Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post

AlexanderHowl · 01-01-2021, 05:46 PM

There are a lot of ways to use South Asian mysticism. Chakras are part of the Tantric practices derived from religious beliefs that predate the conservatism of contemporary Hinduism and are not really East Asian mystical practices. Taoism possesses its own unique practices that have minor similarities with Tantric practices, though they may have originated from Chinese mystical practices that were ancient when Taoism was founded (and Tantric practices may be equally ancient practices derived from the original mysticism of the Dravidians).

Chakras could either be developed as their own magical system, as energy reserves, or as abilities, depending on the metaphysics of the setting. In the case of a magical system, I would treat them as a form of RPM, with each Chakra being its own Path. Meditation would be a prerequisite for Ritual Magic (Tantric), which would be a prerequisite for the first Chakra, which would be a perquisites for the second Chakra, etc. The key balancing feature would be that nothing could exceed its prerequisites.

01-01-2021, 05:46 PM	#7
AlexanderHowl Join Date: Feb 2016	Re: Eastern RPG elements? There are a lot of ways to use South Asian mysticism. Chakras are part of the Tantric practices derived from religious beliefs that predate the conservatism of contemporary Hinduism and are not really East Asian mystical practices. Taoism possesses its own unique practices that have minor similarities with Tantric practices, though they may have originated from Chinese mystical practices that were ancient when Taoism was founded (and Tantric practices may be equally ancient practices derived from the original mysticism of the Dravidians). Chakras could either be developed as their own magical system, as energy reserves, or as abilities, depending on the metaphysics of the setting. In the case of a magical system, I would treat them as a form of RPM, with each Chakra being its own Path. Meditation would be a prerequisite for Ritual Magic (Tantric), which would be a prerequisite for the first Chakra, which would be a perquisites for the second Chakra, etc. The key balancing feature would be that nothing could exceed its prerequisites.