Descriptions

[Endrek03]

Hey all,

Just curious... How does everybody describe a few things in game? Specifically...

Astral plane. I've always had an idea of how the astral plane looks... But I've also felt it's never very accurate. I've always imagined it being like seeing the world as if its constructed of constellations in the night sky. I've always felt this is inaccurate but there's no other way I could describe it. How do you describe it? What do you feel Astral Sight looks like?

Additionally ... Thread weaving. How do you describe to players it looks when a Wizard begins to thread a spell? How do you describe the physical interpretation of a Thread? I've always wanted to describe it as .... Well, weaving.... But I always felt that wasn't heroic enough or how it was meant to be depicted. How do you describe to your players how "thread weaving" looks?

[Flowswithdrek]

On the few occasions I've needed to I've described the astral plane as a ghostly echo of our own world. The more abundant life is, the brighter, the more corruption and taint, the darker. Either way I usually describe things as having ghostly forms, misty tendrils of magic slowly drifting in a wind that can't be felt. Anything alive appears a little less corporeal. If the characters actually enter astral space, I describe things a bit more solid. But really, describe it as best suits your adventure, perhaps its ever-changing and never looks quite the same.

Thread weaving I describe as trying to pluck a thread of power from a of constantly shifting pattern of magical energy and connecting it to whatever, spell, item, person. If you want it to sound more heroic describe the threads in the pattern resisting being plucked, recoiling from the adepts grasp, or dancing about wildly etc..

[Tattered Rags]

Another option is to make sure the players know what astral space and thread weaving are on the technical side, and then let them describe it from their characters' perspectives.

Naturally that's harder for players new to the game, but since each Discipline, and each person, has a slightly different approach to how they view magic, then it makes sense that would color their perspectives.

[Slimcreeper]

Astral plane - without any magical presences, it is void. The imprints of physical objects are revealed like sonar reflections, showing shape and location, but not much else. Magical patterns glow more or less intensely based on how much magic they contain. In my view, perceiving the astral plane reveals sources of of magic unless there is some sort of concealment. In order to learn more than a relative measure of magical power, one must succeed against the spell defense of the source of magic. This is like trying to perceive the filament in a light bulb while it is lit. Or, in some cases, like trying to observe sunspots with the naked eye. In most regions of astral space, varying amounts of pollution swirl through. More than blocking perception like a mist, it is a mist-shaped space where there is nothing to perceive. When one is in astral space and the pollution brushes against your pattern, it clings to the holes and gaps in your pattern. It gives the sensation of being undone, of existential terror. In contrast, there are currents of magical energy that flow from pattern to pattern. They provide some illumination, but are mostly felt, not seen, in the same way that in the physical world you can feel the warm air moving above a candle. However, a trained adept can sense them at a distance, creating a mental map of the energies even from the physical world. These currents are the threads that a magician weaves to power spells. While the entire process is done through mental effort, not physical, magicians typically have some sort of physical action that helps them focus. Sometimes the actions are codified for given spells. For other spells, the magician may move her hands or fingers or facial features as an aid to concentrate on the currents. There aren't usually any flashy lights or sounds or funny odors that indicate spells are being cast. However, the magician can't fool anyone - she is exerting massive effort to push and twist the magical currents through her spell's matrix.

[Razan_GM]

Thread Weaving is almost never requiring any physical actions, its just a mental effort to weave astral energies to complete Spells Pattern (for those spells that have 1 or more Threads, better Matrix can hold more complicated Spells and can store 1 Thread). There is no physical interpretation of a thread, it only exists in astral plane, it is pure energy.

Casting Spell may require some physical actions.

So while mage is weaving threads for spell that will totally annihilate entire vilage, he can talk, drink, laugh and even a drop of sweat wont give you a hint that he is doing that.

[Fusilliban]

[Razan_GM]

Remember that Disciplines are way of how one sees the world. Psychopaths wouldnt be initiated, its imposible to hide your nature for like 3-5 or more years spend with master. Most crazy Adepts are adventurers (PC and such) because they wander in Dark places. So there is very little crazy spellcasters and simple folk does not need to fear them (most of the time).

[Telarus_KSC]

There is some truth to being able to just whip a spell out of no-where. J'role's wife (a human Elementalist) does it a few times when she is captured by a Theran slaver airship and has her hands tied up, but I think those may have been 0-thread spells (if I remember correctly, they didn't even know she was a caster at first.... probably need to read those novels again, lol). But there is a reason that all the spellcaster Disciplines have Embroidery as one of their main Artisan skills, as it is one way to practice the focus and attention to both detail and pattern (at the same time) that threadweaving/spellcasting requires. So, I usually describe casters as making reflex motions with their hands that resemble knitting, embroidery, etc if the hands are free. If not they either gesture with the held objects, or if their hands are bound they scrunch up their face in concentration and mutter or nod in time to what they perceive the magic doing.

If a caster wants to intentionally hide the fact he is casting (a good idea, sometimes!), I would call for some Deceit/Insight Interaction tests (ED4 Game-master's Guide p145). This is interesting, because it forces the target to make a Charisma based Interaction test to detect the threat, instead of a Perception test to detect a hidden ambush (although I would allow the normal Perception test if the caster had only achieved 1 success on his Deceit test as you need 2 to fool your target, see the Interaction Test rules).

If the target failed, they would suffer the Surprised situation modifier (-3 PD/MD and No Actions this round), so this is a good tactic sometimes. Oh, I would also allow this to set off Danger-Sense if the target has that talent, so if they fail their Insight or Perception test they can react if they beat the caster's Initiative result with Danger Sense.

[Aside... I did this in a D&D3.5 game with a Sorcerer once. During a negotiation. "Let's Shake On It :evil grin:"]

[Razan_GM]

Actually embroidery have nothing to do with threadweaving/spellcasting other than maybe precicion and patience practicing. Its there because Matrixs talents were developed after Scourge ended, and before that Raw Magic was used to cast spells or Spell Matrix objects. And the easiest way to carry your Matrix objects is to make them your own cloth. Using hands (or whatever) could be for some low Circle magicians a bit of habit that makes it easier for them to focus. But such things on Circle 5+ would be rather eliminated, youre not novice afterall.

Its all upon GM/Players agreement. You need it for storytelling, its ok. But someone playing a magician is rather looking at his character as a specialist, and wants to be rookie for as short time as possible (20+ years of GMing tells me so). Players wants their characters to be badasses

[Endrek03]

This has actually been very helpful and definitely helped me align a vision so I can craft Earthdawn'esque adventures.

Thank you very much for all the help!