It's a Kind of Magic
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And so, with that love for all things Magician in mind I have recently been examining what I've done with spellcasters in Scars.and I've come to the conclusion that I am unsatisfied with it. I've been lazy and uncreative. When I was originally designing my character system I didn't really put in what you could call (mage gameplay".
There is a difference, between playing as a mage and there being (mage gameplay) in a game. It's similar and perhaps easier to illustrate with thieves/rogues. Almost every rpg lets you play as a thief. But few actually have any gameplay built around (thiefy) activities. You don't generally sneak around buildings at night, case out targets or bribe guards. The gameplay is almost always focused around combat. In other words : (fighter gameplay". Playing a thief or a wizard is pretty much playing much like playing a warrior, but with different tools to kill enemies with.
It's really telling that the single best instance of thief gameplay I have ever experienced is in the Thief series of games, which aren't even RPGs. A few simple elements, elements which could be added to most RPGs, transform the experience completely. Yet most designers either don't care or are too lazy.
