What does D&D, when mentioned invoke?
To most, it will definitely be images of huge dragons soaring through the sky, white marble castles, armored knights parading across fields, leather clad sneaks darting about in the dark of night, terrifying dungeons full of treasure... and magic.
Oh... its the magic. Supposedly the sole domain of the wizard and cleric... our iconic lonely hermit in a tower or bedecked in vestments priest in their cathedrals tending the masses that hold the populace in sway. Dark and dangerous heretics in the shadows, the otherworldly touched sorcerers, the hedge wizards, and the terrible druids who hide mysteriously in the deepest woods beyond the safety of the roads. This is what most think of immediately.
Why? Because this is Dungeons and Dragons... this is high fantasy. This is the dominion of great wizards like Elminster or the iconic Gandalf. Our villains are our dark wizards or corrupt clerics. After all, what can truly be more terrifying than someone who wields the power to manipulate the very fabric of reality or channel the power of an unfathomable god. I'll touch on my feelings on deities later... that is not the thing I am chasing after today.
But magic is a rare thing, yes? Right?
No... it's not. Every bloody adventurer worth two cents has something magical. Ultimately, by mid level... if going by the suggested wealth in the books... his boots, his cloak, two rings, a belt, his armor, his shirt, his necklace, a headband, his arm bands, his gloves, two of his belt pouches, countless tiny things in his pockets, some vials in a bandoleer, and at least two weapons or a shield if he is feeling traditional in terms of going out as a sword and board type. His mount is wearing magical shoes if he deems using a mount is worth his time. The selection of wands and staves that have randomly dropped will be worth it for anyone to take the abuse magical device skills.
What? You are limiting your players? Congratulations. You have successfully managed to keep your players happy with what you give them. They have money right? Of course... wealth is a must, right? There are countless ways of determining wealth to be honest... it is not all in coins. Limiting their chances to create magic items with the wealth you are giving them? Of course... you are trying hard to keep it grounded. I know I did for a long time.
Suddenly... like that event that shifts the paradigm completely... something happens. Someone decides to actually start taking all the creation feats... either through themselves or through a follower/cohort. Suddenly the door has been unlocked for the players. The wealth you have been keeping tied up is freed. The doors to infinite selection becomes theirs to open. You no longer have control over what they have at their disposal.
A party has a good deal of resources. All those one use scrolls that have been piling up because there is rarely a point to actually using one suddenly become reagents in items. That money you have been not letting the players spend on upgrades now is... but this time without your 10 to 20+% mark up that you throw on top of all the items when coming from a merchant. No, they are now actually getting it at a 50% discount with no limits... the only limits are their own resources and if the party is big or the right spells are picked... there is nothing keeping them from gearing out completely... save time.
Of course! Time! It is the only thing saving your story... right? Normally, in a quick paced game to take the great item to the place to stop the evil guy or stop the unstoppable legions from eating the good people of generic-burg or delving into the depths of the terrible tunnels of terror... you don't have the time to stop and make all those custom items.
But what if you are running a much more open game?
What if your world is bigger than just a simple adventure? Your time frame is not days or weeks... but months or years? What is the world can survive for another couple months?
Now... your players CAN and WILL. What do you do? Do you stop it? Kill the player or NPC who is doing this? Constantly put something in their way to stop them from being able to? Might work the first time... but after the third... well... you are running dangerously thin on ideas. What is the counter? Oh, there is always trying to match the players... be more open. Now that they have the ability... what is the harm?
But... this is only a piece of the ultimate problem. Now... our high fantasy game isn't quite so... LotR and now more WoW. Then again... if you run a heavy dungeon crawling game and use random treasure... a few lucky rolls can make you just want to cry as the party runs away with massive mountains of treasure and if they are creative... an awesome new dungeon base of operations. Hand picking out what treasure the party gets can side step this but for only so long.
Okay, lets see if we can attack this from a new angle. We can't eliminate magic, right? Of course not... this is high fantasy! If I can not have a mage cast fireball and light a village aflame... what is the point? No matter how much of a simulation game we might make the guy wearing the full plate or how much that long sword weight or the fighting styles be accurate or properly represent a hand axe going through flesh... we STILL have a guy who is flying and shooting lightning bolts. We have someone wearing armor made of ultra-light magic metal that he can summon with a snap of a finger and a sword that crackles with lightning that leaps from his gloves.
Obviously... this is magic going wild. This is also any D&D game that is past 5th level at the same time.
Before that... oh hell yes, it is as gritty as any novel can be. Want to recreate the adventures of Aragorn or Gimli or the Dwarves to the halls under the mountain... yep. Conan time? Yeah! The clash of steel, a single blow fells a man, screams of hordes on the horizon. Having to count every coin and ride on the back of wagons to get from one end of the country to another. By the gods, its great to be low level when you are the GM.
But like kittens and puppies... it never lasts. The game inevitably will grow. They will inevitably need new challenges. New challenges mean new gear that comes with it... its inevitable. There has to be SOME reward for having braved the tomb of the fire queen. Something tangible. Unless of course, you enjoy the idea of making your players nobles with lands to manage... but then you got to reward the party in a fashion that they will all want. It is all social after all. It isn't fair to give one player the title and lands of a count while another player gets nothing but a small pittance... but that is a different problem all unto itself. That is the problem with hand picked rewards... sometimes the players might not want any of your pre-ordained rewards. They will want something else... or might just take it to sell it off in the next city over.
We are now back to the players having vast amounts of wealth and nothing to spend it on... especially if they don't want to tend to lands, build a castle, or raise an army. They are looking to spend it on something and robbing them of money that you have given and they have not spent yet is not fair if done to much and without something to make up for it. Don't be an ass and do that... you lose players fast if you are known for robbing them left and right or by never giving them a selection of anything.
I am kinda rambling here... infact... I think this has gone on a bit too long and off topic.
Needless to say... you can see where I am coming from in terms of the problems of magic in the forms of items.
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