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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5323644" data-attributes="member: 58197">Can't say as I agree with the idea that emulating the story is what matters. If I just want a story like Fantasy Novel X, I'll go read Fantasy Novel X! It was written by a professional writer, edited by a professional editor, and likely better than anything produced by a gaming table. And if I want more stories set in that world than the writer is willing or able to provide, there's a reason fanfic was invented.I play RPGs mainly to imagine being a different person, with a different personality and capabilities, facing different challenges. If I'm playing a Middle-Earth wizard, I'm going to be making decisions about whether to use magic in a given situation. I want that decision-making process to be a matter of getting inside my wizard's head and trying to see the world as he sees it, think about it as he thinks about it. The process of reaching a decision is as important as the decision reached; if the process involves thinking "Well, I've only got one fireball memorized today," when the imaginary world contains nothing that even approximates such a constraint, I'm not a happy gamer--even if the end result, in terms of what I do when, looks a lot like what Gandalf did in the books.I agree that naive implementations of the magic systems in fantasy books and movies often result in PCs being far more aggressive with magic use than their "canon" counterparts. However, that's not because implementing such systems is impossible; it's simply because the designers didn't think hard enough about the constraint side of the equation.Before you can design Gandalf's magic system, you have to think about why Gandalf doesn't go around flinging fireballs all the time. If it's a personal/moral choice... well, why should a PC be constrained that way? My character isn't Gandalf! Maybe I want to play Saruman instead. And if I do want to play Gandalf and restrict my use of power, I can do that without the rules mandating it.If it's a practical choice--the Valar have imposed restrictions on him, or too-aggressive use of magic will enable Sauron to locate him and nail him to the ground, or there's a corrupting "dark side" effect from abuse of power, or some other reason--then write an appropriate limiting factor into the rules, and get your local munchkin to bang on it a bit and make sure it holds up.</blockquote>

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