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(TFT) Magic System



I believe it's not a fault of TFT, it's a reality of any game system. 
Since there is no "real" magic against which to compare, system designers make choices for their representation of magic.
The system, from the MicroGame Wizard, has no inherent basis in Cidri (predating it, I believe).
It is merely an attempt to represent magic in a manner that keeps magicians balanced with non-magic users.
There's all sorts of ways to do this:
Drawing from internal reserves: TFT
Pool of Power points: Savage Worlds, Rolemaster
Spell slots: D&D
...to name a few.

In fact I often think how magic is handled in a world is one of the key world differentiators, so you could almost say that Cidri is defined by the magic system, as opposed to the other way around.

Since I do play all those systems, I see that they all have certain benefits and shortcomings, and you can tinker with the rules just a little bit to give a different flavor. But I think that's where it stands, in that coming up with an all-encompassing, fully generic magic system would be quite an unwieldy beast indeed, and probably not that much fun to play!

My ramblin' 2c,

- Marc

-----Original Message-----
>From: "maou_tsaou1@netzero.net" <maou_tsaou1@netzero.net>
>
>TFT's magic system is strangely broken and I think I can explain how.
>
>If TFT magic is supposed to be a generic system then far to much emphasis is placed on Cidri, if however the spells listed are meant to describe the magic of Cidri and require adaptation for more generic uses then many spells stop far short of the kind of information needed to quantify it for purposes of balance.
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