If You're Looking for some alternatives...

[JoeGKushner]

So you're playing standard D&D.

You decide you want to up the ante in the magic field.

Do you...

Buy a new magic system book that's all about the new magic system? Something like the Expanded Psionic's Handbook or Magic of Incarnum?

Or...

You've heard about some alternative d20 settings that have variant magic systems in them that may or may not work well with the d20 system like Thieves World, Black Company, and Slayer's d20. Magic systems designed to capture the setting, as they should and spend a lot of time summarizing/explaining the different tweaks to the other parts of the d20 system.

 

[Crothian]

If I liked one of the alternative magic systems, I might use them. But since I don't I'd grab the one from THieves World and let that work for me.

 

[JoeGKushner]

If I liked one of the alternative magic systems, I might use them. But since I don't I'd grab the one from THieves World and let that work for me.

But what angle is that coming from? Is that from someone who owns the books or someone whose interested in a new magic system? Would you be willing to spend $30-$45 on a campaign setting to get a look at the magic system when it's only a part of the book as opposed to the focus of the book?

 

[Greg K]

For either a dedicated magic book or a setting book with an alternate magic system, I would have to actually read through the product and decide the following

1) Do I like the magic system?
2) If I like the magic system, is the amount of content that I will use from the product worth paying the cost of the entire product?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I had to think about this one a while. I finally realized that I would buy a setting game book like Black Company, Thieves' World, Conan, or Wheel of Time in preference over a dedicated magic system book. I prefer to have some context in which to see how the system would work, which would make it easier for me to make the system fit my own campaign world, if I chose to use it. That said, it isn't a huge preference - I'd say it's like 60-40.

 

[Voadam]

Probably a book designed to be added straight into a D&D game instead of something that would require more tweaking (Occult Lore over d20 CoC).

 

[Crothian]

But what angle is that coming from? Is that from someone who owns the books or someone whose interested in a new magic system? Would you be willing to spend $30-$45 on a campaign setting to get a look at the magic system when it's only a part of the book as opposed to the focus of the book?

I own the books and am interested in new magic systems. I have no problem buying a setting book to use only part of the book, I do it all the time. Heck I buy books just to read and I never end up using them. If its good, I'll get it.

 

[Li Shenron]

So you're playing standard D&D.

You decide you want to up the ante in the magic field.

Do you...

I am not sure, I guess it would depend.

I definitely like setting books, but I don't like when settings trump the D&D standard magic and introduce their own, like their system is better than the one constantly used (i.e. playtested) by thousands of gamers, or worse like a new system was actually necessary.

Plus, if I introduced a new magic system/subsytem, I'd rather do that while keeping the base system in the game, and see how the two work alongside each other.

Perhaps that means that I would look more forward the first option.

 

[Umbran]

As a homebrewer, I rarely use a book designed for a specific setting in its entirety, or even in its majority. I pick bits and pieces out of books.

The question is a matter of estimation of useful content in the long run, and it holds for both the magic-specific and the setting book equally. How much of it am I likely to use in the long run? Am I willing to pay the cover price for that much?

 

[Stormborn]

Not entirelly sure what you mean by "up the ante" but I do regularly buy books simply for their magic system. To me thats one of the most important parts of any fantasy RPG, whether it is "low" or "high" or whatever else. Having said that, I regularly prefer the variant systems, frequently made for a specific setting, to books that simply expand the default d20 magic systems. Thus I prefer Black Company to Magic of Incarnum, just to pick two.