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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Virginia Wilde" data-source="post: 591774" data-attributes="member: 3317">What matters is not what's done, but how it's done. I'm not saying that magic can't do X. I'm saying that you must define how magic does X, and how exactly one gets it to do that. In essence, if X is your desired result, how does a +b =X? If a=c, does c +b=X? Why? If a cabal of wizards can't figure out how it's done, and some shaman comes out of nowhere and does it, how does he do it? Spirits of the land that the wizards can't sense or that don't fit in with the wizards' way of magic? If so, how do the spirits fit in? How does the wizardly magic affect the spirit magic, and vise-versa? Another thought is magic use. Who uses magic and why? How do they do it? What makes them powerful? In games, balance comes into play here. If the laws are so straightforward, why can't everyone do it? I mean, anyone with access to a library and a garage can make a pipe bomb, so why isn't it the same for magic? Why isn't the layman with a magic instruction manual just as dangerous as some of my friends with The Anarchist's Cookbook? After all, you don't need training to use the laws of physics to your advantage (try hitting someone with something heavy and watch as the momentum of the object transfers to their head; it's fun). In films and books, magic can be possible through some sort of sacrifice on the part of the user, but I know well that too many players in a game would have no problem with taking out a kobold or roasting something small and defenseless on a spit to cast a spell, and that many players don't really care enough about their characters to worry about personal sacrifices. Another thought is to have a stipulation built into the laws of magic stating that only those who know what they're doing through training can control it, but this is getting dangerously close to "I can do anything."</blockquote>

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