Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site cmu-cs-k.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!rochester!cmu-cs-pt!cmu-cs-k!tim 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.