Rigby on Magic

Greets,

 There's far too many posts for me to respond individually (114 since last I looked :P), but one thing I think needs to be cleared up is the spell process. It seems there's still a lot of confusion about what is actually happening when you cast a spell. I'm also in a warped mood right now, so it's time for an example. How unlike me!

 Let's say you want to cast a spell at the death monkey accidentally released by that poor newbie who just opened up the monkey barrel trap. The first thing, obviously, is to prepare the spell. Completely mental, your actions here indicate a personal (or guild, or sect, etc) focus in preparing yourself to channel mana into a coherent spell display. No mana has been harnessed at this point, you're doing exactly what the verb indicates -- preparing the spell.

 You feel fully prepared to cast your spell, but unfortunately it's too late, and the death monkey has torn your head off and is playing basketball with it. So you curse a bit, write a quick post asking, "WHERE THE HELL IS REZZ!?!?," depart, then start all over again. This time, you're fully preppared because he's beating the snot out of someone else.

 You cast. At this point, the spell pattern forms, and you channel in the needed mana. This is still all mental. The success of doing this is based on your magic skills. If you fail at this, your spell backfires (or worse, the mana isn't compatiable and it blows your arms off, though this only really happens with sorceries, necromancies, and mixing mana types (and that also goes beyond what we're discussing here)).

 Let's say you don't backfire, which means you have successfully created the spell pattern. It is at this stage that the death monkey's magic resistance affects your spell pattern, causing the mana to return to its natural state, and the spell pattern collapses before it can do anything. Then the death monkey beats the living crap out of you again, does a victory dance, and you depart and run back in for round three.

 Rinse, repeat. This time, you try a targeted spell. The death monkey can not resist your spell pattern, because that's forming near you, but he CAN resist the targeted pattern forming near him. He does, and it only causes the spell to miss, not collapse. So you decide that you'll use the Jello Manipulation spell, Jello Juggernaut, because you can cast it really high to get around the death monkey's ungodly magic resistance.

 You cast it. The jello juggernaut hurtles toward the death monkey, a grim Cosby-esque laughter ringing through the air. You have successfully prepared, cast, and overcome magic resistance at this point, but the spell process is still not over.

 It is at this point that the spell effect must be resolved. This is where contested checks would come into play. The size and power of the spell pattern was determined with the initial cast, before anything else. The efficiency of the spell effect, however, may be dependant on entirely different things, varying with the individual spell. For contested spells, that's your stats. The efficiency of the pattern has to come from some basis, and so, according to the spell type, it is drawn from the caster's statistics. Of course, some spells may draw on other completely different factors, but we're focusing on contested spells lately.

 In the case of Jello Juggernaut, it relies on the caster's ability to "hit" with the spell and the target's ability to get the heck out of the way. It's not as precise as a targeted spell (obviously, if you've ever thrown jello at someone) so that makes Jello Juggernaut Spell vs Agility.

 So let me explain... no, wait, there is no time. Let me summarize:

 1) Prepare your spell and wait/decide to cast,
 2) Cast
    2a) Primary Magic/Harness determines if you succeed, how "big" the spell is
    2b) Magic resistance of applicable target(s), if any, modifies the spell
    2c) Spell effect, be it contested or otherwise

 The key here is simply to not confuse spell casting success, spell resistance, spell effect/contesting, and the *overall* result of the spell (eg, did it do what you wanted it to do).

 As for the death monkey, the Jello Juggernaut didn't do jack to it because... well, I mean, they call them *death* monkeys, not fluffy kitten monkeys or little schoolgirl monkeys, so it's pretty much out of your league. Your solution to dealing with the death monkey...

 Rigby just left.

Category	Abilities, Skills and Magic (4)
Topic	General Magic Feedback - CORE ISSUES -(CAST, PREPARE, HARNESS, PERCEIVE) (37)
By	DR-RIGBY from PLAY.NET (Magic Team Supervisor)
On	Sep 4, 2002 at 14:25
Subject	Contested Spell Change and Explanation (3304)

Greets,

 Some contested spell formula changes are coming as soon as Valdrik, Damissak and I can get some final testing done. Likely before or on the coming weekend (Sept 6th-8th).

 Contested spells include Will vs Will, Spell vs Stamina, and Spell vs Agility. This change may possibly cause mages to alter their spell casting habits when using a contested spell. Since this has the potential to be an upset to what you've gotten used to, we're revealing what stats are applicable for all contested spells.

 For Spell vs Agility spells: The caster will use discipline, charisma, reflex and agility and targeted magic. The target uses reflex, agility, and evasion. Modifiers are balance of the target and how much TM/Evasion factors into the particular spell. The changes here are the addition of reflex and agility to the caster's side of the equation, and appropriate fiddling to maintain formula balance on the side of the target.

 For Will(Spell) vs Will spells: The caster will use discipline, charisma, and intelligence. The target uses discipline, charisma, and intelligence. A modifier is nerve damage for both sides. Changes here include the addition of intelligence to both sides.

 For Spell vs Stamina spells: The caster will use discipline, charisma, stamina and strength. The target uses stamina and strength. A modifier is current health of the target. The change here is the addition of stamina and strength to the part of the caster, and appropriate fiddling to maintain forumla balance on the side of the target.

 ALL contested spells are currently and will continue to be modified by range to target (except for area spells), and by how much mana the caster puts into the spell. Both sides of the formula are otherwise equally balanced, but we are not revealing the ratios -- only which stats are used, not which is most important. Primary magic does NOT play a role except in the fact that it allows a mage to put more mana into the spell.

 This will mean that individual mages, depending on how they have and want to train their stats, will tend to have a particular type of contested spell that they excel at. Likewise, there will be particular targets who may be more or less resistant to specific types of contested spells. All of the above applies equally to both critters and players.

 I'm sure this was a pretty enlightening post. ;)

 Rigby

Category	Abilities, Skills and Magic (4)
Topic	General Magic Feedback - CORE ISSUES -(CAST, PREPARE, HARNESS, PERCEIVE) (37)
By	DR-RIGBY from PLAY.NET (Magic Team Supervisor)
On	Jul 30, 2002 at 17:12
Subject	Cambrinth Changes (2878)

Greets,

Several changes to cambrinth just went live. They're fairly minor in the grand scheme of things, but important enough that you shouldn't ignore them in light of the recently released spellbook system. ;)

 1) Cambrinth items were not messaging when you hit the spell's cap, implying that if you used cambrinth you could bypass the mana limits of a spell. They were in fact capping, just not messaging that they were capping. This has been fixed.

 2) If you should hit the spell cap while using cambrinth, the excess energy will remain in the cambrinth item. You'll have to refocus on it, though, since the link will vanish. You will see messaging indicating how much is left in your cambrinth item.

 3) If you hit the spell cap and end up with excess energy in your cambrinth items, you will get proportionally less magical devices experience from that use. In other words, you can only get MD experience for staying within the spell's cap (which is as it should be). This should also limit people loading up their cambrinth items well past spell limits and becoming a snap-fest, which is frankly pretty disruptive to the room.

 4) If you have enough skill, you will be able to FOCUS and CHARGE cambrinth items while wearing them the same as if you were holding them.

 Enjoy,

 Rigby

Category	Abilities, Skills and Magic (4)
Topic	Magic - Suggestions, Discussions and Thoughts (14)
By	DR-RIGBY from PLAY.NET (Magic Team Supervisor)
On	May 22, 2002 at 23:42
Subject	The Proper Care and Feeding of Naphtha (2381)

1) First, never light it. Ever.

 2) I don't recommend drinking it.

 3) From a distance, it's best to THROW at your target. Of course, this will use up the whole vial, but assuming you hit, the target will be soaked in it for quite some time. This will allow you to leisurely prepare an appropriate fiery spell that will roast said target.

 4) From up close, not only is it best to just SPLASH your target, but you'll never ever hit from further away. Though your more likely to hit at melee range with a SPLASH of naphtha, you only use one dose from your vial, and the target will not stay soaked for very long.

 5) If you're soaked in naphtha yourself, it would be wise to NOT cast any fiery spells, unless you're into pain. And I know that some of you are.

 6) Throwing naphtha requires some skill with light thrown (since, after all, you are *throwing* something that is *lightweight*). Right now, you will learn nothing of light thrown skill by tossing bottles of naphtha around, but that's only due to some technical hurdles we need to adjust. Eventually it will.

 Of course, all this spell talk is moot right now, what with everything being offline. In the meantime, though, you can join your friends and play that marvelous game "Soak Each Other With Naphtha For Fun and Giggles" to get used to how the whole thing will work when spells go live again. Teehee. Enjoy!

 Rigby

Category	Abilities, Skills and Magic (4)
Topic	Game Master and Official Announcements (1)
By	DR-RIGBY from PLAY.NET
On	Apr 9, 2002 at 12:58
Subject	Magic v2.1 Update (2)

Greets,

 As most of you know, I stopped reading the boards some months ago when I got fed up with the disrespect and general venom that was being posted. We have new boards, and a fresh start, so I've decided that this may be a good time to start reading and responding to posts again.

 That said, an update for what's coming in Magic v2.1. Please read this carefully; I really get sick of people only reading half of something and promptly going off the deep end. <g> At this time, there's not much that can be divulged, so don't expect this to be the answer to all of your questions:

 1) The GMs working on this rewrite are myself, Valdrik, and Damissak. If you do not hear an update from one of the three of us or from Maelona, then it's not official. I've heard there's been a lot of paranoia on what's coming... well... feel free to drive yourself crazy if that's what you're into, but I really think you'll be wasting your energy.

 2) We're in the Spell Re-QC stage of the rewrite. That means the majority of the core mechanics have been redone and are completely functional, and our task now revolves around updating spells to work with the new system. What are core mechanics? These would include a host of things I simply can't tell you about (ever), but obviously, these include the PREPARE, CAST, and HARNESS verbs. However, as we update spells, there are things we have to go back into the core mechanics and fix, or things we realize we need to make work better. And as a reminder, NONE of these changes are live yet...

 3) Critter magic is also functioning well. I've been working closely with Damissak and Veyl on getting it integrated into the existing critter system, and while there's still some work left to be done, it is working nicely. Perhaps I'll have a demo available soon for you to peruse on the new critter magic -- we'll see. In the end, what you can expect is that critters will behave virtually identically to players. They'll have to deal with preparing a spell before casting, backfiring, using real targetting, running out of mana, defensive spells, and all the other issues players must deal with.

 At first glance, this may appear that critters are going to suffer a lot of weaknesses in their magic for little in return. Not so, since this also means that critters using a spell are going to be just as effective with it as if a player cast it.

 3) There have been many suggestions for spell rewrites, some good, some... not so good. At this point, we have already decided which spells are getting rewritten and which are not. Our goal right now is to update as many spells as possible; each rewrite takes much longer than an update to do and prolongs the time until we can finally release Magic v2.1.

 To be sure that we get as timely a release as possible for Magic v2.1, not all spells are going to be re-released immediately. Some are not going to be re-released at all.

 Running around like a chicken with it's head torn off yet? ;)

 Don't. We intend to update as many spells as possible, and in fact have a good number of them already done, starting with the "first tier" spells and moving up the ranks. Thus those that may not be immediately re-released are likely to be the "higher tier" spells. In the month or two following the Magic v2.1 release, those spells will also be released.

 4) Some spells are just not coming back. For example, Multiple Ethereal Shield is going away. It makes no sense that this spell isn't a matrix extension of Ethereal Shield with higher skill, so it won't be updated. Just do not assume that all spells that are going away are being combined into others; some are just faulty spells and will be rewritten.

 5) A couple of completely new spells will be released with Magic v2.1, and players will also gain access to critter spells. This is likely to be only via the scroll system. Of course, some critters will gain access to spells they previously didn't have, either... Mwahahahaha!

 6) Not only will critter magic work identically to player magic, but critter magic resistance will work like the new magic resistance system. Throw out everything you know about the existing magic resistance system. Just throw it all away. There's no comparison between the two.

 And finally...

 6) Some spells are getting completely rewritten from the ground up. Yes, this may mean a drastic change in the spell's design and function. Every single spell in game will undergo changes; in many cases, you'll notice little if any difference. In other cases, you won't recognize the spell at all. In most cases, the spells max mana cap and difficulty of casting is going to change significantly.

 It would be best to assume every spell under Magic v2.1 is a completely different spell than it once was. While we're striving to make them function as identically as before, there ARE going to be differences, and in a few cases, major differences. Add to this the aforementioned removal of various spells, and I'll bet the first words from your lips are "Chamber of Forgetfulness."

 Forget the Chamber. It's not coming back.

 Yet this is a massive rewrite and it would be woefully unfair to not wipe the slate clean, allowing all of you to start over by rechoosing your spells. As such, consider this your official confirmation that when Magic v2.1 is released, every magic user will be wiped clean of spells, and your spell slots opened.

 I hope that has answered some questions, but as mentioned, there is much that we can and will not divulge on the upcoming Magic v2.1.

 Sincerely,

 Rigby

 [Responses would best be made in 'Magic - Suggestions, Discussions, Thoughts' please.]

Category	Abilities, Skills and Magic (24)
Topic	Magic - Suggestions, Discussions and Thoughts (21)
By	DR-RIGBY from PLAY.NET (Moon Mage Guru)
On	Nov 15, 2001 at 12:37
Subject	State of Magic: General Changes (12579)

Greetings all mages,

It's time to come into the light just a bit and explain some things that have been going on behind the scenes regarding the Magic System as a whole, and explain where things will be going in the next several months. Obviously, I can not detail precisely what will be happening, but a general overview has been a long time coming. First, a quick reminder of where we stand.

The Magic System has had several GMs in control of it over the years, each with their own visions and directions. Each has done some remarkable things with the system, but as with any system that goes through varied ownership, the Magic System was slowly changing until it became "Frankenstein" -- a mix matching of parts, patches, changes and adjustments. When GM Atrathien began training Guild Gurus to write spells, it was a boon as far the balance of workload and productivity for us GMs; but then we began what could easily turn into a descent into a truly fractured magic system. The base philosophy of how magic worked on an In Character level was becoming flawed as more and more people had input into how the system worked.

All of this needed to be fixed.

The first step began two years ago, as the Magic Team gathered with a number of other GMs and worked out the basis for how magic works. It took nearly a year to get all the details worked out, but once we did, we ended with an official document for GMs known as "Magic in Elanthia." This is the bible of magic for DragonRealms, and all GMs who write spells and magical effects are expected to follow it closely. Even such things as magical devices, Sorcery and Necromancy are defined in this document. Step one was effectively complete.

The task then turned to looking at inconsistencies in the Magic System itself, many of which were longstanding issues that had never been resolved. With our completed guide in hand, the inconsistencies became glaring apparent. Some small headway was made, but the bottom line was that the entire system needed to be overhauled before we could get any real projects done.

Some months ago, you may recall GM Valdrik referring to a "secret project" we were developing for the magic system. In fact, there were several such projects. We had some starts and stops on these due to other things taking priority (updating spells for horses, for example). There was also some confusion on exactly how much control individual Guild Gurus had when writing spells, which necessitated us writing an official approval process first.

So, finally, and after only a handful of small, non-spell things being released to the magic masses, we have arrived at a point where it's time to effectively close off the system with construction tape and begin to fix it.

As such, you can expect the following:

 * Spell Releases: We are soon entering a spell moratorium, which means one more spell release for this month, and then NO new spells for several months while we rebuild the system.

 * Spell Comparing/Consistency: Right now, it's impossible to compare any two spells efficiently. Five mana of one spell does not equal five mana of another spell, even if both have the same minimuim prep. This will change in the sense that GMs will be able to say positively "This is the effect of X spell at 50% power compared to Y spell at 50% power." Players are not likely going to be able to compare spells, but this is worth noting since it means we, as GMs, will have much more control over design and QC. There is actually a tremendous amount more in this bulleted item, but most of it is system reworking for consistency as well as things I can't discuss.

 * Contested Spells: This is your list of Spell Vs Stamina, Spell vs Agility, Will vs Will. All of the equations are being rewritten, since the current ones break apart at high levels of skill (among other problems). Expect them to behave more consistently when we are done, but also expect some adjustments in your playing style if you use them -- particularly of note, expect changes which will differentiate contested spells from TM spells. Why cast a TM spell if non-TM ones work just as well? This question will be addressed.

 * Critter Magic: When all is said and done, critters will be using the exact same targeting code as well as the exact same spell code that players do. For example, an Adan'f shadow mage will be casting the same Dinazen Olkar spell that Moon Mages do, will have all the constraints of available mana when casting, and all the benefits/disadvantages of a targeted magic spell that players do.

 * Spell Re-QC and Re-Balancing: Every single spell in the game will undergo a re-QCing process. This will be to update spells so that critters can use them as well as to make use the most current QC and approval procedures. Additionally, this will make the spells work with the new internal consistency of the system. Expect changes in power, effectiveness, ease of casting, and especially mana caps. Assuming that the spell doesn't require a complete rewrite, existing bugs will (hopefully) be addressed and fixed. Guild Gurus will likely be recruited to help with this, one of the final stages of the total rewrite.

 * Scroll System: Once critters are working properly, the scroll system will be corrected. We hope to get away from guilded spells almost entirely, with scrolls being the way you can pick up critter magic.

 * Targeted Magic: As part of the magic rewrite, TM will be completely updated to take into account critters using the same code that players use as well as to fix things such as the infamous shield problem. New features which have been approved will also likely be included. These changes will bring targeted magic closer in line with the combat system. Of course, there are certain base differences... You don't run out of mana swinging a sword, nor do you use a spell slot to pick up that sword.

GM Valdrik and myself will be doing the bulk of updating the base system's code, but we are quite pleased to announce that GM Damissak will be taking on the rewrite of the Targeted Magic system. As those of you familiar with GM Damissak know, he's a very efficient and communicative GM, so I'm very excited to have him helping out Team Magic with this massive project.

Due to the nature of this change, it's not something we can implement in bits and pieces. The base system and all 150+ spells have to be changed over at once, which will take several months to complete work and several more months to test. In the meantime, magic development will be halted with some exceptions: Glyphs, communes, beseeches, cantrips and enchanting are not directly controlled by the same code as base magic (but ARE subject to the Magic in Elanthia document), and so work can continue on these independantly.

Bardic magic is a special case, and we are working closely with the Bard Team on what will happen with enchantes. One option we are discussing is bringing them within the framework of the base system, but at this time nothing has been firmly decided. Updates will be via Bard Team or the Magic Team as we are ready to discuss them with players. Note that there are no plans to force Bards to use a "prepare, cast" routine just like a spell for enchantes -- whatever happens, Bards will continue to play, sing, chant, etc their enchantes to make them work.

I'm sure there will be a lot of questions, many of which we probably can not answer until we are further along in the process. When all is said and done, we will have by far a more consistent, enjoyable and reliable system of magic, and it is likely you will all understand the IC backgrounds better as well.

Sincerly,

GM Rigby