Is Magic Too Commonplace In RPGs?

[Conaill]

By the way, lump me in with the "this was a really poorly phrased poll" crowd. The only way I could answer it was by imposing my own personal set of restrictions to it (i.e. focus on D&D specifically).

At the very least it should specify *fantasy* RPGs...

 

[Quasqueton]

I agree with those who say the question is much too broad to be meaningful.

Answered from the angle of my current preferred game, D&D3, I said no. Although I could do without paladins and rangers as spellcasters, magic is not “too commonplace.” It’s not even commonplace.

Magic (spells, items, effects) are much more common among adventuring PCs than among the normal populace at large in a D&D world.

Guns, explosives, and surveillance equipment are much more common among adventuring PCs than among the normal populace at large in a “Modern RPG” world.

Spaceships, power armor, and robots are much more common among adventuring PCs than among the normal populace at large in a “Sci-Fi RPG” world.

But in none of the above cases, does it mean that magic/tech is commonplace, or too commonplace.

Quasqueton

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And I assume the party didn't have any Wizards, Sorcerors, Clerics or Druids?

The party had a pure Druid, as well as spellcasting multiclassers.

The player who started off with a pure Wizard wound up multiclassing for a few levels because the party was stranded on an island- no access to new spells- something that affected several of the intentional multiclassers.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I voted "No", but my idea is more along the lines of depending on the game and what the players want. D&D players, mostly, want and like a lot of magic. After all, that's why books like the Spell Compendium and Complete Arcane were big sellers. Plus, the very fact that D&D continues to be the best-selling RPG on the market and is inidated with magic hoo-hah's of every sort leads me to believe that a lot of people are fine with magic. D20 Modern players, on the other hand, may not want nearly as much magic in their game, however.

 

[gizmo33]

It's meant to be.

Yes, I think there's too much magic - not so much in RPGs, but just in general.

 

[James Heard]

Yes, I think there's too much magic - not so much in RPGs, but just in general.

"Mr. Barry Manilow, could you please take my magic away?"

 

[BryonD]

Nope.

Even if we are only talking about D&D, the level of magic has evolved over the years to cater to what the bulk of players want. (And role-play vs. power-gaming really isn't a factor in that)

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Ed, you got a new username? Didn't you used to be EdL?

Yep. For some reason the old one didn't work after the crash.

 

[Odhanan]

Is Magic Too Commonplace In RPGs?

Absolutely not.
It entirely depends on the game we are talking about and the people playing it, players and GM.

 

[fusangite]

The original question worked for me pretty well. Yes. In my view, the label "magic" gets affixed to too much stuff in RPGs. And it tends to be called up in opposition to nature or science or physics. I think it is a mistake to treat the physical laws of our world as normative and label everything outside of them as "magic" in RPG worlds. I prefer Tolkien's discussion of natural magic in LOTR. The elves found questions about "magic" nonsensical; to them, the things they made that people called magical were just very well-made.

In most magic worldviews, things we think of as magic are elaborations of natural law, not a category removed from it.