detailed magic

[gnosis]

ok so ive got a group of basically new people. The one person who has experience isnt enjoying himself with plain gaming so hes created a character who tinkers with magic and magical items. The thing is im not really sure how to run this for him. Im wondering if theres any sites out there that really go into detail about creation and identification of magic items [NOT JUST GAME RULES] basically im thinking about running it like hes identifing chemicals in a chem class he just has to keep doing stuff till he knows what hes got. Im looking for ideas. Magic is always left simple and it happens because it happens i need something that tells the why and how alittle bit more.

 

Thanks alot

Gnosis

[Markdoc]

To be really helpful, we nee dto know how magic works in your game world. It is pretty easy to work out the mechanics once we know what you actually want.

 

As a starter, here are three magic systems I have used/played with in the past.

 

http://www.geocities.com/markdoc.geo/Gaming_stuff/Grimoire/magic_systems.htm

 

You might want to look at the "medieval" magic system as an example of the most detailed odds and sods magic system. You might not want to use it as described, but there should be plenty of insopiration for tinkering with magic in there.

 

cheers, Mark

[bjbrown]

I hope it is not blasphemy to tout an AD&D product. However, the original (first edition) AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide has a lot of tables and articles that would be quite useful in devising formulae for creating magical items, etc. See, e.g., Gem Properties (pp. 26-7), Magical Research (pp. 113-9), Herbs, Spices & Medicinal Vegetable Properties (pp. 220-221). Lots of good ideas. Unfortunately, this book has been out-of-print forever (so it's something to borrow if someone you know has it).