Re: (TFT) The philosophy of writing Tightly defined spell effects

[ErolB1@aol.com]

>   Anyway the following questions would be
> interesting to me if the gentle readers would like
> to tender some opinions:
>
> 1)    Is TFT magic too predictable / mechanical?

For the most part, no. 

I used to be a big fan of tightly defined game effects, and for the most part 
I still am. But over the years, I've come to the conclusion that there's the 
occasional bit that simply works better (for my style of play, anyway) if the 
rule is just "GM whim" (or "Player whim" in some cases). There aren't many of 
these points, and if I could replace each one with an elegant mechanic, I 
would, but sometimes there just isn't a good mechanic. 

>
> 2)    In what ways would it be best to make it 
> more flexible?

The points in my house rules where I throw in whim are (1) the death rules, 
(2) the rules for long-distant teleport, and (3) the rules for Gates. 
"Control Weather" felt like it should be a fourth point for whim-based GMing. 


> 3)    How do mechanical spell / talent descriptions
> interfere / affect story telling campaigns?

I think it's really cool when an elegant, well-designed mechanic gives a 
result that "fits" the world. Using GM whim is always second-best to this, 
IMO. The advantage is that GM whim is better than mechanics that give clunky 
results that poorly fit the in-game-world situtation. 

> 4)    How can we have weakly defined or vague spell
> descriptions with out pissing off the PC's (who 
> went to some trouble to get this spell)?

It depends on the players. Tastes vary. What helps me, when I'm a player, is 
for vague, whim-dependant descriptions to be kept rare and for them to be 
hedged with a fair warning: "This spell is wonkier than most; the results it 
produces will often be based on GM whim, rather than cut-and-dried game 
mechanics." (Mea culpa, I didn't do this with my Control Weather spell - it 
was a lazy first draft I wrote and posted). 

> 5)    Are there any points that relate to the
> questions that I've raised that I've not addressed?

Can't think of any. 
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