One of the more interesting things I am waiting for when C.R. Brandon publishes the Black Magic portion of Blades is how he will handle magic items. Until then here are my ideas for their use in that game–and the Middle Lands.
Dark & Dangerous
One of the cornerstone concepts for magic items in any low fantasy or swords & sorcery setting is that they are dark and dangerous–not just to opponents but to the wielder as well. This concept for magic items can be found throughout literature or fantasy fiction, from Elric’s sword Stormbringer to Kane’s ring in Bloodstone.
If any magic item is to be known or used in that kind of setting, the Referee has to keep that in mind and incorporate it into that setting’s background or storyline. Anything that powerful will definitely be known, and have some form of name. These named items can either be background color or actual sources of adventures.
For example, the players could hear that a powerful sorcerer in the land has a magical staff that slays his enemies. This could always be background color for the setting, or something that drives action beyond the players’ control.
No friendly magic stores for the players to visit, where they buy and sell magical loot from the latest dungeon crawl.
Or it could be an item that the players actually encounter, and have the opportunity to claim as their own. It could be cursed, and cause the character who wields it to have a chance to gain some deformity every time it used.
The point is to make the magic item be dangerous, but also to have it be legendary.
Rare and Wondrous
In order to keep with that concept, magic items must be rare. Extremely rare. No friendly magic stores for the players to visit, where they buy and sell magical loot from the latest dungeon crawl. These are coveted artifacts, with story arcs all of their own.
In fact, I think magic items should never be for sale. They are too important, and too rare, for any industry to grow up around them. I think that is one mistake that The Fantasy Trip made, back in the day, by including intricate rules for buying and selling magic items. That may be fine for a high fantasy campaign, but one like Blades… they should not be included.
Effects On the Game
All of this does have an influence on the game itself. How magic items are handled in a Blades campaign is critical in keeping the tone of the dark magic or swords & sorcery feel.
One way to keep the dark and dangerous tone is to have the use of magic items always cost at least 1 ST to use, and their cost is always considered damage, not fatigue. They are never "always on" and require conscious willing by the character to use. That means every use is precious, and comes at a cost.
Another option is to have the magic item be risky to use. Like I mentioned above, maybe the item brings the risk of scarring or deformities. Maybe it causes insanity or obsessions. Just like having their use causing physical damage, increasing the risk of their use also can be used with game mechanics.
Yet another way to help enforce the dark and dangerous concept is to require the creator to sacrifice actual attribute points during the creation of the item. For example, the sorcerer who creates a sword that does +1 damage may be required to sacrifice 1 point of ST. A sword that gives a +1 to hit may a sacrifice of 1 point of DX. This may sound extreme, but it really does explain why magic items are so rare–and why they are not just given away like candy to a wizard’s buddies.
The actual effects of the magic item are left to the Referee. In the Middle Lands, their effects can be described with my Improvisational Magic system. If a Referee wants to use the spells from Heroes & Other Worlds, that works, too–as long as the cost is in damage.
(Note: None of these are my ideas. I shamelessly grabbed them from Zozer Games’ Fast Magic. Still–they are great ways to implement magic items in low magic campaigns).
All this leads me to be curious what C.R. Brandon will do with Black Magic. He is a very creative guy, and I really want to see what ideas he comes up with for magic items in his game. He has talked about magic being very "metal" in Black Magic, bloody and dark–I can’t wait!
Marko ∞
(Originally published on middle-lands.com, on 3/29/2019. I did publish some improv magic rules on middle-lands.com, but Jeff Vandine and I are reworking them for the Ealdun setting (and other general use). More on that in the future.)
