I've been giving some thought to magic lately, and how to implant it in my homebrew world with some common sense. It's not about restricting it to characters or about restricting choices & actions, though I suppose that will happen, it's about creating a set of "rules" or social expectations of magic and magic users to aid in suspending disbelief and increasing immersion.
So, my thoughts:
Magic-capable individuals are, within the borders of most civilised kingdoms, required by law to register themselves with the central government. This involves the giving of blood/hair as a means of efficiently tracking the individual if he or she commits a crime of sufficient magnitude. After registering the individual will receive some basic training around safety and law as it applies to magic. There are no further requirements and individuals are free to go once these conditions are met.
Magic is fairly common in terms of magic items, as in ages past those capable of wielding magic were in greater numbers.
Magic is fairly uncommon in terms of individuals able to use it and cast spells.
Governments and large, wealthy noble families, and large, successful businesses, employ the greatest numbers of magic-capable individuals. Similarly the church(es) employ the greatest number of individuals able to call on divine aid. This keeps the government and church in equilibrium with each other for the most part. Government agencies e.g. city watch employ small numbers of individuals trained and equipped to deal with magical crime (equivalent to armed police).
Severe laws exist to punish magical interference with an individual, so charm person used to disadvantage someone would be the equivalent of drugging or hypnotising someone in our world.
Severe laws exist to punish magical interference in the economy. Gooseberry, for example, could destabilise things by providing free food for little to no cost, unfairly disadvantaging a small grocer.
I think that's it, so far. I'd welcome further thoughts on the matter if anyone has any to contribute.
I always love seeing the restrictions people come up with and I have to say you seem to have done a good job of it. The main things I think of are 1.) Are the player’s into the idea? If they are perfect if not maybe work with them see what they’d like to see tell them what you’d like to narrate. 2.) Is there traveling? If there is you could introduce multiple levels of severity perhaps large, heavily populated urban areas are more strict than the rednecks part of the world. Or the opposite where the city has wizards towers and rural areas are superstitious and fearful or maybe a little of both. 3.) How do the people react to magic? Do they call the armed guards if they see Prestidigitation or is it almost more like a militarized government where the people want more access but the government wants to keep the control? I’m sure there’s more you could do but for me if you’ve got those 3 things covered you’re golden.
something to think about, do these laws pertain solely to arcane magic? what about the divine magic granted to clerics and paladins? also another good way to put restrictions on magic is limiting the material components available in the world. in mine, the diamonds used for revivify and other resurrection spells are strictly controlled by an order of clerics.
I actually much prefer campaign settings like this. It makes magic far more mysterious - and gives it the gravitas it deserves. If you take, for example, the fact that a wizard has studied for many years, simply to cast their first cantrip, it makes being able to wield magic all the more serious.
And on that, I think it's important that the NPCs react accordingly to the arcane practitioner in the group. The arcane is far beyond the realms of mere commoners, and would probably be treated with suspicion - particularly as it's likely magic that has forged the course of the world's history in some way or another, for good or ill.
I always find it a little strange when a spellcaster strolls down the street of an out-of-the-way village, shimmering with abjuration and being tailed by some summoned elemental. If magic is rare, it should be treated as dangerous, untrustworthy or worth fearing.
It all seems pretty fair, I would just be sure that your players know what to expect and they are alright with it. Watch out for those people casting Gooseberry (you made a typo, just thought it was funny).
In many fantasy settings mages are self-regulating for several reasons. For one, it's a self-preservation thing. If there are only a few of you and you go around knocking each other off, soon there won't be ANY. Also, the more powerful you become the more other people covet what you have. A Wizard locked in a tower for 40 years reading dusty books might be surprised when the local townsfolk show up asking for his help with the local drought, flood. plague or whatever. If he's not inclined to help, things might get rough.
Then there's the idea of schooling. In many cases it takes years to be able to learn to control magic. That's tough to do when you spend all day sweeping out the shop or baking bread so many go to a Mage School or college of some kind. There the instructors can try to provide guidance as to the safest way to learn and practice their craft. This is also for self-preservation because a school without students is just a building. Most teachers that I know are loathe to give up their career and go back to making household enchantments and slaying dragons for a living. Teaching is MUCH safer.
In many fantasy settings mages are self-regulating for several reasons. For one, it's a self-preservation thing. If there are only a few of you and you go around knocking each other off, soon there won't be ANY. Also, the more powerful you become the more other people covet what you have. A Wizard locked in a tower for 40 years reading dusty books might be surprised when the local townsfolk show up asking for his help with the local drought, flood. plague or whatever. If he's not inclined to help, things might get rough.
Then there's the idea of schooling. In many cases it takes years to be able to learn to control magic. That's tough to do when you spend all day sweeping out the shop or baking bread so many go to a Mage School or college of some kind. There the instructors can try to provide guidance as to the safest way to learn and practice their craft. This is also for self-preservation because a school without students is just a building. Most teachers that I know are loathe to give up their career and go back to making household enchantments and slaying dragons for a living. Teaching is MUCH safer.
I agree with your points, but I'm trying to get away from the idea of established "schools" of magic in the form of institutions with memberships. They existed once, but no longer. Most mages in the world today are self-taught; the difficulty of achieving the first step on the arcane path, along with the general lack of literacy, are two of the main reasons that practitioners of magic are so rare.
So if you want to have a setting that isn't effectively to a degree ruled by magic you have to go low power, low frequency, but you still have to be-careful. For example you have the "severe punishment" for using magic against individuals like Charm Person. As such you must have a wickedly strong organization that understands and knows how to protect itself against magic dishing out that punishment, else it would be very easy for a few mages to simply take over the organization.
Finding a way to logically make things work without a player being able to say "hey, if its like that, why don't the mages just do X or Y". You need a solid answer to those types of questions when creating a fantasy setting. Again in most D&D settings its "because there are more powerful mages running the whole thing".. but if thats not the case it becomes much tougher to sort of explain in a way that doesn't break suspension of disbelief.
Aye, good points. I had the vague idea that magical items left over from a past "golden age" of magic were in far greater number than the number of active practitioners of magic today. The government, being one of two of the most powerful institutions in any kingdom/country (alongside the church), will have collected many items that give their "crack units" the edge against mages and magic. I haven't pinned this down any further yet but it's the way I'm leaning towards. I imagine the "crack" units to be like the Cleric in Equilibrium, or Astartes in WH40k, absolute badasses that whole platoons of rank-and-file back away from when they appear.
It all seems pretty fair, I would just be sure that your players know what to expect and they are alright with it. Watch out for those people casting Gooseberry (you made a typo, just thought it was funny).
Heh. Predictive text/autocorrect is the bane of my digital life.
I always find it a little strange when a spellcaster strolls down the street of an out-of-the-way village, shimmering with abjuration and being tailed by some summoned elemental. If magic is rare, it should be treated as dangerous, untrustworthy or worth fearing.
Yes, I agree. Considering that even in our, real history an armed stranger/group approaching a small village would be treated with high suspicion... open practitioners of magic would be greatly feared at first meeting. In my setting I think any suspicious behaviour in such a place would have someone among the townsfolk running for the local reeve and his men.
something to think about, do these laws pertain solely to arcane magic? what about the divine magic granted to clerics and paladins? also another good way to put restrictions on magic is limiting the material components available in the world. in mine, the diamonds used for revivify and other resurrection spells are strictly controlled by an order of clerics.
I hadn't really considered this in the bigger picture, thanks for bringing it up. I imagine I'll treat it similarly to arcane magic; the number of people able to draw on divine power is very small. There are more "holy relics" and items around than people able to summon the power of the gods at will. That should balance things between the church/es and the government nicely.
I'm not a fan of spell components, mostly because my players don't like tracking inventory. If I were to include it I'd go 100% with it though.
1.) Are the player’s into the idea? If they are perfect if not maybe work with them see what they’d like to see tell them what you’d like to narrate. 2.) Is there traveling? If there is you could introduce multiple levels of severity perhaps large, heavily populated urban areas are more strict than the rednecks part of the world. Or the opposite where the city has wizards towers and rural areas are superstitious and fearful or maybe a little of both. 3.) How do the people react to magic? Do they call the armed guards if they see Prestidigitation or is it almost more like a militarized government where the people want more access but the government wants to keep the control?
1/ Nope! I put the idea out to a few friends and nobody went for it. Maybe too gritty for them. Never mind, the discussion is useful for future games.
2/ Travelling is an option, and the levels of severity/security you mention are broadly set down (it takes place at first in an alternate Britain, but could allow travel to anywhere else in the world or other planes. Some areas are absolutely lawless, and your head is yours unless someone else takes it, some areas are established kingdoms).
3/ I hadn't thought too deeply into how a commoner would react to magic. I imagine they'd be more suspicious of the person and their motives. When they see magic they'd react with wonder or horror depending on their relationship with the user. Some might want to learn it, but the learning curve is steep and I doubt too many farmers would want to put the hours in away from their fields to get far. They've families to feed, after all.
Thanks everyone for your responses, you've brought up some new things to think about and I appreciate the extra depth I'm sure that will bring to the world... when my friends decide they want to brave it!
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Evening all.
I've been giving some thought to magic lately, and how to implant it in my homebrew world with some common sense. It's not about restricting it to characters or about restricting choices & actions, though I suppose that will happen, it's about creating a set of "rules" or social expectations of magic and magic users to aid in suspending disbelief and increasing immersion.
So, my thoughts:
I think that's it, so far. I'd welcome further thoughts on the matter if anyone has any to contribute.
I always love seeing the restrictions people come up with and I have to say you seem to have done a good job of it. The main things I think of are 1.) Are the player’s into the idea? If they are perfect if not maybe work with them see what they’d like to see tell them what you’d like to narrate. 2.) Is there traveling? If there is you could introduce multiple levels of severity perhaps large, heavily populated urban areas are more strict than the rednecks part of the world. Or the opposite where the city has wizards towers and rural areas are superstitious and fearful or maybe a little of both. 3.) How do the people react to magic? Do they call the armed guards if they see Prestidigitation or is it almost more like a militarized government where the people want more access but the government wants to keep the control? I’m sure there’s more you could do but for me if you’ve got those 3 things covered you’re golden.
something to think about, do these laws pertain solely to arcane magic? what about the divine magic granted to clerics and paladins? also another good way to put restrictions on magic is limiting the material components available in the world. in mine, the diamonds used for revivify and other resurrection spells are strictly controlled by an order of clerics.
I actually much prefer campaign settings like this. It makes magic far more mysterious - and gives it the gravitas it deserves. If you take, for example, the fact that a wizard has studied for many years, simply to cast their first cantrip, it makes being able to wield magic all the more serious.
And on that, I think it's important that the NPCs react accordingly to the arcane practitioner in the group. The arcane is far beyond the realms of mere commoners, and would probably be treated with suspicion - particularly as it's likely magic that has forged the course of the world's history in some way or another, for good or ill.
I always find it a little strange when a spellcaster strolls down the street of an out-of-the-way village, shimmering with abjuration and being tailed by some summoned elemental. If magic is rare, it should be treated as dangerous, untrustworthy or worth fearing.
I think you've covered all of the main boxes.
It all seems pretty fair, I would just be sure that your players know what to expect and they are alright with it. Watch out for those people casting Gooseberry (you made a typo, just thought it was funny).
In many fantasy settings mages are self-regulating for several reasons. For one, it's a self-preservation thing. If there are only a few of you and you go around knocking each other off, soon there won't be ANY. Also, the more powerful you become the more other people covet what you have. A Wizard locked in a tower for 40 years reading dusty books might be surprised when the local townsfolk show up asking for his help with the local drought, flood. plague or whatever. If he's not inclined to help, things might get rough.
Then there's the idea of schooling. In many cases it takes years to be able to learn to control magic. That's tough to do when you spend all day sweeping out the shop or baking bread so many go to a Mage School or college of some kind. There the instructors can try to provide guidance as to the safest way to learn and practice their craft. This is also for self-preservation because a school without students is just a building. Most teachers that I know are loathe to give up their career and go back to making household enchantments and slaying dragons for a living. Teaching is MUCH safer.
I agree with your points, but I'm trying to get away from the idea of established "schools" of magic in the form of institutions with memberships. They existed once, but no longer. Most mages in the world today are self-taught; the difficulty of achieving the first step on the arcane path, along with the general lack of literacy, are two of the main reasons that practitioners of magic are so rare.
Aye, good points. I had the vague idea that magical items left over from a past "golden age" of magic were in far greater number than the number of active practitioners of magic today. The government, being one of two of the most powerful institutions in any kingdom/country (alongside the church), will have collected many items that give their "crack units" the edge against mages and magic. I haven't pinned this down any further yet but it's the way I'm leaning towards. I imagine the "crack" units to be like the Cleric in Equilibrium, or Astartes in WH40k, absolute badasses that whole platoons of rank-and-file back away from when they appear.
Heh. Predictive text/autocorrect is the bane of my digital life.
Yes, I agree. Considering that even in our, real history an armed stranger/group approaching a small village would be treated with high suspicion... open practitioners of magic would be greatly feared at first meeting. In my setting I think any suspicious behaviour in such a place would have someone among the townsfolk running for the local reeve and his men.
I hadn't really considered this in the bigger picture, thanks for bringing it up. I imagine I'll treat it similarly to arcane magic; the number of people able to draw on divine power is very small. There are more "holy relics" and items around than people able to summon the power of the gods at will. That should balance things between the church/es and the government nicely.
I'm not a fan of spell components, mostly because my players don't like tracking inventory. If I were to include it I'd go 100% with it though.
1/ Nope! I put the idea out to a few friends and nobody went for it. Maybe too gritty for them. Never mind, the discussion is useful for future games.
2/ Travelling is an option, and the levels of severity/security you mention are broadly set down (it takes place at first in an alternate Britain, but could allow travel to anywhere else in the world or other planes. Some areas are absolutely lawless, and your head is yours unless someone else takes it, some areas are established kingdoms).
3/ I hadn't thought too deeply into how a commoner would react to magic. I imagine they'd be more suspicious of the person and their motives. When they see magic they'd react with wonder or horror depending on their relationship with the user. Some might want to learn it, but the learning curve is steep and I doubt too many farmers would want to put the hours in away from their fields to get far. They've families to feed, after all.
Thanks everyone for your responses, you've brought up some new things to think about and I appreciate the extra depth I'm sure that will bring to the world... when my friends decide they want to brave it!