Phoenix

[Alex Koponen]

    Back in 1983 I was creating my own RPG. Though sometimes I called it
Swords and Magic I usually called it WHAM for Wizards, Heroes And
Monsters. It too had a good combat system, one die roll to determine if
you hit and how much damage you did. However I hadn't come up with a
decent magic system for it. Then the company I was planning to sell it to,
Avalon Hill, brought out not one but two RPGs, RuneQuest which had been
around for awhile and was perhaps the best of the RPGs published in the
1970s and Powers & Perils.
    P&P had (has) an elegant design, a trifle steep in the learning curve,
but a design that fit together, made combat, magic and adventuring fun and
accomplished what I was seeking in writing WHAM (other than financial
remuneration for myself). So with P&P as the competition I dropped WHAM
and spent more time gaming. For several years P&P was the primary game I
played.
    Though the magic system can be improved, it is excellent. Spells are
variable. Magic Item creation is simple. I particularly like the fact that
spells can fail and can even fail abysmally. This makes being a mage
risky. A positive thing in my book. Indeed, I use houserules that makes it
even riskier. With the power come the perils. Or to gain the power one
must brave the perils. Actually, wise play can vastly reduce the risk. It
is much safer to cast a spell on oneself to improve in some way than to
cast a spell against someone else to hurt them somehow. Certain spells and
items also help.
    Some spells do need to be rewritten. Many may be too powerful.
Techniques for creating new spells should be written and standardized.

    To improve the game we need to locate, describe and name the problems.
Then we can figure out how to correct the problems while keeping the
elegance of the design rather than making patchwork fixes that ultimately
cause more problems.

            Alex Koponen


----- Original Message -----
From: "Sylverrs_ dragon" <abnaric at HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <POWERS-AND-PERILS at geo000.CITG.TUDELFT.NL>
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2003 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: Phoenix


> Appreciate the kind words. Don't know if I agree that the magic system
sucks
> but I do admit it needs streamlining, expansion and some major
revisions.
> Will definitely concentrate a lot of effort in that area when the time
comes
> to seriously tackle the project. Any suggestions would be considered
> appreciatively.
>