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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 1536752" data-attributes="member: 2205">One of the main reasons your setting intrigues me so much, BC.  I think you espoused these principles on that classic SHARK thread on "epic gaming" or some such.  One of my favorite threads we've had, in a lot of ways.And Barsoom uses magic much the way my settings tend to -- it's rare, it's dark, those who are good at it are typically insane in one way or another, and it has a profound impact on society.For example, in my latest campaign setting, there's a historical individual known to most (if at all) as simply the Necromancer, who mastered magic on a scale previously unknown.  He become literally a god-like, immortal being.  However, unknown to him (either that, or he simply didn't care, which is probably more likely) his use of magic not only corrupted his own form and sanity, but also the very fabric of magic itself.He was only brought down by a cabal of wizards so desperate that they bargained with demon-princes to end his reign (although not his potent unlife; he's still lurking around nursing his strength).  Naturally, bargains with demon-princes are always bad ideas, and upon the deaths of all the members of the cabal, not only are their souls sold to the demon-princes, but their souls are also used to fuel a gateway allowing demons to freely enter the mortal world and remake it in their image.So the cleverest, and the most desperate, and most likely the craziest of all the cabal followed in the Necromancer's footsteps to cheat death and prevent the bargain from being fulfilled.  Now, as a massive, insane and ruthless iron lich, he is the Monarch of the land in which the PCs operate.  Because of the tainted, corrupted and polluted nature of magic, he ruthlessly hunts down any signs of the populace using it with the Inquisition.  As the PCs come into conflict with his agenda, as they invariably will, they find themselves faced with the choice of ending the Iron Lich's reign of terror, which in turn frees the might of the demonlords to ravage the land, or they end up supporting him.So I suppose magic plays the role of plot device in my backstory.  The backstory also explains why some NPCs in particular have powers the PCs can't ever really hope to (unless they are willing to end up insane and undead, which they won't as long as I'm running the game) but the magic system itself, as a kind of kitbashed Call of Cthulhu meets Unearthed Arcana incantations hybrid, is a system that can be learned by the players and implemented as a tool.Granted, it's not a reliable tool that they can use at will, but it's not really a plot device either, because it's completely at their disposal in terms of how and when they use it.</blockquote>

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