Yrth revisited

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

I was embarrassed to read that Banestorm p. 25-26 defines which spells are commonly available, although my copy is in another city so I can't check.

Yrth seems perfect for a setting where Magical Styles are in use and strictly control which spells are available.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

I was embarrassed to read that Banestorm p. 25-26 defines which spells are commonly available, although my copy is in another city so I can't check.

Oh, don't be embarrassed. Heck, Kromm's posts reminded me of things I had known but forgotten about the setting.

I'm not bashing the idea of a variant Banestorm setting with all the spells in the books in play. It's just that I don't think one needs to reconcile the published Yrth/Banestorm setting with unlimited magic/full spell list, because it wasn't written to use every spell in every book.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

Why would they pay a dowser (=Seek Water or =Divination?) enough to make a handsome living for working a few hours a week? In most areas you can dig a well anywhere and have a good chance of finding water, and there are plenty of dowsers without Magery willing to tell you where to dig.

A dowser who failed to find water would quickly find himself in the stocks for fraud.

In a world without cheap soap or filtered water, anyone with Cure Disease will have endless patients with parasites, infections, dysentry, and common diseases even when there is no serious epidemic. Those mages who can cast it will have very strong reasons to cast it several times a day.

And?

The wizards in Chalcis limit themselves to selling one spell per day, with strict penalties for violations and guild fees which pay for enforcement. They refuse to do mundane work such as Copying books or moving boulders with Shape Earth. The guild in Eritrea allow members to sell two spells a day, so they charge less per spell. They do whatever people will pay them for that doesn't violate the law of Eritrea. How do the wizards of Chalcis keep customers without choosing to earn less than the mages of Eritrea?

Since that scenario bears absolutely no resemblance to anything I postulated it isn't relevant.

Here's the model I used.

"Because people are nervous about demons, they tend to only hire magicians to do things that can't be done by mundane means, and there are church and state laws that prohibit trade in spell-created substances. The wizard's guilds take it upon themselves to enforce these laws for fear that if they don't, the Church will take an interest in them."

If the price of iron is the same as it was in 14th century England,

It isn't. Metal weapons are significantly cheaper. Or rather the typical income is rather higher which amounts to the same thing.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

A dowser who failed to find water would quickly find himself in the stocks for fraud.

This has not stopped dowsers in our world, especially since in most cases any site will do.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

It isn't. Metal weapons are significantly cheaper. Or rather the typical income is rather higher which amounts to the same thing.

Source please; IIRC incomes and starting wealth are said to be typical for TL 3/4.

A drastic change in the ratio between the price of simple metalwork and the price of other goods is not the same thing as a general increase in wealth.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Kromm

As for my earlier remark that the presence of real-world religions is "much-maligned," the only proof I can offer is a personal analysis of customer feedback since I started this job in 1995. Yes, there are people who enjoy that aspect of the setting – but collectively, those who identify it as a failure of imagination, as realism intruding on their fantasy, or as outright disrespectful of their faith constitute the overwhelming majority of gamers who bother to comment at all. Obviously, there's self-selection going on, and clearly, my statement depends on me presenting an honest synopsis. Still, I think that gamers overall prefer fantasy religions, interventionist deities, and spellcasting clerics.

Huh. I wouldn't call it a 'failure of imagination,' personally, and I don't mind the lack of spellcasting clerics and highly-interventionist gods (an agnostic or atheistic fantasy setting is an interesting change of pace, and could even be said to be the opposite of a failure of imagination). I do prefer a wider variety of in-setting religions, most of the time, and would probably be more inclined to set a game in the Nomad Lands or Sahud, if I ran a campaigne in Ytarria, though.

Fortunately, I'm pretty sure the book says something about GMs being free to create other continents on Yrth, far across the sea from Ytarria, so it's not like we're that limited (one of the things I hope to submit for publication, once I have a few Pyramid articles published, and can thus submit unsolicited stuff, is an archipelago far to the east of Ytarria, with a rather different path of development - another is a more standard fantasy (well, semi-low-fantasy) setting).