The Word of Bob (Schroeck) from the 'Worlds with "different" magics'' thread in the General DW Chatter forum:
Quote:
Doug's magic follows a fairly standard pattern -- probably best explicated by Mercedes Lackey's books, but by no means unique to them -- magic is essentially the manipulation of an energy called "mana", which can either be generated internally (Doug's "personal energies") or absorbed from the environment ("ambient" mana, leylines, and nodes). The ability to "process" this energy and turn it into magical effects is called the "mage gift".
Most of the time (the events of DW2 notwithstanding -- he only learned how to tap environmental mana in the unwritten DW1), Doug operates off his own internal energies, which are generated and recharged by his own metabolism. So, basically, unless the world is so weird that his metabolism doesn't work (urk), his magic should function regardless of the local paradigm. Much to the distress of natives who think they know how everything works.
-- Bob