Totte - magic

Introduction

Though useful as a generic roleplaying system, the focus of Totte is on fantasy settings. Of course a proper fantasy setting needs a good dose of magic.

Magic in theory

Theory of magic

Reality, as perceived by the creatures that inhabit it, is an illusion. That is not to say that there is a 'real' reality beneath an 'illusionary' one, but that reality itself is no more than a phantom. Illusions exist only in the minds of creatures that believe in them and with reality this is the same. This implies that if there would not be any creatures to believe in the reality, it wouldn't exist - and that's true.
Reality is shared by many different creatures with different beliefs. Is then reality not different for each creature? Well, in a way it is. There exist multiple abstractions of reality. Personal aspects of reality are different for each creature. Local aspects are shared among groups, locales or time periods. Some beliefs are held by very many creatures and thus stretch through large areas of reality. They can change from area to area, through time and more.

Example

Albert the mage is trying to master the art of flying. He equips himself with artificial bird wings, but they are obviously man-made. Because everybody, including himself, thinks that only birds can fly, he has a hard time lifting off. He dies during an over-optimistic jump from a cliff.
Many years later, his grandson is fascinated being his ancestor's experiments and tries to take up the challenge too. Because by now the industrial revolution has arrived and people have become accustomed to the idea that nature can be bent to their will, the magic has become a lot easier. The grandson does not use bird wings, but a wooden 'flying machine' with fixed wings. After many failed attempts, he manages to make a gliding flight, just like the Wright brothers. As he gathers experience, he upgrades the machine and becomes a real pilot.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the world, in a dense jungle cut off from the civilized world, an old shaman does not know what a machine is. He performs the Ritual of Feathers like his predecessors have done for generations, transforms himself into a parrot and flies off to scout the location of a neighboring tribe.
Even further away, on a different world where people are living at the top layer of a massive forest of giant trees, flying is as natural as walking, possibly even more so. It is not magical at all; everybody can do it.

The art of magic is changing reality, instead of flowing with it. Though in theory every being could wield magic, in practice the number of mages is limited. Animals do not perform magic because they lack the intelligence to to believe in something different than the existing reality around them. Spirits are not mages either. Some of them are too stupid too, others are smart enough. They lack not the intelligence but the will. Spirits, created by the imagination of others, are exactly what they want to be in the world as they know it. Many of them employ magic, but it is not really true magic, rather natural phenomena. A bird can fly, a leprechaun can become invisible. Those are just innate abilities - though they can be powerful!
True magic can be performed only by humans and equally intelligent living creatures. It requires the willpower and creativity to believe in a different reality and thus change the existing one. So wielding magic is basically stretching / bending reality. But when performing magic, a mage is hampered by the collective beliefs of other people around him and even her own beliefs, prejudices and thought patterns. In order to wield powerful magic, she must master belief and imagination both of herself and others.

Traditions of magic

In various places and times, magic is being practiced in many different ways. Conceptions of the nature of the world, rituals, spirit population and even laws of nature all show different flavors and sometimes outright conflict with each other. In Totte such a set of beliefs and establishments is called a tradition. A tradition defines the framework which things are magical and which are ordinary. Magic within the borders of the framework is feasible as long as the local population believes in it, even though they consider it rare, unlikely and/or dangerous. Should the mage work outside the tradition, then he is hampered by misunderstanding and distrust by the people surrounding him, which can greatly decrease the effectiveness of his magic. Fortunately for mages, traditions tend not only to conflict with each other, but also coexist and overlap. Therefore different types of magic can be found at the same time and place.

It is up to the GM to decide which traditions are present in the game world, how influential they are and how they work. Totte offers some help by listing six broad categories of traditions, which span most traditions of magic that are known on our own world. The traditions are split in two groups, theurgical and thaumaturgical. In the former group, the mage is a channel to focus forces outside himself. In the latter, power is concentrated in the mage himself. Note that the division between these two is not absolute.
The six categories are listed below. They are not 'the' magic traditions of Totte, just examples.

Animistic (theurgical)

In 'primitive' societies, nature is seen as being run by spirits of various types, powers and temperaments. Spirits grow plants, flow rivers, cause fires, and so on; they are everywhere. The spirits of dead people are ranked among nature spirits. The ancestors especially can also affect the lives of people, causing disease and misfortune if angered, but also health, wealth, power and luck if appeased.
Shamans are mages who are able to communicate with spirits, summon and banish them, barter agreements and sometimes command them. This makes them generally very powerful people, often ranked on the same level as tribal war leaders.
Magical rituals involve symbols to make a link of correspondence between shaman and the object of his magic and offerings, chants and dance to call, lure, appease or frighten spirits. Shamans often let spirits take possession of their bodies, or possess others themselves.

Polytheistic (theurgical)

Like in the animistic view, priests work through spirits, but focus on the mightiest of all: the gods. Gods tend cover a few aspects of life and therefore their priests are often specialists, though some priests serve many gods. Priests can draw magical power from the gods, who delegate some of it to them. Because these span such large numbers of believers, priest magic can be very powerful, but it is also limited by the 'portfolio' of the god and regulated by temple organizations and religious orders. For example the god of the skies may grant rain to the thirsty crops of the farmers; a love spell must be obtained from the goddess of love.
Magical rituals are like those of the shamans, but often more elaborate and standardized. Priests are submissive to their gods and will ask favors from their deity, but never demand them outright.

Monotheistic (theurgical)

Monotheistic magic is very much akin to polytheistic magic. The difference is that all power comes from one omnipotent deity rather than multiple ones. As the one deity is often assisted by numerous divine spirits who govern specific aspects, the situation in practice is much like in polytheism.

Scientific (thaumaturgical)

In this category, understanding the world around you is the key to controlling it. Scientists and technicians do not consider themselves mages, though effectively they are. For game purposes, there is little difference between technology and magic.
The understanding of science is expressed in the tools and crafts of technology. Scientists and engineers think up theories and build tools and machines to work their magic. They do not pay homage to any spirits, though they do study the world around them and try to learn from it. By doing their work, they change the world as much as they adapt to it.

High magic (thaumaturgical)

In the high magic society, magic is much like a science, but it is theoretical rather than empirical. This means that mages do not test their theories much, but just believe that they are right. In a world where belief and imagination can change reality, this can work.
The best among high mages invent and apply new rituals; the lesser ones copy them from arcane tomes where the leaders in the field have documented their pursuits, or wield magical items that have been constructed by others, like flying carpets, crystal balls and the like.

Mystical (thaumaturgical)

Mystics seek to transcend the physical, mundane reality. They believe that when one is able to free oneself from the normal, then so-called magical powers will be obtained along the way, though they will have lost their mysteries for the mage himself. Many mystics state that all creatures and things in the world are not essentially separate entities, but form part of a greater unity. Body, mind, nature and spirits are all aspects of the same whole.
Mystics meditate a lot, trying to gain a view to the world that is different than the normal one. They do not stoop to spirits or gods, though the more religious oriented ones among them do pay them respect. They sometimes use tools like incantations or drugs to lift their awareness to a higher level.

The structure of the universe

Magic is strongly tied to the world where it occurs. What is magical in one world can be mundane in another. In a magical universe, multiple worlds can coexist next to each other.

Multiple worlds

Earth mythology has yielded many different models of the universe. Many discern not a single world, but several ones, which occasionally interact. A common view is three-layered: an underworld below, the 'normal' world in the middle and a heaven on top. Some mythologies have more elaborate models, like the old Norse universe that also include separate worlds for fire giants, ice giants, light elves and dark elves. Esoteric cosmology takes a different approach and splits the universe into planes of existence, for example a physical plane, an ethereal spirit one and a divine astral home for the gods.

The divergence of worlds

A possibly way to explain a multitude of worlds is through magic. First people started to imagine spirits around them and by doing so, made them real. Later they assigned many spirits to separate 'spirit' worlds. Again these were created by imagination and belief, arising as separate worlds, though intersecting with the original one.
This divergence need not be restricted to one 'physical' world and one or more 'spirit' worlds. Physical separations of peoples through landmarks like oceans, deserts and mountain ranges tends to create cultural isolation and divergence too. Different cultures create different mythologies, very possibly with different spirit worlds. In a magical universe, even geographical regions can start to diverge (meta-)physically. What was once a physical separation can gradually turn into a cultural and magical rift, creating truly disjoined worlds.

Travel between worlds

It is often possible to travel between worlds using old connections, which have evolved into a mix of physical and magical. These may take the form of journeys over mountain passes or sea journeys. Examples are the Bifrost bridge of the Norse that connects Asgard with Midgard, or the caves that allow people to enter American Indian spirit worlds. A more wordly connection is the strait of Gibraltar that separates Christian Spain from Islamic Morocco.
When a traveler enters another world, she may often experience a very tangible change in atmosphere, caused by the different structure of the other world. The difference may be small, like entering another country with different climate, food, language and customs, or so great that certain things become magical. Effectively, a traveler who enters a different world is a demon (see the bestiary).
Sometimes the connection between worlds is only ethereal, which means that a traveling person will have to leave her physical body behind, possibly occupying another in the target world, also possibly regaining her old body if she returns. This usually requires powerful magic.

Example

The continents of Amberia and Zulantia are physically separated by a rough sea where giant kraken roam, who sink almost all ships. As a result, the two land areas have evolved in different ways. The flora and fauna of both continents are quite different; Zulantia knows two intelligent species instead of one in Amberia. Metal ore deposits in Amberia are scarce and difficult to access; as a result metalsmithing has never taken off there. Instead, the people of the continent have become masters of 'tree herding', breeding trees to yield wood and fiber components and tools in many sizes, shapes and with many different attributes. Craftsmen visitors from Zulantia would find that even simple smithing work is almost magically difficult on the other continent, while woodcarving and making rope is common everywhere; some Amberians use self-twisting and self-knotting ropes. Amberian humans rely heavily on a diet of Ghyfal fruit, which proves downright poisonous to Zulantians, some of whom save themselves by eating grass, which they can digest like grazing animals, unlike any Amberian humans. The latter worship spirits and gods just like many on Earth do, but the Zulantians don't understand the concept of spirits or divinity at all. They try to connect to the 'world consciousness' like they are used to, but find only a faint echo of it on the strange Amberian world and feel very homesick.

Magic in practice

Magic skill levels

There is no sharp dividing line between 'reality' and 'magic' in Totte. Instead, feats attempted by characters can reach higher and higher difficulties, up to a point where achieving them is considered scarcely believable by most people. When that happens, they sneak into the realm of magic. For example, a superb groom may transform a hideous monster into a pretty girl; a leatherworker may make a leather cuirass that is as hard as steel or never needs to be cleaned. Only characters with the highest skill levels have a significant chance of success when attempting such feats, though others with less skill might achieve it too, with many lucky random die rolls.

Example

Jango Z the hacker tries to hack his way into a database of a secret service. His intelligence is 5 and his skill with computers a stunning 7 for a total ability of intelligence 5 + 2 * computers skill 7 = 19. The security shielding the database is very tough and comes down to a difficulty of 16. With a neutral result on the random die roll the feat result is 19 - 16 + 0 = 3, an easy success. A journalist with only little skill in computers witnesses the attempt and is astounded by the feat; for him it is almost magical.
Next Jango takes on another database that does not even have a physical connection to the internet where he is operating through. All data transport is handled through old-fashioned floppy disks, which are screened at least twice. This is a feat that even experts would deem impossible; the difficulty is a staggering 20. However Jango makes two lucky random die rolls and his feat score is 19 - 20 + 2 = 1, so again he succeeds, with a flourish too.

Magic skills

Some skills in the skill list are listed under the "magic" top-level skill. These cover feats that are so extraordinary that even the simplest among them are considered to be magical in most worlds. Such feats are often impossible a world where magic does not exist; difficult but feasible in most classical fantasy worlds; ordinary just like feats from other skills in a highly magical universe. The difficulty of 'magical' feats can vary per skill and feat. What is magical in one place can be ordinary in another, or the other way around. For example brewing a healing potion may be as simple as mixing a cocktail in one world, while conjuring a minor phantasm is impossible.

Common difficulty factors

Each magic feat has its own factors that contribute ability or difficulty; see the skill list for details. There are also a number that apply to all of them. These are listed below. Measurement of scalars often makes use of broad scalar classes, see the section on scalars.

Casting time

The longer the mage prepares his magic, investigating details and the environment and impressing any witnesses, the higher the chance of success.

casting ritual length	difficulty
month	-2
day	-1
extended	0
brief	+1
moment	+2

Concentration

By default a mage must concentrate on working his magic to start it and, if it is not over in an instant, to keep it going. With partial concentration he can do other tasks like moving around, operating tools, listening to a conversation, etc., but not up to the point where they require good concentration themselves. For this latter mode of multitasking it is required that the magic requires no concentration at all, raising its feat difficulty even further.

concentration	difficulty
full	0
partial	+2
none	+4

Effect change

Changing effect means changing magic while it is active, though still within the bounds of the effect itself. For example, a mage has transformed himself into a mouse to escape a dungeon. But he notices that now the prison cat is on his tail and he is in mortal danger. He has cast a spell that would last an extended interval, but after just a few minutes changes his form to that of a large dog to chase off the cat. A slow change would take several minutes, a rapid one only a few seconds and an instant only a fraction of a second.

change effect	difficulty
not	0
slowly	+2
non rapid	+4
in an instant	+6

Triggers

By default a magic effect occurs instantly. However, a mage may build in a trigger to set it off at a later time.

trigger	difficulty
none	0
touch	+2
simple condition	+3
moderate condition	+5
complex condition	+7

A simple trigger condition could be: "When a black dog walks by". A moderately complex condition could be: "When this rock is touched, or after the next full moon has reached its maximum, whichever comes first". A complex condition example: "When Henwold the ranger touches this rock, announces that he wants it to move aside so he can enter and he subsequently lays down his arms and performs the Spell of Purification" - this purification spell would need to be described.

Resisting magic

Totte does not participate in silly arms races found in some RPG systems that use spells like "protection from magic", "breach protection from magic" and "shield against breaching protection from magic", and so on. However, there are ways to resist magic in the game.
If people that are affected by magic cannot fully believe it, they make it harder for the mage to work her spells. Most of this is already incorporated in the factors that determine the general difficulty of a magic feat. Sometimes however the GM will introduce extra penalties, or bonuses.
If two mages try to work opposed effects at the same time and place, then their efforts become contested feats. The GM may rule that magic of the winner of a feat contest prevails completely, or that the opposition of the other mage lowers her effectiveness.

Example

Ochnan the Engineer has made a Malicious Thumper machine that can stamp on the earth in oscillating patterns that create earthquakes. He tries to use it to crack the hill fort where a tribe of savages have taken refuge. The barbarians include a shaman in their ranks who tries to counter the effect by soothing the spirits of the earth, sacrificing the blood of 'volunteer' tribesmen. Ochnan is very skilled and has an ability of 15 for this feat. The GM establishes the difficulty of a sufficiently heavy earthquake at 10 and also gives Ochnan a -1 penalty because the barbarian culture is dominant in the region. The shaman is a young man, not so skilled, with an ability of 6 when it comes to commanding nature spirits. This means that the feat score is 15 - 1 - 10 - 6 = -2. Ochnan will need at least two lucky random die rolls to succeed.