Sun Magics College

["John M. Kahane" <jkahane@comnet.ca>]

      Hullo, Rodger,

On Mon, 13 Nov 2000 02:37:17 -0000, Rodger Thorm wrote:

>I now have a campaign started with some friends locally, so I'm doing face-to-face DQ once a month, or so.  That means I have a group >with  which I can playtest some things, potentially.

       Glad to hear you're back playing/running DQ again, old friend.
  I know that it's been a while for you, hasn't it? :)  Come to think
about it, I haven't run the game system in about six months now (my
gaming groups are interested in EARTH & SKY and DC HEROES/BLOOD OF
HEROES at the moment. :)

>One thing I'm working on right now, along with one of my players, is a College of Sun Magics.

      Sounds interesting to me.   Can't wait to hear a bit more about
this College.  

>While her first thought was that it would be an Elemental college, my inclination is to make it an Entities college.  I don't have a fully >developed reasoning for this (I'll try to post that in another message soon), but my first thoughts are that the sun was often a godlike figure.  >The stars always seemed marginal as an element to me; the sun is even less so.  Even if it is taken without any religous slant, the sun is >such a presence that it deserves to be treated as an Entity.  

     My initial reaction here would be to place Sun Magics in the
Elemental branch, since that would make it an opposite of Dark Mages.
 By definition, I've never really thought of Star Magics as being the
opposite of Dark Magics in that sense anyway, although there is also
no real opposite of Shadow Weavers.  Perhaps one could stretch the
limits of Sun Magics, and claim them the opposite of Shadow Weavers? 
The whole notion of bright light versus shadows and all that...

     That said, depending on how you view Sun Magics, especially in
regard to whether it is a College found among primitive cultures
would make something of a difference too.   If you see this College
more in line with primitive magics believed in by cultures like the
Aztecs, Toltecs, and Egyptians, then it would make more sense for
this College to be part of the Entities group.

>While Sun Mages would probably have a couple of pretty nasty attack spells, there might also be elements of life-giving (maybe a 
>Blessing on Crops like Black Mages), a lesser truth telling spell (short of Truespeak), etc.  Sun mages might also be involved in >leadership, personality, charisma, and the like.

     That definitely sounds more along the lines of the Entities than
it does Elementals to me.   Don't forget that there should also be a
penalty for casting underground and the like as well.

     Changing topics for just a moment here, Rodger, are there any
plans for the DQ Newsletter to ever see publication again?   It was a
very valuable resource to DQ players and GMs out there, and it's loss
is very sad.

... Courtesy is the lubricant of social interaction. (Robert A. Heinlein)

       JohnK
       jkahane@comnet.ca
       http://www.comnet.ca/~jkahane