I am pretty fresh at gming, only been doing it for about 6 months, and this is the first time my players had more then one mage. They asked me the other day if they could teach eachother their spells. Now one is a native shaman that follows the animal totem or the boar and one is a street shaman who follows the idol of the seductress. To me that seems to be too much of a gap in Tradition, even though they are both shamans, to teach each other. On the other hand, i don't know what teaching a spell really involves and to separate by broad tradition and totem seems to spread magicians thin for teaching. Any thoughts.

Until Street Magic comes out, I suggest you apply a -1 or -2 modifier to the learning test if you really feel their traditions are that different.

both of them are shamens, so its the same tradition despite different totems. native and street are more about their background and character history, than how the magic works.

It comes down to the question of is it the same tradition when you follow a totem as when you follow an idol.

I would be tempted to say no, but the RAW would disagree with me

Edward

Here's what I'd go with. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do the characters share the same Drain stat?

2. Can the characters summon all of the same spirits, and are they all likned to the same kinds of magic?

3. Are their trappings relatively close to one another?

If the answer is yes to all three, then I'd let it go without penalty. If they say yes to 1 and 2, but 3 is radically different, then I'd apply a penalty of some sort. If they say no to all of them, then I'd say they're going to have serious problems.

1. The drain stat is an important trapping. If one uses Logic, and the other Charisma, then they've got fundamentally different ways of approaching magic.

2. Spirits and linked magic is another core concept of a tradition. In a lot of RL magical traditions, magic is simply getting the spirits to do something for you, so picking the right type of spirit for the right kind of magic is imperative. If they view different types of spirits as being useful for different things, then there's a big gap in their approach to magic.

I treat shamans as shamans. It doesn't matter if one shaman follows bear and the other seductrice. They treat magic the same way, as a uniting flow that binds nature. Problems occur when you try to have a hermetic try to teach a shaman a spell.

I understand your view of shaman is a shaman, but i don't think its that simple. A person who follows an animal totem views magic abit different then someone who follows a idol. I like the idea of adding a -2 to their dice pool. One that is in touch with the earth and its power will view magic in a different light then a person who worships an idol. They view it not in a nature is wonderful tree hugging way, but in a way that this idol, weather if they think of it as a god, spirit, or divine power, is a worshiping of the idol itself.

I think it depends how hard you want it to be for the spell casters to learn magic. If you allow them to learn spells from one another, they only have to buy the formula once between them, so money is less of a restriction. Karma is still a controlling force though.

That being said, I've never been entirely sure whether a hermetic mage, who learns their spells from a formula, can sell the formula on to another mage. Or indeed copy out the formula, seeing as how they already know how the spell works. Having a Mission Impossible style formula (this scroll will self destruct in 5 seconds) prevents the former, but still permits the latter.

I have in the past considered there to be copyright law and suchlike, but for your average Shadowrunning mage the law doesn't really matter. Nothing stops such an individual flogging pirated formulae at the flea market.

Heh! Now I have a mental image of the kind of antipiracy message you find on DVDs these days running before a mage can access electronic formulae!

Tape: You wouldn't steal a car/credstick/top secret corporate blueprints... Magical formulae piracy is THEFT!

Shadowruning Mage: um... Actually I would.

If you want to make things real easy give the Shadowland Magic section a place where people can upload or download spells free, or based on your own participation (Upload one and you can download three. Or help keep the Shadowland security. Or otherwise contribute.).

What's fun about this method is it allows GM's another way of introducing magical threats.

Just imagine what kind of spell designs a toxic might upload? A acid jet spell that with each use makes the user a bit more toxic?

A seemingly excellent vampiric spell that heals the caster while doing near equal damage to the enemy, but in the meantime it is tainting the magician's aura with blood magic. Soon they find themselves being followed by hulking blood spirits and having weird confrontational but non-fatal run-ins with Aztechnology.

Perhaps a "Teacher" would be interested in posting some spells about 'Water Focus' to decrease conjuring drain? They work great, but man do you feel tired lately.

Would it be possible for an insect shaman to post a "Hurricane Spell" that is actually designed to test the magician for suitability as a host then send out an astral beacon that insect shamans can detect? Maybe there's a version of the barrier spells that seem to work great, until you try to use them against bug spirits who jaunder in and out of it as though it weren't there.

again, I don't have my book in front of me, but iirc, the book doesn't say anthing about the teaching magician having to be of the same tradition in amy way shape or form, so technically, the mages could teach each other the spells. They still have to pay Karma which is a big restriction on mages. And make those rolls, so time may be a factor. Usually, I apply rl time to sr time so if two weeks pass between sessions, then 2 weeks pass in game time.