Examples of how Narrators have handled magic.

[John Roy]

I know we are left to our own devices when applying magic to our game. I'm about to start a campaign set in the Riverlands and the Vale and there are going to be some magical elements. Can anyone give me some examples of how they have handled the magical parts of Martin's world?

Like, would the Shadow Assassin just kill Renly outright and he had no chance of escape? If Renly were a PC, what actions could he perform? If the PC was Melsandre, would the NPC Renly have any chance of killing the thing? Should it have stats or just be an "Act of God (The Narrator)" that just gets implemented and the PC's go from there? What have people done in their campaigns when it's time for players or NPC's to use magic?

I found a couple Red Priest and Faceless Man stats, but I didn't see the Red Priest healing like ADWD covered. Does anyone have good rules for magical healing? Does anyone have good Dragon stats? Dragon control rules? Blood Magic rules? Child of the Forest stats? There are a lot of things in Martin's world that the rules don't even suggest how to cover, and I would love to know how other Narrators have covered it, because this will be my first game in this world, and I haven't GMed for a long time. Thanks!

[Lord Ben]

Are you setting the game before/after the red comet?

I love it that the setting doesn't define magic. I would keep that definition undefined for a long long time. Cutting your palm and having the sword burst into flames from magic is very cool, but looses a lot of coolness the more you do it.

I probably would not put any sort of obvious magic in the hands of the PCs.

If I did I'd start with healing. Prereq of pious and I'd have it speed up the roll from 1 week to 1 day. And I'd stick to magic type effects that don't appear to be magic. Allow greendreams to be used when staring in to the flames, etc.

For example Thoros of Myr has a burning sword dipped in Wyldfire. Maybe it does +1 damage for anyone with a similar sword but for him it does +2 damage and people he faces are treated as having a phobia towards it even if they don't (or doubling existing phobia). To any onlooker it would appear as if there is no magic being used but really there is.

[rulandor]

Most magical phenomena you describe are not explained in detail by GRRM's books. So, the game has a hard time of building magical rules.

So you can only use Narrator judgment in those cases.

In my games I haven't used magic much, but for what it's worth, here is my take on things:

The shadow assassin could have a Fighting rank, a movement rate and a maximum duration. Neither is mentioned by GRRM, but in a game, you need to consider such details. The Shadow could also have a Combat Defense and Health, if you feel inclined, and perhaps be vulnerable for all weapons or for Valyrian weapons or for weapons blessed in the name of the Warrior or whatever.

Blood Magic follows a simple rule: a life for a life. The most powerful blood magic ritual we have witnessed in the books (Dany's sacrifice of Mirri Maz Dhur in order to make the dragon eggs hatch) seems to require only an understanding of the basic principle and its implementation. Characters do not seem to need an Ability or a Quality for that. Perhaps a Knowledge Focus?

Most readers think that the Septons do not do miracles, but I seem to remember a single reference in the books, where the Brotherhood Without Banners features while Arya is with them, where a Septon/Septa's blessing may bestow some minor benefit, perhaps a +1D for a weapon blessed in the name of the Smith, +1D for Warfare after having prayed to the Warrior, +1D for healing a patient after having prayed to the Mother or the Crone, +1D for seducing somebody after receiving the Maiden's blessing, and so on.

R'hllor, on the other hand, seems to justify a whole bunch of Fate Qualities, and you can find some decent work in this regard on exactly this forum. Problem is, different Red Priests seem to have very different powers - Thoros of Myr can re-animate corpses, to his surprise, after dragons are alive again in the world. Melisandre obviously does divination and some sort of conjuration, which Thoros does not, and so on. Perhaps a viable solution could by a single more generic Quality for R'hllors powers, applicable to a whole range of miracles.

Hope that helps.

[Lord Ben]

I guess my last post didn't really answer so I'll try to go through it.

Can anyone give me some examples of how they have handled the magical parts of Martin's world?

I had a person "poisoned" by magic in the game. Essentially cursed to die but the curse took the effect of some rare poison she accidentally got a hold of. So it just appeared as if the magic user poisoned them instead of magiced them to death. Or maybe they did just poison her.... I made sure either way could have been plausible whether or not the person believed in magic.

Like, would the Shadow Assassin just kill Renly outright and he had no chance of escape?

IMHO, Yes.

If Renly were a PC, what actions could he perform?

Burn a destiny point to survive.

If the PC was Melsandre, would the NPC Renly have any chance of killing the thing? Should it have stats or just be an "Act of God (The Narrator)" that just gets implemented and the PC's go from there?

Still no chance of killing it or escaping (apart from burning destiny). But I've always been willing to use assassins on the PCs. Usually for failing at diplomacy. In my other favorite game the social bits are very important and losing a ton of face and insulting powerful people will result in them killing you. If you engage in combat with a barbarian and lose you die from an axe and it's immediate. If you act against a powerful noblemen who has access to assassins and "lose" the scheming you die only it's from assassins later and is less immediate than an axe to the neck. Your chance to avoid it is not acting against powerful people and losing, not in combat against the assassin.

That said I inform people they're going to die and allow them to help craft a memorable death scene whether they want to go out fighting the thing for a lengthy fight before dying or perhaps they want to gurgle their loved ones name as they collapse to the floor, etc.

What have people done in their campaigns when it's time for players or NPC's to use magic?

I would avoid obvious magic (see above post) but if you're looking for ways just remember that in the book they describe magic as a sword with no hilt. It's often just as dangerous to the people using it.

Stannis is severely weakened, Melisandre also appears old (though uses glamour), warlocks have to drink some mild poison that turns their lips blue, being risen from the dead destroys your humanity, blowing Euron's horn (heh) sears your lungs to cinders and kills you, powerful blood magic requires the sacrifice of innocents, etc.

If I were to do it I'd make it powerful but also severely costly. The kind of thing you might never do in every session for the obvious effects. Like "flaw(something you actually use)" every time you do it for the good stuff.

Minor level stuff would probably duplicate pious or possibly enhance it. I mean if you get +2D to a test once per day from super pious and apply it to disguise and call it a glamour that's fine with me.

I found a couple Red Priest and Faceless Man stats, but I didn't see the Red Priest healing like ADWD covered. Does anyone have good rules for magical healing? Does anyone have good Dragon stats? Dragon control rules? Blood Magic rules? Child of the Forest stats? There are a lot of things in Martin's world that the rules don't even suggest how to cover, and I would love to know how other Narrators have covered it, because this will be my first game in this world, and I haven't GMed for a long time. Thanks!

I suggest trying to decide what kind of game you want and going from there. How I suggest doing a Dragon depends on if you want a Dragon to be a super power entity that can shake the fate of nations or if you want it something that the PC's can kill at the end of some plot.

Basically you have to customize it for each game.

I kind of want to run a game in the Kingswood where the PC's are outlaws only set after the Red Comet/Dragons and there is awakened magic deep in the kingdom sized forest as well as the King's men trying to find them. If I ran that game how I did magic would be greatly different than one set in 280 long before the comet.

[John Roy]

You guys have been very helpful. Thanks a lot! My campaign is going to take place after the re-awakening of magic in the world. My first plot involves a heretical Septon and his cult, patterned on various heresies of the Middle Ages, and I want the final encounter to involve some real magic after a ritual they perform with a captured Tullison from the Chronicle Starter, who has King's Blood. I am happy you took the time to answer all my questions. Looks like this game has a great community.

[Kival]

R'hllor, on the other hand, seems to justify a whole bunch of Fate Qualities, and you can find some decent work in this regard on exactly this forum. Problem is, different Red Priests seem to have very different powers - Thoros of Myr can re-animate corpses, to his surprise, after dragons are alive again in the world. Melisandre obviously does divination and some sort of conjuration, which Thoros does not, and so on. Perhaps a viable solution could by a single more generic Quality for R'hllors powers, applicable to a whole range of miracles.

Hope that helps.

It has been mentioned by the guys making the PC-RPG GAME that Melisandres abilities are not what's typical for a red priest. They said they had to have some chat with G.R.R. Martin to develop the skills of their red priest ingame.

[John Roy]

I feel like Moqorro from Victarion's ship in A Dance with Dragons would be a better template for Red Priest powers than Melisandre.

[rulandor]

It has been mentioned by the guys making the PC-RPG GAME that Melisandres abilities are not what's typical for a red priest. They said they had to have some chat with G.R.R. Martin to develop the skills of their red priest ingame.

That is quite interesting. Can you tell us more? Or can somebody?

[Kival]

They did not tell us more but it might be correct to assume that red priests may be able to get skills similar to the ones, they are allowed to learn in the upcomming PC-RPG. I'll try to find a screen or something.

[aprewett]

When was the 'Reawakening of Magic'?

Sorry not very knowledgable about the setting/books.

Allan

[John Roy]

The series strongly implies that magic begins to re-emerge in the world right around the events of "A Game of Thrones" and then get much more pervasive once the dragons are born. There is a link between dragons and magic in Martin's world, and as the dragons grow, so does the power of magic in the world. So basically, the end of Book One is when it really gets going, although to be fair, the Maegi woman does cast her spell on Kahl Drogo and Dany's baby, Bran begins to have his dreams, and the Others kill the Night's Watch before that happens. So it's not like it was completely dead even before the dragons, but that is definitely a major point in the re-awakening of magic in the world.