Friday, September 6, 2019

Discussion: How Much Does Magic and the Supernatural Factor Into Your Stories?

When you run games - assuming the setting allows for it - how much does the bizarre, the impossible, the magical, and the supernatural factor as a major part of your stories? By this I don't mean spellcasters and wizards, as mechanically they have to appear, but stories that focus or revolve around supernatural events or other special occurrences?

I have a bunch of friends who as GMs tend to have it in all their plots. Players get sucked through dimensional holes, or into pocket dimensions, or interact with gods or become gods as key parts of their plots on the regular.

On the other hand I tend to have more mundane plots. Yeah, big powerful creatures may be part of what is going on, but the focus is on the motivations of the being as a character and how that drives their actions more than the supernatural events and exploration going on.

In L5R for example I'm a lot more likely to run a plot where if no one is playing a shugenja they - and magic - will barely show up. However, assassins, duels, warriors, and intrigue will be about everywhere.

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