# Elements of Magic - Mythic Earth Q&A



## RangerWickett (Jun 21, 2005)

I recently finished the first full draft of _Elements of Magic - Mythic Earth_, a skill-based version of the Elements of Magic rules, primarily intended for modern games. It was inspired by my desire in streamlining the rules of EOM, and my interest in running a modern game that actually had magic that reflected real-world beliefs and myths.

I'm going to post a quick sample from the book here, and I invite people to ask any questions they might have about the book.


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## John Q. Mayhem (Jun 23, 2005)

Will it have write-ups of _Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell_-type fey?

Are the fey from Gaia cloaked, like Shadow creatures in Urban Arcana or the monsters in World of Darkness?


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## RangerWickett (Jun 23, 2005)

Well, you just got me to request a copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell from my local library, so I'll tell you once I get a chance to read the book. Not being familiar with it, could I ask you to describe some of these fey?

In truth, the book doesn't have any stats for creatures. It's primarily a magic book, and the setting material is there to provide a framework to base one's own game upon. However, the setting is the creation of Jessica Jones (Acquana on the boards), and she has a lot of ideas to mine, so we're already considering working on a more detailed book that describes the setting. We just want to make sure that any book we put out has interest to anybody, not just people who are interested in the setting, though with luck, people who buy the book for the rules will end up intrigued by the world.

Fey from Gaia are not inherently cloaked, though true fey are actually fairly powerful and almost always have illusion powers. Other magical creatures that aren't true fey -- like sphinxes, elves, and ogres - might possess magic to hide themselves under an illusion. 
One of the most common and easily purchased magical items are charms to make people who look at you think they're seeing something that makes more sense. They don't work on people who believe in magic, but they give players the chance to play something magical without getting too many funny looks.

Because the magic in this setting is heavily influenced by the beliefs of people, your game can even use classical creatures from fantasy and D&D, like Orcs and Illithids.


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## John Q. Mayhem (Jun 25, 2005)

That sounds cool.

JS&MrN fey are kind of like the Elves from Discworld, but more unique. They are colosally arrogant, frighteningly powerful, and have the wonderful fey amorality that lets them do horrible, horrible things and then be genuinely confused and sad if you try to stop them. Scary buggers.


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## RangerWickett (Jun 25, 2005)

My primary inspiration for writing about the fey in the High Fantasy setting was A Midsummer Night's Dream, though I know J.L. Jones, who was the original creator of the setting (and who is illustrating the book), took inspiration from many sources, including the works of Neil Gaiman, Hayao Miyazaki, and Brian Froud.  If you want to have a different sort of setting, however, it is easy enough to use the rules with different background information. We include High Fantasy as an example, and it's an example I love, but the magic rules can be used separately.


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