Crowd Cast Magic?

[Simlasa]

I'm wondering what games might be out there with rules emphasis on magic cast by large groups... beyond the usual ritual magic involving a few fellow magicians.

I'm thinking of things like sailors on a ship singing songs to calm the sea or conjure wind... whole villages engaging in dances to bring rain or drive out pests.
I had an idea for intinerate magicians/clerics who are problem solvers for common people, but required large numbers to bring off their powerful spells... or spells that required the whole adventuring group to participate somehow. It would probably be aided by social skills/charisma and leadership.
I could also see it being used by guilds and gangs against their competition.
Not that it would replace smaller spells... but would be an added form of magic to pull off BIG effects or enchantments that last for generations.

Might be a silly idea, or one that is better served as setting flavor NPCs rather than actual rules for PCs... but I'm curious what's out there.

 

[TristramEvans]

I don't recall having seen that in an RPG yet, but its a concept I find interesting and intriguing

 

[Spinachcat]

I remember that from RuneQuest 2e, but maybe that was houserules? We had to attend cult rituals and donate POW to the idol which fed the god, and sometimes the RunePriest's used the ritual to gain great POW to do some massive regional spells.

I thought I stole the RQ idea for my OD&D campaign. My OD&D maxes at 10th level, but 6th-9th level spells exist. Nobody casts those on their own. That's all rituals, dependent on reagants, locations, sacrifices, etc. In the case of cleric spells, it involves temples and congregations all focusing great energy to launch one of those mega-spells.

 

[David Johansen]

GURPS Magic has fairly extensive rules for it. Anyone who knows the spell at 12 or better can contribute fatigue points. Up to 100 people who don't know the spell can contribute 1 fatigue point. I'm sure there was more to it.

 

[opaopajr]

Along with GURPS, In Nomine Steve Jackson Games does similar with worshippers contributing Essence during a communal ritual (known as "song"). Humans tend to pass out beyond 24 hrs...

 

[Raleel]

The Legend book Blood Magic has concert casting rules, an you can get quite large with them. Theists in Mythras can lead spells where the lay people donate magic points to the spell via veneration. The same can happen with sorcery, and those spells can be quite expensive.

 

[David Johansen]

GAH! Something I missed in my magic system! I'll have to re-write the whole thing!

 

[Baulderstone]

I remember that from RuneQuest 2e, but maybe that was houserules? We had to attend cult rituals and donate POW to the idol which fed the god, and sometimes the RunePriest's used the ritual to gain great POW to do some massive regional spells.

I know that congregations pooling large amounts of POW/MP to cast big rituals was present in certain Call of Cthulhu adventures.

 

[Simlasa]

The Legend book Blood Magic has concert casting rules, an you can get quite large with them. Theists in Mythras can lead spells where the lay people donate magic points to the spell via veneration. The same can happen with sorcery, and those spells can be quite expensive.

Cool! I missed that in my readthrough of RQ6 (assuming it was there prior to Mythras).

 

[Raleel]

Cool! I missed that in my readthrough of RQ6 (assuming it was there prior to Mythras).

It was. It's not specifically called out in the sorcery section. It talks about it a bit in the theism section, but it works just fine for sorcery. The magic chapter (the primary one) has more on it. Essentially, get quite a few people together and you can generate quite a bit of magic. One could easily alter the numbers needed for their particular purposes - it's not hard and fast or game balance related or something