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Whimsy.
Kill it with fire.
Last thing I'd want in any fantasy setting is the magical equivalent of a plastic fly in an ice cube in your drink or a bucket of water propped over a half - open door. Leave that kiddy trash for Harry Potter.
The Legend roleplaying game, published by Mongoose, available for a buck from Drivethru RPG, contains three separate kinds of magic. Divine Magic, the heavy guns where the characters can invoke divine aid; Sorcery, where the will of the magus can rend the universe and bend time and space to his will ... and Common Magic. The low magic stuff.
Legend spawned off the old RuneQuest roleplaying game, formerly the property of Chaosium but now owned by those marvellous people over at Issaries, Inc., who also own the rights to the Glorantha setting. Legend is not RuneQuest: characters no longer have to hunt down runes, like bloody Pokemon trainers - "gotta cast 'em all!" - and the rules for Divine Magic and Sorcery, likewise, have altered accordingly.
Common Magic replaces the old Rune Magic, formerly known as Battle Magic. In a hideous Warhammeresque throwback to the original RuneQuest, where Battle Magic was designed purely and simply to give characters spells to aid them in battle such as Bladesharp and Speedart and Fireblade, Common Magic still has those spells listed beside Befuddle and Demoralise, along with Disruption and Hand of Death and Darkwall, beside such spells as Abacus and Mason's Boon. A curious juxtaposition, to imagine a children's nanny possessing the Common Magic spells Becalm, Entertainer's Smile and Glamour on the one hand, and Skybolt and Hand of Death on the other.
I think I have been pointing out the fact on the Mongoose boards that Common Magic has to be culturally relevant. Abacus and Countermagic are far more readily available than Bladesharp - most homes will still probably have a whetstone to sharpen their blades, or go out to take their blades to the blade sharpener on the street corner with his little foot-operated grindstone.
Midwives would likely know Becalm and Countermagic, gardeners and farmers would know the equivalent of Armoursmith's Boon or Mason's Boon, only used to boost whatever skills they need in agriculture, horticulture and husbandry.
Perhaps Craft (farmer) and Craft (gardener) skills?
A horse whisperer who relies on Common Magic would have the equivalent of Becalm, but only working on horses and only inasmuch as it calms them down and eases their skittishness while in his presence. Perhaps a Magnitude 1 Common Magic spell?
Looking at the Craft skill description on page 57, it lists a whole bunch of trades:-
Armourer, baker, basketweaver, blacksmith, bowyer, brewer, butcher, candlemaker, carpenter,
cartographer, cobbler, cook, cooper, fletcher, joiner, leatherworker, mason, painter, potter, sculptor, smith, tailor, torturer, weaver.
Add to those the following list:-
Apothecary, farmer, gardener, herbalist, horse whisperer, midwife,
I'd throw in the following Common Magic spell:-
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger
Many variants of this spell exist, one for each trade requiring a Craft skill, such as armourer, armoursmith, blacksmith, joiner, midwife, nanny and cartographer. This spell grants the caster a +10% bonus per point of Magnitude to his next Craft Skill Test involving the trade specified, and cannot stack with any other spell-effect bonuses. This spell goes by many different names: Armoursmith's Boon and Mason's Boon are the most well-known, but spells such as Cartographer's Boon, Tanner's Boon and Green Fingers (a Tradesperson's Boon spell for Craft skills involving living plants) also exist.
And also, perhaps, the following:-
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger
Many variants of this spell exist, one for each trade with a Lore skill, such as armourer, armoursmith, blacksmith, joiner, midwife, nanny and cartographer. This spell grants the caster a +10% bonus per point of Magnitude to his next Lore Skill Test involving the trade specified, and cannot stack with any other spell-effect bonuses.
A lot of the Common Magic you are likely to see would involve basic 10% bonuses to mundane trade skills like Craft, Evaluate and Commerce. Those with knowledge of Common Magic would still probably use it very rarely, because if they use it all the time they will be going home absolutely drained of what little Magic Points they have. Not every Nanny would have a repertoire of Common Magic tricks like Mary Poppins - come on, that song with the birds was pure Becalm in action! - and aficionados would quickly determine (some would say "by scent") the difference between a true handcrafted item, made without magic, from one fashioned from someone who boosted their skills with a little zest.
Perhaps skilled evaluators of objets d'art would prepare themselves with a Common Magic spell to enhance their Evaluate skill accordingly, enabling them to discern whether or not any sort of magic was involved in an item's manufacture, whether or not it was recently subjected to a Repair or Form/Set spell, and whether or not the Craft skill used in its manufacture or repair was enhanced or not. Golden Tongue does not count for this purpose, since it deals strictly in terms with buying or selling the item, not - for instance - in determining if an object is a forgery crafted by magic to look like something more valuable, or to distinguish between the work of a skilled Master and that of his less skilled Apprentice.
For the most part, Common Magic would likely be something useful to many, possessed by comparatively few (those most skilled in Common Magic would all have higher than average POW for the Magic Points, and they would all consequently seem ... a little weird) and desired by everyone. Consider a local healer who knows Craft (apothecary) and Craft (herbalist), some First Aid and maybe Heal, but who knows only Apothecary's Boon, Becalm and Herbalist's Boon. No Common Magic for direct healing, but when she makes you a chicken soup for your manflu, consider that manflu gone by the evening. "Cutpurse's Boon" would work just as well as an idea for boosting Sleight skill for pickpockets, "Footpad's Boon" for Athletics skills for burglars and "Copper's Boon" could be learned by guards to boost Insight, Perception or Athletics skills to catch criminals.
What could Common Magic do that looks fun?
Look at Entertainer's Smile, which boosts Dance, Sing and Play Instrument. What about a Common Magic spell for acrobats that boosts Athletics and Acrobatics skill? Imagine a street show where, as the marks are drawn in, they are approached by a "lucky heather seller" who gives them a sprig of heather "for luck," only to find themselves targeted by the entertainer who uses Detect Heather Sprig to pinpoint his "volunteers from the audience."
Perhaps the sprig of heather really is for luck: the "heather seller" might throw in a low level Fate spell to bless a charming, polite character.
Legend currently doesn't have Common Magic illusions, but if they did they would be the darlings of street entertainers who would keep kids entertained with displays of dancing lights in all the colours of the rainbow, spook people at Samhain with ghostly noises and creaks, and make people laugh by having some poor victim try to sit down on a chair that isn't there. Street entertainers can probably learn Dragon's Breath as part of their act - mundane fire eaters are always fun to watch.
I daresay a trickster would find, and create, a host of Common Magic effects, none more than 1 Magnitude, to go with Befuddle. All Legend needs, then, really, are lists of cheap Common Magic tricks to make people fart or belch really loudly, to change hair colour for a few days - or grow it really long or lose it altogether - or temporarily to turn their hands and faces blue, and they'd be made.
The sole criterion that has to be adhered to is that the Common Magic effect has got to be cool. Nothing Vancian or vaguely Harry Pottery.
Kill it with fire.
Last thing I'd want in any fantasy setting is the magical equivalent of a plastic fly in an ice cube in your drink or a bucket of water propped over a half - open door. Leave that kiddy trash for Harry Potter.
The Legend roleplaying game, published by Mongoose, available for a buck from Drivethru RPG, contains three separate kinds of magic. Divine Magic, the heavy guns where the characters can invoke divine aid; Sorcery, where the will of the magus can rend the universe and bend time and space to his will ... and Common Magic. The low magic stuff.
Legend spawned off the old RuneQuest roleplaying game, formerly the property of Chaosium but now owned by those marvellous people over at Issaries, Inc., who also own the rights to the Glorantha setting. Legend is not RuneQuest: characters no longer have to hunt down runes, like bloody Pokemon trainers - "gotta cast 'em all!" - and the rules for Divine Magic and Sorcery, likewise, have altered accordingly.
Common Magic replaces the old Rune Magic, formerly known as Battle Magic. In a hideous Warhammeresque throwback to the original RuneQuest, where Battle Magic was designed purely and simply to give characters spells to aid them in battle such as Bladesharp and Speedart and Fireblade, Common Magic still has those spells listed beside Befuddle and Demoralise, along with Disruption and Hand of Death and Darkwall, beside such spells as Abacus and Mason's Boon. A curious juxtaposition, to imagine a children's nanny possessing the Common Magic spells Becalm, Entertainer's Smile and Glamour on the one hand, and Skybolt and Hand of Death on the other.
I think I have been pointing out the fact on the Mongoose boards that Common Magic has to be culturally relevant. Abacus and Countermagic are far more readily available than Bladesharp - most homes will still probably have a whetstone to sharpen their blades, or go out to take their blades to the blade sharpener on the street corner with his little foot-operated grindstone.
Midwives would likely know Becalm and Countermagic, gardeners and farmers would know the equivalent of Armoursmith's Boon or Mason's Boon, only used to boost whatever skills they need in agriculture, horticulture and husbandry.
Perhaps Craft (farmer) and Craft (gardener) skills?
A horse whisperer who relies on Common Magic would have the equivalent of Becalm, but only working on horses and only inasmuch as it calms them down and eases their skittishness while in his presence. Perhaps a Magnitude 1 Common Magic spell?
Looking at the Craft skill description on page 57, it lists a whole bunch of trades:-
Armourer, baker, basketweaver, blacksmith, bowyer, brewer, butcher, candlemaker, carpenter,
cartographer, cobbler, cook, cooper, fletcher, joiner, leatherworker, mason, painter, potter, sculptor, smith, tailor, torturer, weaver.
Add to those the following list:-
Apothecary, farmer, gardener, herbalist, horse whisperer, midwife,
I'd throw in the following Common Magic spell:-
Tradesperson’s Boon (Trade)
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger
Many variants of this spell exist, one for each trade requiring a Craft skill, such as armourer, armoursmith, blacksmith, joiner, midwife, nanny and cartographer. This spell grants the caster a +10% bonus per point of Magnitude to his next Craft Skill Test involving the trade specified, and cannot stack with any other spell-effect bonuses. This spell goes by many different names: Armoursmith's Boon and Mason's Boon are the most well-known, but spells such as Cartographer's Boon, Tanner's Boon and Green Fingers (a Tradesperson's Boon spell for Craft skills involving living plants) also exist.
And also, perhaps, the following:-
Trade Secrets (Trade)
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Trigger
Many variants of this spell exist, one for each trade with a Lore skill, such as armourer, armoursmith, blacksmith, joiner, midwife, nanny and cartographer. This spell grants the caster a +10% bonus per point of Magnitude to his next Lore Skill Test involving the trade specified, and cannot stack with any other spell-effect bonuses.
A lot of the Common Magic you are likely to see would involve basic 10% bonuses to mundane trade skills like Craft, Evaluate and Commerce. Those with knowledge of Common Magic would still probably use it very rarely, because if they use it all the time they will be going home absolutely drained of what little Magic Points they have. Not every Nanny would have a repertoire of Common Magic tricks like Mary Poppins - come on, that song with the birds was pure Becalm in action! - and aficionados would quickly determine (some would say "by scent") the difference between a true handcrafted item, made without magic, from one fashioned from someone who boosted their skills with a little zest.
Perhaps skilled evaluators of objets d'art would prepare themselves with a Common Magic spell to enhance their Evaluate skill accordingly, enabling them to discern whether or not any sort of magic was involved in an item's manufacture, whether or not it was recently subjected to a Repair or Form/Set spell, and whether or not the Craft skill used in its manufacture or repair was enhanced or not. Golden Tongue does not count for this purpose, since it deals strictly in terms with buying or selling the item, not - for instance - in determining if an object is a forgery crafted by magic to look like something more valuable, or to distinguish between the work of a skilled Master and that of his less skilled Apprentice.
For the most part, Common Magic would likely be something useful to many, possessed by comparatively few (those most skilled in Common Magic would all have higher than average POW for the Magic Points, and they would all consequently seem ... a little weird) and desired by everyone. Consider a local healer who knows Craft (apothecary) and Craft (herbalist), some First Aid and maybe Heal, but who knows only Apothecary's Boon, Becalm and Herbalist's Boon. No Common Magic for direct healing, but when she makes you a chicken soup for your manflu, consider that manflu gone by the evening. "Cutpurse's Boon" would work just as well as an idea for boosting Sleight skill for pickpockets, "Footpad's Boon" for Athletics skills for burglars and "Copper's Boon" could be learned by guards to boost Insight, Perception or Athletics skills to catch criminals.
What could Common Magic do that looks fun?
Look at Entertainer's Smile, which boosts Dance, Sing and Play Instrument. What about a Common Magic spell for acrobats that boosts Athletics and Acrobatics skill? Imagine a street show where, as the marks are drawn in, they are approached by a "lucky heather seller" who gives them a sprig of heather "for luck," only to find themselves targeted by the entertainer who uses Detect Heather Sprig to pinpoint his "volunteers from the audience."
Perhaps the sprig of heather really is for luck: the "heather seller" might throw in a low level Fate spell to bless a charming, polite character.
Legend currently doesn't have Common Magic illusions, but if they did they would be the darlings of street entertainers who would keep kids entertained with displays of dancing lights in all the colours of the rainbow, spook people at Samhain with ghostly noises and creaks, and make people laugh by having some poor victim try to sit down on a chair that isn't there. Street entertainers can probably learn Dragon's Breath as part of their act - mundane fire eaters are always fun to watch.
I daresay a trickster would find, and create, a host of Common Magic effects, none more than 1 Magnitude, to go with Befuddle. All Legend needs, then, really, are lists of cheap Common Magic tricks to make people fart or belch really loudly, to change hair colour for a few days - or grow it really long or lose it altogether - or temporarily to turn their hands and faces blue, and they'd be made.
The sole criterion that has to be adhered to is that the Common Magic effect has got to be cool. Nothing Vancian or vaguely Harry Pottery.
