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

[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.