Re: Magic in Middle Earth (Help RPGers!)

[David Hobby]

> >         Begging to differ, but what about Gandalf's smoke rings in
> > _The Hobbit_?  They are described as being multicolored, and moving
> > around on their own, I believe.  It certainly seems that Gandalf was
> > using MAGIC, and not skill.  And this for mere entertainment. 

> materials, skill, and knowledge.  Who's to say he didn't have some 
> "glow in the dark" liquid handy, or put special compounds in his
> pipe that make special colored smoke.  

        I just looked all over for our copy of _The Hobbit_.  One
of my children must have it somewhere.  I guess that's good, but
it doesn't help me here.
        You want NONTOXIC compounds to make colored smoke?  I can't
think of any colored smoke I'd really want to take in my mouth.
But the key part is the "moving around on their own".  I really do
think the acrobatics described in the book would be impossible to
produce without magic.  (Now if I only had the quote...)
        Yes, Gandalf did put on the fireworks show.  But again,
I believe that some of them would require magic as well.

                                        ---David
                                           [EMAIL PROTECTED]