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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 5119064" data-attributes="member: 20741">Yes. I based an entire Rolemaster campaign world on it.In RM it was easy to represent. I simply made the available power points to players limited as a percentage of "standard", based upon the locale.In towns, cities, along rivers, oceans and near irrigated lands, the available power to work magic was vastly decreased, to about 10% normal with a max of very low level spells being cast in those areas at all. Magic, however, was still workable in "the wilds" and rose to standard magic or even higher than standard magic while underground in some old locales. My reasoning had to do with particle fallout from a huge explosion a thousand years back which interfered with magic. Think "Nuclear Winter" or Iridium dust falling all over the world after the meteor that killed the Dinosaurs. The effect was the same as your "sundering" effect. But over time, the fallout dust washed off the lands and worked its way to the rivers and oceans. The faded magic began to return in some places -- and the fading got worse wherever people gathered to live in numbers.Why? Put simply, the "anti-magic dust" was literally in the water, and in particular, the river beds and soil of lands that were subject to seasonal flooding or irrigation. As virtually all settlements were near water (or irrigated farm lands) it made civilized areas extremely magic poor, while the wilds and ancient dungeons were relatively magic rich.This is easy to do in a pure magic point system. In terms of encounter powers and spells per day in D&D, you just reduce it similarly as you feel necessary.No spell higher than 2, say, in a town, no spell higher than 1 in a city near a river, etc.. Large coastal cities near estuaries have NO MAGIC available within their locale whatsoever. Inherently magical races cannot long survive in "civilized" areas and become violently ill and listless. If they remain there too long, they will die. Their races are contained to the wilds or, usually, need to live below ground in "magic node" areas or on mountains in the wilds. (Think "ley lines" in Birthright terms, if you are familiar with the 2nd Ed setting.) Essentially, wherever people need to farm to get their food, that's a place where there is going to be concentrations of anti-magic dust.  The range of this effect is as big radiating outwards (or as small) as you need to make it.  I recommend not making the effect very predictable.  Parties that cannot rely upon their magic at all times start to get clever in their approach to some problems. (Note: spell users always know what the realtive "power" level is when they are in it. It's not a tactical surprise in that sense, it simple makes prediction of the power level of an unknown area... unknown.)Note: the explanation does not mean that the inhabitants have really worked out that it has something to do with the water and soil. They believe it has to do with "civilization" or religion, what have you. Alternative explanations tracked closely (or perfectly) with the "real" cause, so it was easily explained away in game, without the "truth" being known. (Discovering "the truth" was part of the metaplot of the campaign.)The beauty of the "faded magic" mechanic is that it restores the medieval nature of the game world by removing magic as a reliable strategic military asset, while still making it available to most adventuring locales. Yes, you can have the magic fade and render magic items inoperable (or greatly reduced) as well in civilized areas. This effect can be permanent or temporary, as you see fit.So yes, my campaign world still had castles, did not have magical flight or fireballs to contend with during a siege or on the battlefield, etc.. and it all made rational sense (well, verismilitude at least). In this game world, the effect of the fallout was that it prevented any form of long range teleport from being used too. (I usually HATE the implications of magical teleportation but like to leave myself an "out" for very occasional PC and NPC use).  I LOVED this aspect of the "faded magic" effect. It made the world "realistically medieval", while still allowing for magic to operate in locations where the adventures were set. You can have your cake and eat it, too.Where you need to, you can even INCREASE the power available to your players in magic rich areas. This allows you to give the players extra power in a location based adventure without having to worry about its long term effects on your campaign.I highly recommend playing with something like this sort of system in your campaign world. Because it has such a profound effect on the game world, it's not something you can just plug into a pre-existing published game world. But for a home brewed campaign - it remains my best home brewed theme + mechanic I've ever run in 32 years of gaming. YMMV.</blockquote>

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