07-25-2013, 09:05 AM | #41 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
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Re: Standard magic - effect on gameworld, playability etc.
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07-26-2013, 08:10 AM | #42 | |||||
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Provo, UT
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Re: Standard magic - effect on gameworld, playability etc.
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Personally, I think Ceremonial Magic is something most people who play GURPS just skip over. It's never been used well in GURPS material that I've seen. Frankly, it's probably something most GM's probably just want to not allow in their games, because if you allow it, I think it would change most games. In a world with Ceremonial Magic, most mages are probably going to have at least 100 assistants, who've been hand picked by the mage and are regular employees. If the mage is really poor, maybe he'll have less. If he's competent, he'll probably have more than 100, so that people can takes days off/get sick and he can still cast at full strength. Think of these assistants as Apprentices, etc. They work for the mage, have had training (although it doesn't take much), and probably get paid/live better than most to do a really easy job (which amounts to chanting or holding a candle). Why is each mage going to have assistants? Because with assistants mages can change the entire world. They'd be able to create the Pyramids in a day (maybe a week), cure all sickness, halt aging, and on and on. Here's just a few examples, acomplished by 1 Mage, with assistants. Copy: Everyone would have books. Create Food: No more hunger! Boil Water: Poof! Steampunk! Charge Powerstone: Lots more energy for mages. Clean: Make an entire castle spotless in seconds. No more dirty towns. Halt Aging: People (at least the rich) live forever. Youth! . . . and they are young. Enslave: Evil Overlords made easier... Bind Spirit: Your bad guys just got a LOT badder... Quote:
Probably, but I only mentioned DF because it had a few changes for some of the broken spells in Magic. (Mainly the world destroying Enlarge spell). DF itself doesn't even allow players to take Enchantment spells. |
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07-26-2013, 08:34 AM | #43 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Standard magic - effect on gameworld, playability etc.
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Then let's say that "Candle-holder" (Ceremonial Assistant) is a Struggling Job covering a status -1 lifestyle requiring $300. Since a mage can provide up to 10 energy if he knows the spell he's worth 10 non-mage assistants. Yet he has to pay the assistants $3000 for bare living as opposed to the $1200 he pays himself. The Mage who knows Recover Energy at 15 can provide as much energy per day as 20 Candle-holders. Even if there aren't enough mages to satisfy the possible demand Ceremonial Magic can only compete with Mage-only casting (even if it's only 1 Mage) when a single Mage can't provide entrance level service. The conversation with the potential buyer goes something like this. "If I do it myself it'll take 10 months and cost $2400. If I hire a big gang of assistants it'll take 1 month and cost 2 and 1/2 times as much." (and it might be 5x as much). Only people who need the speed will go for the higher price. The exception is Spells with base costs over 10 of course and the few saleable Area Spells where you can gain the full benefits of the bigger Area. The other exception of course is when the assistants are working for free because it's I their own interest such as when they help the local Druid Bless their crops. Not everything is going to be done with Ceremonial Magic. Especially not when you have to pay for it.
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07-26-2013, 10:50 AM | #44 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Standard magic - effect on gameworld, playability etc.
Except that each assistant can recover fatigue separately. However, I agree in practice -- mages who don't specialize in spells costing more than 10 fatigue will probably have a lend ST wand and not use ceremonial magic.
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07-26-2013, 11:37 AM | #45 |
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: L.I., NY
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Re: Standard magic - effect on gameworld, playability etc.
Sometimes when I see threads about how certain magic spells would break the economy or the world, I wonder if the assumption is that just because a spell might exist in a game world that it is easily available for anyone with magery to learn.
Magic spells could be jealously guarded trade secrets, passed on from master to apprentice in exchange for years of difficult service, or taught in small, extraordinarily competitive schools, that require exhorbitant tuition and possibly other service or sacrifice. Mages could spend years searching to expand their grimoires, and consciously avoid revealing their most powerful spells in public, for fear word could get out and more powerful wizards would come looking to take the knowledge. Spells that could make a mage a fortune, or destroy a city would be guarded the way the formula for Coke or nuclear secrets are, and for the same reasons. That also gives magic using characters a motivation for adventuring and exploring -- the chance that they could find an ancient scroll, a spell book, or a teacher who will provide a new spell to expand their knowledge. |
07-26-2013, 12:21 PM | #46 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Standard magic - effect on gameworld, playability etc.
Useful secrets get out no matter how well guarded. Real world conspiracies rarely last long. Either way it's not different in effect than just having mages themselves be rare.
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07-26-2013, 01:12 PM | #47 | |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: Standard magic - effect on gameworld, playability etc.
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Useful secrets stay secret if you kill, maim and/or cripple those who discover them without your permission. Guilds are all about protecting useful secrets and, with the support of the ruling class who benefit from the guilds, are quite willing to destroy you for possessing them without them owning you lock, stock and barrel. |
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07-26-2013, 01:36 PM | #48 | |
Join Date: Dec 2008
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Re: Standard magic - effect on gameworld, playability etc.
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07-26-2013, 02:19 PM | #49 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Standard magic - effect on gameworld, playability etc.
Generally speaking, if PCs can learn the spell without an Unusual Background or adventuring to acquire the spell, that spell must be easily available.
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07-26-2013, 02:26 PM | #50 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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Re: Standard magic - effect on gameworld, playability etc.
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Again, this is principally a social contract issue. Don't play with jerks who are going to wreck your game.
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