Role-Play: Tips for GMs about Magic

Role-Play: Tips for GMs about Magic Role-Play: Tips for GMs about Magic

Don't overuse it. Magic is neat, and so is high-tech, but if it pops up everywhere and every time, it won't be special anymore. It's tempting to try to make things dramatic by making it "bigger" and "badder", but this can result in an "escalation", as you have to make things even bigger in order to make an impact anymore. Remember, there are other things going on besides just magic.

Don't bend the rules ... too often. Magic on Sinai has a number of restrictions, but a GM can always invoke alien artifacts, or powerful wizards who are "just so powerful" that they don't seem to follow the usual rules. This shouldn't be overworked. Omnipotent powers are frustrating, even if they have one crucial weakness that the PCs are expected to exploit. Magic should have limits. If all things are possible ... then PCs can't really use deductive reasoning any longer to try to solve mysteries. This could all be an illusion. The murderer could have teleported away. Maybe this body is a fake -- a clone! If you make too many things possible, then nothing will be a certainty anymore.

Consider the implications. Your plots may set precedents. If you have a normal mage of some Sphere casting a spell with a given effect, then it stands to reason that a PC of the same general power should be able to do the same thing. Do you really want this much power in the hands of the PCs? (Or, perhaps more importantly, will the other GMs take issue with this?)

Make limitations and weaknesses. Sinai is a world where magic exists, but it isn't the end-all be-all of existence. There's still a place for a soldier with a sword and shield. Even vampires, as powerful as they are in tales, have known weaknesses: burned by sunlight, aversion to holy symbols, etc. Of course, you could just write about a vampire that has no weaknesses whatsoever ... but then, is it really a vampire anymore, or just your run-of-the-mill overpowered demigod?
To maintain the proper flavor, magic needs drawbacks, side effects, uncertainties, and weaknesses. A skilled warrior with a good head on his shoulders should not be rendered totally helpless when faced with the supernatural. He may need to equip himself with a few things (thistlebark to ward spirits, iron to harm them, etc.) but it should still be within the realm of the mundane to have some defense against the magical.