[UA] old-style magic in UA

[Alexander Lampros]

Well, first off:  you could just pick things that
people used to think gave them power and adapt them to
UA somehow.  Ie, Chastomancy.  Although the effect of,
err, "accumulating sexual energy" would be hard to
roleplay.  A little research on different sorts of
religion might be in order. 

Alternatively: base it off "real magic": ie, dig
through history and anthropology books, and look at
the mystique that accrued around priests, exorcists,
and so forth, and saw what powers they were reputed to
have, adn why they were considered holy.  This is sort
of more a Mage thing, but I have a distaste for  the
'World of Darkness', so its a good thing UA is a v ery
flexible system.  

Off the top of my head, I would say the way old school
religion/magic tended to work was by:
1) establishing that one had power to do so.  Of
course, in the real world the task is to convince the
community you can do it, in a game you would have to
"convince reality" somehow.  Generally, this involves
memorizing lots of esoteric information that no normal
person knows, adhering to behavioral guidelines not
binding on the average person (chastity,
vegetarianism, etc.), and offering counsel.  

Not sure how you put this into the modern world. 
People who are chaste tend to be regarded as repressed
not impressive.  Most people don't see vegetarianism
as a moral issue.  You would have to find something
that the modern world (or the statosphere?) finds
really impressive and then live up to taht idea. 
Actually, this is kind of how Archtypes work.  Just
find an ethical archtype.  Like the Wandering
Aesthetic, or the priest, or the shaman or something. 


Cool.  I guess I can go to bed then.  yay.

Alex



--- Saul Peers <rexmundis at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I had one idea for old school magic; hear me out,
> though my thoughts are 
> largely incomplete.
> 
> Old school magicians, instead of working to aquire
> charges, instead gain 
> them automatically over time.  Instead, they have to
> choose a ritual, 
> devotion, taboo or sacrifice that they must always
> adhere to.  A ritual is 
> an observation that's often fairly complex and
> requires many implements and 
> some time.  The use of a ritual results in the
> aquessition of a significant 
> charge of a particular Path(more on that later).  A
> devotion is something 
> that you have to do all the time while gaining or
> using charages.  Wearing 
> white, or praying three times a day; these allow you
> to slowly regain minor 
> charges.  A taboo is something you cannot do, or
> else you loose all powers.  
> If you possess a taboo, then you slowly regain
> charages, but loose all 
> charges if it's broken.  Lastly, a sacrifice is
> something you give up; like 
> money or a sense.  You cannot possess this thing. 
> Slowly regain minor 
> charges.
> 
> The magick is similar to iconomancy, in that there
> are several things to 
> gain charges in, Paths of Power.  For every 20%
> gained in the Ritual Magick 
> skill, you can choose a Path, which includes a
> Ritual and a sacrifice, 
> devotion or taboo, which must be observed to gain
> charges.  An alternate 
> skill, Ritual Lore, lets you gain a new path ever
> 10% rise, and has no 
> actual limit (powerful sorcerers could reach 150%),
> but will never be used 
> for anything besides the rituals of magic.
> 
> Every path of power will have a number of minor
> effects as well as a couple 
> of significant ones.  Every performance of the
> ritual will net a single 
> significant charge, and minor charges will build up
> normally as long as the 
> devotions are observed.
> 
> I haven't thought about major charges yet, but I
> imagine they'd be even 
> harder to get then for the Post-Modern magicians.
> 
> -Saul
> 
>
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