MAGICK RULES

 

This is just a suggestion for a set of rules governing the use of magick in a story/game. Invent your own if you wish.

 

Use of Magick should be restricted to characters with High Mental Attribute as a minimum. At least Above Average Awareness is also necessary.

 

RITUAL

 

Successful use of Magick requires a reasonably clear, focused head and time may be spent in Ritual leading up to its use:

 

A moment/few seconds to clear the head and concentrate: This is the bare minimum required to do anything Magickal. No dice added

 

Quick Impromptu Ritual: (Some few minutes spent deep breathing, visualising and Focusing) – + 1 die

Full Ritual: Several minutes to hours in mental preparation and focus. + 2 dice

Lengthy Observance: At least one full day to several days in preparation; fasting etc and Ritual workings. + 3 dice

 

POSSIBLE TYPES OF MAGICK

 

CLAIRVOYANCE

 

Attempting to See that which is normally hidden requires a combination of Awareness and Mental Focus. A roll is made with the number of dice averaged from these two – Attribute and Skill. Additional dice may be added for Ritual, as well as certain psychotropic plants or substances. Note also, the possibility of poisoning from some of these.

 

The Skill roll for this is made Vs the Level Of Difficulty/obscurity of the information sought or within reach.

 

DIVINATION

 

Divination is focused Clairvoyance, assisted by some form of medium, whether Tarot Cards or bones. The tool used will add dice to the roll, made similarly to Clairvoyance. Note that unlike Clairvoyance, Divination requires knowledge as well as ability, and the character has to have learned it somehow.

 

SIGILS, RUNES & GLYPHS

 

These will symbolise a particular Essence, flavour of reality etc, which add dice to the Magick User’s Power roll when attempting to propel that Essence into the world, having successfully Focused on it. Each as a Level of Power which must be withstood to focus on it. Note that a Fumble in this roll can lead to madness.

 

Once Focused the Magick user rolls the combined Power Vs the difficulty of what it is they are trying to achieve or the Mental Power roll of their intended target.

Any Injury is calculated the normal way and may have to be beaten by Mental Power again rather than Endurance, depending on the nature of the Rune, symbol or Glyph.

 

Runes are carved, while Glyphs and Sigils are inscribed. They may be inscribed in the air rather than on an actual medium, although at -1 die to their Power.

Sigils may have dice added for length of time spen fapping as ritual.

 

PORTALS & GATES

 

These exist ephemerally all around and must be sensed by Awareness, Vs their Level of power/obscurity. Then, their level of power must be overcome again by Awareness to manipulate perception sufficiently to ‘open’ the Gate and pass through into another, separate reality.

 

SPIRIT WORK

 

Spirits, disembodied entities, inorganic beings. These beings have Awareness and Mental Power (in some cases Focus as well and can do Magick). Their presence may have to be sensed by the Magick User’s Awareness. They are usually then engaged in a Mental Power struggle, in order for the Magick User to overcome them. Then they may be put to service, bound to an object or place, compelled or exorcised. They may be bidden to possess someone, that person getting to try and overcome this with their own Mental Power.

 

SORCERY

 

Sorcery makes use of Levels of Power (dice) of different Subtle Energies or Essencs to be either generated in the mind of the Magick User or found in Nature.

They may be sensed by Awareness in certain locations or objects or natural formations. They are then used by being Focused into a particular idea of change relevant to the Essence or Elemental Force with which the Power corresponds.

With a combination of Mental Focus and Power, a character can evoke, in Mind, a particular essence or ‘flavour’ of consciousness. This essence is first visualised or imagined, with or without stimuli. It is focused in the Mind and then propelled with such Mental Power that it affects a change in reality. The essence is introduced into the “real” world. Or it can be held in the Mind of the Magick user or propelled into the Mind of another, in order to change them. 

There are ten of these Energy currents:

 

Spirit:

To do with matters of the mind, life and being. To commune with the highest consciousnesses or to purify.

 

Fire:

Matters of heat and rapidness. Energy, drive, inspiration and motivation, combustion and actual fire.

 

Water:

Matters of fluidity and slowness. Intuition, the imagination, dreaming and creativity. Also illusion and lack of form. Dampness and actual water.

 

Light:

Matters of growth and expansion. Good fortune and luck, rulership and assertiveness but peace and kindness also. Actual light as well.

 

Dark:

Matters of time and decay. Destruction and disruption. War and justice. Destruction and actual dark.

 

Air:

Matters of formlessness and change. Thinking and activity. Ideas and self. This is also the essence of Healing and actual air as well.

 

Wood:

Matters of beauty and creativity. Love and relationships as well. Unity and harmony in diversity. Fertility and actual wood and vegetation.

 

Metal:

Matters of thinking and communication. Writing and speech as power. Research and science; measurement and divination as well. Rationality and actual metals.

 

Crystal:

Matters of the subconscious and dreams. Traveling and meditation. The subliminal and ambiguous. Sexuality and workings with actual crystals (and their correspondences!)

 

Earth:

Matters of the physical world of matter and energy. The physical body. Also actual earth, rocks the fertility of the land and geomancy.

 

WORDS OF POWER

 

Similar to Runes and Glyphs. May have to be sensed (Awareness) in the depths of consciousness and formulated with Mental Power and Focused. Perhaps the word has to be withstood first by Power.

 

GLAMOUR AND ILLUSIONISM

 

Using the imagination with a mixture of Mental Focus and Power to overcome the observer’s Awareness.

 

SHAPESHIFTING & POLYMORPHISM

 

This would again rely on Mental Focus and Power vs the difficulty which will always at least be High. Ritual would usually be required as well as other aids.

 

LEVITY & FLIGHT

 

MAGICKAL AIDS

 

The number of things which can aid a Magick User (in the form of extra dice) are limitless. Some ideas might include:

 

Power Plants: Some plants, herbs etc, especially psychotropic ones, will add dice to the Magick they are involved in. However, some may be poisonous and their toxicity beaten by Endurance. Other may be more of a threat to the Magick User’s sanity (Mental Power – or Focus if likely to cause confusion) or even their Awareness.

 

Example:

 

Henbane – per dose +2 dice to Mental Power; -1 die to Mental Focus; Poison – Above Average Toxicity (4 dice). Effects last 6-7 hours.

 

Information could include the effects on perception and feeling, side-effects and preparation. Perhaps the toxicity has to be overcome more than once.