Absent Minded Enchanters

 

I think we all know the trope of the absent minded professor, right?  Brilliant guy, cutting edge thinker on some new technology (even if it is flubber), respected but only by those who don’t know him.  Because he’s absent minded.  He’s thinking about the future and unheard of technologies and is too lost in those thoughts to remember to put his pants on before he drives to work.  He never gets married, because he gets so caught up in his work that he forgets to meet his girlfriend for their planned dates, and then she goes on to marry the villain.

OK, so I think there really is or at least was something to this.  I believe that all creative people in the world (now and historically) would likely be classified as ADHD.  Even if I’m wrong (I’m not, but just in case), it is common.  The same things that make some of us considered ADHD are the things that make us most creative.  That’s why teachers hate ADHD - because they don’t have it and they have no creativity.  OK, not all teachers, but a sizable portion of them - the ones who prefer teachers’ unions.  (<--joke - sort of)

Let’s just forget about what may or may not be real and get back into the fantasy!  I think the absent minded professor works great in a fantasy game - for an absent minded enchanter or alchemist (or herbalist, etc.).  Here is a guy who has such a control of magic that he is able to instill it into objects where it will stay forever.  Is this guy really thinking, gee I should put down this super powerful wand and go eat lunch now?  Of course not.  He’s too busy and too involved in what he’s doing to waste time thinking about lunch, or where he put his spectacles (they’re on his head), or if he let the cat back in, or if he’s wearing his pjs to work.

Why?  Because it’s funny!  Because it’s memorable.  If the players ask you where they can buy an enchanted sword and you say 1,200 coins please, they will get nothing out of the interaction, except thinking that a magical sword is boring.  But if they ask and you say, well, Kaazar Cquoatle has an enchanting shop on River Street, but the kids all call him Crazy Kook, suddenly they’re interested again.  Now they want to meet Crazy Kook.  And when they have to help him find his glasses, only to find the ones on his head are not his, they remember him the next time.  Now, you do have to give them a little something for role-playing through this little encounter, but what if they ask for a sword that makes it easier to hit, and Crazy Kook says, why not add a magical never drop hilt as well?  I’ll throw it in for half price.  Now they have a contact.  Now the next time they need magic, they are coming to their old friend Crazy Kook.  And next time, he may need something from them too!

Contacts are important to adventurers, and they should gather them the same way they gather magical items and spells.  Memorable contacts are pure gold, because they keep on giving - they keep players interested and involved in the campaign, and they make for great quest givers.

 

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This post was written as part of The River of Youth aka Potion Making 4 Noobs aka All About Magical Ingredients & Alchemical Health, the latest in our Small Bites editions.  (These book titles just seem to keep getting longer!)  Each Small Bites book looks deeply at one subject, a character archetype, a race/monster, a style of questing, or some other role-playing/world building subject.  This one is showcasing all the ingredients and components used in that really popular book’s spell casting, as well as alchemy and how it can be used for the health and wellbeing of the fantasy community.

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