⛦ Pentagram ⛥
Humanity interacts with magic during every moment of their existence, though few have the luck or skill to realize it. We walk on top of buried ruins, build our cities on the oldest of the sacred sites, and unknowingly interact with supernatural powers as often as we breathe. Spirits wander through the hidden places of our buildings, and tomes of magic lie waiting in each of our libraries.
You had the luck to discover one of the ancient grimoires, either through chance or the machinations of some otherworldly force. The latter is more likely than one might think, given that the book itself seems to be alive. The thing is bound in warm leather the color of blood, and its words rearrange themselves according to their own whims. At first, the surreptitious movement of the ink made you think you were going mad.
In truth, you're not sure you've dismissed that possibility.
The Red Book offered you the secrets of the universe, ways to bend reality itself to your will. It tempts you with tidbits- the first sentence of an ancient treatise on alchemy, explanations of the old tales, and even descriptions of demons like those found in myth. Again and again, it waved arcane knowledge before you, revelling in your desire and your curiosity. Finally, grudgingly or otherwise, you decided to take it up on its offer.
The manuscript made its cover page into a map, and rearranged the letters of chapter one until they spelled out a cryptic set of directions. It is those directions which have led you here, to a slate-grey chamber a kingdom away and half a league beneath the earth. This place is where you will supposedly meet other fledgeling magicians, and where the tome has promised to reveal the first secrets of the occult.
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This game is an RTD featuring a bunch of half-competent occultists in a medieval time period. Characters begin with little arcane knowledge, but will pick up magic as they go. Their progression will naturally culminate in untold power, as well as the occasional explosion or escaped monster due to botched rituals.
You can explore the world in more or less any way you like, although the grimoires are handing out delicious secrets to anyone brave enough to run their supernatural errands. In theory, you should probably take them up on their offer, but it's also entirely possible to do your own thing.
Rituals:
Generally speaking, there are two types of magic: big rituals straight from the grimoire, and the various items or abilities you'll get by performing them.
Pure magic, the kind you do with circles on the floor and spellbook in hand, is usually reserved for manipulating pure magical power. While that's an incredible ability, it also isn't great for making tangible effects, unless you want to spend a full hour and far too much energy on a piddling fireball.
The natural solution is to create objects, give yourself abilities, and deal with demons. Sure, you can't use rituals in proper combat, but there's nothing stopping you from summoning a spirit of fire, restraining it, and binding it inside a staff. Presto- the lucky mage can now spew fire and brimstone with impunity. Or, well, for as long as they have willpower to keep their staff's magic under control.
Naturally, that's far from the only solution, and most occultists will have their own ways of gaining access to everyday abilities. Demon-summoning is merely a convenient way to explain why arcane secrets are usually a way of accumulating new powers, rather than the powers themselves.
Research:
There are a lot of ways to learn magic. You can observe and experiment, find a teacher, or mess with existing rituals until you find something interesting, among many other methods and madnesses.
Looking at your grimoire is also a great idea, especially in combination with any of the above. The tome's contents change from day to day, and if you look closely, you stand a good chance of finding something useful. If it likes you (read: if you've been doing a lot of its dirty work) it will even go out of its way to lead you in the right direction.
That said, be aware that the resident spellbook has holes in its knowledge base, and may not necessarily want to reveal the full truth. You'll probably end up on a few quests for missing information, or trying to coax summoned beings into giving you hints. Research is an extremely active process, and you'll have to work to discover the truly powerful rites.
Name: What people actually call you, not "The Grand High Wizard of the Black Hand."
Description: What you look like.
You also have 9 points to distribute among the following stats. In true Perplexicon style, every three points in a stat give you a +1, whereas stats with no points whatsoever suffer a -1 penalty.
Strength: How hard you can hit things and how much armor you can drag around with you. Fairly straightforward.
Endurance: Your pain tolerance and ability to take hits. Good for blood magic and not passing out when someone clubs your head.
Dexterity: Aiming and doing fine manipulation, such as picking locks. Does not involve dodging.
Speed: Great for reflexes, running, and dodging things.
Willpower: Your ability to stay in control of your magic. Very important for people who want to avoid collateral damage and dangerous accidents.
Expect updates at least two times a week. I'm planning on saturday and wednesday, although that's subject to change.
That said, there are definitely going to be periods where I will update once each day, and I may have to shift around scheduled updates to make way for that demon called "real life." Assume that there's some flexibility, but there's almost always going to be a twice-a-week baseline.
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Topic: Pentagram: The Secrets of Magic (6/6, waitlist open) (Read 4105 times)