[Echelon A&A] Magic system and magic spells.
Richard:
Hello chaps.
Not being a generally magically orientated person, I'm having a dash of a time thinking up of spells and names of said spells in my system.
Also, as it's directly related, I wish to solicit opinion on the system of magic that I'm (hopefully) to be using.
Magic System:
Said magic system is MP based, and uses 6 'elements' of magic arranged into 2 'schools'. The names of the schools are pretty arbitrary: mysticism and arcanism. The mysticism elements are nature, cold and darkness, and the arcanism elements are heat, light and arcane.
The idea behind schools is that you can learn stuff from one but not the other. Fluff wise this will be due to different casting methods and mana witchery of some sort - I've not got that part nailed down yet.
I've arranged the strengths and weakness of against other elements in a circular arrangement. Elements that oppose each other cancel out, so the non-magical manifestations are left: e.g. a fireball vs. an ice shield.
Here's the diagram of what is stronger than what:
Fluff wise, magic manifests different effects on the environment, rather than drawing directly 'from the power of darkness' or whatever. Darkness spells are named so because as a secondary effect of their use is the draining of luminescence in an area, 'Fire' because they are often accompanied by flames, etc.
I've also provisionally gone for these elements roles in magic:
- Heat will have the best attack spells and some token defensive spells
- Nature will have good healing and reasonable defence spells
- Light will have good healing and reasonable attack spells
- Ice will have good defensive spells and reasonable attack spells
- Arcane will have good attack spells and reasonable defensive spells
- Darkness will have good attack spells and reasonable healing spells
Although the nature element isn't attack orientated, it will have at least 1 basic bread and butter attack spell.
Spells and Spell Names
When it comes to simple things like the names of spells, I'm pretty useless. Any ideas for spells, names of spells and possible effects would be greatly appreciated.
Marco M.:
The basic idea seems ok to me. Nothing special, but it's simple and fairly diverse. Darkness associated with healing seems a bit odd to me, but that doesn't matter much, as I don't have any context. Also, am I right that mysticism is more defensive than arcanism? If so, I'd like to know why! Defensive magic seems odd to me most of the time, because with offensive magic one can just eliminate the source of the problem. Moral codes, military tactics of the founding nation etc. can give a good explanation to this, anyway.
My problem with all of this: I don't know anything about the setting (meaning: technology level, history, races, type of goverment, landscape, size, ...) of your world and thereby don't have any clue what kind of name for spells would fit your world. Personally, I like spell names which either incorporate the inventors name or their origin (Blazing winds of Ceyrene - given that Ceyrene is either a coastal or mountainous region) or derive from powerfully beings or cultures (Dragons gaze - fear inducing spell. Hand of the Illumatar - ancient healing spell).
Also, you might want to link to an external document with your rules as of yet. It's a forum rule and Ron is rather strict in enforcing it ;)
Richard:
Ah! Certainly. Although I do make sure to read all of the stickies before posting, I missed that one.
The rules as they stand presently can be found at http://www.latech.co.uk/rpg/content/core-rules-magic.
Setting wise, there's not /too/ much written down as yet - but the general gist of it is low-fantasy low-magic slightly steampunk indiana-jones-meets-lara-croft-meets-dragons-and-airships in 1780 to 1800.
You can find some names of places at http://www.latech.co.uk/rpg/content/setting-nations - the maps themselves are:
http://www.latech.co.uk/rpg/sites/default/files/echelonnations.jpg
http://www.latech.co.uk/rpg/sites/default/files/echelonland.jpg
http://www.latech.co.uk/rpg/sites/default/files/echelonraces.jpg
http://www.latech.co.uk/rpg/sites/default/files/echelonlanguages.jpg
The difference between the two schools in offensive and defensive capability is based primarily in making the players give some serious thought over which they wish to pursue. As it stands, the 'one school or another' rule is the only one in the system that even the GM cannot override. Fluffwise, this would be explained by the same reasoning as being able to only choose one school.
Darkness' healing spells I imagine to be of the 'anti-light' and leeching variety.
Rubbermancer:
I don't know what kind of audience you're targeting, but this seems quite complex. Or, perhaps not complex, but narrow in that it's too well-established. Especially considering you're going for a low-magic setting, I don't think the players should feel like they're at Hogwarts, with tons of documented information and resources available, either in the setting or on the gametable. They should have that atmosphere of burrowing into horrific arcane secrets, untested things, wild and unpredictable occultism hidden away in the sickly catacombs of ancient lore; the same way that our own world's spine-curdling folk mythologies were based on whispers, fearful superstitions, etc.
Certain statements in your Magic rules restrict the style of the spells available right from the start, and this could be choking your creative flow. Ex: "The same defensive spell cannot 'stacked' whilst another is still active." Why can't they be stacked? More intriguingly, what would happen if the players tried? Let's say your party's sorceror starts piling on Shields of Frost on your party's fighter. What would happen? Frostbite? Trapped in ice? Or something more subtle, like the target's natural bodily resonances overwhelmed by Cold magic's harmonies, causing insidious disturbances and imbalances? If my players want to try something that isn't covered in the rules, and seems like powergaming, it's nice to have a certain thematic background to the magic being attempted. What you call "fluff", I call "all-purpose contingency and plot generator". In your case, the "universal magic resonance" thing could be expounded upon to suit this purpose.
Clarification for my rambling: Instead of saying "Those are the rules, magic just works that way," you can strip down the rules, and say "Your mentor back in the day never said anything about this kind of thing working... You really want to try? OK, Mr. Reckless Sorceror Toying With Unquantified Arcane Power. You cast another Shield of Frost on Poor Unwitting Fighter. (roll some secret GM dice.) At first, nothing seems to happen. Then, his face goes red, and one of his eyes veins out like a window cracking. He appears to be in great pain. You remember, too late, the words of your old master: "Everything resonates with magic. Tip the scales just a little, and things happen. Watch the ripples carefully, and get wet at your own risk. Take the human body, for example. The heart is a gorgeous, ingenious blend of Light and Fire resonances, and is deeply open and sensitive to the resonances of friends and loved ones..."
That's just off the top of my head. If you've got the fluff all sorted out, the numbers are either unnecessary, or come naturally of themselves. It makes the GM's job easier, and it also gives players the option of creating/researching their own magical paths within an established and immersive framework, instead of being tied down to rote magic.
I love the resonance thing: Take that, run with it. Have Victorian-style anatomical diagrams of the human body, covered in Gothic chicken-scratches pointing out different resonance points, details, etc. Have roleplaying props, like a mad researcher's hastily scrawled notes on geological resonances and the effects of different nature magics at different latitudes available. Don't give your players the whole kit'n'kaboodle; tantalize them with anecdotal evidence of long-dead occultists, whispers of tragic and mysterious deaths, a necromantic grimoire that they have to have translated from Aramaic. Perhaps even have it as a premise that magic is unconquerable, at least in this dimension; nobody knows it all, and the more you know, the more you want to know. It's an elusive and terrifying element, and the science of it is at once utterly absorbing, and mystifying. Give players the chance to draw their own conclusions about what will work and what won't, and allow them to research from their character's point of view, instead of drawing from a handy sourcebook and saying "ooh, I can't wait until lv. 9, when I can start learning such and such a spell".
I'm going to stop ranting now, I hope this helped.
Rubbermancer:
I realize, belatedly, that I perhaps offered criticism on an aspect of the game for which you weren't seeking criticism. I apologize. But giving my last post a spin, you could still use that sort of "mysterious, low-magic" fluff to inspire spell names. Think about what kind of people came up with these spells in the first place. Make them historical figures within the setting, and think about their research process. Perhaps a blend of magic research and seismology or sonics would be appropriate, if you're using the resonance thing; great copper-and-clockwork instruments for picking up resonances that would otherwise be invisible, and quantifying them. Thinking about the background of magic and occult science in this way will probably inspire some pretty cool spell ideas, and also give you a good picture of the drawbacks inherent in different magical methods.
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