In looking through some old notes, I came across
this post from the late, lamented John M. Ford on Making Light:
Quote:
Back in the Roleplaying Paleolithic, a number of people (including me) experimented with "spell failure" rules, in an attempt to add a little variety to Things Always Working Right. ("Fizzle" and "crock" were among the actual terms used.) One of the multiply-achieved ideas was the Mis-spell, in which one might cast Wireballs, Blasts of Freezing Cod, and (quite unfortunately) Heat Minor Wounds. It was most applicable in games with a fakey-Renaissancey background rather than a fakey-Middly-Agey, as one could assume that wizards were members of a literate artisan/professional class, working from Gramarye for ye Dicke-heddes, rather than just crotchety old men who knew how to blow things up by cussing at them.
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