Here's my two cents on the issue: --- RulingNations@aol.com wrote: > I've been having some problems applying the magical determinants. > Basically I'd like to know what the boundaries of these values are. > > It doesn't make sense to me that Tolerance would represent the > percentage > of the population that isn't actively hostile to magic. So tolerance > represents the percentage of population that is generally positive > towards magic? So at Great (+2) between 81% and 94% of Exquaestio is > positive towards rohain and espiri magic (with the remainder probably > being neutral)? That's right, AFAIK. > I assume Prevalence isn't just those individuals who actively > practice > magic? It also includes people who study it without practicing it? In > the case of Exquaestio this would also include those who can support > espiri without being able to focus the magic themselves? At Terrible > (-3), between 2% and 6% of can actively work or support magic? My understanding has been that Prevalance wasn't a measure of how many talented individuals there are in a society, or at least, it's not a direct measure. I've always understood Prevalence to be a measure of how ubiquitous Magic is in a society: low Prevalence means that magic is a rare thing, performed only occasionally or in private, while a high Prevalence of magic in a society means that the use of magic is constant, public, and completely integrated into everyday life. > Now what does Diversity mean? At Poor (-2) does this mean that > Exquaestio's magic covers between 7% and 19% of the potential range? > Now, 24 "terms" cover the whole potential of espiri magic, so at Poor > they should have access to 1 to 5 "terms?" (Oops, I wanted them to > have > access to 6.) Rohain, on the other hand, have only 10 "terms" and so > should use only 1 to 2 of them? How does the range of ability within > each "term" work out? Diversity refers to how many different approaches to the use of magic your society allows/teaches/tolerates. To use Exquaestio as an example, Poor Diversity probably means that *only* the espiri and rohain styles of magic are taught/tolerated. High Diversity in magic means that a great range of approaches to magic use are common in the society. > The big problem is Sophistication. What can be accomplished with a > Fair > (0)? What sort of Guidelines are there? If an espiri can gather 100 > people and move 7.3 metric tons at 1.0 kilometers per hour for an > entire > work shift is this Fair Sophistication? What about moving 3.6 metric > tons at 10 kilometers per hour for one minute? How does the limited > number of people who can actually do this (as opposed to something > else) > fit in? Sophistication determines the depth to which your society has explored the magical techniques available to them under their Diversity determinant. Again, using Exquaestio as an example, a Fair Sophistication would probably mean that, in the fields of espiri- and rohain-style magic use, your society has a moderately advanced understanding of the techniques and principles involved, and your magic-users are capable of producing moderately complex effects. For comaparision, if the Sophistication of magic is, say, Poor, the magic users in that society may only be capable of producing very crude or very broad effects, and they don't really have much understanding of *why* their spells work, just that they do. On the other hand, in a society where the Sophistication of magic is Superb, only a few secrets of their schools of magic reamin undiscovered by the society's mages, and they are capable of producing very, very complex and subtle effects. HTH. Andrew > Jefferson (Exquaestio) > http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
