On Magic(k?) I

Welcome to I.M.O. in the next three installment I will attempt to shed a little more light on the only phenomenon that has been as dear as combat to the heart of roleplayers: Magic. Unlike combat, which was dissected and analyzed with scientific precision in the early days, magic was for a long time based on fantasy literature or the personal preferences of game designers. This has begun to change. More and more games make use of real world magical theories. IMO this is a fantastic development, real world magical systems are internally coherent and, better yet, are rooted in primal heart of the human psyche, making them all the more believable and intense. What is more, virtually every culture has a rich canon of magical lore that is directly connected to its legends and gods. Roleplaying games have long used the latter, also employing the latter can make things even more interesting. Below and in the next two columns I will try to dissect magic in roleplaying games. I thereby hope to provide you with a number of ideas to help you get a better feel for the magic of your system (no matter if it is based on real world magic or not) and, if you wish to do so, to modify the system of your game.

I will divide magic systems into two major categories and one minor category only included for completeness' sake: Scientific magic and suprarational magic form the major categories, divine magic fills the minor category. With scientific magic I mean magic systems in which a wizard is able to harness the powers of the supernatural by using predefined ritual techniques. These techniques are purely external, based solely on cause and effect. Exactly repeating the technique will always produce exactly the same effect. With suprarational magic (magic that the rational simply cannot comprehend) I mean purely internal magic systems. In such systems the soul produces, perhaps with the help of external rituals, magic. Rituals in these systems are not repetitive. The soul must resonate with the magic and that is not something that can be done (at least not solely) through external stimuli. Finally, with divine magic I mean magic systems in which supernatural beings are the source of all magic. Humans (and their ilk) can do nothing but pray and hope that these beings listen. Interestingly enough, when examined more closely, most real world divine magic systems turn out to be suprarational in nature (I will explain this in greater detail below). Of course, magic systems between these three categories can exist. For example a systems in which external cause / effect awaken (or enhance) the power of soul.

In this column I will do my best to cover scientific and divine magick. In the next column I will take a look at suprarational magic and ritual components. In the final third column I will deal with magickal miscellanea like magic items, magick, psionics, symbolism, divination and the like.

Scientific Magic

I will begin by taking a closer look at scientific magic systems. These systems have, to my knowledge, nothing to do with real world systems of magic. Of course real world magical texts exist (most notable perhaps the Lesser Keys of Solomon) that propose such magical systems. But such texts are (again to my knowledge) not "real" in the sense that they are not the result of cultural development, but creations of individual human beings.

However real world superstitions do work on the "scientific" basis. These superstitions are often off-shots of a culture's primary magic system. Anyone, not only the mages, who knows the actions (like placing an open scissor under the bed of newborn or driving a nail into the footprints left by a rival) is believed to be able to produce the supernatural effects. It may be an interesting idea to give the cultures of your game world superstitions that actually work. Investigative player characters could then pick up new magical tricks (the superstitions) from every culture they visit. Even better, superstitions are easy to explain: Simply make the laws of synchronicity (all things are connected) laws of science in your world.

In systems based on scientific magic it is important to know exactly what the source of magic is. If the roleplaying game you play does not define the source you (as GM) should probably make the effort to define it. Usually the origin of the source of magic should be linked to the origin of the campaign world. Which brings me to the next important consideration: If gods exist in your world what is their relationship with magic? Are the gods perhaps merely a reflection of the collective unconscious that can be awakened by magic and prayer? What is their link to the source of magic (if they are not the source themselves)? Do they perhaps use suprarational magic while humans (and others) can only use scientific magic? If not what rules bind them? A connection between gods and magic is IMO a good idea as both concepts are inextricably linked in our world (something I will explain in greater detail in the next column).

Now you should take time to define the nature of mages in your game. While roleplaying games do give you a few pointers toward their nature, these pointers are in most cases, IMHO insufficient. First, you should consider what makes mages special. Why can they use magic while no one else can (of course worlds where anybody can employ magic, by just learning the ritual technique, are perfectly possible)? Are the ritual techniques so complicated that they require years of study and/or special training that only other mages can provide? Or are mages in some biological or spiritual way separate from the rest of humanity (or the like)? Can anyone become a mage? Do mages perhaps belong to special bloodlines? Or are mages perhaps granted (unknowingly) their magic by supernatural beings (that guide the lives of mages)?

Once you have defined the nature of mages you should define the nature of the ritual techniques. How do they tap into the source of magic? More importantly: What is the origin of rituals? Do the mages know the laws that are relevant to rituals? Can they create new ones by applying these laws? Or are the laws of magic unknowable and rituals a gift of the gods or an ancient civilization? If you have an in-depth knowledge of your game's rituals you will be able to make magic much more interesting. Conjunctions, places of magic, sigils and words will all actually have meaning instead of being simple flavor text. With a little thought entire adventures can be spun around the nature of rituals.

Finally, you should consider the limitations of magic. Most roleplaying games use mana points or similar systems to limit magic. Often these systems serve purely to provide game balance. As such they are often poorly explained or not explained at all. However, if you want believable magic [ :-) ], a more satisfying explanation will be unavoidable. Ask yourself how the limitation is linked to the origin of magic. How does it tie into the nature of mages? How are non-mages affected by the limitation? If it is mana why are they unable to wield it? If spells are memorized can a normal human learn to memorize a single spell with enough practice?

To end my short excursion into the realm of scientific magic I will give the recommendation to take a look at the Earthdawn magic system, which IMO is the best explained scientific magic system I have seen in an RPG.

Divine Magic

Before I go on to take a closer look at suprarational magic I will take an excursion to divine magic. IMO divine magic is a non-entity. At first glance both the real world and roleplaying games are filled with divine magic. I however believe that virtually all of the former are suprarational and all of the latter I have seen are scientific. Real world magic systems that use prayers, and virtually all do, interestingly enough never concentrate on them. The prayers are always accompanied by rituals that, at closer examination, are intended to alter the mental (soul) state of the practitioner, not the god. For example: In the classic shamanistic healing ceremony the shaman not only chants to the spirits (gods). He (and sometimes the recipient) also drinks alcohol and sometimes consumes harder drugs, uses rhythmic music and movements to lull himself into a trance and uses ritual components that he himself gathered and prepared (making them special for him). Now if the spirits would really exist in the form that the shaman's culture believes them to exist a simple petition and a sacrifice should be enough. What is more there would be really no reason for all the mystic doodad. Most gods and spirits are said to respond if their name is called. Why then not simply call the name, why the ceremony, why all the symbolism? I know of no satisfying answer other than that the priest is much more intent on calling something that is inside her than she is on drawing the attention of the gods.

Of course, every culture knows prayer without ritual component. But these prayers do not really use a system and have no connection to the magical heritage of cultures. Nonetheless, simple prayers often feature prominently in mythology and religious texts. Heroes especially are likely to attract the attention of gods. Often gods watch over such individuals and are likely to intervene if prayed to. It may be a good idea to let the gods watch over your player characters. There is little that will make your players feel more special than by making the gods keep an eye on them. However, the gods should do little more than give little bits of advice or guide the characters in certain direction, lest the heroes feel that their actions are irrelevant.

On the game side of things divine magic is usually just another version of the system's scientific magic. This, at least to me, is rather unsatisfactory. If you do not want to change the system it is probably a good idea to at least give your divine magic its own source, rituals, mages (this is especially interesting) and the like. If you want to go a little wilder it might be interesting to make your system's divine magic more dependent on the will of the gods and less dependent on rituals (unless you decide that gods do not exist or are largely unimportant to magic - which can again lead to interesting adventures, think of the problems a priest who openly defies his god and still can use magic would cause).

Well that would wrap up scientific and divine magic, next time round I will attempt to tackle suprarational magic and ritual components. Till then, good gaming.