How to react to magick in various cities

[Is Friday]

I suppose I agree.

Except for tribals.

[Only He Stands There]

I don't really see tribals as having much of a different reaction, either. They know damn well what magick can and can't do, perhaps better than most city people.

And by "can" I mean "destroy your entire tribe if you piss off the wrong magicker, so DON'T PISS OFF THE WRONG MAGICKER."


I sincerely don't think a tribal would go "OH GOD A MAGICKER KILL IT" if they heard an invisible voice talking to them or if they saw a guy in the distance wreathed in flame and shadow and malevolence. They'd go "OH GOD A MAGICKER I HOPE HE DIDN'T SEE ME OR MY SEIK TATTOOS OH FUCK WHAT IF I ENDANGER THE ENCAMPMENT OH GOD WHAT IF MY UNBORN DAUGHTER COMES OUT WITH TENTACLES OH FUCK MAYBE IT CAN READ MY MIND RIGHT NOW BARRIER RUN AWAY AND BARRIER FUCK FUCK FUCK."

[Archbaron]

OH GOD A MAGICKER I HOPE HE DIDN'T SEE ME OR MY SEIK TATTOOS OH FUCK WHAT IF I ENDANGER THE ENCAMPMENT OH GOD WHAT IF MY UNBORN DAUGHTER COMES OUT WITH TENTACLES OH FUCK MAYBE IT CAN READ MY MIND RIGHT NOW BARRIER RUN AWAY AND BARRIER FUCK FUCK FUCK."

If everyone reacted like this, magickers would be amazing. Sadly, they don't.

[musashi]

If everyone reacted like this, magickers would be amazing. Sadly, they don't.

And since no one else but you will be acting like that 9 times out of 10 ... it makes you feel like a drama queen. Well makes me feel like a drama queen anyway.

[X-D]

I've played PCs like that...man it was fun.

[Archbaron]

If everyone reacted like this, magickers would be amazing. Sadly, they don't.

And since no one else but you will be acting like that 9 times out of 10 ... it makes you feel like a drama queen. Well makes me feel like a drama queen anyway.

Exactly!

[LoD]

I'm afraid of tigers because I only see them at zoos.  They are rare and mysterious to me.  If I was to be confronted by a tiger somewhere in my everyday life such as on my way to work, in my office, in my back yard or home, I would probably run and cry like a little girl.

However, if I began to see tigers on my lawn every other day, they would cease to be rare and mysterious to me.  They would begin to become bothersome and threatening to me.  A threat that I have to deal with, because they are in my everyday life.  I am not seeking them out, they are appearing before me on a regular basis in all their tigery glory.

Such is often the case with magickers.

If people continue to make so many, play so many, and populate the mundane "everyday" spaces, you leave the players very little choice.

-LoD

[RogueGunslinger]

If people continue to make so many [magickers], play so many, and populate the mundane "everyday" spaces, you leave the players very little choice.

-LoD

[Rhyden]

LoD summed up my thoughts.

[Jenred]

There is definitely a difference between irrational terror, and rationalized fear.
And I think LoD summed it up pretty well.

Sorcerers.... terrifying. Magickers.... frightening.

[Barzalene]

If everyone reacted like this, magickers would be amazing. Sadly, they don't.

And since no one else but you will be acting like that 9 times out of 10 ... it makes you feel like a drama queen. Well makes me feel like a drama queen anyway.

Don't feel like a drama queen. Just do it.

[Zoltan]

If everyone reacted like this, magickers would be amazing. Sadly, they don't.

And since no one else but you will be acting like that 9 times out of 10 ... it makes you feel like a drama queen. Well makes me feel like a drama queen anyway.

Don't feel like a drama queen. Just do it.

Yeah, just do it. You're definitely not the only one. My mundane (and sometimes magicker) characters are almost always frightened or put ill at ease by the smallest display of magick, and they usually freak out. Who cares what others do?

[fourTwenty]

If the Magicker is in the distance: Run like absolute feck.
If he's kinda close: Run like absolute feck.
If you happen to walk up on one unexpectedly well.
ICly my PC dosen't know he has a set amount of hit-points before he dies. His reaction might be: quick, shove a sword up his ass before he turns me into a Jozhal. Thinking that killing him as fast as possible may be safer than turning tail and offering up my back as a nice target.

[Qzzrbl]

What I really don't like are people spewing, "But my magicker is a normal person, and would lead a normal life if magick was more accepted." I also don't like how most magickers look perfectly normal. MAKE MORE MUTANT MAGICKERS!

I wish people would understand that if you're a magicker... You're not a normal person. You're an abomination. Start acting like one. 

I've only heard of one or two magickers who lived up to the horribly mutated don't-look-at-me-I'll-eat-your-babies vision of finger-wigglers I had in mind before even starting to play.

[Zoltan]

What I really don't like are people spewing, "But my magicker is a normal person, and would lead a normal life if magick were more accepted." I also don't like how most magickers look perfectly normal. MAKE MORE MUTANT MAGICKERS!

I wish people would understand that if you're a magicker... You're not a normal person. You're an abomination. Start acting like one. 

I've only heard of one or two magickers who lived up to the horribly mutated don't-look-at-me-I'll-eat-your-babies vision of finger-wigglers I had in mind before even starting to play.

What do you mean, act like an abomination? Also, what's wrong with playing a magicker as a "normal" person? That's like saying "Oh, you're guild_assassin, so play your character like a blood-thirsty bad ass."

Honestly, I don't see where all this "all mages are friendly and want to save the world" crap came from. I just don't see it in my day-to-day play. On the flip side, it's true that I haven't seen an abundance of "kill crush destroy!" hideous 'gickers either... I just don't get these broad general statements about magickers being played poorly. I've seen it in a few threads now, and I'm not just rambling at you, Qzzrbl.

[Qzzrbl]

What I really don't like are people spewing, "But my magicker is a normal person, and would lead a normal life if magick were more accepted." I also don't like how most magickers look perfectly normal. MAKE MORE MUTANT MAGICKERS!

I wish people would understand that if you're a magicker... You're not a normal person. You're an abomination. Start acting like one. 

I've only heard of one or two magickers who lived up to the horribly mutated don't-look-at-me-I'll-eat-your-babies vision of finger-wigglers I had in mind before even starting to play.

What do you mean, act like an abomination? Also, what's wrong with playing a magicker as a "normal" person? That's like saying "Oh, you're guild_assassin, so play your character like a blood-thirsty bad ass."

Honestly, I don't see where all this "all mages are friendly and want to save the world" crap came from. I just don't see it in my day-to-day play. On the flip side, it's true that I haven't seen an abundance of "kill crush destroy!" hideous 'gickers either... I just don't get these broad general statements about magickers being played poorly. I've seen it in a few threads now, and I'm not just rambling at you, Qzzrbl.

There's a reason magickers are a karma/special-app guild.

People would be pissed if I played a halfling that melded in with human society and learned and lived by their ways, thusly going against every doc written about them.

Magickers aren't normal people. They have magick. Magick is bad. Since they know how to use magick, they too are bad.

[Zoltan]

That doesn't make sense to me. That's like saying pollution is bad, people who contribute to pollution are bad. So does that mean that every person who's driven a car is bad?

I'll grant you that according to the docs which we play by, magick is viewed by the majority of the populace as being powerful, unpredictable and dangerous. I agree that most people in Zalanthas would consider magick to be a bad thing. I don't think that there's anything in the docs that states that magick has soul and psyche corrupting abilities that afflicts all its users and turns them into monsters. Now, that's exactly the kind of thing most mundane PCs should believe, yeah. But saying that someone needs to play their 'gicker PC like a horribly mutated sociopath, without exception, isn't right.

[Qzzrbl]

That doesn't make sense to me. That's like saying pollution is bad, people who contribute to pollution are bad. So does that mean that every person who's driven a car is bad?

I'll grant you that according to the docs which we play by, magick is viewed by the majority of the populace as being powerful, unpredictable and dangerous. I agree that most people in Zalanthas would consider magick to be a bad thing. I don't think that there's anything in the docs that states that magick has soul and psyche corrupting abilities that afflicts all its users and turns them into monsters. Now, that's exactly the kind of thing most mundane PCs should believe, yeah. But saying that someone needs to play their 'gicker PC like a horribly mutated sociopath, without exception, isn't right.

First off, pollution can't incinerate you in a matter of seconds. Pollution is nothing compared to magick. And besides, pollution is brought on by EVERYBODY in the world. So much as using the bathroom contributes to our pollution and waste management problem. It's nearly impossible not to pollute.

Onto another point, I seriously doubt any Zalanthan would think, "Gee.... I sure hate the shit out of magick. But the people who bring it into this world ain't all that bad."
Magick is rare, powerful, and bad. The few people in Zalanthas that would dare wield such horrible powers, knowing that magick is bad and horrible, can't be thought of in a good light.

And I'm not saying that every magicker should play a horribly mutated sociopath. I said just make more of them. Because maybe people will start fearing magick like they should be. Magick should be viewed as a curse, not a gift.

[Barzalene]

Here is the thing, it's hard to balance it all
Ideally we should have fewer magickers. (It may not be a polite thing to say, but it's true.)
Ideally magickers should be scarier. (Again, blunt but true.)
People should be able to play the roles they like in a way that's fun for them, some people like magickers and don't want to be scary.
So, what happens is that we're encountering a problem of the good of the individual vs the good of the community. And I think there ought to be a willingness to compromise and cooperate.
Those who enjoy playing non-scary magickers could perhaps play fewer of them. They could also not act suprised and/or insulted when they are shunned and reacted to with fear. Their response shouldn't be to find people's heads or engage them in conversation to say, "I'm just a person, you shouldn't treat me so badly."
(you get the idea)
And we as a community should act scared even when we've had a couple of tigers on our lawn in as many days.

[Zoltan]

Alright, I get you then, Qzzrbl.

I would say though, that this whole "make magickers scarier" thing takes effort from both sides. It's hard to play a scary 'gicker if people won't let their characters be scared. I just don't like the feeling of having to make the "terrifying wiggler" stereotype to get a reaction out of anyone.

[Voular]

I've seen plenty of characters numb down from "ohmyshitgodit'saflyingpersonrun!" to "oh, just a silly gemmed, let's hop along". And it's solely a player fault, the settning gives a premise - but the players of magickers do not upkeep it.

[jhunter]

I'm afraid of tigers because I only see them at zoos.  They are rare and mysterious to me.  If I was to be confronted by a tiger somewhere in my everyday life such as on my way to work, in my office, in my back yard or home, I would probably run and cry like a little girl.

However, if I began to see tigers on my lawn every other day, they would cease to be rare and mysterious to me.  They would begin to become bothersome and threatening to me.  A threat that I have to deal with, because they are in my everyday life.  I am not seeking them out, they are appearing before me on a regular basis in all their tigery glory.

Such is often the case with magickers.

If people continue to make so many, play so many, and populate the mundane "everyday" spaces, you leave the players very little choice.

-LoD

You still aren't going to go out there by yourself with a sharp stick or a club and try to take care of the tiger yourself. Not unless you are severely unstable or have a death wish.

[fourTwenty]

I'm afraid of tigers because I only see them at zoos.  They are rare and mysterious to me.  If I was to be confronted by a tiger somewhere in my everyday life such as on my way to work, in my office, in my back yard or home, I would probably run and cry like a little girl.

However, if I began to see tigers on my lawn every other day, they would cease to be rare and mysterious to me.  They would begin to become bothersome and threatening to me.  A threat that I have to deal with, because they are in my everyday life.  I am not seeking them out, they are appearing before me on a regular basis in all their tigery glory.

Such is often the case with magickers.

If people continue to make so many, play so many, and populate the mundane "everyday" spaces, you leave the players very little choice.

-LoD

You still aren't going to go out there by yourself with a sharp stick or a club and try to take care of the tiger yourself. Not unless you are severely unstable or have a death wish.

Here kitty kitty.

[Fathi]

What I really don't like are people spewing, "But my magicker is a normal person, and would lead a normal life if magick were more accepted." I also don't like how most magickers look perfectly normal. MAKE MORE MUTANT MAGICKERS!

I wish people would understand that if you're a magicker... You're not a normal person. You're an abomination. Start acting like one. 

I've only heard of one or two magickers who lived up to the horribly mutated don't-look-at-me-I'll-eat-your-babies vision of finger-wigglers I had in mind before even starting to play.

What do you mean, act like an abomination? Also, what's wrong with playing a magicker as a "normal" person? That's like saying "Oh, you're guild_assassin, so play your character like a blood-thirsty bad ass."

Honestly, I don't see where all this "all mages are friendly and want to save the world" crap came from. I just don't see it in my day-to-day play. On the flip side, it's true that I haven't seen an abundance of "kill crush destroy!" hideous 'gickers either... I just don't get these broad general statements about magickers being played poorly. I've seen it in a few threads now, and I'm not just rambling at you, Qzzrbl.

There's a reason magickers are a karma/special-app guild.

People would be pissed if I played a halfling that melded in with human society and learned and lived by their ways, thusly going against every doc written about them.

Magickers aren't normal people. They have magick. Magick is bad. Since they know how to use magick, they too are bad.

This is a poor analogy. People would be pissed if you did that for a halfling because halflings have extensive racial and cultural documentation as well as an expectation placed upon their players by the rest of the tribe and the staffers that run it.

"Magicker" is not a race. Hell, "magicker" isn't even a guild. It's several different guilds. A magick-wielding character can come from -any- background in the game and there are tons of possible reactions that an up-until-then-normal person would have to suddenly discovering they've manifested magickal powers. Suddenly finding out you can cast magick is not going to erase the first 10-20 years of your PC's memory and personality.

I think that it's very reasonable to think a lot of people, upon discovering their powers, would attempt to still live normal lives and be normal people. Perhaps out of denial. Perhaps because they're afraid they'll get caught. Perhaps because they justify, internally, to themselves that magick isn't so bad because they don't want to see themselves as evil. Perhaps they live in one of the game's cultures that freely accepts magickers as normal members of the society.

The point is, saying that people should play their characters a certain way because of their guild choice, regardless of background and culture and personality and age and race and all the other variables... is pretty stupid.

I do agree that the majority of people from the two main city-states would share that view about magick--magick is bad, therefore magickers are bad, if I become a magicker I must have done something bad or maybe I'm just cursed.

However, saying that the people who don't play that way are playing wrong is making a very broad generalisation about a large group of completely unrelated characters based on the fact that they chose one of eight completely separate guilds for their character. Saying "all magickers should ____ because they're magickers" is more akin to saying "all assassins, warriors, and rangers should ____ because they all get piercing weapons."

[Lizzie]

Once upon a time, I was a newbie who dilligently read the docs and rolled up a character. I figured she wouldn't -hate- magickers, but definitely wouldn't ever knowingly befriend one either. She'd be vaguely ambivilent, on the side of cautious suspicion, and I'd RP it from there and see where it took me.

Well. She ends up -so- exposed to magickers on -such- a regular basis, that eventually (eventually meaning, over the course of several RL months), she just got used to them. Some of them made it easy for her to get used to. Others didn't. Some were genuinely pleasant and useful, others weren't. But the fact that they were magickers stopped bothering her, and she saw them more on an individual case-by-case thing than as a whole.

Another time, I played a magicker, who hated that she was a magicker, and was so resentful of it, that she decided she would use it against the whole world for making her be something she loathed. She got killed before I could branch anything useful

Another time, I played a character who had little exposure (to her knowledge) of magickers, and because she wasn't exposed to them regularly (knowingly) the fear of the unknown was as realistic to her as I think it should be.

The moral of the story, is that if you are regularly exposed to that which you fear, you will either go insane, or you will simply learn to live with whatever it is you used to fear, and stop fearing it. If people want magickers to BE fearsome, it isn't enough that they do mean terrible scary things. They have to do it covertly, rarely..their existence has to be a mystery to everyone else. Otherwise, they really do become "oh yeah, one of those. Whatever, let's go skeet-shooting."