PDA

View Full Version : Low-Magic/Anti-Magic World



The Pressman
2010-08-11, 10:29 PM
A campaign I'll be in in a few months has the campaign occuring in a country run by a mad wizard who has banned magic and religion, forcing those underground. It is self-sufficient, and has no in or out trade or communication (legally). My character has been hired by an outside government to investigate why this is happening. He has been sending messages back to an accomplice via a small mechanical heliograph that is absolutely not loosely based on a certain semaphore system from the discworld books.
What I want to know is how a country with magic banned would differ from normal D&D in crafting and specialties and NPCs? And also just your thoughts on the setting in general.

Ranos
2010-08-11, 10:41 PM
Prohibition never works. Expect the magic mafia.

The Pressman
2010-08-11, 10:42 PM
They do, except it's run by the government.
And because the leader is a very powerful yet quite insane wizard, he also employs high-level wizards as a force to quash things that could be detrimental to his reign.

Zodiac
2010-08-11, 10:46 PM
Prohibition never works. Expect the magic mafia.

This.

Magic smuggler turf wars would be totally awesome. Although a single powerful mad wizard with helpers could do a very good job of keeping subversive elements down. It would make for a good shades of gray on the run campaign.

EDIT: That just makes a valuable resource even more expensive, people would still try to smuggle stuff in. Maybe the one or more of the helpers are in on it for the money and lets the smuggling occur.

The Pressman
2010-08-11, 10:51 PM
And the thing is, he's been very strategic. The gist is that he's removed those who would actively oppose him, and left those who simply try to improve the condition.
The way that the party is meeting is simply chance. We all happen to be in the same farming collective/town/amalgamated haberdashery province/etc when something happens. I don't know what, but something.

BumblingDM
2010-08-11, 10:57 PM
The game that i have been running for sometime started very Low magic - well except for clerics, all arcane and druidic was banned - but all around I found it alot of fun to run, and i think my players enjoyed it for its challenges.

Zodiac
2010-08-11, 11:02 PM
A magic-less world would be... a lot like ours! Joking aside, villages and cities would more accurately resemble the typical pseudo-medieval places that D&D automatically assumes. The only differences would depend on how the wizard behaves. If he is as draconian as he appears to be, the average citizenry would be in fear of any ability that appears to supernatural in origin, and would probably be willing to engage in preemptive witch hunts to avoid drawing the ire of the wizard.

Coidzor
2010-08-11, 11:08 PM
So. He's either co-opted, killed, driven out of the country, or driven underground all magic users.

Depending upon how much your DM buys into the Frank and K Dungeonomicon or just sorta wings it, there could be any number of sociological effects.

I mean, most obviously, the only schmagic stuff you're going to find is either stuff the wealthy are hoarding, the usual stuff someone stashed in Uncle Jimbo's grave and forgot about, or government stockpiles...

Noircat
2010-08-12, 12:01 AM
There's always alchemical items, I don't know if those are still fine. If so, expect alchemists to be sneaking in or moving in legally to the country to fill the magic void.

If not, quite a few alchemical items can pass for exotic mundane stuff so black market trade in these items that don't have magic auras will be high.

Their is always the psuedo-magical stuff like weapons and armor of mithril and other wierd materials that could just be considered exotic. Their price and desireability will go way up.

If you were planning this as a dnd 4E game, bringing back masterwork armor and weapons as well as classic materials would be a good way to fill the void. Homebrewing a couple of your own may be good too.

Most magic that would exist in a black market economy would be really low profile stuff(plain +1 weapons and armor with no overt effects and other items that easily pass for mundane) or with its aura hidden.

Magic items might also find their way into the hands of the blatant evil-aligned bandit who goes around robbing and either intentionally or unintentionally reinforcing the "we must restrict magic items" rhetoric of the Evil Wizard Supremo. Perhaps even commanded by said Wizard either directly or more likely through a shadowy intermediary.

Healing rituals might be the sole exception to this rule, but it might be easier to sneak out of the country and get the ritual done out there and then come back than to fool around with black market rituals in the territory of this Wizard who is cracking down.

Most folks with a +1 sword were either elite bad guys, adventurers, elite mercenaries, or supported by the Wizard. If they can't have their +1 sword, they are going to now try and either escape the country or join the Wizard if all resistance has died. That leaves the rest of the commoners to go on living as usual, in fact, perhaps a bit better off without worrying about crazies with lightning swords running around attracting trouble and burning down their taverns. Somehow I doubt these commoners would have the guts to go on witch hunts against magic item users, though they'd more likely just report all magic sightings to the authorities or act as if they hadn't seen anything in order to stay out of trouble. Let the Wizard's goons deal with magic users.

Then again, a few "professional magic user hunters" may crop up from the commoners if the bounty on magic users is high enough and there are enough bounties to support a small population of these Hunters. They'd likely be incompent at actually hunting magic users but would look really cool with matching intimidating longcoats and other "I swear I'm as tough as I look or perhaps moreso" accessories up until the point they get really familiar with a fireball or sword of vorpalfrostlightingsplosions.

Lysander
2010-08-12, 09:49 AM
If magical schooling is banned most illegal casters would probably be spontaneous types with natural inborn power. In short, the rebels would be sorcerers.

DabblerWizard
2010-08-12, 10:00 AM
Having magic restricted by a wizard (the epitome of magical power) would send mixed messages to some of the citizens of the world.

- Some people, common peasantry for instance, who may have already feared magic before it was banned, are now "sure" that magic is dangerous, now that the government supports the notion.

Some of these people may attempt to gain favor with the government, by offering their services as snitches. Though if the government wizard is super paranoid, he might execute any such people that even "believe that they have seen" magic, not to mention those that actually perform it.

Of course, even in this group, if it's well known that the government is run by a powerful wizard, some people would quietly wonder why it's okay for the ruler to have magic, if no one else is supposed to.

Scare tactics would work well with this group, considering their generally low exposure to, and high fear of magic.

- Wealthier, better educated citizenry, who may have interacted with wizards, or seen magic, or utilized magic for their own gain, before the ban, would be less sympathetic to this new rule.

Merchants would also loathe the loss of the ability to sell magic items, as has been suggested above, and might begin smuggling, or even "creating" pseudo-magic items, just to keep up their revenue. Some of them could be trained in magic concealment. Generally speaking the government might speak out against magic item trading, but might hire / enslave craftsmen who are especially good at creating legitimate items.

- Magical practitioners, theorists and other sympathizers may fight against the regime. If the world has magical institutions, some of these places may have magical means to protect or hide themselves, but they would also be among the first places hit by the paranoid wizard ruler.

Others, who are more interested in protecting their security than their liberty, might offer to "work for" the government, but they may end up dead if there are too many of these people, or if they are mediocre and not all that useful, or too powerful.

Tyndmyr
2010-08-12, 02:40 PM
In such a world, picking up any magic item crafting feat is awesome. Selling such products tend to result in, like any illegal product, massive profits, with the attendant massive risks.

Character gets a gp fix, and the Dm gets fun adventure hooks to use.

ZeroGear
2010-08-12, 04:49 PM
Expect psionic use (if you incorporate it). Otherwise, your best bet is to make special weapons without magical bonusses. Prestige classes that focus on Mele, Range, and Stealth would be a boos, as are ones that resist magic. Also, if you don't allow casters, either devine or arcane, alchemical items would be in bid demand, as would non-magical healing items.

Marnath
2010-08-12, 05:05 PM
I expect that such a place would make taking Nystul's magic aura viable for a sorceror, because of it's use in smuggling magic goods. Even at low level you could cover a decent number of items indefinately.

*edit You could also use it to get rival smugglers in trouble by making their mundane gear seem magic.

Force
2010-08-12, 05:21 PM
How do magic users become magical in the setting? If it's similar at all to Harry Potter "accidental magic" or Puberty Superpowers (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PubertySuperpower) are in play, I'd expect to see parents being very antsy once their kids reach a certain age. Perhaps such children suffer the crowd with torches & pitchforks, or perhaps they run away and form little level 1 sorceror gangs just to survive.