There are two types of magic in the fantasy adventure games we all love: 1) in-game magic using the rules for magic and, 2) the feeling of wonder we get playing the game. The first magic is what's in the book. The spell descriptions, magic items, things that produce effects beyond what is expected in the mundane world. This magic is part of the draw of fantasy gaming, the ability to bend reality and impose one's will on the laws of nature, physics and chemistry.
The second magic is the sense of amazement, surprise and delight that discovering something new and unexpected gives us during play. It also draws us to the game, but in a different way. While years of play may add to the number of spells and magic items, it often diminishes the wonder we personally experience. How do we keep the second magic alive?
Various ideas have been written and talked about regarding this topic, so I doubt I am adding anything new...which is actually the secret to keeping the magic alive. New, unexpected and unusual, those attributes help keep the magic alive. Referees, design your own magic items, make them unique one-of-a-kind objects who give up their secrets only slowly and perhaps reveal new abilities as the PCs level up. Limit the availability of magic items to those found. Pay attention to players and try to customize the found items to the characters, rewarding players with the treasures they most desire as opposed to allowing them to peruse the printed lists and go shopping at the "magic mall". (If you must offer a market for magic, let it be with other adventuring parties.)
Roll for starting spells and don't freely offer new spells for sale. The rare magic will be sought and prized. Finding a scroll will be special and whole quests can be built around the magic user's search for a legendary spell book. Encourage players to research spells, both to learn the ones in the rule book and to develop new ones. I rather favor an abbreviated list of known spells for my players partly so as to encourage them to develop their own through research. It gives the player a sense of ownership and accomplishment...and perhaps bragging rights!
Introduce new spells through NPCs. Allow players to witness, or perhaps be on the receiving end of magical effects that are not on the list. Let them wonder! Always give them a chance to acquire such rogue magic for themselves, however. Make some magic "perilous", even evil in its effect. Let the players make the hard choice to try and use such magic or destroy it.
Consumable magic items are much more useful in a campaign where they may be the only easily acquired magic. After-all who wants healing potions/scrolls when one can purchase a wand of healing? Resource management is a part of the original game design and can add to the tension and suspense or just be "bookkeeping" depending on the prevailing attitude. Part of keeping the magic in the game is agreement among everyone to do so.
What to do with all the cash adventurers recover if they can't purchase expensive magic items? Those consumable magic items are one option, as is the old "build a stronghold" (a place to keep your wealth safe from thieves if nothing else) option. Paying henchmen and hirelings and seers and experts can consume money. Level drain and restoration, disease and cure, death and raise dead can all cost the player characters dearly. How about upkeep and living expenses (including dependents)? Armor repair, spell components? Luxuries like a yacht? Most campaigns I have played in have hand-waved these expenses, but if the referee is worried about gold/silver accumulation, taxes, living expenses and such can help relieve the anxiety and keep the adventurers hungry.
I like to make the world as magical as the items or spells. Magical beasts and especially magic areas add to the wonder and verisimilitude. An enchanted forest where certain magical effects are acting on those who enter, a cursed ruin where evil magic affects all who enter adds potential adventure as well as something novel to a campaign. Why is it cursed and how can the curse be removed? These are potential questions adventurers may like to explore...or exploit. When things generally work like they do in the real world, and then they don't...it feels more like magic.
I have heard it said that magic exists in our world today. It certainly existed in the Minneapolis area and Lake Geneva during the early 1970's when groups of tabletop wargamers and history buffs were drawn to add some of the magic they had been reading about in fantastic stories to their tabletop games. Something new and wonderful came into being, something that has been a source of fun for countless players and has changed popular culture as its tropes have spread into the digital age. The magic of the game.
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