Rising Sun Eternal: Magic

Learning a Ritual

Exactly how long it takes to study a given ritual depends on its complexity – that is, whether it is considered Simple , Complex or Elaborate. Typically, the more powerful the potential effects of ritual, the more complex it will be. Simple rituals take research of order of hours or days to learn; Complex rituals can only learned through the application days or weeks of study; Elaborate rituals can take weeks, months, or years of time investment does not have continuous block can be split across periods of intense

There are rituals which, if correctly performed, can create a supernatural effect. Rituals typically involve (potentially complex) patterns of action, chants, and associated paraphernalia. The manifestations created through rituals can be significant, but unlike magic in most tabletop roleplaying games such supernatural workings are laborious. They are typically time-consuming and may require the coordinated actions of a group of people to have any chance of succeeding.

Despite such inherent limitations, supernatural rituals represent perhaps the most powerful source of otherworldly influence which Protagonists (or their human adversaries) are ever likely to have under their control. As such there are some individuals who scour the world searching for tomes or teachers which can instruct them in such rituals.

When a Protagonist has successfully read a tome in its entirety you as Game Moderator should provide him or her with a list of any rituals it contains. Not every account contains rituals, and not every description of supernatural effects in an account is detailed enough to allow it to be reproduced. But for those that are present in such form, you should provide a sketchy description of what the ritual seems designed to do. This should be a description in vague game-world terms rather than in terms of game mechanics.

A Protagonist might decide to attempt to study the specifics of a ritual described in a tome. If so, he or she will need to devote time and effort to that endeavor. This is in addition to the time spent researching the account itself and represents study that can only begin when its information has been consumed in full.

Exactly how much time is needed to study a given ritual depends on its complexity – that is, whether it is considered Simple, Complex, or Elaborate. Typically, the more powerful the potential effects of a ritual, the more complex it will be.

Simple rituals take research of the order of hours or days to learn; Complex rituals can only be learned through the application of days or weeks of study; and Elaborate rituals can take weeks, months, or years to master. The time investment to learn a ritual does not have to be a single continuous block of research but can be split across many shorter periods of intense study.

Rolling to Learn A Ritual

If the Protagonist invests the requisite time, he or she will still need to make a roll at the end of the period to see whether the time invested paid off. The Protagonist must attempt a roll of the relevant skill - usually Occult or Magic, but occasionally other skills such as Alchemy - to learn the ritual.

The Protagonist also faces a penalty based on the complexity of the ritual:

• Simple: No modifier
• Complex: -20%
• Elaborate: -40%

If the roll does not indicate a successful learning of the ritual, it means the Protagonist does not grasp the nuances required to master it. He or she can try again but will need to start from the beginning and again invest the same amount of time again before re-attempting the test.

If, on the other hand, the roll indicates the Protagonist fumbles the ritual, he or she loses SAN. For Simple rituals, the Sanity loss should be modest (e.g., 1 point, 1D4, or 1D6); for Complex rituals a more substantial loss is warranted (e.g., 1D6, 1D8, or 1D10), while fumbling Elaborate rituals risks severe damage to Sanity (e.g., 1D10, 1D12, or 1D20 point loss).

Once a ritual has been successfully learned, the Protagonist may attempt to perform it (see below).

Performing Rituals

The specific actions, chants, and paraphernalia required to successfully perform a ritual are particular to each and should be designed as part of the ritual’s description.

Any attempt to carry out a ritual without the necessary knowledge or components is doomed to failure … although it is possible that flawed ritual activities might still generate some kind of supernatural effect, just not the one intended by the person conducting the ritual. The Game Moderator should use his or her judgement to determine any such random supernatural side-effects; they should almost always be dangerous and detrimental to those involved.

In terms of game mechanics, the successful performance of a ritual (once the correct pieces are in place) is achieved via an investment of time/effort, the sacrifice of points in one or more game attribute (usually Willpower Points), and a successful Ritual Activation Test (see below). If all these steps are successfully achieved, the supernatural effects of the ritual will manifest.

Time Invested in the Ritual

The amount of time required to perform a ritual depends on its complexity rating – Simple, Complex, or Elaborate. ∙ Simple rituals are relatively quick to carry out, requiring somewhere between a turn and a minute. ∙ Complex rituals are more time-consuming, needing somewhere between a few minutes and an hour. ∙ Elaborate rituals are serious undertakings, consuming anything from a few hours to a day or maybe more.

During the time taken to perform a ritual, assume that all participants are completely occupied (chanting, carrying out prescribed actions, using paraphernalia in particular ways). A short interruption might not destroy the momentum of the ritual but a longer break likely will.

Powering the Ritual

The description of a ritual should outline the type and number of personal attribute points that must be sacrificed to provide mental energies that fuel the supernatural effect.

The most common form of sacrifice is Willpower Points – to create relatively minor effects might only require 5 or 6 WPs; a substantial effect might require 15; a vastly powerful effect might require 30; and a truly cosmic-level effect might need 100 or more WPs. When a Protagonist makes a deliberate sacrifice of WPs, check to see whether the new total carries any effect upon him or her (see WILLPOWER POINTS, page 42). In particular, remember that reaching a WP total of 1 or 2 indicates a mental collapse of some kind, and reaching 0 WP causes unconsciousness.

Whenever a sacrifice of WP is called for, a participant in the ritual may always choose to sacrifice points of permanent POW instead – each such point is equivalent to 10 WPs for the purposes of fueling a ritual. Such sacrificed points do not refresh, but Protagonists can attempt DOWNTIME activities to try to get some back.

Some rituals also call for a sacrifice of Hit Points, either from the participants or from elsewhere (animal, human, or other living entity). Note that Protagonists who knowingly harm another person, or even cruelly harm or kill an animal are likely to be subject to Sanity loss due to VIOLENCE (see page 66). So are any other participants in the ritual - if they are from cultures that do not accept the principle of sacrifice of living beings to deities or spirits.

Depending on the nature of the specific ritual, it may be possible for several people to cooperate in the performance. For especially large effects this may be the only way to generate enough mental energies. While the leader of the ritual must have learned it in full (using the process described in the previous section), helpers can be instructed through simple notes and rote learning. Each assistant chooses for themselves how many points of attributes they will sacrifice.

The Ritual Activation Test

If the requisite amount of time has been devoted to the ritual and the necessary number of attribute points sacrificed, the individual leading the performance may make a roll to see if the effort was ultimately successful. Successfully activating a ritual depends on the ritual leader passing a skill test, but success is more likely the lower that number. The Ritual Activation Test is a skill test that must be passed for the ritual to work as planned. Usually the skill is Occult or Magic, but exceptionally may be something else. There are potential bonuses and penalties to apply to the Ritual Activation Test, depending on the setting and the various other applicable factors, and definite penalties depending on the complexity:

• Simple: No modifier
• Complex: -20%
• Elaborate: -40%

Needless to say, this means that the most powerful magical effects are likely to require even more preparation and paraphernalia in order to offset the penalties. If the roll indicates the ritual did not work, all the chanting and ceremony has been for naught. The ritual leader has two options – he or she can either: ∙ Abandon the ritual: nothing supernatural happens at all, and half of the sacrificed points are returned to all participants; or ∙ Force a connection to the supernatural: this involves the leader personally sacrificing 1 POW permanently to turn a failed roll to a successful one. The ritual effects happen after all, despite the roll.

9.2.4 Sanity Costs to Ritual Participants If a ritual was fumbled, it will inflict Sanity damage equal to the damage inflicted by fumbling the learning roll - on the character leading the ritual, and all other participants. On the other hand, if the ritual succeeds and the supernatural effect is generated it is quite likely that the experience of witnessing something bizarre created by one’s own actions will damage each participant's Sanity. The precise losses should reflect the effect that is created, as described by the spell description. As a guideline, a minor supernatural effect might warrant a SAN loss of 1 point, a substantial one might be worth 1D8, a vast effect might lead to a loss of 1D12, and a truly cosmic manifestation might cause a Sanity loss of anything up to 1D100. 9.3 Objects with Unnatural Power As Game Moderator, you may wish to include in your game items with the power to create supernatural effects reminiscent of those wrought through rituals. Using such an item does not require any special training or learning, and no Ritual Activation Test is needed - although the purpose of the object may be to improve the success chances of a Ritual Activation Test. The user of an object with supernatural powers may, however, still need to sacrifice attribute points to fuel the effect (as per the GM’s description of the item) and might suffer SAN loss from the experience.