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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 8467968" data-attributes="member: 12731">The reason &quot;hard magic&quot; is used by game publishers like WotC is because they are popular among gamers - they allow players to master systems, and they allow characters to make predictably clever choices.However, it basically turns magic from wonder to tool. Predictability is scientific: cause and effect; do-this get-that.Magic should not be like that - magic should always retain a degree of unpredictability and danger.But some proponents of soft(ish) magic systems forget one key difference between a role-playing game and movies/literature - while the magic system can - inside the world - well be described as &quot;soft&quot; (unpredictable, governed by few rules) the actual application is not - the writer always chooses an effect that is favorable to the story!This is why I feel the categorization isn't as useful as this article makes it out to be.Every rpg player wants to feel useful and in control. You can't do that if your Fireball is as likely to land on your foes as on your friends. Or if you're as likely to produce a brightly-colored flower as you are to provide desperately needed healing.It would be more worthwhile, I think, to focus on two types of hard magic systems (in interactive games like ttrpgs):a) systems where the character is in control (say D&amp;D - Efzaban casts Magic Missile and arrows of force kill the goblins with unerring precision, every time)b) systems where the player (or I guess the DM) is in control (Efzaban might invoke chaotic, uncontrolled, random, magics, but the player still gets to choose an effect that helps out the group or trusts the DM to provide one)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 8467968, member: 12731"] The reason "hard magic" is used by game publishers like WotC is because they are popular among gamers - they allow players to master systems, and they allow characters to make predictably clever choices. However, it basically turns magic from wonder to tool. Predictability is scientific: cause and effect; do-this get-that. [I]Magic should not be like that[/I] - magic should always retain a degree of unpredictability and danger. But some proponents of soft(ish) magic systems forget one key difference between a role-playing game and movies/literature - while the magic system can - inside the world - well be described as "soft" (unpredictable, governed by few rules) the actual application is not - [I]the writer always chooses an effect that is favorable to the story![/I] This is why I feel the categorization isn't as useful as this article makes it out to be. Every rpg player wants to feel useful and in control. You can't do that if your Fireball is as likely to land on your foes as on your friends. Or if you're as likely to produce a brightly-colored flower as you are to provide desperately needed healing. It would be more worthwhile, I think, to focus on two types of hard magic systems (in interactive games like ttrpgs): a) systems where [I]the character[/I] is in control (say D&D - Efzaban casts Magic Missile and arrows of force kill the goblins with unerring precision, every time) b) systems where [I]the player[/I] (or I guess the DM) is in control (Efzaban might invoke chaotic, uncontrolled, random, magics, but the player still gets to choose an effect that helps out the group or trusts the DM to provide one) [/QUOTE]

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