thread: 2009-04-30 : Magical Magic
On 2009-05-01, Ron Edwards wrote:
No Glorantha talk?
'Cause our Hero Wars game was nothing but the magic being magic. People even did that playing old-school RuneQuest, a system which managed somehow to get magic to be magical despite every reason not to.
I also have a soft spot for the Fighting Fantasy solo books, especially the brilliant Crown of Kings four-book set. The magic mechanic was decidedly un-modern, in that you the player had to cast spells based on memory alone, and if you mis-remembered (a system based on the honor code while following the numbers in the book), then funky stuff happened. Plus the spell effects themselves were 100% standard and have been duplicated in every imaginable CRPG. But somehow, given both the amazing take on fantasy itself (very underground comix) and the artwork, the magic felt rich and ever-present in play itself.
Boy I'd like to understand how that feel could be so strong when the literal content of the actions was so basic. I hope the Old School Renaissance takes note.
Regarding the back-and-forth thing, I recommend another look at It Was a Mutual Decision regarding the were-rat content which may or may not come into full expression during a given game. And also, now that I think of it, Elfs, based on the Dumb Luck rules and the Haywire option people often choose when using them. Neither of these is the trading-talk method found in Trollbabe (itself derived from Dust Devils and The Pool), but there are "mix-and-match" input methods among the real people in each one.
