>I rule that Soul Vision must be used actively and requires some
>concentration, so no passive detection. If magic is visible anyway (since
>active magic is detectable to normal senses), then Soul Vision should be
>able to provide more information.
Yeah, this works too. The problem is that this simple division was left undefined.
Ever notice how Hero System is a spiritual relative of Hero Quest? In that they're both "effects first" games? In HS, sensory abilities are purchased as "Detects" at the lower level, or full "senses" at a higher cost. It's precisely this Active/Passive dichotomy that Andrew notes. Does the player have to say, "I look for X" or does the GM just have the player roll when the character is in the presence of X. This is a big difference that often gets overlooked.
In any case for HQ I don't think that it really implies one or the other too much. My personal take is to make them senses. This way they simply come into play a lot more often, and I can really leverage them as the Narrator. I don't have to worry if the player will roll when he comes into a room with a spirit, I just have them roll.
What would really be cool, however, is if both were available. I'm thinking of instituting a whole second set for my game.
>I also "aspect" Soul Vision in terms of what information it provides, based
>on the knowledge of the user.
That's very cool, and totally appropriate, IMO. What I think I'll do is just have the character augment with their "Myths" or whatever appropriate knowledge ability, and justify the outcome based on that.
>Lack of vision could hamper normal detection of magic by humans, since
>active magic is sensed primarily by sight, unless you rule that active
>magic glows in the dark (maybe it does, not in my games at the moment).
Well, according the the visibility rule, I think that magic does have attendant light shows. In any case, I like to see that in my games. Yes it does mean that you can give away your location (OTOH, the standard caveat applies to illusions, mind control, and concealment magic) with magic. To a large extent in my game anyone can tell when anyone is using magic. The special sight abilites allow one to detect those parts that are otherwise undetectable - otherworld beings, magic residue, illusions, mind control or concealment magic.
In any case, light or dark I treat these as a HS detect, meaning it's an additional sense that doesn't require any other acting sense to work. The information appears as sight, but doesn't require light to "see" it. Then again, I often make the images vague, too, so...
I could probably be persuaded to allow other sight sense abilities like "Eagle Eyes" to augment if he thing being detected was at long range or something.
Mike
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