Keeping magic "magical" at the table is one the most important aspects (and challenges) of tabletop RPGs for me. Like it or not, most games end by treating magic as just another resource, which is natural because they are - well - games! (some try to "innovate" and end up doing the opposite by leaving 99% of the magic "system" at the hands of the Narrator, which also does not help).
In my experience, the feeling that magic is a mysterious and dangerous force is usually proportional to the player's knowledge about how magic works. In my last Conan 2d20 campaign, which was heavily inspired by the Black Company novels, I established that no PC could start the game with magic. That means that sorcery was entirely at the hands of the NPCs. The impact was amazing - every time a sorcerer showed up or the players suspected that magic was involved, the entire party went in full alert mode, ready for ANYTHING. And that's basically how magic should work in my opinion. It should either be tense, unpredictable or costly - in other words, it should have a narrative impact in the game (not just another resource, like ammunition or gold). I briefly talked why this worked so well with Conan 2d20 in a previous post, if you're curious (the short answer: that RPG magic system is a mess and thus works better for NPCs/monsters).
I had recently a very cool experience with my current D&D 5E table regarding magic. A part of the table is new to RPGs and thus approach the game with fresh ideas and thinking outside the box (we grognards are a jaded bunch, having already memorized what each spell can and cannot do). The result was that the new players, by asking questions and trying to push the game's limits, helped me to established a more dramatic feel to magic.
Most of the times when a player wants to do something different with a spell, my first reaction is to clarify what the rules says that it does. I don't like to say "No", so if the player give me a cool idea or asks if she can twist a particular dweomer in this or that way - oh boy! - I usually give full support. I try to bring it down to risks and negotiation. My current "official" stance with D&D is that memorizing and casting a spell "by the rules" isn't the only way to use that spell - actually, that is only the safest way (I've to write an entire post about the subject yet, including a few ideas of mine for Chaos/Corruption magic and why I think must "Dark Fantasy" games don't get it in my opinion). So, what I mean is that the rules as described in the Player's Handbook are the "traditional" and "approved" way of casting (if there was an Order of High Sorcery in my setting, casting magic without following the Player's Handbook would be a crime and result in the PC being branded a renegade spellcaster). Diverge a bit from that and you might gain more (or more probably might blow it). Some d20s already have that kind of risk/gambit in their basic systems (hello, DCC RPG).
Well, this is what happened: One of my new players reached the 3rd Fighter level and decided to become an Eldritch Knight. He looked over his spells and asked me if he could use the cantrip Message to telepathically talk with other characters. I explained how the cantrip worked and then he asked if he could use it to "telepathically attack" his enemies. At that moment I thought a bit and said: "Sure, roll an Arcana check". He didn't rolled well so I told him that his PC contacted a black market seller for "forbidden spell components". The seller offered him a "psychic worm", a disgusting purple and pulsing worm that was a cerebral parasite. If the PC placed the worm in his ear and let it live inside his head, feeding it with "black lotus powder every 7 nights", he would be able to use Message as a mental attack (on the spot I decided for 1d10 psychic damage against a visible target within 30 feet, no save but requiring complete concentration for the entire round). Just let me tell you that the face of the player when I described the entire cerebral-parasite-black-lotus stuff was priceless. Oh, he did buy everything, worm included, but didn't have the courage to actually use thing. It was a great scene and brought home the idea that magic is scary, weird and probably fitted only for the insane.
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| Art totally unrelated to "psychic worms". |
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