Magickal Spook Factor

[Cind]

You never know if something cool will happen in the game because of something someone here said. That's always worth chewing the fat, I think.

[gotdamnmiracle]

I really like the idea of a dedicated magick staffer.  I am aware that this is a low-fantasy setting, but the aspects of magick just don't feel present for any of my PCs including magick users. Full stop. I've had more echoes about the weather than the things which are supposed to inform magicker play like strange dreams or instinct (or whatever reason a witch comes up with to justify their sudden understanding of spell X). It'd be excellent to see those actually placed into game and magick plots ran separately from your AOD plot. Also it'd be interesting to possibly put manifestation into a third party's hands. Maybe your rukkin manifests on some random Ocandra instead of the Deus Ex Machina crap where you get some magickal boon when you exactly need it (because it's suddenly convenient to the player).

[Cind]

Before nilazis were removed you could always count on them stirring shit up and killing some Arm soldiers every two to three months, at some points shorter than that. They were, in my mind, an integral villain in the world that, while short-lived, kept the Arm from being neurotic and searching every other unemployed pc for spice. Its a fairly boring thing, to be in the Arm off-peak. Your job is to reduce and eliminate enemies of the state, and oftentimes in this low player count era, nilazis were the only people you were hunting.

Now that there's a nice high-level nilazi type available, I can't wait to see what kind of shit they'll bring to the party.


I want to believe that a couple more mage subguilds will be added that'll bring some needed punch to gemmed life, but for now, unspeakable magick beings of the wastes is good enough for me.


I've never played a nilazi, so reading their description doesn't tell me anything but generalities I already know. I wonder what kind of abilities they will have.

[wizturbo]

Nikazi are back?  I didn't see anything post... 

[Wday]

With the amount of poison in the game. Magick just isn't scary anymore so much or seems to me.

[Bogre]

I'm a big fan of magickal spookiness. I've played some spooky mystic types, though some of the karma changes have discouraged me from doing so regularly, though hopefully I can jump back in that kind of role again sometime.

I think mages, especially learned ones, being able to level some sort of curse (perhaps subguild dependent) on a person would be an interesting mechanic. I wouldn't want it to just randomly happen after a cast, but if you give a magicker a specific reason to malign you, they just might be able to - provided they knew your true name, had a lock of hair, your broken weapon, etc. Having it be silent or subtle I think would add to the weird factor - and give mundane PCs a definite reason to stay their hand, even if they might have someone backing them up. It also serves as a foci for conflict - if you have a suspicion something is wrong, or you get way thirstier than ever, well, maybe you might have a reason to hunt down mages / hire an assassin / go find something (or someone) to break the curse. A Noble might stoop to using some unsavory sorts to get fucked up shit levered at a rival, etc.

And on the other hand, maybe a friendly mage could work out a boon, or bestow some sort of protection. Charms (from tribal mundanes, shamans, soothsayers or whatever) might become an actual thing. Maybe they work, maybe they don't. Maybe some herb lore in X tribe knows that eating bloodroot paste is beneficial, etc.

Good mechanics, in my opinion, fold and wrap more conflict and institute goals. They give both sides of the equations something to work towards and lever against the other.

[Shalooonsh]

With the amount of poison in the game. Magick just isn't scary anymore so much or seems to me.

Noted.