In the rulebook, it says that when you run out of magic points, you simply pass out until you get a positive number worth of points back. What I am wondering is, say there is a player with 8 magic points, through the wonders of books he finds the spell Bring Haboob (sandstorm). Naturally, he doesn't know what the spell does, just the name and how to do it. He casts the spell, does the proper rituals to cast it, but the spell needs 20 magic points.
What happens to him now? Does the spell work? Does he simply black out? I know this is a very extreme example, if he fell to maybe -1 points, he could sleep it off, but what happens to him at the extreme of -12 magic points?
The reason I am asking is that in the last game I keeped, one of the players found a book written in Sanskrit, as well as a Sanskrit to English dictionary. Naturally, at the end of the game, she is now going to have to spend a couple weeks in hospital (as you do when you explode your neighbours house while you are still in the garden.), so she has time to study it. I am going to be nice and give her a spell, though not tell her what it is, because the book isn't going to give it a nice title like Attract Fish, thus making her wary of just blasting it out there. She has Magic Points of 9, and quite a lot of the spells are 10+ magic points, so I would just like to have an idea of what to expect if I do decide to give her a spell that puts her deep in the negative zone.
Thank you for reading, and for any replies.
Spells and Negative Magic Points
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cookiegerard
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I think a lot of the higher magic point spells are generally intended more for NPCs to tinker with. I've had characters try to use magic which was beyond their means before and had one of two things happen when those points hit or exceed 0. Either they drop unconscious from the mental strain and the spell fizzles out, or the spell succeeds and they still drop unconscious. The later can be awesome in instances of summoning, since there's a roused mythos creature standing around with the one who called it unable to command or banish it. 
For an excessive over-exertion, like your -12 point scenario, it might be fun to have some sort of consequence. The simplest might be just an extended period of recuperation. If your player has 9 points, I'd assume they can regain up to 9 in one day, but at -12 a full day of rest only gets the player up to -3, so they're still out. A CON penalty might also be appropriate.
For an excessive over-exertion, like your -12 point scenario, it might be fun to have some sort of consequence. The simplest might be just an extended period of recuperation. If your player has 9 points, I'd assume they can regain up to 9 in one day, but at -12 a full day of rest only gets the player up to -3, so they're still out. A CON penalty might also be appropriate.
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Dr. Gerard
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I like Nvision's response here. I very much support creative solutions that are not in the book, but make sense for your group and the flavor of your game world.
Let the player gain insight about the spell the hard way, and make failure come at a cost that is interesting for your players. Experimentation and Faustian compromises are fun to play with.
Some further suggestions: If the magic point cost exceeds her reserves, she goes unconscious, and suffers fever nightmares about entities or minions already encountered. Maybe she learns something she'd rather not know, sparking a SAN check.
Another way is to cause the point cost to overflow automatically to the nearest player or NPC that makes sense. The spell fizzles, but she learns that it might be possible to cast the spell using the energy of other willing participants. Or she might try to use the spell in an unusual way, as a sort of suicide bomb of magic points to drain energy from others at the cost of unconsciousness. If she uses it this way, I'd add a SAN check for good measure and tell her she feels like there is a sandstorm raging inside her skull, for instance.
With some extra research or a good Mythos roll, perhaps she can get more hints about the spell's effect, artfully cryptic. But the key piece of information would be to learn that others could contribute their points during casting.
For sure, i would say that experimenting and using a spell that is beyond the character's means should have a cumulative corruption effect. Each time it fails (or maybe even if it succeeds!), add a thematically appropriate physical symptom -- like a growing patch of sandpaper skin, unexplained dehydration, or color vision shifting toward yellow colors, as though looking through a desert haze. Or add a psychological symptom of corruption, like being haunted by waking visions of a small living whirlwind, developing a slight sense of unease around running water, or waking in the middle of the night to find that her pillow is full of sand.
Anyway, a long way to encourage you to be creative with spell costs in addition to the mechanical solutions above.
Let the player gain insight about the spell the hard way, and make failure come at a cost that is interesting for your players. Experimentation and Faustian compromises are fun to play with.
Some further suggestions: If the magic point cost exceeds her reserves, she goes unconscious, and suffers fever nightmares about entities or minions already encountered. Maybe she learns something she'd rather not know, sparking a SAN check.
Another way is to cause the point cost to overflow automatically to the nearest player or NPC that makes sense. The spell fizzles, but she learns that it might be possible to cast the spell using the energy of other willing participants. Or she might try to use the spell in an unusual way, as a sort of suicide bomb of magic points to drain energy from others at the cost of unconsciousness. If she uses it this way, I'd add a SAN check for good measure and tell her she feels like there is a sandstorm raging inside her skull, for instance.
With some extra research or a good Mythos roll, perhaps she can get more hints about the spell's effect, artfully cryptic. But the key piece of information would be to learn that others could contribute their points during casting.
For sure, i would say that experimenting and using a spell that is beyond the character's means should have a cumulative corruption effect. Each time it fails (or maybe even if it succeeds!), add a thematically appropriate physical symptom -- like a growing patch of sandpaper skin, unexplained dehydration, or color vision shifting toward yellow colors, as though looking through a desert haze. Or add a psychological symptom of corruption, like being haunted by waking visions of a small living whirlwind, developing a slight sense of unease around running water, or waking in the middle of the night to find that her pillow is full of sand.
Anyway, a long way to encourage you to be creative with spell costs in addition to the mechanical solutions above.
Keeper of the Cthulhu Dark "Secret Everest Expedition" PbP scenario
Rip Wheeler in the Call of Cthulhu "No Man's Land" scenario
Plays for Keepers
Rip Wheeler in the Call of Cthulhu "No Man's Land" scenario
Plays for Keepers
That is an excellent rationalization of "contributing" magic points. It can come off as a little hokey, but your idea of discovering a leeching effect on other party members is quite elegant and really adds to the story-telling.