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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deadguy" data-source="post: 422025" data-attributes="member: 2480">Sorry to wander quite so late into this conversation... somehow I kept missing it. Some interesting ideas have been posted up. In a way, I have yet to see a supplement that tries to really look at the roots of magic. We have ideas for magic from different sources (e.g. ley lines), but not anything looking at what it would mean for a world to have some variant cosmology.For myself, I hit the problem when I created the Shattered World setting for my own use. After years of abuse of divine intervention I wanted to create a setting where there were no divine beings. However, I didn't want to deal with integrating 'divine' magic into the arcane (or rather, I wanted to get the game started, and I didn't have time to implement it). So I needed a way to conceptualise this divine magic in a godless world. In the end I opted for the idea of Passion Magic, the magic born of fervent belief in principles and ideals. I transformed the Cleric into the Theurge, though the only reason for the name change was to bring home to players that they are not priests. Theurges are followers of Philosophies, which are theoretical frameworks for channelling real power into beliefs. In the Shattered World the proto-capitalists (known as The White Order) work magic because they believe that the systems they propose can really change the world. Of course, they aren't alone, there are many others too, from supporters of the status quo to radical anarchists seeking to overthrow corrupt (or all!) governments.It has taken me a long time to really begin to get to grips with what I created, but the party had it brought home to them when they visited a city which had a separate Theurge District (actually Bluffside for those who are interested - a great FRP city!). They found the place disconcerting, with people trying to sell them ideas, asking them to question their assumptions, and of course soliciting cash for their causes!I named the force of Passion Magic the Odyllic Force, and I needed to ground its origins in the setting. Now the Shattered World doesn't use lots of separate planes. Instead, apart from the Ghost Worlds (similar to both the Ethereal and Shadow planes combined), the sources of power lie in the planets that orbit the Shattered World (yup, a bit of pre-Copernican cosmology for me!). There are the four elemental planets, and then there are the Energy Poles: the Sun and Darkheart. I described the Odyllic force as being like a great meandering river, that flows out of the Sun to Darkheart and then out again and back to the Sun. The Shattered World lies within this flow, and it is this emotionally-charged flow that the Theurges tap. At the moment, I am looking at some rules about fluctuations in the flow, that will modify the availability of Passion Magic. And taking the river analogy forward, I am working out ways to describe weirs, shoals and stagnant waters in game terms.Phew! Longer than I intended. I guess I am trying to say that I agree, it can be really worthwhile looking at the origins of magic for your setting. By doing so, you create adventures and storylines that relate to the activities of the spellcasters, and that bring to life the underlying existence of magic in the game world.</blockquote>

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