Post:April Fool's Magic - 04/10/2012 - 17:56

Re: April Fool's Magic · on 04/10/2012 05:56 PM CDT	1272
Now that I'm out of the hospital again (this is getting irritating), a bit of the thought behind the Trader books. First up, my intention is not for Traders to become mini-Moon Mages. Look at the distinction between Rangers and Empaths as more indicative of what I'm trying to do here: both guilds' spells have a clear focus on the concept of Life, but go at it in different directions. With Lunar it's a bit of a challenge for two reasons. 1) Unlike Elemental, Holy and Life, there is no solid fantasy archetype for what Lunar magic is. Other games and stories have done similar things, the shape of Lunar magic in DR is pretty unique to it. 2) Moon Mages have been the sole users of Lunar Magic, creating a de facto total mastery. But difficult does not mean impossible, as I hope a reading of the spellbooks shows. What we've tired to do is create avenues where Moon Mage lore has suggested going but never quite got there. Fabrication is the cleanest example: there's been some unstated connection between Lunar mana and magical crystals for a very long time, but nothing has ever come from it. Traders, instead of Moon Mages, will tread new ground here. Conversely, I do not want Traders to simply ape some of the stuff Moon Mages do just because it is iconic of Moon Mages (see #2 and read it in reverse). I do not intend Traders to explore the parapsychology stuff, or teleportation. Both those things I want to be less definitive of Lunar magic and more of Moon Mages in particular. Between those two there is still overlap, things that we want to make definitive of Lunar magic across the guilds. The ideas that Lunar magic has a bit of alien "wrongness" to it and that it touches on destiny will still get play. -Armifer
This message was originally posted in The Traders \ Response to GM/Official Announcements, by DR-ARMIFER on the play.net forums.