[Realm] Magick, in Realm

[sayter]

an interesting response. However, relegating spell casting to personality type isnt quite where I want to take things. Given that the "spark" of magick is in everyone, but the sparks that are actually USEFUL are randomly born into people and they can only work that one specific gift and never any others, the usefulness of personality to magick is pretty much obliterated from the get go.

The way it works, at the moment, is that a player would select the trait "Spark" at character creation. This would give them a minimal ability...something extremely random. If they "upgrade" "Spark" to "Greater Spark", then they can select a single gift of magick (Fire, Healing, Earth, Teleportation, etc) and that is what they get. Period. That gift can then be shaped and developed over the course of the characters life in-game.

The emotions that set off diff. states with the magick are employed via personality traits also selected at character creation. Basically , they answer questions:

"What makes you mad?"
"What makes you happy?"
"What makes you thoughtful?"
"What calms you down?"

And from there, we have the triggers defined with minimal headache. The GM can use these triggers and rely on them exactly as written...or can embellish a bit.

For example  "What makes you mad?"  - Misogeny(sp?)

The GM could strictly use it to mean when a woman is disrespected or hurt...or he could use it whever ANY sort of action happens that involves a woman being on the lower end of the deal than a male. This sort of thing would be very applicable to one of the races in the game, who are matriarchal in nature. Their entire society is basically ruled by women. Thus, the character would be angered in ANY other place that did not hold the same sort of ethical grounds for the treatment of women.

It is flexible, yet also inflexible. Like any good RPG mechanic, its all in how it is used by the group or GM. I would rather allow this sort of flexibility with choices than force a character to behave a certain way because the rules say "they have to do it".

This is exactly why I have always disliked the idea of "Alignments" in typical fantasy games. Rarely do players follow them, and when they do its almost always because of a nazi-esque GM policy to moderate and enforce such alignments. This limits play, and also severely retards the concept of "roleplay". Just because someone is "Lawful Good" doesnt mean they cant slip a tiny bit and still remain that sort of person afterwards. Even the most perfect of Paladins makes mistakes.

However, the 4 humors were the inspiration for the idea of my magick. Elemental aspects are the core base of the mystic nature of my world. Some magick effects, however, do not fall into the 4 elements. For example, teleportation is not strictly reliant on Wind...and a magickal gateway is not really a product of any of them.

That seems to be the issue with magick. Not what is NOT possible in the world using its power, but what IS possible. It is even more difficult when one of the character types (Dreamers) is capable of feats more powerful than any mage could ever hope to achieve. Avoiding overlap, and still allowing the magic user to be a useful "class" is one challenge after another.

[dindenver]

Hi!
  Well, maybe you should lay off the limiter mechanics for magic. If Sparks can cast magic without ramification, that balances out against the sway mechanic of Dreamers and their more powerful abilities.

[tygertyger]

an interesting response. However, relegating spell casting to personality type isnt quite where I want to take things

Nonono.  My idea was that personality determines what kind of magic a person excels at (which, realisitically, it probably would; pacifists wouldn't like to cast combat spells, for instance).  The Spark Trait would determine how powerful that magic is.  Those with little Spark would only have minor boosts that happen occasionally without their conscious control.  Moderate Spark allows bigger bonuses that the user can activate at will. High Spark is required for spellcasting.  The individual's humor/element affinity would determine what applications are easiest and/or most effective.

[sayter]

ahhh, okay....though that is kinda the way it works in the current incarnation anyhow, tyg. Not in that exact fashion, of course. But the concept is very similar.

For lesser sparks , the gift is random. They could end up with a completely useless ability...or one that has every day use like fashioning perfect baskets every time, or always baking a perfect loaf of bread no matter what...etc. Something that is deceptively simple and not necessarily construed as "magic" in the grand sense of things.

Those with the "greater spark" are able to select it, simply because those playing characters who cast magick arent going to want a random roll, for the exact reason you mentioned. The people aiming to roleplay a character with magick are going to want their powers to suit a specific area. Someone who wants to heal isnt going to select the fire element as their area of power. Much the same way a pacifist isnt going to choose fire either. I see no reason to limit it to personality type, because the player will determine what they want to be able to do anyhow.

[raithe]

I read that   same article on   John Kim's site. It   started   some of   my research   into classical elements; which is my stat basis   for   Heretic. Here is some background if   you   want to   use   it for your   magic system.
The four temperaments come from   Galen; court physician to Marcus Aurelius. His work formed the basis for medicine until Paracelsus decried humors in favor of outside influence in the Early 1500s.
Galen's   views were based on Hipprates four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Hippocrates based his ideas around the four classical Greek elements.
Aristotle added   aether as a fifth incorruptible   and eternal element to define the heavens. This   view gained   popularity with   the catholic church as it demonstrated the temporary proprieties of earth and man versus the eternal aspects of heaven.
The four elements are tied directly to four of the five   platonic solids   (Aristotle never directly associated aether with the dodecahedron) which ties nicely into gaming if you want to use that somehow.
(platonic solids:  octahedron=air    icosahedron=water    tetrahedron=fire    hexahedron=earth)
check http://www.answers.com/topic/four-humours?method=5 for a table of the humors, temperaments and some other related ideas.
It goes a lot deeper than that, but that should be enough for a start. The interconnectivity of the humors, elements, Greek math and a lot of other things is quite extensive. After all this was the predominate world view until around 1500. I used them quite extensively in Heretic, but more as a loose basis to determine the flavor of an outcome. Just do some searching for humors, platonic solids, and classical elements. There are all sorts of gaming uses.
Hope something here is useful to you.
Jack

[sayter]

Thanks Jack, some interesting references there. I will check it out.