Non Game Mechanic Alternatives to Controlling Sorcerers

[Amy1419]

I can see it now..

All sorcerers must take flaw: Compulsive habit used to hide their identity as a sorcerer. Some sorcerer constantly file their nails. Others meticulously trim their beards. Still others use daily herbal skin treatments to keep their skin looking young and healthy.

I do find that funny. In one game I did have a magical halfling whose hair was bright purple. So she went around getting merchants to specially design her head gear that was of the same shade. Lets see, she wore the purple scarf, hat, and cloak just trying to make sure her hair blended in all the while standing out more for being purple!

I don't think magic users are more powerful, they age, can get knocked out, and most of the time don't have nearly as good of proficiencies because they have to spend the points on their magic. :)

[Malechi]

In the campaign setting I'm currently developing with a good friend of mine, we've tied in Sorcerous magic with an animistic spirit concept/individuation archetype thing(emijig) ;) .  Essentially all vagaries and sorcerous power is a side effect of an interaction between the character and a spirit.  Spirits essentially represent certain concepts or elemental entities and aren't some anthropomorphic dead dude all whispy like.  Certain characters within the world embody the concept strongly enough via their SAs and are gifted (they're called Av'Tarah after the sanskrit)  The interaction is a symbiotic relationship between the sorcerer and spirit whereby the sorcerer gains some power via vagaries etc and pays with ageing.  The spirit gives some power and is paid via the life-essence integral to the ageing.  The life-essence goes part of the way to ensuring the passing of the spirit from being a mere spirit to a fully fledged deity (this new world has no current deities and represents a time prior to their emergence).  

This gives us an explanation for the "My sorcerer blows up the world" problem... what spirit would give the power necessary to negate its own existence. This isn't why we designed it this way, it was just a nice little by product of actually working out the metaphysics/mystical elements of our world.

anyway. This has probably been suggested previously, just thought I'd share.

edited: for clarity and forgetfulness...

[Mike Holmes]

Magic given a social consciousness directly. Nice solution.

Mike

[Pyske]

Amber is a great example. You can't do the party thing because the PCs are often the only competition for the other PCs.

I've been trying to follow along, as I think I also tend to assume a mutually cooperative group of PCs.  I'm still not sure I've got the paradigm shift you're trying to communicate ('though I've had no problems with Amber or Ars Magica).  Hopefully, a couple questions will help clarify things for me.

What is the general dynamic you use among the PCs in your play group?  In Amber, the dynamic is frequently competetive, in Ars Magica it is niche-based.

What role do you see for a non-sorcerous PC who shares the same Drive as a sorcerous PC?  (Assume the goal is large enough that it is not a fait accompli for either of them.)

For the areas where the SAs do not overlap, to what degree do the sorcerers become involved in the ambitions of the other PCs?

 . . . . . . . -- Eric