Pathfinder 1e: No Video Game Magic

One rule I am following with my solo Pathfinder 1e game in the Aquilae world is "no video game magic." Which means:

• All spell requirements to cast required:
• All components (and bought/tracked in inventory)
• Casting time
• All spell learning rules followed:
• Wizards and spellbook lists enforced
• New spells must be bought, found, and scribed into spellbooks.
• Sorcerers, bards must study new songs/spells
• Clerics are by the book (they know all), but I still require them to do theological study
• When you level up, you are not assured of "getting free new spells."

Oh, this is a painful play though but highly entertaining. I know a LOT of people hate tracking spell components, and I do too, but when I follow the component rules and track them, magic feels more "magic" to me. It isn't some MMO with cool-down timers and free spells. Spells require specific components, and I even do the verbal incantation and movement (I make those up but they are fun).

For players who hate components, you are doing the Harry Potter wand thing as a spell-casting requirement. But you still need to track the cost of all those components (1gp if not listed), and your wand will have a maximum GP power reserve it can cast before it can be recharged (at the GP cost). And the higher power-pool wands that can cast 100, 1000, or even 10000 GP worth of magic will cost you dearly.

My Current Game

So I have a situation where I have a level 5 wizard with no level 2 and 3 spells, she just has her starting spellbook, and she has to visit the nearest mage academy 40 miles away - which she has never been to - in order to buy new spells of those levels and scribe them (by the rules).

She is broke.

She doesn't know anyone there since she is new to the area.

She has a huge hole in her knowledge and power.

She has to buy the scrolls, ink, and additional spellbooks (if needed, they fill up) and actually make the scribing skill roll to write them in her book.

And all of a sudden, her entire focus went from "oh, looking for the next adventure" to "I need cash, safe travel, I need people I can trust, I need to roleplay, and I need to get in the good graces with people that have the knowledge and may not trust me. I also need a shop that sells rare components and put myself in the good there as well."

So you want to know fireball, ...eh? What are you going to use it for, if I may ask?

The magic feels magic again. Wizards seek knowledge, money, and a library of spells. One wizard could be more powerful than others just by his access to information. Wizards can share spells by writing scrolls and letting others scribe them. The game's magic system creates an underground economy of magic, power, trust, and who you know to get what you want.

And if you really want it, it is likely going to cost you.

A Little Work for a Lot of Payoffs

This feels like modded high-realism Skyrim, and I love it. She isn't in some MMO queue to run a "looking for group" as the wizard DPS character, she has a very real, very personal, and very relatable problem to solve. She has to negotiate and roleplay. She has to hustle and get some gold.

Instead of an un-modded "spell shop" in Skyrim where you can buy any spell in the game; this is a "spell quest" system where you have to find NPCs who sell scrolls, negotiate with them, build faction rep with them for the more powerful stuff, and even go on quests for them to get certain spells they may have lost. Or steal ones back they had stolen from them. Or have them direct you to other NPCs who specialize in a certain type of spells, like a real necromancer NPC having a selection of necromancy spells, but you may have to do me a few things first...

And the scrolls could be used as rewards or sold at a discount if your reputation with the NPC is good enough. That NPC may put you in contact with other spellcasters who may have what you want and be willing to trade. Or ones who could get jealous of your spells and become a rival or try to steal your spellbook collection. Not only did you find someone to sell you new spells, but you also found a little community of mages there as well. And they may have problems they need help dealing with too.

You replace a lazy "gimme" system of automatically giving players what they want; with a very deep, interesting, and roleplaying-driven system that immerses you in the world.

If this was a Skyrim mod it would shoot up to my "must-have for any playthrough" lists.

Getting There is the Fun

Back up, she needs to get there first! She needs NPCs to help her travel in case she gets ambushed along the way. She needs a horse or passage on a ship she trusts. Her strength is not that high, so all the weight allowance rules come into play. What is she taking along? Does she have to haul all that gold (she does not have yet) with her? How much of it will she have to spend to get there? Go alone in a cart and horse with a chest of future gold in the back, or take along a few (trusted and well-paid) hirelings to keep an eye on it for her?

What would you do if you were put in that position?

When she gets there I guarantee to introduce herself and get herself trusted by the academy (and she is lucky one is there on the map), and find a way to scribe these in her spellbook. Does she stay there a while and get to know people? Does she look for a house she can use as a home base there, and again, hire someone to look after the place?

Old school games, and thankfully D&D 3 and Pathfinder 1e, still have all the cool old-school systems in them to answer all these questions. With newer games, they tend to just give you battle-map rules to play the next module; and they ignore all the interesting problem-solving, travel, and force you to think about how you would live in a world without the Internet, credit cards, and cell phones.

Solo Play Shines

This is one area where solo play outshines party play. I can see a party sitting around the table staring at me the game master and their eyes glazed over. Why are you putting her through this? Can't we just assume she knows these spells already and start playing the module? Why do we all have to take time out of our next adventure to run a travel and fetch quest for her spells? We are broke, how is she supposed to afford spells?

Ugh. You suck as a DM. Geeze. Lighten up.

Some groups would love doing this and helping her out, and enjoy the chance to travel, world-build, and get to know the locals in the mage academy. Some would even be curious about what they could buy there as well. Some groups are great, and I have played with some great ones that get into it.

Who knows, perhaps the academy has problems for you to deal with so you can faction build with them, and that "looking for adventure" thing for the party solves itself. That is the sign of a great GM that takes something that seems pointless and turns it into a great adventure start.

Many others I have played with were not so great. They have that video-game mentality a lot of the newer games program into you, the "please take the old school out of our games please" sort of optimization they do to make pen-and-paper gaming appeal to the mass market. The players have been trained to handwave things away, complain until they get easy mode activated, and push for the options in the game that simplify the experience to "combat and magic" battle play.

But in solo play, I can really put the brakes on that "please get to the adventure" feeling and rediscover the game and how it was meant to be played. I took a hard stand, and said, "no free spells."

And by inflicting a little pain on my solo play game, by introducing that complexity, I discovered a lot that I loved about the old-school style that I loved.