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Ruminating on Magic Options for Stormbringer/Elric!


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I remember when I first picked this game up one of my few issues with it was that any right minded power hungry PC had one option to turn to for a leg up in their quest for glory. Chaos was really the only game in town. Sure, Apotheosis was there to throw a bone to followers of the Balance and Law, and Law had a few (Chaos point inducing) spells floating around out there, but a serious sorcerer is going to be hitting the Brazier of Power and putting an add out for interested and available demon help.

Now, this is all well and good and fitting, and certainly better than the early Virtues (we're not demons, really, we're Virtues) system, but for a time I was definitely left wanting for more options. Well, I got them and I'm very happy for them.

I will mention here, that I play a loose sort of game and I like players to have options. If I can see it fitting in as a system that doesn't completely break with a Moorcockian feel I'm happy to incorporate it.

So here's what we have published in no particular order...

Sorcery

The use of Sorcery aligns one with the powers of Chaos. For every Spell learned, the PC gains 1 Chaos point.

Summoning/Pacting

Aligning yourself with the infernal aspects of the multiverse is a surefire way to power but fraught with dangers. Corum expands on the rules for Pacts.

Focus Skills

For those who seek the Perfection of Law, Focus Skills allow a mere mortal to approach the excellencies of the Lords and Lady’s of Singularity through discipline and meditation.

Contriving

Guided by the gentle tutelage of Arkyn, Contriving harnesses the forces of Law and scientific mysticism to create items of wonder that approach perfection.

Virtues (Gods of Law version)

Devotees of Law may invoke the wisdom and grace of the Virtues, gaining knowledge and power beyond the scope of mortals.

Elemental Summoning

Those who give allegiance to the Lords of the Elements develop relations with the lesser members of the Elemental Court. It is good to have friends.

Elemental Tattoos

This ancient art of the sea-going Shalafen harnesses some of the essence of the Elements and binds it into magic skin art.

Invocations

It is possible to call forth beings of the higher planes through formulating an appealing request. Rarely do these beings deem it worth their time to answer, but if they respond to a mortal's plea they are bound to give assistance. Those who can possibly be invoked are the Gods of Law and Chaos, and the Elemental and Beast and Plant Lords.

Spell Weavers

There are some who tangle with the very stuff of Chaos, melding Chaotic Effects into powerful Sorceries.

Runic Sorcerers

Able to sample a small section of concentrated multiverse into sigils and glyphs, these scribes control mighty forces with the stroke of their pen.

Magic of the Unknown East

Sorceries that forgo crude ritualistic spells, rather tap directly into the mysteries of the Million Spheres.

Fetishes

Practiced by the Ragha-da-Kheta and select tribes in the Weeping Wastes these traditional magics and simple totems and tonics of potent power.

Apotheosis

When one aligns with full devotion to a segment of the cosmic balance and reinforces that commitment through daily support of the faction’s ideals, one may be selected by the cosmic forces to take up the mantle of Champion. The Champion walks in the shadow of great power some of that power is gifted to The Champion.

Add to the list stuff like the Elemental Paths, Dream Magic and Cult benefits from Mongoose and we have a veritable cornucopia of options in front of us.

Makes me happy.

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  • 8 months later...

Say you have a practitioner of earth elemental magic in the Young Kingdoms. How would you go about simulating the ability to manipulate plants. Particularly, is it spell casting to raise a wall of brambles to choke, and constrict your opponents, or is it elemental summoning with simple to elaborate ritual of various lengths?

I'm trying to put together a human magician of the Young Kingdoms whose skill set is a combination of earth elemental magic, and is knowledgeable in the making, and using of potions. He would know earth lore, potion lore, and wilderness lore I imagine for the bare bones skills.

His path to wealth could be made supplying poisons to the brisk assassination business of the city. Having trouble being satisfied with my current conceptions of this working together. Maybe it is because there are too many possibilities?

The Vanishing Tower RPG Blog Read about my attempts at FTF RPG in the wilderness!
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If you came to me and said that this was the character you wanted to play and how do we make this happen?

The poison stuff is easy enough with the Potions and Natural World skills. The other stuff we would have to hash out to find the best fit.

There are two basic approaches I would think. One option would be to go with the Unknown East magic system and give the magician the sphere of Earth and either the rune of Enhancement or the rune of Summoning. That would give you a wide latitude for defining magical effects that fit within the framework of your earth mage.

Alternatively, we could handle it with summonings and spells. There aren't a lot of earth based spells written up, but I think this is due in large part to the idea that magic in the Young Kingdoms is a sort of corruption of Chaos. Magic consists of tiny holes the Dukes of Entropy are poking through the manifest will of Law that is reality. GURPs Magic (2 ed) has some great earth and plant based spells that would be very easy to port over to the Elric! sorcery system. Also, there are some elementals stated up in the core book. If this were my game I would gladly let you stat up (for approval) some minor elementals you could summon.

A third option I would raise is being a friend of the plant lords. A lot of the stuff in your examples, extracting poison by brewing potions, the bramble blockade, sound to me to be in the realm of the Plant Lords rather than Grome's purview. I would suggest we took the work done on the Elemental Paths from Magic of the Young Kingdoms and make a Plant Lord path based on the same idea. Instead of using the GURPs spells as spells, the would become special abilities. Instead of using summoning spells with would put something together for your character to invoke the aid of the plant lords.

His path to wealth could be made supplying poisons to the brisk assassination business of the city. Having trouble being satisfied with my current conceptions of this working together. Maybe it is because there are too many possibilities?

Rather than looking at it as having too many possibilities, I like to think of it as examples that provide guidance on how to institute unique ideas. :D

How's that?

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That was awesome!!! Thank you very much.

To answer your first question, yes, this is an idea for a player character. The Plant Lord is a very intriguing idea, but for a more material based approach the scribing of runes upon matter to be controlled is my favorite so far. Perhaps Runes of Enhancement/Summoning are to be placed while under the influence of certain plant based potions. This would require preparation time, but shouldn't powerful effects take time to conjure? Or, to return to the Plant Lord, the elixirs are required to make contact with various Plant Lord's whereby pacts, and promises are to be made.

What kind of Plant Lords would one uncover tapping the Dharzi created forest...? Here an entirely new line of speculation is awaiting!

The Vanishing Tower RPG Blog Read about my attempts at FTF RPG in the wilderness!
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Perhaps Runes of Enhancement/Summoning are to be placed while under the influence of certain plant based potions. This would require preparation time, but shouldn't powerful effects take time to conjure? Or, to return to the Plant Lord, the elixirs are required to make contact with various Plant Lord's whereby pacts, and promises are to be made.

Ha! I love it. Serious gaming potential there.

One clarification. The Unknown East sorcery system uses the term rune or some mystical connection to an archtype. It's a holdover from runequest. Instead, the system is more of a freeform spell system.

That being said, if you're grooving on casting by carving runes then there's a great Runic magic system in the Bronze Grimoire! There's also some serious support for a character like this in the monograph The Green. They call it glyph casting and have eight or nine spells tied to nature. They also do some great work with creating potions. Might be something to look into.

I think you have the makings of a great character there. :) Certainly unique taking the Plant Lords as your main conceit!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Howdy QB, I remember those days well. Two BRP heads in a sea of D20. :D And I'm eternally grateful for you turning me onto on to one of, if not THE, best free form magic system out there.

Originally, I was just sticking to magic systems published specifically under Elric!/SB5 and hinting at some of the Mongoose stuff but I think Maelstrom would be a great fit for Moorcockian magic if it were framed right though.

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Howdy QB, I remember those days well. Two BRP heads in a sea of D20. :D And I'm eternally grateful for you turning me onto on to one of, if not THE, best free form magic system out there.

Originally, I was just sticking to magic systems published specifically under Elric!/SB5 and hinting at some of the Mongoose stuff but I think Maelstrom would be a great fit for Moorcockian magic if it were framed right though.

I think the un-Moorcockian part of the Maelstrom system is its emphasis on natural effects. Moorcock was more in favour of flashy scintillating protoplasms of Chaos and bizarre summoned beings.

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