Zed's Magic Thread

[zedturtle]

I'm not big on allowing players to use magic, but I really like how subtle your rules (spells) are and I think it really fits into the feel of TOR. Good work!

Edit: I mean, I'm not big on allowing players to play as "dwimmercrafters", but these spells seem to fit right along with the ones already in the game. And in that case, I think they ARE worth considering to use.

Cool. Thanks for the kind words.

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I'm really stuck for a good quote for The Hidden Place. The goal of the spell is to be able to hide from enemies, I feel it would fit in but just need to have a good quote. Nothing from The Ring Goes South seems appropriate, though originally I thought I might find it there. Maybe a quote about Rivendell?

[Falenthal]

I'm really stuck for a good quote for The Hidden Place. The goal of the spell is to be able to hide from enemies, I feel it would fit in but just need to have a good quote.

What about this:

There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off.

[Falenthal]

By the way, and first of all: The document looks BEAUTIFUL. It really does. And the runes for every kind of magic relate to the official material (runes for types of terrain, runes in the dice,...).

Second, the mechanics that force a balance between Hope and Eye Awareness are brilliant. It makes Eye Awareness very interesting and adds flavour to that mechanic. It is probably one of the best points of your rules, in the sense of being special, but still within the game rules.

As for the spells, they are really subtle, and I like that. Some of them seem to overlap with existing Virtues: do you plan to substitute those Virtues (Hobbit's Art of Disappearing, for example) or your magic is in addition to them?

[zedturtle]

There is some (unavoidable, I think) overlap; I'm going to try and have things be tweaked enough that they are distinguishable, but I doubt many heroes that qualify for the Background Virtue would take the Magical Art instead.

[Falenthal]

My concern was more the other way round: that a -let's say- Hobbit could be bothered that anyone in the group could imitate his Art of Disappearing Virtue with a spell. Of course, the spell is difficult to learn (the LM can even say that there's no one available to teach it), more costly, with more limited effects,... etc. But the disappearing ability becomes "not so special" and unique to the Hobbit.

On the other hand, the rules are flexible enough to allow a careful LM to avoid such situations: If there's a dwarf in the group with a raven, and a Woodman with a hound, don't allow Beast-care's effect of earning the loyalty of an animal to other cultures. I can see a Wayward Elf taming a raven AND a hound just for fun... I would do that.

[zedturtle]

My concern was more the other way round: that a -let's say- Hobbit could be bothered that anyone in the group could imitate his Art of Disappearing Virtue with a spell. Of course, the spell is difficult to learn (the LM can even say that there's no one available to teach it), more costly, with more limited effects,... etc. But the disappearing ability becomes "not so special" and unique to the Hobbit.

On the other hand, the rules are flexible enough to allow a careful LM to avoid such situations: If there's a dwarf in the group with a raven, and a Woodman with a hound, don't allow Beast-care's effect of earning the loyalty of an animal to other cultures. I can see a Wayward Elf taming a raven AND a hound just for fun... I would do that.

Ah. I don't think that there's too much overlap in that sense... the Hobbit's ability and The Hidden Place have somewhat different applications. Oft-Overlooked is closer, but it's part of a set of powers. The Warding spells and what the dwarves can do are closer... hopefully I can work to make them unique enough, or barring that, the Dwarf power should be strictly better at its original purpose.

[zedturtle]

There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off.

Not quite what I was looking for, as this is more of an area denial ability. I went with the Girdle of Melian, but I'm not totally happy with it.



In searching for a quote for Doom's Foresight, I came across a quote that I had missed the last fifteen times I've read the book... namely Gandalf's seemingly telekinetic disarming of Denethor. I thought that rated a spell, but I've coached it in such a way that it might also just be a particularly effective martial arts move that is taught only by Wizards ( ).

[Rich H]

This is f***ing brilliant; up there with James' Mythic Battles. Really well done.

Can't wait to get my hands on the finished pdf; remember to do a 'print friendly' version zed - just minus page background would be fine as that really uses up the ink in my printer.

[zedturtle]

This is f***ing brilliant; up there with James' Mythic Battles. Really well done.

Can't wait to get my hands on the finished pdf; remember to do a 'print friendly' version zed - just minus page background would be fine as that really uses up the ink in my printer.

Yeah, see my post in my hypothetical Starter Set thread... I will make a version that is just white background and single colour ink (brown is my preference, but I imagine most people would print in grayscale).

[zedturtle]

Here's my idea for a 1-color design. If you hit print via grayscale on a home printer, you should never hit 100% coverage anywhere, hopefully producing a decent looking page without completely emptying the ink cartridge.