Earthsea magic with Dragon Warriors rules

With Christmas almost upon us (what, again?!) it seems like a good time to try something just for fun. I asked Claude to take my post about Tim Harford's Earthsea-like Conclave campaign and convert the rules to Dragon Warriors. Although I do sometimes use AI when I'm writing rules and scenarios, normally I just use it as a sounding board. This time I'm handing over the reins, so here is Claude's guest post. 

This is the first of a string of daily posts comprising a countdown to Christmas, so check back in tomorrow for something else.

The art below in today's post by AI too, hence the mostly trad-fantasy style. (But we can't blame Claude for that. It doesn't do images.) You can still coax decent art out of AI, but it's not as easy as it was a year or two ago, when it wasn't overtrained on the same old same old.

OK, take it away, Claude...

The Mage

A Dragon Warriors profession for Earthsea-style magic

Overview

In the island realms where magic flows like tide through ancient stones, the Mages represent the truest practitioners of the Art. Unlike the scholarly Sorcerers with their books and laboratories, or the elemental shamans who channel raw forces, Mages understand that all magic begins with the Word, the true name that binds essence to form. They are the wizards of legend, capable of reshaping reality with carefully chosen words, yet bound by ancient traditions that demand restraint and wisdom.

Minimum Requirements

To become a Mage, a character must possess:

• Intelligence 13+ (understanding the deep structures of language and reality)
• Psychic Talent 11+ (sensitivity to the true names underlying all things)

Characters with Psychic Talent 8 or less cannot use magic at all.

Initial Characteristics

Basic Combat Factors:

• Attack: 10, Defense: 5
• Magical Attack: 16, Magical Defense: 6
• Health Points: 1d6+3
• Evasion: 3
• Stealth: 13, Perception: 7

The Art of True Magic

The Two-Step Casting System

All Mage magic requires two separate skill checks:

1. Naming Roll: Roll against the Mage's Naming skill to determine how well they can discern or invoke the true name of their target
2. Art Roll: Roll against the specific magical discipline being employed

The degree of success on the Naming roll directly modifies the Art roll. If the Naming roll fails completely, the magic cannot work at all - without the true name, the Word has no power.

Naming Modifiers

Known True Names: If the Mage knows the complete true name of the target, no Naming roll is required - the magic automatically succeeds at maximum effect.

Partial Knowledge:

• Target's common name known: +2 to Naming
• Target's lineage/type understood: +1 to Naming
• Target studied for at least 1 hour: +1 to Naming
• Target completely foreign/alien: -3 to Naming

Success Levels and Art Modifiers:

• Naming roll succeeds by 10+: +4 to Art roll
• Naming roll succeeds by 5-9: +2 to Art roll
• Naming roll succeeds by 1-4: +0 to Art roll
• Naming roll fails by 1-4: -2 to Art roll, spell may still work
• Naming roll fails by 5+: Magic fails completely

The Nine Arts of Magic

Each Mage begins play knowing Naming plus three Arts of their choice. Additional Arts may be learned through study, typically requiring a teacher and 3-6 months of intensive training.

1. Change (Major Art)

Transform one thing into another

• Range: Touch for major changes, 10m per rank for minor alterations
• Duration: Permanent for inanimate objects, Spell Expiry for living beings
• Restrictions: Cannot create or destroy matter, only reshape it
• Examples: Stone to bread, rabbit to wolf, iron to gold, man to tree

2. Find

Locate lost or hidden objects, places, or people

• Range: 1 mile per rank
• Duration: Instantaneous (provides direction and approximate distance)
• Modifiers: +2 if item belongs to the caster, +1 if recently handled
• Examples: Lost ship, buried treasure, missing person, hidden door

3. Gate

Open and seal magical portals and paths

• Range: Touch
• Duration: 1 minute per rank (or permanent with additional cost)
• Types: Unlock any physical barrier, create temporary passages through walls, open mystical doorways between distant places (8th rank+)
• Examples: Locked door springs open, passage through solid stone, portal to distant island

4. Healing

Restore health and cure ailments

• Range: Touch
• Duration: Instantaneous
• Power: Restores 1d6+rank Health Points, can cure diseases and neutralize poisons at higher ranks
• Limitations: Cannot raise the dead or regrow lost limbs 

5. Illusion

Create false images and sensory deceptions

• Range: 50m per rank
• Duration: Spell Expiry
• Scale: Single person illusions (1st-3rd rank), building-sized (4th-6th), landscape illusions (7th+)
• Examples: False appearance, phantom armies, invisible ships, illusory islands

6. Mend

Repair broken or damaged objects

• Range: Touch
• Duration: Permanent
• Scope: Complexity limited by rank - simple tools (1st), complex mechanisms (4th), magical items (7th+)
• Examples: Shattered sword becomes whole, broken mast repairs itself, torn sail mends

7. Pattern (Major Art)

Scrying and discerning hidden connections

• Range: Unlimited for scrying, touch for connections
• Duration: Concentration (can maintain for 10 minutes per rank)
• Applications: See distant places, understand relationships, predict consequences, read the past from objects
• Examples: Watch events across the sea, trace a person's family line, foresee storm paths

8. Send

Project your image and consciousness

• Range: 10 miles per rank (cannot cross running water)
• Duration: 1 hour per rank maximum
• Limitations: Image can speak and perceive but cannot physically interact or cast spells
• Examples: Appear in a distant council chamber, scout enemy positions, deliver messages

9. Summon (Major Art)

Call objects or beings to your location

• Range: 1 mile per rank for objects, unlimited for willing beings
• Duration: Permanent for objects, willing beings stay as long as they choose
• Power: Complexity increases with rank - small objects (1st), large objects (4th), creatures (6th), people (8th), the dead (10th+)
• Examples: Summon your lost staff, call a fish to your net, bring forth a long-dead spirit

10. Weather

Command wind, rain, fog, and storms

• Range: 1 mile radius per rank
• Duration: Natural weather patterns (typically hours to days)
• Scope: Small changes (1st-3rd rank), local weather (4th-6th), regional effects (7th+)
• Examples: Gentle breeze, thick fog, driving storm, calm seas

Magic Point System

Daily Magic Points: Rank × 3

Spell Costs:

• Minor Arts (Find, Healing, Illusion, Mend, Send, Weather): 1 MP per rank of effect
• Major Arts (Change, Gate, Pattern, Summon): 2 MP per rank of effect
• Naming: No cost (but required for all other Arts)

Example: A 3rd rank Mage using Change to turn a rock into bread would spend 6 MPs (2 × 3 for a Major Art at 3rd rank effectiveness).

Restraints of Wisdom

The true power of a Mage comes with corresponding responsibilities. Reckless use of magic disrupts the natural order and marks the practitioner as dangerous. Choose one restraint system for your campaign:

Option 1: Mana Depletion

Each casting depletes ambient magical energy in the area:

• After casting, all subsequent magic in a 100m radius suffers cumulative -1 penalty per previous spell
• Depletion recovers at 1 point per hour
• Natural phenomena may be disrupted (tides, weather patterns, animal behavior)

Option 2: Natural Consequences

Every magical act creates an opposing reaction:

• Weather magic brings equal and opposite weather later
• Healing one person may cause illness in another
• Summon magic often requires something to be "paid" to the summoning
• Effects manifest within days or weeks

Option 3: The Burden of Power

Excessive magic use affects the Mage's health and spirit:

• Each spell beyond (rank ÷ 2) per day inflicts 1 point of Psychic Strain
• At Strain equal to Psychic Talent, suffer -2 to all rolls
• Strain removes at 1 point per day of complete rest from magic
• At double Psychic Talent in Strain, risk permanent characteristic loss

Option 4: The College of Hythe (Recommended)

An organization of elder Mages monitors magical use:

• Obvious public magic draws attention (Perception check for College agents in civilized areas)
• Misuse of magic results in warnings, then censure, then active opposition
• "Good" magic use builds reputation; "selfish" magic creates enemies
• High-rank College members are 12th+ rank Mages with powerful allies

Mages and Armour

Mages suffer significant penalties when wearing heavy protection, as armor restricts the precise gestures and movements required for their complex magic:

• No armor or Gambeson: No penalty
• Padded Armor: -1 Attack, -1 Defense, 10% spell failure
• Mail Hauberk: -2 Attack, -2 Defense, 20% spell failure
• Mail Armor: -3 Attack, -3 Defense, 35% spell failure
• Plate Armor: -4 Attack, -4 Defense, 50% spell failure

Special Abilities

1st Rank: Foundation Arts

• Naming: Core ability to discern and invoke true names
• Spellcasting: Can use any three Arts chosen at character creation
• Magical Sensitivity: +2 to detect magical auras, enchanted items, or supernatural presences

4th Rank: Scholar of the Word

• Expanded Repertoire: Learn one additional Art
• True Speech: Can communicate with any intelligent being for 10 minutes per rank per day
• Magical Appraisal: Automatically identify the function of any magical item after 1 round of study

6th Rank: Master of Arts

• Dual Casting: Can maintain concentration on two different spell effects simultaneously
• Deep Lore: Learn one additional Art
• Ritual Magic: Can perform elaborate rituals taking 1-6 hours to achieve effects beyond normal spell limits (GM discretion)

8th Rank: Archmage Abilities

Select one ability when reaching 8th rank, then one additional ability each subsequent rank:

• Word of Making: Once per day, cast any Art at double normal effect without spending Magic Points
• True Name Mastery: Automatically learn the true name of any creature or object studied for 24 hours
• Sanctuary: Create a permanent mystical refuge warded against unwanted intrusion
• Weather Mastery: All Weather magic costs half normal MPs and affects twice the normal area
• Geas Binding: Place magical compulsions on willing subjects or defeated enemies
• Otherworld Travel: Use Gate magic to access planes beyond the mortal world
• Master's Voice: All Arts can be cast at +1 rank effect with no additional MP cost
• Deathward: Automatically resist one killing effect per day (death spells, fatal damage, etc.)

Initial Equipment

A beginning Mage starts with:

• Robes (counts as Gambeson, Armor Factor 1)
• Staff (d6, 3 points - can be used as spellcasting focus)
• Dagger (d4, 3 points)
• Spell Component Pouch (required for complex magic)
• Book of True Names (contains 2d6 true names of common objects/creatures)
• Lantern and oil
• 3d6 × 5 florins
• One minor magical item (GM's choice): crystal orb, enchanted ink, silver stylus, or similar

Art Descriptions and Mechanics

Using Magic in Play

You can cast Art you know at any level from 1 up to your rank. 

1. Declare Intent: Player states what they want to achieve and which Art they're using
2. Naming Roll: Roll 1d20 ≤ Naming skill
3. Determine Modifier: Apply Naming success/failure to Art roll
4. Art Roll: Roll 1d20 ≤ (Magical Attack + Naming modifier)
5. Resolve Effect: Success creates the desired effect; failure may have unpredictable results

Note: All Arts use the same Magical Attack score, just like other Dragon Warriors magic classes. The Lore skill represents general magical knowledge - understanding magical theory, identifying spells, knowing the history of enchanted items, etc. It doesn't directly affect spellcasting but is useful for magical research and investigation.

Learning New Arts

• From a Teacher: Requires a Mage of 4th rank+ who knows the Art, costs 500 florins, takes 3 months
• From Ancient Texts: Requires finding rare books/scrolls, Intelligence check, takes 6 months
• Through Discovery: GM may allow learning through special adventures or profound magical experiences

Major vs Minor Arts

Major Arts (Change, Pattern, Summon) represent fundamental alterations to reality and are correspondingly more difficult and expensive. They require greater mastery and exact a higher cost in Magic Points.

Minor Arts are still powerful but work with rather than against the natural order of things, making them somewhat easier to employ safely.

Sample Mage: Tenar the Windcaller (5th Rank)

An expert in Weather magic who has defeated warriors from three islands

Characteristics: Strength 10, Reflexes 12, Intelligence 16, Psychic Talent 14, Looks 13

Combat Factors:

• Attack 11, Defense 6 (base +0 for average Strength, +0 for average Reflexes)
• Magical Attack 22, Magical Defense 12 (base +1 for high Intelligence, +1 for good Psychic Talent)
• Health Points 14, Evasion 5 (base 4 +1 for good Reflexes)
• Stealth 14, Perception 13

Arts: Naming 14, Magical Lore 17 

Known Arts: Weather, Find, Healing, Illusion 

Magic Points: 11 per day (5×2 + 1 for Psychic Talent 14)

Equipment: Enchanted staff (+1, counts as d6+1, 4 points), robes, storm-glass pendant, charts of the seven seas

Background: Tenar earned her reputation by calling down storms that scattered three separate pirate fleets threatening her home island. Against an average warrior (Magical Defense 6), her Weather magic succeeds about 66% of the time - powerful enough to be decisive in battle, but with enough uncertainty to create tension. When she knows the true name of winds (learned through years of study), her magic becomes much more reliable, explaining her fearsome reputation among sailors.

Success Rates (typical targets):

• vs Ordinary Humans (MD 6): 66% success
• vs Trained Knights (MD 10): 47% success
• vs Other Mages (MD 12+): 35% or less

Designer's Notes

This profession balances the "great wizard" power level of Earthsea with Dragon Warriors' mechanical framework. The two-step Naming system creates interesting tactical decisions, while the restraint mechanisms prevent the "flinging spells about without qualm" problem you identified.

The progression reflects narrative power - a 5th rank Mage like Tenar has the magical firepower to deal with entire groups of warriors, but the system encourages thoughtful rather than profligate use of such abilities. The emphasis on true names creates rich roleplaying opportunities and gives GMs tools to control magical power through knowledge rather than just mechanical restrictions.

"To speak a true name is to change the world."

Adventure Seeds

The Nameless Ship (1st-3rd Rank)

A merchant vessel drifts into harbor with no crew aboard, yet the cargo holds are full and the ship is in perfect condition. Local authorities ask the characters to investigate. The ship resists all attempts at magical investigation - Find spells fail, Pattern magic reveals nothing, even simple Mend spells won't work on deliberate damage. The truth: a desperate captain erased his ship's true name to escape a terrible curse, but this has left it "hollow" - existing but not truly real. The characters must discover what the ship was called and restore its identity before the namelessness spreads to other vessels in the harbor.

The Weather Thief (2nd-4th Rank)

Fishing villages along the coast report their weather has "gone wrong" - some islands are locked in drought while others suffer endless storms. The characters discover that Koreth, a young Mage, has been stealing favorable winds from poor fishing communities and selling them to wealthy merchant captains. He knows the true names of several wind-spirits and can command them with near-certainty. The moral complexity: Koreth grew up in poverty and is sending his earnings home to his starving family. Do the characters stop him, try to reform him, or find a third option? Meanwhile, the disrupted weather patterns threaten to cause a famine.

The Apprentice's Folly (1st-2nd Rank)

The characters arrive at a coastal village to find half the buildings transformed into different materials - stone cottages turned to glass, wooden piers become silver, gardens sprouting metal flowers. A elderly Mage's apprentice attempted to impress the villagers by demonstrating Change magic, but didn't properly understand the true names of what he was altering. Now the transformations are slowly spreading and becoming more chaotic. The master is away on a long journey. The characters must either find him quickly, discover the true names themselves to reverse the magic, or find another solution before the entire village becomes an surreal nightmare.

The Truthseer's Dilemma (4th-6th Rank)

Lord Harren of Stormhaven requests the characters' help investigating rumors of treason among his nobles. He specifically wants a Mage to use Pattern magic to scry the truth, offering a substantial reward. However, the characters soon discover that Harren himself is the traitor, planning to sell information to enemies for personal gain. The honest nobles he suspects are actually trying to stop him. The Mage faces a classic dilemma: honor the contract and help expose innocent people, or violate their word to serve justice? Meanwhile, Harren knows several true names of court members, making him dangerous if he realizes the characters have discovered his secret.

The Bone Ship's Cargo (5th-7th Rank)

A skeleton crew literally sails into port -- the ship is crewed entirely by animated bones, but they're peaceful and simply want to trade rare spices for common goods. The problem: they're the remains of pirates who were executed years ago, animated by their former victim - a merchant Mage seeking revenge. The spell has gone beyond his original intent and the skeletons are now genuinely reformed, feeling guilt for their past crimes and trying to make amends. Local authorities want them destroyed, the Church declares them abominations, but the bones themselves plead for a chance to complete their penance. The characters must navigate the moral complexity while also dealing with the original Mage, whose thirst for revenge has consumed him for decades.

The College Inquisitor (3rd-8th Rank)

Master Yevon, a stern 10th-rank Mage from the College of Hythe, arrives to investigate reports of "irregular magical practice" in the region. He suspects one of the player character Mages of violating the ancient codes -- perhaps using magic too freely, or for personal gain, or without proper restraint. His investigation is thorough and his standards impossibly high. He knows numerous true names and can make magic work with frightening certainty. The characters must prove their innocence while also uncovering the real culprit: a Sorcerer who has been masquerading as a Mage and using flashy magic to gain political influence, not understanding that this brings unwanted attention from the College. [Note: I disagree with Claude here. I don't think it makes sense to have any other magic-using professions in an Earthsea-like world. There should be Mages and there should be non-wizards and that's it. -DM.]

The Last Word (6th-10th Rank)

On a remote island, the characters discover an ancient library containing the true names of things that no longer exist: extinct animals, lost islands, forgotten gods. A mad scholar has been using Summon magic to call these vanished things back into the world, but each return weakens the boundary between what is and what was. Dragons that died centuries ago now soar overhead, islands that sank beneath the waves reappear randomly, and ancient plagues return with the creatures that once carried them. The scholar believes he's restoring the world to its proper state, but his actions threaten to unravel reality itself. The characters must stop him while deciding what, if anything, from the lost past deserves to be preserved.

The Rival's True Name (Any Rank)

A recurring enemy of the party (perhaps a wealthy merchant or noble whose honor they've questioned) approaches them with an unusual request. Someone has learned his true name and is using it to work malicious magic against him: cursing his weapons to break, his horse to throw him, his food to turn rotten. He believes the culprit is another player character Mage, but swears he'll put aside their enmity if they help him discover who is really responsible and stop the magical harassment. The twist: the enemy is telling the truth, but the real culprit is using the attacks to manipulate both sides into a confrontation that serves their own hidden agenda.

FAQ

Resistance & Unwilling Targets

Q: Can you transform an unwilling person with Change? Yes, but they can resist. Treat it as an opposed Magical Attack (caster) vs Magical Defense (target) roll. If the target wins, the Change fails. Knowing their true name makes resistance impossible - the magic simply works.

Q: Does Summon work on unwilling targets? Yes, same as Change - opposed magical rolls. A summoned person arrives but isn't compelled to stay or obey. True names bypass resistance.

Q: Can you force-heal someone who refuses Healing? No resistance roll needed - the target must simply accept the touch. Someone actively avoiding you must be restrained or caught off-guard first.

Q: What if someone is holding a door you're using Gate on? The door holder can make a Strength check against difficulty (10 + Art level). Success means they hold it shut/open despite the magic.

Range & Area of Effect

Q: What's the range for Change, Mend, Healing, and Gate? All require touch for inanimate objects, or line of sight within 30 feet for living targets (Change, Healing). Gate must be cast on a portal you can see or touch.

Q: Can one casting affect multiple targets? No - one casting affects one target. To mend five broken arrows requires five separate castings (though they can be done in sequence, 1 MP each). Exception: Weather affects everything in its area simultaneously.

Q: How big can Changed objects be? Use the weight limits given. For living creatures, "small animal" = cat/rabbit, "large animal" = horse/stag, up to GM judgment for unusual cases.

True Names & Special Interactions

Q: If I know someone's true name, what exactly does that do?

• Automatic +3 to Magical Attack (no Naming roll needed)
• Bypasses resistance - Change, Summon, and similar Arts work automatically
• Makes effects permanent - Changed living beings don't revert
• Removes requirements - You don't need to have seen/touched them for Find

Q: Can I use someone's true name once I learn it, or do I have to re-learn it each time? Once learned, always known (unless you forget it, or powerful magic makes you forget). This is why Mages guard their true names so carefully.

Q: What counts as knowing the "true name"? The complete name in the Old Speech that defines the thing's essential nature. Partial names (knowing it's "rabbit" not "stone") help with the Naming roll but don't give the full +3 bonus.

Concentration & Multiple Actions

Q: While maintaining Pattern or Send, can I do other things?

• Pattern: Requires full concentration - you cannot cast spells, fight, or perform complex tasks. Can walk slowly, speak briefly.
• Send: Your consciousness is split. You can see/hear through the sending while your body remains aware but dazed. Cannot cast spells from either location.

Q: Can I maintain a Gate portal while fighting? Created portals don't require concentration once opened - they last their full duration regardless of what you do afterward.

Q: How many Arts can I have active at once? As many as you have Magic Points for, except those requiring concentration (Pattern, Send). Only one concentration effect at a time.

Ending Effects Early

Q: How do I reverse a Change before the duration expires? Cast Change again on the same target, declaring you're returning it to original form. This uses Magic Points as normal but automatically succeeds (no rolls needed) if you cast the original transformation.

Q: Can I close a Gate portal early? Yes - simply use Gate again on the same portal (1 MP, no roll required if you created it).

Q: Can I dismiss an Illusion voluntarily? Yes, at will, no action required. The Illusion simply vanishes.

Detection & Visibility

Q: Can targets sense when someone uses Pattern to scry them? Powerful magic-users (Magical Defense 12+) get an uneasy feeling when being scryed. They can make a Perception check against the caster's Magical Attack - success means they know someone is watching but not who.

Q: Is a Send projection obviously magical? Appears completely real at casual observation. Close examination or touch reveals it has no substance (hand passes through). Magical detection (Perception vs Magical Attack) can identify it as a projection.

Q: Can Mages detect active Arts being used nearby? Characters with Magical Defense 6+ can make a Perception check against the caster's Magical Attack to sense nearby magic being worked. Success reveals "someone just cast a spell" but not specifics.

Q: Do the Arts leave traces that can be detected later? Permanent effects (Changed objects, Mended items, summoned things) radiate faint magic detectable by anyone with Magical Defense 6+ who specifically examines them. Temporary effects leave no trace once ended.

* * *

And a final note from the human here: this exercise is very unfair to Claude. It does sterling work when I ask it to write code for me or to comment on rules mechanics. It struggles with creative writing because, like all LLMs and most humans, it specifically aims to recreate the standard story patterns it has trained on, which means it produces the kind of stories beloved of Hollywood writing gurus. For the same reason every AI-created RPG scenario is going to sound like a typical (aka bog standard) scenario. But ask Claude to write a parser to turn a prose gamebook into logic markup for an app and it will take flight and soar. Don't judge it by this post is what I'm saying.

Doomed Ones (a sorcerous subclass for Dragon Warriors)

Doomed Ones were originally a magic-using character class that I created in 1980 for Adventure, a roleplaying game that Games Workshop commissioned me to write. (The title was their idea.) A Doomed One permanently burnt a point of Constitution to unlock about twenty quite powerful spells. The character got one use of each spell and at any time could sacrifice another Constitution point to get another use of the twenty. Since Constitution both set the basis for the character’s hit points and limited the number of times they could be resurrected, it was a death sentence with a lot of power to use up on your way to the grave.

Even if Adventure (did I mention that was GW’s idea?) had ever been published, I’m not sure Doomed Ones would have made the final cut. They were kind of boring. A player would cross off a couple of Constitution points, then stingily husband their forty spells in any encounter while letting other characters do the heavy lifting. Not that that couldn’t make for an interesting dynamic, just that there was only one story to tell there and it didn’t bear repeating dozens of times.

There’s a certain logic to revisiting the idea using Dragon Warriors, seeing as how DW evolved out of my notes for Adventure (huh, that title…). So here they are.

Doomed Ones

A Doomed One is a Sorcerer who has bound themselves under ominous stars in the pursuit of magical power to the exclusion of all else. The Doomed One is treated like a normal Sorcerer except as follows:

Attack, Defence, Stealth, Evasion and Health Points do not increase with rank. Magic Points increase faster than for regular Sorcerers.

Because Doomed Ones are half in love with easeful death, they are unaffected by fright attacks caused by ghosts and the undead.

Every Doomed One has a fate in the form of a death that has been prophesied for them -- their doom. When creating the character, the player specifies a time of day (night, morning, afternoon or evening) and a cause of death. Causes of death should be reasonably general, not “belladonna mixed into warm milk” or "bitten in the ankle by an adder", say. Pick from this list or (with the GM’s discretion) something similar:

A blunt weapon, a cat, a dog, an edged weapon, fire, a fish, a fungus, a horse, an insect, a lake or pond, a moat, an ox, a pig, a plant, a rat, a river, rope, sand, the sea, a serpent, a tree, wine.

In any situation in which the character is exposed to the fated element, object, or thing at the fated time of day, they are subject to a Magical Attack of 2d6 + (d6 x rank/2). If that overcomes the character’s Magical Defence they are slain, if necessary by a freak accident. Conversely, if they survive, the close brush with death immediately restores their full Magic Points and Health Points scores.

The GM should bear in mind that dying because of a fish could include choking on a fish bone, for example. Further inspiration is available by looking at unusual demises in antiquity, in medieval times, and in the Renaissance. Or even these bizarre 17th century deaths. However, a character who is careful to guard against their fate should not be arbitrarily imperilled. Don’t say, “A horse bolts towards you out of nowhere and knocks you down.” In that example, the character should only risk their doom if they have voluntarily approached a horse or a stable at the preordained time, or if the situation makes an encounter with a horse reasonably likely.

The prophecy doesn't entirely protect the Doomed One from death by other means. If reduced to –3 Health Points in circumstances where their prophesied fate doesn’t apply, they are incapacitated but remain alive. The character can be healed and will recover consciousness when at positive health points but thereafter is a parolee of fate, having cheated death because of their prophecy, and recovers only 50% of their Magic Points each day until such time as they are faced with the preordained circumstances, whereupon they are challenged by the Magical Attack described above; if they survive that then their full sorcerous abilities are restored.

If reduced to –3 Health Points when the foretold cause (but not necessarily time) of death is present, the Doomed One is slain in a way that ensures the fulfilment of the prophecy. (‘She might have dodged that fatal blow if that darned cat hadn’t distracted her at the crucial moment.’) In those circumstances no Magical Attack resolution is needed.

If the Doomed One is slain in a manner that leaves no possibility of doubt – for example, incinerated in a furnace or sliced into small pieces – and the ordained cause is not involved, it is left to the GM’s ingenuity to contrive some way for the cause to take post-mortem effect. For example, the character’s coffin might be dropped in a river on the way to the churchyard, or the funeral procession might be held up by a runaway horse.

It goes without saying that a Doomed One should be careful to keep their prophesied fate a secret. The GM should not reveal it in front of other players until the circumstances apply, and even then conceal the precise details. If our example character is foolishly riding a horse in the afternoon, and the horse stumbles and throws him or her to the ground, the other player-characters won’t necessarily know if it was the tree root in the road or an insect bite on the horse’s rump or the horse itself that was to blame.

OK, look, if you really insist -- and don't say I didn't warn you -- here is part of the original manuscript of Adventure from 1980 in which Doomed Ones first appeared. It's mostly interesting for the glimpse of the Assassins rules, which I used when writing Out of the Shadows (DW book 4), but both Doomed Ones and Shamans (also in the excerpt) would probably have been dropped, at least in that form, if Adventure had ever come out.

A magic moment

If your interest was piqued by news about my forthcoming Jewelspider RPG last time, there's more today. Much more, in fact. I've been working away at the magic system, and finally it's been unveiled to all those patient Patreon backers.

Jewelspider is set in the world of Legend (the same setting as Dragon Warriors) but it's more of a realistic take on Legend's medieval origins. This is the world as the people inhabiting it believe it to be. Magic is real, but it isn't a matter of careening fireballs and glitzy special FX. Typically a spell takes minutes, hours or even days to cast, but the outcome is much more significant than simple artillery.

The theory is that an evocative and flavourful magic system will mean that every spellcasting attempt is an adventure seed in its own right. To achieve that goal I'm eager for feedback from the Patreon backers (that wisdom of crowds thing) and after that I'll be releasing the game, first as a PDF and then in print form.

In brief, this is how the Jewelspider magic rules work:

The Nature of Magic

Magic in Jewelspider is a subtle art, often requiring tools and time to manifest. The core of the system lies in reality's reluctance to be altered by magic; overt magical effects are challenging to achieve.

Spellcasting Mechanics

Mastery Levels: To cast a spell, characters must possess mastery in the relevant type of sorcery.

Skill Use: Most spells are cast using Reasoning, though some can be woven from artistic expressions using Artistry. 

Intrinsic Difficulty: Each spell has a difficulty level that must be met or exceeded for successful casting.

The Seven Magical Laws

Each of these modifies the difficulty of casting.

• Contagion: Using personal items like hair or nails can influence spell difficulty.
• Subtlety: Spells cast without witnesses are easier to achieve.
• Deferment: Delayed effects are simpler to integrate into reality.
• Proximity: Closer targets make for easier spellcasting.
• Impermanence: Temporary spells are easier than permanent ones.
• Invitation: Spells accepted by targets (even unwittingly) are more potent.
• Sympathy: Artistic mimetic components (e.g., a feather for a levitation spell) can enhance spell effectiveness.

Tools and Time

The effectiveness of a spell often depends on the tools used. Rings, Diagrams, Books, Apparatus, and Laboratories each provide varying bonuses and require different amounts of time to use, from instantaneous to several hours.

Success, Failure, and Partial Success

Success: If the casting effect equals or exceeds the difficulty, the spell works as intended.

Failure: No effect occurs, though mishaps are possible.

Partial Success: Unexpected, often uncontrolled effects occur, adding a layer of unpredictability and excitement to spellcasting.

Counterspells and Wards

Defensive measures like Wards and the innate ability to resist spells by other sorcerers add depth and strategy to magical duels and encounters.

If you want to dive into the full details and join the conversation, head over to my Patreon page. Your support helps bring Jewelspider to life, and you'll get exclusive content and a behind-the-scenes look at the development process. Or just join as a free member, which still gives you access to a whole lot of early posts and ensures you'll get updates about publication.

(The image at the top is from Robin of Sherwood. As if you couldn't tell.)

Great men can work miracles

A trope I enjoy in folktales is the one that recounts the deeds of great heroes as achieved by wizardry, because of course there's no other way they could have done half of what they did. In one of the Knightmare novellas I had the protagonist thaw out a dwarf who'd spent the last fourteen centuries inside a block of ice in an Alpine cave. He'd eaten one of Hannibal's elephants, so Hannibal froze him solid.

The following tales of Drake, taken from Anna Bray's book The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy, were an influence on Dragon Warriors and even more so on Jewelspider:

* * *

Tradition, in this part of the West Country, is still busied with the fame of Drake; and all the stories told of him are of a wild and extravagant nature. No doubt this originated from the terror of his name and the wonder of his exploits—exploits so extraordinary that they were here considered to owe their success to something supernatural in himself, and that he often performed them by the power of enchantment. Nor can we feel surprised at this credulity when we recollect that even in these days, with the peasantry of Devon, witchcraft is still believed to be practised in the county, and extraordinary circumstances or sufferings to be brought about by the active agency and co-operation of the devil.

Thus was our hero converted, by popular opinion, into a wizard; and as such the ‘old warrior’ (for so the lower classes here call Drake) is to the present time considered amongst them. The following traditionary tales will serve to show the sort of necromantic adventures which credulity has fastened on the memory of the great naval admiral of the reign of good Queen Bess.

One day whilst Sir Francis Drake was playing at the game of kales [ninepins] on the Hoe at Plymouth, it was announced to him that a foreign fleet (the Armada, I suppose) was sailing into the harbour close by. He showed no alarm at the intelligence, but persisted in playing out his game. When this was concluded, he ordered a large block of timber and a hatchet to be brought to him. He bared his arms, took the axe in hand, and manfully chopped up the wood into sundry smaller blocks. These he hurled into the sea, while at his command every block arose a fire-ship; and within a short space of time a general destruction of the enemy’s fleet took place, in consequence of the irresistible strength of those vessels he had called up to ‘flame amazement’ on the foes of Elizabeth and of England. Wild as this story is, there is something of grandeur in the idea of Drake standing on such a commanding elevation as the Hoe, with the sea, which spreads itself at its foot, before him, and that element together with the fire-ships obedient to the power of his genius, whose energies were thus mar­vellously exerted for the safety of his country.

The next tradition respecting Sir Francis was communicated to me by our esteemed friend, Mr. Davies Gilbert, who has shown the interest he takes in such fragments of the ‘olden time’ by the very curious collection he some years ago published of the Cornish ballads.

In the days of Drake the vulgar considered the world to be composed of two parallel planes, the one at a certain distance from the other. In reference to this space it was commonly said that Sir Francis had ‘shot the gulf,’ meaning that his ship had turned over the edge of the upper plane so as to pass on to the waters of the under. “There is,” said Mr. Davies Gilbert, “an old picture of Drake at Oxford, repre­senting him holding a pistol in one hand, which, in former years, the man who acted as showman to strangers was wont to say (still further improving upon the story) was the very pistol with which Sir Francis shot the gulf!”

Another story told of this hero is, that the people of Plymouth were so destitute of water in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that they were obliged to send their clothes to Plympton to be washed in fresh water. Sir Francis Drake resolved to rid them of this inconvenience. So he called for his horse, mounted, rode to Dartmoor, and hunted about till he found a very fine spring. Having fixed on one that would suit his purpose, he gave a smart lash to his horse’s side, pronouncing as he did so some magical words, when off went the animal as fast as he could gallop, and the stream followed his heels all the way into the town. This assuredly was not only the most wonderful, but the most cheap and expeditious, mode of forming a canal ever known or recorded by tradition.

The next story of Sir Francis is a very singular one, nor can I in the least trace its origin to any real circumstance which might have been exaggerated in the relation, till it became, like the other tales about our hero, necromantic. It seems in every way a fiction. The good people here say that whilst the ‘old warrior’ was abroad, his lady, not hearing from him for seven years, considered he must be dead and that she was free to marry again. Her choice was made, the nuptial day was fixed, and the parties had assembled in the church. Now it so happened that at this very hour Sir Francis Drake was at the anti­podes of Devonshire, and one of his spirits, who let him know from time to time how things went on in England, whispered in his ear in what manner he was about to lose his wife. Sir Francis rose up in haste, charged one of his great guns, and sent off a cannon ball so truly aimed that it shot right through the globe, forced its way into the church, and fell with a loud explosion between the lady and her intended bridegroom. “It is the signal of Drake!” she ex­claimed, “He is alive, and I am still a wife. There must be neither troth nor ring between thee and me.”

Another legend of Sir Francis represents him as acting from motives of jealousy and cruelty, in a way he was very little likely to do. The story says that whilst he was once sailing in foreign seas he had on board the vessel a boy of uncommonly quick parts. In order to put them to the proof Sir Francis ques­tioned the youth, and bade him tell what might be their antipodes at that moment. The boy without hesitation told him Barton Place, (for so Buckland Abbey was then called) the Admiral’s own mansion in his native county. After the ship had made some further progress Sir Francis repeated his question, and the answer he received was, that they were then at the antipodes of London Bridge. Drake, surprised at the accuracy of the boy’s knowledge, exclaimed, “Hast thou, too, a devil ? If I let thee live, there will be one a greater man than I am in the world.” And so saying he threw the lad overboard into the sea, where he perished.

FURTHER READING

British Folk Tales & Legends by Katherine Briggs, on Amazon US and Amazon UK.

"A Hole in the World" (scenario)

You’d think multiple successful careers as an inspiring writer, captivating speaker and entertaining & informative broadcaster would be enough for Tim Harford. On top of that he’s a devoted husband and father, a steadfast friend, and one of the very nicest people you could ever hope to meet. But we, his gaming chums, know that he was really put on this world to run great RPG sessions just for us. Readers of the blog look forward to his enchanting Christmas specials for Legend. He created the Immortal Spartans and Company of Bronze campaigns that I’ve written about here from time to time, and another of his casually executed acts of genius was to conceive the Conclave game, loosely based on Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea stories.

After Tim’s Conclave campaign wound up, I ran a two-part session to fill in for the fact that my planned Yellow King campaign had been aborted. This adventure is set in Tim’s archipelago world which I assume is a lot like Earthsea (I still haven’t read the books) but you could port it across to another game world, with or without lots of water. Central to the concept, though, is that the players are mostly great wizards, and this is a world where magic really is powerful. It doesn’t matter how skilled a swordsman or thief you are, any of the wizard characters can ningauble you without working up a sweat.

There are several magical disciplines. Most wizards specialize in three or four of these, but all learn the art of Naming because that is a prerequisite for many other enchantments. Knowing the true name of a thing means that your magic will automatically work on it. For example, if you use Change magic on a rabbit and you know its true name then your statement has the full force of reality; the rabbit becomes whatever you say it is. Most of the time, though, you won’t know the full name of something. The rabbit can’t tell you, so you’d need to infer as much of its true name as you can, using the root name class for animals and then mammals and then leporids – I’m guessing here. The point is that you roll your Name skill first, and your degree of success in that modifies your roll for Find or Mend or Change or whatever. If you fail the Name roll, forget it; you can’t derive the name you need so your magic won’t work.

Tim came up with a very elegant rule system. I won’t recount it here as he might one day want to expand it and publish it (when those multiple other careers don’t get in the way) but you can soon whip up your own. All you need to know in what follows is that Vigour stands for stamina and strength; Skill is imagination, dexterity and intelligence; Wisdom is knowledge, fortitude and judgement. If like me you’re too lazy to read the books, the Isolate Tower has a handy glossary of magical terms, of which the main categories seem to be as follows:

• Change - turn a thing into something else (major) 
• Find - locate a lost item or person 
• Gate - opens and seals paths and portals
• Healing 
• Illusion
• Mend - fix a broken object
• Naming – the key to most of the other magical disciplines
• Pattern - scrying and discerning hidden connections (major)
• Send - project your image; the image can speak and sense, but not physically or magically act on its surroundings; cannot cross water, but otherwise has no limit on distance.
• Summon - bring an object or person (living or dead) to you (major)
• Weather – control wind, rain, fog, and so on

So, to summon a wind you would first try to intuit its name (Naming roll) then make a Weather roll. If somebody is trusting enough to tell you their true name, your magic will always work on them.

Wizards are not supposed to profligately make use of magic. In Le Guin’s stories, a "good" wizard would sail a boat from island to island and sit becalmed for days rather than conjure a wind. "Bad" wizards seem to be those who actually apply what they know. (So, pretty much the way Jedi and Sith operate in Star Wars.) In the game, lacking a specific mechanic or even a logical explanation for why we should restrict our use of magic, the player-characters were soon flinging spells about without a qualm. If you want your game to play out more like a Le Guin story, I suggest something like:

• Use of magic depletes the local mana, making further magic progressively harder 
• Every use of magic has a reaction – good winds one day will mean dead calm the next, etc.
• Unrestricted use of magic affects the wizard’s health. 
• The College of Hythe polices magic – use it too freely and they will discipline you.

Another point about this world: magic is dominated by the wizards’ college on the island of Hythe, which is said to lie at the heart of the archipelago. The college is all-male, making it difficult for women to study magic openly. Any female PCs will probably conceal their gender as Golpas does in this scenario.

At the Tip of the World
The player-characters are all wizards. One of them has his home on the island of Skryp, the easternmost of the known isles. He has noticed that several local lads (Flintoy, Ratch, and Witkin) who went off to sea last year have returned from their voyages with much greater wealth than anyone expected. Some might suspect them of having turned to piracy, explaining the silks and pearls they gave their wives, but the player-character knows they are honest men.

The truth, which the characters will have to ascertain (they only need to ask, but will probably complicate it), is that the three men came by this wealth when their captain, Haspool, claimed the contents of a drifting merchantman as salvage. His ship is the Hazard and it sails out of Port Pressen on the island of Vaygra.

(“Where was the abandoned ship found drifting?” “Couldn’t tell you. We’re not navigators. You’d have to ask Captain Haspool.”)

At Port Pressen
The characters must get Captain Haspool or his navigator (Tully) to tell them where the ships were found drifting. Yes, ships plural. He has salvaged two, both crewless. (“The Bunch of Grapes was not so rich pickings as that first one, the Woven Band, but both were claimed legally.”)

Pirates
The complication is that pirates have got wind of the drifting hulks and are patrolling the area. If they see the characters' ship, they may just decide to raid it. The pirate ship is the Good Work.

• Pirate captain: Korak
• His wizard: Golpas

Golpas is a female sorcerer who passes herself off as a man. She is not powerful (stats 10) but has +1 in Name and +2 in Gate, Illusion, Healing, Send, Weather.

The Zone
A Sargasso-like area of mists and incessant rain; visibility is very poor. The periphery of the zone is a region of cold mist seething like smoke off the incessant rain. Sailing into it is like going into a waterfall.

Make a Vigour +Name roll on entering the Zone. If you fail, you’re starting to get rewritten. You might lose your sense of smell/taste, become increasingly drained of colour, find your shadow keeps slipping away, you cease to leave footprints, start to dissolve into vapour, etc. This is an ongoing effect to be used as a ticking clock to spur the characters later on.

Any attempt to make a Name roll in the Zone is at a penalty of -5 (at the periphery) up to -8 (centre of the zone) as names here fluctuate so fast.

They see a ship drifting without crew (the ironically named Fine Weather). It is listing to one side owing to the water that is filling its bilges. Aboard:

• Gulls with blind human faces. Their shrieking sounds like men poorly imitating the cry of sea birds.
• Outlines in the rain of people – the crew – but they are the absence of people.
• Eyes that can be seen staring out of the timbers.
• Scuttling shapes that seem to be a hybrid of rats and human hands.
• The log book is sodden with rainwater – unreadable.
• The hold is full of crates of spices and furs, mostly ruined.

In the zone, true names are being reconfigured. A name might be cut in half and recombined with another – for example, splitting shape from identity left the outlines in the rain (shape component) and the identity-component was then spliced to the identity of seagulls.

As they quit the Fine Weather, some of their own crew, in the process of having their true names rewritten, start to change. They become like cobweb shells that blow apart on the wind, leaving pale dancing sparks that flit about the rigging. (Have the bosun point out that men in the rigging haven’t moved for several minutes. Those are already husks, who will become dislodged and blow away when anyone is sent up to investigate.)

In the centre of the zone (they’ll need Pattern to locate it as the rain obscures everything) is a missing piece of reality: a rift in the air like a break in a pane of glass. They hear a keening sound of wind as they approach it. Anyone with Name skill (ie any wizard) can visibly see reality warping around the edges.

They cannot approach, but see the hole in reality at a distance. Intermittent pulses of light emit from it, accompanied by a shockwave that they can feel rather than hear. In each pounding shockwave it’s as if for a moment everything ceases to exist.

As they get within forty feet, the effect starts to strip away the substance of the ship. They must turn back, as it’s only possible to get closer once they have the missing piece.

To fix it they must recover the missing piece. It was taken by a wizard, who was transformed by the fragment and fled. But they must turn back now, for almost all the crew are already lost and the rest are panicking.

Possible episode to insert on the voyage if the players need a hint:
They spot an island with a wide bay. No wind is allowed here for it is the home of the sorcerer Jutle. The moment they enter the bay, the sails go slack and no weather can be induced to enter. Jutle is a middle-aged man hauling driftwood on the beach who asks if they are here to see the master. If they recognize him he’ll reveal that he is the master here and will help them, but he is a true ‘softly softly’ wizard and won’t have any truck with using magic flamboyantly.

The Missing Piece
Remember that characters who failed Vigour +Name are now at phase 2 (losing their shadow)

The fragment of reality was taken by a wizard named Agios. He held his name together with his magic but was transformed into a monster. Pattern will reveal his likely routes, Find will take them to him.

As they approach the missing piece it’s night; they sense they will come to it by dawn. It’s overcast, but they see they’re approaching a column some sixty feet across that stands directly up from the ocean. It seems to be of mottled pink and grey marble. Water steams off its side in the early heat of day (unless approaching by night).

This is no marmoreal column but the monster that Agios has become. Out of the haze above comes its giant distorted face. To protect the ship from this initial attack will require defences equalling 50 points – reduce damage from total wreck at 0 defence to protected at 50 defence. (More efficient if they find clever ways to fend it off, eg a mast spears its eye rather than a shield of force in the air. Note that direct attacks are very hard – see below.)

The monster resembles a huge sea-worm with a distorted face like something moulded from clay.

Direct-attack spells are hard to use against this creature:

• Name attempt at -10 (due to continual fluctuations), then
• Spell must succeed by 5 or more to be effective

It can smash masts & hulls, snap up several men at once (make a Skill roll to avoid unless you have a magical defence), etc.

The missing fragment is inside the monster’s stomach. Transforming Agios back to normal won’t last long even if the spell takes. The most effective thing is to get inside the monster somehow. They will need illumination, and must protect themselves against noxious fumes and acid.

The fragment of reality is shaped like two trapezoids and is about the size of a book. To transport it safely (the edges cut through literally anything) they will need to use Change to solidify the air around it or something like that.

Fixing a Hole
Remember that characters who failed Vigour +Name are now at phase 3 (dissolving)

It’s not just a case of slotting the missing fragment of reality back in place. You need to Name it (no modifier) and then cast Change -- but that must be done on the other side of the hole at the same time as in this reality.

To pass through the gap in reality to the alternate world requires Gate. The alternate world is a plain of sand with ripples surrounding the hole in reality, and a ring of greenery (savanna) in the distance. They immediately notice the dead calm. No weather at all works in the affected zone, though there are winds blowing across the steppes. This zone is analogous to how the archipelago world is being changed around the hole in reality there.

To cast spells here:

1. Skill + Name (to read)
2. Then Wisdom + Name (to transform into a usable form)
3. Then cast the spell

The characters are greeted by primitive tribesmen who blame them for breaking the world. This is a world of open grassland in which the only wizards are female – the mirror image of the characters’ own world.

The natives’ shaman (Ma’ada) is reasonably powerful (stats 11) with Name +5 and Change +4. She must make her Name rolls at -5 here just as the PCs had to in their world.

Of course, the natives of this universe do not speak the same language. The characters must find a way to communicate – perhaps through use of Illusion magic, causing images to appear in a campfire.

Remember that somebody needs to fix the piece in place from this side: either one of the characters, or Ma’ada if they can explain to her what is needed, or Agios if he isn’t dead.