Monday 28 March 2016

Magic


Magic is brought into the world through the Wield Magic Move. Spell power is at one of four levels:

Cantrips - simple fleeting magic with no power cost and can be cast at the whim of the mage. A Cantrip cannot cause Harm.

Minor Magic - standard magic with a cost of 1 Power and a successful Wield Magic Move. If not enchanted into an item, the magic can last up to a scene, affects one subject and, if offensive, causes 3 Harm. The effect scope of this magic equates to what one person could achieve.

Major Magic - powerful and complex magic with a cost of 2 Power, that requires a Magical Focus, and a successful Wield Magic Move from a mage that has had 5 advancements. The magic can last a lengthy period of time, affects multiple subjects and, if offensive, causes 4 Harm including to Large creatures. The effect scope of this magic equates to what many people people could achieve.

Legendary Magic - immensely powerful magic with a cost of 4 Power, that requires a Magical Focus, and a successful Wield Magic Move from a mage that has had 5 advancements  and specific and complex narrative requirements as to time, place, astronomical alignments, item of power or sacrifice. The magic can be in effect for generations, affects whole regions and, if offensive, lays waste to cities, lands and communities. The effect scope of this magic equates to what legions of people could achieve over many years.


Describing Magical Effects
Within the confines of the magical tradition and the available spell power level the mage has complete freedom to describe the desired magical effect. Once the Wield Magic Move outcome is known, the GM can respond to the effect and embellish or illustrate consequences to the magic. The creation of a magical effect is a dialogue between the caster and the GM and creates new truths in the game.

The unintended consequences of magic become more pronounced the higher the level of power.

6 comments:

  1. I guess the magic system has been inspired by Barbarians of Lemuria? I've never played it but have read it and was intrigued by it, and this resembles it quite a bit.

    Hopefully you'll continue these articles soon
    , I'd love to run fantasy game one day with this! I just started running Uncharted Worlds and so far I've found it quite delightful to run and fantasy version is a very cool idea!

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    Replies
    1. Hi and thanks. The magic system is freeform and based on a number of influences, but yes BoL is right up there, a game that I've played quite a bit and like a lot.

      I've paused from adding more for just a short while as I am preparing for a games convention, but should get back to it in about a week. You'll see a build out of the Races, Professions and Origins, which should be enough to give a fully playable game. :)

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  2. Good to hear you're getting back to articles soon. I'm not in hurry though, I believe it'll take months before I can start running fantasy. On the other hand UW game is very easy to start...

    BTW it just hit me that debts gets on a completely new level in a fantasy game, especially when it comes to spellcasters (and partial successes)!

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  3. Good to hear you're getting back to articles soon. I'm not in hurry though, I believe it'll take months before I can start running fantasy. On the other hand UW game is very easy to start...

    BTW it just hit me that debts gets on a completely new level in a fantasy game, especially when it comes to spellcasters (and partial successes)!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good to hear you're getting back to articles soon. I'm not in hurry though, I believe it'll take months before I can start running fantasy. On the other hand UW game is very easy to start...

    BTW it just hit me that debts gets on a completely new level in a fantasy game, especially when it comes to spellcasters (and partial successes)!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Graham, just came across this and I really like it.

    I'm playing around with a similar hack (fantasy PbtA with bits taken from Uncharted Worlds, Fallen Empires, and some OSR sources like The Black Hack).

    I'd love to pick your brain about design things. Do you ever talk about these things on G+ anywhere?

    ReplyDelete