> Well, there are ways in which I'm not completely happy (mostly the
> precise costs involved), but I do think the rules are quite playable.
> In my game, I think the decision whether to accept clearly useful --
> but blatantly weird and foreign -- magic was one that players had to
> make in character terms as well as simply by the rules
I think the situation that came up in your game actually illustrates the peculiarity of the concentration rules pretty well. What's weird about the concentration rules, in my opinion, is that they separate the character's attitudes toward foreign magic from the players, giving players an incentive to roleplay their characters poorly.
A reminder for the spectators: Our theist-and-wizardry party from Umathela got an opportunity to learn Doraddi animist magic, which appeared to referenced in a myth our party was following on a heroquest. This raised a moral problem for the characters: Do I want this bad voodoo even if it's necessary for our quest? It also raised a strategic problem for the players: Do I want to pay double for magic improvements and take various other penalties just to get access to this animist stuff?
However, in my opinion, the characters should be equally suspicious of _any_ foreign magic, even if it comes from the "right" Otherworld. That is, my character should be just as suspicious of commie foreign feats as he is of commie foreign practice spirits. However, as a player, feats are fine: According to the rules, I can can take common magic feats for my character at _no_ penalty, regardless of what weird homeland they hail from. Maybe my character's god or neighbors will come after him with torches and pitchforks, but the rules say that feats from any source are just as good as the old ones at home.
Conversely, I would think that our characters would have no problem using common magic from their own homeland. My character ought to be happy to learn talents or charms from the Umathelan "Boar Pack" common religion, for instance. But as a player, I get penalized for letting the character do so, more heavily than if I let him learn a common magic feat from the local trolls. The gods and society might be happier if the character sticks to his traditions, but the rules tell me as a player that he's better off turning to Zorak Zoran or something.
The concentration rules might or might be good game fun, but they seem like bad modeling.
Rob
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