Clarke's Third Law... Librarians Style

Clarke's Third Law is a popular trope amongst GMs particularly for those running Sci-Fi games and stems from this famous quote:

Arthur C Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

You've seen examples of this in the movies include:

• Star Trek Into Darkens - When Kirk orders the Enterprise to move in order to save Spock, he breaks the prime directive by revealing the ship to the volcano worshipping Nibirans, who immediately begin worshipping the ship.
  
• Star Wars - On seeing C3-P0 the primitive Ewoks believe him to be a physical manifestation of their long prophesied deity "The Golden One" and do his bidding.
  
• Apocalypse Now - The primitive tribesmen are easily swayed by the imposing god-like Colonel Kurtz, and become followers of his own personal army/religion.

However, in the The Librarians episode "And the Rule of Three",  writers Paul Guyot and John Rogers  flipped the trope around, making a magic spell indistinguishable from a mobile phone app.

The central premise of the episode was that each time you played a wishing game on your phone you actually cast a wish fulfillment spell and were rewarded by things happening in the real world.  This instant gratification becomes addictive, just like Candy Crush or Angry Birds. 

A Conceptual U-Turn

This conceptual U-Turn opens up all sorts magical and supernatural possibilities for modern day games like Cthulhu Now, Shadowrun and The Laundry RPG which take place in our current technology obsessed world.  Even though we use these devices every day, very few of us really know how they operate, ie: at the machine code level, for all I know 4G might just be the fourth gate to Hell.  Is it a coincidence that the Steve Jobs chose "Apple" as the name for his company?

We put a lot of trust in our tech, we don't really want to know how it works, just that it does.  We are okay with that, our devices enrich our lives and make things easier (mostly). 

Our global IT Networks are central nervous system connecting us all together through our devices, much like the Ley Lines of myth, through nexus sites like Stone Henge.  Why wouldn't modern mages piggyback this global telecoms network in some way, harvesting energy from the unsuspecting masses, or feeding energy into it or even just piggybacking on the signal.

Arthur C Clarke - The Father of Global Telecomunications

Arthur C Clarke died on this day in 2008 at the ripe old age of 90.  Coincidentaly, Arthur C Clarke is most famous for inventing the concept of the geostationary orbit used by telecomunications satellites and underpins the whole shebang.  Is it a coincidence...

Semantic Spell Casting in Video Games.

Shorty C over at Noobist Magazine brought this cool video game idea to my attention. 

Runes: The Forgotten Path is a kickstarter project with a unique semantic spellcasting mode.

Clockwise from 12 - FIRE, AIR, WATER, EARTH
+ 10 ARCHETYPE RUNES from the video  

Essentially the game is designed to use either wiimote style nunchucks, or the analogue sticks of your joypad to "air write" semantic gestures in order to cast spells.  Each Rune begins with an orthogonal movement of each joystick from the center resting position and continues with a circular gesture.  These shapes drawn with left and right hand are combined to create a rune. 

There are 4 basic element runes, 6 combination runes and 10 archetypal runes offering at least a  hundred potential combinations and apparently options to create your own.

Semantic spell components have been around for a long time in tabletop games, I checked... they're in my AD&D PHB published back in 1980.  And it's one of the things I've recommended that my players do for ages (along with creating a physical spell book prop) to add depth and drama to their spell casting characters and increase their level of immersion.

In addition to the added dramatic element, as a DM I can use the characters physical situation to challenge them.

For example a mage is crossing a rope bridge, when it snaps.  Do they resist the urge to grab the bridge and cast a feather fall spell in mid air as they plummet to their death, or do they grap the remains of the rope bridge and wait for the rest of the party to save them?

Similarly what happens if a mage gets injured (or is restrained) and they can't cast because they don't have full use of their hands/arms.  How does the party cope?

Movie Watch: The Brass Teapot

I love indie films, they can often get away with things that Hollywood wouldn't or couldn't get through its exhaustive audience testing process.   

The Brass Teapot is one such film, it's essentially a morality tale disguised as a comedy with a supernatural focus in the form of a magical teapot which gives you money in exchange for pain.

The tale follows the likeable, but struggling young couple, Juno Temple (Atonement, Killer Joe) and Michael Angarano (The Forbidden Kingdom, Sky High) who discover a magical, money producing teapot and set about using it to change their lives.  The pair are likeable although a little stereotypical, and are surrounded by a plethora of family, friends and enemies who are all exploited by the pair as they gradually fall under the spell of the teapot. 

Add in the pair of Jewish grandsons and the strange Chinese Professor of Antiquity who both know the true power of the teapot and things turn comically dark. 

What's in it for role players

Well obviously it's the magic teapot.  I loved the way the story of this cursed item played out for the couple and it would pose a challenge to any greedy character in your game.   Essentially the teapot rewards you financially in exchange for experiencing pain but the longer you use the teapot more it's power grows, and it moves on to the next stage of its reward structure.

• Stage 1: Accidental Injury to oneself. 
• Stage 2: Self Inflicted Injury
• Stage 3: Injury inflicted by another
• Stage 4: Injury to a stranger
• Stage 5: Injury of a friend
• Stage 6: Death of a stranger
• Stage 7: Death of a friend
• Stage 8: Death of a thousand
• Stage 9: Death of a town
• Stage 10: Death of a Nation
• Stage 11: Death of a species or race.

I'd make sure that it was found as a side treasure in a tomb and be pretty but mundane looking, either functional or at best semi-valuable, so as not to become an instant trade. 

Have the items power hidden for a time and only revealed to one or two characters (preferably a thief) who can keep a secret.  Allowing them to gradually discover the teapot's secret should add some interesting side story to your party.  As the owner becomes blasé about using the teapot's power, it should start paying less, or stop altogether.  They won't get a similar payout again until they find a new way of causing pain, which could be fun in it's own way.

Enjoy...

Power Corrupts: Side Effects for Magic Users gaining levels

"This is Corruption"
Doug Kovacs 2011

On the internets today, my eye was poked by an awesome image by fantasy artist Doug Kovacs.  It masterfully illustrates a wizard passing through the various stages of his career and gradually changing as he becomes corrupted by his growing power.  This also rekindled my love of the old  AD&D 3 Stage Miniatures (of which I've written before).
 
Hack and Slash, Trollsmyth and Grognardia all write about spell casters gaining temporary side effects as a consequence of casting or memorizing the spell.  However, I feel that this would become onerous to track in game and doesn't really reflect the concept illustrated in the image, namely the chronic effects of exposure to thaumaturgic energies and their corrupting effect on the flesh and mind.

This is not a new idea,  in fact it's a defining feature in most fantasy literature, be it Saruman's corruption by Sauron or Raistlin Majere's racking cough and golden skin.  So why should there be a free lunch in RPGs? 

I can't think of a good reason not to to do this, so here's a little table of random levelling effects.

D20	DESCRIPTION	EFFECT
01	NOT YOUR DAY	Re-roll twice (ignore all results of 1 or 20) apply both effects, you retain the right of choice.
02	HAIR LOSS	The hair on your head falls out. You're permanently bald, deal with it.
03	MAGICAL BURNS	You have been burned by the thaumaturgical energies. Permanently lose 1 CHA, 1 DEX or 1 CON (your choice) which cannot be healed by any means.
04	ASTRAL SMOKE INHALATION	Your lungs have become scarred by smoke inhalation. Lose 1 CON permanently and develop a wracking cough which cannot be healed by any means.
05	DEFORMED SKIN	Your skin has become: scaley, changed colour, become translucent, become hairy, become leathery, developed warts or lesions, veined, liver spotted (you choose). This change is permanent and cannot be healed by any means.
06	DEFORMED EYES	One of your eyes has: changed colour, changed shape, become sensitive to light, or a particular spectrum of light, become bloodshot, enlarged. This change is permanent and cannot be reversed by any means.
07	DEFORMED HAND	You have, lost a finger or thumb, arthritis, paralysis, had your hand replaced by that of a beast, lost your whole hand (You choose).
08	SOUL TAINT	Your soul has become tainted and you have become less empathetic as a result. You permanently lose 1 WIS and 1 CHA which cannot be healed by any means.
09	VOID MIND	Part of your mind has been lost to the void. You permanently lose 1 INT which cannot be healed by any means.
10	DEFORMED FACE	You have: lost an eye, lost your nose, unexplained nose growth, lost your sense of smell or taste, developed facial scars, lost an ear, mishapen skull, lost teeth, developed fangs, facial droop, developed a wild expression (your choice). Lose 1 CHA permanently.
11	WITHERED LIMB	Your arm or leg has become withered (you choose). Permanently lLose 1 STR, 1 DEX and 1 Move which cannot be healed by any means.
12	HEARING LOSS	A magical explosion has permanently damaged your hearing and cannot be healed by any means. Lose all bonuses to hearing checks.
13	STOLEN YEARS	You have been permanently ravaged by Time. Add 10 years to your current age. This change is permanent and cannot be reversed by any means. You can never be rejuvenated below the age of 10. This effect can be taken multiple times and the effects of old age should also be applied as specified in the game rules.
14	STOLEN LIFE FORCE	Part of your life energy has been eroded. Lose 1 STR permanently. Cannot be healed even by magical or divine means.
15	SOUL CONTRACT	To save your own life you had to sign a soul contract. Your soul will be collected in 20 years unless you can find a way to break the contract. If you already have a soul contract it just got 5 years shorter.
16	SANITY LOSS	Your mind has become ravaged by the unspeakable horrors which lurk beyond this mortal realm. You permanently lose 1 WIS which cannot be healed by any means.
17	SIGHT BEYOND SIGHT	Everytime you look at someone: they age before your eyes, you see their death, you see their skeleton, you see their alignment aura, you see the face of a deceased loved one (you choose).
18	FRACTURED MIND	Your mind has become trapped straddling two universes. Whenever you are required to make a binary decision (Yes/No, Left/Right, Up/Down, Kill/Don't Kill) you must roll a d6 to determine your state of mind; 1-4 Your decision is unnafected, 5 You must change your mind to the opposite choice, 6 You become catatonic.
19	MALODOUROUS	You smell of: sulfur, stale urine, faeces, rancid milk, orc, a week old corpse (you choose). This change is permanent and cannot be reversed by any means only masked by strong perfumes.
20	GM'S CHOICE	GM rerolls and chooses the effect for you.

3 Stage AD&D Miniatures

(R to L): Citadel (ADD11) Female Wizard (Lvl 1)
Ral Partha (01-331) Illusionist (Lvl 2), Illusionist (Lvl 3)