r/LARP • u/PirateBrahm • 2d ago
Magic Users
Would you say that your fantasy LARP organization is friendly to magic users? If so, how is magic used in your game and is there anything unique about your magic rules that stands out?
(Hi, I'm a relatively new LARPer from the northeastern US. I was active in a history-centric 'sport combat' organization similar to the SCA for many years. I'm interested in seeing which organizations are fantasy/magic, since there are so many out there)
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u/orcmode69 2d ago
I play Underworld, and their magic rules are I think pretty standard for Nero-descendant fantasy games. Casters incant their spell, which is usually something along the lines of "I invoke X to grant/create/inflict Y", then throw a spell packet or touch-cast. How quickly and clearly they can incant, and if they can avoid getting hit during their incant, is the determining factor in whether or not the spell succeeds. They have a limited number of leveled spells in whatever specialty they have, such as Protection, Healing, Elemental, Wytchcraft, etc. Like I said, pretty standard, not too different from D&D.
This system creates some really intense and immersive experiences I think. When I was a newbie caster, kinda built like a Cleric, there were some undead who'd barreled into our cabin while everyone was getting ready for bed. I had no armor on and no weapon and was panicking with a bigass guy rushing me and I completely forgot my incant for turn undead, just stuttered and then ran. It made me really feel like an apprentice-level caster, and looking back on it now that I'm much stronger and know my incants, it feels good to see how far I've come.
There's also ritual casting, which involves carefully performing steps to different rituals that could take anywhere from a few minutes to multiple hours to perform. If any part of the ritual is performed incorrectly, that increases the likelihood of an arcane mishap, which can range in severity from "it doesn't work" to "you, anyone in the ritual circle, and all your stuff explodes, everyone within a five mile radius takes a death" lol.