Hi all! I know you all say "oh no, you again?!" and I see it in your eyes. Yeah, I see you. I... SEE... YOU... But, what to do! :)
You know, I'm trying to bring different kind of topics to the table. Before I post a review, I wanted to dive into an interesting topic, because now I know that we all have different kind of experience in this hobby, and I want hear more about your experiences and opinions.
In this post, I want to talk about methods of magic in roleplaying games.
Since we all know that magic and occultism is always there in the history of mankind, some of it appeared as baby steps of science, while the other part was mostly coincidence or fraud. But still, it made itself a huge place in tales, and eventually, literature and roleplaying games.
I want to ask you what kind of application of magic makes more sense in your comprehension of fantasy? Here are some of them which I came across:
This is the one I want to mention to get rid of :) Because it's the logic of Dungeons & Dragons' magic use method. It came from a novel called The Dying Earth, written by Jack Vance. It basically wants magic user to memorize their spells, and when they cast a spell, they forget it and they have to work on it and memorize the next day again. This one had evolved into a more flexible version, which you have to "prepare" your spells instead of memorizing.
I'm not sure if the "spell slot" logic is a part of Vancian magic, but they're like "spellcasting bundle" which includes the other. Spell slot is basically your right to cast a spell within a certain amount of energy.
Honestly, I made up its name as "Dance with the Devil", because I don't know if it has a real name, but apparently its name is "Deal with the Devil", which makes more sense. I'm talking about the spell logic of Deadlands. If you don't know about, it's basically Western RPG with strange science and magic combined. There is a character class called Huckster, and they master the magic with some sort of game, usually poker. When they try to cast their magic, the time freezes and the Devil appears. They have to play one round of poker against the Devil, and if they win, the magic happens. You have to be able to spend enough amount of points to create a certain effect, and if you lose the poker round, GM creates a trouble for you.
I think this is the most basic and also could be the most broken version of casting spells. When you want to cast a spell, every detail of your spell creates a certain amount difficulty, you can invoke your aspects related your spellcasting and roll the dice, add bonuses or penalties. If you meet the requirement, you cast the spell. If your success in more powerful, either you create uncontrolled greater effect, or you create a more perfectly effect, depends on GM's discretion. High risk, high gain.
I know this one from Lovecraft's stories, but it's too similar in Call of Cthulhu RPG, as well. Also, lots of other Cthulhu variants use the same method. A spell needs some sort of preparation, like a ritual. If you meet the condition, you start to cast the spell. Depending on its type and/or power, it drains your sanity on the process. Also, there are some sort of spells which requires you to have lower sanity points. There's always a cost for reaching out a forbidden knowledge.
In the version I used (I guess it was 6th Edition, I used it for a couple of months back in 2016), I remember that it gives a certain amount of Magic Points to a character, like in Call of Cthulhu RPG. You learn some spells from a master, and when you use them, you have to spend your Magic Points. You also have a related magical skill, which defines your mastery on a spellcasting method. I liked this one more than D&D's spells, because it gives you more shamanistic and celtic vibes, and I needed that in my game scenario.
With this, I actually point out KULT: Divinity Lost. I never tried its magic system, because it gives more atmosphere when a character could do less supernatural stuff. But it's technically real life occultism related. The most fascinating part is, KULT's lore is based on Qaballah's Tree of Life concept. It's mostly known as Jewish tradition of occultism. And how they used this to create their lore is a magnificent outcome.
I came across this usage in Shadowrun. For those who don't know about it; Shadowrun is a cyber-fantasy merged genre of novel series, video games and tabletop RPG. It's currently on its 6th edition, I guess it's been a year or something, for its newest version. Its setting takes place as a near-future, around 2075 and later. It brings magic, elves, orcs, dwarves, trolls and different kind of creatures to our real world. There are technomancers who can use internet like they are Sorcerer in D&D, and also there are spellcasters and shamans aswell. Depending on your class type, you learn certain amount of spell from a list, and they have mana cost. There's also a spell literally called "Mana Ball", like you throw a bolt of magical energy as a projectile. Also, shamans can summon spiritual beasts to help them. Actually I like how it works on video-games, but the spellcasting seems weak on RPG. Still,the idea of "emptying a mag on my enemy in the middle of a Seattle street gang war, and when I realize I can't reload my weapon, it's time to throw some mana balls while my crew cover me up somehow" is kinda cool, right?
I literally came across this one as a part of Vampire: the Masquerade, used by clan Tremere. They are blood sorcerers and they do lots of interesting thing with that method. Blood Magic is a huge concept but it never officially used on most of the game systems as a tradition or something.
And this is the one I'm still learning about. They combined five different concept of spellcasting with a "benefit/flaw" counterparts. Every kind of spellcasting have a regional popularity. There is demonology, blood magic, arcane magic, a "chosen one" thing, and Aes Sedai-style women-only magic. I won't go into its details, yet, because after I finish my review video of the game, I'll add an introductory/review post here as well.
So... Have you ever seen more different and interesting usage of magic? I'm currently working on my own game, it's based on Apocalypse Engine and it will use real-life esoterism and occultism, djinns, spirits, curses and other stuff. It will be in my native language, but if I ever could finish my book, I'm thinking about roughly translating it into English to see other enthusiastic people's opinion.
Next time, I'll be talking about the good old classic Call of Cthulhu. See ya!
