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Alea Iacta Story Hour: A Mythic Rome Campaign (Baby Announcement: 8/17)
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<blockquote data-quote="Orichalcum" data-source="post: 1308990" data-attributes="member: 3722"><p><strong>re: magic system</strong></p><p></p><p>The nifty part was really the game info on how to adapt normal AD&D characters to those pseudo-real settings.</p><p></p><p>Does sound neat. Nope - curse tablets are just a nice common way of spell delivery in the ancient world. Thousands have survived, because they tended to get buried in deep "safe" places.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So, when I was developing my magic system, I knew that I wanted to have a distinct and rational explanation for arcane, divine, and psionic magic. Arcane magic was easy - witchcraft among the Romans and in the West, not really tolerated in polite society. The Parthian Empire in the East, on the other hand (modern Middle East, more or less), has an official corps of Magi (where we get the modern word from) who rain fire down on the enemies of Parthia rather effectively. </p><p></p><p> I worked out with Heilyn's player that divine magic should be spirit-based rather than the more conventional clerics, so he's actually a shaman from Oriental Adventures, with a few modifications. Gods are mostly just very powerful spirits, and their power depends on the quantity and quality of worship. This is why the Roman emperor is so powerful - when 50 million odd people offer daily prayers on your behalf to your guardian spirit, life tends to work out pretty well.</p><p></p><p> Psionic magic, on the other hand, is entirely based on philosophy, which was an aspect of Greek and Roman culture I really wanted to develop in the game. Philosophers strengthen their minds through thought and study, which in turn gives them special abilities. This has worked out with mixed results in the campaign, largely because my players, through no fault of their own, are less well versed and intrigued by major ancient philosophical schools than I am.</p><p> </p><p>Originally, I had an idea of having the different philosophical schools represent different areas of psionics, but that's largely fallen by the wayside. In the next few posts, however, you'll start to see how the philosophical rivalries start to play into the arc plot of the game. For the record, Marcus is a psionic warrior, and Wena is a psion. And obviously, the Black Chain Philosopher has not insignificant psionic abilities... (Heilyn is a shaman, Cornelia is an aristocrat (with some modifications)/sorcerer, Metellus is an aristocrat/fighter, Llyr is mostly a ranger, Meloch's a straight up sorcerer, Lucretius is a straight up paladin.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Orichalcum, post: 1308990, member: 3722"] [b]re: magic system[/b] The nifty part was really the game info on how to adapt normal AD&D characters to those pseudo-real settings. Does sound neat. Nope - curse tablets are just a nice common way of spell delivery in the ancient world. Thousands have survived, because they tended to get buried in deep "safe" places. So, when I was developing my magic system, I knew that I wanted to have a distinct and rational explanation for arcane, divine, and psionic magic. Arcane magic was easy - witchcraft among the Romans and in the West, not really tolerated in polite society. The Parthian Empire in the East, on the other hand (modern Middle East, more or less), has an official corps of Magi (where we get the modern word from) who rain fire down on the enemies of Parthia rather effectively. I worked out with Heilyn's player that divine magic should be spirit-based rather than the more conventional clerics, so he's actually a shaman from Oriental Adventures, with a few modifications. Gods are mostly just very powerful spirits, and their power depends on the quantity and quality of worship. This is why the Roman emperor is so powerful - when 50 million odd people offer daily prayers on your behalf to your guardian spirit, life tends to work out pretty well. Psionic magic, on the other hand, is entirely based on philosophy, which was an aspect of Greek and Roman culture I really wanted to develop in the game. Philosophers strengthen their minds through thought and study, which in turn gives them special abilities. This has worked out with mixed results in the campaign, largely because my players, through no fault of their own, are less well versed and intrigued by major ancient philosophical schools than I am. Originally, I had an idea of having the different philosophical schools represent different areas of psionics, but that's largely fallen by the wayside. In the next few posts, however, you'll start to see how the philosophical rivalries start to play into the arc plot of the game. For the record, Marcus is a psionic warrior, and Wena is a psion. And obviously, the Black Chain Philosopher has not insignificant psionic abilities... (Heilyn is a shaman, Cornelia is an aristocrat (with some modifications)/sorcerer, Metellus is an aristocrat/fighter, Llyr is mostly a ranger, Meloch's a straight up sorcerer, Lucretius is a straight up paladin.) [/QUOTE]
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