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From: [e-mail] (Joseph Poirier)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: Sorcery?  No dice.
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 5 May 88 10:09:13 GMT
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Joseph Poirier)
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Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
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This was received by me to post to the net.  It details an interesting
magic system that can either be the backbone magic system of a campaign,
or, I believe, can also be added as a facet to an existing system.
If you have any comments, feel free to mail them to me and I will
forward them to the author of the following article, Bill Burdick.

   --- Joseph Poirier

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

This article is of the no-dice-frp variety, related to all of the
recent ones you've been seeing...  It also works with any game system
you want, because it's not dependant on any attributes, levels, skill,
or other numbers, just on guile, cunning, and good fortune.

I've been working on the magic system for a good long time, and I was
thinking that I might publish it, but it's so simple that I thought I'd
post it instead.. I'll give some bare bones now, to see what kind of
response I get.  Then, if people are interested out there, I'll post
more stuff about it..  Until I get a real account for this summer, the
postings will probably come from different people, so I'll try to remember
to include  "Sorcery?  No Dice." in the titles of all of them...

some background... the requirements I had for this system were (roughly):

    1) no numbers.  this includes ordered sets bigger than, say, five
       elements...     I wanted the esystem to depend on role playing, more
       than on system details..  This rules out spell point systems and
       spell level systems.

    2) life.  the system has to be "alive," that is, it can't be a
       technology masquerading as magic.  It has to have some element
       of contrariness or uncontrollability.

    3) structure.  it has to have this in order to be fun, in my
       opinion.  systems where you just describe a spell and it happens
       are too free -- I think the players need some underlying consist-
       ancy to make it half-way believable.

    4) traditional.  I wanted something that people could identify with..
       something you would read in a book.  I think those are more fun
       than alien magic systems (like Jorune's..).

To this end, I came up with a system completely based on demonology...  I
hope this doesn't put anyone off.  It closely models traditional fairytale
demon magic, I think.

so I came up with some axioms to base my system on.. I won't tell you the
axioms, etc. in this posting -- that'll wait for the next ones, if there's
enough interest...  here, I'll just give the results (which is enough for
playing, I think):

*  Breaking a promise causes lots of damage to a demons, so they almost never
   do it.

*  A sorceror can open a gate to any demon, if he knows it's name.  He can
   also force it to cross the gate into his plane, if he wants.  A demon can
   also do this to a sorceror, if it knows the soreror's secret name.

*  A demon cannot leave its summoner's plane, unless
    a) its summoner consents, or
    b) its summoner is dead (summoning can be dangerous).

*  The summoned being pays the cost to open the gate, so demons are generally
   in a bad mood when they are summoned (well, someone has to pay it...).

*  Demons have complete control over their own slice of reality, within the
   limits of their personalities and psychological blocks (so most of them
   are corporeal and suffer damage -- especially the young ones).

there are a couple of patron demons who can grant the power of sorcery, and
they are competing to get sorcerors (since they get control of the sorceror's
soul after he dies).  They dispense certain 'magical' powers to their servants
(I mean sorcerors, excuse me..), in order to attract them...

The ones I have defined are:

    The Black Widow.  The patron demon of information and intrigue.
        she gets her power from worldwide blackmail and spying
        networks.
    she gives the power to instantly transform into a spider.  An ordinary
    everyday spider.  This can be used to dodge weapons (if you're fast
    enough), survive falls, appear to turn invisible, appear to walk
    through locked doors, etc...  This power is *very* useful for gathering
    information...

    she requires that her servants contact her periodically (the length
    of the period depends upon who the sorceror is... usually a week..)
    and answer any questions she has.  In return for this, she will answer
    one question as completely and to the best of her ability as she can.
    If she doesn't know, she'll find out from her network by the next time
    she is summoned...

    other patrons are: Vengence, Discord, and Luthil (demon of right-
    eousness).

sorcerors get names of demons from other demons (usually from their patron) in
exchange they pay a price set by them (if the demon accepts) or by the demon.
Demons want names of other demons, knowledge, service, and a whole lot of other
things.

also, demons do not come in generic types (although some are similar to others)
and they're not necessarily "evil," per se, just mostly out for themselves (al-
though this could be considered a definition of evil, in D&D the neutral view
is not considered evil..).

future articles may include:  more info on the other patrons, details on the
anatomy of the 'soul' (the source of 'magic'), prices for demon tasks, and
different demons (besides patrons).  Also some of the psychology of sorcerors
and how society treats them.  And whetever else I think of..

that's an overview, more on it later if anyone likes it.. I'd appreciate
suggestions and questions...

        -- Bill Burdick

=-=-=-=-=

And if you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to mail to
me, as I have said previously, and I will forward them to Bill.  I think
it is an interesting magic system, and can be used as the primary
underlying magic system or as an extra-additive system which is used in
conjuction with the magic system you may already have implemented and
are using.

=-=-=-=
--
Joseph Poirier    UUCP  :   [e-mail]  pur-ee!i.cc.purdue.edu!ach
                  BITNET:   POIRIER@PURCCVM      PHONE:  [phone]