Vancian Magic

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

Vancian magic is fundamentally equivalent to having (say) eight rings on your belt, and every morning you pick one grenade for each ring. When stuff happens, you hope you have a grenade left that has something to do with the problem at hand.

I love it in the stories. I don't care for it as a game system. Yet, beyond a doubt and despite my misgivings, D&D remains somewhat popular :)

Vance's magic isn't D&D's "Vancian Magic" - different limits, different approach.

Vance's is all "summon magic entity" - and then have it do its thing. And it takes the same time whether ecompassed (stored for later triggering) or cast from the book, and it's possible to re-encompass without the book. (At least for Cugel. Perhaps that's what makes him "clever" - nothing else he does seems to merit it.)

D&D is "Prep the spell and store it" prior to 4E, and generally is not narratively reliant upon outside entities for non-clerics/non-paladins. Even for clerics and paladins, spells of level 1 & 2 are universal - no deity needed. (See Spelljammer and Planescape.) 3E partial exception: Sorcerers.

Bill Willingham has a better description for the D&D version than Vance's... albeit in NSFW comics (Ironwood) and the NSFW RPG book based upon it. (Theatrix presents Ironwood.)

Modern D&D isn't vancian at all...