This is another post about how of my stories came to be. This time I'll talk about Protection for a New Age.
The idea behind this story is that the force that's used to cast magic spells has declined over the centuries. By the time the story starts, wizards and enchanted items are the stuff of myth and legend. The characters discover that this magical force is getting powerful again. Their society is on the verge of a new age of sorcery.
This concept of magic gaining or losing strength over time came from one of the rulebooks in the third edition of GURPS. It was one of several suggestions offered in the book to gamemasters who wanted to introduce freshness into their campaigns. If magic was unpredictable, players might be challenged to create more interesting characters, or have adventures that contained more surprises.
I've found over the years that role-playing games can offer interesting ideas for stories. The adventures themselves aren't usually where the ideas come from. Adventures and campaigns tend to follow the conventions established in their genre settings. Instead the story ideas come from thinking about the settings of campaigns, and the suggestions for creating settings and adventures that surprise players.
Early in this story the characters fight a magical creature. That's pretty typical for a fantasy story. Yet there isn't a character who knows magic when the story begins. That's a signal to the reader that this story might not be what they expect. It's unusual, and I hope interesting. That's what makes for a good story.
Please let me know if you enjoy this series. Talk to you again soon!
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