[Eagleon]

I'm looking for MU*s with dynamic, involved, unique, or otherwise interesting magic systems. Things like enchantments that go beyond 'enchant weapon' and 'enchant armor', into the player having some choice about the specifics of the spell.

Ideally, it should have many variables that determine the outcome of a spell. There should be a feeling that something interesting is actually happening when you use it, and not just a message like "Your fireball SCORCHES <foo>." Maybe this doesn't exist in any popular, or even well-run MUDs, but I'm not really looking for a new MUD, rather, I want to see how different MUDs have been improving on the standard mage stereotype, to give magic some depth, and hopefully... Making it affect the game and RP the way it should.

Any takers? Accursed Lands and Dark Portal freaks, I already play there (occasionally), so shush.

[John]

Aaawh. I thought this would be a discussion on different ways to employ interesting magic systems, not just a player looking for a mud

Oh well, Armageddon's system is more involved then "cast fireball victim" Armageddon has two types of magic (that I know of ). There are elementalists (known by most in the derogatory term of magicker) which are people who are born with the ability to use magic. Then there are sorcerers who learn how to use magic.

Elementalists are split into several elements. There are Rukkians, who draw magic from the element Ruk (which is earth and stone), Vivaduans (water), whirans (air), Krathi's (fire), Drovians (shadow/dark), etc. When a person is born, they either have no inborn aptitude for magic, or they have an aptitude for a particular element. So you might be born a Drovian or a Krathi. Sorcerers however are born completely normal people. Overtime through hard work and dedication they eventually learn how to use magic. ANYONE can become a Sorcerer, only people born with a "magick" gene can be magickers. This is all ICly. OOCly, Armageddon has a class system with a karma system. The better roleplayer you are and the more trustworthy you are the higher your Karma and the more classes you have access to. Magickers are restricted to certain Karma levels with Sorcerers being restricted to the best roleplayers. So someone of the hunter class is very very unlikely to ever become a sorcerer.

Armageddon has a coded "mana" stat which is used. It's fairly typical with the more spells you cast the more your mana depletes. However if more of your element is present then you become stronger with magick. So a Whiran casting a spell on a windy day will have more oomph then casting the spell on a day where there is no wind. A Drovian casting a spell at night will have more power then casting it at midday.

Spells are also able to have a "power" attached to them. You can cast a spell at a low power or a high power. There are 7 degrees of power. How the power affects a spell is something to find out in-game

Different spells are able to be cast by magickers having them branched (I've played a few magickers and how this happens I do not know ). A Rukkian is (as far as I know, and the magick system is fairly in-depth and mysterious to a lot of players) mainly limited to spells that use the element Ruk. As far as I know (and having never played a sorcerer this is a guess), Sorcerers have to learn spells through another means.

However in Armageddon having a spell show up on your spell list doesn't mean you can cast it. Spells are made up of several different words. Said together the words allow the magicker to cast the spell. For example "wek un krath pret wril" may be a firenball spell. But I have to have the spell on my spell list AND know the combination of words. A spell is made up of different parts, each part having a list of POSSIBLE words. There are so many combinations it would be very time-consuming to cast the spell via trial and error. So you have to find other ways of learning how to cast a spell when it appears on your list.

Finally, Armageddon has something called "components." Some spells are so powerful they require the use of magickal items to be effective.

I'd say Armageddon does away with the mage stereotype with most people in civilizations hating and fearing magickers and sorcerers being outlawed completely. You won't find many "healers" when everyone hates you

I made this post, mainly because I find the discussion interesting. The earliest you can play a magicker is at level 2 karma. So you probably wouldn't want to stick around until you get the chance to play it, so this wasn't really an advert

For anyone interested in knowing more about our magick system here are some links:
* Roleplaying guide with a faq, information and a spell utility.
* Bunch of helpfiles
* Information on the spell part of being a magicker

What other interesting magick systems are there?

[shadowfyr]

Ages of Despair has an interesting one, or maybe had.. Currently the guild is suspended, pending some adjustments to balance it. Originally it was two guild that got crammed together into one in the development stages, so it ended up a tad over powered. In any case, the magic system for Woodland is based one elements, which shift through use. The entire guild has to work cooperatively to keep the elements in balance (by avoiding over-use of say fire spells), it is actually possible to depleat one element to the point where spells using it have little or no effect. Spells themselves are not automatically gained either, they must be found, and as I understand it there are different 'paths' you can follow, each with unique sets of spells, so you can't ever aquire the entire list of possible spells. There are quite a few people desperately waiting for when this guild reopens.

[John]

Wow shadowfyr, that quite simply, rocks You should put up an advert when the guild comes back

[Eagleon]

Like I said, I'm not looking for a mud to permanently play. I wasn't sure where to post this, but I wanted people to be able to really promote theirs as well as discuss, as I am currently visiting quite a few in search of inspiration for my novel, and eventually, a game based on that setting.

Armageddon definately has an interesting setting. I've been tempted to apply there, but I don't play often enough to feel I could really get into it.

I like the idea of making magic depletable/dependent on how much people use it, like shadowfyr's input suggested. If anyone remembers Ravagers from the Dark Sun campaigns, damage and other effects on the world when you use magic is also something I've thought about.

Another thing that has caught my interest, is making new students of magic capable of grasping more than they can handle, up to and including risk of death. After all, there's nothing stopping you IRL from driving without knowing how to drive. I can think of some interesting situations that could occur should a spell go overboard; create rose might start a nearly impenetrable rosebush barrier, with you at the center. Or you might just explode from a massive electrical discharge if you don't know how to handle the energies of the storm you're calling.

[Jazuela]

Unfortunately, much of the magick system in Armageddon is "In-character Info" and we'd get bludgeoned to death if we posted anything too specific here.

I'll say though, that there definitely are consequences to spellcasting in Arm, up to and including overload and backfire, which can result in permanent death of the character. I actually heard about one mage who was going about his business and spontaneously acquired a new spell on his spell list - which some how or another casted itself without any prompting from the mage. He ended up transported to nowhere, and disappeared from the face of the earth forever. I have no idea if that's what really happened, but if it did, it's a pretty danged awesome drawback, heh.

I'll add another point, regarding a pay-to-play I used to play. GemstoneIII's magick system has an interesting drawback to using magick. If you have less than the amount of mana necessary to cast, and cast anyway, it results in damage in the form of scars (if I remember right) that prevent you from casting anything until you are sufficiently healed.

Think of it as a quirky coded version of a migraine headache.