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The time would be easy to know, for
then mankind
would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and
evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing
and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways
to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would
flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom.
H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of
Cthulhu
Magic Part 1 - Philosophical Musings
Here comes the hard part: mixing magic in a modern setting can be tricky. We already established the background in (hey!) the Background Section. Now we have to go deeper.
Q: If magic works in this world, how much does it influence everyday life? Are cars running on gas or on "magic"? How do telephones work?
The approach we are going for is: magic is costly, both in terms of material components and personal energy.
So, while it's still possible to create a car that runs on magical energy (for instance), it's cheaper and more practical to go for regular petrol drinking engines.
On the other hand, some form of low-end, consumer oriented magic industry is perfectly suited for the setting. We'll have therefore a world in which small luck charms, love potions, protection spells, precharged crystal balls and other similar stuff are available for a modicum price, and can be used instead of (respectively) life insurance, professional matchmakers, house and car alarms and telephones.
To the above, and just for kicks, we can also introduce the following: wherever an alternative exists between magical amd mundane, both options are available. Does a headache charm work better than aspirine? What's better, a crystal ball or a telephone?
Both alternatives will have their estimators and their detractors.
Think about PC vs Mac, Gasolie vs Diesel, Vegetarian vs Omnivore to get an idea of the way the thing might turn out in a discussion. Generally speaking, magic is for the better off, and so carries a small amount of status.
So we can imagine a ladder-thing when it comes to magic, prices and prestige
a - consumer magic - e.g., ready made charms and potions
b - over the counter personalized magic - small scale, mass produced, Brand X lucky charms, mild potions etc.
c - over the counter personalized magic - big scale, mass produced, Big Name Brand stuff, or artisan-produced personal items
around here we border the economical feasibility line. What follows is expensive and so reserved to an elite; what if a father needs a rare designer spell to save the life of his hailing son? You've got an adventure hook there...
d - legit designer magic - Big Name made to order items and spells
e - personally researched magic - done by a warlock for his own personal use, virtually above the law
Yeah, the Law.
I guess a revenant or a zombie is a succession attorney's worst
nightmare.
We'll have to imagine a whole new set of laws.
Magic is
an alteration of the ongoing, plain vanilla reality.
Is there a degree
up to which we can alter reality?
Probably there is, something along the
line that you can alter reality as long as your alteration does not extends
to a third party's reality.
But to some, rules are just frosting on the
cake.
So we get
f - bootleg magic - necromancy, voodoo, soul-twisting etc
Much more on the Laws regulating the use of magic in the USA and in some other countries can be found in the Background Setting section.
Q: What's magic to the people in this world?
We'll be as materialistic and cynical as possible (in perfect noir style), and go for "magic as a consumer's good".
Hence people uses it, buys and sells it, craves it, amasses great quantities of it. Might even kill for it. And probably does.
Another angle is the psichological and social level of the thing.
Does people still believe in gods?
Yes ("Magic is the greatest miracle"
makes for a good slogan).
And then, people can believe anything they think
will benefit them (another noir-tinged reflection).
Here we are on a delicate ground.
Please notice: the following is
for satirical and gaming purposes only; we do not want to offend anybody's
beliefs.
Let's not forget that this is still a (heavily manipulated) Lovecraftian universe.
Hence, Religion (any kind), is essentially a form of placebo - te religious miths being just distorted interpretations of what we remember of the history of the Great Old Ones.
Having established this, there are probably quite a few excomunicated
spells (all the necromancy ones, to start with), while the Church might accept
and even support things like healing spells and the like. A radical Christian
sect centered in the Salem area probably opposes any form of magic as the
work of the Devil - and a few other groups of this kind exist in the world.
A magic-oriented dissident branch of the Church is also likely, something
along the lines of a "Church of Our Lord Spellcaster".
Finally, magic-based pagan religions are probably much more widespread and influential - you can't call them "ignorant natives" after all.
Refer to the Background Setting section for further discussion of the above.
More generally, the widespread use of magic to modify everyday reality has some heavy social effects: some people (those that have access to magical manipulation expecially) will see the world as full of opportunities while many others will adopt a more fatalistic outlook, in a world in which magic means a further decrease in certainties.
We're piling disillusionment upon disillusionment.
Which is fine, by
noir standards (and still in a Lovecraftian vein).
More details on the impact of magic on everyday life are to be found in the Background section.
Magic Part 2 - Bean Counting
Now we have to translate the above musings in game terms.
The Call of Cthulhu magic system (or lack thereof) is perfectly suited for the traditional setting, but lets us down badly when we face a magic-richer environment.
One thing is certain: this being a magic-rich environment in which magic is commonplace spells cost _no sanity at all_ for casting; the spell _effects_, on the other hand, if particularly gastly, should be treated as usual according to the shock table found in the Cthulhu rulesbook.
But we still need a way to cast them in the first place.
So we dug
out an old copy of RuneQuest, and took a look at the "Spirit magic"
and "Sorcery" sections.
The main difference between Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest is that you do not normally increase your starting POW in CoC, so that sacrificing POW is really a once-in-a-lifetime thing (if you are smart). This makes the rather common POW sacrifices of RQ much more dramathic under CoC/nd rules.
pirit Magic
We'll skip the part about the rituals required to become a shaman, as they are rather complicated. The Keeper will have to find a suitable way for regulating the access to spirit magic (you go to schools, it runs in the family, there's a 15% probability, whatever), and make up his own rituals to fit the tone of his campaign.
The character learning spirit magic will have to be initiated, by sacrificing 1 or 2 POW points. Therefore, the learning of spirit magic is restricted in this setting to characters starting with a Power value equal or above 15.
However, here's how Spirit Magic works: the caster has a Spellcasting ability equal to his POWx5 %.
Each enchanting spell has a cost in POW points (usually 1 or 2) and needs a "focus" to be cast (trinkets, amulets, tattoos, stuff...). The Focus subsequently acts as a spell activator, allowing the caster to use the spell without the need to memorize it.
Spirit Magic Spells are passive so once cast can be forgotten and they'll continue to work. Perfect for creating marketable amulets and the like.
On the other hand, much cheaper, mass produced Focuses are currently marketed for a modearte price in the niteside dreams world. They are enchanted by Magic point expenditure, so that their charge lasts only for afixed number of castings, and then have to be replaced or recharged. The Law strictly requires of manufacturers that the exact number of charges, counterindications and safety regulations be printed on a small abel attached to the focus.
Sorcery
The good news - anyone can learn sorcery as long as he finds someone to teach him, as it's a more mechanicistic thing than spirit magic (see below). This education can range from cheap "Teach Yourself Sorcery" courses advertized on the pages of "Weird Tales" to highly exclusive Sorcery schools (see below for more), usually abroad, like in "My daughter is in an exclusive Sorcerous College in Switzerland"
He thinks so: she ran away from school to follow a sweet talking no-good and is currently working as an "entertainer" down in Chinatown - this is a noir setting, remember.
The bad news: it's more complicated, casting spells is Magic Point-expensive and requires constant concentration.
So here's how it works.
By studying sorcery, the character gains the following skills:
Each of the above skills starts at a basic level given by the formula
(DEX-10)/2+(INT-10)+(POW-10)
yes, we know, it looks ugly
So Harvey Walters, the bloke they use as an example of character creation in the Cthulhu book, with DEX 12, INT 17 and POW 9, would have in the end a total of 7% as a starting skill value (what RQ rules call the Magic Bonus) . Not much, but beliavable as the starting level of a non-professional spellcaster.
And any character gains 1d6% for each week spent studying sorcery.
A basic spell works at intensity 1, for 10 minutes at a 10 meter range and costs 1 Magic Point to cast.
Increasing Magic Points expenditure by 1 doubles one of the three parameters (so to double all three, you have to spend 3 Magic Points).
Memory Requirements: A sorcery spell takes up 1 point
of INT.
Professional Magic Users start with a higher basic % in magic skills
Warlock - Botany, Credit, Fast Talk, Library Use, Occult, Spot Hidden; Magic (Spellcasting, Duration and Intensity starting at 50%, Multispell at 25%)
More informations about RuneQuest (and therefore Call of Cthulhu and niteside dreams compatible) sorcery, including a great number of specialty professions, schools and a full set of generic spells, can be found in the Sandy Petersen essay at the following URL:
http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha/sorcery.html
Learning Spells
Mystical Orders and Sorcery Schools - the equivalent of lodges, clubs and colleges for the well to do.
Some of said clubs, dealing with Spirit Magic, are the later extension of those old pagan practices (like the Golden Dawn consdered itself an extension of ancient Celtic mysticism) that have not mantained their religious nature. In a world in which magic works so fine, something like the Golden Dawn is bound to be by the mid-'40s in the same league of the Rotary Club.
While we are at it - many of the initiation rituals in shamanic religions are pretty gruesome and revolting by modern standards. It would be fun to include in a campaign a high class Mystical Order using a sanitized and "tamed", even fashionable version of the original ritual.
Some others are Magic Schools proper, set up through the years and teaching Sorcery Spells and Skills.
Rules similar to those published in the Pagan Publishing supplement "The Golden Dawn" might be useful for regulating access to spells in Schools and Orders. Each of these has its own grimoire, including some exclusive spells.
The main advantage of studying magic through an Order or a School is that
a given character will be allotted a nuber of extra character points to spend
buying magic-related skills and spells; said points depend on the character
abilities and skills, according to the following criteria
For the purposes of this setting, each spell costs as many character points to buy as Magic Points to cast.
Otherwise, a character has still two other ways to learn magic
From an instructor: this takes 50 hours of training from someone with skill in the spell being learned of at least 90. At the end of the training, the student receives a spell skill equal to 1d6 plus his Magic Bonus. If this is 0 or less, the spell is useless to him. Another 50 hours adds another 1d6 to his skill, and this can be continued unti he is finally at a positive level. A spell teacher can train a number of students equal to his INT.
From a Book: a student who successfully Reads a work describing a spell and studies it for 50 hours can learn the spell by rolling his INT or less on 1d100. If he fails, he can study another 50 hours, then try his INT x 2. Then INT x 3, etc. A special Read doubles the reader's chances. A critical Read is an automatic success.
Grimoire
Spell lists are not good.
They are time and space consuming and can awaken the power-player hiding even in the best roleplayer. So I won't reprint spell lists taken form Runequest, Call of Cthulhu or any other fantasy/horror setting.
You have certainly something of that kind at home: go through it and adapt what you feel suits better your games, using the general guidelines about magic given above.
Please notice: what is called "The Lesser Grimoire" in CoC has a few dozens of spells that are not directly Mythos-connected. These can be given more or less freely to players as Sorcery or Spirit Magic skills. In this case, POW/Magic Points costs and sanity expenditures no longer apply, of course.
It's logical to imagine that spells are written down in books, from the cheapest DIY thing to the most sought after, ancient treatise.
And this talking of old books is fine, as there are some musty old books that do not tell you how to cast regular spells, but can teach you a much more dangerous knowledge.
It's time to look at the Mythos.
The Mythos.
OK, so what about the Great Old Ones?
Well, for starters, the GOO are well pleased with the way things are going. A society relying heavily on magic is much more pen to the subtle infiltration and corruption of the Mythos.
On one hand, the commonplace use of magic, somehow lowers the overall level of Sanity in the population. The worldview of the niteside dreams denizens, while close to our own, includes a few elements that really belong to the classical cultist mindset.
On the other hand, there are those that, for personal gain, are more than ready to embrace the Mythos, that they might see simply as "A much more powerful magic" (suckers!) or a way to get on top of the world (suckers again!)
We can even imagine a corrupted Order slowly introducing Mythos elements in everyday magic, in order (pun intended) to make an easier way for the return of the Great Old Ones.
So, all in all, the Mythos is alive and well and at work in this world as it is in the regular one.
You get cultists, mad wizards and strange critters all the same.
Mythos magic has almost nothing to do with regular spellcasting, so POW and Magic Points expenditures are still the same.
Sanity losses are somewhat less devastating, as our characters are used to the supernatural, and things not being what they are supposed to be (or vice versa, you figure it out). I guess a die-level reduction is in order (so 1d6 becomes 1d4, 1d12 becomes 1d10) for San losses caused by meetings with minor races and mundane-looking critters.
There are some things that are sanity shattering nonetheless - facing great Cthulhu is 1d100 no matter what. So the sanity effects of the Great Old Ones are still pretty stiff.
It has also been pointed out that cults might even be a little more public
about their matters, like having public churches and regular mass (just for
show).
They could worship "Pan, the Goat-Legged Young" instead of
"Shub-Niggurath, the Goat with a Thousand Young". The sacrifices would take
place behind closed doors and only to those that have been already been brought
into the church.
So, to the unknowing masses, the Cult of Cthulhu might just be another fringe cult, like the Ahum sect, or Scientology or what. A safe way for cultists to increase their power and their hold in the world. As long as the ugly truth is kept hidden.
This kind of cult could even have unknowing faithfuls (the lower ranks), providing in good faith (!) a Magic Point reservoir for the dark deeds of the ruling orders...
As for sacrifices, once again regulations might change from state to state and nation to nation, so that in California, as long as you do not sacrifice _unwilling_ human beings or stolen animals, anything goes.
A good reason for some cults to have their fiscal seat and assets overseas!
And finally, there's the role the Cults had in the War.
The Mythos and the Bomb
"Today Magic has known sin!"
There's a few things that the wider public does not know about the war.
About how exactly they ended it, that is.
The most assume a Deadly Spell was cast by a few selfsacrificing magic-users over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But few have actually gone deeper, following such a reasoning
Such a powerful annihilation spell would need scores upon scores of casters, maybe working from some super-secret complex (in Los Alamos), and would most likely end the life of the casters; the actual workings of the Deadly Spell are unknown to the majority, and covered by State Security Secrecy Act.
What people does not know is, "The Bomb" was created by Cthuga Cultists
The Military was more than happy turn a blind eye on "non-ortodox" magical
practices as long as the goods got delivered and the Allies stayed ahead
of their German counterparts, and for the Cultists this was an unmissable
opportunity for:
The Cthuga worshippers have ever since infiltrated the USA Government using its need of magic, to the point of promoting secret operations to carry over the States the magical and Mythos knowledge from the Axis research centers.
The Government is actually rather reluctant to use the Deadly Spell once again, for the simple reason that the Government is messing with forces it doesn't quite understand but knows to be dangerous.
Also, the few non-Cultist in the know fully realize that, should this concept became known, the balance of world power would shift in favour of those nations with strong magical traditions (China, South America, Haiti/Caribbean, Scotland and Ireland, the Basque region...) totally upsetting the world balance of power.
