Thursday, May 28, 2009

Magic Power and Ley Lines

Nick and I were talking again about his ongoing rpg project which seems to revolve around magic as its main theme - everyone is a magic user of one sort or another, and power is summoned by your character from (possibly among other sources) geographic places, or ley lines as you might call them, and their intersections.

I pointed out the interesting politics such a situation might make for...possibly analogous to the Middle-East's oil in our world. There might even be a very similar place in that fictional magic world, where power is highly concentrated and thus greatly fought over. Or perhaps the power in such a spot is already highly controlled and monopolized, and those on the outside or otherwise denied access are resentful, jealous, and ever conspiring against those controlling the magic "oil" fields. Interesting campaign setting, even if it doesn't become an rpg in its own right.

I recently re-read Robert Aspin's Myth Adventures and he made mention (although I'm sure he isn't the only fantasy author to have done so) of such invisible power lines of magic, detectable only by Wizards or their apprentices, who can tap into them and recharge their spell-casting batteries.

Of course, some say this is something that's not the stuff or fantasy or fiction. If you have Google Earth installed, you can download and install this .kmz file that will show you B. Hagen's compiled map of major ley lines and vortices (intersections). Maybe you live in a vortex and didn't know it? :-)

In searching for an image for this post, I stumbled on the above Earth picture and couldn' t resist pairing it with the ubiquitous d20 on the right.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, thank you for the kml, that is pretty wild.
The Palladium Books game RIFTS has magic and psionic power surging along Ley Lines and they are very important to psychics and magic-users, there is even a specialist called a Ley Line Walker that excels at working with ley lines.

HOWEVER, if you changed the planet and kept with the idea that everyone can work with the power of a ley line (not everyone in the RIFTS Earth setting automatically can use ley lines for power) then you would have an excellent idea to run with. Is your idea fantasy or science fiction?

ze bulette said...

It's my friend Nick's idea and project, but I'm sure he's thinking of it in a fantasy setting - not sure if he's going to incorporate it as a part of an existing rpg or flesh out a new one completely (it sounds like the latter, perhaps influenced by BRP/GORE). Thanks for the info about RIFTS, sounds very interesting and I'm sure he'd like to know about it if he doesn't already - I'll pass it along.

Anonymous said...

I am sure that it can be masterfully done and it isn't like Ley Lines are an invention of Kevin Siembieda (the guy who wrote RIFTS), it would make for a superb fantasy campaign.

I live a little too close to that nexus up north in Canadia. I am just below in Idaho, but still.Yikes.

Don Snabulus said...

I wonder if anyone has taken more Pagan or Paganesque elements and put them in a RPG beyond a Druid with a stick and some spells. There are a number of good characters and the seasons could hold their own powers and creatures/deities. Perhaps RIFTS is it...I haven't checked. I will check out the ley lines around my home here...

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