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From: tim@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Gripe (actually flexible magic)
Message-ID: <290@cmu-cs-k.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 27-Feb-85 20:12:02 EST
Article-I.D.: cmu-cs-k.290
Posted: Wed Feb 27 20:12:02 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 2-Mar-85 03:42:55 EST
References: <166@gitpyr.UUCP>
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 35

Not ANOTHER magic-user subclass proposal!  Aren't eight years of old ones
enough?  If you couldn't find any to suit you out of all those, that ought
to tell you that your idea is unlikely to suit anyone else.

The idea of flexible magic is a good one.  Chaosium's sorcery and
enchantment systems for RuneQuest 3 do quite well.  In it, any sorcerous
spell may be manipulated by any or all of the sorcerous skills: Intensity
(to boost the effective power of a spell, e.g., Fly lifts one SIZ point per
level of intensity), Duration (each point of manipulation doubles duration),
Range (similar to Duration), and Multispell.  The latter allows multiple
spells to be cast at the same time, creating unusual effects.  Manipulation
is limited explicitly based on intelligence and number of spells known, and
implicitly by how well the caster knows the sorcery skills.

The Enchantment ("magic item creation") system is even more oriented towards
putting various elements together to produce a unique effect.  Such things
as target conditions and link conditions allow the creation of virtually any
magical effect that either player or referee could want.  Furthermore, you
don't have to be a wizard for twenty years before putting together an item;
younger and sub-adept sorcerors can put together simple low-powered items,
for their own use, for sale, or whatever.

I admit that I have a very hard time imagining anyone completely rewriting
the AD&D magic system (as proposed by the person working on flexible magic)
with any degree of success, or arriving at anything that could be called
Dungeons and Dragons.  Why bother, when things just like what you want are
already available in better games?
-=-
Tim Maroney, Carnegie-Mellon University Computation Center
ARPA:	Tim.Maroney@CMU-CS-K	uucp:	seismo!cmu-cs-k!tim
CompuServe:	74176,1360	audio:	shout "Hey, Tim!"

"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are
but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains."
Liber AL, II:9.