Post by Magic Rob on Jun 3, 2015 9:15:13 GMT -8
Good evening cats & kittens.
Today, I'd like to take a moment to clarify some of my policy on magic and magic like powers. That would be any brand of sorcery, thaumaturgy or necromancy for those viewing at home.
Magic, by it's nature, is somewhat in-congruent with the themes presented in the vampire material. It is labeled time and again as something untrustworthy, rare and abstract. Why then have so many clans having access to it, and why have so many source materials dedicated to it? It boggles the mind.
My general policy on magic can be broken down into my out of game feelings on the matter, and my in game feelings on the matter.
In-Game, magic should be highly suspect. By canon, those possessing of magic are to be less trusted. While perhaps not directly viewed as villains, they aren't your friends. It's supposed to be hard to have if you aren't a very specific build. And it's supposed to be a highly coveted form of power. In-Game canon often gets muddled when players are involved as they generally think about their sheets rather than what they shouldn't acquire. I saw this a lot more in Werewolf where Tribal gifts are supposed to be sacred, but were more often traded about like pogs (a totally not cool thing to trade). Where people's characters should view their own form of magic as sacred, and a cornerstone of their power base, it becomes something to be traded about to acquire different forms of sacred magic. Not cool.
My out of game view on magic is that the pokemon approach to magic is bad and never really benefits game as a whole. There are certain examples in canon, but I am choosing to interpret those as the colorful examples NOT to allow in game, similar in scope to a gargoyle with True Faith. Having access to two schools of magic often gives one a massive advantage, if not in ultimate experience utilization, than in raw flexibility. More flexibility is always better. Many of the people that comprise staff have played these pokemon concepts in the past and have seen what sort of damage it can bring to a game's balance and canon. After all, if every Giovanni benefits from Thaumaturgy, why don't all of them have it? Why do they NEED to go to the Tremere to get it? One loses the flavor of their own build when they dilute it with aspects of other builds, and that has been a central theme to our story thus far, and my platform.
Let me be absolutely clear on this point:
Once you learn a type a magic, you can't ever learn another type. Period. Do not pass go, do not collect other rare rituals. Your character has figured out how to apply their will to crack the universe from one angle, and the other angles won't work anymore. Like in Dune with the Spice. Like in Mage with the paradigms. Whatever analogy you need to make this ruling palatable. The In-Game mechanics now state that one form of sorcery is all a character's brain can hold. The out of game mechanics state you get one; pick wisely.
If it's a central theme to your Tremere that he be striving forever to acquire Necromancy, I love that story. Do it. Make ties, get ritual components, make deals (hopefully clandestine deals), join the societies dedicated towards that end. But know that it won't happen. The uber-rare examples in canon of sheets possessing multiple forms of magic aren't appropriate for PC hands any more than the characters stat-ing out 6th generations and elder powers.
While I can't speak for the policy of future staffs, I will strongly encourage them to follow this example. The lessons of previous games is this: canon and builds erode with the best of intentions. Just because something is printed in the source materials doesn't make it appropriate for this game. Just because a thing *CAN* be acquired, doesn't mean it has any right to *be* acquired.
Questions, comments or concerns, find me at game.
-Rob.
Today, I'd like to take a moment to clarify some of my policy on magic and magic like powers. That would be any brand of sorcery, thaumaturgy or necromancy for those viewing at home.
Magic, by it's nature, is somewhat in-congruent with the themes presented in the vampire material. It is labeled time and again as something untrustworthy, rare and abstract. Why then have so many clans having access to it, and why have so many source materials dedicated to it? It boggles the mind.
My general policy on magic can be broken down into my out of game feelings on the matter, and my in game feelings on the matter.
In-Game, magic should be highly suspect. By canon, those possessing of magic are to be less trusted. While perhaps not directly viewed as villains, they aren't your friends. It's supposed to be hard to have if you aren't a very specific build. And it's supposed to be a highly coveted form of power. In-Game canon often gets muddled when players are involved as they generally think about their sheets rather than what they shouldn't acquire. I saw this a lot more in Werewolf where Tribal gifts are supposed to be sacred, but were more often traded about like pogs (a totally not cool thing to trade). Where people's characters should view their own form of magic as sacred, and a cornerstone of their power base, it becomes something to be traded about to acquire different forms of sacred magic. Not cool.
My out of game view on magic is that the pokemon approach to magic is bad and never really benefits game as a whole. There are certain examples in canon, but I am choosing to interpret those as the colorful examples NOT to allow in game, similar in scope to a gargoyle with True Faith. Having access to two schools of magic often gives one a massive advantage, if not in ultimate experience utilization, than in raw flexibility. More flexibility is always better. Many of the people that comprise staff have played these pokemon concepts in the past and have seen what sort of damage it can bring to a game's balance and canon. After all, if every Giovanni benefits from Thaumaturgy, why don't all of them have it? Why do they NEED to go to the Tremere to get it? One loses the flavor of their own build when they dilute it with aspects of other builds, and that has been a central theme to our story thus far, and my platform.
Let me be absolutely clear on this point:
Once you learn a type a magic, you can't ever learn another type. Period. Do not pass go, do not collect other rare rituals. Your character has figured out how to apply their will to crack the universe from one angle, and the other angles won't work anymore. Like in Dune with the Spice. Like in Mage with the paradigms. Whatever analogy you need to make this ruling palatable. The In-Game mechanics now state that one form of sorcery is all a character's brain can hold. The out of game mechanics state you get one; pick wisely.
If it's a central theme to your Tremere that he be striving forever to acquire Necromancy, I love that story. Do it. Make ties, get ritual components, make deals (hopefully clandestine deals), join the societies dedicated towards that end. But know that it won't happen. The uber-rare examples in canon of sheets possessing multiple forms of magic aren't appropriate for PC hands any more than the characters stat-ing out 6th generations and elder powers.
While I can't speak for the policy of future staffs, I will strongly encourage them to follow this example. The lessons of previous games is this: canon and builds erode with the best of intentions. Just because something is printed in the source materials doesn't make it appropriate for this game. Just because a thing *CAN* be acquired, doesn't mean it has any right to *be* acquired.
Questions, comments or concerns, find me at game.
-Rob.
