Performing Ritual Magic

[Austin]

There's many spells with the "Ritual" tag in both spirit magic and Rune magic, but apart from artwork descriptions of what adventurers do when casting a ritual spell are scarce. How do you, narratively, describe these actions? How long do you usually see rituals taking?

(I'm seeing this as more a "fluff" question than a rules question. )

A major element I often include is someone marking out a line for the sacred space. Usually something simple like a line of colored sand or dirt, or drawn on the ground, but it could even be something permanent, like the walls of a temple complex.

A specific ritual bit I use is that when a Chalana Arroy worshiper casts Resurrect, someone needs to stand in for Humakt. Their role is to wave a sword over the corpse, ritually "killing" it again, so that the CA initiate can heal them. I also usually have the corpse carried from a main room into a back room afterward, then after they're resurrected, the not-dead person walks back into the "land of the living."

[David Scott]

1 hour ago, Crel said:

There's many spells with the "Ritual" tag in both spirit magic and Rune magic, but apart from artwork descriptions of what adventurers do when casting a ritual spell are scarce. How do you, narratively, describe these actions? How long do you usually see rituals taking?

I look at real world rituals for inspiration. We've plenty of our own cultural ones to draw upon and then further afield from cultures.

You might find The Sacred and the Profane, The Nature Of Religion by Mircea Eliade useful to read. or plenty of youtube videos. I'm a fan of Gormenghast by Mervin Peake - that's also good for inspiration.

I generally use 1 mp/POW per hour for the length, but ritual bonus time counts for that as well, with a minimum of an hour total. Whether you include setup and clear down, that's up to you. In the real world, ritual can go on for hours or even days or weeks. The slower it goes generally the better. For example Enchant Gold would take as long as the crafter takes to make the item, could be weeks.

Generally I use the format of:

Prepare the space

Make it an appropriate vessel for the ritual activities. Clear the area, make sure all the needed items are present. Mark the boundaries, physically / magically - cast Axis Mundi or Sanctify as appropriate.

Prepare the participants

Assign roles (if needed), correct apparel and accoutrements, if needed (clothes, masks, skyclad, drums, rattles, bells, gongs, flags, etc). Go through the actions for newcomers.

Prepare the audience (if there is one)

Expected behaviour - no / some / total/ involvement. Actions required - call and response. For long rituals, supplying ford to the participants.

Start the ritual

Dedications of gods, people and space . Declaration of intent (we are gathered here today...)

Do the ritual

Bless, summon, call, state, with actions.

End the ritual

Thanks to all involved

Tidy up

Here'ssome inspiration

 

Pomo healing ritual https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P_WiOEVRO0

Drum and dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igmpvrRQIkI

Look up Alexandian and Gardnerian witchcraft too, these have a lot of rituals.

 

 

[Squaredeal Sten]

Re.  " How long do you usually see rituals taking? ":  

Familiar examples of rituals in the present day, real world include:

"Swearing in" people elected to office.  Required for Federal office in the U.S.,  elements are prescribed and there is also an overlay of generally accepted gestures and symbols, like swearing on a holy book, although the Constitution does not prescribe a holy book.  Practiced for other offices even in cases in which by law the person elected assumes the office regardless of ceremony.

The Mass, as practiced by  various Christian churches: Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic.  They each have their own drill, having developed differences in practice over the last 2000 years.    But in all cases the ceremony contains prescribed elements that are to be done in a prescribed sequence.

The same applies to communion or "the lord's supper" in Protestant and Catholic churches alike.  In the Protestant churches it stands alone but in the Catholic church it is part of the mass.  In both cases it is a ceremonial reenactment that can be done "properly"  or not, a ritual.

Baptism is another ritual that will probably be familiar to you.  Again the "proper" elements differ by religious tradition but each sect has their rules as to what makes it valid.  For instance sects differ as to whether it has to be done by a male, or involves full immersion.

"Saying grace' at the table is a ritual.

Crowning a king or queen is a ritual.  You may be able to find film of Queen Elizabeth being crowned.  Here, I have found it for you: 

So you can see by these examples that there is no set length for "a ritual".  Only different lengths  for the specific rituals, depending on the acts that are part of the ritual. 

In Runequest terms the length of the description of a ritual depends on the imagination of the GM or adventurer describing it, and the tolerance for boredom of other people in the game.  In my experience both are usually short.  The description of a day-long ritual does not need to take a day.  But if you have a description of a ritual that produces beautiful or striking mental pictures, I won't object when you use it.

Edited July 17, 2020 by Squaredeal Sten
added video link; spellling.

[French Desperate WindChild]

I think @David Scott description very nice

I would add (it may depend on the ritual) that a sanctification spell may be requested. Of course in a sacred area (temple, or well known "wild" place) I would consider it already sanctified (no need to use another spell) for the right god and impossible for the opposite god. For example, no resurrection in Alkoth seems to me possible

[jajagappa]

32 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

no resurrection in Alkoth seems to me possible

Or "resurrection" turns you into a Hell Demon!  (Hard to tell the difference between the living and the dead there of course)

[Akhôrahil]

On 7/16/2020 at 2:37 PM, David Scott said:

Pomo healing ritual

I swear my first thought was "post-modernist ritual, huh?".

[soltakss]

22 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

On 7/16/2020 at 1:37 PM, David Scott said:

Pomo healing ritual

I swear my first thought was "post-modernist ritual, huh?".

I read the "m" as "rn", which gave a very different meaning to the ritual.

[Akhôrahil]

5 minutes ago, soltakss said:

I read the "m" as "rn", which gave a very different meaning to the ritual.

You need Unknown Armies for your Pornomancy rituals.

Edited July 18, 2020 by Akhôrahil