Realtalk:
I burnt out on magic a long time ago. Â I encountered a bias towards "Magic solves/does" everything that just killed that candle in me playing it in most RP environments as a center-point for a character a long time ago.
I still do things with it. Â I have things for it. Â But I learned a good lesson from the old World of Darkness mage system and a thing it had in there:Â
Why use magic for something you can do without using it? Why risk consequence? Why is there Consequence? Why do you need to consider it? Why are you reaching for magic instead of just doing it the normal way? What's the cost for cutting the corners off of Reality As We Know It and why was it worth it?
The answer's vanity, sloth, or worse most of the time. Â As such I treat magic as a kind of mental tarpit. Â A power sink people get sucked into.
It's not better, it's different. Â You can pick up a rock and throw it, or you can use "magic" to throw a stone at someone. Â You can set someone on fire with a bottle of booze and a match, or you can use "magic" to set them on fire.
Sure. Â You can have your person conjure fireballs and lava waterfalls and giant ice shurikens. Â Ultimately magic's just a tool though, one doing normal things will almost always equal, in almost any situation. Â Monster coming: "Stab it or Magically shoot it"
"I need food" "Conjure it, hunt/scavenge it",Â
And that's where it gets ugly in RP. Â People can, and sometimes do, use magic as a solve all. Â Which is boring. Â Remove the struggle, remove the trouble, remove the inconvenience from something, and there's no point in RPing. Â Super invulnerable magic shield lololol I can always win even though I'm 12 years old, immortal, and a god because magic, isn't fun. Â It's boring, disrespectful to the people around you also RPing, and amateurish, being without consideration and thought for the investment required to do these things.
Limits are a requirement. Â Treating magic like a tool is how that limit works best for me. Â Things it can do that normal labor can't, like summons, some senses, golems, the entire Primal Problem, sometimes quick healing, are great examples, but most of the time the thing it lets you skip is actual preparation and training to do it the normal way and, in trade, you have to train and prepare another way.
Balance is my "limit". Â If it's a "Freebie" use of it, it's probably not worth using/is an abusive use of it.
I burnt out on magic a long time ago. Â I encountered a bias towards "Magic solves/does" everything that just killed that candle in me playing it in most RP environments as a center-point for a character a long time ago.
I still do things with it. Â I have things for it. Â But I learned a good lesson from the old World of Darkness mage system and a thing it had in there:Â
Why use magic for something you can do without using it? Why risk consequence? Why is there Consequence? Why do you need to consider it? Why are you reaching for magic instead of just doing it the normal way? What's the cost for cutting the corners off of Reality As We Know It and why was it worth it?
The answer's vanity, sloth, or worse most of the time. Â As such I treat magic as a kind of mental tarpit. Â A power sink people get sucked into.
It's not better, it's different. Â You can pick up a rock and throw it, or you can use "magic" to throw a stone at someone. Â You can set someone on fire with a bottle of booze and a match, or you can use "magic" to set them on fire.
Sure. Â You can have your person conjure fireballs and lava waterfalls and giant ice shurikens. Â Ultimately magic's just a tool though, one doing normal things will almost always equal, in almost any situation. Â Monster coming: "Stab it or Magically shoot it"
"I need food" "Conjure it, hunt/scavenge it",Â
And that's where it gets ugly in RP. Â People can, and sometimes do, use magic as a solve all. Â Which is boring. Â Remove the struggle, remove the trouble, remove the inconvenience from something, and there's no point in RPing. Â Super invulnerable magic shield lololol I can always win even though I'm 12 years old, immortal, and a god because magic, isn't fun. Â It's boring, disrespectful to the people around you also RPing, and amateurish, being without consideration and thought for the investment required to do these things.
Limits are a requirement. Â Treating magic like a tool is how that limit works best for me. Â Things it can do that normal labor can't, like summons, some senses, golems, the entire Primal Problem, sometimes quick healing, are great examples, but most of the time the thing it lets you skip is actual preparation and training to do it the normal way and, in trade, you have to train and prepare another way.
Balance is my "limit". Â If it's a "Freebie" use of it, it's probably not worth using/is an abusive use of it.
![[Image: tumblr_mjwxnlcz6Q1rl52wjo2_500.gif]](https://33.media.tumblr.com/224cfbd6e79103f0520a30eabfc5085d/tumblr_mjwxnlcz6Q1rl52wjo2_500.gif)
