Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;866152"Blow, wind, and crack thy cheeks!"

Wind. It's why trousers replaced kilts and togas.

I encourage my players to add flourish to their actions and I try to lead by example in play. I haven't done elaborate chants, but certainly short phrases to weave the name/concept of the spell into the gameplay.  

Oddly, I've had more luck with mage players getting into spellcasting with T&T than with D&D. Maybe it's the evocative / silly names?  There is something awesome about tossing Take That You Fiend! instead of Magic Missile.

If you enjoy spellcasting with flourish, I highly recommend checking out the RPG Eldritch Ass Kicking.

Here's 2 reviews
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10764.phtml
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12335.phtml

Quote from: Doom;866100Well, it (was a 1 segment) spell that zaps things for a little damage. "Zot" seems as good a word as any...never had someone look at me crosswise for using it.

Zotz: Material component: one coin.

Abracadavy- United States Navy!

For when you absolutely, positively MUST have an aircraft carrier right fucking now.

Quote from: Omega;866217Zotz: Material component: one coin.

In the words of Master Yoda, "What you did there, I see!"

A lot easier in LARP than tabletop; both the fantasy LARPs I was in used chants, although the purpose they served was to establish casting times.  A basic healing spell was a 10-word chant; the Raise Dead spell was 40.

Quote from: Doom;866100Well, it (was a 1 segment) spell that zaps things for a little damage. "Zot" seems as good a word as any...never had someone look at me crosswise for using it.

ah 1st time iv heard it my self

Quote from: nDervish;866119Nope, never run into it myself.

And I can't help thinking of the 80s Satanic Panic, with all the moralists running around claiming that D&D was evil because it "taught you to cast magic spells".  If players routinely chanted incantations for their spells, those sorts would have had a field day with it.

yah i grew up it the late 90s and early 2000 (im 22 in a month) so i missed out on all that wonderful hoopla that and i live in southern Wisconsin witch i also think helped

I kinda figured that for D&D style magic (fire and forget) that the chanting/ritual/component use takes place when the spell is entered into the mind of the spell-caster... and that its later release happens with a simple word/motion.

I agree it would get old pretty quickly if said every time... but referencing them occasionally or in special circumstances seems like it would add some atmosphere.
In Earthdawn our GM had us all design morning karma rituals (that gave a class specific buff) that we would perform each day. We'd usually gloss over them but occasionally he'd have one of us describe them anew, say the oath, whatever went with them... and would keep in mind when there was some situation that would interfere with them or require alteration.

I only ever had this once in any of my games. One particular player who was quite the 'diva' and desperate attention-getter would always describe every last detail of how he cast his spell (including "my armor glitters in the sunlight as I wave my hands with a serious look" and shit like that).  

Let's just say that the rest of the party didn't take it very well.
I don't know where that guy is, these days.

"Marvelous, Cupcake.  While you're singing and dancing a dozen crossbowmen fill you with quarrels."

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;866740"Marvelous, Cupcake.  While you're singing and dancing a dozen crossbowmen fill you with quarrels."

Now I want to run a character named "Marvelous Cupcake" in one of Brendan's Wuxia campaigns. Anyone know how to translate Marvelous Cupcake into Chinese?

I had a friend do faux-latin incantations Dresden-style.  It wasn't quite as tedious as the books because he tried to do a new one every time.  It didn't last very long.


I recently taught my son one of the sample magic item activation phrases from ... the 1e DMG maybe?

"Ampere, watt, volt, and ohm; Let this discharge find its home!"

I won't regret that, I'm sure.

Quote from: Bren;866841Now I want to run a character named "Marvelous Cupcake" in one of Brendan's Wuxia campaigns. Anyone know how to translate Marvelous Cupcake into Chinese?

I would pay money to be a fly on the wall for that game.

I don't know anything about the Chinese language, but according to google translate, it's something like this.

I can't imagine this is not 100% accurate, so if you want to go ahead and get that tattoo done before any further research, I'll chip in 20 china-bucks.

to be honest i never did it every spell but there are times where it just felt right

Quote from: Natty Bodak;866948I would pay money to be a fly on the wall for that game.

I don't know anything about the Chinese language, but according to google translate, it's something like this.

I can't imagine this is not 100% accurate, so if you want to go ahead and get that tattoo done before any further research, I'll chip in 20 china-bucks.

Well that gave me a chuckle.  

I think Marvelous Cupcake would fit in very well with Brendan's BLOOD OF THE DEMON MOON CULT group.

Now I'll need the Pinyin or something to know how to pronounce those characters in Mandarin.