Magic: The Burning

I love magic. I love the fantasy that it brings and the stories that come to mind. Worlds form in my mind with magic seeped into the background, nudging here and there. The only thing I love more is taking it all away:  creating a world losing its magic, with the cold, bitter darkness encroaching in all around the remnants of civilization. My inner GM cackles at the idea of punishing magic users for even thinking of using magic. I think, “how can I torture my players the best?”

Low Powered Magic – High Powered Stakes

My love for the “punishable by death” or “burning from your god” started with the Iron Kingdoms. Privateer Press subscribes to the same thoughts as I do. In the Iron Kingdoms, if you heal too many of your fellow party members, your god may just choose to punish you for it. One god takes it to a level where if both the caster and the target don’t worship him, both characters get burned. Oh, and sorcerers? They tend to get burned as witches. Magic is taken very seriously in this setting.

Glutton for Punishment

I set this up for you to explain the siren’s call I’m hearing. Due to our new Savage Status Reports, we’ve been taking a more in depth look at the games available for Savage Worlds. Hellfrost is on the chopping block this week, and I began to take a good hard look at the game. It’s come to my attention before; Triple Ace Games releases a new adventure every week for one of their games. I’ve just never paid much attention to it; that is, until I noticed the Siphoning.

The Siphoning and You!

Instead of just punishing a few magic users and the clerics, ala Iron Kingdoms, Hellfrost takes a different route. It punishes everyone that uses magic equally. Your magic users will be hard pressed to fire off their spells knowing that the cold gaping maw of the siphoning is looking to take it back. That’s what I love about punishing magic users: the little bit of fear that comes with the casting. Never knowing when they are going to implode or attract the attention of the wrong kind of company. It’s a fine line between power that you wield and power that wields you. That’s the line I like to GM, always one small slip away from never ending darkness.

What kind of magical setting do you like running?