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Post by archersix on Aug 8, 2015 17:25:52 GMT
Fin requested on another thread that we could discuss the magic system from TSRs old MSH game. Good idea!
I loved playing that game. I think it works best with an imaginative GM. It is pretty open and 'old school' in the sense that it's really pretty adaptable and easy to home rule.
The magic system is probably the most adaptable part of the system. A magic using character basically figures out what he wants to do, figures out which type of power he wants to use, rolls on the chart and tries to hit a certain color result.
One of the really fun aspects is that if the magic user has to draw on extra-dimensional sources of power (the classic "Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth" being a good example), he may be attacked by them or owe them some favor or service!
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Post by finarvyn on Aug 9, 2015 13:14:27 GMT
I guess part of my question goes back to the notion that the rules seem so vague for magic. Doing anything one wants sounds good in theory, but it seems to be something that can be misused easily. Also, I'm used to the sense that characters like Doctor Strange have pre-determined spells (even if we don't see him memorizing spells a la D&D).
So:
(1) How does a GM deal with a system where spells aren't pre-determined?
(2) What sorts of limitations does a GM set on magical options?
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Post by archersix on Aug 9, 2015 15:54:21 GMT
There's the level of scale. A spellcaster with a higher psyche can do more stuff and that stuff will have greater effects.
It worked in the game I played in (another player was the spellcaster), because the player and gm set out ahead of time what he would be able to do. Think magical monster hunter. He could basically detect magic and demonic possession, and had some fire magic for offense.
And just like most things in MSH, a player can try anything, the GM just sets a high enough color for the player to try to get.
I think that's the trick to having it work. It is a trade off of creative vs. crunch. I also seem to recall that TSR later formalized the magic system in some later supplement that I never got. So I'm sure there were plenty of players who abused the system.
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Post by Adminenkainen on Aug 9, 2015 19:00:32 GMT
I also seem to recall that TSR later formalized the magic system in some later supplement that I never got. So I'm sure there were plenty of players who abused the system. The product was MHAC9 Realms of Magic. I never acquired that one. |
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Post by order99 on Aug 9, 2015 22:27:58 GMT
In later Editions I believe they just wrote down individual Spells like they were Powers, each with a different Rank that wasn't Psyche dependant... And that was a real shame, because the Original Marvel Magic system worked just fine as long as you understood the implications behind the system. Magic has a Price-a Magician wasn't all that with a low Psyche. And while that PC could pull any ability from nowhere and match most Supers in power, he couldn't do it all day without risking exhaustion or death (Personal)or slowly parboiling his own brain in his skull (Universal). The exception to this is the Dimensional spells-but why would the Entity lend you any power? The Popularity Feat keeps things under control a bit-but it works very poorly for the Sorcerer Supreme himself, unless we assume a completely different Popularity score just for those beings...I mean, nobody outside of Occult circles has even heard of Baron Mordo, but he goes head-to-head with Dr Strange ALL THE TIME... The Advanced Set (and later the Revised Basic) added Contacts to the Character Profile, and suddenly it all clicked into place for my local group. Want reliable, go-to Dimensional Spells? Put one or more Entities as a Contact. Victor Von Doom is a reported master of Magic not too far removed from Dr Strange-so why does he so seldom use it? Because 90% of the time he's Casting From Hit Points or risking backlash. Doom 'bows to no man or god' and can't cultivate any long-term Otherworldly Contacts. Jericho Drum (Brother Voodoo) has inherited most of his late Brother's Contacts with the Loa-he can pull out a lot of magical effects with great effort if he has to, but his reliable abilities revolve around smoke, fire and crossroads from his Contacts. Damien Hellstrom is a reliable Occultist and can pull off various low-key spells as needed-but his reliable, natural powers come from his (unwanted) blood-kinship with the Powers of Hell. And Stephen Strange? That title of 'Sorcerer Supreme' isn't just an string of letters-anybody who won or was granted that title is literally on Magic Rolodex with nearly every Entity there is..he's got a bank account of traded favors reaching back through eons of previous holders of the title, and a line of credit that simply says "yeah, he's good for it". So, your PC has Magic Training and an IN Psyche? Cool, she can do some awesome things, a few times a day, and later she's lying down on the couch nursing her migraines, anemia and exhaustion while her Altered Human, Mutant and Robot friends are out clubbing... ...Until she finds out she's been dating Coyote for over a year without knowing, they have a No Holds Barred brawl and Coyote thinks it's hilarious-and bang, suddenly she has Coyote's favor and she's Beam Spamming Luck, Shapechanging and Illusion Magic all over the place... Wanna be a Fire Mage? Better have Pele, the Faltine or Mephisto as a Contact-in my Marvel Game at least. 259 |
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