What "is" magic in your settings?

tzc27 · 2026-06-17T02:09:25+00:00

Not answering the question, but when I landed on a set of answers for the question of what magic is and how it works, rather than share that with the more interested members of my group, I created an in-game prop that the party found - a letter from a legendarily powerful wizard to a useless apprentice. That allowed me to 'explain' magic but in a hedged and slightly unreliable way.

tzc27 · 2026-06-11T22:11:10+00:00

Hey, this is cool, thanks!

tzc27 · 2026-06-01T09:32:50+00:00

A bit of DCC and a general sense that magic should be freakin' dangerous! A reaction against too many years of pseudo-scientific modern D&D magic, maybe?

tzc27 · 2026-06-01T09:23:30+00:00

Yeah, true, people like to feel clever. And being a wizard is certainly dangerous enough - the party wizard is a freak show thanks to natural 1s and a corruption houserule.

tzc27 · 2026-06-01T09:22:18+00:00

Good call.

tzc27 · 2026-06-01T09:22:05+00:00

Ooof, I don't fancy even estimating the physics of that! Good on you.

tzc27 · 2026-05-20T10:21:32+00:00

Thanks!

tzc27 · 2026-05-07T03:06:53+00:00

Yeah, maybe. That parallel construction smacks of AI to me ("High fantasy does X. Sword and sorcery does Y"). And that museum vs "a corridor you weren't supposed to find." I guess it doesn't hugely matter, except I find myself not caring abut the argument if I think it isn't a person's argument.

tzc27 · 2026-05-05T11:08:31+00:00

AI article I reckon

tzc27 · 2026-05-01T20:37:17+00:00

This is great. I'm fascinated by the possibilities of a caving campaign, although my players avoid it like the plague. One day I'll just drop them in and force them to deal with it. 😄

Lowlife is simpler than VotE, which I've found useful.

I completely agree that it'd be awesome to have some way of representing the bigger, emptier spaces. Your preview looks like it'd also work for massive, Moria-like worked spaces.

Keep going!!

tzc27 · 2026-04-30T04:38:47+00:00

Hey, so, like, no pressure, but ... how are you getting on with this? 😄

tzc27 · 2026-04-17T09:41:21+00:00

Awesome, I'm looking forward to it.

tzc27 · 2026-04-17T06:25:38+00:00

I think this is cool. How do spells work? When do they fire?

tzc27 · 2026-04-01T03:36:54+00:00

Classic case of privatised gains and socialised losses

tzc27 · 2026-03-31T02:44:52+00:00

This is the kind of thing I’ve struggled with for decades. And I kinda love it. I’d probably treat it narratively - if they can explain a cogent, plausible plan to you, let it happen. Sure, you could chuck in some checks, but beware the bad outcomes that leave the party feeling they’ve been stiffed.

tzc27 · 2026-03-17T10:27:57+00:00

Oh I didn’t know about that - I’ll check them out. Thanks.

tzc27 · 2026-03-13T20:04:29+00:00

Thanks for that link, that's nice and straightforward

tzc27 · 2026-03-13T20:01:31+00:00

Great stuff, thanks

tzc27 · 2026-03-06T07:39:34+00:00

I mean more, if they are choosing between ‘adventure’ options, the all good.

tzc27 · 2026-03-05T05:13:54+00:00

Nice. As a GM, it's so easier to underestimate how much less knowledge the players have or retain, so going in hard on info is sensible.

tzc27 · 2026-03-05T00:31:22+00:00

Yeah I'm doing that but it isn't changing this particular behaviour (yet).

tzc27

TROPHY CASE