Most game systems allow players to choose from all powers and spells without restriction. If it’s in the book, any player character can have it so long as they meet the listed requirements. That doesn’t mean that you, the gamemaster, have to allow it. Anything that doesn’t fit with the mood and cosmology of the world you’re creating can be restricted. If your science fiction setting is built on a premise of telepaths but telekinesis doesn’t feel right to you, disallow it. If you see a world with only a short list of superpowers available, let players know those are all they get to choose from.
You can also limit certain types of powers and spells to be usable only by particular races or groups. Perhaps only dwarves from the highest mountains can cast spells involving lighting, or only the Russians have power armor, or the only pyrokinetics in the universe come from the planet Excelsior-III.
What makes this an exercise in worldbuilding and not just an act of gamemaster fiat is that there are reasons behind these restrictions. It may be as simple as trying to emulate a certain known setting. It may be to differentiate the elves that come from over here from the elves that come from over there. It may be to generate storylines, as rivalries and quests are established as the group that doesn’t have a spell tries to gain it, and the group who possesses that spell tries to hold onto their exclusive access.
Discussion
No comments yet.