Magic System Question I
Which magic system or systems are used in this setting? Unless one system gets an overwhelming majority of the votes, there will probably be a main system and some less important ones, or the systems might vary by race or culture. Material Magic and
Innate Magic will be
present no matter which options win, but might be less
important. Due to how broad these are, there will probably be a few follow-up Magic System questions, no matter which one wins. Examples and other supplementary information will be in parentheses.
1. Material Magic (Alchemy, Herb Lore,
Natural Magic,
Magical Engineering, and related concepts. Very fitting for this sort of setting, and probably needed to have Stargates, with naquadah being one of the most potent magical materials. Using Magical Engineering also has the advantage (if we want it) that the SGC-equivalent can believe that they're in a regular SF setting for longer.)
2. Magic as Powers (Innate Magic,
Fixed Magic,
Imbuements,
Power Stunts as Spells,
Sorcery, et cetra; technically Psionic Powers is a worked example, but this isn't a Psi setting. The Goa'Uld or equivalent probably have Innate Magic to justify their Possession ability, and likewise other magical life would have some Innate or Fixed Magic.)
3. Path/Book Magic (One of my preferred forms in general. The Thaumatology supplements
Age of Gold and
Alchemical Baroque have several variants of this system.
Ritual Path Magic is a worked example, though not one that I like.
Verbal Path Magic could be an interesting option, but I have not playtested it.
The Magic of Stories (Pyramid 3/13, pp4-14) is a worked example that would need reworking to fit, but is at least conceptually interesting for a setting like this.)
4. Syntactic Magic (
Symbol Magic is probably the most fitting form for this setting, given all the walls full of symbols on Goa'Uld vessels and facilities;
Thaumatology: Urban Magics has a couple of interesting variants: Lapidism and Sacred Architecture. Some forms of Symbol Magic may overlap with Magical Engineering. Realm Magic (under Syntactic Magic on the wiki) will be among the options if this wins, but isn't IMHO as fitting.)
5. Magic as Social Connections (Specifically, social connections with spirits and other magical beings.
Contacts,
Allies (not necessarily as Modular Abilities), Patrons (
Divine Favor,
Totem Spirits, and such), temporary Favors, and 'Spirits as Hirelings' (basically like Favors but using negotiation and the hiring rules).
Spirit Assisted Magic overlaps with this and other systems. If this wins, or just gets enough votes to be significant to the setting, the Ascended are most likely going to be far more active than they were in the show. Also, this may mean that Mana is replaced with Sanctity for this setting, or that both are present.)
6. A version of the
Spell-based
system (I'm not fond of the standard system, but it can be useful, and there are some interesting variants people have made.
Magical Styles, the Celtic Tree Magic system of alternate colleges from
Thaumatology pp42-47,
Spells as familiarities, or a
simplified version that doesn't play well with magical styles, et cetra.)
7. Chi Magic (Cinematic skills, techniques, and other abilities from
GURPS Martial Arts, probably expanded (e.g. some of the spells from
GURPS Magic could be converted by replacing the prerequisites with Trained By A Master, Weapon Master, or equivalent). May include Chi-based powers, as well. If this ends up the primary or only winner, the setting might have no equivalent to Mana or Sanctity.)
8. Low Magic (Also called Hedge Magic, among other things; pretty compatible with Material Magic and Path/Book Magic, among others.)
9. Something that I haven't considered (please specify).
Please remember to include the number(s) of your preferred option(s) when you vote.
(I considered including
Formulaic Magic, but that is such a broad category that it covers most of the other options.)
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Answer: Magic as Powers has four votes in favor, and is thus the primary system for the setting (the
kara'kesh might not exist at all here, or might be an amplifier or power source, rather than the source of the abilities listed - alternatively, it might be something that only younger, weaker, or less 'wizardly' Goa'Uld use); Material Magic has four votes for and one against, so it'll be pretty common; Path/Book Magic has three votes counting mine; Spell-based Magic has two votes; Syntactic Magic (which might be mixed with PBM), Social Connections as Magic, and Low Magic stand at one vote each (the original civilization of the Ancients having Low Magic universally would make sense, without needing many in modern times to have that, and some of the other systems could have been invented by them), and so exist but aren't common in the modern era (but could still pop up and surprise the PCs). The other options are somewhere between 'very rare' (possibly Ancient and mostly forgotten, or just not used much) and 'the aptly named Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film.'