Magic On EC

[steelabjur@aol.com]

I agree with them being rare but turning a tide of a battle? It takes too much effort in BM to organize military and make them work. If I have to deal with some scrolls that just win you a battle and wipe my army out, I doubt I will bother to play this game for that long.

What I mean is it should be rare, but equally powerful and meaningful. Ideally I'd like to see it where you could go for a hundred battles and not see a single scroll used, but when one is, it is an event. It might rain stones down on the enemy army, or strike with force enough to tear the walls of a city down a level, or raise a unit of undead to fight alongside the caster's realm for a turn, or even raise a freshly dead character back to life. Perhaps it can be balanced (beyond the rarity) but having some factor of randomness, perhaps if whatever RNG roll is made under a certain threshold, the effect is reversed: the stones fall on the casters army, the walls are repaired instead, the undead are angry at being disturbed and fight against the caster, or the caster himself drops dead. Magic right now feels a bit like D&D's longsword+1 combined with a Diablo-esque random name generator. How many Items are in the game with no description or care given beyond the bonus it gives?

[Zakilevo]

It might rain stones down on the enemy army

Well if it is as powerful as it sounds, it will be very very difficult to cast.

strike with force enough to tear the walls of a city down a level

There is already a scroll that does this although weaker

raise a unit of undead to fight alongside the caster's realm for a turn

There is a scroll that raises undead but unless you are an attacker, they will not side with you

even raise a freshly dead character back to life

Well we already have that. There should definitely be some serious and permanent penalties for returning from the gate of hell.

RNG roll is made under a certain threshold, the effect is reversed...

Certainly. I hope there is a chance of magic completely backfiring and getting rid of all your spellcasting skills at once.

Magic right now feels a bit like D&D's longsword+1 combined with a Diablo-esque random name generator. How many Items are in the game with no description or care given beyond the bonus it gives?

It is the job of each item owner to put item descriptions. You can't simple make the game generate this all the time. Either you will run into many items having common descriptions or it will require too much work for what little worth it has.

[steelabjur@aol.com]

There is already a scroll that does this although weaker.

I'm aware, one of my Advies had a Scroll of Hammerfall created.

Certainly. I hope there is a chance of magic completely backfiring and getting rid of all your spellcasting skills at once.

You sure you don't just want to play Crusader Kings 2 instead?  ::)

It is the job of each item owner to put item descriptions. You can't simple make the game generate this all the time. Either you will run into many items having common descriptions or it will require too much work for what little worth it has.

I know, I've only played BM since 2007, I've even wrote a couple! :p That was the point of my comparison with D&D's Longsword+1, there shouldn't be items of "little worth" in a low magic setting like BM is supposed to have. To expand the example, I feel items in BM should be more like artifacts in AD&D and earlier, there should only be a handful per island (that are recycled) and when they show up it's a status quo shaking event that encourages roleplaying and storytelling.

[Gabanus family]

I told JeVondair this in private also. My objection to this has nothing to do with the JeVondair family, the player, the consequences it has in game, or the roleplay opportunities. My problem is with the impact magic currently has on BM especially on islands other than BT (and maybe Dwilight).

BM is called battlemaster for a reason and not spellmaster, I believe that's another game. For me at least this game resolves around medieval based warfare and roleplaying which I both enjoy and participate in. But these last few months I've seen the impact of magic be so large that it really is slowly pushing me to quit BM. I have done all I could to turn it into a positive thing which is why Garas is currently blind and we turned it into huge roleplay turn. But these last few months he's been critically wounded twice, being out for like a week twice as they tried to sack Oligarch. He's lost all his hours two or 3 turns and I've seen dozen cases of equipment permanently damaged on multiple chars multiple times. At this point they do more damage through magic then anything else and despite us turning it into proper RP (cause the ones who use it don't even try to RP anything) I am completely fed up with it. The ressurrection of Selenia was only the drop for me to go on a short rage, but has nothing to do with the player. I love the way it's being roleplayed and what I hear is happening in Xavax, but to me it should simply not have been possible in game. Even then you'd have more than enough to RP about.

To me magic is ruining the game for me and has no to maybe a limited impact place on islands outside of BT (was a reason I never played on BT untill Atamara was sunk). That was the point I attempt(ed) to bring accross. I am even very close of just executing every advy we find, but I didn't want to be the bastard that does that and ruin the fun for others.

[MTYL]

I'm on EC 31 days and JeVondair's ressurection is the first magical thing I saw happening there (and not exactly "saw" as my character was so far away from it that only stories reached him). I am yet to see anything magical on Dwillight. It appears to me that you just happen to be fighting against a realm that's all about magic. Thus it's an incidental thing and not the whole BM broken cause of "too much" magic. RP a crusade against magicians or something.

I am even very close of just executing every advy we find, but I didn't want to be the bastard that does that and ruin the fun for others.

Adventurers being .exe (cutable) is part of the BM mechanics the same as the scrolls that bug you so much. You're being unfair to yourself when you restrain yourself from taking advantage of one when someone else is taking advantage of the other. I wouldn't hesitate to shank the advy if I had a really good reason.

[Gabanus family]

I'm on EC 31 days and JeVondair's ressurection is the first magical thing I saw happening there (and not exactly "saw" as my character was so far away from it that only stories reached him). I am yet to see anything magical on Dwillight. It appears to me that you just happen to be fighting against a realm that's all about magic. Thus it's an incidental thing and not the whole BM broken cause of "too much" magic. RP a crusade against magicians or something.

To a certain extend we're already doing so. Magic is forbidden in Oligarch and we've condemned it always. Our rhethoric on it is very severe. But the magic that's used on EC is not an incident but constant. Perhaps it's used less in the south, but we don't see a round of battle without magic cast against us. The impact is far too great and it's ruining the game for me at this point.

A

dventurers being .exe (cutable) is part of the BM mechanics the same as the scrolls that bug you so much. You're being unfair to yourself when you restrain yourself from taking advantage of one when someone else is taking advantage of the other. I wouldn't hesitate to shank the advy if I had a really good reason.

I play this game to enjoy, but also very much to make sure others enjoy it. The latter is the main reason why Oligarch formed into a new realm in the first place. I know that when we start executing every advy we can find it will in part ruin the game for their players and I'm not here to ruin the fun of others just because someone is ruining my fun.

In stead I am arguing for limiting magic beyond BT and at least on EC. I made the same arguments to the devs yesterday and they will look at it. If nothing happens I'll reconsider my options in a few months I guess. I love this game too much to just quite and for me Oligarch as a realm has become too awesome with many amazing players to me to just leave it and run for the magic.

[JeVondair]

That may be the difference then. In all the battles Selenia has fought in during this war (protip: a LOT) scrolls have never once been used. The only magical event that happened previously was some kind of portal event where the whole population of Isadril up and abandoned Xavax then raged through Vix and Perdan.


In fact, the only scrolls that I'm aware have been used at all were when Stegman Hemmings targeted her with pain magic 2 or 3 times, then when she used a Fountain of Youth scroll on herself. Lastly, of course, this resurrection. End of list.

[steelabjur@aol.com]

I can only recall one major magical incident in the south (portal stones being used in Isadril causing a ton of the population to become a mobile militia that went rampaging northward) we certainly don't see the level of magic use you're describing. Hell, my Advie finally found a wizard for the first time since his creation in the last week or so.

[Gabanus family]

That may be the difference then. It seems then that Sirion is buying all scrolls and using them against us and me personally preferably.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind them targetting Garas with anything else as he earned that, but the magic should not be on EC let alone this strong. If they capture Garas and execute him due to his ban I'd have no problems with it (I'd be sad sure, but no more) and I then wouldn't want him to be revived then. This is a risk I take by being on front lines every turn, but they already tried once to capture him by removing his hours with magic just as we were moving back after a battle. In stead I got wounded but they'll prob try again. Should that happen I'm now 50/50 between doing everything to destroy Sirion...everything..or just rage quit.

But yeah this is the magic we face every time...

[JeVondair]

Simple Solution: Move to Xavax where we only have magical events once ever 5 years or more.

[Gabanus family]

Haha thanks, appreciate the offer :p

But if I ever leave Oligarch because of the magic I'll be gone entirely I'm afraid ;)

Fortunately we're not at that point yet

[Ulfang]

Oi! Where's Uthred's bloody scroll! Although he died twice so there probably wasn't two spells  ;)

[MTYL]

I play this game to enjoy, but also very much to make sure others enjoy it. The latter is the main reason why Oligarch formed into a new realm in the first place. I know that when we start executing every advy we can find it will in part ruin the game for their players and I'm not here to ruin the fun of others just because someone is ruining my fun.

Categorical Imperative. I wouldn't mind having an advy character killed off for some very good reason.
And honestly if I was playing an advy in said magical realm then I personally would preffer some thrill and danger than just frivolously acquiring great advantage to my realm without any fear of retribution. If you're too scared to have your character killed off then what's the point playing advy/hero at all.

[Zakilevo]

Sirion does fit into a magical realm. Elves and now endless array of spells coming out from them to hit Garas...

[steelabjur@aol.com]

That may be the difference then. It seems then that Sirion is buying all scrolls and using them against us and me personally preferably.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind them targetting Garas with anything else as he earned that, but the magic should not be on EC let alone this strong. If they capture Garas and execute him due to his ban I'd have no problems with it (I'd be sad sure, but no more) and I then wouldn't want him to be revived then. This is a risk I take by being on front lines every turn, but they already tried once to capture him by removing his hours with magic just as we were moving back after a battle. In stead I got wounded but they'll prob try again. Should that happen I'm now 50/50 between doing everything to destroy Sirion...everything..or just rage quit.

But yeah this is the magic we face every time...

Ah crap, I can understand now why you feel the way you do. I have a character on every island and never encountered anything remotely like that.