blizack Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 I'm puttering around with the various magic systems that have popped up in BRP games, trying to figure out what I want to go with for my homebrew fantasy setting. So far I've gotten the new BRP rulebook, RuneQuest III, Stormbringer (4th and 5th editions), and Cthulhu Dark Ages. So far it looks like BRP's sorcery and Stormbringer's magic are the best fit for what I want, but I just stumbled across a mention of Pendragon 4th edition having a magic system. Now, from my 5th edition Pendragon book, I know it's not a BRP-based game. But what are people's thoughts on the 4th edition's magic system? How does it work? Would it be simple to adapt to BRP? Worthwhile to adapt it to a different, fairly low-magic setting? Any info anybody can give would be helpful. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDLeary Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 I'm puttering around with the various magic systems that have popped up in BRP games, trying to figure out what I want to go with for my homebrew fantasy setting. So far I've gotten the new BRP rulebook, RuneQuest III, Stormbringer (4th and 5th editions), and Cthulhu Dark Ages. So far it looks like BRP's sorcery and Stormbringer's magic are the best fit for what I want, but I just stumbled across a mention of Pendragon 4th edition having a magic system. Now, from my 5th edition Pendragon book, I know it's not a BRP-based game. But what are people's thoughts on the 4th edition's magic system? How does it work? Would it be simple to adapt to BRP? Worthwhile to adapt it to a different, fairly low-magic setting? Any info anybody can give would be helpful. Thanks! I've actually been thinking about this as a replacement for an animist/theist system. Broadly speaking, you have Talents (read skills: about 19 of them in the core book) that you roll against to see if you succeed. Immediate payment is in Life Force, which can be personal, ambient (drawn from the world around you), or a combination of the two. Longer term "payment" is in the form of prior preparation, sleep, or aging. Religion plays a part. You get bonuses if you have certain Traits at a high value. This aids in magical Defense. "Holy Places" also give you additional access to Ambient Life Force. Being Impassioned (using the Passions system) can also add bonuses. Talents are actually fairly broad in nature, allowing differing effects within the category. For example, Curse allows you to cause someone to be Clumsy (Low magic: 1-40 points of Life Force), Infertile (Common Magic: 41-80 points), or blight a field with Wither Field (High Magic: 81-200 points). If you wanted the full effect of this in BRP, you would need to bring in the Personality Traits option from pp. 294-295. You would then have to define the worlds religions and which traits they value so you could figure religious/faith bonuses*. Expansion of the Allegiance (p.315) or importation of Passions might also be desirable. SDLeary * If you also have access to the Pagan Shore, Beyond the Wall, Saxons, and Land of Giants supplements, the system is expanded (Saxon Rune Magic, Heathen Magic, Bardic Magic all conforming to/adding onto the Talents system) and there are some "cults" defined that can be used as templates to go beyond the Christian, Pagan forms presented in the main book Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blizack Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 Sounds very interesting. If I can find some of these books at a reasonable price, I'll take a closer look. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDLeary Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Sounds very interesting. If I can find some of these books at a reasonable price, I'll take a closer look. Thanks! I'm not sure they are still there, but several were available at one point on DriveThruRPG. SDLeary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blizack Posted July 19, 2008 Author Share Posted July 19, 2008 I'm not sure they are still there, but several were available at one point on DriveThruRPG. SDLeary I happened to find a used copy of the 4th edition rulebook for a good price online. If I end up finding it useful, I'll take a look at DriveThru. Thanks again for the advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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