Opinion on magick as a feature of the game

[Tetra]

I had a latent magicker hunting in Tuluk, but not a citizen there, who manifested during a hunt gone poorly against a pack of gortoks, in order to save some dude's life. Instead of horror and disdain, the guy (born and bred Tuluki) immediately swore to keep her secret and proceeded to try and become best friends with her - taking a casual hunting partnership into way too intimate territory. As a result, he accidentally died on the next hunt and my magicker continued to try and hide what she was in hopes it would go away. She ended up getting accosted by a sorcerer who hung out around Tuluk, then ended up outside of Luirs. She was given a mount by some random dude, and proceeded to make her way south to beg for a gem and protection from aforementioned crazy sorc fucker. Once gemmed, she was hit on by EVERY SINGLE LIVING THING IN THE ENTIRE KNOWN: female elves, male elves, (EDIT: both city and desert varieties) male half-elves, humans, etc. She was even propositioned by several templars, though one was a little rapey about it. Nobody really hated her heaps, though her only "friends" were other gemmed people. I wouldn't say she was liked by outsiders much, but she wasn't outright hated, either. More like fear, disdain, and horniness... And the last one I attribute to just playing a female PC in ARM, period.

It's because you were a female.  My male magickers receive no such treatment.

[And spell detail removed out of this quote too, <3 Val.]

[Desertman]

Well, heres one of those 'muh ic', what if they are one of the guys? Helping people through thick and thin, etc, etc.
Or people are just forgetting how they are abominations and might as well be a half giant human elf hybrid with a huge tail.

I'm not saying they don't have a great IC reason. I'm saying I wish the option was taken out on the level that it currently exists so those IC reasons would stop being the norm and start actually being the extremely rare exception.

Just going to be blunt and say....Magic users being accepted or fraternized with -is- rare.  Just because you see it once or twice doesn't make it common.  Food for thought.


Really, I find these complaints genuinely hilarious.  Do you play a magicker?  Do you see anyone cuddling with mundanes?  It's not happening in the world, so I don't see where this need to vent is coming from. 

I didn't realize you saw everything my PC saw. Interesting.

Tetra is confirmed psion.

[Marauder Moe]

Just going to be blunt and say....Magic users being accepted or fraternized with -is- rare.  Just because you see it once or twice doesn't make it common.  Food for thought.


Really, I find these complaints genuinely hilarious.  Do you play a magicker?  Do you see anyone cuddling with mundanes?  It's not happening in the world, so I don't see where this need to vent is coming from.

I've played magickers.  It happens a lot.


I don't think it's a big problem, though.  It does make for interesting plots, especially when other PCs react with appropriate levels of scorn (which they often don't... and that is problem).

[Patuk]

You can say the problem is people buddying up to magic all you want, but the other half of how things are is every other magicker being played 'I'm just misunderstood I can't help it love me pls.' Want people to react properly? Play a scary bastard of a magicker sometime.

[Delirium]

You can say the problem is people buddying up to magic all you want, but the other half of how things are is every other magicker being played 'I'm just misunderstood I can't help it love me pls.' Want people to react properly? Play a scary bastard of a magicker sometime.

This. People still try to buddy up to you, but why not resent them for trying to use you for your powers? They wouldn't ever really be your friend. How could they? They're normal. Magick is scary and you're scary so fuck them for trying to treat you like a little pet. You should teach them a lesson....

etc, etc.

[Patuk]

It doesn't even have to be intentional, play magick as if it were mul rage. If magickers are liked too much, play less likable magickers.

[whitt]

This. People still try to buddy up to you, but why not resent them for trying to use you for your powers? They wouldn't ever really be your friend. How could they? They're normal. Magick is scary and you're scary so fuck them for trying to treat you like a little pet. You should teach them a lesson....

Well, except you know you can't.  Or you're dead.

And they know you can't.  Or you're dead.

Except, when you can.  And no one talks about it.  For about a RL year...

[Delirium]

There's ways around that. Such as letting rumors spread ingame. You know, good ol' good roleplay - and player complaints if someone's just straight-up ignoring IC reality.

[valeria]

It's hard to play a character that isn't likable, I think in part because so much conflict turns into outright avoidance. Which I've never found to be very fun.  Still, I'm all for more scary, unlikable magickers.

[Patuk]

It's hard for me to play a character that isn't likable, I think in part because so much conflict turns into outright avoidance. Which I've never found to be very fun.  Still, I'm all for more scary, unlikable magickers.

ftfy, dw bro

[Narf]

It's hard to play a character that isn't likable, I think in part because so much conflict turns into outright avoidance. Which I've never found to be very fun.  Still, I'm all for more scary, unlikable magickers.

Solution: Play a likably scary character.

(insert plug for new Daredevil series, and gushing over Wilson Fisk portrayal)

[CodeMaster]

I had a latent magicker hunting in Tuluk, but not a citizen there, who manifested during a hunt gone poorly against a pack of gortoks, in order to save some dude's life. Instead of horror and disdain, the guy (born and bred Tuluki) immediately swore to keep her secret and proceeded to try and become best friends with her - taking a casual hunting partnership into way too intimate territory. As a result, he accidentally died on the next hunt and my magicker continued to try and hide what she was in hopes it would go away. She ended up getting accosted by a sorcerer who hung out around Tuluk, then ended up outside of Luirs. She was given a mount by some random dude, and proceeded to make her way south to beg for a gem and protection from aforementioned crazy sorc fucker. Once gemmed, she was hit on by EVERY SINGLE LIVING THING IN THE ENTIRE KNOWN: female elves, male elves, (EDIT: both city and desert varieties) male half-elves, humans, etc. She was even propositioned by several templars, though one was a little rapey about it. Nobody really hated her heaps, though her only "friends" were other gemmed people. I wouldn't say she was liked by outsiders much, but she wasn't outright hated, either. More like fear, disdain, and horniness... And the last one I attribute to just playing a female PC in ARM, period.

[Spell detail removed by val.]

Sounds like you had an awesome adventure, in any case.

I think it makes sense for a lot of players to want to play out that part of their character's psychological apparatus -- romance, or whatever you want to call it.  And it's hard to blame anyone for wanting to direct their play specifically at PCs, otherwise they could just be playing "Notepad" instead.

But I strongly believe that what you described is symptomatic of a diluted or smaller player base.  It's much easier to play to the documents when doing so doesn't isolate you from (or worse! make you an enemy of) the rest of the playerbase.

Still, optics are important.  I caught some heat for this in another thread, but I believe that if you want to play something exceptional or documentation-bending, like some weirdo who lusts for magick users, or something, then you should probably do so in relative seclusion from the other players.  That way (a) you won't risk discoloring other players' immersion, and (b) you won't have to constantly be negotiating the negative and revolted reactions of the wider virtual world (which I have seen some 'exceptional' characters doing well, recently, so kudos there).

Bottom line: I suspect more people would toe the line and "stick with their own", gemmed magick users included, if there were 200 people online instead of 45.  Tuluk's virtualization might help in this regard, more than just serving to consolidate the playerbase.

[valeria]

It's hard for me to play a character that isn't likable, I think in part because so much conflict turns into outright avoidance. Which I've never found to be very fun.  Still, I'm all for more scary, unlikable magickers.

ftfy, dw bro

I've heard this sentiment expressed by other people too   And my point was more about conflict avoidance than what's enjoyable to play.  I actually did enjoy playing a semi-villainous Templar.  But people couldn't avoid him.

[Jihelu]

If everyone has the potential, excluding mundanes because fuck those, to become unkillable "call in the red robe"gods, then magick becomes 10 times more scary.
Though I'm pretty sure they do that.

[frankjacoby]

Now that everyone is being squeezed together in Allanak, it would be more rewarding if people could not automatically see if someone was a magicker because of the gems.  It would suck if my character was wearing a gem and someone would plot to kill my pc because I was a magicker.  Why the gem?  Why not a virtual gem that other magickers and Templars only could see?

[Delirium]

The gem is what makes that role so great. If you want to play a hidden mage, you have to play a rogue and risk being caught.

[In Dreams]

So I'm a very on-and-off player that doesn't tend to get super involved in things because my time availability fluctuates so much, but I actually don't think I've ever seen magic on this game. Like, ever.

My opinion is that's probably appropriate, and a good thing. I like that low-fantasy feel!

[ShaLeah]

The gem is what makes that role so great. If you want to play a hidden mage, you have to play a rogue and risk being caught.

X2

I played an unmanifested gicker in Nak, pretty known actually. THE closer she got to her evil self the more I looked forward to getting that gem. Right when she truly started letting go she got dead but mannnn that aftermath would have been fun.

[Delirium]

semantic nerd alert

LOW FANTASY DOES NOT MEAN LITTLE/NO MAGIC

gah.

[BadSkeelz]

I subscribe to the Robert E. Howard definition of low magic: rare, corrupting, powerful, and whose practitioners of which can be beaten to death with furniture.

[WarriorPoet]

I absolutely love the fear and hatred surrounding magick. If there were 1% as much magick in the game as there is, I would be thrilled because the mystery and awe of it would be reinforced as well. Familiarity breeds contempt.

That said, I don't play magickers. I've tried. It doesn't turn me on. If it were up to me magick would be mainly controlled by staff and entrusted to only the highest-karma players and even then very, very, very rarely. At great cost and effort. And when it did finally come down? It would wreck shit. Shock and awe and fire across the sky.

Oh yes.

[Tetra]

I absolutely love the fear and hatred surrounding magick. If there were 1% as much magick in the game as there is, I would be thrilled because the mystery and awe of it would be reinforced as well. Familiarity breeds contempt.

That said, I don't play magickers. I've tried. It doesn't turn me on. If it were up to me magick would be mainly controlled by staff and entrusted to only the highest-karma players and even then very, very, very rarely. At great cost and effort. And when it did finally come down? It would wreck shit.  Shock and awe and fire across the sky.

Oh yes.

That's already the case.  We playin' the same game?

[Lizzie]

I absolutely love the fear and hatred surrounding magick. If there were 1% as much magick in the game as there is, I would be thrilled because the mystery and awe of it would be reinforced as well. Familiarity breeds contempt.

That said, I don't play magickers. I've tried. It doesn't turn me on. If it were up to me magick would be mainly controlled by staff and entrusted to only the highest-karma players and even then very, very, very rarely. At great cost and effort. And when it did finally come down? It would wreck shit.  Shock and awe and fire across the sky.

Oh yes.

That's already the case.  We playin' the same game?

I guess you didn't get the memo: you can play a ruk or viv with a special app and no karma, or with just 2 karma points. At the karma half-way point you can play a krathi or drovian. So no - it's not restricted to only the highest karma levels, and in fact, you can start playing at some of the lowest karma levels (or none with a special app).

[Tetra]

I absolutely love the fear and hatred surrounding magick. If there were 1% as much magick in the game as there is, I would be thrilled because the mystery and awe of it would be reinforced as well. Familiarity breeds contempt.

That said, I don't play magickers. I've tried. It doesn't turn me on. If it were up to me magick would be mainly controlled by staff and entrusted to only the highest-karma players and even then very, very, very rarely. At great cost and effort. And when it did finally come down? It would wreck shit.  Shock and awe and fire across the sky.

Oh yes.

That's already the case.  We playin' the same game?

I guess you didn't get the memo: you can play a ruk or viv with a special app and no karma, or with just 2 karma points. At the karma half-way point you can play a krathi or drovian. So no - it's not restricted to only the highest karma levels, and in fact, you can start playing at some of the lowest karma levels (or none with a special app).

Making all magickers higher karma wouldn't really result in a '1% of current magick' scenario, that's more wishful thinking.

You give a high-karma player a magick role and they may choose to play more visibly, so far as using their PCs magick.  Versus, players with little karma who are much more careful about how they use the PCs powers in private and in the open.  

[Malken]

I think WarriorPoet meant people with at least 14 karma like me and Delirium.