| Skills Needed to Make a Trick: | ma.me.me.convoking (for more levels in the trick) ma.me.el.earth ma.me.ph.binding (for setting the trick in stone) Skills used to cast Granny Benedict's Bond of Loyalty Skills in the Trick |
Items Needed: Hag Stone (Large Round Stone), Imagination, and anything else you want to use in your trick.
Naming Your Trick:
You start making your trick by getting a large round stone. These can be foung by searching at the dock in Scrogden or at the creek by Granny's Cottage (where the willow tree is). You can also buy them at Hilga's Stall in Ohulan Cutash. But you might not always get an empty hag stone. Sometimes you get a hag stone with someone elses Trick in it.
You then need to bond the stone to yourself by using Granny Benedict's Bond of Loyalty. Remember that when naming your trick, don't use a spell name already being used and use proper capitalizations and such. A proper name should be something along the line of "<title> <name's> <something> <something>". Have a look at different witches' and wizards' spells for naming ideas.
Syntax: "convince stone to learn <trick name>"
Example: "convince stone to learn Sister Aniline's Lagging Time"
Targeting Your Trick:
A trick can be cast on someone (like Granny Lipintense's Layer of Lard), something (like Mother Twinter's Yarrow Enchantment), or nothing at all (like Hag's Blessing). It's your trick, you decide.
Syntax: "convince <trick name> that it [isn't cast on anything, is cast on someone, is cast on something]"
Example: "convince Sister Aniline's Lagging Time that it is cast on someone"
Legthening Your Trick:
Next you need to decide how many stages your spell will use. This uses your ma.me.me.convoking skills. With a bonus around 200 you can have up to three stages.
Syntax: "convince <trick name> that it has <number> stages"
Example: "convince Sister Aniline's Lagging Time that it has 3 stages"
What Other People See:
When you go to cast your trick, other people will see what is happening. You need to decide what the trick makes them see. If you want other people to see who is casting the spell, you need to use your name properly capitalized. You should also mention the skill that this stage uses, so you can TM in that skill when casting the trick. I've heard that if you already have high skills you may be able to use several different skills for each stage. If you have your trick cast on someone or something, you need to refer to them as Charlie and use masculine pronouns. If the trick isn't cast on anything, you can write what ever you want to. If you aren't doing it right, the trick will tell you. You need to do this with for each stage of your trick.
Syntax: "convince <trick name> to say "<message>" at stage <number>"
Example: "convince Sister Aniline's Lagging Time to say "Aniline slowly sprinkles ground thyme on Charlie as she dances around him, covering him with a fine green powder." at stage 2"
What Others Will See: Aniline slowly sprinkles ground thyme on Charlie as she dances around him, covering him with a fine green powder.
What You See:
This is where you have a lot more freedom, since you don't have to mention the skill used. You can write whatever you want to see when you cast the trick. But you still need to use Charlie for the object or person you are casting on, if you are casting on them. Make sure you use masculine pronouns. You need to do this for each stage of your trick.
Syntax: "convince <trick name> to tell me "<message>" at stage <number>"
Example: "convince Sister Aniline's Lagging Time to tell me "You sneeze a bit as some of the ground thyme goes up your nose as you drop a handful of the power on Charlie." at stage 2"
What You Will See: You sneeze a bit as some of the ground thyme goes up your nose as you drop a handful of the power on Charlie.
Your Trick's Finale
This is where your trick does what it's supposed to do if cast successfully. You need to write what other's see and what you see. You have to use special punctuation when writing what other's see. Anything that happens to Charlie should be written like spin$s, laugh$s, fall$s, etc.
Syntax (For You): "convince <trick name> to tell me "<message>" when finished"
Example (For You): "convince Sister Aniline's Lagging Time to tell me "You grin wickedly as Charlie slows down and eventually stops moving." when finished"
What You Will See: You grin wicked as Charlie slows down and eventually stops moving.
Syntax (For Others): "convince <trick name> to say "<message>" when finished"
Example (For Others): "convince Sister Aniline's Lagging Time to say "Charlie slow$s down and eventually stop$s moving." when finished"
What Others Will See: Charlie slows down and eventually stops moving.
What Charlie Will See (If cast on a Person): You slow down and eventually stop moving.
Using Components:
Once you know what the spell will show everyone, you can define what the spell will use when cast. You can have compnents that are consumed or not.
Syntax (Consumed): "convince <your Trick's name> that stage <number> consumes <item>"
Syntax (Not Consumed): "convince <your Trick's name> that it needs <item>"
Example (Consumed): "convince Sister Aniline's Lagging Time that stage 2 consumes 1 handful of ground thyme"
Example (Not Consumed): "convince Sister Aniline's Lagging Time that it needs 1 handful of ground thyme"
Skill Levels:
You get to decide how difficult each stage of your spell is. It depends on how much you want to TM in the skill the stage uses and what levels you want to TM at.
Syntax: "convince <trick name> that stage <number> is [easy,average,difficult,impossible] to cast"
Example: "convince Sister Aniline's Lagging Time that stage 2 is average to cast"
Set and Educe Your Trick:
Once you have finished writing your trick, you need to set in in stone so that it can be educed and cast. You should make sure you forget all spells you have in your head before you try to educe a trick. Tricks take up a ton of space in your mind. If you try to educe a spell when you don't have any more room in your head, the stone will explode and you'll have to start all over again.
Syntax (Setting): "set <trick name> in stone"
Example (Setting): "set Sister Aniline's Lagging Time in stone"
Syntax (Educing): "educe <trick name> from stone"
Example (Educing): "educe Sister Aniline's Lagging Time from stone"
Testing Your Trick:
To test your trick, you can go see Unlucky Charlie in the field in Southern Lancre. If your spell is cast on someone, "remove charlie from pole". If not, then leave him on the pole. You can cast spells on charlie and "squint" at him and he will tell you what he sees. You can also "gaze" into Old Mother Dismass's Crystal Ball and it will show you what other's will see when the spell is cast. If there is something you don't like about what the trick shows when cast, you have to start all over again.
Tricks Becoming Spells:
Once you like the way your trick is, you can cast it repeatedly. You can also imbue other large round hag stones with your trick so that others can cast it. If you trick becomes known by enough people, it might become an actual spell. Granny might even teach it. You can even show off your trick at the Witches' Trials which are held every so often, first one was held on June 7th, 2001. Grisel was the winner.
If you would like the original research notes, you can read Goodie Whemper's Research Notes as complied by Agnes Nitt in Magrat Garlick's cottage in Mad Stoat.