You are currently browsing the My *other* notebook weblog archives for the day 16. January 2009.
- 7 Kingdoms (9)
- Aurelian (1)
- Essays (8)
- Fiction (6)
- Gaming (19)
- iPod (33)
- Miscellaneous (5)
- News (1)
- Personal (16)
- Politics (1)
- Projects (11)
- Religion (3)
- Reviews (2)
- Uncategorized (7)
- 27. August 2010: Spirit of the 7th Sea
- 18. August 2010: Mushroom People
- 16. August 2010: A model of decorum and tranquility
- 13. August 2010: Can you RP on Twitter?
- 7. July 2010: "Bangers for Breakfast" - Wicked Tinkers
- 7. July 2010: "Armageddon [Original Soundtrack]"
- 7. July 2010: Machine gun mini-reviews
- 7. July 2010: For Sale: One chrysalis, used
- 5. May 2010: Both poxes on your house
- 4. May 2010: "Arabia Groove: Teavana"
Archive for 16. January 2009
Why magic in RPGs is unsatisfactory…
16. January 2009 by Samldanach.
Magic.
The name, almost literally, conjures up certain images for us. Certain assumptions, certain expectations, and certain dreams. Gandalf and Merlin. Ged and Elric. The enemies of Conan and allies of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. From Harry Potter to Harry Dresden. Even Old Ben Kenobi plays the part well.
And, yet, RPGs seem to consistently fail to capture the mystique and majesty of magic. It is a list of powers, a bit of extra book-keeping, and a pain in the ass to balance. Why is this? Well, it’s very easy to lay the blame at the feet of D&D. (And, admittedly, I tend to more often than I care to admit.) After all, they took one specific archetype that is quite deliberately unusual (”Vancian” magic), and then very deliberately devolved it into a system of rules suitable for miniatures combat. It was then re-evolved, if you will, into a system suitable for a true RPG. Mostly.
Posted in Gaming | No Comments »