Aslhk's reply to my ramblings on magic...
So, here is a list of magic-defining questions:
What is magic?
----------------------------
Where does magic come from?
How does it work?
Is it systematic or chaotic?
Is it dependable?
Who can use it?
What is the cost of using it?
Is it learned or is it something people are born into?
How often can it be used?
------------------------
What does magic do?
---------------------------
What is an entire day like in the life of a budding mage? What about the life of a successful mage? The life of an uber-powerful mage?
Do spells have to be prepared before hand, or is magic spontaneous?
Is there a certain list of effects that can be achieved with magic? How about a list of effects that can't be achieved?
How often can magic be used? What happens if someone uses it too much? What are the ill effects of using magic on a person? The beneficial effects? How about the effects of suddenly not using magic (quitting "cold turkey")?
What sort of things are required to do magic? Ritual? Strange Materials? Time? Energy? A weird Crystal? A magic wand!? WHAT!?!?
Tell me more about this magic stuff.
How does magic influence society?
------------------------------------------
Who learns it? Can anyone learn? What about the poor people who can't even read? Can they learn?
How is it learned? How does the common person feel about his son learning magic? What about an aristocrat?
Go through the daily life of a peon with emphasis on the parts of his life that are influenced by magic. Does he use a magic axe? Does his wife clean the kitchen with a spell? How does he feel about magic users?
Are magic users respected, feared, or treated like engineers?
How influential are magic users?
Okay, that's enough for now! It's someone else's turn. In some games, this questionairre may need to be filled out several times. For example, g&g had several distinct magic types, each with its own prices, power levels, and social aspects. In D&D, divine magic and arcane magic are very similar but the social aspects can be quite different. Ah well, enough babble! In short, fill out the parts that change--don't bother writing the same thing three or four times.
Other Considerations:
Mine are mostly meta-game thoughts....
What do YOU want magic to accomplish, both in the system and cultural milieu?
By this, I mean: What do people think of magic and magic users? Do they fear them? Why? Because it is possible? Because of some clich? Mage War? The power/effectiveness of magic is a system response to the cultural question. To me, the attitude of people to magic is the most important issue to address, and the reasons for it.
What kinds of magic are there? How is each treated? How common are they?
How do people become magic users is very important. Is it inborn? If so, is it inherited? If it is taught, who is allowed to learn it? What different varieties are taught?
Why do people bother to learn/develop magic anyway?
This depends on how magic is viewed in their society. And if this is widespread .... though they'd still need good reasons to move to Kingdom Magic'R'Us anyway ... and have a way to get there.
How does society/mages police magic users? Are their laws regarding how/when it can be used? Spells that are illegal to learn/teach?
And finally, not a question, but some ideas...
- Diseases unique to magic users.
- Magic-eating creatures and the like are fun, too.
- Dangers inherent in magic use (cthulhuesque monsters, say?)
All I can think of, so far......
No comments:
Post a Comment