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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Magical Tradition Percentages

Posted by: Serial_Peacemaker Jan 2 2007, 06:18 PM

Hi, I was just wondering. SR4 does mention that roughly one percent of the world has some magical ability. Also it has the various traditions, but has anyone ever said how many people there are of each tradition? Shamans and Hermetics seem to be the majority. However it also seem from fluff that each tradition has a 'home range' where it is if not dominant a significant minority. And all of that leaves out people with a spirit/spell knack, spirit sight, and of course Adepts.

Posted by: Cheops Jan 2 2007, 08:21 PM

It does not state any numbers anywhere.

I would say that Hermetic is probably the vast majority of Mages/PhysMages. Path magic is by far the dominant for Adepts.

I would rate Shamanism as very low on the totem pole (nice eh?). As portrayed in Shadowrun it is a North American Indigenous practice. If taken to represent all Animistic traditions then it would be big. However, street magic does come out with other Animistic traditions (Shinto springs to mind) so it probably doesn't making it miniscule.

Christian Theurges (sp?) and the Arabic traditions (can't remember name) as well as Hindu and Buddhist traditions would probably also be unbelievably large. Currently Catholicism and Islam are the two biggest Western religions in the world representing at least a billion people and Hinduism and Buddhism each represent about a billion. So half of the world population follows one of these 4 religions.

Posted by: Cynic project Jan 2 2007, 09:27 PM

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

So, let's start form there. Even if only one third of all people come to to develop traditions based on their religions.. You can do the math for yourself.

Posted by: Thanee Jan 2 2007, 09:34 PM

I think there are quite a few shamans. Non-indians become shamans, too, 'these days', and it's certainly more common among the lower classes, since only the higher classes really can afford to study hermeticism, I'd think.

Bye
Thanee

Posted by: Draug Jan 2 2007, 09:38 PM

Is that list correct? 33% of the world is Christian!? Damn, that's a lot more than I thought...

Posted by: Cynic project Jan 2 2007, 09:44 PM

You have Catholics and Protesent ... Most of them do not think that the others are Christens.

Posted by: Synner Jan 2 2007, 10:26 PM

Carteful with assumptions. For instance, it is a mistake to default to the assumption that all Christian magic users are theurges. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having a Hermetic Christian magician. Other faiths may be more or less flexible but keep in mind that religion does not dictate a specific magical practice (ie. a shaman is going to have a hard time in the vast majority of Islamic nations, but fits right in with Animistic Islam as practiced in Central Asian steppes and parts of Mongolia.)

Posted by: Butterblume Jan 2 2007, 10:50 PM

There is also nothing wrong with a christian shaman. Someone who is mentored by Saint George the Dragonslayer is just one of the more obvious that come to mind.

Posted by: Cynic project Jan 2 2007, 11:03 PM

QUOTE (Synner)

Note I said even if only one third...

Posted by: Wakshaani Jan 2 2007, 11:46 PM

The average UCAS magician is Hermetic, teh average CAS magician is a Shaman, teh average Aztlan magician is an Aztlanish Mage, teh average Tir magician is a Hermetic, the average NAN magician is a Shaman.

That pretty much covers North America.

Japan will have Shintoists, China will have Wuxia, and Europe has a dash of Druids, but is largely Hermetic as well.

Posted by: Cynic project Jan 2 2007, 11:57 PM

California?

Posted by: Charon Jan 3 2007, 12:09 AM

QUOTE (Butterblume @ Jan 2 2007, 05:50 PM)

There is also nothing wrong with a christian shaman. Someone who is mentored by Saint George the Dragonslayer is just one of the more obvious that come to mind.

A magician using Saint-George as a mentor spirit and christian imagery as his frame of reference for crafting magic is hardly a shaman.

Forget about pre-SR4 (and to a lesser extent, pre-SR3) definitions where any magician with a "totem" was a "shaman".

Shamanism as a tradition is now far more specific a term.

Posted by: Butterblume Jan 3 2007, 01:25 AM

Oh, I meant more than just having a mentor. If the christian in question prays to do magic, this would be very shamanistic in SR4 terms.

Posted by: Charon Jan 3 2007, 02:06 AM

QUOTE (Butterblume @ Jan 2 2007, 08:25 PM)

Oh, I meant more than just having a mentor. If the christian in question prays to do magic, this would be very shamanistic in SR4 terms.

That would only be shamanistic in SR2 terms where by necessity anything spiritual in magic was shamanistic.

No, praying to the saints for a miracle is a very catholic thing to do by any definitions. And it would probably be Christian Theurgy in SR4 term, or whatever christian based tradition the GM came up with.

Posted by: Kyrn Jan 3 2007, 02:11 AM

And would pretty much be the definition of Christian Theurgy.
Dude, you even said prayed! Shamans (shamen?) do not pray. They may commune, placate, bargain, ask for guidance, etc... But they do not pray to their mentor spirits. Unless we've got any animists in the house who care to enlighten me?

edit: Right, old age is clearly slowing me down.

Posted by: Butterblume Jan 3 2007, 02:22 AM

Just for the sake of argument:
Shamans pray to the wind, the elements, their totem, their ancestors or their god by chanting, meditating, singing, dancing, praying.

Theurgy, by defininition, is a mix of hermeticism and qabbalism.

Posted by: fistandantilus3.0 Jan 3 2007, 02:30 AM

most people would consider prayer asking for guidance. Shamanism might not want to be the label you want to apply to Christian magic, but the system sure works for it.

Posted by: Kyrn Jan 3 2007, 02:32 AM

People can ask for guidance during prayer; however, the act of prayer is not asking for guidance but focusing upon one's faith and offering dedications to the higher power of one's choice.

edit: Oh, and on an unrelated note the numbers for the big faiths seem to have not changed much in the last twenty years or so, at least off the top of my head. I want to think Islam's expanded a lot since then, but I may be wonked on that.

Scary that Scientology is now working its way in there though.

Posted by: RunnerPaul Jan 3 2007, 03:26 AM

QUOTE (Kyrn)

Scary that Scientology is now working its way in there though.

It's been here since the Universal Brotherhood module was released.

Posted by: Kyrn Jan 3 2007, 03:28 AM

Really? I was referring to its rise in numbers IRL, though those are notoriously difficult to determine. Now, how about statting out a Scientology magical tradition.
Is there a spirit of crazy?

And what the hell would they use for a drain attribute?

And what mentor spirit would Xenu best be represented by?

Hmm...this could keep me up all night.

Posted by: fistandantilus3.0 Jan 3 2007, 03:47 AM

just use the same rules for insect spirits. All the rules.

Posted by: Kyrn Jan 3 2007, 03:53 AM

From all four editions? Hmm...
Of course they seem to care more for worshippers money than using their bodies as...wait, how do I know that, maybe they're just all perfectly integrated spirit/host fleshforms! That explains The Cruise's escapades.

Oh now I've gone and done it. New Mentor Spirit, Tom Cruise.

Le Sigh. Time to find a way to balance a bonus for lightning bolting Oprah.

Posted by: Charon Jan 3 2007, 03:59 AM

QUOTE (Butterblume @ Jan 2 2007, 09:22 PM)

Neither hermeticism nor qabbalism have anything to do with shamanism so I don't even understand what your last comment mean in relation to your previous posts.

Anyway, you seem to still want to link christian theurgy to the old SR3 magic system where everything was either Hermetic-like or Shamanic-like. Anything spiritual was treated like shamanism with different totem.

But SR4, a Druid isn't a shaman by a different name. He's a druid. Likewise a Christian Theurge isn't a disguised shaman. Shaman in SR4 is a precise term, not a catch all term for any magician that rely on spirituality.

So you feel there are similarities between catholicism and shamanism? Well yeah. And between any two given religion. A catholic priest is still not a shaman, a druid or a budhist monk.

Posted by: fistandantilus3.0 Jan 3 2007, 03:59 AM

QUOTE (Kyrn)

New Mentor Spirit, Tom Cruise.

I've been trying to find some sort of completely whacked out magical tradition for an NPC in my game (besides toaster). That's the one I'm using. Thanks.

Posted by: Cheops Jan 3 2007, 04:05 AM

QUOTE (Charon)

QUOTE (Butterblume @ Jan 2 2007, 09:22 PM)

Neither hermeticism nor qabbalism have anything to do with shamanism so I don't even understand what your last comment mean in relation to your previous posts.

Anyway, you seem to still want to link christian theurgy to the old SR3 magic system where everything was either Hermetic-like Shamanic-like. Anything spiritual was treated like shamanism with different totem.

But SR4, a Druid isn't a shaman by a different name. He's a druid. Likewise a Christian Theurge isn't a disguised shaman. Shaman in SR4 is a precise term, not a catch all term for any magician that rely on spirituality.

So you feel there are similarities between catholicism and shamanism? Well yeah. And between any two given religion. A catholic priest is still not a shaman, a druid or a budhist monk.

This is probably the thing I like the best about SR4 magic. It's so customizable without having to read whole chapters about wuxia or voodoun to use the "alternate" traditions. If I want to play a scientologist I can play one without having to be a Hermetic or Shamanic scientologist.

Some of my players are also having trouble wrapping their heads around this. Oddly it is the rules-lawyers that have jumped on the bandwagon first. I think it's the customizability thing that attracted them--the RP is a bonus.

Posted by: Butterblume Jan 3 2007, 09:26 AM

QUOTE (Charon)

Anyway, you seem to still want to link christian theurgy to the old SR3 magic system where everything was either Hermetic-like or Shamanic-like. Anything spiritual was treated like shamanism with different totem.

But SR4, a Druid isn't a shaman by a different name. He's a druid. Likewise a Christian Theurge isn't a disguised shaman. Shaman in SR4 is a precise term, not a catch all term for any magician that rely on spirituality.

A theurg is a theurg.

What I meant was that being a christian doesn't mean you have to be a theurg. You can still be a hermetic or a shaman or whatever (under certain restrictions).

Posted by: Trigger Jan 3 2007, 09:48 AM

QUOTE (Cynic project)

California?

I would say a rough mix of hermetic and shamanistic, with a dash of Shinto thrown in due to large Yakuza influence in the free state. I would also say that there is a small Buddhist population around San Fran, with every other practitioner going by the alias Kerouac, Snyder, or Ginsberg. I have though a bit about that idea since I am working on a Buddhist mage who comes out of San Francisco, and his master's alias was Keroauc.

Posted by: Charon Jan 3 2007, 09:59 AM

QUOTE (Butterblume @ Jan 3 2007, 04:26 AM)

What I meant was that being a christian doesn't mean you have to be a theurg. You can still be a hermetic or a shaman or whatever (under certain restrictions).

Yeah, under the right condition. The conditions being that you are a shaman. You use a shamanic totem and call on spirits of nature to aid you with their power. Not on God, his angels and his saints. On Father Wolf, your ancestors and the spirits who surround you. And then you somehow reconcile that with your christian faith (like Twist from the first SR trilogy ever).

But you were arguing that someone mentored by Saint-George the Dragonslayer and who prays to God for divine intercession could be a shaman... If that is a shaman, every non-hermetic is a shaman!

Posted by: Butterblume Jan 3 2007, 10:05 AM

I admit I might still be thinking of magic in SR3 style .

Posted by: Wakshaani Jan 3 2007, 01:58 PM

QUOTE (Trigger)

QUOTE (Cynic project @ Jan 2 2007, 06:57 PM)

California?

Don't forget a hefty batch of crystal-rubbing New Age types (The image of a 70 year old surfer in Bermuda shorts going all Obi-Wan ... too fun) and probably a bunch of others.

I'm *inclined* to say that the majority would have been Shamans, but, lots of 'em went toxic, leaving Hermetics the majority by accident. Cali's weird, tho, and one of the older books that I never managed to grab, so, not sure.

Posted by: Wanderer Jan 3 2007, 02:36 PM

I would only point out that current-day statistics about organized religion aren't a very good model for SR timeline. It is a well-known fact that neo pagan religions had a massive upswing of popularity due to the Awakening and likely rival major Abrahamic and Eastern traditional religions for numbers and influence.

Posted by: Demonseed Elite Jan 3 2007, 04:08 PM

QUOTE (Butterblume)

I admit I might still be thinking of magic in SR3 style

Yeah, looks to me like you're thinking in an SR3 context. Mechanically, there's very little difference in shamanism and hermeticism now (SR4), so there's no real reason to think of Christian hermetics versus Christian shamans. After all, now a Christian hermetic (or theurge) can have a mentor spirit without being a shaman.

Posted by: Cheops Jan 3 2007, 05:20 PM

QUOTE (Wanderer)

I would argue that. At least from a Catholic standpoint. No matter how bad a catholic I am I still consider myself a Catholic. The same holds true for everyone else I know who is Catholic. Even if they haven't been to church in years or think that the Pope is a whack-o they still consider themselves part of the faith.

Heck the rebels in Aztlan group themselves around their religion to help define their resistance, not just region or political motivation. Many of their leaders are said to be priests.

If anything the events of SR drove more people to religion and those new converts chose a higher percentage of "new age" religions (perhaps even the Egyptian or Norse pantheon) but their numbers would still be small relatively. The spread between them and the Abrahamic/Eastern religions would have shrunk however. That means less athiests/agnostics and more fringe religions.

Posted by: Demonseed Elite Jan 3 2007, 05:57 PM

QUOTE (Cheops)

Shadowrun aside, the percentage of Catholics in the world is dropping in the real world present. Same with most mainstream religions (Islam and Buddhism continue to rise, I believe, as do a number of alternative religions like Wicca).

Posted by: SL James Jan 3 2007, 07:48 PM

How do religions that have been around for hundreds or thousands of years with millions of followers not count as "mainstream?"

Posted by: Synner Jan 3 2007, 08:35 PM

QUOTE (Demonseed Elite)

Actually according to a London School of Economics survey for the UN in 2005, of the majors only Catholicism is on the slide and then only in the first world. In the developing world, South America, and in parts of the Far East (China for instance) Catholicism is actually on the rise.

Protestantism and particularly the Evangelical denominations are gaining marginally, mostly on their home turf (ie. conservative North America). Orthodox Christianity has had a slight rise since the early 90s. Judaism is pretty stable neither increasing nor decreasing significantly. Islam is the biggest growing religion in the world and Hinduism is also growing (despite it being one of the few faiths that doesn't actually have "conversion" doctrine built in and being essentially ethnically-rooted). The far-eastern religions also remain popular in their traditional playgrounds despite industrialization and the apparent materialism of modern Asian culture.

Organized religion and particularly the major faiths are actually bigger powerplayers than many of us would like to think.

Posted by: Charon Jan 3 2007, 09:01 PM

Well, obviously they can't all be growing in %, which is measure or relative influence.

You mean they're growing in numbers, I assume.

Posted by: Synner Jan 4 2007, 12:05 AM

I meant in terms of total number of practicing believers. Growth in numbers averages in the 0.1-0.3% range per annum globally according to the report I cited with Islam closer to 0.5% and Catholicism at 0,05%. There are no surveys or analysis that I know that take into account anything as murky as "influence." The only distinction that is normally made is between practicing believers and "census" believers (sorry but I can't for the life of me recall the proper nomenclature used and I'm away from my references, but the latter are the "yeah, I'm Catholic, only been to church twice but I come from an old Irish Catholic family"-type that show up in official government figures).

Posted by: Charon Jan 4 2007, 04:22 AM

QUOTE (Synner @ Jan 3 2007, 07:05 PM)

If the population of the Earth is growing at a faster rate than that of the practicioner of a faith, that faith is losing ground and it's being slowly marginalized.

In the past years, World population grew by 1,5% per annum so the proportion of believers of all major faiths wouldn't actually be increasing according to your numbers. They don't keep up with the increased population, which isn't good for them.

Of course, at that rate it'll take a long time to be clearly felt and within 4 years by SR timeline is the awakening which would most likely reverse the trend.

Posted by: Cynic project Jan 4 2007, 05:07 PM

QUOTE (Wanderer)

Um in SOE,they talk about 1 billion Catholics..

Posted by: Cynic project Jan 4 2007, 05:10 PM

QUOTE (Trigger)

QUOTE (Cynic project @ Jan 2 2007, 06:57 PM)

California?

Um, Yahuza playing a major role in magical tradition in California? Um no.

Posted by: Trigger Jan 4 2007, 10:24 PM

QUOTE (Cynic project)

QUOTE (Trigger @ Jan 3 2007, 04:48 AM)

QUOTE (Cynic project @ Jan 2 2007, 06:57 PM)

California?

Um, Yahuza playing a major role in magical tradition in California? Um no.

Actually I would say yes. A great influx of the Yakuza in the CFS means an overall great japanese influence in the state. With that influence it would be safe to say that Japanese religion comes along with them, aka Shinto. I am not saying that the Yakuza are playing a major role in California religion, but I am saying that they woukd play a larger role in the perentage of magic traditions in the CSF. Only 1% of the population is magically active...Californias current population is 33 million, which woud make 300,000 awakened in the state. Now of that one percent I don't quite know the percentage that makes up actual mages and shamans and not adepts and those with knacks or astral sight. But that leaves a smaller number of total awakened practicing any given tradition in the CSF. Now, the Yakuza would be set up in every major sprawl in the CSF and most of the smaller ones, giving them a pretty even distribution across the state. I am not saying that they are a majority, but they a considerable part of the minority and a consideration for one of the traditions being practiced in the CSF. Also see that I said:

QUOTE

with a dash of Shinto thrown in due to large Yakuza influence in the free state

Major role? Dash =/= Major.

Posted by: Wakshaani Jan 5 2007, 01:34 AM

So, anyone have Clifornia Free State handy, to see what they say, if anything?

We know that the CAS and UCAS are equal in terms of magical power, despite the UCAS being more populous ... turns out the witches of Appalachia have some *serious* mojo. It's *assumed*, tho not proven, that the NAN have higher magical powers than the CAS or UCAS... they certainly did back in the 20-teens, but now? Not so much.

Heck, due to their smaller populations, loss of Aztlan, and loss of the Tir, they might actually have just a tiny sliver of UCAS magical might. Scary, huh?

-- Wak, had to edit out 8 'tehs' in this one. Gah.

Posted by: Serial_Peacemaker Jan 5 2007, 05:57 AM

However this brings up another intersting question, are more mages Secular AKA Hermetics, Chaos mages, Black Mages, and the Wujen or are more religous? Just looking at numbers of traditions. There are about four more or less non-religous and then about sixteen religiously influenced traditions. However then there are wild cards like the Druids who actually have very religious factions, and then very rationalist secular traditions. Also there is a thaumaturgy taught in schools, but my impression was that a practioner doesn't exactly choose his own tradition. If you awaken as a Druid your about as likely to change that as changing the fact your an Ork. Of course if I'm wrong that means a pair of twins that both awaken as mages could have one be trained as a Hermetic and the other be a Shaman simply due to training. This would be supported by the fact that the traditions seem to be regional. You have the Wujen in China, the Shamans in NAN. Druids in England. Aborginal in Australia, and so forth.

Posted by: Ravor Jan 5 2007, 07:43 AM

Well *if* I'm remembering correctly in Third Edition the character's Totem selected him/her, not the other way around, but personally in Fourth I'm inclined to say that you are whatever tradition you were trained/believe, but then again lately I've been mistaken on several rules questions... *winks*

Posted by: Trigger Jan 5 2007, 08:08 AM

In Third yes, the totem did select the shaman. And in the fourth edition, as I have reda it, mentor spirits still choose the magician, not the other way around. But it is true than you do have some leeway in your tradition. When a child awakens there is no tradition predetermined for him. The tradition is established as part of the training that the child receives to develop his magic A child that is trained in hermetic ways will moost likely become a hermetic mage, unless he can completely change his view of how magic works. The tradition is basically how the magician views magic as working and how they train theeir mind to do the magic that they do. A hermetic sees it in formulas and a shaman sees it as life force or some other mojo stuff. Each tradition has a different view on how they work magic, but that doesn't mean they are working different magic/ It is all the same mojo just through different outlets (magicians).

Posted by: Cheops Jan 5 2007, 05:23 PM

Wujen are actually a religious tradition--they are Taoist sorcerors.

In my games choice of tradition is a choice. I'd even allow a player to change if he was able to RP it well over the course of MANY sessions. However, mentors still act like SR3 magic. They choose you not the other way around. St. George came to you because you ARE the dragonslayer archetype.

IMO, any Shinto influence in CFS wouldn't have come from the Yak. May as well say that the Yak cause big shinto influence everywhere if that were the case. Don't think there are too many Shinto in St. Paul/Minneapolis but you can bet there there's probably at least one group of Yaks there. The Shinto influence in CFS probably largely comes from the recent immigration of Japanese to the area due to the occupation--sararimen, politicos, soldiers, settlers, etc. Added to this would be all the turncoats who turn "Japanese" to try and fit into the new power structure.

Posted by: Demonseed Elite Jan 5 2007, 06:38 PM

Yes, Shinto is common in the CFS, especially centered around San Francisco, and yes, it's because of Japanese immigrants and not the Yakuza (though Yakuza count as Japanese immigrants). As is mentioned in Street Magic, Shinto is also found pretty much everywhere on the globe where the Japanacorps reach, because many of them work Shinto rituals into daily corporate life.

Buddhism, as a religion, is also common in the California Free State, but Buddhism as a magical tradition is less so. Keep in mind that Street Magic says that the magical tradition of Buddhism is based on Vajrayana Buddhism, which is not the Zen Buddhism commonly associated with Japan (though there is a school of Vajrayana Buddhism in Japan called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingon_Buddhism).

But is perfectly normal in Japan to be a Shinto priest and still practice Buddhism, meaning you can use the Shinto tradition for magic and still follow the religious practice of Buddhism. Likewise with Chinese who follow Wujen/Wuxia as a magical tradition but are practicing Buddhists.

Posted by: Cynic project Jan 6 2007, 05:46 AM

In the end I find that there are either way to few Traditions or way to many in the book.

Hinduism has many different gods and goddesses, and the way they see the world and magic is completely different. THe same thing for any religion in the world that numbers in the millions if not billions.

The fact is that from many realigns I can see, reason for combat spells to be linked to fire,water,air,earth,man, beast, plant, task.... Well any of them. THis is true for health, or any other spell category . It is even worse with things like "hermetics" . because ever one knows all scientists agree on everything, expesially paretical and wave...

Posted by: The ubbergeek Feb 21 2007, 06:29 PM

Make me wonder... In (my) Quebec, what would be the main tradition(s)? A reawakened Theurgy? o.ô It would sounds a bit strange, considering the Quiet Rebolution....

Posted by: FrankTrollman Feb 21 2007, 07:37 PM

QUOTE (SL James)

How do religions that have been around for hundreds or thousands of years with millions of followers not count as "mainstream?"

Obviously it doesn't, but he said that most major religions were on the decline while Islam and Budhism continued to rise - which puts them as exceptions to the statment that mainstream religions were on the decline, rather than exceptions to being major religions.

--

Buddhism, for example, reports a growth rate of 79% over 5 years in places like Australia, where it went from ~200,000 to over 350,000 between 1996 and 2001. Still, that's small cheese compared to the overall number of Buddhists in the world (~362 million as of the year 2000), and I would guess that a lot of those numbers come from Chinese people moving to Australia.

-Frank

Posted by: Pyritefoolsgold Feb 21 2007, 09:32 PM

Remember, also, that the first, biggest manifestation of magic anyone really saw was the great ghost dance. This may have won over a huge number of people, now following the shamanic traditions.

Magic, it seems, is based mostly on believing that it works, and so long as you believe you understand it, then you do understand it. This way the Hermetic who sees magic as simply as he sees physics, and the shaman who sees magic as an extension of emotion and spirit, are both right, and why one great hindrance to a magician is the "crisis of confidence" when they suddenly find themselves not so sure of their abilities.

Posted by: knasser Feb 21 2007, 10:41 PM

QUOTE (Kyrn)

Now, how about statting out a Scientology magical tradition.

Is there a spirit of crazy?

And what the hell would they use for a drain attribute?

Nuyen.

Posted by: Pyritefoolsgold Feb 21 2007, 10:47 PM

QUOTE (knasser)

QUOTE (Kyrn @ Jan 3 2007, 03:28 AM)

Now, how about statting out a Scientology magical tradition.

Is there a spirit of crazy?

And what the hell would they use for a drain attribute?

Nuyen.

Yep. You cast a spell, and 15,000 nuyen just disappear from your accounts.

Posted by: bibliophile20 Feb 22 2007, 02:08 AM

QUOTE (Pyritefoolsgold)

QUOTE (knasser @ Feb 21 2007, 05:41 PM)

QUOTE (Kyrn @ Jan 3 2007, 03:28 AM)

Now, how about statting out a Scientology magical tradition.

Is there a spirit of crazy?

And what the hell would they use for a drain attribute?

Nuyen.

Yep. You cast a spell, and 15,000 nuyen just disappear from your accounts.

It doesn't disappear; it goes to the estate of L. Ron Hubbard...

Posted by: ornot Feb 22 2007, 08:17 PM

QUOTE (Pyritefoolsgold)

QUOTE (knasser @ Feb 21 2007, 05:41 PM)

QUOTE (Kyrn @ Jan 3 2007, 03:28 AM)

Now, how about statting out a Scientology magical tradition.

Is there a spirit of crazy?

And what the hell would they use for a drain attribute?

Nuyen.

Yep. You cast a spell, and 15,000 nuyen just disappear from your accounts.

Hehehe.

Well, it would certainly solve the cash/karma split between magic types and mundanes.

Getting back to the point, I'd have thought that magic users were rare enough that practioners of any particular tradition would principally make contact with followers of the same tradition, and on the rare occasions when they encounter followers of other traditions can't really work it out at all. From a GMing point of view, stick in whatever tradition you feel like as NPCs, it should all be as unusual as anything else to the PC magicians.

Discrete numbers of any particular traditions, from a canon point of view, will probably not be forthcoming. Best just to keep things simple.