DragonQuest Magic Conversion

[AlHazred]

I don't know if anyone else on here remembers an RPG from the good old days called DragonQuest. This was put out by SPI, a company which normally only produced wargames; it gave the rules a very wargamey, rules-lawyery feel. ("For lantern light distance, refer to section 16.3.1 'Light Sources'.")

 

Like most games of the day, setting details were concealed within the rules. Reading them gave you a feel for a sort of generic-but-not-quite setting that had shapeshifters as PCs, healers (but not priests) who could, if skilled enough, bring you back from the dead, and a monetary system where the most valuable coins were truesilver guineas. The most flavorful section (in my opinion) was the magic.

 

The magical Colleges of DQ were sufficiently broad enough in scope to allow for most wizard character concepts. Not helping the issue is that the game was bought by TSR just after the whole "D&D and Satanism" flap; the second edition eliminated the Colleges of Black Magics and Greater Summonings and replaced them with the Coilleges of Summoning, Shaping Magics and Rune Magics. But they're still very evocative, even if the given details were insanely scant.

• The Thaumaturgies: These colleges practice the manipulation of mana (Arcane energy) through well-researched spells, to produce a variety of subtle effects.
  
  • The College of Ensorcelments and Enchantments: This College is concerned with general magic, but especially with charming and enchanting individuals and objects.
    
  • The College of Sorceries of the Mind: The College of Sorceries of the Mind is concerned with the manipulation of the mental powers of sentient beings.
    
  • The College of Illusions: The College of Illusions is concerned with the creation of stimuli designed to fool the senses of an observer so that he will accept the existence of what is in fact nonexistent.
    
  • The College of Naming Incantations: Members of the College of Naming Incantations (Namers) specialize in the knowledge of the True Names of objects and entities. They are expert counter-spellers.
    

  [*]The Elementals: These colleges learn to weave mana into forms which can manipulate the ebb and flow of elemental powers. The practitioners of these arts must be in contact with their element to use their powers to best effect; in some cases, lack of contact may mean the spell fails to function at all.

  • The College of Air Magics: The College of Air Magics concerns the shaping of the powers of the element of air.
    
  • The College of Water Magics: The College of Water Magics is concerned with the shaping of the powers of the element of water.
    
  • The College of Fire Magics: The College of Fire Magics is concerned with the shaping of the element of Fire.
    
  • The College of Earth Magics: The College of Earth Magics is concerned with the shaping of the powers of the earth itself and of those entities and things that are rooted in the earth or in contact with it. There are two separate divisions of the College:
    
    • Druidical Earth Mages
      
    • Pacifistic Earth Mages
      

    [*]The College of Celestial Magics: The College of Celestial Magics is concerned with the practice of those magic arts having to do with shadow, night, and the stars. There are three distinct divisions of the College:

    • The Star Mages
      
    • The Dark Mages
      
    • The Shadow Weavers
      

  [*]The Entities: These Colleges utilize the powers of entities and objects from other planes of existence.

  • The College of Necromantic Conjurations: The College of Necromantic Conjurations is concerned with the processes of life, death, decay, and putrefaction.
    
  • The College of Black Magics: The College of Black Magics is organized somewhat differently from the other Colleges in that its knowledge is available only to those who make various pacts with the Powers of Darkness. Once made, a Pact of this College other than the First Pact may never be renounced.
    
  • The College of Greater Summonings: The College of Greater Summonings is concerned exclusively with the summoning and controlling of entities from other dimensions. Members of this College possess no Talent or Spell Magic – their power lies exclusively in their ability to summon and control beings via the performance of special Rituals.
    
  • The College of Summoning: The College of Summoning is generally concerned with summoning, conjuring, and binding entities of the same plane as the Adept and with establishing communications with such entities. All summoning and bindings of his College are a form of Spell Magic. Conjurations are a form of Ritual Magic, and establishing communication can be accomplished by either Spell or Talent Magic.
    
  • The College of Shaping Magics: The College of Shaping Magics is concerned with the fashioning and animation of non-living matter, with the construction of enchantment of an enduring nature and, most importantly, with the creation of potent magical items.
    
  • The College of Rune Magics: The College of Rune Magics is concerned with the use of special symbols of power to shape mana into desired forms. In addition to the power of the Runes themselves, part of the power of this College derives from the use of special materials to construct the Runewands and Runesticks into which the Runes are usually inscribed.
    

Anyway, I'm curious if anyone's done a conversion for these. The breakdown of magic is interesting and peculiarly suited to Hero for an 80s RPG -- all magical spells were bought individually, and by rank. As close as I've seen to a point-buy system in a relatively well-known RPG of the era other than Hero and GURPS/TFT/WIZARD.

[Bismark]

Re: DragonQuest Magic Conversion

 

Unfortunately, both copies I had of DQ 2nd edition (1 hardback, 1 softback) have disappeared, otherwise I would have a stab at this (I hope one of my friends has my hardback copy - I will ask around).

 

The good news is that doing this in HERO allows us to eliminate the major problem with DQ magic - the insanely high XP cost of learning spells and the horribly large chance of losing all magical abilities forever because of a nasty fumble roll.

[AlHazred]

Re: DragonQuest Magic Conversion

 

But that was part of the fun! I will admit it -- when I played in college, there was no WAY I would play a mage. I ended up with a Shapeshifter (Bear) who actually fought two-weapon with battle-axes in combat. It turned out to cost even more XP to be good at that in DQ. But the setting had a lot to recommend it!

 

I statted out most of the College of Fire Magics, and will be taking a stab at the rest, probably starting with E&E. I could use constructive criticism.