I'n my copious spare cycles stuck on duty or in the barracks with no one to game with (Being a nerd in the military is suffering), I've been making my own RPG. I know, I know, no one gives a shit. I'm not here to talk about the mechanics or any of that shit. Got it figured out mostly anyway.
No, I'm here because I've been trying to find a way to make magic using characters powerful without magic feeling too mechanical or clunky. Then there was the challenge of trying to find some kind of balance between casters and martials. Finally, I decided to do away with classes entirely, and make magic something that must be attained instead of inherited.
Shying away from my tabletop experience, I wanted my spellslingers to really feel arcane; to capture that old sword and sorcery feel before magic became a game of spamming magic missile until you had to go lie down. So, I decided that any character should be able to find magic and take it for themselves if they had the luck, skill or raw willpower to accomplish it.
To that end, I've come up with three different types of magic users. Not so much classes, as paths a character could take.
>>44256358
First, the Wizard. Unlike D&D, wizards do not get their powers from books, but from Places of Power. In order to become a Wizard, a character must learn the secret of true wizardry, whether from some obscure journal, the teaching of another wizard or some kind of spiritual journey. This revelation gives a character the ability to find and claim a Place of Power (PoP if you're hip). PoP's are locations halfway between this world and the next, places which have soaked up some kind of metaphysical significance, and resonate with an immortal concept. A Genius Loci, if you will. Each place of power can be connected to a number of natural domains, and the Wizard will randomly acquire a few powers from these domains upon claiming a PoP. Basically, it's a roleplaying journey to find one, a d3 roll to determine how many domains a PoP is connected to and a roll against a table to see which powers the wizard can draw from these domains.
I'm trying to stay away from the classical elements on this one, so the domains I've come up with so far are:
Predation
Time
Cold
Battle
Metal
Heat
Sight
Protection
Heat
Night
Fear
Basically, what I'm trying to come up with are additional domains, and spells to populate each domain with.
>>44256413
The Second path is a lot simpler, and appeals to those without the patience to attempt other disciplines: Sorcery. An aspiring sorceror must first learn the path of sorcery. Once more, this can be found through means of plot. A lot mechanical requirements in this system require your GM to work with you. If he won't, then why are you playing with him? Anyway, the ritual to attain sorcery involves removing the soul from the body and encasing it in a gem. Sounds a bit like a lich, right? Well, in this case, the body keeps on living. So long as the gem remains intact the sorceror's body does not age, and will continue to function as normal. You can kill the sorcerors body, but with the soul safely in the gem, he is free to continue walking it around like a slowly rotting meat puppet. That's where liches come from, and they ain't especially happy about it. The body is still necessary, however, as it is the link betwee the soul in the gem and its original body that gives a sorceror power. Because his soul is still connected to the body by a thin thread of ghost stuff, he can use that link to effect the world around him. Basically, a sorcerors only power is telekineses, but it's not generally fine-tuned enough for the really fun applications. A sorceror can throw around lightning, or fire, or pointy objects but only if there is a handy source of either nearby. It's a significant jump in power from a mortal, but he's chump change next to a real wizard.
>>44256443
Finally, there are the Magi. A lot closer to the traditional concept of mages, these guys spend a lot of time learning magic words. Also, the most likely to have a real wizard tower. Wizards are more likely to sit in front of a totem pole with half a deer on their head, and sorcerors are the edgy faggots who hang around in underground temples around lots of statues of giant snakes. Now, while a magi might spend a lot of time around books and telescopes, he's actually got more in common with a divine caster than a D&D wizard. All of his spells are in plain speech, but they're command phrases, special titles and metric verse designed to get the attention of Principalities, etherial beings that control the physical and metaphysical concepts of our world. Principalities are mysterious and capricious forces that respond well to flattery, and might just toss a lightning bolt or two your way if you pronounce their titles right.
I think a lot of these titles and the command phrases that go with them should be up to the GM (I wanted to call him the Prime Mover in my game, because the system is shaping up to be called STASIS, and I'm a philosophy fag.), but I'm suggesting a common theme. Ever watch that magnificient cluster fuck that was Bleach? Can't recommend it, but I wanted to steal some of the flavor of the nonsense phrases they used to cast spells. Basically, a spell would be formatted like this [Title]-[Target]-[Action] capped with a roll to determine how much space-lightning jesus actually loves you.
For example, "Daughter of Enduring Flame, seek out the charlatan and prepare their burial pyre!" Which, depending on the roll, might engulf the annoying rogue in flames, or make a pseudo-deity grumpy with you because they actually identify as the SON of enduring flame.
>>44256504
Now... that I've finised typing all this bullshit, I'm not sure why I felt like sharing. I guess I still would like some ideas for my wizardy domains and spells, and getting more titles and command phrases for my Magi would also be helpful, if only as examples. Really, I was just kinda wondering if anyone had thoughts, criticism or any fun ideas of their own for me to steal. I guess what I reall wanted to ask was, "How do you bring sword and sorcery back to the tabletop, and am I doing it right?"
>>44256413
I guess i can share some notes when i get back to my comp? At least the domains
Hey, you know what's required for a sense of the arcane? Mystery. You know what strangles mystery? An analytical mindset. Your attempts reinspiring feelings of wonder and fascination will be successful in proportion to how capable your audience is of double-think, escapism, and suspension of disbelief. Don't concern yourself so much with mechanics as with how successful you are in reaching a target audience.
Or instead you can make it more esoteric and occult. I personally love to never full explain where magic comes from, portray it both occult and like natural philosophy. For every player that has magic, I get them to describe how their magic works, since ultimately it is their study or conviction that granted them power.
>>44257066
Not OP but I think you're right. What about a magic system in which you explore what you're capable of. Something more fluid with no real rules. You ask to do something, roll dice, and GM lets you know how well you pull it off.
>>44256358
>Trying to make magic mysterious again
I like the "magic is alive" approach. It literally takes moods from the surroundings and the caster. So unless a caster has a complete grasp of their nerves, extra shit happens.
A war torn place makes spells deteriorate buildings. Fear makes spells create sounds and illusions. A demoralized caster can't influence or summon creatures. Rituals and temples are important because the controlled environment eliminates these extra issues.
>>44256413
>>44256958
now that I'm rereading it, you're trying to go away from "classical" elements.....but you haven't said what you're ACTUALLY going for.
I mean, half the ones you stated are pretty damn standard.
And I agree somewhat with >>44257066
At the very least, Sorcerers are too fixed, when they should be the MOST chaotic.
>>44256443
what if encasing in a gem MAKES you a weak PoP? Incapable of claiming PoPs, but able to see and soak up the metaphysics around you.
Then your magic becomes greatly colored by the environment, and you cannot control it as much as work around it to your favor.
I'm going to briefly explain my magic system.
>Secrets, a generic term for information people want, hold power.
>Secrets fall into a number of general categories, with smaller categories existing essentially on command. Anatomy a subcategory of biology.
>When wanting to cast a spell you either choose from a list you've already created, or try and make one on the fly.
>Making a spell essentially has you describe the effect you desire, and the GM telling you it's category and "Complexity" which goes from 1 to 6.
>You then tell him which secrets you want to use, each secret has a power of 1 to 6.
>Your GM then decides the "commonality" of the secrets to the spell
>The spell's total opposition is commonality + complexity (the number is in d6s)
>What you roll is your applicable skill & secrets (also in d6s)
>What you get in comparison to the opposition decides if the spell casts successfully, fails, injuries, casts better than intended ("better" is relative, you get more of what you asked for but it isn't always a good thing)
>Normally out of combat you can make the spells and test secrets for commonality safely so you know what is gonna happen when you actually cast it.
>Making the spell DURING combat means you don't know it's complexity & your secrets commonality, so it is a huge risk
A caster's spells are all those he has made, each spell costs a resource called "character points" which is a generic resource for skills + traits + incomes + spells + etc.
There is also a guideline for creating new spellcasting skills and defining what it can apply to, with some broad stroke terms of what spell applies to what.
The ones already in the game are the following:
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Mathematics
History
Psychology
Espionage
Proprioception
Performance
Bureaucracy
How does this sound?
Here's how I keep magic mysterious and interesting while keeping the game world consistent:
Magic can create problems but never solve them.
Magic is another aspect of nature. A thing of wonder that isn't man-made, like a canyon or a maelstrom.
It's a thing to be discovered and adapted to, not controlled and claimed.
It's humans who make magic unmagic, it's systems and rules that make it into a science.
Don't write rules for magic and don't let people use magic. It just is.
But don't let it solve problems, that only cheapens the story. The less rules magic has, the less problems it can solve. If it has no rules, it can't solve any problem.
>>44256358
It's pretty cool, but other than the Magi it's the sort of narrative journey more suitable for single adventurers or, like, a novel protagonist than a party of PCs — the three or four guys not doing the wizardry are doing what, in the meantime? Or if they're doing the journey altogether, they all end up with related powers? Then you'd need a pretty large table for each possible domain or concept to maintain the uniqueness of powers in the party.
Speaking of, I think that sort of power would be influenced pretty heavily by each wizards' personality and journey. So it's something heavily customized for each individual, and therefore the domains are the sort of things that GMs have the best view on. A few example domains and their interactions with a given adventurer might be good, but the specifics might be best left up to the GM.
>>44256534
I like the concept of Magi quite a bit, seems like it could be fun and interesting what with the vagaries of each individual being.
Could reaching out to one principality conceivably offend another? If I invoke the principality of summer will winter get cheesed off at me and mess my spells up or just not respond? Depending on how much is known of each being their politics could be of substantial importance to casters around the world.
Sorcerors being somewhat dependent on external sources is probably good for all kinds of plot as they make various grabs at power.
Your schools do not grab me at all as it stands. Some of them are surely interesting domains of magic but there seems to be little cohesion. I would try to work the domains into your cosmology more. I'm all for staying away from the classical elements, but don't do just for the sake of being different. Make it -mean- something.
