(TFT) Magic Items not so unbalancing if they just don't show up.

["John J Hyland" <johnnyboytmm@juno.com>]

Maybe I've just been lucky, but i have never had any problem (as a GM) with
magic items unbalancing a campaign.  My policy has always been that just
because they are listed in the book does not mean you can really find these
things for sale on every streetcorner.
My games are generally low-to-mid magic, so they rarely come up.  In the
latest game the only magic item the party has is a quartz carving of a candle
with a light enchantment on it.  A gift to the party scholar from dwarvish
nobility. (They also briefly owned an 800 yr old self powered bracelet of
maintain illusion, but the scholar PC made them give it to the dwarvish
scholars guild, since it had great historical import, and led to a whole
series of adventures dealing with an archeological dig)
In other campaigns I've had slightly more magic, like a +2 sword, or a 5 pt st
battery, but you generally get them by looting the body of someone who just
tried to kill you with it.  Very rarely are magic items available for sale in
my games, and commisioning the creation of one is alot like ordering a
super-computer capable of nuclear simulations, or a printing press capable of
printing US Mint quality bills.  In theory it can be done, but in practice
very few entities have the pull to accomplish it.
Of course that is not so much a rule issue as a game group thing, I like to
run low magic games and the guys like to play them.  Unbalancing magic items
that define characters is also (IMO) a game group thing rather than a rule
issue.  Every game with magic items can run the same risk (AD&D I am looking
at you) it depends on the gamers in question.  Which is not a bad thing, if
you like contests of giant earth shaking artifacts, then it is exactly the
right style of game for you, just not for me.
John
PS.  Wow, lots of posts lately.
PPS. DMG, its nice to the the classic posts make a comeback.



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