Real Magic

Today I read Maliszewski's 'Restrospective Authentic Thaumaturgy' which can be found HERE. I have to say, I was pleased to see mention of it and it gives me an excuse to revisit some of my thoughts on magic and gaming. At the start of the month, I made a post entitled 'Problems with the Magic System' and I made mention of some of the disappointment I had with how magic was essentially handled with D&D. Now, I confess that I haven't had a chance to ever read or even flip through "Authentic Thaumaturgy", but I have been meaning to pick up a copy (it was reprinted by Steve Jackson Games and this version is available as a PDF as well).

You see, I had the pleasure of meeting Bonewits about a year before he passed along with his wife when they visited Ottawa in 2009. He was a charming and intelligent individual and also someone who loved a good game. We spoke briefly about "Authentic Thaumaturgy" as well as a host of other topics. To be clear, he was not and never considered himself a game designer but someone who has pursued esoteric studies and who happened to enjoy gaming (he loved Munchkin). He did like the idea and was keen on how magic was presented in various games as well. Isaac was a scholar and a pagan with a remarkable outlook on life.



Now, the classic system of Vancian magic in D&D (and other related games) works and does so because it is both simple and efficient. If your fantasy campaign is 'vanilla', then it'll be perfect to the task. However, if your campaign is anything more, then to *not* develop the magic in your setting any further is a wasted opportunity. While I have great respect for Gygax, and he clearly was someone who was well read with a wonderful appreciation of history, he wasn't an anthropologist (or similar specialist) and his focus was not on the specifics of folklore and magic.

We have so much material which is accessible to us and that we can draw from if we want to give flavor and a sense of 'realism' to our fantasy (Thanks Internet!). Look to history, folklore, and mythology and when you weave this into your campaign, extend it to the magic and miracles of your worlds.

Here are a few ideas you can use to develop this further:

- The waxing and waning affects of the moon on magic (Dragonlance did this with three moons)
- The significance of number (aka Numerology),
- The Planets / Constellations and links with Spirits / Gods and other correspondences

While you may worry that these may add layers of complexity to your magic system, think of it as enriching and detailing your campaign instead. A lot of this can be 'cosmetic' anyway.

On the other hand, if you want actual mechanics, employing a system that 'fits' is not necessarily an easy task either. While I've been steadily working on an alternate system of magic for the Ballista, I am reminded again and again how elegant the Vancian system is for all inherent purposes. Keeping a game within a D&D-esque format makes it difficult to break from over years of tradition when looking at the magic system. I'm presenting both options in the Ballista -- classic and an alternative that doesn't just give point values instead of spell slots. Or at least, there is a sustained creative effort to bring this to reality in the coming weeks.

M

Weekend R&R: Random Esoteric Creature Generator

I made mention in my last post about James Raggi and the difficulties he has had with the 'Insect Shrine' release -- a release which has never seen the light of day. The point I tried to illustrate was that sometimes things happen despite the best of intentions. I didn't mention that Jim had essentially rectified the situation with those who had pre-ordered. Needless to say, LotFP has done very well for itself since, and serves as an example of how a bad turn of events doesn't have to set the tone for other projects.

Kudos

Now, while on the subject of LotFP products, I thought it would be nice to talk about the first product I have had the pleasure to buy and use written by James -- 'The Random Esoteric Creature Generator' (henceforth referred as RECG). I ordered a copy of the book once hearing of it's release back in 2008 not knowing exactly what to expect. If I remember correctly, the price included shipping to anywhere in the world and a PDF copy of the work for something just below 5 euros. It sounded like a good bang for the buck and it sounded like something that would pay off real quickly for my game.

I loved the PDF when I received it, and was happy to see the physical copy when it showed up in my mail box. The paper copy was certainly not the polished looking product that we see today but there was something very nostalgic about it. Even the art exuded a certain 'old school charm'. This accessory has certainly made an impact in my game as well as the gaming community as another version was published by Goodman Games a year or two later. Despite the clearly polished look which the new version has been given, it is the original one that I peruse when I see need of it. It holds a special place -- secure in my C&C White Box (itself a tribute of sorts to the D&D Whitebox) along Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa. Interestingly enough, LotFP has just recently put out a new version of Carcosa which looks beautiful and is on my 'Must Get List'.

The differences between the two version of the RECG are extremely minor but, in either presentation, it's an accessory I just love picking up and playing with. I have made some notable critters for use in my campaigns time and time again and, if I only could have a handful of gaming books, this would be one I'd want to keep. As it stands, it is a resource I have with me for when I need it thanks to the convenience of PDF -- it's one of the books I have loaded up on my tablet.

That said, what is it? Well, the title pretty much says it all. It's an accessory you use to create creatures with random abilities and features. It has tables covering Body Shape, Characteristics, Size, Movement, Attack, Special Abilities, Motivation, and quite a bit more. Depending on the version you are looking at, 26 to 32 pages of material is included in this little, indispensable accessory.

Suffice to say, it is an accessory that I cannot ever recommend enough to my fellow gamers. While I don't believe the original edition of the accessory is available anywhere anymore, the Goodman Games version is still available either as a PDF or physical copy. Noble Knight Games actually has it on sale right now for $6.49 which is basically 50% off the cover price. Oh... did I forget to mention that it was pretty much system neutral? If you don't have it... get it. :)

One last bit of trivia concerning this accessory -- I found it interesting to read that the roots of this project go back to some of the work that was being developed for the 'Insect Shrine'. A handful of tables for creature generation basically grew beyond the scope of the project it was originally intended for. If it hadn't been for that, this accessory may have never seen the light of day.

Thanks for reading!

M

Standpoint on Pre-Order Issues

This is a topic I wanted to touch upon a couple of days ago but I decided to let it 'sit' a bit to try and gain a better perspective on the situation. Recently, I have read various disparaging remarks concerning pre-order situations -- some of which may be leveled at Brave Halfling Publishing but could apply to many other Publishers in the hobby. This saddens be a bit to be honest.

On the one hand, I completely get it from a consumer standpoint. I have (and do continue) to pre-order a variety of things. These are the occasional book, RPG item, or even video games. The most I have ever paid for a pre-order would be the Classic Monsters kickstart effort which works out to $100. Great value there but, judging by original timeframe, I should have had the PDF version of it for a couple of weeks now (it's supposedly at the printer right now). That said, it's TLG and, well, I'm kind of accustomed to waiting a while with them. All one needs to recall is the saga and many revisions of the Castle Keepers Guide. ;)

However, there have been some pre-orders which went from days to weeks, and then months. But this isn't exactly new either. There is a thread that talks about the very problem which is at the heart of the issue over on Dragonsfoot from back at the start of 2008, I encourage you to check it out HERE.

Of particular note, Jim (of LotFP) writes about the state of the 'Insect Shrine of Goblin Hill'. Judging by what he wrote, it had been about 15 months since he started taking pre-orders for the thing which puts it back to 2006. In Fall of 2009, it still wasn't released. In between of all that? Real life issues which included a divorce.

Given that I have also had my share of Real Life issues in the past, I can completely relate to this sort of unfortunate turn of events. Sometime the unexpected will take you for a loop but what gets me is how quickly some people out there quickly forgets that most of these are one-man operations to begin with.

James Mishler has great aspirations for his line of C&C Wilderlands material. He was going to put out the Adventure Games Journal and the first issue, though delayed by a few months, was fantastic. All in all, the model and publishing schedule he had set up never materialized and a few years later, AGP disappeared. During the course of the many challenges James Mishler has had to contend with, he tried to change the model of AGP a couple of times. While most of the subscribers were supportive and understanding, other questions such as why he was developing all this other material instead of focusing on the principal responsibility of putting out the journal for which he collected subscriptions for. As a subscriber myself, I was supportive but also wished some of his efforts were more concentrated on the journal. Personally, I didn't care if the format changed in the journal since ALL of his material was excellent. Bottom line though, is we can't always control what happens but when you are a one-man operation, the impact is compounded many times over.

John from BHP has also had his share of challenges in the past couple of years like many others. Delays with some of his projects such as Delving Deeper has given him pause and he is restructuring how future projects are going to be handled going forward. On the one hand, he does have some people handle different projects in order for him to better concentrate on other ones. My partnership with John is an example of this. Brave Halfling Publishing doesn't work directly on material for C&C -- Arcana Creations does.

Despite some of our difficulties, we tend to do it for the love of the hobby and not the money. If any of us stumbles and 'falls'... hopefully, we'll just be able to pick ourselves up from the ground and keep on going. I know I took a nasty fall and one of my biggest regrets is not being able to bring about the vision I had for 'Victorious'. Consequently, 2011 was not a good year at all for me. I'm working hard to change that for this year with the 'Ballista Companion Rulebook' as well as a few, longstanding C&C titles I've got on the back burner.

Of course, I never did any pre-orders for Victorious or other projects I didn't deliver on either. That alone differentiates my situation somewhat with how others were affected. I can say that we did consider it at some point but only upon reaching one of the final stages in development. This would have funded the initial print run. Other small publishers may do pre-orders to pay for other aspects such as art or even supplemental writing for a particular project. I think this approach is problematic at best.

My advice? Accept pre-orders from small, hobby publishers for what they are: An order for something that is still in development. Consider who you are dealing with. Have they released other material in the past or is this a first time thing? Consider the possibility that you may not get the finished product in your hands for several months. If you can't handle any of those terms, don't pre-order but please show us your support and encouragement at various cons, blogs, forums, and the like.

M

I Pity the FULE !

Hehe... I blog from my mobile phone, my tablet, the blogger web interface, and via Scribefire (a Firefox Addon/Extension). I ran into a couple of issues with my last post which prompted me to delete and re-post. There should only be one viewable now but depending on the feed reader, you may have a couple of them depending on the refresh. Of course, when I re-posted, I didn't notice the typo I had given it. It's been corrected now from 'Fule Clarifications to Rule Clarifications'.

I've also noticed inconsistency with how some of my written posts appear. This is likely due to the varying sources with which I write and post from. Apologies to those who have problems viewing said posts. If you do experience difficulties, please drop me a polite little note and I'll see if I can correct or at least find the root of the issue.

I'll be posting later on today and again tomorrow evening for my Weekend R&R post.

Thanks,

M

20 Rules Clarifications

Saw a couple blogs I follow which answered these 20 questions pertaining to their campaigns and thought it would be fun to play along. The original post can be found HERE.

1. Ability scores generation method? 4d6 and drop the lowest die UNLESS it is a one (provides a range of 3-19). You think it generous? I don't given that it won't help them live much longer. ;)
2. How are death and dying handled? Dead at -10 hp. Unconscious at 0 or below. Will bleed out and die at a rate of 1 hp per round at -5 or below.
   
3. What about raising the dead? Rare... expensive... and requiring those seeking it to be favored by the Divine.
   
4. How are replacement PCs handled? With contempt. ;)
   
5. Initiative: individual, group, or something else? PCs and principal foes get individual ... henchmen, followers and mooks get group initiative.
   
6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work? Yes. A critical hit will deal anywhere from double to triple damage. A fumble is left to my whims.
   
7. Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet? Not really.
   
8. Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly? Absolutely!
   
9. Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything? There will be a lot of 'Kill or be killed' situations but there is always a chance for victory and there isn't (much) shame in running in order to fight another day.
   
10. Level-draining monsters: yes or no? Yes.
    
11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death? Yes but these are usually avoidable.
    
12. How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked? I don't let it slow down the pace of the game so I grant some leeway as long as the player's maintain common sense.
    
13. What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time? Levels are largely experiential and no training is required to 'officially' level up. New spells are NOT granted automatically. Leveling can happen in the middle of an adventure.
    
14. What do I get experience for? Defeating and overcoming challenges as well as roleplaying and strategy. Challenges can be anything from traps to killing monsters or avoiding perilous situations.
    
15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination? I like the common sense / description approach to trap finding and use dice rolling in conjunction with it.
    
16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work? Retainers are neither encouraged nor discouraged -- Morale is determined case by case.
    
17. How do I identify magic items? Research and knowledge along with magic.
    
18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions? No... but potions may be available with a sizable donation at larger temples provided that the task/quest is 'sanctioned' .
    
19. Can I create magic items? When and how? No... magic is rare and the efforts are just too time consuming for an adventurer.
    
20. What about splitting the party? Sure.