Archivist Posted July 14, 2020 Posted July 14, 2020 I"m posting this here because I'm thinking about multiple supplements / systems. I'm looking to put something together that would work where all of the players are magicians, with kind o real-world magic (based on some real-world tradition like Hermeticism, can do powerful stuff but can't do really flashy fireball type stuff). I'm thinking about Mythras After the Vampire Wars Enlightened Magic Advanced Magic BRP and Mythras as is are a bit heavy for me. I'm more in the level of Open Quest or Revolution D100 level of crunch. Mythras is great but very crunchy and so is core BRP (lots of sklls, etc). Revolution D100 has a "magic" system, but it's like the SW system - you have a bunch of generic powers that you just say are magic. Quote
rsanford Posted July 14, 2020 Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) I recommend Enlightened Magic. With it I have always wanted to duplicate the magic in The Craft. Edited July 14, 2020 by rsanford Quote Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP -> No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!
Lloyd Dupont Posted July 14, 2020 Posted July 14, 2020 FYI BRP has a very different Magic syetm from the other. The others I know are strongly inspired from RuneQuest3, which mean usually quite powerful magic, even more powerful than D&D level 9 spell in some ways.... with spell that can last 10 of thousands of years and influence other country... and that can sometimes be done at creation... On the other hand BRP has a list of spell that are cool but last at most 15 minute (most of them, some of then 10 round or instant), have a fixed range (usually 100 meters or less) and also cost a good amount of Magic Point. Further BRP magic is quite simple. Fundamentally it's mostly a list of spell, each being a world of its own. Quote
Old Man Henerson Posted July 15, 2020 Posted July 15, 2020 7 hours ago, rsanford said: I recommend Enlightened Magic. With it I have always wanted to duplicate the magic in The Craft. Where can one find enlightened magic? Quote
SDLeary Posted July 15, 2020 Posted July 15, 2020 2 hours ago, Old Man Henerson said: Where can one find enlightened magic? Why, on Chaosium's website! SDLeary 1 Quote
rsanford Posted July 15, 2020 Posted July 15, 2020 13 hours ago, Old Man Henerson said: Where can one find enlightened magic? Yeah SDLeary has it right. Its for sale at Chaosium. A couple of things to know about Enlightened Magic. FIrst it's written by John Snead a practicing WIccan Priest. Second he added a lot of umph to the spells but they are still far from flashy. Using an Enlightened Magic spell it wouldn't be too hard to have your enemy slip on some steps and break his neck (something thats plausible but unlikely) but creating a fireball would be hard. The magic is VERY subtle. THe third things to know is that most of the magic is ritualistic. Highly recommended if you want something to model what we think of as today's occult. 1 1 Quote Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP -> No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!
Old Man Henerson Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 On 7/14/2020 at 9:23 PM, SDLeary said: Why, on Chaosium's website! SDLeary On 7/15/2020 at 8:07 AM, rsanford said: Yeah SDLeary has it right. Its for sale at Chaosium. A couple of things to know about Enlightened Magic. FIrst it's written by John Snead a practicing WIccan Priest. Second he added a lot of umph to the spells but they are still far from flashy. Using an Enlightened Magic spell it wouldn't be too hard to have your enemy slip on some steps and break his neck (something thats plausible but unlikely) but creating a fireball would be hard. The magic is VERY subtle. THe third things to know is that most of the magic is ritualistic. Highly recommended if you want something to model what we think of as today's occult. Ah, thank you both. I don't think this is actually what I am looking for, I was looking for something more akin to psychic powers or jedi type force abilities, both for inspiration for my book I am writing and for some games I want to run. The psychic powers in the Big Golden Book just seem rather lackluster to me and could use some fleshing out. Anyways, thanks for the help. Quote
Archivist Posted July 17, 2020 Author Posted July 17, 2020 Mythras After the Vampire Wars I think has psychic powers. 1 Quote
Lloyd Dupont Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 (edited) I pm-ed you my psi selection for MoO! PLease send me feedback! It's both (purposely) limited and a little bit original..., I hope... Edited July 17, 2020 by Lloyd Dupont Quote
Lloyd Dupont Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 (edited) Ooo.. I PMed henerson... you want it too? I don't share publicly because it need more other work.. but I can pm you too, if you like? Edited July 17, 2020 by Lloyd Dupont Quote
sylvermoonkitten Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 lol, Not since Bonewits and Authentic Thaumaturgy has there been a somewhat accurate magick system. However, we Recommend Enlightened Magic as probably the best. You can add to it and remove and wont break that much. We have used it for modern Urban Fantasy and it works fine. realize however, there will always be that player that pulls out the Book of Oberon or Long Lost Friend, the system still works. Quote
Lloyd Dupont Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 (edited) 3 minutes ago, sylvermoonkitten said: lol, Not since Bonewits and Authentic Thaumaturgy has there been a somewhat accurate magick system 😂 Please pray tell us, what's an "accurate" magic system! Edited July 17, 2020 by Lloyd Dupont 2 Quote
Ian Absentia Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said: 😂 Please pray tell us, what's an "accurate" magic system! Easy there, cowboy. It's a bit of a moving target. Snead has modeled in game terms how magic is practiced among some members of the contemporary occult; Bonewits, for all his contempt for Establishment Science, has created a model of parapsychological effects that are triggered by occult practices. Somewhere in the backwaters of another hard drive, I have the incipient notes for a game model that employs all of the various magical laws (e.g., Law of Similarity, Law of Contagion, etc.), and the more correspondences to the laws the magician can check off a list, the more likely it is that a magical effect will take place. The catch is that all magical effects appear entirely coincidental, and the magician has to convince himself that there's a genuine cause-and-effect at play to make them real. I envisage a sliding scale between Rationality at one end and Superstition at the other -- employing magic is a sweet spot lying somewhere between the two. Maybe it was just coincidence. Maybe you're just crazy. Maybe it really was magic. As has been observed by Robert Anton Wilson, the easiest possible magic is to just walk up to someone and bop 'em in the nose. Thought-Action-Result. !i! Edited July 17, 2020 by Ian Absentia Obsessive punctuation disorder 3 1 Quote ...developer of White Rabbit Green
rsanford Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 2 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said: 😂 Please pray tell us, what's an "accurate" magic system! Okay. I am game. An "accurate" magic system is one that realistically represents one of the actual magic systems in the world today. So maybe something that models WIcca, or HooDoo or possibly Kaballah. Quote Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP -> No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!
Kloster Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 1 hour ago, rsanford said: An "accurate" magic system is one that realistically represents one of the actual magic systems in the world today. Is there any? 1 Quote
rsanford Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 21 minutes ago, Kloster said: Is there any? Well I don’t think there are but I’m pretty sure John Snead (correct me if I’m wrong John) would disagree as well as a lot of people in the occult scene. Quote Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP -> No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!
Archivist Posted July 17, 2020 Author Posted July 17, 2020 That would be very cool. There are other non-western traditions, but to the best of my knowledge most of them are more ritual and spiritual focused then just zapping someone with an instant one off spell. Quote
Ian Absentia Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 1 hour ago, Archivist said: That would be very cool. There are other non-western traditions, but to the best of my knowledge most of them are more ritual and spiritual focused then just zapping someone with an instant one off spell. Arguably (or rather, demonstrably), Western occult traditions don't involve direct zapping, either. They tend to involve intricate processes of finding the secret names of angels or demons, inviting them into a ritual space for the evening, then negotiating said zapping services that the angel/demon later manifests in the form of a bad case of gout or getting kicked by a mule. If the Western magician is really ambitious and forward-thinking, he'll negotiate guidance and passage to higher spiritual realms and emanations that have absolutely nothing to do with the hashish/belladonna/laudanum that's been mixed in with the ceremonial wine and incense. All of which would still be incredibly cool in a roleplaying game! !i! 2 Quote ...developer of White Rabbit Green
Archivist Posted July 17, 2020 Author Posted July 17, 2020 Yes. I'd love a book or something that presented lots of different magical traditions, along with a system that supported how they thought of magic. You have games like Mage the Ascension / Awakening, but in those games magic is free-form and the magical traditions are just think veneers on the real truth about magic (consensus reality or higher reality respectively). Ideally it would include real old traditions, along with new ones like chaos magic. Quote
g33k Posted July 17, 2020 Posted July 17, 2020 Snead is my favorite RPG author for magic systems today. Everything of his on that topic automatically goes on my short-list for purchase. 1 Quote C'es ne pas un .sig
rsanford Posted July 18, 2020 Posted July 18, 2020 1 hour ago, g33k said: Snead is my favorite RPG author for magic systems today. Everything of his on that topic automatically goes on my short-list for purchase. Me too. I even bought both versions of After the Vampire Wars. Quote Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP -> No reason for Ars Magica players to have all the fun!
simonh Posted July 22, 2020 Posted July 22, 2020 On 7/17/2020 at 9:24 PM, Kloster said: Is there any? Yes there definitely are. The open question is whether or not they work. Quote Check out the Runequest Glorantha Wiki for RQ links and resources. Any updates or contributions welcome!
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