High Fantasy and Magic Items

You know why GMs can give out swords that add +1 to hit and +1 to damage like they don’t mean anything?  Because they don’t mean anything.  Allowing a PC to hit 5% more often and do 10% more damage (we’re making assumptions) means nothing to the overall threat of the mission.  Sure, after a while, these types of bonuses will add up and increase the overall power of the party, but a “magical sword” is primarily ineffective, certainly immaterial in small numbers.

But do you know what matters?  A magical map.  Imagine if a fantasy era party could pull out what is effectively a satellite view on a GPS.  Can you imagine the power of such an item?  The party wouldn’t get lost, even if they didn’t have a guide / ranger with them.  They would be able to unerringly get right to the secret passage into the castle or whatever the mission is this week.

Oh, as GMs we pretend that the party can follow a map they are given without getting lost, but in reality secret maps to secret doors would only put the party near the secret passage and the chances that they would actually find it are pretty low.  Even if they could follow the map precisely, they would be spending a lot of time looking at the parchment map and staring around the area to get their bearings.  You know, the kind of suspicious activity that sentries can typically detect from hundreds of yards away.

Look, there is a point here!  While FRPGs stress magic swords and wands, in a true high fantasy world, there would be far more magic on civilian / non-military purposes.  Just like technology in the modern era has brought all manner of non-violent benefits to us, there should be magic items that have nothing to do with causing damage to enemies.  But because our game sessions are so often based on adventurers battling enemies, we forget this massive piece.

Are we way off base here?  Well, the USA is frequently criticized for spending 15-20% of its budget on defense.  Can you say that only 20% of the magical items in your game master’s guide are focused on battle?  That’s not even a fair question, because while it might be 15-20% of the federal budget, it is closer to 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  And let’s be clear - These amounts include spending on things like housing, maintaining what they already have, and the salaries of the service men and women.  If your world has 90% of the magical items created focused on doing damage, you’re not role-playing.  You’re playing a war game that let’s you concentrate on one individual soldier on the field.  Oh yeah, you are; that’s probably how/why your game rules were originally written.

Why do we care?  Why should you care?  Because as game masters and world builders, we are using those battle magics when we create our campaign worlds.  Too often, we are only using those battle magics.

That’s why we’re looking to do this new E-zine and partnering with Kickstarter.  If you want to work with us (or just come along for the ride), click here and get involved!  We’re going to think our way through what we’re calling “highest fantasy” and create a sample world while we do it.  You don’t have to use this new world, but we guarantee there will be ideas and concepts we get into that you haven’t considered before.  Read it because it’s fun!  Read it because you can take some of the ideas and then make them your own for your campaign world. 

We’re going to blow your mind in thinking about how magic really should affect a fantasy world.  Whether you’re fully onboard or just want a ticket to the show, you owe it to yourself to join us!


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/boardent/the-world-of-sylansse/