Setting doesn't have magic

>he thinks realism is objective
>he thinks realism is actually fun
laughinggamedesigners.jpg.gif.7z.ogg

That's mostly a problem with modern editions of DnD

>Setting has magic
>Retard thinks it's just like "muh DEE UN DEE"
>Throws a shitfit when it's toned down and he can't break the game with it.

>few outliers do magic right
Exceptions go to prove the rule

More like the dream end because >decent players

Magic is only tolerable in a setting when it's unavailable as a reliable tool and only available as a plot device.

Vancian DnD magic? Utter bullshit, get that shit outta my face.
Arbitrary fairytale ritual magic? Now that's the stuff.

I don't think the conversation was ever serious

The phrase the exception to prove the rule actually means that the exception calls the rule into question

I'm not saying it's an -axiom- either.

Not to be a dick, but then what was your point?

To shitpost, but I felt too guilty halfway.

>Setting has magic, but it's obscure, hard to use, dangerous, limited in scope, and ultimately a plot tool kept out of the players hands.

>"cyberpunk" setting
>doesn't have elves or orcs

>>Setting has magic, but it's obscure, hard to use, dangerous, limited in scope, and ultimately a plot tool kept out of the players hands.
>but there's also those three intricate imaginary languages I invented just for this beautiful setting

>characters have to do interesting and exciting things with what they have: wits, training, brute force and power of charm

>"I hit him with my sword... from the side!"

This, reality is full of anticlimactic shit like Frederick Barbarossa falling of his horse and drowning; we should emulate it only to the barest necessity.

"Exception tof prove the rule" is a vacuous statement. Exceptions show that it isn't a rule.

>setting has magic, but only in a form that will only ever get used to jerk the GM off

Lame.

This post made me laugh, thanks

There is literally nothing wrong with that. I ran a game where everyone was a pirate during the time of Napolean, and we all had a blast without having people shooting fireballs and flying everywhere.

>I shoot my pistol
>don't mind me while I abandon this combat to reload because I don't feel like getting shot trying to engage in melee

So exciting.

>Not immediately swinging into close combat with a cutlass between your teeth after your pistol shot goes wide
>Or taking out another flintlock that you had stored in your boot
user, it's like you don't have the slightest bit of imagination. Playing pirates can be fun without wizard being inexplicably there.

>setting's magic is bolted-on to mundane physical laws
>setting's magic is dichotomous with science or technology
>setting's magic is described in-setting as "accomplishing the impossible" or something similar

>any of the above where the setting's magic is at all commonly accessible

>Setting was literally forged by magic
>But everything about the planet's weather patterns, geology, culture, and physics adhere to Earth standards

This is how I like my magic. Either extremely powerful but also difficult to use and is extremely circumstantial / costly if you even can, and mostly limited to ritual magic. Though there are some combat magics, but they have horrendous cost efficiency (2-3 flamethrower type spells and someone specialized in magic is dry, maybe a single explosion could run them out to).

>pirate captain is rumored to know magic
>is actually just scary as heck and is good at taking advantage of coincidence

>and then everyone died of scurvy

Much fun.

Though honestly I just wouldn't play in that period of history because everyone dressed like a dork.

So much of this. Why does every fantasy setting seem to assume naturalistic materialism anywhere that magic doesn't directly touch? There are so many more metaphysical positions to take.

>Setting has Physical "magic" that has to be performed after intense concentration, energetic frantic dancing, or holding intense muscle straining sequence of poses, leaving yourself vulnerable and immobile until the spell has finished.

>implying magic is neither naturalistic nor materialistic

Play as lower class peoples then. The dorkier stuff was mostly courtly fashions I thought.

>setting doesn't take place inside a giant uterus because everyone's a fucking man-babby

I just had the party eat well rounded meals so scurvy wasn't a problem. And stupid outfits are half the fun. Same with the parrots and peglegs.

>implying magic isn't a violation of the divine order which shaped reality and serves as the basis of the natural law from which all things are judged to be appropriate to nature or otherwise

>modern day setting that has had magic throughout its entire history
>it's exactly the same as real Earth
Superhero settings are often guilty of this. Supers have been around forever and things worked out exactly the same?

That's like, an entire thread's worth of babbies

Alt-history is hard. This is why I typically have the supers only appear around WW2 and ramp up during the Cold War (which I never allow to end in supers settings).

>implying magic is not the normative process of eternal divine self-reflection expressed in a finite temporality

Having history diverge only recently is completely fine. What's dumb is DC and Marvel where aliens, wizards, and mutants have been running around since the beginning of time and everything is mostly the same besides some men in spandex.

>setting doesn't have the richest people paying high-level adventurers to keep the peasants in line

OP is a massive faggot

Porting the laws of physics is easier than inventing a new set of rules with the same amount of depth or more

>implying man has any business using magic to affect that which is preordained by all that is good

Hubris. Gods make people push rocks up hills or get their livers eaten by birds for this kinda business.

Most people don't know the laws of physics well enough to say they're using those either.

>If the GM isn't sensually masturbating his players, he must be the one masturbating!

Zeus was an asshole. Prometheus did nothing wrong.

I kind of like how Savage Worlds does it. Most magic only lasts long enough for combat. There is the ability to perform rituals, really dark cloak chanting kind of stuff to cast something big, but there is a huge potential drawback to it and it takes time.

he was a thief.

>GM has a background resource which is solely there to allow him to get away with not explainingredients shit, since players never get to use it
>not wanking

It's no different from an overpowered DMPC.

Zeus was king of the gods, respect the proper order of things.

Well, I certainly didn't vote for him

He copied a fire, he didn't steal it in the sense of taking the original away. Proprietary ownership of intellectual property wasn't a thing until centuries later - legally speaking, he did nothing wrong.

i like how WFRPG did it:
Magic was still really powerfull, but if you abused it you could easily give yourself a mutation, brain damage or summon a chaos deamon ready to fuck your ass
Because Tzeentch is a dick like that

>Setting has Physical "magic" that has to be performed after intense concentration, energetic frantic dancing, or holding intense muscle straining sequence of poses, leaving yourself vulnerable and immobile until the spell has finished.
>holding intense muscle straining sequence of poses

Been musing over a simplified system for a while but basically yeah its like that.

The only stats that would matter would be:
>Strength (Attack strength + Physical Defence)
>Concentration (Accuracy + Mental Defense)
>Agility (Attack Speed + Dodge)
>Endurance (HP + Regen rate)

Abilities come into three categories that are based on these stats:
>Focus (Str+Con) = Special attacks
>Dancing (Con+Agi) = Debuffs
>Flexing (Str+Agi) = Buffs

All abilties and movements cost endurance. Run out of endurance you're out.

>Only War
>No psykers because it "breaks the realism"

Bitch we're playing a tank crew on a cathedral-sized tank, with 8 foot-tall space marines with fucking tentacle arms ramming into the side of the tank.

I think we could take a step back from that shit

>Vancian DnD magic? Utter bullshit, get that shit outta my face.
>Arbitrary fairytale ritual magic? Now that's the stuff.
One of the goddesses in my setting is a hardcore subscriber to this philosophy, and is willing to flip the proverbial table (ie: the whole setting) to get her way on it.
I need to run a game of Valiant or the like in the future.

Thanks for confirming that magicfags are the worst kind of murderhobo

Name magic that isn't one of these

Magic is too often used as a crutch for poor writing ability.

Or you could use rope. Or lure him into an ambush. Or throw dirt in his eyes, or step on his foot and shove him, or hit him with your shield, or trip him, or grapple him in close proximity, or try to force him to release his sword, or set him up for an ally, or bullrush him. Or use his own armor against him, or try to punch or stab him in an exposed area...

>This setting doesn't have magic
>Next session later we're being attacked by someone with magic

I find it's actually harder to write a setting using magic, because apparently magic solves every fucking problem ever, so you have to ultimately say, "Nah, that doesn't work because of reasons I don't have the time to get into."
Did you ensure he's not actually a tricky little stage magician instead?

>turns out it's a Scooby-Doo game

>setting lets you power up

>setting doesn't have bullying

>not inventing bullying

if only

>Setting doesn't have mecha.
>Setting has mecha but they're the walking tank meme.

>setting doesn't have combat
Only time I ever felt like I was losing brain cells playing a game that's all in my head.

>not liking walking tanks
Plebian taste detected

>muh fairytales
at least if enough people do it you won't be able to be contrarian anymore

>setting doesn't have realistic magic

>Setting has superscience, but it's obscure, hard to use, dangerous, etc.

I think it makes for something great, fuck the players

If you're going for something that's already idiotic, you might as well have some fun with it.

There might be some difference between a legged artillery piece and an energy-perfect nuclear spaceplane particle-cannon system

Here's the thing you're failing to understand:

The GM always has that power. Always. GM fiat trumps everything. You don't need to restrict the scope of a characters power to drown them in jizz. You just say you do and there's nothing your players can do to stop you.

So no, restricting magic and magic like abilities is not the same as a DMPC or ego wanking. Stop being retarded.

Needing fruity hocus pocus to make your setting tolerable is pleb-tier shit. Who needs wizards and castles when you can have lasers and spaceships?

I say "why not both"

But then I look at the garbage mess that is "starfinder"

Thank god I'll always have M&M and Savage Worlds.

Good.

>shit
Muh grit and realism magic is "rare and dangerous" le your head will explode if you cast a spell wrong xd
>lame
No magic
>good
Magic is occult and ritual or folklore based
>great
Magic is very common and magic shops exist in most towns in cities, Fighters use weeaboo fighting magic to augment their powers
>best
High mythic fantasy with magic users being balanced with fighters in different ways, technically everyone uses magic, regular animals can talk, gods are mortal, you can ascend to god hood through sheer experience and daring

If you don't agree with this, you have shit taste.

Why did you even make this thread?

You sound like you're under 30 years old. Am I correct?

>Don't agree with someone?
>call them young!

Flawless arguement.

>setting doesn't have rum raisin

Eh, I can take it or leave it, I just want it to be consistent. What I hate is low magic settings where all the bad guys are magic users or no magic settings where the DM includes a wizard or something who uses what can only be described as magic.

>the GM always has that power
>I don't understand the basic social contract of the game

Kay. I guess you're cool with railroading and such, but not all schools of GMing focus on masturbating the GM. Some believe that GMs are there primarily to arbitrate, rather than see if they can get a captive audience for their worldbuilding and storytelling.

Sci-fi is mostly full of fruity hocus pocus unless it's hard sci-fi, and then it's just boring.

>boring
Say that to my face fucker, not online and see what happens.

>not having a dozen multi-barreled flintlocks
Its like you people want to die.

He was a software pirate.