Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 8/23/84; site ucbcad.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!ucbvax!ucbcad!faustus
From: faustus@ucbcad.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Re: Magic and Material Components
Message-ID: <205@ucbcad.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 27-Apr-85 01:39:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbcad.205
Posted: Sat Apr 27 01:39:41 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 29-Apr-85 07:18:57 EDT
References: <4950@ucla-cs.ARPA> <14092@watmath.UUCP>
Organization: UC Berkeley CAD Group, Berkeley, CA
Lines: 38

> As another, suppose that all magic actually proceeds from innate mental
> powers in the spell-caster (psychic powers of one type or another).
> The spell rituals are actually so much mumbo-jumbo intended to free one's
> mind from mental blocks that stifle the power.  You have been told by
> magic teachers that a particular ritual will have a particular effect,
> and your mind has been trained to give that particular effect in response
> to the ritual.  If you KNOW that you are using shoddy materials, then
> you will have poorer results because you aren't fooling yourself as well.
> (This raises the interesting possibility of what happens when someone
> tricks you into believing that you have genuine Black Dragon blood when
> it's really only cheap acid.  In this model of magic, the spell should
> still work...and you'll keep casting spells successfully until you begin
> to have reason to doubt that something is wrong.)

But if material components are just a way to help you free your mind,
etc, then probably a lot of magic users would be finding better ways
(especially the more "enlightened" ones) and doing without them. If
Magic School A teaches MU's how to cast a fireball by using diamond
dust, and Magic School B can teach you how to do it with dirt, which
will be more popular?

>    Player1 : Hey, MU, here's some (wink, wink) red dragon blood.
>    Player2 : Amazing that you just happened (wink, wink) to have
> 	     that.  Let's cast a spell.
> But I think a creative GM could squash this stuff fairly fast.  For
> example, if the MU ever finds out that his teammates gratuitously
> lie to him about material components they produce, he could turn paranoid
> and distrust ALL material components.  The MU's powers would be vastly
> weakened by this distrust and he would be virtually useless until his
> faith was restored (using material components he was sure of).

I think he would probably thank his comrades for saving him all that
time and money by fooling him, and probably try very hard to believe
them in the future whenever they give him suspicious stuff... It
probably wouldn't work that well, but it wouldn't be because he had
bad stuff, it would be because he didn't believe in it...

	Wayne