Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 5 Jan 2006 to 6 Jan 2006 (#2006-4) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 07/01/2006, 19:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 4 messages totalling 227 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. The Nature of Magic (2) 2. Vedr. Re: [MYSTARA] The Nature of Magic (2) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 01:30:34 -0800 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: Re: The Nature of Magic I am interested with the rule you made (yet i find this idea quite cruel). Hopefully no one in the real world would kill thousands of people just to get their hands on a rare ressource they might hold... thib --- Marco Fossati wrote: > I am actually wondering how this lack of magic will > affect magical creatures in practical terms. Will > Mystara then be considered a hostile environment for > such creatures slowly killing them off unless they > leave the plane/planet? > > Håvard > > I ran a campaign a lot of years ago ( I think I > was under 18). It was settled in a Glantri in a far > future when the abuse of NoS had created as > consequence a fast lack of magic. > I had a crazy idea to explain the disappering of > magical races, (at that time i thought it was > funny), so I stated that killing them (pixies, > dragons, nymphs...even elves) was the only > opportunity to regain magical power (i.e. increase > level, gain new spells etc..). A lot of mages so started hunts in search of such > creatures in order the drain their magic from their > inner life. I think I can still find the rules I > wrote about it if someone's interested > Marco Fossati > > > --------------------------------- > Yahoo! Mail: gratis 1GB per i messaggi, antispam, > antivirus, POP3 > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > Thibault SARLAT a.k.a Clenarius www.mystara.fr.st ICQ 16622177 MSN Messenger: clenarius@hotmail.com __________________________________________ Yahoo! DSL – Something to write home about. Just $16.99/mo. or less. dsl.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 10:33:44 +0100 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Vedr. Re: [MYSTARA] The Nature of Magic --- Steven Carter skrev: > That just made me remember the Skeksis hunting > Gelflings in "The Dark > Crystal". ;) Dark Crystal, hmm...I gotta dig out the old VCR tape I have of that one! :) Weren't the skeksis almost identical to the Nagpa? Håvard ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 08:56:28 -0400 From: Steven Carter Subject: Re: Vedr. Re: [MYSTARA] The Nature of Magic Certainly in appearance they were. And in a way, since they were the "evil" persona of the Ur-Skek with the Uru being a separate physical being, they were the philosophic counterparts as well. On 06/01/06, Havard Faanes wrote: > --- Steven Carter skrev: > > > That just made me remember the Skeksis hunting > > Gelflings in "The Dark > > Crystal". ;) > > Dark Crystal, hmm...I gotta dig out the old VCR tape I > have of that one! :) > > Weren't the skeksis almost identical to the Nagpa? > > H=E5vard > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 19:47:51 -0800 From: The Stalker Subject: Re: The Nature of Magic On Thu, 5 Jan 2006 14:50:54 +0100, Federico Kaftal wrote: > Apparently it doesn't work like this (i.e.: magical beings slowly dying or > being hunted for). > > Gaz3 seems just to imply that it's less and less likely that magical beings > are born in new generations and that Wizards have enough Intelligence scores > for understanding how to use a force (Magic) which is less and less > available: so, we might suppose magic will work as usual until it is wholly > drained, but a slowly dying NUMBER of people and beings will be able to use > it. > > It'll be something like this: less people dedicating themselves to attaining > real proficiency in Wizardry and more people just faking such abilities; > rarity for being born with the gift for Sorcery and fewer chances for > magical beings to reproduce successfully (something similar to nowaday's > wild beasts kept in captivity). > > This is what I deduce from Gaz3 statements. > A fair deduction based on Gaz3, but I'd suggest you include the ending of WotI, where the NoS is "reprogrammed" to drain Entropy instead of Energy. Why is that significant, you may ask. Well, going back to Haavard's original point that magic in Mystara is tied to the NoS, I disagree that this is case and instead support what Dan Eustace said - magic is not tied directly to the NoS. The support for this may be found in Gaz3 p. 78-79, where the whole sordid deal is described. I'll just quote a relevant bit: "When Immortals of Energy bestowed their magic upon it, the artifact gained the ability to produce the Radiance and enable mortals to attain Immortality. Unfortunately, Immortals from the three other spheres intervened shortly after and gave the artifact a hasty side effect which consists of a permanent magical drain." This is bit is at the end of p.78 and beginning of p.79 in the original gaz 3. Naturally the object in question is the NoS and the three other spheres are Matter, Time, and Thought (not Entropy). This bit of information tells us that the magical drain of the NoS upon Mystara is not inherent to the NoS - it is there only because immortals of the other spheres placed the curse upon the artifact to prevent Energy from abusing the NoS to create immortals among their own ranks and so upset the balance. Still, no immortal knows more about the NoS than Rad, and we know from the end of WotI that he was never able to bypass the defenses and enter the artifact itself. So that begs the question of whether immortality attained after WotI turns mortals into immortals of Energy or Entropy? If the latter is the case, then there is no need to impose a curse upon Energy and so the other spheres would presumably remove the drain. The question was never dealt with in official canon (which is one reason why many dislike the AD&D Mystara material) and is left unanswered by "net canon" to either avoid controversy or because there was no need to settle the matter. - The Stalker PS: Happy new year to all. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 5 Jan 2006 to 6 Jan 2006 (#2006-4) ************************************************************