Sword of Spirit
Legend
There are a number of people who sometimes get a bit frustrated by the manner in which many game systems separate magical abilities from non-magical abilities. For instance, many, many games have an entire chapter or more dedicated to "Magic" or "Spellcasting", with no clear analogues for things like "Fighting", or "Martial Arts" (beyond general rules that also encompass magical use in combat situations). In some such games (most editions of D&D for example) magic is an exception based system that uses its own set of rules to do things in a mechanically completely different way than anything else in the game.
For example, magic might function in discrete spells, or created spells formed from certain types of effects, while sword-fighting involves only the normal combat rules with perhaps some improvisation. This can be true even in a system with spontaneously created spells, when those spells follow such different rules and function in such different ways that they use a different mini-game from the combat rules everyone else is using.
There are other systems that go entirely the other way (such as 4e D&D), and codify various powers or maneuvers in similar ways for non-magical combat as they do for spellcastings. Other systems (like Exalted) do the same thing but pretty much everything is supernatural.
So the most common way of handling the imbalance for those who see it as undesirable is to basically make non-magical "spells" to allow warrior types and mage types to get on the same page with their mechanical implementation (and perhaps balance).
A few nights ago an alternate idea hit me that seemed really exciting. I just wanted to share some thoughts about it.
What if we take it in entirely the other direction? Rather than requiring some special power/maneuvers/ability to use certain types of abilities, we reduce all abilities to normal interaction with the natural laws of the world.
You basically define a list of magical laws customized for the system (fire = passion, flowers = life, water = change, meditation for empowerment, incantations for creation, etc) and then anyone can interact with them as a sort of technology.
Note that I'm not proposing that everything becomes magical or that the line between magic and non-magical has to become highly blurry (it could, but this concept wouldn't require that). Rather, the idea is that you treat magical effects like any other effects someone could perform with the proper skill and knowledge.
So how is this any different than just having a skill-based system (where someone might learn Sorcery, or Swordsmanship, or Tailoring, etc) you might wonder. Well, I recommend playing with skill-based systems unless you have a strong reason not to (such as "I want to play D&D!" which is a perfectly good reason), but this is still something different than just a skill-based system.
Just as anyone can pick up a club and hit someone, or try their hand at a bit of cloth mending, anyone could manipulate the magical laws of the world to get effects, and it would follow similar rules as anything else.
So for instance, let's say that "the power of names" is something in the magical laws. If you know someone's true name, and you have a physical piece of them (hair, nail clippings, blood), any magical act aimed at them is more powerful. Let's say that fire, roses, and some sort of incense are supposed to combine to have mystically romantic properties. So if a character knows that (and not everyone would, but it could be fairly easy to find if desired), they can gather the physical elements, and burn them in a fire while speaking the true names of two people--to attempt a love spell on them.
Here is how it all fits together. The method of determining if that sort of thing works is identical the method of determining any other task resolution. If someone without any skills can hit someone with a club or sew up a hole in their shirt, they can do this also (perhaps a better example might be forging someone's handwriting, as you'd probably need to see their handwriting and have specific materials to make a decent attempt, but anyone could try it).
In that sort of paradigm, advanced training (skill) in fighting and magic and anything else can be handled in the same way in the system, by understanding how things work in the world's assumed "physics" and letting people interact with them in ways that make sense.
Now I know this isn't revolutionary--there are plenty of narrativist style systems that work this way. However, the way that hit me isn't limited to loose narrativist systems. It could be implemented in a more simulationism sensitive system also, simply be clearly defining the magical laws of the world and how they interact with each other, and then using the standard action resolution tasks to manipulate them.
There actually isn't anything stopping you from also adding on more powerful spells, fighting maneuvers, etc, but that isn't really the point of what I'm getting at, so it doesn't matter whether that is involved or not.
This also doesn't require that the world necessarily be high magic, or widespread magic either. This information could be relatively rare, just like gunpowder or knowing an ancient language, but it is just as reliable when implemented, all things considered.
This just hit me in a different way, and I thought it was worth sharing.
For example, magic might function in discrete spells, or created spells formed from certain types of effects, while sword-fighting involves only the normal combat rules with perhaps some improvisation. This can be true even in a system with spontaneously created spells, when those spells follow such different rules and function in such different ways that they use a different mini-game from the combat rules everyone else is using.
There are other systems that go entirely the other way (such as 4e D&D), and codify various powers or maneuvers in similar ways for non-magical combat as they do for spellcastings. Other systems (like Exalted) do the same thing but pretty much everything is supernatural.
So the most common way of handling the imbalance for those who see it as undesirable is to basically make non-magical "spells" to allow warrior types and mage types to get on the same page with their mechanical implementation (and perhaps balance).
A few nights ago an alternate idea hit me that seemed really exciting. I just wanted to share some thoughts about it.
What if we take it in entirely the other direction? Rather than requiring some special power/maneuvers/ability to use certain types of abilities, we reduce all abilities to normal interaction with the natural laws of the world.
You basically define a list of magical laws customized for the system (fire = passion, flowers = life, water = change, meditation for empowerment, incantations for creation, etc) and then anyone can interact with them as a sort of technology.
Note that I'm not proposing that everything becomes magical or that the line between magic and non-magical has to become highly blurry (it could, but this concept wouldn't require that). Rather, the idea is that you treat magical effects like any other effects someone could perform with the proper skill and knowledge.
So how is this any different than just having a skill-based system (where someone might learn Sorcery, or Swordsmanship, or Tailoring, etc) you might wonder. Well, I recommend playing with skill-based systems unless you have a strong reason not to (such as "I want to play D&D!" which is a perfectly good reason), but this is still something different than just a skill-based system.
Just as anyone can pick up a club and hit someone, or try their hand at a bit of cloth mending, anyone could manipulate the magical laws of the world to get effects, and it would follow similar rules as anything else.
So for instance, let's say that "the power of names" is something in the magical laws. If you know someone's true name, and you have a physical piece of them (hair, nail clippings, blood), any magical act aimed at them is more powerful. Let's say that fire, roses, and some sort of incense are supposed to combine to have mystically romantic properties. So if a character knows that (and not everyone would, but it could be fairly easy to find if desired), they can gather the physical elements, and burn them in a fire while speaking the true names of two people--to attempt a love spell on them.
Here is how it all fits together. The method of determining if that sort of thing works is identical the method of determining any other task resolution. If someone without any skills can hit someone with a club or sew up a hole in their shirt, they can do this also (perhaps a better example might be forging someone's handwriting, as you'd probably need to see their handwriting and have specific materials to make a decent attempt, but anyone could try it).
In that sort of paradigm, advanced training (skill) in fighting and magic and anything else can be handled in the same way in the system, by understanding how things work in the world's assumed "physics" and letting people interact with them in ways that make sense.
Now I know this isn't revolutionary--there are plenty of narrativist style systems that work this way. However, the way that hit me isn't limited to loose narrativist systems. It could be implemented in a more simulationism sensitive system also, simply be clearly defining the magical laws of the world and how they interact with each other, and then using the standard action resolution tasks to manipulate them.
There actually isn't anything stopping you from also adding on more powerful spells, fighting maneuvers, etc, but that isn't really the point of what I'm getting at, so it doesn't matter whether that is involved or not.
This also doesn't require that the world necessarily be high magic, or widespread magic either. This information could be relatively rare, just like gunpowder or knowing an ancient language, but it is just as reliable when implemented, all things considered.
This just hit me in a different way, and I thought it was worth sharing.