[Runequest] Alternatives to POW sacrifice for magic item creation

[Steve Perrin]

Having actually played Swordbearer, I can say that it has one of more 
unique magic systems. At first glance, it looks intolerably feeble. Then 
you realize that there is no saving throw, ever. If the magician says 
bang, then you take damage. Not fatal damage, as a rule, but if half the 
party knows magic, which is not at all unlikely, then even the biggest 
monster is just so much meat.

The magic activation involves very minor previous quests to obtain the 
right materials, which are as bountiful as the GM allows. These quests 
can involve something as simple as making a Notice (or whatever the term 
is in Swordbearer) roll to see that the flowers you need are growing by 
the side of the road.

Steve Perrin

On 10/12/2012 8:10 AM, Stephen Posey wrote:
> The discussion about time, expensive materials, and limits on what you can do while enchanting is starting to sound more than a little like the old Chivalry and Sorcery magic item enchantment system.
>
> Not automatically a "bad thing"(tm) but it can be a slippery slope into more complexity than many folks will want to deal with.
>
> And if the GM just ends up hand waving away the time without there being any consequence (e.g. missing adventures or having world events catch up with the players) then the expenses may be largely meaningless.
>
> @Swordbearer:
> A funny little system, to my recollection. Originally published by Heritage (the same folks who made the 25mm minis), but was re-released later by FGU. Very abstract money/economics system.
>
> Stephen Posey
> stephenlposey at earthlink.net
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Peter Maranci <pmaranci at gmail.com>
>> Sent: Oct 12, 2012 12:32 AM
>> To: RuneQuest Rules <runequest at rpgreview.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Runequest] Alternatives to POW sacrifice for magic item	creation
>>
>> That's funny, I've never heard of Swordbearer! Since I was gaming in the
>> 80s, I thought I'd heard of them all. I'll have to dig up my copy of Heroic
>> Worlds and see if it's listed.
>>
>> It occurs to me that one thing that players value quite a bit is training
>> time. Perhaps *that* would be a good alternative requirement for
>> enchantments. If it took, say, 250 hours, plus a high but not impossibly
>> expensive cost for materials (or alternatively quests to get rare items) to
>> create an enchantment equivalent to a 1 POW sacrifice, would that tend to
>> frighten off players? 100 hours seems to me to be too low a number. Of
>> course, no other actions could be taken during the enchanting process. And
>> if the enchanting roll was failed, the time would be lost...although in
>> that case I would probably allow some sort of a luck roll to determine how
>> much of the material components were destroyed, if any.
>>
>> ->Peter
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 9:48 PM, <lev at rpgreview.net> wrote:
>>
>>>> Maybe it's not politically correct, but I think human sacrifices (babies
>>>> and
>>>> virgins being worth 'more') would be a more "logical" source of power for
>>>> sorcery. Look at all the stories about sorcerers in RW lore or in S&S
>>>> fiction. The supplement _Carcosa_ for LotFP is a good source for this
>>> kind
>>>> of
>>>> magic.
>>> My other favourite FRPG from the early eighties, Swordbearer, has "humour"
>>> nodes in all living species. You can embed them in items following
>>> sacrifice.
>>>
>>> There was an enticing hint in Wyrms Footnotes once that suggested
>>> including appropriate spells attached to various animals (e.g., a rabbit
>>> with Mobility).
>>>
>>> I'm sure something quite evocative could be drawn from those two
>>> elements...
>>>
>>> All the best, Lev
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Peter Maranci - pmaranci at gmail.com
>> Pete's RuneQuest & Roleplaying! http://www.runequest.org/rq.htm
>> The Diary of A Simple Man: http://bobquasit.livejournal.com/
>
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