Re: (TFT) orbs

[Stan <srydzews@ix.netcom.com>]

Neil Gilmore wrote:
> 
> > It would be silly to just give 'artifact' level items to wizards 
> > (aka megalomaniacs) and just hope that they won't decide to go
> > their own way with them. 
> 
> I'm not so sure that the 'average' TFT Wizard can afford to be a
> megalomaniac. 

Well, true.  My comment was partially tongue in cheek.  But the 
"mad wizard who wants to become immortal/take over the world"
is much more of a staple of S&S fiction that the "mad bowman
or engineer or physician that wants to take over the world."

> Part of the charm of the system is that wizards pretty much
> have to stick together to accomplish the big works (apprentices,
> more than single enchantments, high ST costs, etc.).

Hm?  AW, p30: "A one mage, if he has time enough, can do anything 
a team can do."  You just multiply the time instead of adding
wizards.  You'd still need your lackeys (apprentices), but what
evil genius doesn't have lackeys?
   But largely you are correct in that to get anything big done 
in a reasonable amount of time, the group approach is a *lot* more
practical.  

> The communication thing may be why it's possible to find them, 
> even though they're no longer under direct control.

Makes sense.

> > 2) What I'm thinking is that perhaps the globes allow
> > their wielders to share power in some way--for instance,
> > say you had fifty border outposts, each with a...
> 
> Cool idea. I wonder how it stacks up, rules-wise (can you Aid through a
> Gate? [but Gates don't move...]). Not that anyone has to stick to the
> rules...

I don't think it can be done through any of the existing spells, but
I don't think the concept breaks any of the rules or the principles of
TFT magic.

A possible rationale:
  There really is only one orb.  (Yes, there appear to be fifty, but
really, metaphysically, they're all the same orb, if you see what I 
mean.)  That way, anyone touching one is touching all of them, and by
extension everyone touching an 'instance' of the orb is also touching
each other.  So it's just a normal AID spell you're casting, but 
instead of the range being 100,000 hexes to the other wizard, it's zero.

Of course then some smart aleck orb-wielding wizard figured this out and 
decided to see what would happen if he touched one instance of the orb to
another.  That's when the trouble began...

Another approach would be to somehow apply the traditional magic
principle of sympathy (once together, always together) to the orbs.
If they were once part of a whole (a very special/enchanted whole, 
to be sure) then that may explain why the distance between them is
somehow negated.

Now you could accomplish the same 'concentration of power' just by
having all the outposts connected by gates, but gates are something
of a two-edged sword.  A gate can go unstable, the key changed with
a CONTROL GATE spell, etc.  Plus if The Enemy feints an attack on one
outpost, and the wizards all rush to that outpost, then the REAL attack
comes at another outpost...I can see where the orbs would be in some 
ways superior to a network of gates (plus, 2500 gates is just a LOT of 
gates to manage).

Just a few more thoughts.

BTW, I'm throwing the number 50 around, but I have no idea how many
outposts/orbs there really should be.
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"