![]() ![]() This allows you to cast spells at people you can’t see…except you still need a visual link (accomplished by having a spirit observe the target in the Astral Plane). There’s also Ritual Spellcasting (because, ancient European ideas about magic). This becomes important (for game reasons) in the next chapter, so just hold that fact in your head until we get there. Force essentially limits the number of net hits the spellcaster can get on the spellcasting roll. Spells have a Force, which determines their overall power (as well as how much Drain you take). I’ve always liked that system as it neatly avoids spells-per-day or mana points, but it does mean there’s more rolling to be done (although the magician player can just roll their Drain while the GM moves onto the next person). Drain is Stun damage that spells do to the caster – the more power they put into a spell, the more potential damage they might take. After all the spell effects happen, the magician has to resist Drain. Depending on the type of spell, it might be Opposed, in which case the target gets to defend with Willpower. *sigh*Ĭasting spells boils down to a Complex Action and rolling Spellcasting + Magic. Again, I’d like some unexplained phenomena and mysticism in my magic systems, but Shadowrun avoids mixing magic and technology in so many frustrating ways. One of the cool things about adding magic to a near-future game is how the two can interact, an interaction Shadowrun avoids like the plague. Targeting objects also is somewhat funky, as the more technological the item is, the harder it is to affect. This can lead to weird exceptions (like targeting an Area spell might miss someone you can’t see even though they’re in the blast area) but it’s essential to how Shadowrun treats magic. ![]() Because magic is essentially channeled directly into someone’s aura (ignoring Armor), it requires a visual link. The targeting rules for spells get really specific. I like the basic idea of making up your own Tradition, except that it generalizes magic even further. In the new system, you get to build your own. This basically just determined how you interpreted magical energy as well as restricting what types of spirits you could summon. In old editions, these were hermetic and shamanic. In fact, I could see myself consulting this summary if a weird magic question ever showed up in game. It’s really hard to summarize a summary, so I’m not gonna bother, but suffice it to say that its taken the game 20 years to be able to sum it up in a concise way that covers all the bases and makes sense. The chapter starts out with a really well-done explanation of how magic operates in Shadowrun. Yeah, so expect this section to vacillate between awe and aggravation. What’s especially aggravating about that is that it’s actually a good system. So, while I’m looking for some more mysticism and unexplained phenomena in my magic system, the game does its best to suck all the flavor out of it. ![]() It’s trapped in that place between game rules and world concepts because the basic world concept of Shadowrun magic is that it operates according to the game’s rules. It incorporates everything you’ve heard about “real world” magic (rituals, spell formulas,…) and then boils that down to some number-crunching spell lists. Plus, it just proves that spirits are awesome. This story wasn’t actually that bad at explaining the basics of magic without using exposition. I don’t know if I got that title right because I don’t speak gibberish (I’m also culturally sensitive). This review has turned from a review into a thesis. ![]()
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