Topic: Magic levels and Rolemaster Settings

[PhillipAEllis]

Similar to an earlier query relating to genre, what I am interested in seeing is the range of magical power settings for settings, campaigns, etcetera. You can vote for more than one option, and you can change your mind if you like.

The reason I'm asking this is I'd love to get an idea, over time, of the range of power levels that we prefer to run &/or play, since these may well help influence my future writing for Rolemaster.

And please leave your comments & remarks below; let's get the dialogue rolling, shall we?

[Cory Magel]

I said medium to high.

In my own world magic is perceived as rare when, in reality, it's not at all.

About 20% of the population has magical talent, most are just very basic/mundane and self-taught (usually even without realizing they are using magic).  The old lady down the street that makes charms, the nurse up the road that has a knack for healing injuries, the animal handler that can work wonders with cranky horses, etc.

About 5% of the 20% (so about 1% of the population) would be considered "Semi Spell Casters".  Many of these are Paladins, a good number of them Rangers, and the rest are a mish-mash of everything else.

About 1% of the "Semi" casters (so about .01% of the population) would be considered "Pure Spell Casters" and a probably over half of them are Priests.  Full on "Magicians" (of the fireball throwing sort) are held in awe - sometimes fear (and some of the religious orders would happily hunt them all down and kill them if they could).

Weapon and Item bonuses almost always start with Materials and Quality of Craftsmanship the move on to Magical properties.  Items with a bonus of +5, +10 and sometimes even +15 will be 'non-magical' in nature.  +20 on up is nearly always magical.

[ironmaul]

I remember markc and I having a conversation a long time ago about this subject. It depends on several factors i.e. low magic setting, what does that involve exactly? Spells are few but powerful, mages are few and far between with variant on spell potency, or mages are uncommon but spells are weak/limited etc. I don't know where to look for the actual thread where we talked about it, markc might have an idea though. I voted low and medium magic.

[yammahoper]

I think RM bt default is HIGH MAGIC, so I picked high.

Interestingly enough, no magic in my current game for players.  Only feys and critters have magic.

[GrumpyOldFart]

I put it as "Medium," but I want to put my qualifiers down here.

I personally feel like "The Magic Dial Goes all the Way to Eleven!".... but the farther you go, the more risk you take, the worse the consequences of failure are. If someone fails to properly handle a spell that creates a hurricane, the death of the caster should be a comparatively minor concern. The failure should be at least as damaging as the hurricane was supposed to be. When is the last time you heard of a hurricane with a death toll as low as one?

[markc]

Ironmaul,
 I do remember the conversation but I do not remember where it was or when it was (do to back pain and the drugs I take for it).


 In my game world I tend to have med magic but with uber high level artifacts popping up every once in a while or hiding and growing in power. And woe to the world is some crazy gets a hold of something that allows them to start summoning in stuff (summoning in my game is really tough and takes hours/days long) or gives them access to spell lists way above their level and the ability to cast them without any penalties.
MDC 

[intothatdarkness]

I go non-magic much of the time because I use modded RM for espionage and Old West games. My fantasy stuff tends to run between medium and high magic.

[ironmaul]

Mark, I think it has to be in the archives by now. I might have a dig later on and see if I can find it again.

As a side note, I had always thought RM was on dial eleven in magic anyway, that's probably why I dislike RM magic system so much.
Spell Law is a book I'll not buy again. I'll look to other alternatives.

[PhillipAEllis]

A query: were settings with variant levels & forms of magic were to be produced (such as a world where the only real magic was in the form of long, exhausting summoning rituals for critters with magic powers, such as demons & the like), what sort of detail would you like to see regarding the magic system. For example, in the summoning only world, would you like to see a complete restructure & rewrite of the skills & spells? Would you prefer more general notes, listing by name, perhaps, the available spell lists with summarised notes on casting times, etcetera?

[Cory Magel]

What would probably help a setting sell are things like spell lists which are tied directly to it.

I've pulled a few ideas from various places are have a set of portals throughout the world the characters are on that you need a certain spell list (typically accessed through an item) to use them.  The same idea could be used in any setting... take something integral or unique about it and create some setting specific Professions, Spell Lists, etc.

[PhillipAEllis]

Sort of like the Navigator spell lists (and others) for Shadow World?

[jdale]

I prefer fairly low magic, in the sense that there are few casters. Not necessarily reducing the power of those casters though. Too much magic changes a world in a way that, to me, can easily start to get silly (or worse, modern) if you aren't careful.

[Cory Magel]

Sort of like the Navigator spell lists (and others) for Shadow World?

Precisely.  That and Stargate is what set me on the idea... although the gates can be used in very interesting ways by very powerful people (such as planar travel, time travel, and more).

[ironmaul]

A query: were settings with variant levels & forms of magic were to be produced (such as a world where the only real magic was in the form of long, exhausting summoning rituals for critters with magic powers, such as demons & the like), what sort of detail would you like to see regarding the magic system. For example, in the summoning only world, would you like to see a complete restructure & rewrite of the skills & spells? Would you prefer more general notes, listing by name, perhaps, the available spell lists with summarised notes on casting times, etcetera?

RM spell system will never change and so regardless of the setting and power level RM won't be able to do it. It's just to over the top I'm afraid. The only way is an alternate system which I can't ever see happening and why should they really?
It would be foolish for them to invest anymore resources into another spell system just for the sake of me(I think I must be one of the rare few that don't like it). But I don't mind, I'm very much happy with the rest of RM.
I've been thinking something with spells similar to the talent tiers in RMU but I haven't fleshed anything out yet as I've been rather busy of late.

[PhillipAEllis]

I started getting burnt out while working on the Psionics article, so started sketching notes for setting documents, trial runs for later, that I might relase through the GCM. Among its many oddities, humans have only access to a single spell list, which they need to expend background options to use, which allows them to summon & bind demons, and little else. Demons & Cambions, however, have access to a greater range of lists. There are other features which I won't go into here.