Pondering the nature of magic in a Middle Earth milieu has me thinking about how various people might view "magic" - particularly the people of a fictional Middle Earth. Its creator, J.R.R. Tolkien draws on early medieval European folk traditions (including magic) to some extent when creating many aspects of his Middle Earth. The fantasy role playing game community tends to think of magic in terms of a game mechanic which reflects the fantastic as found in the common sources from which the genre draws from, namely fantastic fiction, myth and legend. Turning a person into a newt for example would be "magic" as described in a certain "silly" movie. The rules for just how a user of magic turns a character into a newt during game-play depends upon the magic system for that game. None of it is real, of course, except in the sense of actually rolling dice and playing make-believe.
The World's First Fantasy Role-Playing Game didn't invent the idea of magic. People told stories about things magical way before White Box came into being. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson just borrowed the magic idea for their game and wrote some rules to cover how it would work in game terms. People have, and do really believe in magic, however, but that is not part of the game...or is it? The idea that "magic" exists is part of the non-scientific history of human culture. Anything unexplained may be termed magic...or not, depending on the belief system of the observer. I think of superstition and magic as being closely related concepts.
So what is magic in game terms? The White Box, which is my system of choice, gives some very basic guidelines for magic and its use during game-play without any explanation of what magic is, where it comes from, or how humans master it. Magic in the game is divided into divine and arcane and is available to the Cleric (divine) and Magic User (arcane) character classes. Magic may be found in items, potions and scrolls and some of these are usable by the third character class, the Fighting Man. Monsters may also use certain magics.
White Box magic is termed "Vancian", named after that magic found in the Dying Earth fiction of author Jack Vance, in which the author describes the magician casting magic "spells" which are previously memorized and stored mentally for later use. Casting or "throwing" the memorized spell releases its power and erases it from memory. Each game character is limited in terms of how many spells and of what level of magic power they may memorize and use. Spell lists are aimed at dungeon adventuring and combat and generally the spell takes effect during the round (game turn) in which it is cast.
OK, that is a very brief overview of magic according to the three Little Brown Books of White Box, but what has that to do with anything beyond the game really? I think it is a way to represent what is written about in fantastic fiction and what has been described in sword & sorcery and other stories over the ages as unexplained "powers" which may come from advanced science and technology, supernatural forces, psychic powers or divine miracles. It exists in the game to add mystery and fun, something beyond the ordinary.
Professor J.R.R. Tolkien created a very detailed fictional world which is the setting for his most famous writings, Middle Earth, all of which are one of the many influences on White Box. It is in many ways a believable world setting, with much in common with our own and I think this is by design. Middle Earth is filled with the fantastic things of the good professor's imagination - Elves, Ents, Hobbits and more and Middle Earth seems awash in magic (unexplained power). Power over death, power over men's minds, power to create and hold light, power whose source is generally unexplained and which often seems beyond anything we can accomplish with today's science and technology is present on many pages of his work.
To a simple farmer the power of a seed may seem almost magical. How much more so the power of bringing forth light without a source such as fire? Being's with the ability to assume either human or animal form, walking, talking tree-like beings, animals which communicate with humans, and the spirits of the long dead that can be of danger to the living all appear in the pages of Professor Tolkien's writing and all speak of his Middle Earth as being a place of vast magic. To limit the perception of magic to the spell-like abilities of the Istari Wizards such as Gandalf, the servants of the Shadow including the Nazgul, and even the Elves, is I believe falling short of the vision the good professor had of Middle Earth. I like to think the fictional inhabitants of Middle Earth see magic everywhere they look. Some of it delights them, some concerns them and some terrifies them. Living in a world where dragons, orcs and Sauron all exist as real entities, how could it not be so? If Sauron would teach magic to the Witch-King of Angmar, why wouldn't lessor magic be taught to lessor folk? Those who grasp for power and be eager pupils would exist in any world, imaginary or not, I think.
Magic is an explanation for that power which we cannot understand, that which we perhaps fear, or desire access to. The power to read the future in the stars, to speak with animals, or commune with the spirits of the dead, or simply to make a rabbit appear from a hat, would seem to be at least as likely in middle Earth as it is in our own day. A skilled woodsman who seems to pass noiselessly and without trace is seen as using magic, or not? There is no reason to suppose that the inhabitants of Middle Earth would not attribute magic to the mundane much as we have on our Earth and I rather like the idea that since Middle Earth is a fictional place, magic might be more tangible, accessible and powerful than in reality. So why not include a bit of magic in your game of Middle Earth?
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