Come Together, Coven Me

It's not uncommon. People are social animals. It stands to reason that magic will be a social event for people. Sure there will be loners, there always are, and as with any social context the morality of the majority or at least the strongest personalities will prevail, forcing some to reclusion for their nefarious deeds. There are many advantages to gather multiple spell casters together to work on a shared goal. We've already mentioned pooling points, magical essences, or mass quantities of will focused together as one reason. This is something that can even involve non-casters as well, depending on the setting. So, what are the other reasons for the joining of mystical forces? As with most things the first and easiest answer is logistics. These can be logistics of a martial type, but they can also be a matter of non-violent nature.

The first logistical need anyone might have is coverage. How much of an area does a spell cover? Even boosted the scale has to be less if cast by only one person. Aside from the raw size of the area multiple participants can achieve different shapes or configurations of coverage. The areas need not even overlap; the desired effect may be to affect multiple locations at the same time. Time itself can be another strategic obstacle overcome by more than one caster, especially for prolonged effects. This time-restraint may be a matter of fatigue in the short term or sleep in the long term. It may also be a matter of focus and attention that is mitigated by separate participants in a lengthy casting or ritual. Either the area or time factors are a matter of scale so don't forget to cover truly epic scales, or at least as epic as the setting allows.

Focus and attention are not limited to being maintained for long periods of time. One mind can only handle so many details at one time. Here is an opportunity to craft spells that are really impressive, like the Swiss clocks of spells. Again, consider the epic scale, dozens upon dozens of effects or a handful of effects on numerous targets. This can be devastation or construction, detriment or enhancement. Nuance is a good thing here. Layering might be a consideration as well as the tweaking of effects as they are created. Here the skill of the participants becomes important with less skilled casters doing the simplistic parts and the more skilled ones doing the tweaking, and certainly orchestrating it all. Where normally the novices would be given the grunt work only the more experienced members may have to power to shoulder the power requirements. It all depends.

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Magic Power Point Presentation

When it comes to the mechanics of magic in a role-playing game two options rise to the top of the list as far as importance. The first is the number of points with which a character has access to for the casting of spells. The second as discussed last week is the time it takes to cast the spell. The points portion of the mechanics can be broken down into several factors that must be considered and balanced. It can be difficult to discern what to deal with first. There is the need to determine the number of points required to cast each and every spell. There is also the number of points to which any single character will have access. It makes sense to determine the spell costs first. Doing that requires starting with the low-end costs and building up to the more costly and thus more impressive and powerful spells, but how to weight them?

The cost of one spell compared to another should be based upon many different factors. These factors can include how long the effect of the spell lasts, how far the effect can be cast away from the spell caster, how large of an area the spell affects, and just how powerful is the effect? What determines how powerful or impressive a spell is? Does it depend on game factors like damage? Is it more powerful if it affects multiple people? Does it matter if it is flamboyant or a spectacle to see? Is it a matter of how much it bends reality and defies the known laws of physics? Is it about the way it can change the playing field and alter the storyline? This last is hard to quantify. Death is a game changing matter when it comes to the players, the protagonists of the story. How does a powerful spell affect the setting if too many can cast it?

Once at least a rough baseline is set for the cost of spells then a look can be taken at how many points to which a single character or player should immediately have access. Factors for consideration include how many spells in rapid succession should a player be able to cast? This will also require knowledge about the other types of characters available so that the spell cast does not run out of options long before his companions. How powerful is a starting spell caster? How should they progress in power? Both of these should be compared to other character types as well, to maintain fairness and promote players to choose a spell caster. From a points standpoint there is an advantage to having more than one spell caster in the player party. Leaving points aside are there other advantages to multiple casters?

Mood: eclectic.

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The Strength of Magical Times

The use of magic in role-playing games has an additional requirement, beyond those discussed already, that must be dealt with in the mechanics to give it a sense of realism. Stick with us, even if you're not a gamer, because this has as much to do with creating the setting and the effect of magic on that mood, and the mood of any scene or scenario where magic is involved as it does games, numbers, or rules. As with so many other situations this requirement for magic and verisimilitude involves time. It's not just about creating an air of reality though; it's about dynamics and the implications that are spawned by setting out the rules, the physics, of magic and what is involved in its use. The mechanics are a factor of time because magic takes time, how much dependent upon the dictates of the setting which of course are set out in the rules.

In our more realistic setup for magic the ability to cast a specific number of spells per time period is off the table. Instead magic points are used, with each spell requiring a certain number of points to cast. It takes time to regain these points. How quickly they are used is more important game-wise than how long they take to recharge, but for fiction writing the significance is about the same unless magic only takes as long as the time to cast it--there is no need to figure it takes anything more than will and knowledge. The time required to cast spells and the recharge time can affect the pacing of your timeline if not the pace of the story. Often there are also methods by which a spell caster can gain and use additional points, such as rituals with multiple members, and sacrifices. Both of those right there add flavour and mood to the magic, and impact the setting.

There is yet another option for gaining magic points that involves an external source. Some settings have places of magic such as locations where mystic temples were built, lines of magical force that criss-cross the globe called ley lines, and places that are just plain magical whether because of a bleed-over from another dimension, the influence of magical beings like faeries, or at the decree of deities. Beyond that, these locations and others may have increased magic at specific times of the day, month or year, or when certain celestial alignments come about. These places and times can cut short the time required between spells, and allow for stronger spells to be cast than normal. All of these of course change the dynamic of the story or the game without even getting into the nitty-gritty of them. The exact mechanics and number crunching flow from the story elements.

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The Risk to Remain Tight in a Bud

Previously on R.G. Male's Dark Corners... I set up some information for those uninitiated in the greatness of role-playing games, particularly the pen and paper kind that come with books and people track things and do everything more or less by hand or keyboard. Last week I discussed the unrealistic method of character advancement known as levels, whereupon reaching a new level of experience the character has an explosion of growth, as opposed to a more natural progression. This leaves us with the need to look at how to bring that sense of realism, or verisimilitude back to the mechanics of the game. Advancement of your playing character within the game is one of the best ways of gauging how well the game is going. It's like winning in a game where there isn't real winning or losing because, as a story shared among friends, the journey is more important than the destination.

Rather than levels where everything advances all at once some games measure progress incrementally. The Game Master takes note of when a skill is used, or the players track it themselves, and after so many successes--or in the best systems a measure of losses as well, since mistakes are important to the learning progress--the skill is advanced. This is a fair simulation of the real world. The same process is applied to powers that the character has whether that is super powers, psychic abilities, or magic. This is particularly useful to magic systems involving learned incantations and rituals. The other side of the coin in this incremental advancement is that the character is required to practice and study. This is especially true of picking up new skills, learning new spells or creating new magic. However it does have its issues with psychic abilities and super powers.

Depending on the setting, and the mood it looks to evoke, psychic abilities may not be something that is learned. The power is either there waiting to be unlocked or it is not there at all. Super powers tend to be dependent upon time for their advancement or exposure to new catalysts that cause new powers to develop. This is not to say that existing powers do not advance just as skills do, and characters should ultimately learn new tricks with use of existing powers even if they are not expressed in the mechanics. For the new powers and abilities a system must be in place that works in parallel with skill advancement or on a time scale. The problem with a time scale is that a game could run only hours at a time within the setting or stretch out for weeks in game. This leads to slow or fast power gain respectively. Tune in next time for some options to deal with this.

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A False Sense of Growth

Sometimes a role-playing game will use a set of mechanics, a.k.a. rules, to simulate a facet of the real world in a less than realistic manner. There are a number of reasons for doing this, the primary one being simplicity. The most prominent of these convenience simplifications is the level system. For those that don't know, the level system involves earning points that represent the growth of a character in the game. The points are experience points and many games refer to them as XP with the X standing for experience. XP rules can exist without a level system, but I'm not aware of any level systems without XP or a similar concept because the level system is co-dependent. A character reaches a new level after every so many XP earned. This is where the level system fails.

When characters reach a new level of experience--these are usually characters run by the players--they improve their skills and abilities. This is a vital part of the gaming process. The problem, the artificial quality, is that everything improves all at once. All of the character's skills are raised by a level, even if they haven't been used recently or at all. New powers or spells or psychic abilities, etc. suddenly appear to the character from out of the blue. Bonuses are applied to different combat rolls that didn't have such high bonuses before or maybe no bonuses at all. The changes all occur without training, instruction, or time spent mastering them. The new abilities and bonuses do not even have to have any tie to existing ones or reflect a previous desire for growth in the character.

Players and Game Masters take it upon themselves to fix this falseness to some degree by saying that characters practice their craft, self-teach themselves things, and plan ahead for the future that will be represented when that character gains a new level. Occasionally a game will suggest this as well. Spell casters are known to research books and at times, according to the setting's mood and details, settle down and meditate upon the world and their place in it, and from this they gain insight, which informs their new spells, or the idea to research specific spells. Most of the time though this is a stretch and as something glossed over it lacks a certain depth and feel. It does not deal with the improvement flood all at once either. Next time we'll look at a better way.

Mood: forward-thinking.

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Facets, Contradictions, and Allegiances

Depth is always one of the elements I strive for when considering characters in role-playing games. Of course this carries over to writing any kind of characters for any story or script. I don't always do it for short stories or novels but I have created characters using role-playing terms and conventions as if I wanted to use them in a game and then used that familiarity with the character to write their part within the story. I recently read a review of a role-playing game and it sparked me to write a note about character diversity. By that I mean the details, the nitty-gritty that differentiate one character from another even though they fit the same social circle, economic strata, and have the same education. What makes one engineer different from another on the same team?

Character diversity can be made by allowing players to select the following. A home country. Political affiliations or leaning toward particular ideals. Additionally there are points where the character differs from the ideas espoused by the party or their group. An immigrant could grow into a new national identity, change politics or move toward a political sub-faction. They could be a part of a guild or association, and from there variegate into a guild-faction. In the context of the game I made the notes for I asked questions like: Is the character part of one nation's military? What is their view of their allies? What is their view of their enemies? Is there competition between units in the same military? Service branch rivalries? How do they compete with other nation's units even when in a united goal?

All of this asks and answers essential questions like what is my character's role in group X, what is it contributing to the local corner of the world, to the country, to the world at large? How does their beliefs shape their style and methodology to their work, job, military service? It speaks to the measure of their character and reveals or further asks how they will deal with situations under stress. When given time. When researching new skills, including magic in applicable settings. When collaborating with others on such skills. Further differentiation might come from another role-playing game approach where a character has their social face and their private face. Not everyone projects their true self all of the time. Even what they do and do not share about themselves could be an important detail.

Mood: disciplined.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #4-2: Arcanis Visicius Domini

Most of the questions, suggestions, and considerations that were a part of devising the setting for a modern magical horror still apply in the horror fantasy setting. The fantasy setting conventions and norms provide extra help as well as disadvantages to crafting the horror of the setting. Even some magic that was discounted is back on the proverbial table. The disconnect that the fantasy genre has with the modern, rational world immediately opens up avenues of horror that would be unwieldy or impractical in the modern magical horror setting. That disconnect also negates the impact of breaking the rational, which is often a major factor in supernatural horrors. In its place is the horror of the inevitable, the persistent threat looming overhead, lurking in every corner.

Magic of any great power or import should be kept out of the hands of the protagonists. This can be achieved by the requirements of magic or by maintaining strict moral lines. Material components and magical knowledge availability is limited not only by the environment but also by the greed for power of the magical caste, the wizards. Magic is nothing more than power in the setting and power is always jealously guarded. Corrupting power and the mad grab for it will direct much of the morality of the spell casters or the magic most commonly used. Beyond that magic can divided into direct black and white moral lines because the fantasy setting is more accepting of such mythos rules. Black magic will have evil requirements as well as evil results.

At the level of specifics fireballs and lightning bolts called down from the sky are fair horror fantasy game. Curses and geasa of terrifying kinds and results can be wonderful plot underliners giving the story a real mythological feel. Geasa is the plural of geas--a kind of magical obligation or prohibition like a taboo. In some cases the person is incapable of breaking the geas because they’re magically compelled. In other cases there are dire consequences to breaking the geas. As a facet of the setting curse bringing and geas infliction lead to other considerations and implications from the level of daily life all the way up to politics. The ever-popular zombie has its fantasy counterpart but requires a different touch. A matter of scale comes into play for this and other magic.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #4-1: Dark Phantasy

There is one more enormous genre that hasn’t been corrupted by horror in this series, fantasy. The broadest category of fantasy generally refers to medieval high-magic settings. There are magical creatures of every stripe, races that interact and conflict with humans, and magic that is a powerful force wielded to far-reaching affect on the world and everything in it. Most of the stories take place in medieval Europe though often details like how feudal life worked, peasants lived, and their ability to do things within the hierarchical caste system sometimes falls to the wayside. To a large extent taking the time period forward to modern eras--anything 1900s or later--has already been covered. There are some settings in the industrial age but that will come later.

It is a common belief that it is nearly impossible to bring about real horror in the traditional fantasy setting, much like it is claimed to be in the super-hero genre seen in comics. The main point of contention is that which makes it fantasy in the first place, the in your face, capable of anything, game-changing, world-defining magic. Deities have influence and power in these settings if only through their priests and followers. There are rarely infernal beings without celestial counterparts. Then there are the heroic aspects aside from the magic. Knights and Paladins wander the lands performing monster-slaying deeds and facing off against impossible odds like battling fire breathing, arcane infused, dragons. These brave souls often face and defeat the masters of magic as well.

The answer as usual to tackling this problem is all about the setting. It starts with asking the right questions and choosing the answers that will aid the horror at all levels. Working within the constraints of the genre as it stands on its own is only one of two options. Changes can be made to the fantasy genre assumptions since the type of fantasy discussed thus far is the largest chunk, not the only chunk. Magic in a horror fantasy requires a different approach if not an alteration in power level. Scale is another important factor to consider and can make great differences in the quantity and quality of horror in the setting. Perspective is going to be another factor that is important in imparting horror to the settings and plots. These are the starting points upon which to proceed.

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Anatomy of a Horror Setting #2-1: A New and Magical Setting

Don't let the title fool you. If the idea of a magical setting, or more precisely a setting including magic doesn't sound very horrific, then just follow the next batch of articles and see how terrifying it can be. The darkest abilities and misuses of psychic powers are in some fashions just the tip of the heinous and gruesome iceberg compared to the depravity and stark evil of horror-based magic. The magic horror setting is also a much different animal than the psychic horror setting. The rules are very different and need to be worked up right from scratch. It may be a personal bias, but the first difference is that the setting should not include innate magic abilities. They're great in the realm of fantasy, however they represent a level of power not really conducive to the mood of terror.

Level of power, especially in certain veins, can also be damaging to the horrific tenor desired in a good dark setting. The more widespread and far-reaching magics have to be handled differently to avoid turning it into something too fantastical--in this sense kind of light--or too comic-book-like. It can be a fine line to tread. All of the right elements can be there for the horror, but on which side of the line the final product will fall is all about the execution. Sometimes it comes down to putting the right kind of flourishes on things, other times it requires a heavy limiting hand. As before it requires asking a lot of questions and picking the best answers to maintain the exact mood that the setting will require to convey what the story, book, game, or movie needs to have.

Some of the questions maybe can't even be articulated as questions, they exist simply as choices. Leading the pack is which schools or archetypal forms of magic will be a part of the setting. The smaller the scale of the setting in terms of what medium it is being created for the less kinds of magic will be required. It might be untrue though that the larger the scope the more will be necessary. A setting might only need one or two styles. There is something of a tangled snarl here. Inextricably bound up in the 'schools' of magic are the process types. These types are all about the requirements and procedures of creating magical effects. It is hard to decipher where one ends and the next begins. Form follows function in some examples and in others the function stands on its own.

Mood: leering.
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