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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Speaks With Stone" data-source="post: 2468215" data-attributes="member: 375">I like the sound of what you are doing RangerWicket.I've never actually been fond of the DnD handling of magic.  I would much prefer magic to be more powerful, more difficult to cast and a little less predictable.As you noted, magic in myth and fantasy literature generally doesn't map well to DnD mechanics.  Merlin's magic was rarely as simple as a magic missle.  The celtic druids required long rituals and cauldrons to brew storms.  Faustus had to sell his soul for magic power.As for mythic resonances I like - Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.  I wrote a thesis on that back in college.  Batman is represented as a shamanic figure, while Superman is like a solar god.  Both are larger than life and the world around them is effected just by their presence.  Batman doesn't just hide in the dark, the dark gathers around him.  And Superman is just the opposite.I think that powerful magics should warp the environment.  Make reflections move independently.  Strange creatures gather around the magic or slip through the cracks of the universe as the magic warps reality.  Anything that makes magic seem unique as opposed to mundane.  Ho, hum.  He casts lighning bolt?  Well, then I charge!Other sources I would cite are the classics of literature.  The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (the TPB not the movie) explored this very well.  They are classics for reasons very similar to the myths were repeated.  I like Tarzan b/c its back to nature, the wild child.  Dracula shows that the darkness should be feared, just like we knew when we were kids, but then shows we can fight our fears.  Robin Hood is free from the rules of society and work and he's a good man.  I would also say that Babylon 5 had great resonance with me.  It had fate, honor, Faustian deals, good vs evil, chaos vs order, sacrifice, a hero returning from the underworld with new insights - all that Hero With A Thousand Faces stuff.Just some late night thoughts.  Sorry if I rambled over much.  Good luck with the endeavor.  Sounds like something I'd really like to check out.</blockquote>

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