[DL] Spook: black magic

["Tabb, David" <david.tabb@msfc.nasa.gov>]

This probably deserves some spoiler space...












A little lower...


That's the spot.  Aaah.
The black magic spell Spook's description is confusing to me.  I'm dealing
with the version from the pre-Revised Edition book Quick and the Dead, if
that matters.

First, the duration is given as "special."  But the specifics of this
specialty aren't explained fully in the text.  The spell has two powers, and
one of them costs 1 Wind/use.  The other doesn't even mention having to
concentrate.

Second, which will also help illuminate the first.  The spell has 2 powers.
The passive power has no chance of misfire and causes a penalty to any Guts
check made as a result of viewing the caster.  The active power causes an
immediate Guts check for anyone viewing the caster.  However, if the caster
is just some guy, he shouldn't be enough by himself to incite a Guts check
except through the active power of the spell, so the passive power by itself
doesn't do a lot of good.  Also, there's no indication of what Terror score
the induced Guts check is up against.  The active power is the one that
costs Wind.

So, is the passive power always on?  Is perhaps the base Terror 3 for the
active Spook, modified upward by the level of the passive power?  Or do
black magicians have a Terror score of their own?  Did any of this make
sense?

David
(Maybe I'll just give the guy Stun instead.)