SM Frequently Asked Magic Questions

The Magic of Utopia...
"Utopia" is the place where everything is perfect. Soak it in, feel it, enjoy it... and don't think about the paradox. You thought about it, didn't you? Therein lies the problem: perfection to one is rarely perfection to another. By definition, "Utopia" can't exist as a physical place.

Speculation treats magic the same way. "Magic" is an unlimited source of power that can alter reality at the snap of a finger. Even if arcane energy does exist... magic does not. Instead, there is a physics to magic. This isn't a mystical morality tale of "Be Careful What You Wish For" consequences, this is a health and safety class in the nature of an energy with incredible hazards and toxicities.

So here's the mindset to help sort it out: magic doesn't exist. Arcane energy does. Whether characters are warmed by it – or burned by it – is up to them.

The Arcane Primer
Magic, for the individual caster, is an on-demand power source. As long as someone has a grasp of magic and a specific intent, they can cast a spell. Certain schools of magic performing certain spells may require physical components, as well as verbal or somatic actuation.

Additionally, there are ways magical energy can be stored and released through all manner of enchanted items – and many of those can be built to be activated by those without the requisite knowledge to cast the spell independantly. Just as most folk that use a spreadsheet wouldn't know how to code a program, there is a brisk trade in high-level magic for use by the magically disinclined.

Individual spells can be one-step simple or organically complex. Spells can be layered, life-givingly benevolent or 10 megaton malevolent. There are several approaches to every challenge. Many spells may have some requirements of one sort or another, others may have none.

A Peek into ARCSYS

 * Certain schools – actual schools – teach different styles of magic actuation. While the overall mechanic gets magicians to the same place, not every path has the same efficiency.
 * ARCSYS does not measure arcane energy as "mana," but there are similarities in how energy flows. Think of magic more like intelligent electricity.
 * Much like welding without gloves or a mask, Magic may have deleterious effects to the caster.
 * Casters, a type of magician, may pre-charge a routine and hold it for future use, but in general, this is not a Jack Vance-style of memorize-and-forget magical musket loading.

The Magic FAQ
For those exploring Speculation's take on the arcane, we're compiling the questions of aspiring wizards and sorcerers. For in-game characters, this is high-level data: of those who could actuate magic, most wouldn't even know a fraction of this. So, when players read this – and they should – this is the ultimate in metagaming. The players know, but the characters do not.

As more questions come in, we'll expand this list.

The Nature of Magic

 * Speculation assumes that a magic world would be fundamentally the same as our mundane one, it would just have "magic" in it. But what does "fundamentally the same" really mean? It mean gravity works. It means the sun rises but it's the planet that's moving. It means all the laws of physics that we currently know (if not love) are still valid. We're already built by four natural forces; how does magic – a multi-faceted fifth force – fit in?

What is magic?

 * Magic is a fundamental universal force.
 * It is not a part or product of our universe but is rather an ancient and complex field of energy into which our universe is expanding. If each of the four fundamental forces has one signature behavior, magic has several.
 * Under nominal conditions, magic does not interact with the mundane universe. Under rare circumstance, conditions may spark an interaction.
 * While mundane dynamics are far more varied and vigorous, magic is not completely static. As it has multiple behavioral qualities, perfect equilibrium is not possible and there is always some movement to it.
 * Where magic has been activated, other magic tends to gravitate.

Where does magic come from?

 * Magic precedes creation. Arcane energies are the debris of a universe, perhaps universes, that existed before our own. The origin of magic is ancient on a cosmological scale, more than 16 billion years old by any scale we can measure. It is unknown (and likely unknowable) if magic existed in its current state in the last universe or whether it is a product of the transition to this universe.

How powerful is magic?

 * Extremely powerful on a logarithmic scale. However, under normal conditions, it is dormant unless accessed.
 * How powerful is powerful? Consider that magic is carried on a force that acts both as particle and wave – in that respect, it is familiar – yet magical carrier particles are a product of compression between universes, when volume as we know it ceased to exist and the carrier particles of a previous universe were subject to laws and forces that can't be guessed at. That said, there are different fundamental magic energies (just as there are different bosons), but each of the magical carrier particles may display more than one property. With this combination, that gives magic the possibility of being far more powerful pound-for-pound than mundane energies. On the other hand, while magic can create a great deal, there is comparatively little magic versus the amount of mundane.
 * In either system, the mechanics are the same, though the activation threshold and power levels will be determined by the campaign setting.
 * Ultimately, magic is more powerful than average mundane forces, but not as powerful as high-level, high-energy forces. For instance, at the threshold of matter-antimatter interaction, most magic can't match the per-particle release of energy.

Is Magic "alive"?

 * Strictly, metabolically speaking, no.
 * Nor does magic have it's own inherent consciousness, but that's not to say that consciousness can't exist within it.
 * By comparison, the other four forces aren't inherently alive either, it's how they come together that makes "life." It is quite possible for magic to be integrated into life on several different levels, and both influence and be influenced by it.

Has magic, like the other four forces, become integral to life itself?

 * No... or at least, probably not. On the whole, it is dormant unless activated. The activation threshold is the critical part of the equation. With a low activation threshold, magic would influence the universe at a fundamental level – it would be a regular catalyst and reactant at the scale of subatomic particles (and everything built with them). Life would not work "as we know it", though it still could work and even work similarly to how we know it.
 * Activation requires a complex attenuation. That said, in nature, almost anything that can happen, will (or has and does). There are instances where natural phenomena have sparked magical interaction, where magic has spontaneously interacted, and situations where mundane processes under the influence of magic have adapted and evolved, integrating magic into its essence. For these examples, the answer would be "yes."
 * For purposes of this system, 99% of everything is uninfluenced by magic. The other 1% has varied, inherent magical traits. In living things, most of the magic could be considered advantageous. In non-living things, the presence of magic as a component is likely due to the attenuation of the object, compound, or condition.

What about pre-existing forms of magic?

 * With respect to magic purported to already exist in the contemporary world, such as Wicca, voodoo variants (and related hoodoo religions), as well as other occult practices, the Speculation system maintains low confidence in their probability.
 * The Skeptics Benchmark: beyond elements of religious persecution or simple tactical discretion, the simple benchmark is the relative power of those connected cultures in the world versus the priorities connected to those systems. If those methods were successful, then connected environmental and socioeconomic indicators would trend toward supporting cultures.
 * If they do exist, their arcane impact is diffuse and largely underpowered.
 * The ARCSYS gives them the benefit of the doubt as "underpowered," with the assumption that certain rituals may tap the halo of valid phenomena.
 * It is highly likely that such a tap would actually be a mix of what Speculation treats as the separate systems of arcane (magical) and psionic (spiritual) energies.
 * It is also highly likely that if the Speculation systems were realized, that pre-existing forms of magic would lose much of their following. The remaining following, however, would find ways to adapt and evolve their art into a potentially formidable system.

How is Speculation magic different from other game systems?
Magic, spells, fireballs, boom. Got all that? Okay, then how different can Speculation really be?

Coming in from another magic game system, sometimes it may be handy to describe the differences to the old role-playing pros and go from there. Start with the Primer and the FAQ (above) for the assumptions the system uses as a foundation. Once the philosophy is known, the mechanics fall into place.

Differences with D&D/d20

 * D&D magic is very good at what it does: balance classes and make level progression pay dividends with increased power.
 * In Speculation, there are no classes, much less level professional progression. For the newcomer, think of Speculation as a skill-based system: once the character knows Speculation's equivalent to D&D's "Arcana Skill," they're on their way to using magic.
 * There is skill progression, complete with per-use conditional experience points.
 * Replicating a D&D class in Speculation could be roughly done with a tailored skill build.
 * Some D&D classes have special circumstances, sometimes as part of the origin story, such as the natural spellcasting ability of the sorcerer class. Speculation character generation, with a Ref's approval, may apply "conditionals" to achieve a player's desired narrative.
 * Once a D&D character earns the "spellcasting feature," the mechanic uses spell levels for more difficult and powerful spells, with spell slots limiting the amount of "ammunition" a magical character can arm themselves with in any given stretch.
 * Speculation doesn't use Spell Levels, but it does have Task DoDs (along the lines of a saving throw DC) and skill levels, which guide the metrics in how much power a spell will channel. Likewise, just as D&D has spells that may use a ranged/melee attack, many Speculation spells use the D/DoD combat mechanics.
 * D&D has "Schools of Magic." Specifically: Abjuration (protection), Conjuration (transporting or creating), Divination (intel gathering), Enchantment (mind controlling that guy), Evocation (conjuring specific energy to blow up that guy), Illusion (deception: a kind of sensory enchantment to gaslight that guy), Necromancy ("life" energy and how to drain it from that guy), and Transmutation (changing stuff, i.e.: that guy into a toad, among other applications).
 * There are some similarities in the divisions in the ARCSYS Disciplines, though the great majority of D&D spells would fall under Speculation's "Common Actuation" Discipline.
 * The D&D world assumes "raw magic" is suffused through all of creation but that it's inaccessible to most (including Players). Instead, PCs access magic through an overlay the game summarizes as the "The Weave."
 * The difference between raw magic and weave magic is effectively "narrator's magic," allowing spell complexity and power beyond what is available to the players.
 * There is no multiverse-wide magic-access overlay in Speculation.
 * In D&D, "[m]ost spells require the chanting of mystic words." The D&D assumption is that the magic is held in the specific pitch and resonance of the words. Literal magic words, as part of "V/S/M components" (Verbal, Somatic, Material) that are potential requirements for a spell.
 * Speculation differs in that magic is held and shaped in the mind, and may be actuated by words based on their meaning to the individual caster. Material components may or may not be required depending on the technique.
 * In D&D, the magic is cast and automatically assumed to be successful for a variety of otherwise targeted spells ("the spellcaster chooses the spot for the effect to happen"). Fireball, for instance, is cast by picking the spot where it happens and assumes magical guidance over a Line-of-Sight path.
 * Speculation differs in that the spellcaster will cast a spell, but there are multiple targeting methods and success is not automatic. Higher Arcane Practice (AP) skill allows more accurate guidance, depending on the spell, but that may come at the cost of time or overall situational awareness.
 * Non-LOS spells utilize varied mechanics on a case-by-case basis.

Differences with the Potterverse:

 * Magic in the Harry Potter universe is largely plot device with glimpses of J.K. Rowling's internal system given through the audience sitting in class with the students. We are the other students, the foils, as the teachers give the philosophical overview and Hermione neatly corrects our mechanics.
 * In the Potterverse, magic is inaccessible to "muggles" and "squibs".
 * In Speculation, there is a steep learning curve, but magic is available to anyone and everyone.
 * Potterverse Magic is very much in the specific gestures and words, as evidenced by Hermione's precision emphasis and flicks of the wand.
 * In Speculation, magic is not in the wrist – though aim still counts.
 * One thing that is similar is that wands/devices/magical appliances make arcane energy more accessible.
 * In Speculation, the use of a point-source device is known as Wandism – the predominant form of casting in campaigns that have magic. For the small percentage that can actuate arcane energy without a wand, it's known as Casting.

Differences with World of Warcraft:

 * Magic in the WoW universe is a mana-based game mechanic, with output and power governed by how much magical energy a character has. The deeper the pool, and the faster it recharges, the more magic a character can cast.
 * Speculation doesn't use a "mana pool" per se, but has similarities based on a character's skill and mental capacity (for casters) and/or the properties of the device they're using (for wandists).
 * WoW is an MMO RPG (MMORPG), so the magic system is carried and auto-calculated by the computer in the background, turning most combat encounters into a twitch-first/tactics-second style of gaming.
 * There's very little "twitch" in tabletop gaming: the lack of computer processing means the Speculation system needs to run with considerably less "modifiers."
 * WoW is designed around combat encounters or pre-engineered interactions. This means most WoW magic is oriented on combat: offense, defense, or buffs that overlap the two.
 * Speculation magic, like most pen-and-paper systems, is applicable literally anywhere, and in ways that would be "game breaking" in regard to the limits of the game engine and how quests are designed in WoW.