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Killing the sense of wonder
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<blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 5338361" data-attributes="member: 66434"><p>To fair though, the typical D&D universe is quite magical and a great many things that would be truly terrifying to witness in our own world have a perfectly logical, if magical explanation in the D&D world. </p><p> </p><p>Context within a genre is important. If your players had witnessed that baby while roleplaying people in our own world the creepy factor would be more likely. We have to start with the baseline rules for the universe that the average guy knows before we can begin to determine what sorts of phenomena will produce fear or unease. </p><p> </p><p>Standard D&D magic is fairly predictable. A given spell will produce the expected results. If wizards are even remotely familiar to the typical person then a logical reaction to something otherwise unexplainable is going to be " a wizard did it somehow". Even if that person is not familliar with the laws of magic or has any knowledge of what a wizard can or cannot do, the presence of actual magic that exists in the world will make even the meekest peasant harder to mystify than anyone from our world. </p><p> </p><p>To even begin to justify magic feeling "really" magical it would have to be much more rare and less understood by the people of the game world. Rare enough that most people could live their entire lives and never experience or see the effects of magic. With adventurers and bad guy casters running all over the place slinging magic missiles, fireballs and the like this would be hard to do and still keep the game resembling what happens during typical D&D play. </p><p> </p><p>Keeping standard D&D magic in play and still producing that sense of wonder requires there be a magic behind the magic. A wild type of magic with effects unexplainable by the "normal" laws of magic. The laws that govern this magic don't need to be balanced in game terms since it is important that the players never discover how this magic operates. Magical theory or "arcana" should be irrelevant to this type of magic. Let the players try and apply such logic but it should be as productive as trying to apply the laws of physics to a Warner Bros. cartoon. Encountering the occasional item or rare effect that has no logical (or magical) explanation is sometimes enough to keep players guessing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ExploderWizard, post: 5338361, member: 66434"] To fair though, the typical D&D universe is quite magical and a great many things that would be truly terrifying to witness in our own world have a perfectly logical, if magical explanation in the D&D world. Context within a genre is important. If your players had witnessed that baby while roleplaying people in our own world the creepy factor would be more likely. We have to start with the baseline rules for the universe that the average guy knows before we can begin to determine what sorts of phenomena will produce fear or unease. Standard D&D magic is fairly predictable. A given spell will produce the expected results. If wizards are even remotely familiar to the typical person then a logical reaction to something otherwise unexplainable is going to be " a wizard did it somehow". Even if that person is not familliar with the laws of magic or has any knowledge of what a wizard can or cannot do, the presence of actual magic that exists in the world will make even the meekest peasant harder to mystify than anyone from our world. To even begin to justify magic feeling "really" magical it would have to be much more rare and less understood by the people of the game world. Rare enough that most people could live their entire lives and never experience or see the effects of magic. With adventurers and bad guy casters running all over the place slinging magic missiles, fireballs and the like this would be hard to do and still keep the game resembling what happens during typical D&D play. Keeping standard D&D magic in play and still producing that sense of wonder requires there be a magic behind the magic. A wild type of magic with effects unexplainable by the "normal" laws of magic. The laws that govern this magic don't need to be balanced in game terms since it is important that the players never discover how this magic operates. Magical theory or "arcana" should be irrelevant to this type of magic. Let the players try and apply such logic but it should be as productive as trying to apply the laws of physics to a Warner Bros. cartoon. Encountering the occasional item or rare effect that has no logical (or magical) explanation is sometimes enough to keep players guessing. [/QUOTE]
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