Argot Request

[athelind]

Does anyone have suggestions for something to call Magic Items besides "Magic Items"?

I'm trying to come up with vocabulary for an RPG that doesn't sound so... gamey.

Comments

[jirris-midvale.livejournal.com]

Hmm.

Good question.

I have a habbit of not telling people if something is magical or not. Usually it's a case of "Well, I guess it was magical afterall!"

[athelind.livejournal.com]

That doesn't make an especially good chapter heading, though.

[wy.livejournal.com]

Enchanted/special/superior Objects/gear/equipment?

[stalbon.livejournal.com]

Runes, artifacts, totems, objects of power, generalia!

[ounceofreason.livejournal.com]

I've been playing World of Warcraft, and I just found an item called "Conk Hammer of Power." It looks like a spikey banjo. And while this isn't really helpful, and a lot of people don't really like WoW... come on. Conk Hammer. That's all you need to know.

[breimh.livejournal.com]

The suggestions offered already are each interesting examples. I've had times where I've called "magic items" as any of those, or neglected to mention they were magical at all. I've also mentioned items "endowed with a strange quality", rather than come out and say they were magical. This lead the players to explore how these items were different, rather than realising right away they were magical in nature.

I guess another option would be 'fetishes' as White Wolf called magical items in the Werewolf RPG. Or for mages, they were known as 'foci'... both of which could include books, pipes, rattles, weapons, feathers, beads or any other item that's had some spell or magical energy of one kind or another worked into or through them.

[luxatos.livejournal.com]

Hmm. "Weird Stuff" perhaps?

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Nah, that suggests
Old Computer Parts In A Musty Silicon Valley Warehouse.

[reveille-d.livejournal.com]

Mystical Relics of Holy Powerful Might!

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Items Of Power And Enchantment would make a good chapter heading but it would be a pain to read and write too many times.

[ceruleanst.livejournal.com]

No one has said "talismans" yet, though I doubt that fully describes the full set of all magic things such as potions and enchanted weapons.

I suspect it's mostly the "items" part that makes it gamey. I suspect that "magical objects" would serve just fine as a heading. Looking through thesaurus entries for "thing" also yields "implements", "articles", "goods"...

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

I agree with Kevin; from a literary standpoint, talismans would be the correct term.

talisman (noun)
1. An object marked with magic signs and believed to confer on its bearer supernatural powers or protection.
2. Something that apparently has magic power.

I suppose you could also use "fetish" for that Native American feel, but it might give people the wrong idea. ;)

-The Gneech

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Kevin also hit on the fact that "Items" is the "gamey" part of the phrase. If I decide "talismans" isn't sufficiently encompassing, I think "enchanted implements" is a good Broad Category Designator.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Being from the Midwest, seeing the phrase "enchanted implements" makes me think of Betwitched Tractors with Disc Plows of Power. }:>

[tprjones.livejournal.com]

I'd say it depends on the system you've created. If it's interesting and new then there should be something inherent in it's nature that may suggest a good chapter heading. If, however, the system is traditional enough that they really are "Magic Items" that may be the best way to go for the heading. Coming up with a nifty new name for an old rehashed concept could seem a bit ... pretentious.

That having been said, might I suggest some form of the phrase "Mana Storage and Spell-Casting Artifacts"? That's covers the essentials of what magic items are in most games.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

I don't do much with "traditional" systems. One reason why I want to find a new name is because I'm trying to approach the concept without all the baggage of the hobby's three decades.

As part of that, I'm trying to move away from a) the idea that Magic Works Like Electricity, with "batteries" and all the rest of that metaphor, and b) that "magic items" are just ways to cast the same spells.

As for "mana", I'd only use the term in a South Seas-based setting. I LOVE the South Seas concept of "Mana", and it really bugs me to see the concept denigrated to "spell points" in almost every gaming system.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

Last I checked, Items Invested with Magical Power were called "fetishes".

But I guess that wouldn't make a good chapter title, either.

[twentythoughts.livejournal.com]

Just call'em "imbued" items, objects, thingamajigs, whatever. The idea being that that word, while fairly unspecific outside of this context, has become the most common way in the world to describe items saturated with magic, spirits, or anything of the sort. Whether possessed or just magical, it would work.

[baiji.livejournal.com]

Always partial to 'talismans" myself. Or, given a ley-line/magic everything/life stream outlook for the magic, maybe "foci points" or "eddies", since the items tends to gather the magic together for a uniform reaction rather than letting it flow on through.

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

Sparklies
Shinies
Power Tools
Talismans
Magnums (my own particular favorite Talisman of Great Power)

Or invent a word in the ancient Trollish language- 'garKrruncha, an ancient Trollish word meaning "Holy crap, we're in big trouble now!"

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

How could I forget "relics?"

[bigtig.livejournal.com]

SPORKS!

[kutztowndragon.livejournal.com]

mystiks? Spell it all wrong too!

[nicodemusrat.livejournal.com]

I think "talisman" is certainly a good one. Just in terms of terms (uhhh, yeah), here's some fodder:

focus, artifact, amulet, runic stone, fetish, reagent, symbol, ward, alchemical (item), enchanted (item), imbued (item), possessed (item), spirit (item), power (item), sacred (item).