Very High Magic Campaign?
- Thread starter BloodyAx
- Start date
Herobizkit
Adventurer
One very important thing to keep in mind is that, at highest levels, magic is indistingushable from technology.
With this in mind, the easiest thing to do is consider modern-day citites and try to think of them in fantasy terms. Pick some really exotic ones.
Las Vegas, for example. A city that never sleeps, with magical lights that flicker and sparkle all night long. An entertainment capital, mages practice their art for all kinds of reasons and all kinds of prices. Bauble vendors around every corner. Street peformers accompanied by life-sized illusory shows. Flying cars.
With this in mind, the easiest thing to do is consider modern-day citites and try to think of them in fantasy terms. Pick some really exotic ones.
Las Vegas, for example. A city that never sleeps, with magical lights that flicker and sparkle all night long. An entertainment capital, mages practice their art for all kinds of reasons and all kinds of prices. Bauble vendors around every corner. Street peformers accompanied by life-sized illusory shows. Flying cars.
Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
It depends on how well recieved magic is.BloodyAx said:
If it is normal, then there would be mage colleges (THink ITT Tech & Magic) and wizards in every guard patrol, wizards in each village, clerics in every village, and the like.
Follow the above advice.
Bryon_Soulweaver
First Post
One word. Netheril.
Whimsical
Explorer
Check out Magitech and mine it for ideas. This is one of my favorite sourcebooks ever. It was published around 1990 so there may be a copy gathering dust at ye ol gaming shop.
And, just in case you don't know, check out Eberron--a magically infused society. But you probably already know that.
My advice is to start at the bottom. The cantrips and 1st level spells, and try to imagine what kind of effect having that spell available everywhere would affect your game world. Your cheapest permanent magic items would use presdigitation as its base. Self cleaning clothes, furniture, kitchens, bathrooms, etc. Once a day, the item cleans itself. That would be around 200 gp for a permanent 1/day item, and one spell could clean 600 square feet. It could also keep something warm or cool. You could change the item creation formulas so that magic items cost less, or change the value of a gp. Such as 1 gp = 1 US dollar. So that self cleaning outfit would cost $200. That is how it is in Dragonstar.
And, just in case you don't know, check out Eberron--a magically infused society. But you probably already know that.
My advice is to start at the bottom. The cantrips and 1st level spells, and try to imagine what kind of effect having that spell available everywhere would affect your game world. Your cheapest permanent magic items would use presdigitation as its base. Self cleaning clothes, furniture, kitchens, bathrooms, etc. Once a day, the item cleans itself. That would be around 200 gp for a permanent 1/day item, and one spell could clean 600 square feet. It could also keep something warm or cool. You could change the item creation formulas so that magic items cost less, or change the value of a gp. Such as 1 gp = 1 US dollar. So that self cleaning outfit would cost $200. That is how it is in Dragonstar.
Steel_Wind
Legend
For an interesting take on Mega High Powered with a distinctly Black Company flavour, check out Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/AS...7/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i7_xgl14/701-8092223-5585967
While I can't give it five stars - it does deserve 4.5/5 and apart from its clear roots in Glen Cook's Black Company - it is otherwise refreshingly original.
Never have I read a series where the power level was this high. This is a frequently Epic campaign (as it were) - and well done Epic at that.
Yes - the world of the author has its roots in a homebrew campaign world. The RPG elements shine through at times - though it is not gaming fiction per se.
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/AS...7/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i7_xgl14/701-8092223-5585967
While I can't give it five stars - it does deserve 4.5/5 and apart from its clear roots in Glen Cook's Black Company - it is otherwise refreshingly original.
Never have I read a series where the power level was this high. This is a frequently Epic campaign (as it were) - and well done Epic at that.
Yes - the world of the author has its roots in a homebrew campaign world. The RPG elements shine through at times - though it is not gaming fiction per se.
Last edited:
DragonLancer
Hero
Eberron. Nuff said.
Dragonblade
Adventurer
Standard D&D is pretty high magic by default. You could probably just run a standard game, just make magic more obvious. Magical street lamps that automatically come on at night. Every squad of the city watch includes both a mage, and a cleric from some deity of law and order. Have a mage academy and a street of the gods (where all the temples are) in every major town. Have bars use cantrips to provide ambient music and atmosphere, etc.
If you want to make it more high powered, give NPCs levels in PC classes instead of NPC classes. Allow NPCs to be higher level in general. For example, an elite squad of city guardsmen in a major city might be 10th level or higher.
For inspiration, I suggest looking to the Forgotten Realms (and the Netheril era in particular) and Eberron.
One idea that Netheril has that really evokes a high magic sense, is the concept of pseudo-magic items. Basically, each city has an invisible field of magical energy around it (referred to as a "mythal" in the Realms). Within that field, special pseudo-magic items function normally, but taken outside the field (even to another city) and the items cease functioning. This is a good way of arming people inside a city, like guardsmen and the like, with powerful magic arms and armor, yet if the PCs get their hands on it, it doesn't function outside the city. Furthermore, such magical items may have the equivalent of an arcane tracking device, so when stolen, the city mages can track the exact location. Of course, you'll want to provide plenty of regular magic items as well. But this allows you to give the NPCs a little more fire power without worrying too much about the players getting too powerful if they get their hands on it.
If you want to make it more high powered, give NPCs levels in PC classes instead of NPC classes. Allow NPCs to be higher level in general. For example, an elite squad of city guardsmen in a major city might be 10th level or higher.
For inspiration, I suggest looking to the Forgotten Realms (and the Netheril era in particular) and Eberron.
One idea that Netheril has that really evokes a high magic sense, is the concept of pseudo-magic items. Basically, each city has an invisible field of magical energy around it (referred to as a "mythal" in the Realms). Within that field, special pseudo-magic items function normally, but taken outside the field (even to another city) and the items cease functioning. This is a good way of arming people inside a city, like guardsmen and the like, with powerful magic arms and armor, yet if the PCs get their hands on it, it doesn't function outside the city. Furthermore, such magical items may have the equivalent of an arcane tracking device, so when stolen, the city mages can track the exact location. Of course, you'll want to provide plenty of regular magic items as well. But this allows you to give the NPCs a little more fire power without worrying too much about the players getting too powerful if they get their hands on it.
Dragonblade
Adventurer
Steel_Wind said:
Although, I can't in good conscience advise you to read the series until its finished, another good read for epic high powered fantasy is the Wheel of Time series. The series by Robert Jordan is long and sometimes tiresome, and it won't be finished for another couple years (at least I hope it will be finished in a couple years).
But I think he does a good job of following characters from basically the time that they are level 1 up into epic levels. The main character, Rand, becomes exceptionally powerful over the course of the books. As the books progress the magic level becomes higher with magic items and artifacts becoming more common, magic users opening gateways in the midst of major battles, and magic users able to wipe out hundreds of soldiers at a time, etc.
Torm
Explorer
You could go the Zorkian route, and have lots and lots of "spell completion" items that can be completed by ANYONE - and that are useful for all sorts of relatively mundane things, like a spell that performs the function of yeast and causes bread to rise, or one that acts as a daily vitamin. The explanation given in one of the pieces of side literature for Zork was that the Frobozz Magic Company had found a way to imbue things with self-casting - a little bit of the wizards themselves went into the items and they still acted as the casters whenever users activated the items.
Of course, this makes the magic using classes feel a little cheated, so you also have to make them able to MAKE these items using a cheaper variant of item creation rules. That way, they can make some extra money and also make slightly better stuff for themselves and/or their party.
Of course, this makes the magic using classes feel a little cheated, so you also have to make them able to MAKE these items using a cheaper variant of item creation rules. That way, they can make some extra money and also make slightly better stuff for themselves and/or their party.
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