Naming magic items

[Paradoxish]

My current campaign is going to be somewhat low magic. Spellcasters exist, but they're not particularly common and magic is still considered fairly wonderous and amazing in most areas (and feared or banned in others). I was thinking that this the world is going to be relatively low magic in nature and since magical items are equally rare it'd be interested if the majority of magical items that the PCs find have some kind of story or background to them. Obviously this doesn't apply to simple items like potions, but swords, rings, and the like will probably have some kind of history to them.

So here's my question, how many of you have tried this in your campaigns? How'd it work out for you?

 

[Eternalknight]

It works well in low magic settings in my opinion. I have done it only once, but if I run a low magic game again (and I plan to soon) I will be doing it again.

 

[Hygric]

Deffinatley go with the story and history aspects for permanent magic items. Nothing to make a +1 bane weapon more interesting than a good story behind it.

This also lets you do away with things such as Identify, and make the party rely on sages, bards etc etc to figure out what their items do. An important facet for a low magic game IMHO is to keep this aura of mystery around items.

 

[Tonguez]

I only ever have named magic items even in 'high' magic settings (of which I use very few). So my PCs never get a +1 Sword of Striking they instead get the Dreadblade of Hakor or the Lightning Spear (A Spear which fires Lightning Bolts - I once had a fleet of ships all armed with bow mounted Lightning Spears!)

Magic should never be mundane and one way to do it is to give it a legendary background.

and think about weapons that aren't magical but still gain the +2 to attack because they are legendary!

 

[Quickbeam]

It's an especially good idea in low magic settings, Paradoxish. Don't hesitate to go with your instincts on this one -- both you and your players will enjoy the realisitc feel provided by the item backstories!

 

[jester47]

I would say do it in a high magic setting as well. I do. I still allow the identify option, as it will only give the basics of the magic items abilities.

So a hat of invisibility that is also a hat of alignment changing comes up as showing an illusion magic that allows one to become invisible. Identify will never say that the cap causes people to become evil, only learning the history will reveal that. Thus the players still need sages and bards to know the rest.

Even in a high magic campaign, the out of the ordinary is still quite prized.

Aaron.

 

[haiiro]

In my campaigns, magic items always have a name and a backstory (except for one-use things, like potions), and I usually sketch them as well. Coming up with that stuff is one of my favorite things about D&D.

I tend to allow research to do the work of an identify spell - particularly if there's a bard in the party - and everyone enjoys feeling like their items have a real place in the setting. It has worked well for me in low and medium magic games; I've never run a high magic game.