Games About Magic(k) and the Occult
The current campaign I’m running is Arcanum in the old World of Darkness (WoD) set in late 19th century Edinburgh. The game has been going nicely and the players are into it. I originally planned to run only a short mini-campaign, but this may last for months. This was to be an introduction to WoD (both the world and the game system) and also to magic in that world.
As I’ve thought about that particular world’s metaphysics, I’ve started a list of all the other games about magic(k) and occult I have. I’d like to continue with other adventures in the worlds of magic. To clear my thoughts and also to help choosing the next game, I’ll try to arrange the games and add some notes on them. Most of them I’ve never run, so I’d like to try them all if possible.
Fantasy and Historical Games
Ars Magica is a medieval game, set in a version of our world. At some point it was in the same timeline as WoD, but nowadays it is independent. The game focuses on wizards, their research and adventures. The magic system is a cool combination of an improvisational and a spell-based system. All of the spells are created by combining magical verbs and nouns from a limited set. Like Pendragon, it is meant for campaigns where years flow by. Another draw is the game’s troupe gaming style, with only one (or two) players playing wizards at any one time. The others play their mundane assistants. Who is playing which role switches from session to session.
Artesia: Adventures in the Known World is a fantasy game by Mark Smylie based on his graphic novel of the same name. He is the sole creator of the game, from the mechanics to the art. The world is late medieval, with lore-based magic. The magic system is the same for all types of magic, but each type will only use a part of the full set of spells. The game also uses it’s own version of the tarot cards for character development. It uses Fuzion, which is a simple d10 based system like the Interlock System used in Cyberpunk.
Castle Falkenstein is a steampunk fantasy game with magic and magical beings like dragons. It’s a high-flying melodrama game of daring adventures and fiendish perils. It’s original game system uses regular playing cards, but there’s a GURPS version too. The magic system is improvisational, with competing schools of magic trying to monopolize different types of magic. The schools have basis on some real world secret societies.
Raiders of R’lyeh is a pulp horror game set in the 1910s. It uses the Basic Role-Playing (BRP) system used in Call of Cthulhu, but is more action oriented than that game. It has an interesting magic system that has both mundane and Cthulhu mythos magic following the same rules. It is spell-based, but many spells allow for a lot of variation. It especially excels in the rules for summoning extraplanar beings.
Modern Urban Fantasy Games
The Dresden Files is set in the world of the book series of the same name by Jim Butcher. It combines detective fiction with magic and a cast of mythological creatures in the modern world. It has it’s own laws of magic, with multiple types of magic. The game uses FUDGE as its system. FUDGE has it’s own dice, but it’s verbal ability ranking is easy to understand.
GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System) has many magical worlds and multiple ways to create magic systems. The one most interesting in this context is GURPS: Cabal. It’s set in a world where a secret society composed of mythological and magical beings (humans included) works behind the scenes. The magic system has its basis on the spell-based GURPS “default” magic system. There is the option to use the improvisational ritual magic system from GURPS: Voodoo, another urban fantasy campaign. The basic magic system is covered with an intricate layer of modifiers from the laws of magic and the hermetic magic system (including Qabalah and astrology).
The Laundry Files is built on Basic Role-Playing (BRP). It is based on the Laundry book series from Charles Stross. The protagonists are British intelligence agents in a Lovecraftian world. The magic of that world is based on mathematics, and computers have made it all too accessible (and dangerous). The magic system is easy and logical, allowing for extrapolation of new magics. The style is a combination of dark humor, horror, espionage, police procedural and bureaucracy.
Mage: The Ascension is the WoD game of modern magicians. The magic system is mostly improvisational, with additional fixed spells. It shares the main WoD system and world. It has it’s own sub-games Sorcerer and Halls of the Arcanum, but magic system in those is static (like Thaumaturgy in Vampire: The Masquerade) instead of improvisational. It borrows some rules from other WoD games, like spirits from Werewolf: The Apocalypse and ghosts from Wraith: The Oblivion. I’m interested in trying them all, and maybe even adding some Mummy: The Resurrection into the mix as it has it’s own type of (static) magic.
Nephilim is a game of immortal magical beings being reborn into the world at different time periods. It is made to be played in the present time, but nothing prevents playing in historical periods. It has a really nice take on Western esoteric tradition, including several magic types which appear at different times in history. The symbolism of magic and its dependence on correct timing are both tied to the magic system. The game is another system built on BRP.
Unknown Armies is a game of post-modern magic, and the obsessed people who wield it. It recently got its second edition, which came with a lot of material. It’s running on a percentile system, similar but different from the BRP. It’s magic follows the traditional rules of magic, but go on their own quixotic paths.
