Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 7 Apr 2003 to 8 Apr 2003 (#2003-97) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 09/04/2003, 17:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 2 messages totalling 58 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. High or Low magic ? (2) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 08:20:10 -0400 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Re: High or Low magic ? If I had a current group, I would run the campaign on what we would enjoy. I have run low to mid and high magic campaigns. All run exceptionaly good in Mystara. I really enjoyed a an extremely low level magic campaign that I ran. It was set in AC 1000 timeline, but everything was in a dark age. Karameikos was ruled by a tribal cheiftan, not a duke. Thyatis was a bunch of loosly aligned kings, et. Magic was so rare, elves were like fairy tales, and when encountered, they could only cast magic with the light of the moon. Wizards were extremly rare, most were only considered hedge wizards, seeking out a life by making love potions for the locals. Magic had to be learned with rotes, thus you were easily identified by your master teacher. Clerics were limited to, they could only channel spells with no armor on, and healing spells took several hours at low level to cast. The higher level the cleric, the faster your spells worked. Clerics also needed religious icons of ! various types for certain spells (they were not the well traveled kind). Since these were a Dark Ages time, even the fighters were limited to short bows, and flaky armor and weapons. What was neat about this campaign is I had a Sauron type baddy hidden in the Broken Lands. Many of the characters feared his poweful magics, only to find in the end he was only 10th level, and had a ring of invisibility. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 21:34:15 EDT From: Shawn Johnson Subject: Re: High or Low magic ? In a message dated 4/7/03 6:47:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time, sturm@LIBERO.IT writes: > > Well so far you and me are the only ones who declare to have a high magic > campaign :-) > No one else ? It's strange because the low magic mood was of the first > mystaran products, but the high magic mood was more of the later products, > so I thought that the most of the mystaran Dms and players played a high > magic campaign.. > Anyway thanks to everyone who replied and will reply to this little poll ! > bye > Francesco It is interesting, because most regions of Mystara have a sort of baseline/intermediate level of magic (examples: Darokin, Sind, Ierendi, Minrothad, even Thyatis) when they are compared with other "lower magic" regions (Karameikos, Atruaghin, Norworld) and "higher magic" regions (Red Steel, Glantri, Alphatia). But the funny thing is, when comparing /all/ of Mystara with other gameworlds, it is a definitively HIGH magic world (maybe even extra-high)! So much so that, even if a DM decides to tone down magic a bit (as I have IMC), it's nearly impossible not to be playing a more or less "high-magic" campaign in Mystara, unless the DM has changed /lots/ of stuff. There's still some low-magic areas in Mystara (see above), but when the PCs begin to travel outside those quiet corners, there seems to be very few places where there isn't a cluster of ultra-powerful-magic-using-folks only a stone's throw away. That's why IMC, even though magic surrounds the PCs, lots of magic is hidden, or too subtle to notice, or it "sleeps" and surprises PCs with its sudden (and often dramatic) appearance. Anyways, I do think Mystara's broad range of magic "presence" is one of its best features---so when my players (or their DM ;^>) are ready for some high-magic, high-powered gaming, I know that it awaits them in a nearby country or hidden in their own back yard! ---- Shawn Johnson ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 7 Apr 2003 to 8 Apr 2003 (#2003-97) *************************************************************