"Sultan World": Arabic Magic in Dungeon World

I recently wrapped up an immensely satisfying campaign with a couple of friends set in a slightly fantastic version of medieval Cairo under the Mamluks. Initially the GM had in mind a Burning Wheel game expecting the other player and I would play soldiers or adventurers. But once the three of us began to talk we went in the entirely opposite direction. We played half-siblings in a family of converts that traded in exotic silks from some far, fantastic land. My character Touma was a disaffected young man who had run with zuur gangs for a few years after his father's death and who inherited his father's unhealthy interest in sorcery.  The other player character was Touma's sister Ayisha, pragmatic but headstrong and sensible—until Touma's overconfident occultism imposed terrible consequences upon her. 

Once we played a few sessions it became clear that family and financial politics were not working well with Burning Wheel. We switched to a version of Apocalypse World that we stitched together by hand. After a bit of experimentation it worked much more easily with the campaign that had emerged. As we prepared for the transition, I grew curious about what Touma's occult interests might be like. None of the magical systems that I found in other Apocalypse World Engine or Dungeon World books seemed right. 

That led me to draft a somewhat elaborate custom move for his attempts at magical rituals. Here I have tweaked it a bit to fit Dungeon World specifically. I hope you like it. Even better, I hope you try it in play! If you do, please let me know how it went.

MAGICAL RITUALS

When you draw on your knowledge of the occult to create a magical effect, tell the GM what you’re trying to achieve. If the GM says it is within the scope of your learning and powers, describe one ritual ingredient and roll according to the object of your invocation: a jinn, a celestial spirit, or an angel. Beware. Incautious invocation of such powers can arouse susprising dangers around the magician.

• On a 10+, you work the effect.
• On a 7–9, you work the effect but the spirit places surprising and dire demands upon the magician. That introduces a new danger into the adventure.
• On a 6+, choose one: You fail to work the effect and yet interaction with the spirit introduces a new danger to the adventure; or you work the effect but interacting with the spirit introduces a new front to the campaign. 

Trickery

If the magical effect fails, you can trick someone into thinking that it succeeded but the GM may introduce a complication: they soon realize they were tricked, they seek magical help at inopportune moments, or they grow regretful and afraid and constantly demand protection from jinn.

Invocations

Working a magical effect requires the supplication or coercion of a powerful spirit: a jinn, a celestial spirit, or an angel. As you can see from the links, I find Ali A Olomi's frequent discussions of Middle Eastern folklore particulaly inspiring.

• Jinn: Inspiration and influence by a dangerous spirit of the earth or the underworld. Roll +Cha.
• Celestial Spirit: Inspiration and influence by a spirit of one of the planets and stars, possible only at very particular astrological conjunctions. Roll +Int.
• Angel: Inspiration and influence by an angel, possible only if the work does no harm and if the GM judges that the magician has lived with sufficient purity and blamelessness. Roll +Wis.

Ritual Ingredients

Describe one that is integral to working your magical effect. 

• Talisman or Amulet: Creation of a talisman or amulet that uses letters and representative numbers that are associated with the four elements (heat, coldness, dryness, moisture), that invoke the name of the thing to be affected which gives power over it, and that are associated with passages from holy texts.
• Potion: Brewing and consuming a philtre created through alchemy, through the magical properties of plants, and through the fumigation of powders and oils.
• Sympathetic Magic: Ritual use of ingredients that intimately link the magician and ritual to the subject and object of the magical work. Fetishes, treasures, herbs. The Law of Similarity and the Law of Contagion. Correspondence and imitation.

Magical Effects

Success with the Magical Rituals move has one specific effect from one of the following categories. Each applies a modifier to your Magical Rituals roll. More powerful rituals are more difficult to find and master. Work with the details to decide the scope and duration of the effect according to the degree of success of your Magical Rituals roll.

Divination (+0): Revelation of hidden things through physiognomy, the interpretation of dreams, interpreting lines or patterns of earth and dust and stones, or asking the spirits of the dead:

• Seeing what is invisible
• Finding or learning something hidden or valuable
• Foretelling something to come or revealing something long past
• Revealing something about the subject's true nature

Charm (−1): Influence upon intellect or will of human or beast or spirit:

• Disappearing from sight
• Imaginary phenomena
• Causing misfortune or distress by the evil eye
• Persuasion or exorcism

Sorcery (−2): Influence upon the world:

• Protection from magical forces
• Inflicting harm or illness
• Healing
• Speaking with beasts

Evocation (−3): Exerting the powers that a jinn has when it takes earthly form.

• Uncanny strength and speed
• Resistance to fire
• Summoning storms
• Possessing the body of a black dog, a cat, a scorpion, an owl, a wild ass, a serpent or a lizard

"Magical Rituals" is by Shane Ivey, © 2020. This post includes affiliate links.