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Wavefunction · 02-25-2016, 10:46 AM

Okay, sorry it's taken me so long to respond. I'd almost forgotten I'd started this thread, and I certainly hadn't expected it to have garnered this many responses. The Roleplaying in General Forum usual seems to take longer than this to get going.

I was intentionally vague about what exactly I meant by 'magic' and 'powers', because I was interested to hear peoples opinions on what they actually meant, what was the difference?

I didn't set up a different thread, because it seemed like a reasonable follow-on. The first few posts addressed an amazing number of points on why you'd include magic, I wanted to know why you'd choose magic over another option.

As for defining what I mean better? I suppose I'd consider it one of style. Powers are typically innate or granted by a strange experiment. Magic may be innate, but mages usually have to learn how to access it. Powers simply exist, whilst magic usually has laws, even if they're only implied, or unknown within the setting. Powers are usually narrow in scope, whilst magic is usually more flexible.

All the above are pretty rough guidelines, so let's address a specific instance:

Here we'll assume magic is learnt, accessible to everyone with sufficient training, but some are significantly more gifted, and most are so inept that it would be pointless to learn. It is reasonably powerful, but it's main strength is flexibility, however it is fairly costly (I'll leave exactly what form the takes cost as undefined).

Meanwhile powers are innate, they're narrow in focus but generally more powerful that what is possible with magic. The cost for using them is pretty negligible compared to magic.

Assuming I'm already set on having a powers system in my game, what does magic add to it that the powers system doesn't already provide? In terms of gameplay I suppose, what benefit my players would get from it in terms of making the game more enjoyable or interesting, and how it would improve the feel of the setting. Also of interest is how it might detract from the game or setting.

02-25-2016, 10:46 AM	#34
Wavefunction Join Date: Jul 2013	Re: What does magic do? Okay, sorry it's taken me so long to respond. I'd almost forgotten I'd started this thread, and I certainly hadn't expected it to have garnered this many responses. The Roleplaying in General Forum usual seems to take longer than this to get going. I was intentionally vague about what exactly I meant by 'magic' and 'powers', because I was interested to hear peoples opinions on what they actually meant, what was the difference? I didn't set up a different thread, because it seemed like a reasonable follow-on. The first few posts addressed an amazing number of points on why you'd include magic, I wanted to know why you'd choose magic over another option. As for defining what I mean better? I suppose I'd consider it one of style. Powers are typically innate or granted by a strange experiment. Magic may be innate, but mages usually have to learn how to access it. Powers simply exist, whilst magic usually has laws, even if they're only implied, or unknown within the setting. Powers are usually narrow in scope, whilst magic is usually more flexible. All the above are pretty rough guidelines, so let's address a specific instance: Here we'll assume magic is learnt, accessible to everyone with sufficient training, but some are significantly more gifted, and most are so inept that it would be pointless to learn. It is reasonably powerful, but it's main strength is flexibility, however it is fairly costly (I'll leave exactly what form the takes cost as undefined). Meanwhile powers are innate, they're narrow in focus but generally more powerful that what is possible with magic. The cost for using them is pretty negligible compared to magic. Assuming I'm already set on having a powers system in my game, what does magic add to it that the powers system doesn't already provide? In terms of gameplay I suppose, what benefit my players would get from it in terms of making the game more enjoyable or interesting, and how it would improve the feel of the setting. Also of interest is how it might detract from the game or setting.