Rituals and Theatrics

Lapaki

Newbie
Marshal
Hello all!

Our chapter is young- ish and does not have a lot of Formal Magic users. In turn, rituals are not performed that often unless needed by PLOT, much less to the caliber I've heard are performed in other chapters.

The reason why I write is that I am stepping into a reoccurring high-level NPC role, and, well, to be perfectly frank, I want to live up to it. I wasn't able to catch any that went on when we gathered for Nationals, and being on the other side of the border, it's not easy to attend a game at another chapter where it's more common. I have only done two in my past year and a half as a player, and not knowing what to strive for, both were... rather embarrassingly dull.

So, what I suppose I am getting at is: Does anyone film the rituals they do, or does anyone have any advice on how to "dress-up" ritual casting? I am not as charismatic as a lot of you, but I would really like to improve myself on this front, not only for this role, but for my game in general. The last thing I need is to incur a backlash because whomever I was casting on passed out from sheer boredom and breached the circle. Ha.

Either way, thanks for your time to at least read this.

Cheers!
Nichole - Calgary Chapter
 
Props, props everywhere. Use wands, crystals, costumery, chalices, chant in Latin, chant in gibberish, and the most important thing is to ham it up!
 
Hello Nichole, I actually gave it some thoughts as well after the Nationals. We could have a big fan that would blow stronger as the ritual progress. Maybe some Sound effects and light effects. These are just ideas, but I have not started working on it yet. I was thinking of doing something for when my character goes back to game.

I will look for stuff at Halloween stores when they open them. Let me know if you wish to go as well.
 
Last edited:
Sitting in the middle of a white rope circle staring at the scroll for 5 minutes is technically adequate, but super boring. There are lots of ways to dress up your rituals. A few things I've seen:

Props go a long way - even minor, static props. Put down a small circle rug to sit on, grab a small stool and drape some cloth over it, stick some props on top of that. Get creative and try to personalize your props - SoMN has a Dark Elf Celestial caster with a fancy dragon sand timer that serves as the actual 5-minute timer and a Dryad Earth caster that uses a rope of vines and a small bowl filled with dirt or water or bits of plants depending on the RP for the ritual.
Use your props! Don't just let them sit there. Incorporate them into your ritual RP. Feel free to use catalysts and components as props if you don't have anything else prepped - I had a Regeneration cast on me earlier this year and a large part of the RP was based around the catalyst itself.
If you're going to chant something, don't just chant quietly to yourself. Call it out! Ham it up! Narrate what you're picturing yourself doing with the magic. "By the power that flows through the earth, by the might of Fortannis, I shall put an end to the Necromantic taint in this item! Watch as I draw forth the strength of the earth [ostentatious arm motions, grabbing at the dirt and grass below you]... Let the chaos before me dissipate into the aether, let its taint cease to destroy these lands, etc etc blah blah"
If you want to go the extra mile, use special effects. The Dark Elf caster I mentioned before uses little flash pots and fireworks for his rituals. "I call upon the power of lightning and thunder! [Tosses poppers to the ground] I call upon the power of flame! [Pulls fire seemingly out of thin air with a flash pot on a ring]." His rituals are my favorite.
Don't just sit in one place - as long as you can keep an eye on the ritual scroll, you can move around all you want.
Involve the target if you're casting the ritual on a body or spirit - if you're doing a Spirit Forge, for example, you can basically interview them throughout the ritual about who they are and who they're going to become, carefully guiding them through the process as their spirit is reforged.
Can you sing? Sing! In a recent(ish) Spirit Walk ritual at Chicago the player led everyone in the circle in a song about travelling back home.

There are lots of ways to dress it up, just don't be afraid of melodrama. Ham it up, get loud, play it up as much as you want to. If you commit to it and take it seriously, so will the people around you.
 
If you are going to be casting rituals frequently (this is more of a royal you, not you personally), then I recommend scaling the activities based on the power level of the ritual(s) you are performing. Nothing sucks the life out of ritual casting faster (for me) then trying to have an orchestrated and animated ritual casting for all 20 rituals of a 20 rit item. I tried once and I was exhausted by the end of the third ritual!

Instead, for low power rituals, think of simple means for hamming it up, such as burning a scroll, reciting some long winded incantations/chants, painting the target, painting a thing and burning it (I like fire), get the target to drink something, drink something yourself, mix some luminol and paint with it (don't drink it), research some cool chemical tricks (e.g. ferrofluid can be fun, but I recommend it for small rituals; sodium acetate, on the other hand, is really cool if you can get it to work reliably), etc.

Then, for your super powerful rituals (especially Empowered rituals) get more involved! I have seen people use fog machines, have background music and/or chanting and/or "arcane whispering" and/or other noises, utilize black lights and UV reactive inks, dancing/singing, vigorous and animated somatic components, etc.

The powerful/cool rituals, such as summoning an extra planar creature of some sort, Spirit Forge/Racial Transformation/Regeneration, etc., are where you should pull out the tricks from your sleeves, in my opinion. Casting an Enchant for a 3/e Cure Light Wounds may not warrant significant effort, in my opinion.

My 2 copper. :)

P.S. Non-newtonian fluids are fun.
 
Thank you, everyone! I will put this advice to good use. Would still love to see some in action, if anyone has ever recorded theirs. :)

In the mean time, you'll all have to forgive me when the video of Garridan's trial and subsequent destruction of (Chaos) crossbow gets posted. I was really nervous, and not nearly as prepared as I should have been... should have asked this before!
 
Back
Top