtle of all. Note that where specific spells from Mythras Core are mentioned, it is only to show mechanically what a specific level of magic is capable of. Perceiving. This invocation is at the level of information - just observing, without applying meaning to what is being perceived. This information can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, or tasted - and it does not have to be physical - the magician could be picking up on activities on the spirit planes, or gathering information on the microexpressions and body language of people nearby to read their emotions and reactions. This is the level of cold reading and perception of the astral realm of the local area and local spirits. Knowing. This invocation is one level up from the level of Perceiving. At this level, knowledge is drawn from the generalised information field surrounding the planet. Every living thing generates an information field, containing the sum of their actions and decisions. This level of magic taps into that information field to obtain the knowledge the magician needs. This level of perception incorporates divination, sortilege, Tarot cards, runecasting and oracles such as the I Ching, as well as astral travel and communing with spirits. Whatever has to be plucked out of the air, rather than observed happening in one's surroundings, comes into this category, which is at the level of data. This is the level of empathic and telepathic mindreading. Revealing. The next level of invocation is Revealing, which opens up levels of understanding concealed from the magician. This is the lowest level of knowledge; and at this level, the magician is discovering phenomena not known to them, not deductible from existing clues. This is deep level knowledge, the equivalent of "X Ray vision," or a deep telepathic probe. Understanding. The highest level of perception magic, this invocation brings together what the magician has obtained from the lower three levels, to produce a model which allows the magician to understand the why, as much as the what and who. This is the level of wisdom, sometimes called illumination. Nudging. The lowest invocation of influence, this level merely accentuates something which is already going on. Examples: A running person finds their speed being increased or decreased, or if they are turning left they find themselves almost being pulled more strongly in that direction - or conversely, to the right, if the magician wishes for the runner to change their direction. Whether this operates on a physical level (such as increasing a fire's intensity) or an emotional level (such as making a hungry person even hungrier) depends on the target; but in general, nudging spells work more efficiently on minds than they do physical phenomena. Spells such as Haste and Hinder from Mythras Core would come into this category. Spells from Mythras Core such as Attract Harm, Draw and Repulse also come into this category of invocation. Warding. This invocation of control is about applying the Will of the magician to reinforce the target's existing reality against something which could cause it to be changed. Example: a spell to allow a fast runner to continue to run quickly, by deflecting a magical spell from a second magician intended to slow her down; or a working to protect somebody's mind from being read, or to prevent a spirit from possessing the person so protected. Damage Protection, Spell Protection, and Spirit Protection from Mythras Core would come under this category. Swaying. The invocation of overt control, this is about completely overriding the target's existing condition. Whereas a nudging spell causes an object in motion to go a little faster, or a hungry person to feel more hungry or for someone who felt hunger for a piece of meat to feel hunger for bread instead, this spell compels a stationary target to move, for instance, or compels a mind to think a thought that it had not been thinking at all (such as imposing a desire to eat in the mind of someone who had not been hungry). At this level, workings can also stop a running process entirely. Example spells include Animate, Fly, Dominate and Enslave, as well as Imprison, Banish, Evoke and Summon. It can be argued that Tap (Characteristic) fits in here. Most of all, the Abjure family of spells sits firmly here, as does Transfer Wounds. Concentrating / Attenuating. This is the invocation of Enhance and Diminish Characteristic, Grow and Shrink, Palsy and Smother. This enhances and augments a particular aspect of the target, making it physically larger or smaller, stronger or weaker, and in particular with living beings raising or lowering their characteristics. Spells of healing which boost the target's healing rate come into this category. Spells which weaken the damaging effects of elemental forces, such as making fire less intense, also come into this category. Transforming. The previous invocations more or less kept the target intact. This level alters the target's fundamental nature, changing features of the target or even remaking the target into something else. This is the level of Sculpt, Transmogrify and Shapechange. Invocations of this type leave the target changed. Some forms of healing magic work at this level, too - their effects are permanent, in that the injury is permanently removed, but such spells cannot prevent the target from acquiring new injuries later on down the line. This is also the level of deaging / youth / aging suspension magic, such as the rare Tap (Youth) and Abjure (Aging) spells. Creating / Destroying. The ultimate invocations, these weave something into existence out of nothing, or conversely rip apart its pattern, causing it to disappear from the world. These invocations work best against inanimate substances, conjuring fire or ice from the air for instance. Workings at this level are rarely cast: lesser spell effects can be used with greater effect. Do you really need to conjure up a wall of ice, for example, when you could transform the water vapour in the air into a wall of ice, or - better yet - create a strong sense of aversion in the mind of a pursuing enemy, simply letting their own minds stop them from crossing into the room you are in? Remember: small hinges open big doors. If the goal is to create an avalanche, it might be less effective to unweave a large section of an overhanging snowbank to destabilise it, than to magnify the sound of a gunshot. Manifestation The second key to your workings is how you wish the working to manifest. Here is where your spells get to look and feel occulty, supernatural, arcane, and scary. Manifestations are how your magician establishes an arcane connection with the target. Some of these manifestations only work at sensory range; others have no range restriction. These manifestations always look, sound and feel scary and occult, such as items covered in mystic symbols or daubed in blood. They are meant to be scary. In a modern Mythras game, if your spells are not scary, they aren't magic. The process of creating a manifestation is not quick. Even a quick chant could take up a number of combat rounds; and while some workings can be prepared on the fly such as sigils or charms, others can take hours or days to prepare in advance. This can be represented by an appropriate skill check, which is listed with each type of manifestation. See "Skills" following. Chant This is most commonly encountered out in the field. Your character chants something unintelligible, the skies darken, a wind picks up, and weird flames engulf their enemies. Your character must know some chants to intone or sing, which means the magician must be free to speak and to gesture. This manifestation includes use of gestures. (Acting, Dance, Musicianship, Sing, Seduction) Sigil Your magician takes time to draw a veve, or paint an inscription or diagram on a wall, or to slip a piece of paper inscribed with runes under the target's door. The written word is the medium through which your Will is imposed on the world. (Art, Craft) Circle More elaborate than a sigil, a full circle takes several minutes at least to draw on the ground, for example in chalk or salt. More permanent circles can be painted onto the ground, taking hours or days to prepare. (Art, Craft) Brew Something which is consumed, which can be anything from a pinch of something soluble to put in a drink, to a batch of soul cakes, or a well-brewed hearty beer, or a shampoo to rinse into your hair. This can extend to cosmetics, soaps, waxes, powders or candles. The more militarily-inclined might experiment with using Semtex as the consumable medium for somewhat explosive spells. The chalk your magician uses to draw a Circle, for instance, could be infused with a spell in its own right. Brews have a limited lifespan; they must be used fresh. (Craft (Brewery, Cookery, Cosmetics)) Poppet A poppet is an effigy of the target. It can be any size from a small, crude voodoo doll, to a life sized effigy stuffed with straw, with a photo of the target's face stuck to the effigy's "head." Poppets can be used at unlimited range against the target. (Art, Craft) Tag Another classic occult tactic, tag spells use tissue samples from the target, or pieces of clothing worn by the target. Nail clippings, hair, even blood and teeth, can be used. Tags can be combined with poppets for a greater connection. Tags have a limited lifespan, but can be used at unlimited range against the target. (Craft) Declaring Your Working When your magician character wants to create a magical working, you need to declare the following to the Games Master. - The invocation; - The manifestation; - The target; - The goal; - The time taken to prepare the working. Magic is going to be a slow process. The necessary gathering of occult materials and forces, the settling into gnosis, all take time. If the ground has been prepared in advance, such as a poppet or tag or circle, then the magician needs only settle into a state of gnosis and, in that state of mind, link together the invocation and the manifestation. The following can be used to establish how long it may take for a magician to enter the requisite state of gnosis. Magic is a slow process, which seems to have very small effects - but those effects can lead to profound changes. Small hinges open big doors. Skills The primary skill here is Gnosis (INT + POW). The magician can use this skill to enter a state of gnosis, which enables them to cast their workings. The manifestations of the workings may be prepared ahead of time and carried on the magician's person, such as a sigil or packets of powder for brews, and the magician need only use their chosen method of gnosis (meditation, dance, ingestion of some sort of herb) and take the time to enter the gnostic state. If the magician wants to speed up the process, for instance if their Gnosis skill is 56% and they want to enter gnosis within 1d6 combat rounds rather than 1d6 minutes) they can accept an increased grade of difficulty in the Gnosis check for each step down the table. In the above case, they need to accept two grades of difficulty to be able to enter gnosis in 1d6 combat rounds, rather than 1d6 minutes. Once the magician has entered a state of gnosis, they remain in that state for the duration of the encounter, unless they are injured or they choose to leave the state of gnosis. Once they have entered gnosis, the magician can use pre-prepared manifestations (such as a brew or a sigil) with a time of 1 combat round to cast. The skill used to prepare the manifestation is important. Optionally, the magician may make an appropriate skill check to create the manifestation in advance. If the check is a fail or a fumble, the manifestation is of insufficient quality to create a link; the working automatically fails. If the check is a critical success, the manifestation actually makes the Gnosis skill check at the beginning of the encounter one grade easier. Magic Points? This setting does not need Magic Points. Your magician characters don't need to spend, or recover, Magic Points from doing workings. The act of magical creation to make the manifestations attracts sufficient power from the universe to make the workings viable when cast. Shrine, Temple, or Laboratory Depending on your character's tradition, they may set up a sacred space to study and prepare the manifestations, and to meditate and practice their chants. Within their sacred space, whether it be a shrine, a Temple, a Lodge, or a Laboratory, all Gnosis checks are one grade easier. The environment is designed to make it easier to enter a gnostic state quickly and more deeply. It is in a state of gnosis that the inspirations come to create new invocations, and new manifestations. Grimoires Each new invocation developed by the magician can be written down in a Grimoire. Specific workings (specific invocation and specific manifestation) can be written down as Rotes; these can be prepared in advance, and always take 1 Combat Round to cast regardless of whether the magician is in a state of gnosis or not. The magician can remember a number of Rotes up to their INT score. Anything beyond that will require that they gain access to the required Rote from their Grimoire (requiring 1d6 Combat Rounds to access, then 1 Combat Round to cast). Rote descriptions must include the following - Invocation; Manifestation; Goal. If the Manifestation requires difficult-to-obtain materials, such as Semtex, heroin, gold, uranium, or some endangered wild flower, these should be written down as well as possible substitutes such as parsley for cannabis. Experience Rolls Creating Rotes requires one Experience Roll per new Rote created. Learning a new invocation requires 2 Experience Rolls. Learning a new manifestation requires 2 Experience Rolls. New invocations and manifestations each require 1 month of study. If there is a teacher, their Teach skill can reduce the time to learn by 10% times the critical range of the teacher's Teach skill. A Peek Into The Grimoire Next week, we'll look through the magician's Grimoire and list some workings, including their invocations and manifestations, as well as the kinds of goals and targets they are expected to have.
  3. I thought I wouldn't get into magic systems in my Modern Mythras blogs, but recently I've been watching some old classic movies such as The Devil Rides Out and The Wicker Man, and they reminded me of something which can have its place in a modern Mythras setting. The Occult. Here's the thing. Magic systems in all roleplaying games suffer from one plain, boring fact. They aren't magic. I mean it. Nothing since the original TTRPG has ever come close to the heart stopping terrors of real world occult practices. It's all just been a list of "spells" which might as well be comic book superpowers. Your "magic man" is just someone who's carrying a list of special effects, which might look good if this were a Hollywood movie with a big SFX budget and a couple of supercomputers to whip up the CGI. But this is a roleplaying game, and real magic comes from the imagination. So should the magic in these games. The Occult And Horror Magic comes from occult sources, and the occult is serious business. If it isn't scary, it isn't magic or you're not doing it right. The Occult and Power Magic should be a tool used by people who seek power, whether as protagonists or as antagonists. Magic and The Magus The four pillars of magical practice, the Four Powers of The Magus, are - To Know; To Will; To Dare; and To Be Silent - or Velle (to Will), Audere (to Dare), Scire (to Know), Tacere (to Keep Silent) in the original Latin. To Know acknowledges that Magic is a process of self-knowledge. The goal of the Magus, Witch, or other practitioner is Knowledge, because Knowledge Is Power. To Will means to have the wherewithal, the desire, to apply the magic to the world. To Dare means to go beyond what people are expected to do, to transcend the ordinary experience in pursuit of the extraordinary. To Keep Silent means to keep one's counsel and secrets, and not just blurt out everything to every rando. Magic and Lifestyle To be a magician doesn't mean that you get to fling around fireballs. Magic is an unconventional lifestyle. It means being an exceptionally knowledgeable nerd type who dresses weird, often has bizarre dreams, and plays musical instruments like ocarinas. Magicians don't go along the roads that magical characters do in fantasy novels - there are no "ice sorcerers," "darkness sorcerers," "machine mages" or "shadow witches" in the real world, only practitioners. Some may style themselves witches, sorcerers, but a lot call themselves occultists. Few people actually take on official titles such as wizard, vitki, magus, druid and so on, and these are usually of cultural significance. Magic and Mystique With a practitioner, there is usually something a little bit more to them. There's always something up their sleeve. You cannot be better than a half-assed thaumaturge if you show everybody your tricks. WHether your magician is a protagonist or an antagonist, there has always got to be a sense of something hidden behind the scenes; something concealed; something they don't want you to know. If, at any time, a magician is completely exposed, they instinctively wrap themselves in the shadows of ignorance to cloak themselves from too much scrutiny. Magic and Mental Toughness Magicians and other occult practitioners tend to look unflinchingly at the reality of the world. It shows in their eyes. There's a light burning behind them which is usually only a reflection of what they are seeing. That makes them less likely to feel ordinary levels of fear. Fear of death, public speaking, nudity - they never seem to bother practitioners. Not even bad dreams bother them, which is a sign of something. What it is a sign of, I leave you to imagine. Magic and Mind Control The Power of Suggestion is always a powerful tool at the disposal of practitioners. Hypnotic language, gestures, use of spiral patterns, mandalas, even herbs, music or mystical arts: whatever is at hand, magicians will learn to use with great effect. Easirt to convince a person to run indoors because they believe it is going to rain, than to spend hours unbalancing thermal columns of rising air over a nearby body of water to actually induce rain. Magic and Mundanity Practitioners may find that their magic works along the most boring, ordinary, mundane lines. Demons do not pop up out of thin air into that magic circle; streams of rainbow coloured lights do not fly from the mage's fingers; and walls of fire don't pop up at the snap of the fingers. Yet they still accomplish strange, often beautiful, and frequently terrifying effects through sheer coincidence: a mist might descend over an area to obscure the magician and their companions, or lightning strike the exact tree under which the magician's enemy was hiding. Magic and Modernity Modern practitioners do a lot with little nowadays, and what they can do is astonishingly impressive if they are attuned to the modern milieu and expectations. A practitioner could use a mobile phone to cast a spell ("Like to charge; retweet to cast") or to carry around their grimoire of known, rote-codified spells. Rituals can be held online, to great effect because they can involve masses far greater than one can squeeze physically into a tiny little room. Magic and Modern Mythras To see what sorts of spells, workings, charms, talismans, divinations and so on can be incorporated into a modern Mythras game, tune in next week where we will be opening the Grimoire of the Modern Mage for Mythras.
  4. Hello all fellow MW enthusiasts, I'm volunteering for a local charity to introduce their young people to roleplaying games and related activities (character backstories, world building, map making, character art and the added benefits of RPGs - cooperation, socialising, maths and english skills, among others). The charity's website can be found here: https://www.littlemiraclescharity.org.uk/ Please take some time to look over their website and see the sort of young people they are helping and that, by extension, I am working with. Now, the current iteration of D&D is, in my experience, too complicated and too expensive to get into. I am a big Chaosium fan and I've GM-ed an introductory adventure using Chaosium's Magic World system. The adventure went down a storm and the young people are keen to carry on. The main problem is that I have only one copy of the Magic World rules and at least one player has expressed an interest in buying a copy so she can be the dungeon master. I do understand that the Magic World PDF is available but, imho, that's not the same as the physical rule book. I know that Magic World is no longer in print, which brings me to the point of this email. Is there any possibility that you, players, contacts 'in the trade' or Chaosium staffers themselves can source a couple of copies of Magic World to help in this project? Perhaps there are copies in your store room that you have forgotten about? Or maybe you know someone who has a copy or two that they'd be willing to part with? I'm really keen on pressing ahead with this work and any help you can provide would be gratefully received. Many thanks in advance, Colin Brett
  5. In my previous post, the creation of magic items was addressed. Various mechanisms were looked at, from the use of the sorcery skill Enchant (Object) through to the creation of religious artefacts and relics, and spirit fetishes. This blog looks at the magic items themselves, and the impact they have in game. Significance No enchanted artefact should ever be insignificant. Every artefact carries with it the power to affect the outcome of an Adventurer's skill checks, if not the storyline of the scenario. Even if the artefact carries some sort of minor "skill buff," such as automatically augmenting a mundane CHA-based skill check such as a musical instrument which offers an enhancement to Musicianship checks, it must never be discounted or glossed over, or traded up for a more powerful artefact in the next session. Every supernatural enhancement counts. Investment Enchanted items are never two-a-penny. Every artefact probably had a significant energy investment behind it, on the part of the creator. Enchanted items rarely, if ever, look like something rolled off a mass production line. They often bear marks, or artistic stylings, which identify their creators - makers' marks. This often makes enchanted artefacts unique, identifiable, and frequently irreplaceable. Cultural Impact Each enchanted artefact is the product of somebody's culture, shaped by that culture, fashioned from materials significant to that culture, and bearing the hallmarks of, and symbols of, that culture. A Barbarian might fashion a pair of boots to allow them to travel for miles non-stop, augmenting their predilections for wandering through wildernesses. A Nomad from a riverine tribe could fashion a spirit fetish from an ocarina (see? I had to bring in ocarinas somewhere!) to whistle up fair weather or to appease hostile river spirits, Loreleis, Sirens and other predatory supernatural entities which, according to the Lore, would lurk around the more sluggish stretches of the river. A Civilised sorcerer might enchant a cap and charge it with Enhance (POW) to boost their Magic Points supply, and another might create a mask which bestows the Change Gender Gift from page 202 of Mythras to whomsoever wears it. Magic swords, axes and armour are not the only artefacts of significance to a culture. The real world historical Beaker Culture of Bronze Age Europe were characterised by the beakers with which they were buried, for instance. The Mold Gold Cape, another artefact dating back to the Bronze Age, is an artefact of huge cultural significance even to the modern day, due to the mystery of its manufacture - it is a mystery even to modern archaeologists, who still only have a general idea of how such a thing could be made, but can only guess at what tools they used. Artefacts include relics, the remains of saints, or objects which are reputed to have been in contact with someone supposedly blessed by a deity. Śarīra, for example, are pearl-like spheres which have been found among the ashes of Buddhist saints who attained Mahasamadhi (the ultimate Samadhi - death). Relics have cultural significance, since they are held to be tangible reminders that those who came before, whose lives and deaths shaped the contemporary religion, actually existed - they were real, not merely the products of storytellers' imaginations. Expectation The name of Sheffield Steel, or Clogau Gold, is a brand. There is an expectation of sublime quality to any item forged from such materials. In fantasy, a blade made from obsidian, or a cutting blade forged from meteoric iron, usually has some expected power of supreme sharpness and durability. Such blades are supposedly unbreakable, never dulling or losing their edge; or they may require the spilling of blood before they can be resheathed, once drawn. Another, more modern example was the so-called "Welsh Blade" created during The Great War, when England wanted to terrify the Germans with their deadliest weaponised force ... er, Welsh people. To add to the propaganda, Welsh infantry units were issued with "Welsh Blades," on which the words "DROS URDDAS CYMRU" were etched or stamped. The propaganda painted the Welsh as some sort of mainland British Gurkha force, armed with savagely sharp "trench swords." The main power of these items was expectation. When the hero brings out their prized enchanted item, there is an expectation that the hero will surely prevail; the magic of the artefact unleashed is expected to overwhelm anything the enemy can bring to bear against the hero and their people. This has a historical precedent going back to Roman Emperor Constantine, who conquered with a sign, the Labarum, also called a vexillum or Chi-Ro, which was emblazoned on a war banner as a symbol of Constantine's divine power. Even if, like the inscriptions on "Welsh Blades," that "divine power" was merely well-distributed propaganda spread in the enemy camps to prime the pumps. The power of expectation can extend far beyond the reach of any powers an enchanted artefact may possess. A theist could possess some item, such as a Śarīra, reputed to have belonged to a Great Soul who spread peace during her life. The theist could prominently display this relic, signalling their desire for peace to the representatives of two warring nations brought to the table to sue for an end to the war. A magic mailed gauntlet worn by a king in your setting, for instance, could be endowed with the power to heal plagues with a touch, or to cause wrongdoers to crumble into ashes. A theist could indeed embody a healing Miracle, or a sorcerer Enchant the glove with Transmogrify (to Ash) - but simple rumours, propaganda, and expectation can give an artefact a blessed, or cursed air, even if the Adventurers never get to see the artefact, or suffer its touch - though if an Adventurer does come into contact with the mailed gauntlet and survive, it could work to the advantage of the character: they were not turned to ashes, therefore they are not wrongdoers, and so on. Enchantment In the end, the nature of enchantment is as much the product of rumour, legend, and the Lore skill as it is the product of skill, craftspersonship and prowess with sorcery or other form of magic. A blade crafted by a mystic swordsmaster, whose Talent of Augment (Craft) allows them to fashion master-level blades, can be held with huge fear and respect, even if it is just mundane with a few ordinary Enhancements from the manufacturing process. A violin created by your setting's answer to Stradivarius, for example, can acquire a legend through association with stories of a devilish creature bargaining for the soul of some youngster in a contest of musical skill. It all boils down to the concept of enchantments and artefacts being desiderata - objects which spark desire in those who see them. Mythras games are about the characters, and their achievements; but the existence of enchanted artefacts and relics, their legends and histories, can weave the characters into the items' stories and legends, allowing the characters to exploit those legends in an adventure, even if those items turn out to have no discernible magic powers whatsoever, but merely an association with something legendary within the setting.
  6. [Image is "Summoning," by Joseph Springborg] Here is how Mythras, page 113, defines sorcery:- Sorcery is the manipulation of underlying laws that directly control the very fabric of creation. These formulae are complex equations: a mixture of mathematical, psychological, existential, and supernatural principals [sic] that allow the sorcerer to grasp a portion of reality and bend it to his will. Sorcerers do not need to rely on gods for their powers; nor do they need to engage with spirits to achieve their effects. Their manipulation of these metaphysical equations makes sorcery very powerful and very flexible. The powers of sorcery are potentially vast, and they are terrifying. They can remove the very souls from people, topple palaces, and summon freakish forces, all at the whim of an individual's will. The most powerful sorcerers can unleash dreadful storms, spy on people kilometres away, or weave phantasms to confuse and beguile even the wisest of people. Oh, and they could also turn people into frogs, pillars of salt, blocks of ice, or into solid gold at a touch. But what is it like to be a sorcerer in Mythras? Viewed With Suspicion The Mythras Core Rulebook outlines one possible downside to sorcery, namely that society does not approve of them:- However, it also means sorcerers are viewed with suspicion, and even fear and hatred by those who come by their magic through less direct means. And, because sorcerers have little need for gods or spirits, it is not uncommon for them to develop a certain degree of arrogance and disdain for those who choose to venerate such entities. That is one way of viewing sorcerers. There are others. You are not, as a GM, forced to consider this as canon. Your setting's views on sorcery do not have to be the same as they are in anybody else's settings. Solitary Calling Your Adventurer could be called to perform sorcery as a Solitary - without the aid of a group, Order, Tradition, or cult. Solitaries are, by definition, leaders of their own Traditions, and as such they are beholden to no higher authority within the group. Your Adventurer is free to define their own Tradition, its Vision, and its Methods. That means that, in effect, they are writing their own Grimoire, including inventing their own spells. As a GM, you can work with the Player to establish which new spells your Adventurer character invents, usually during down time, and then let them spend the requisite Experience Rolls to inscribe their new spell into their Grimoire. In some settings, these spells may be new and unique: nobody else may have access to them. Similarly, the sorcerer may be responsible for developing their spells' Intensity and broadening their access to Shaping Points, as well as creating the Shaping factors for use with their spells - Duration, Magnitude, Range, and so on. Initially, they may only know how to extend the Durations of their spells, and be forced to have to operate at Touch Range until they learn how to apply Range to their spells, and so on. Later on, they can learn how to Combine spells to take advantage of the Range and Duration - and then discover how to use Targets on more than one object or person. The life of a Solitary could be one of experimentation and exploration. They can bring in the Alternate Shaping Components from page 165 of Mythras, inventing and developing them as if they were brand new - and they may indeed be, in the setting. Found Objects The sorcerer-to-be may discover their talent for sorcery through a Grimoire, a found object covered in a strange inscription, even a book of magic squares or a text like the Codex Seraphinianus or Voynich Manuscript. Studying the object can turn out to be the catalyst which awakens the Adventurer's abilities as a sorcerer (in other words, they can spend a single Experience Roll to unlock each of Invocation and Shaping during down time, rather than the usual heavy toll as described in Mythras, pages 118 and 119). Guided to Power Animists are not the only beings who are touched by the spirit. Spiritual beings may recognise their fleshly brethren and guide the fledgling sorcerer through dreams and visitations until they discover the Willworker within and unleash their Legacy of sorcery. Such beings are as much spirit as flesh, and are highly likely to learn, stumble across, or even invent Evoke as their first sorcery spell - along with Imprison, Protective Ward, and Spirit Resistance. Peer Recognition The Adventurer may be approached by a member of an existing sorcery Cult, and presented with an offer. The Adventurer may be plagued with terrifying dreams, signs of their impending Awakening. Perhaps they belong to the group through a family connection - The Legacy may have skipped a generation or three, but the Adventurer's so-called Black Sheep from two or three generations past might have been a prominent member of their Order, and your Adventurer stands to inherit the Grandmaster's ceremonial sash, though they'd have a long journey to obtain it. And perhaps they may be drawn to the Cult through the symbols in their dreams ... just as their counterparts within the Cult may be drawn to the newcomer and potential Initiate through strange, symbolic dreams of their own. Tolerance By The Community Your sorcerer Adventurer may also be involved in some way with the community of ordinary people in which they live during down time. They may have an acceptance of, and tolerance for, sorcerers in their midst, and call upon them to heal wounds through their healing magics, or to protect individuals from harm. Some sorcerers may only have a limited repertoire of sorcery spells, or low levels of Invocation and/ or Shaping; but what they lack in magical power, they may well more than make up for with knowledge of a vast range of Lore, Culture, Language and Literacy skills. Because Knowledge is Power, and not all knowledge needs to be magical - a sorcerer with sensory spells (see below) can be called upon to seek out missing children, lost herd animals, or even sources of water in a drought; and a mage with Transmogrify (to Water) can likewise prove to be a lifesaver if they can transform barrels of dry dirt into lifegiving water during the same drought. Birth of A Cult Your Adventurer may, given sufficient Charisma and experience in Influence skill, advance both in power and in leadership in the community. If they come from a Solitary Tradition, they can develop their mundane Influence, Insight, and Teach skills to begin to teach others the power of sorcery, imparting their wisdom (or their folly) on fresh minds, and spreading The Word abroad. And not just Invocation, Shaping, and spells - that Teach skill can help impart the Adventurer's experiences with Lore, Languages, Customs, Locale, Culture, Insight and so many other skills at which the Adventurer excels. Your sorcerer can become a great teacher, and if their teachings include spreading messages of love, light, tolerance, and community, their reputation for enlightenment might spread further than their sorcery prowess. Craft of The Wise Magic is called "The Craft of The Wise" for a reason, and the Adventurer's career delving into ancient tombs and infiltrating rival mages' towers can pay off in their later years as new Adventurers approach the former tomb delver for wisdom and advice. If the sorcerer emeritus has learned anything, it is that some cultures need to be approached with respect and treated with dignity, lest they turn on the arrogant and tear their souls to pieces. The Four Pillars The real world's practitioners of magic each learn of The Four Pillars long before they are exposed to their first workings. The Four Pillars are:- To Know; To Will; To Dare; and To Be Silent. In a Mythras game, often enough those Four Pillars are never mentioned, or even heard of, and sorcerers fling their fire spells willy nilly, in the street, in front of crowds. The average Games Master and Player may not have heard of the Four Pillars, and sometimes come away feeling that their showboating lacked something. Here's a clue: showboating lacks something, all right - mystique. The Fourth Pillar, the caution to remain silent, is there for a reason. It is through subtle means that a sorcerer can exercise their greatest power. People respect what they fear; and when they do not know what a sorcerer is capable of, they can learn to greatly fear that sorcerer - but also to respect them, because of their experiences and because of their reputation for having done so many things normal people can never do. Respect is the most effective form of protection a sorcerer can possess. If they show wisdom in their actions, and kindness, and empathy, and their philosophy is honourable, the sorcerer will be viewed as one who is above suspicion in the community. The Most Useful Spells What are the most useful spells a sorcerer can learn - or invent? Damage Resistance / Spell Resistance / Spirit Resistance - This suite of spells can easily and quickly be cast, or enchanted into a sorcerer's magical tools for instant casting, first thing every morning. They can be given an extended Duration to last all day, or - with sufficient Shaping factors - be extended to last for a number of days, requiring that the caster only need to recast them once a week or so. Banish - Useful to cleanse a possessed person, or an animal, object, or place which houses an unwanted spirit. Banish has its limitations, so exorcisms must be creative and occasionally involve deception and trickery to convince the possessing spirit to let go of its host. Acting and Deceit are highly recommended. Phantom (Sense) can be invaluable. Mark - So useful in many ways. The sorcerer may Mark someone and track them down over the Mark's Range, summon them, or target them at a distance. Mark can target the focus of Project (Sense) so the sorcerer can sense what is happening in and around the vicinity of the Marked person or object; and Mark can, of course, be used as the destination for a Portal spell to allow the sorcerer to safely travel immense distances in the blink of an eye. Sensory Spells - In my settings, sensory spells are among the first to be taught to any sorcerer, even before the trio of protectve spells of Damage Resistance, Spell Resistance, and Spirit Resistance. Four of the five kinds of sensory spells are Mystic (Sense), Perceive (Sense), Project (Sense), and Sense (Object or Substance). Each, in their own way, expands the sorcerer's perceptions beyond the mundane, allowing them access to knowledge they could not possibly know if they were mundanes. Sensory spells can be combined with Mark to discern the vicinity of Marked objects or people, or selected areas - a sorcerer who has enchanted a Mark on top of a mountain, for instance, can Project (Sense) and scout the horizon for distant changes in the weather; an urban sorcerer can similarly Mark the top of a tall tower and scan the streets of the city below, or Mark a trained bird and use Project (Sense) and Project (Sense) to see the world below through the literal eyes of a hawk. And the fifth sensory spell is possibly the most profoundly useful spell of them all. Intuition. This spell functionally enhances Insight skill to the point where a sorcerer can instantly, immediately, and accurately, gauge a person's feelings, motivations, Passions, even their flaws, hubris, and hamartia. Something they can learn through building up their regular Insight skill to mastery, but which can be done in a few seconds through this spell. The effect of this spell can be described as kind of like the flashback scenes in a detective drama, where the lead character explains how the killer did the crime, only the spell more or less grants the vision without the need for the target to make any kind of a confession - it is all laid out before them like clues before a Poirot or a Horatio Caine: scuff marks, stains on clothing, a quaver in the voice, a sudden dilation of the pupils, a shift in epidermal capillary blood distribution and body posture, laying the target's soul bare before the sorcerer's eyes. The sorcerer can use this along with Project (Sense) or Mark to read people long before they ever meet the sorcerer, granting the sorcerer an advantage for when they do meet. Forces Beyond Mortal Ken Besides the sensory spells, of course, sorcerers can learn spells from Animate (Substance) and Sculpt (Substance), to terrible spells such as Transmogrify (to Substance), Suffocate, Palsy, Shapechange (to Creature), Dominate (Creatures), Enslave (Creatures) and so on. There are several gamebreaking spells listed in Mythras Core Rulebook, and I do not mean Wrack. The spells include Trap Soul, Switch Body, and Hide Life. They are among the darkest spells one can encounter, because of their potential for use. A dying sorcerer may use Switch Body to swap out their own soul for their enemy; or they may escape death by temporarily hiding within an amulet, only to return to life in a new body some time down the line. A sorcerer may send one of their minions into an enemy's establishment, riding along in the body of some servant or similar minor character, to perceive what they perceive. Though they can use Mark and Project (Sense) to do the same, turning the hapless functionary into an unwitting, unwilling, moving surveillance device. Another spell to fear is Tap (Characteristic), which is not as efficient as Enhance (Characteristic) but which can be devastating enough to a group of enemies, because Tap temporarily drains the enemies of their targeted Characteristic. Again, not as efficient as Diminish (Characteristic), but a half-decent sorcerer can use either to reduce a team of bad guys to helplessness by depriving them of their STR, or DEX, or POW, or make them look like fools by suppressing their INT and/or CHA in a social setting. Undeniable Power The true power of sorcery is not the spells they learn, but rather what they do with those spells. Sorcerers are agents of change, wherever they go; and the more powerful the sorcerer, the less likely they are to show off what they can do - or even to feel the need to show that they are sorcerers at all. The currency of sorcery is enigma. The more enigmatic they are, the greater their command of the powers, both real and imagined. It is this currency which marks the Art of sorcery as the most profound of the magical Arts, if not the most feared. But if the Art is handled with bravery, and courage, and subtlety; and if the sorcerer always remembers their roots, and keeps their connections with their humble, mundane origins and community, they can be treated not with suspicion and fear, but with deep respect and loyalty, as Bringers of Wonder to their people - the meaning of the word thaumaturge.
  7. As you know, not all spells are equal, and some are more effective than others. I made this list so that Keepers and Players can have a rough idea on how useful a given spell is likely to be to PCs. I've only included spells in the Keeper's Guide, and omitted spells found in the Grand Grimoire and other sources. Note that of course, Keepers are free to modify spells in any way they wish. The ratings assume that the spell are used as described in the rulebook. I use the following color scheme: Sky Blue: AmazingBlue: GoodBlack: DecentPurple: BadRed: Horrible Combat Spells Breath of the Deep: Good combat spell against creatures that need to breath and have low POW & CON. Best used for stealthy assassinations - can be cast from far away and without sound. Unfortunately 8 magic and 1d6 sanity is rather high. Clutch of Nyogtha: Requires concentration, does slow damage (1d3 a turn), has a high magic cost, & require a POW roll each turn. The 1D20 sanity cost kills it. Create Mist of R'lyeh: Smoke bombs that only cost a mere 2 magic points, no sanity, and can be cast instantaneously! Black if actual smoke bombs are readily available Death Spell: Absolutely awful spell that's pretty much strictly worse than Breath of the Deep. Absurd magic & sanity cost, high casting time, constant POW rolls, ridiculously low range. It's junk, and possibly unusable because of the 24 mp cost. Dominate: "Shoot/stab yourself" make great commands. An instantaneous casting time, a mere 1 sanity & 1 mp cost makes this amazing. Dust of Suleiman: Powerful spell against planar beings - but the main difficulty is locating the Egyptian mummies. Dread Curse of Azathoth: The 4 mp cost & 1d6 sanity cost is high - it's probably best to outright cast a combat spell instead of merely reducing the POW of a target. Sky Blue if used to setup a Mind Transfer spell. Enthrall Victim: The main issue is that the enthralled creatures is easily relieved of the trance. Low magic (2mp ) but high sanity (1d6) cost make this ok. Evil Eye: Excellent debuff, especially against enemies using firearms. Can't be resisted, but making the caster bleed breaks the spell. Wonderful combo with Flesh Ward. Fist of Yog-Sothoth: Best used to knock off enemies into environmental hazard or out of cover. Decent change for a knock-out if 10+ mps are used and the target isn't heavy. The high mp & sanity costs make this difficult to use regularly, though. Implant Fear: The lack of save makes this quite useful. Keeper may determine that determinant opponents can overcome their fear. Too bad it takes 12 mp and 1d6 sanity to cast Mindblast: Bouts of insanity are unpredictable, and cultists & mythos creatures can't experience bouts of madness. Costs 10mp & 1d3 sanity Melt Flesh: 5 rounds casting kills the spell. Red Sign of Shddle M'ell: Could potentially paralyze multiple creatures and do damage to many more, but high (1d8) sanity cost. Best used against melee enemies or while under heavy cover. Separate Binding: Amazing if facing the corresponding horror that is unbounded - the 1 sanity cost is super cheap. The odds of finding the corresponding creature unbounded is low, though. Shriveling: Good damage to mp ratio but high sanity cost makes this only usable in very dire circumstances. Song of Hastur: Takes 3 turn to cast. 1d4 sanity each round is really harsh - I would only use this defensively Wither Limb: Does 1d8 damage for 1d6 sanity, and presumably impairs the affected limb. If not, Shriveling is better. Wrack: Paralyzing spell that disables a target for at least 3 minutes, and costs a mere 3 mp & 1 sanity. Buffing Spells Apportion Ka: Makes you unkillable - until someone figures out they can destroy your brain. With this on, you'll likely survive all fights unless your party straight up abandon you once you fall unconscious. The lungs are probably best to remove so to become invulnerable to suffocation - you'll be able to spam toxic gases, smoke, and the like on your enemies. Easily worth 5 POW and 2D10 sanity. Body Warping of Gorgoroth: Useful for a disguise, but the 5 POW & 2d6 sanity cost discourages its routine usage Bless Blade: Niche spell, but highly useful if facing enemies that can't be harmed by mundane weapons. Chant of Thoth: Occasionally helpful when soling an intellectual problem, but the 1d4 sanity cost discourages its use Consume Likeness: The 5 POW cost and especially 1d20 sanity cost means you should only cast this if the identity is desperately needed. Even then, the illusion is broken if you lose any hitpoint. Flesh Ward: Amazing! 1d4 sanity is nothing for a spell that can possibly quadruple your effective hp. Plus, you don't actually take damage while under this spell's protection, so no CON roll to stay conscious. Voorish Sign: Highly dependent on Keeper, but I would assume the effect to generally be worth at least 1 sanity. Utility Spells Brew Space-Mead: How much do you want to journey through space? For almost all campaigns, not at all, but for a few that might be the whole point. Cause/Cure Blindness: Cure Blindness is invaluable if you do face the condition. Cause Blindness can impair a tough enemy, at any range. High casting time and sanity cost discourage routine use. Cloud Memory: Low cost spell best used to infiltrate or steal without raising an alarm Create Barrier of Naach-Tith: High sanity cost (1d10 to each caster) and high casting time (1 minute) make this situational. Curse of the Putrid Husk: Let me get this straight - you lose 10 sanity, for a chance to make the victim lose 1d10 sanity?! Elder Sign: Probably the best way to close a portal, but the 10 POW cost is going to hurt. Green Decay: Highly dependent on the Keeper letting the target accept the green leaf willingly. With a 10 POW cost, it's hard to justify this unless absolutely needed. Mental Suggestion: Creative suggestions can bring a lot of value, and unthreatening suggestions are cheap. 3 rounds casting time means it is best used out of combat. Mind Exchange: The 1d3 sanity cost to both the caster & target kills the spell. Mind Transfer: Good if you can capture a physically strong creature with low POW and steal their body. The chance of losing the character outright make this best used by very old or maimed characters. Sky Blue if Dread Curse of Azathoth can be used to lower the target's sanity first, Red if the caster is too moral to make use of it. Mirror of Tarkhun Atep: Could be used to gain clues on where the target is hidden. Cost is mercifully low. Powder of Ibn-Ghazi: Amazing against invisible creatures, but the availability of the ingredients is fully dictated by the Keeper. Resurrection: Bringing back someone to life is invaluable, and almost always worth more than 1d10 sanity. Warding: Really neat spell that let you set up all kinds of remote alerts for a few mps and no sanity. Wave of Oblivion: Require being near the ocean, a casting time of 1 hour, and 1d8 sanity per caster. Super niche, and most Mythos creatures don't care much about being undersea. Words of Power: Used creatively, can be extremely powerful. You can incite mass riots or convince a group of cops to help you. Unfortunately, using this spell may bring unwanted attention to yourself, and the targets may retaliate if they understand they have been manipulated. Summoning/Contact/Banishment Spells Banishment of Yde Etad: Cheap spell, and can be cast far from the target to straight up banish it permanently. Won't work on high POW creatures, and low POW creatures may not be worth the hassle. Call Deity: Leave it to the cultists. Contact Spell: Low cost spell, but require substantial research & resources to strike a proper bargain Contact Deity Spells: Leave it to the cultists Create Zombie: High magic cost makes this impossible to cast for most characters; the zombie is dumb, does low damage, and has low brawl skill. Not sure how you can make any use of it. Enchantment Spells: Highly dependent on the usefulness of the related summoning spell. If a POW roll is required, the character who enhance the object should give it to another character with full POW. Dismiss Deity: Highly effective provide you can teach this to a large group. No checks except a flat % percentile roll that increases with magic point spent. No sanity cost as well! Prinn's Crux Ansata: Powerful ankh that can banish creatures with an opposed POW roll for 1 mp, or for more mps with the possibility of getting an extra dice for the POW check. The required 3 round chants to use the ankh is unfortunate, however. Summoning Spells: Highly dependent on how many POW rolls the Keeper requires - excellent if the Keeper doesn't require any. Value also depends on the specific creature summoned, how it behaves, and if the corresponding Enhancement spell is available.
  8. Hello, I would like to dedicate this topic to a more-or-less classic BRP solution related to Toughness and Readiness present in Revolution D100. That is, the usage of unified Hit Points (or Hit Locations Hit Points for those preferring the localised damage), as well as Action Points in general. I have been considering tweaking Action Points into my own game, as I am currently running on Mythras and seeing a lot of interesting things in Revolution D100. Perhaps it is the slight unfamiliarity of mine on how the Readiness (SR) functions in general as I didn't get to try it just yet. I would probably assign a unified 2 (or 3) Action Point value per round for every Player Character regardless of their species. Basic movement would be a free action if used to engage an opponent within the non-running/non-sprinting range. Every Action and Reaction would cost a single Action Point, meanwhile various Spells would have Action Point (and Effort, also known as Exertion Points) cost relative to their casting time. What about the rest of you, have you devised your own alternative of the rules, or perhaps the author himself has some alternative rules in store for us? I'd be very curious to read your input on this matter!
  9. Hi! I have a question, some magic have the effect of making players loosing POW. What happens when the investigator is loosing POW, what is the effect? Dread Curse of Azathoth for example, the investigator meets a cultist who is casting the spell, player rolls dice and looses 18 points of POW, should something more happen here? or is the investigator just continuing doing it's round like nothing happened. I told the player to make a CON/SAN roll to make sure he is still standing or? Loosing POW must feel like hell. I'm just curious how you people are game mastering this?
  10. Version 1.0.2

    763 downloads

    A collated list of the Magic World and Advanced Sorcery spells. Arranged alphabetically by category (Sorcery, Necromancy, Rune Magic, etc. MP cost Effects Range Source and page number. There is a field for "Type" that you are free to use or ignore which is for a house-rule I use for keeping track of Black Magic, and affects to Allegiance through spell-casting. The .docx file can be used to add/delete whatever want .
  11. Hey all, I just uploaded the latest version of The Second Way freeform magic rules to this site. There are lot of small change that came about during playtest. You can get it at the link below or from the download section.
  12. Version 2.1

    1,288 downloads

    The Second Way (TSW) is a set of homebrew freeform magic rules for Chaosium’s Magic World setting. The goal of TSW is to provide a definitive yet flexible way for crafting and scaling spells. Inspired by Chaosium’s Deep Magic and Atlas Game’s Ars Magica, TSW changes Deep Magic’s spheres and glyphs and adds rules for specifying spell range, area of effect and duration as well as for affecting mass, affecting character condition and casting spells against multiple targets. For maximum benefit readers will want to purchase Chaosium’s excellent Advanced Sorcery book.
  13. I searched for and found another thread related to this topic, but it was almost a year old. I just want to clarify and make sure I understand the interactions between "regular" spirit binding (RQG p249) and POW storing crystals (GM Adventure Book p121). POW storing crystals may be used to either store magic points or store a spirit. The owner may select what the crystal is storing (magic or spirit) and change it. POW storing crystals are natural objects, not created via enchantments, but through mythic processes (dead gods). To store magic points, the user must only concentrate (like casting a spell) to inject the desired magic into the crystal. To store a spirit, the user must use either Spirit Binding or an appropriate Command [Spirit] spell to force the spirit into the crystal. Unlike normal binding enchantments (RQG p249) which may allow the user to use the spells and knowledge (but not magic points) of the bound spirit while it still remains within the binding enchantment [the rules fuzzy here], the spirit within a POW storage crystal can only provide magic points to the user, not cast spells or provide any useful intelligence (GMAB p122) while it remains within the crystal, although the user may release the spirit to perform one action (and depart) or use a Command spell to order it to perform several actions and return to the crystal (just like a normal binding enchantment). Spirits in normal binding enchantments and POW storage crystals count against the users CHA limits for bound entities and all such entities are released when the user dies.
  14. Hello, The situation is: my player misunderstood spell casting recipe. The effect of his reading failure was adding his own hairs, nails etc to recipe. By original, it was "Cage of Kind" spell, in Horror's Heart. What logic consequences would occur in this case, according to Cthulhu's magic manner? edit: I didn't add one important thing. It's about undoing spell. So, player was trying to undo spell which was never cast on him.
  15. Draconic magic has been something as bit of mystery to me when researching it. I only found some base spells but never on how to cast them. I understand it is Taboo for those that aren't of Dragon Kin to use but the EWF (Empire of Wyrm Friends) and Some select Groups of Humans have figured it out. My main question is how is it casted and how does one become gifted or cursed to cast them. Some sources say it dampens the Dragonewt cycle but how does this effect those who cast it that are Human? Any help or points would be gratefully appreciated. GeminniRed
  16. My players were nipping across the Donalf Flat when they encounter a random dinosaur. A brachiosaurus, a large, lumbering, but ultimately inoffensive beast that it would be easy to avoid. I should have known better. In true PC fashion they decide that this would be the ultimate Beast of Burden! A discussion followed about how long it would take to tame a beast that is too thick-skinned and slow witted to even notice a bunch of humans in its path. Suddenly the wannabe shaman pipes up: "I know Discorporation! Can I possess it?" Sure, but you'll lose your old body since you don't return to it before the spell is up. "It might be worth it. Can I still cast magic when in the new body?" And that question stumped me. A brontosaur body is incapable of speech and of gestures, any familiar to a human at least. Does that preclude use of magic? Spirits can cast spells without a body of any form, but... What say you, the collected sages?
  17. This is the first of three videos delving into the spirit world of the Animist. In this video, I look at the concept of the animist, how they fit into your existing campaigns and which skills they need to invest in. Further videos will look at spirits, spirit combat and how the animists operate within adventures. https://youtu.be/-wmwHNcPfTk
  18. Hi, Do the Magic Points stored in a Sorcerer's Staff count alongside the Sorcerer's own MP when making Resistance Table rolls. e.g. a Sorcerer with POW 17 has 17 MP and a fully charged Staff containing 16 MP. Does this mean the Sorcerer's MP equals (17+16=) 33 on the Resistance Table? I can't find any reference to this in Magic World, SB5 or the BGB. Any suggestions or house-rules for this would be very useful. Thanks, Colin
  19. So I've been fiddling a bit with the Summon Ancestor spell in our RQG game (and to a lesser extent with its adjacent spells) and it seems both powerful and fun to use, but also a bit incomplete. Thus I figured it might be interesting to see how others have used the spell, and if y'all feel similar holes exist in the description, and how they've been filled. One of the first things I've done is, at the start of play, let an adventurer who knows Summon Ancestor have D6 ancestors generated using the charts on p. 342-343 of the Core. To my mind this represents past use of the Summon Ancestor spell, which can then be called up if Summon Ancestor is stacked with Summon Specific Ancestor per those spell rules. For me, generating some of these random ancestors was a big revelation. Over time, even just an initiate of Daka Fal generates a huge pool of different ancestors they can call upon, giving access to a wide variety of spirit magic spells for 2 RP (well, for friendly ancestors). Although there are some limitations involved, often substantial, it still introduces a great deal of strategic flexibility for the adventurer. That being said, there are several gaps in the spell's material as written: Ancestors are described as being able to engage in spirit combat, but have neither a skill percentage assigned nor a CHA characteristic to roll for determining SC damage. INT can sometimes be relevant too--for instance, ancestors probably possess INT and therefore require a 3-POW Binding Enchantment to be contained--but this isn't as important for spirit mechanics. My solution was to approximate the ancestor's POW roll on the Ancestral Summons table to the POW and CHA rolls for random spirits on p.165 of the Bestiary in order to determine the ancestor's CHA, and then determine SC damage as usual. Additionally, there's no Spirit Combat skill rating attributed to ancestor spirits. I assigned such spirits a Spirit Combat skill of POWx3% because they're the spirits of random mortals from stickpickers to shaman-priests. A POWerful ancestor (5D6+6, average 23-24, SC 69-72%) still maybe doesn't have the high percentage it ought, but this felt more representative than using POWx5% for unremarkable Uncle Joe who's spirit has POW 12 (max of 1D6+6). As far as I can tell, there's no actual generic entry for ancestor spirits in the Bestiary. Ghosts have a flat Spirit Combat 70%, but that didn't feel right as an approximation of an ancestor spirit due to a ghost's malign nature. I'm not certain what to do if a randomized ancestor's spirit magic is rolled twice. My solution, for variable spells, was to roll 2D6-5 again and add the new points atop the old. In one case, this resulted in a spirit which knew Heal 9 (which was interesting, but is basically fine). I think I've been rerolling non-variable spells. I'm not certain how to handle ancestral spirits which know enchantment spells (like the Magic Point Enchantment, random spell 52-54 on the D100 table). For the moment if a player brings it up, I'm thinking to handle it that if the caster sacrifices POW in worship of the summoned ancestor, the ancestor would then use some or all of that POW casting the relevant enchantment. Alternately I suppose you could use Control Ancestor Spirit on one, and force it to cast the enchantment, but even doing this on a malign ancestor feels super sketchy and Chaotic to me... Finally, ancestor spirits who have Rune points only know Daka Fal Rune magic; but most Daka Fal rune magic deals with summoning more ancestors, or manipulating ancestor spirits. This feels... odd, to me? For the moment, I'm ruling that such an ancestor can use spells like Spirit Guardian and Spirit Melding upon its summoner, and the result is effectively as if the summoner had cast the spell himself. Or maybe an ancestor's Discorporation can target willing mortals, to bring them into the Spirit World? I could see myself varying up the cult from just Daka Fal, depending on the caster's culture. For example, a Bison Tribe worshiper of Daka Fal might call forth an ancestor who worshiped Waha, Eiritha, Storm Bull, or even perhaps Orlanth. Does anyone else have tips for utilizing ancestor spirits? Felt there are gaps in the spell description too, and filled them another way?
  20. Version 1.0.0

    72 downloads

    This is a short text I wrote a long time ago in order to provide an "in world" explanation of how sorcerers believed magic worked. The knowledgeable reader will recognize most of the ideas in the text, because they are not new. It did fit into the project I had at the time, which I now, after many years have picked up again: to create a magic system for d100 systems that would make it easy to port d20 OGL spells into the d100 eco-system. Hopefully this text will find some use. /Peter Brink
  21. I have submitted a monograph set in the Southern Reaches -- and Nick thought it might be out by Gen Con... Back text: Is Horsechester a typical village of the Southern Reaches? Hardly. Built around an ancient wall, or chester, the village is home to Equerry of Drumhold, the noble charged with maintaining Barron Drum’s fighting horses. Not the great warhorses of the knights, but rather the hundreds of horses used to wage the barons wars. The horse market in the village attracts wealth, and wealth attracts adventurers. And all of this is built on top of ancient sites dating to the time when the Fey ruled the Southern Reaches. This Magic World monograph details the village of Horsechester, several of its institutions, and has three loosely coupled adventures all starting in Horsechester and ending in trouble. The adventures work for beginning characters, and the first can be used to bring to either bring adventurers together, or with an existing group. In Horsechester adventurers will encounter scheming ogres, raiding orcs, swarms of undead, and a lot of bad weather. And I have added two of the maps to the download section: Magic World Monograph Maps -- Horsechester - Downloads - Basic Roleplaying Central
  22. Greetings MW-Users, My queries concern spell levels and memory. A 16 INT spell-caster wants to add Sorcerer's Talons (1-4) @ level-three to her repertoire, taking up three slots in her memory "...book shelf...". She now has 13 levels/slots left (16-3=13). All well and good, but then with narrowed eyes she asks, "I'll also be able to cast this spell at level one and two. I mean, I know it at level one and two...right?" Blink Can she...or to know all three levels of the spell, does she have to dedicate a slot for ST (1), two slots for ST (2), AND three for ST (3)...meaning she'd have had to dedicate SIX INT slots rather than three? Cheers, mates, and thanks for the replies.
  23. Version 1.2.1

    531 downloads

    Hello fellow gamers! Unified Powers is Akerbakk's first contribution to BRP Central. This is a document that brings all powers from the BGB together in one place, eliminates redundancies, and assigns separate rulesets called 'Power Origins' to differentiate how characters use them. The ruleset is based on BRP from the BGB with some houserules. Most significant is that I added a characteristic, Awareness (AWA), and all Characteristic rolls are replaced with Attributes - this is to promote opposed roll mechanics wherever possible: Attributes are percentile scores determined by a combination of two characteristics each. They collectively quantify your character’s mental, emotional, and physical resilience. 1. Willpower =2(INT+POW)+10: Determines if the character’s mental focus will hold up. Use to resist mental probes and attacks and to avoid distractions. 2. Composure =2(AWA+AFF)+10: Determines if the character will startle or balk under pressure or fear. Used when calm or levelheadedness is needed. 3. Physique =2(STR+CON)+10: Measures the character’s overall health and fortitude. Used to resist injury, poisons, and diseases or for prolonged physical exertion or hardship. Unified Powers is a draft, and comments/ideas are welcome!
  24. View File Magic World & Advanced Sorcery Spell Index A collated list of the Magic World and Advanced Sorcery spells. Arranged alphabetically by category (Sorcery, Necromancy, Rune Magic, etc. MP cost Effects Range Source and page number. There is a field for "Type" that you are free to use or ignore which is for a house-rule I use for keeping track of Black Magic, and affects to Allegiance through spell-casting. The .docx file can be used to add/delete whatever want . Submitter Nick J. Submitted 10/19/2016 Category Magic World  
  25. Over at d-Infinity.net I have written up the beginnings of Witchcraft and witches - a system of magic that is neither sorcery nor cultic in nature. Instead, witches make temporary pacts with eldritch entities such as spirit lords, Elemental Elders, even dragons, or demons, and gain magic from their pact of service or POWer. There are some ready advantages to having a witch PC in the group. Diverse magic, a charismatic face, and a constant source of quests (the witch's service) are among them. But there would also be a downside: Witchcraft probably threatens the fabric of Gloranthan culture. Witches can gain power without continual prayer. This makes them outsiders of society, and charismatics ones at that. They might be driven out, they might be targeted for bigotry and violence, but they might also be tolerated because of their expertise in the unusual. The write up so far only has the system notes, and a handful of spells. But I am intending to add to them over time. http://d-infinity.net/game-content/runequest-thursday-103-witchcraft
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