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Worlds of Design: Baseline Assumptions of Fantasy RPGs
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<blockquote data-quote="Haffrung" data-source="post: 8126372" data-attributes="member: 6776259"><p>D&D games vary dramatically in how common magic is in the setting. In some, it's the purview of a handful of eccentric wizards, in others it's commonplace and commercialized.</p><p></p><p>I lean towards the former. Going by the assumptions outlined in AD&D, 1 out of 100 people in the setting have a class. Magic-users are by far the least common of those classes, so around 1 in 1000 people in the setting are wizards. The overwhelming majority of classed NPCs are no higher than level 1-4, so maybe 1 in 10,000 people in the fantasy world can cast level 3 or higher spells. So that's five people in a barony of 50,000. Most of these will be eccentrics and recluses, who pursue arcane studies for selfish or inscrutable reasons. So in a barony of 50,000, there might be one person capable of casting level 3 or higher spells who takes an active role in the affairs of men. Maybe they're in the court of the baron. But maybe they're an independent political actor. Or an adventurer.</p><p></p><p>As for magic items, I've always presumed that the reason adventurers go into incredibly perilous locales like dungeons to find magic swords and wands is because they're extremely rare. If arcane artifacts can be bought in shops, wouldn't stealing from those shops be a far easier way to get your hands on them than delving into deadly labyrinths filled with dozens and dozens of monsters? And any entity powerful enough to protect a stock of magic items from assault by a party of level 6 or 8 PCs likely has more important and ambitious things to be doing with their time than running a shop.</p><p></p><p>Magic only 'changes everything' if it's common enough to function like technology. I think it's entirely within the scope of a standard D&D setting for it to operate very much like our medieval world in social structures and material standards of living, with magic being strange, uncommon, and regarded with awe.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Haffrung, post: 8126372, member: 6776259"] D&D games vary dramatically in how common magic is in the setting. In some, it's the purview of a handful of eccentric wizards, in others it's commonplace and commercialized. I lean towards the former. Going by the assumptions outlined in AD&D, 1 out of 100 people in the setting have a class. Magic-users are by far the least common of those classes, so around 1 in 1000 people in the setting are wizards. The overwhelming majority of classed NPCs are no higher than level 1-4, so maybe 1 in 10,000 people in the fantasy world can cast level 3 or higher spells. So that's five people in a barony of 50,000. Most of these will be eccentrics and recluses, who pursue arcane studies for selfish or inscrutable reasons. So in a barony of 50,000, there might be one person capable of casting level 3 or higher spells who takes an active role in the affairs of men. Maybe they're in the court of the baron. But maybe they're an independent political actor. Or an adventurer. As for magic items, I've always presumed that the reason adventurers go into incredibly perilous locales like dungeons to find magic swords and wands is because they're extremely rare. If arcane artifacts can be bought in shops, wouldn't stealing from those shops be a far easier way to get your hands on them than delving into deadly labyrinths filled with dozens and dozens of monsters? And any entity powerful enough to protect a stock of magic items from assault by a party of level 6 or 8 PCs likely has more important and ambitious things to be doing with their time than running a shop. Magic only 'changes everything' if it's common enough to function like technology. I think it's entirely within the scope of a standard D&D setting for it to operate very much like our medieval world in social structures and material standards of living, with magic being strange, uncommon, and regarded with awe. [/QUOTE]
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