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I am starting this article so we can as a collective define magic in its many facets. I will present all sides fairly and would love for a discussion on the merit of each to happen. Please be respectful and if using a source please cite it so we may all benefit from the information itself.

Quotes about Magic

Magic is "The Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will." -Aleister Crowley

Tips for Magic in your Roleplays

Depends on what you want out of magic. There are several different ways you can do magic, all perfectly valid. I find the most successful kind I use tends to be a supernatural force that is constrained only by the physical limitations of the user. In general, though...

#1: The more powerful the spell, the longer it should take to gather the energy to complete the spell. Compare to, say, a download. If you're downloading a small movie clip on YouTube, it should be done pretty quickly. If you're trying to download an entire movie however, that will take a little longer. Physical curtails. Whether this is a hard limit in which a character cannot cast spells beyond X level of power or a soft limit in which characters begin to hurt themselves casting beyond a certain point or level of power, there needs to be something that stops mages from downloading meteor.exe and wiping out the entire enemy fortress. Single handed.

A detection method for mages. This can vary from mages being able to sense other mages to some physical change in wielders of magic that makes them visible to something else. This prevents "gods in robes" from forming, which are characters whom are potent magicians and can plainly and obviously defeat any character they come across simply by being able to hide their talent. This would be like if a professional swordsman could hide his two handed claymore and then just have it magically appear in his hands.

Outright banning certain forms of magic, maybe because it's outside of human physical capacity, maybe because magic simply doesn't cover it, but things like chronomancy--power over time--and unlimited no restrictions shapeshifting, or mind control at any range, or stuff like this, is absolutely impossible to counter or balance without rigging even more broken circumstances to fight it with, which upsets everyone involved and puts into question the true power of magic in your universe.

Magic is quite literally anything outside of what is normally impossible made possible. Like summoning fire and not burning yourself as a result.

Fair points raised by Brovo and something I agree with. Mythicscribes.com raised a similar point about characters. Magic is out of the ordinary and in my opinion can be quite fun to play with, but in the last paragraph the point about counter balances are raised. Magic without something to counter it is boring and the character boring to read about. What I love about magic as an avid medieval fantasy roleplayer is what it can add to the story. There are even several stories that involve magic, much like technology causing Apocalypse type events due to the destructive nature that comes with overuse. This article, this guide is not intended to tell you, the reader, what to do in your roleplay. Instead I would like this to be a place that provides food for thought.

Next time your character uses magic consider what it takes for them to conjure that fireball. Do they require a specific mental state such as rage? Do they require focus in order to not lose control? Does it drain part of their magical or life force in doing so? Why does the situation require magic in itself to solve?

The Effects of Magic on Your Roleplay

Stuff like magic needs to be very well watched.

The second players started getting force sensitive the story kept moving, but the power level went through the roof and backtracking to a lower power level just made us feel robbed. So by the time our adventure was finished and we 'saved the galaxy' there wasn't much else to do, so our ice cream melted and we all eventually drifted off, some of the Guild and others simply stopping roleplaying period.

Stuff like that is something that really needs to be looked out for when magic enters, how much? Can you back track without bad effects? Will this cause a power rush that will melt the ice cream you worked so hard to create? There's a lot of charm in lower powered campaigns and roleplay's that a lot of people don't see value in until you've tried it yourself and overcame the challenges in other means, And once magic/the taste of greater power has been introduced, it's almost impossible to shake off.

Brovo has some good guidelines if you decide to bring it in to begin with.
But before you even look at those ask if you even want to take the RP to such a power level, do you want results determined partially by a greater/mystical power that players can control directly? Is this something you think you can been controlled and stable, or something that will cause a forever power ramp?

For those unfamiliar with Star Wars, the force is like magic. An ability that can be manipulated to push users beyond their normal range of abilities, much like magic in any other setting. Magic Magnum in this quote is speaking of the effects that magic can have on your roleplay, which brings up a very good point. It is important to be clear how magic works in your setting and why. What power level can magic users rise to and how? Ideally this should be done in an interest check, the place where the Ad Idem occurs. That is to say "The meeting of the minds." Everyone should be clear on the Who, what, where, why, and how of magic.

More on the GM side of things now. Magic is something of a major theme when introduced to any setting. When considering if you wish magic in your setting it is important to think about the longer term impact of it on the world, but also how the living beings in the setting feel about magic. Are magic users trusted or are they pariahs? Are there associations or groups of magic users, if any? Your players will be asking you a few questions about magic no doubt, so it is important to consider the role of magic in your world.

(Do note this thread is a work in progress and will be updated roughly every few days. I will give credit where it is due and appreciate all contributions to help further quality roleplaying on this site.)

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