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From: req@warwick.UUCP (Russell Quin)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Re: Illusionists
Message-ID: <334@snow.warwick.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 24-Nov-85 13:25:05 EST
Article-I.D.: snow.334
Posted: Sun Nov 24 13:25:05 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 26-Nov-85 20:22:46 EST
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Reply-To: req@warwick.UUCP (Russell Quin)
Organization: Computer Science, Warwick University, UK
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Here are some of the ways in which Illusionists can be dealt with.  Perhaps
some of these will help the people who asked how to cope with them in FRP.

psionic:	The spells affect the mind of those victims within range, so
	that they believe that they perceive the relevant effects.
Each victim would presumably get the chance to resist the "mental attack"
(although if it was something that they wanted to see, they might prefer simply
to accept it as real -- i.e. it might not occur to them to doubt it).
There are problems if some people don't believe the effect, as this may cause
inconsistencies in others' perceived realities.
The effects may still perceived even when seen to be an illusion.

Physical:	The spells create an image (for a vision-based illusion) which
	is false; people in the area see the image rather than whatever it
	conceals. 
Again, people could have an individual chance to perceive the forgery.  It is
clear that even when it has been discovered, the image will remain.

Subjective reality:	The idea here is that reality is a function of the
	individual;  if one person believes something to be real sufficiently
	strongly, it *is* real _for_that_person_.
Of course, this can be very confusing.  If Mhvrk believes that there is a
bridge over the chasm, he is free to walk over it.  But if others are
unaffected by the spell which caused Mhvrk to believe this, they will suffer
the startling spectacle of Mhvrk walking on thin air.
Of course, either of the first two methods could have persuaded Mhvrk, and he
will continue to believe in the bridge until he has reason to doubt it -- which
is, after all, a very hard (and strange) thing to do!


In FRP games, I have seen all three used -- sometimes in the same game!
Common embellishments include:
	the illusionist can add sound/touch/smell/vision/sound independently,
with each extra sense adding to the difficulty of the spell
[eg. Rolemaster, (partly) AD&D]
	the illusionist is always aware that the effect is false (particularly
relevant with Subjective Realities!)
	the spell is only effective from certain angles
[many systems -- eg. Rolemaster]
	a moving image requires sustained concentration
	a static image can be created & will remain
[image not restricted to sight;  many systems do this]

An artifact that casts illusionist spells can be very powerful, especially if
they are in a Subjective Reality.  For example, if people disagree about
whether there is an exit to a chamber, there can be severe problems!
The idea of `disbelieving' in an illusion is a difficult one; most people find
it very difficult to doubt their eyes.  Of course, if magic always has a
characteristic aura of brimstone... but probably the simplest way is to touch,
smell or taste the thing.  In most cases, one would discover that one could
walk through the image anyway...

The idea that one would believe that one was falling down a pit is another
difficulty.  Presumably the illusionist would have to be concentrating very
hard to create the sensation of falling when the victim was in fact standing
still.

In some cultures, religion & magic interact.  A Holy Person might be able to
pray, and thus call up enough power that the illusion would fail.  Perhaps the
two kinds of "magic" cannot co-exist in the same space.

The problems that I had with illusionists was that they were powerful.  Things
can be pretty effective even without being touched.  But it was never really a
great difficulty.  Alter Subjective Reality was one of the most fun, but it was
also one of the hardest to cast!

There are so many possibilities that an enumeration would be pointlessly large.
I could look up the illusionist rules in a number of FRP games, but there
doesn't seem to be much point.  As long as you have a way with which you are
satisfied, things are probably OK anyway.

		- R
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