that old, "any technology sufficiently advanced..." bit comes to mind. I think it's entirely appropriate to expand on the psionics as magic. All of this would be to my mind an elaboration of low TL societies. i could even see megacorporations manufacturing high tech items (beads?! lol holo/chameleon "invisibility 'cloak'") for taking, er, "trading" that gold off the poor natives hands. throw in the long night coupled with "local world autonomy" and the whole setting goes well. All i wonder would be a sort of where's the line thing, like a low tech world could not allow ships to be flying all over the sky, maybe a remote/isolated port with a subway leading out to guild halls ("teleporters"), where and in what form are the limits/obligations for interstellar trade, what would result in Imperial defined "interference in trade". i think in LBB4 there was some stuff about TL "spread" for familiarity, like an early cannon versus shell casing HV rounds. Applying that to all tech goodies , and at what point it becomes "magic", could be very interesting and useful. Great thread btw.
Traveller Fantasy RPG
- Thread starter tbeard1999
- Start date
Plankowner
SOC-13
I would think that a Wanderer setting would probably be better without interstellar contact, although Vargr become awfully believable as "Werewolves"...(hummm)
High Tech stuff (read normal Traveller TL15 stuff) relics would be the "Magic" items.
The idea, IMHO, is that other than psionics, there is no real Magic, it is actually technology believed to be magic. At some point, if the Referee wants, the world is contacted by an interstellar civilization and finds out that their word for Magic is actually pronounced "SCIENCE".
BUT, I don't necessarily want to invalidate a magic setting. The basic idea was a low magic system that used Traveller as it's basis.
High Tech stuff (read normal Traveller TL15 stuff) relics would be the "Magic" items.
The idea, IMHO, is that other than psionics, there is no real Magic, it is actually technology believed to be magic. At some point, if the Referee wants, the world is contacted by an interstellar civilization and finds out that their word for Magic is actually pronounced "SCIENCE".
BUT, I don't necessarily want to invalidate a magic setting. The basic idea was a low magic system that used Traveller as it's basis.
captainjack
SOC-13
Goetetic Gametry....or something.
Right so.
First, I found some of my notes for TFTizing the Thieves world trav setting, what seems to me to be the most useful bit was how the Magic skill was used to rate mages - in tat version, how many spells they have. IN this one, perhaps a limit on "stuff". I wanted to stick to CT type levels , (1-5ish) and used the square of the skill level, which gave a steep curve, as I liked. For now, call it "mana".
I do like the idea of having the straight value limit what types of stuff can happen, so not only does a skill 5 mage have almost 3x the Mana as a skill 3 mage, but also has access to importantly different types of magic.
Yes, it is similar to the psionics so far (points and level).
Okay, Just from my previous post, I'd say mages tend to have Curses, Familiars, hocus pocus, bound spirits, potions, and charms (magic item type). I'd now add mesmerism (domination of will) and divination. Thats eight areas, which means no-one can do everything, which is good, but not so many that we have more types than can be easily remembered (which is better)
Right so.
First, I found some of my notes for TFTizing the Thieves world trav setting, what seems to me to be the most useful bit was how the Magic skill was used to rate mages - in tat version, how many spells they have. IN this one, perhaps a limit on "stuff". I wanted to stick to CT type levels , (1-5ish) and used the square of the skill level, which gave a steep curve, as I liked. For now, call it "mana".
I do like the idea of having the straight value limit what types of stuff can happen, so not only does a skill 5 mage have almost 3x the Mana as a skill 3 mage, but also has access to importantly different types of magic.
Yes, it is similar to the psionics so far (points and level).
Okay, Just from my previous post, I'd say mages tend to have Curses, Familiars, hocus pocus, bound spirits, potions, and charms (magic item type). I'd now add mesmerism (domination of will) and divination. Thats eight areas, which means no-one can do everything, which is good, but not so many that we have more types than can be easily remembered (which is better)
captainjack
SOC-13
part two
So:
Familiars cover the animals which do tricks and tasks, including guarding and attacking. They are material, and can be fought and detected as normal. They follow the mages commands explicitly, and to the extent that they can understand it. Roughly, I'd have the size be skill^2, , and the intelligence be skill x2. Each animal would count towards some sort of stuff limit. How you get them is for later, I would see one way as being chargen benefits.
Bound spirits are similar, but magical (thus invisible) ways to get things done. Stormbringer/Elric (Chaosium, tm) had some very cool rules about magic defined as spirits, which are worth stealing. My first pass is that a spirit is summoned (more on that later) as a disembodied characteristic: thus a spirit of strength, a spirit of endurance, a spirit of intelligence. The spirit would have all characteristics equal to the magic skill, except for their type, which would be a value of skill^2 (possibly skill +1^2 ? or should the low level spirits be VERY weak ?). What they can do would be derived from their type. Some examples: A STR spirit would specialize in brute force, and fighting; pretty basic. ; END spirit would reenvigorate and protect against damage. imagine a big invisible bag of ablative hit points. basically, if you're starving or drowning or being pounded, the damage comes off the spirit first. Thus water breathing is obtained by being able to avoid drowning damage for a while. DEX spirits are all about movement...add to your speed, or do very lightweight messenger duty at high speed. etc etc. Bound spirits count toward you stuffage limit, as animals, but more so.
Higher level spirits (demons ? Do we need to have a taxonomy ? They did in period, but so does D&D,) could perhaps manifest physically, and have varied stats . I'd suggest either combining spirits (say, merging a spirit of STR and a spirit of END into one for a better bodyguard); alternately, have a main stat as before, and a pool to devide up as the mage wishes: mage -3 creates demon of STR (9) with 9 stat points to add to the other char values which start at 3.
Some mechanism for manifesting may be needed. Perhaps they become physical when they interact physically.
Mesmerism (yes, I know it's a vast and terrible anachronism) would be similar to telepathy with an emphasis on domination, but with a VERY obvious effect: basic roll to Mesmerize someone to various levels based on skill. say, mild influence at 1 up to dominate (zombify) at 5. Duration could be a squared function here, with lesser effects having longer units.
Potions, charms,and curses later- feel free to chime in/critique !
So:
Familiars cover the animals which do tricks and tasks, including guarding and attacking. They are material, and can be fought and detected as normal. They follow the mages commands explicitly, and to the extent that they can understand it. Roughly, I'd have the size be skill^2, , and the intelligence be skill x2. Each animal would count towards some sort of stuff limit. How you get them is for later, I would see one way as being chargen benefits.
Bound spirits are similar, but magical (thus invisible) ways to get things done. Stormbringer/Elric (Chaosium, tm) had some very cool rules about magic defined as spirits, which are worth stealing. My first pass is that a spirit is summoned (more on that later) as a disembodied characteristic: thus a spirit of strength, a spirit of endurance, a spirit of intelligence. The spirit would have all characteristics equal to the magic skill, except for their type, which would be a value of skill^2 (possibly skill +1^2 ? or should the low level spirits be VERY weak ?). What they can do would be derived from their type. Some examples: A STR spirit would specialize in brute force, and fighting; pretty basic. ; END spirit would reenvigorate and protect against damage. imagine a big invisible bag of ablative hit points. basically, if you're starving or drowning or being pounded, the damage comes off the spirit first. Thus water breathing is obtained by being able to avoid drowning damage for a while. DEX spirits are all about movement...add to your speed, or do very lightweight messenger duty at high speed. etc etc. Bound spirits count toward you stuffage limit, as animals, but more so.
Higher level spirits (demons ? Do we need to have a taxonomy ? They did in period, but so does D&D,) could perhaps manifest physically, and have varied stats . I'd suggest either combining spirits (say, merging a spirit of STR and a spirit of END into one for a better bodyguard); alternately, have a main stat as before, and a pool to devide up as the mage wishes: mage -3 creates demon of STR (9) with 9 stat points to add to the other char values which start at 3.
Some mechanism for manifesting may be needed. Perhaps they become physical when they interact physically.
Mesmerism (yes, I know it's a vast and terrible anachronism) would be similar to telepathy with an emphasis on domination, but with a VERY obvious effect: basic roll to Mesmerize someone to various levels based on skill. say, mild influence at 1 up to dominate (zombify) at 5. Duration could be a squared function here, with lesser effects having longer units.
Potions, charms,and curses later- feel free to chime in/critique !
captainjack
SOC-13
a comment....
I should note that the way I use the magic skill does ramp up VERY quickly. The squared functions, the stuff limit, and the power of the effects all interact; this is intentional. I always saw CT skills as being VERY tightly packed - an MD at Medical 3, for instance; so I see the high skill mages as REALLY POWERFUL; Ras Thavas, Thoth Amon,Merlin, Math (the Celt, not the science), so they should be able to obliterate lesser mortals (until a steely-thewed cimmarian shows up, and they always do).
(As a side note, I exclude Gandalf and Saruman from the above list, as they technically are gods, and no, I don't want to argue the point. :nonono: .....)
I suspect that this means that even in chargen for mages extra skill levels should be VERY hard to obtain. I'd think that a character with Magic 2 or 3 would be about the maximum for most campaigns at start. CHARGEN should mainly provide the STUFF and access to types of magic, perhaps.
Okay, Enough for now. Lots of evil SAS code awaits me at work tomorrow.
Cap
I should note that the way I use the magic skill does ramp up VERY quickly. The squared functions, the stuff limit, and the power of the effects all interact; this is intentional. I always saw CT skills as being VERY tightly packed - an MD at Medical 3, for instance; so I see the high skill mages as REALLY POWERFUL; Ras Thavas, Thoth Amon,Merlin, Math (the Celt, not the science), so they should be able to obliterate lesser mortals (until a steely-thewed cimmarian shows up, and they always do).
(As a side note, I exclude Gandalf and Saruman from the above list, as they technically are gods, and no, I don't want to argue the point. :nonono: .....)
I suspect that this means that even in chargen for mages extra skill levels should be VERY hard to obtain. I'd think that a character with Magic 2 or 3 would be about the maximum for most campaigns at start. CHARGEN should mainly provide the STUFF and access to types of magic, perhaps.
Okay, Enough for now. Lots of evil SAS code awaits me at work tomorrow.
Cap
Last edited:
Plankowner
SOC-13
I must admit I was a bit skeptical at the beginning, but I am starting to like where this is going. It is definitely NOT D&D which is good.
Also, at Magic-0 you would have the mundane, non-magical variations. Hypnosis is a Magic-0 form of Mesmerizing. Circus dog trainers are Animal-0 etc. It takes a long time to do it, but in the end, it APPEARS like magic and would be used even by Mages to avoid using up valuable Mana.
Also, at Magic-0 you would have the mundane, non-magical variations. Hypnosis is a Magic-0 form of Mesmerizing. Circus dog trainers are Animal-0 etc. It takes a long time to do it, but in the end, it APPEARS like magic and would be used even by Mages to avoid using up valuable Mana.
captainjack
SOC-13
Sorry to hear that. Same thing happens in FTF. Take a break before you burn out and you'll come back. Otherwise.....bitter burnedout gamemaster who hates all games syndrome sets in....
cap
captainjack
SOC-13
Good idea; a mage would gain skills in animal handling, perhaps. If the career gen is to be miserly about the skills, it will need stuff to fill in the table. This is a good tack.
I had originally thought to disallow magic-0 as a concept (it messes up the math), but perhaps having an intro level that gives mostly zero results, but would allow membership in the "brotherhood", reading the arcane, and probably things like elf sight, perhaps.
speaking of anachronisms: mana - I believe its a polynesian term. It's cool, and I introduced it, but for the sake of fluffy chrome I'd be happier with a different term. Problem is, the idea of a "fuel tank" for magic seems to be a modern technobias, and that kind of quantitative magic element seems lacking thus far in my limited research. I'll look more...and accept any suggestions.
Cap
captainjack
SOC-13
Numena,Gnosis and Ichor..
Heh. Got it. Numena, Gnosis, or, best of all Ichor.
Ichor, other tha its use in purple prose, is the magic element in a gods blood, in greek mythology.
Actually, I've been thinking that the problem is with the accountancy aspect of most point-based magic system.....seems too much of the modern mindset, reaally...or perhaps a commercial mind in olden days.
So, cast till you fail, then bad things happen. Any interest in details ? The thread seems torpid.....
Heh. Got it. Numena, Gnosis, or, best of all Ichor.
Ichor, other tha its use in purple prose, is the magic element in a gods blood, in greek mythology.
Actually, I've been thinking that the problem is with the accountancy aspect of most point-based magic system.....seems too much of the modern mindset, reaally...or perhaps a commercial mind in olden days.
So, cast till you fail, then bad things happen. Any interest in details ? The thread seems torpid.....
captainjack
SOC-13
Okay, dead thread. Well, it was a fun exercise - thanks for the suggestions and encouragement; and perhaps it'll rise again....
Still,now I've got this magic system lying around, and no place to use it....
Hmmm.
Still,now I've got this magic system lying around, and no place to use it....
Hmmm.
captainjack
SOC-13
YAAAAAY !
it'll be a nice change from arguments about timing/effect and industrial trade codes over at the MGT playtest.
it'll be a nice change from arguments about timing/effect and industrial trade codes over at the MGT playtest.
OK, I'll start cooking. Jame, you still there? Round up the gang...
Plankowner
SOC-13
I'm in!
Kheldru wakes, stretches his thick arms and reaches for his Battle Axe..
It is a good day for a fight, he thinks to himself.
Leaving his sleeping room, Kheldru reenters the world of the Khumans...
Kheldru wakes, stretches his thick arms and reaches for his Battle Axe..
It is a good day for a fight, he thinks to himself.
Leaving his sleeping room, Kheldru reenters the world of the Khumans...
I know that Arun is quite willing to finish off those pirates!
Aaaaand ... still waiting. Robject? You there? *knocking* Hello!
Does anyone have a refinement for the magic system?
