Tired of "Mana"

[pogre]

Ah, but my gripe is two-fold:

2) Mana (as magical force) was Niven's idea: git yer' own or give him credit.

Why?


I always liked the term "juice". Probably far more objectionable to most than mana

Out of spells = Out of Juice
Buff = Juice me up
Meditating = juicin'

so hip it hurts

 

[DonTadow]

Ah, but my gripe is two-fold:

1) Mana is an overused definition in need of suitable synonyms (which varázs and it's derivitives as synonyms perfom superbly) I will concede that Charisma is an acceptable defenition for magical influence, but since it is only ever applied in an anthropological sense, it is a poor choice to describe unthinking magical energy. (Thinking magical energy OTOH...)

2) Mana (as magical force) was Niven's idea: git yer' own or give him credit.

Furthermore, I have seen dozens of synonyms posted which range from silly to fantastic, which proves that it takes very little effort to produce a word for "magical energy" that could easily compliment "mana," and possibly even replace it, given enough time.

I am curious as to what other common words you would like to despose of ? Dungeon? magic? fire? fly? Dispell??

 

[The Mad Kaiser]

I am curious as to what other common words you would like to despose of ? Dungeon? magic? fire? fly? Dispell??

Dungeon - asylum, aviary, bowl, building, cage, camp, cell, close, coliseum, compound, coop, corral, court, courtyard, den, garden, ghetto, hutch, jail, maze, pale, park, patch, pen, pit, place, plot, pound, precinct, prison, quad, quadrangle, region, room, stadium, stockade, sty, vault, walk, yard, zone

Magic - abracadabra, alchemy, allurement, astrology, augury, bewitchment, black art, conjuring, conjury, devilry, diabolism, divination, enchantment, exorcism, fascination, foreboding, fortune-telling, hocus-pocus, horoscopy, illusion, incantation, legerdemain, magnetism, necromancy, occultism, power, prediction, presage, prestidigitation, prophecy, rune, soothsaying, sorcery, sortilege, spell, superstition, taboo, thaumaturgy, trickery, voodoo, voodooism, witchcraft, wizardry

Fire - blaze, bonfire, campfire, charring, coals, combustion, conflagration, devouring, element, embers, flames, flare, glow, hearth, heat, holocaust, hot spot, incandescence, inferno, luminosity, oxidation, phlogiston, pyre, rapid oxidation, scintillation, scorching, searing, sparks, tinder, warmth

Fly - aviate, barnstorm, buzz, circle, circumnavigate, climb, control, cross, dart, dash, dive, drift, flat-hat, fleet, flit, float, flutter, glide, hop, hover, hurry, jet, jet out, jet over, land, maneuver, mount, operate, pilot, reach, remain aloft, rush, sail, scud, seagull, shoot, skim, skirt, sky out, soar, speed, swoop, take flight, take off, take wing, travel, whisk, whiz, whoosh, wing, wing in, zip, zoom

Dispel - allay, banish, beat off, break up, bust up, cancel, chase away, crumble, deploy, disband, disintegrate, dismiss, disperse, dissipate, distribute, eject, eliminate, expel, oust, repel, resolve, rout, scatter, scramble, split up

Nope.

 

[mythusmage]

Dungeon - asylum, aviary, bowl, building, cage, camp, cell, close, coliseum, compound, coop, corral, court, courtyard, den, garden, ghetto, hutch, jail, maze, pale, park, patch, pen, pit, place, plot, pound, precinct, prison, quad, quadrangle, region, room, stadium, stockade, sty, vault, walk, yard, zone

Magic - abracadabra, alchemy, allurement, astrology, augury, bewitchment, black art, conjuring, conjury, devilry, diabolism, divination, enchantment, exorcism, fascination, foreboding, fortune-telling, hocus-pocus, horoscopy, illusion, incantation, legerdemain, magnetism, necromancy, occultism, power, prediction, presage, prestidigitation, prophecy, rune, soothsaying, sorcery, sortilege, spell, superstition, taboo, thaumaturgy, trickery, voodoo, voodooism, witchcraft, wizardry

Fire - blaze, bonfire, campfire, charring, coals, combustion, conflagration, devouring, element, embers, flames, flare, glow, hearth, heat, holocaust, hot spot, incandescence, inferno, luminosity, oxidation, phlogiston, pyre, rapid oxidation, scintillation, scorching, searing, sparks, tinder, warmth

Fly - aviate, barnstorm, buzz, circle, circumnavigate, climb, control, cross, dart, dash, dive, drift, flat-hat, fleet, flit, float, flutter, glide, hop, hover, hurry, jet, jet out, jet over, land, maneuver, mount, operate, pilot, reach, remain aloft, rush, sail, scud, seagull, shoot, skim, skirt, sky out, soar, speed, swoop, take flight, take off, take wing, travel, whisk, whiz, whoosh, wing, wing in, zip, zoom

Dispel - allay, banish, beat off, break up, bust up, cancel, chase away, crumble, deploy, disband, disintegrate, dismiss, disperse, dissipate, distribute, eject, eliminate, expel, oust, repel, resolve, rout, scatter, scramble, split up

Nope.

"Just because you have a thesaurus doesn't mean you have to use the words at the bottom of the list." Workshop critique

 

[Gez]

From the old WW games: tass and quintessence (mage), gnosis (werewolf), blood (vampire), glamour (changelings), and pathos (wraith).

 

[Hand of Evil]

I always like the term ETHER

 

[Hussar]

Umm, maybe I don't buy enough books, but, I can't think of a single example of a DnD book which has the word mana in it. It certainly doesn't appear in the core books, nore have I ever seen it in things like Dragon or any other book.

Outside of Magic, who uses the term mana?

 

[DonTadow]

Dungeon - asylum, aviary, bowl, building, cage, camp, cell, close, coliseum, compound, coop, corral, court, courtyard, den, garden, ghetto, hutch, jail, maze, pale, park, patch, pen, pit, place, plot, pound, precinct, prison, quad, quadrangle, region, room, stadium, stockade, sty, vault, walk, yard, zone

Magic - abracadabra, alchemy, allurement, astrology, augury, bewitchment, black art, conjuring, conjury, devilry, diabolism, divination, enchantment, exorcism, fascination, foreboding, fortune-telling, hocus-pocus, horoscopy, illusion, incantation, legerdemain, magnetism, necromancy, occultism, power, prediction, presage, prestidigitation, prophecy, rune, soothsaying, sorcery, sortilege, spell, superstition, taboo, thaumaturgy, trickery, voodoo, voodooism, witchcraft, wizardry

Fire - blaze, bonfire, campfire, charring, coals, combustion, conflagration, devouring, element, embers, flames, flare, glow, hearth, heat, holocaust, hot spot, incandescence, inferno, luminosity, oxidation, phlogiston, pyre, rapid oxidation, scintillation, scorching, searing, sparks, tinder, warmth

Fly - aviate, barnstorm, buzz, circle, circumnavigate, climb, control, cross, dart, dash, dive, drift, flat-hat, fleet, flit, float, flutter, glide, hop, hover, hurry, jet, jet out, jet over, land, maneuver, mount, operate, pilot, reach, remain aloft, rush, sail, scud, seagull, shoot, skim, skirt, sky out, soar, speed, swoop, take flight, take off, take wing, travel, whisk, whiz, whoosh, wing, wing in, zip, zoom

Dispel - allay, banish, beat off, break up, bust up, cancel, chase away, crumble, deploy, disband, disintegrate, dismiss, disperse, dissipate, distribute, eject, eliminate, expel, oust, repel, resolve, rout, scatter, scramble, split up

Nope.

I applaud the gaining of a thesaurus too, but my big question is why. Some things are universally accepted terms. Normally words shouldn't leave the english language until there use is either not used anymore or has outgrown its natural meaning, neither of which mana has. Nor any of the other terms I asked about?

 

[fusangite]

"Just because you have a thesaurus doesn't mean you have to use the words at the bottom of the list." Workshop critique

But that's the very spirit of original AD&D -- use all the words in the thesaurus without regard to their precise meaning. How would we have got all those old level titles like myrmidon? Or the wandering prostitutes subtable?

 

[fusangite]

From the old WW games: tass and quintessence (mage), gnosis (werewolf), blood (vampire), glamour (changelings), and pathos (wraith).

All of these terms imply different theories of magic than mana does. Quintessence implies and Aristotelian theory of magic; gnosis implies a Platonic theory of magic; etc. Gnosis, for instance, means that your magical power is contingent knowing more than ordinary people and this knowledge functioning, in and of itself, as a force.