Well it is similarly unfair to hobble the world around the runners by denying them the option... I've done it but VERY rarely... about the rate the PC's do it really and mostly to save their bacon, cause everyone loves their bacon... then again I suppose this was all very hashed on this "other thread" you speak of.

(Subsequent rant deleted due to lack of relevance to current thread)

I'm talking about tweeking the rules to make spirits DANGEROUS to summon... who the F*** summons something they have a spirit bane with in that situation? Edge spending is the default so we dial it up one more notch and here we are. In a place where you get 10 BP for being functionally unable to summon (EDIT: or Banish?) a class of spirit that also hates you and wants you to die.

Except that magic is almost ubiwuitous in Shadowrun, and would therefore be identifiable a such...

Your quote does not say that the Aurora Boprealis is more noticeable the more powerful it is... it says MAGIC is more noticeable the more powerful it is...

Just Sayin'


Keep the Faith

Precicely - you notice the use of the magical skill. This does not automatically identify it as magical.

No. They see 'Aurora Borealis'. They identify it as 'Glowing Thing in the Sky'.
In the case of Shadowrun magic, they "see" magic being used. They identify it as strange feeling unless they have the appropriate knowledge, training, or experience to know otherwise.




Magic is rare. Joe Average has probably not seen magic being used in person more than two or three times a year, if that. He also probably did not realize it was magic unless the effects where obvious.

And you miss the point entirely.

If someone casts a high force spell, onlookers are likely to notice it. It's entirely up to the GM what the effect is - smell of ozone/brimstone/ect., shimmering aura manifesting visibly, the tearing sound of reality being shifted from its moorings. But it is obvious. In a world where magic has been around, and been an attention grabber for the media, everyone's either seen it or heard it descibed so many times that they'd probably be able to guess that they were seeing something magical, even though they might not know what magical thing it was. YMMV.

Consider modern day. Choose something that 'everyone knows about', because they saw it on TV or heard it from a friend.

Then consider how accurate their knowledge is. In the majority of cases, they really don't know much, & often what they do know is bullshit. I really doubt this would change in the 6th world; more likely, it has gotten worse.

Very few Magicians would give public displays of their abilities without a good reason. Thus, very few 'average folk' actually know what magic is like in person. Sure, some may (correctly) think it is magic, but they don't know. Many others would know nothing more than a brief, intense feeling of something. A few would actually know it was the use of magic, but probably do not know anything else about what's going on.

While it may be contentious whether ordinary citizens could or would identify the use of magic, certainly situations in which the mage could suffer adverse consequences for being noticed, such as on a run in a facility of some sort, exist. Security guards for example would be trained to recognize magic in action.

Then they would geek the mage.

It seems to me that you are being contrary just to be contrary...

Thh book provides solid rules to identify the use of magic... anytthing you do to minimize/negate that will be Houserules...

Admit it and just move on...

Keep the Faith

Personally I figure that in a world where people know that magic is real, any "brief intense feeling of something" is going to get labled as "magic", even if it was nothing more than a movement of gas. However, part of the problem is that in the case of real magic, that feeling is always directed at the Mage, so I imagine that although you will always have false alarms and people who simply ignore the feeling most of the population is wary enough to risk sounding foolish if they are wrong. After all, those dirty mages can read your mind and make you do things for their own preverse pleasures.

The book provides solid rules to identify the use of magic.

Simply because you are aware something is happening does not mean you know what that something is.
Yet again, the book provides no rules whatsoever allowing a successful Perception check to identify what is happening, only that it is happening.

True but if I remember correctly, Joe Blow might not have the foggest idea of what just happened, but he knows that Sorceress Sue just did something that felt "unnatural".

If that is the case then I don't see why "she used mojo" wouldn't be the default reaction.

Exactly my point, thanks Ravor...

In the Shadowrun Universe, when things begin to feel/seem/whatever unnatural, the blame immediately falls to magic, that is why magic is so feared... it is a reputation that Technomancers are beginning to obtain in the game world as well... is this an irrational reaction? Not in Shadowrun...

Keep the Faith