Thread: Another Kind of Magic ?

A while ago I downloaded the RuneQuest 6 PDF, and after reading it I thought
that this excellent system might be perfect for my Merasan fantasy setting,
a rather old setting which once started as a modification of a part of AD&D's
Birthright setting and a part of AD&D's Forgotten Realms setting and later mo-
ved through different incarnations and systems.

Most of the RuneQuest 6 system indeed fits this setting perfectly well, but I
have a minor problem with the magic. In this setting Sorcery and Theism are
powerful instruments to influence reality which require a lot of time and effort
to work and therefore are never used for "pedestrian" purposes like everyday
tasks or single combat.

This means that I will have to make Sorcery and Theism more time consuming
and "expensive", but also on average more powerful, with more permanent re-
sults. While I have a couple of ideas how this could be done, I would like to
ask you for your ideas on this before I decide on any modifications.

Comments and ideas would be most welcome.

This demonstrates one of the really good new features of RQ6, the section on Tailoring Magic. I would suggest that you increase casting times, as discussed on page 172. I would also suggest considering making the recovery of Magic Points/Devotional Pool more difficult, tying it to worship ceremonies for Theism, and mavbe some other ritual activity for Sorcery.

What were your thoughts?

My current (and most probably not final) ideas are:

There are no "standard spells", each use of magic requires a period of research
and preparation. This time is measured in days, with a minimum of one day, and
depends on the size of the intended effect. A permanent effect requires at least
one additional day of preparation.

Each use of magic requires a successful Invocation (for Sorcery) or Exhort (for
Theism) skill roll as well a successful skill roll in a relevant other skill, for example
a Craft skill if the target is an object or the Insight skill if the targets are humans.
A permanent effect increases the difficulty grade of the Invocation or Exhort skill
roll by one step.

Sounds reasonable, but what occurs to me, is that it gives sorcery a combat potential that Theism will lack. If your Sorcerer knows Wrack, they could enchant it into, say, a staff, and have a ranged attack available to them. As I recall, Theism does not have a spell that can be "weaponized" in the same way.

I would suggest, also, that spell durations may need to be extended, at least in terms of Theism and protective magics, otherwise they will be effectively not worth the effort of casting. Sorcery already has flexible durations so it should be OK on that front.

Originally Posted by Psychman

Sounds reasonable, but what occurs to me, is that it gives sorcery a combat potential that Theism will lack.

In this setting this would be more a feature than a bug. In Merasan the magic of
the priests is "community magic", used for example to bless crops, or to deal with
bad weather and other natural (and social) desasters, while Sorcery is somewhat
"grey" magic which can be (ab-)used to gain personal power.

There are no magic items in this setting, the ability to use magic is a part of the
personality of the magic user and cannot be transmitted to an object which has
neither the skills to prepare and cast magic nor the POW characteristic to give
it magic points.

I would suggest, also, that spell durations may need to be extended ...

Yes, thank you for a good idea.

Rust,

I'm curious as to your final adjustments to the system and how they worked out. While I'm currently gearing up for a high fantasy setting with more Elric! style sorcery than Runequest, I love the idea of more ritualized magic taking research, prep time, and sacrifice (magic points for simple things and POW for more complex things). I'd love to see how the tweaks worked out for your setting so I could possibly work on a more ritualized magic setting myself.

Unfortunately I was unable to continue with this setting as planned, the players
decided to prefer another one, and so the magic system is still unfinished.