A result-based, trapping free, Magic system
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2010 8:07 pm
An idea has been percolating inside me for a little while now and I have been growing more and more obsessed with it so I thought I'd bring it here and see if you all envision the potential in it that I do.
I've been thinking about a magic system which does not have any trapping or "spells" but instead has results of spells listed and ranked in order of power.
The idea occurred to me when a friend was designing a campaign and wanted the characters to be able to rewrite reality as their power. Sort of like the guys at the computers in the matrix or the aliens in Dark City etc etc. So in puzzling over what system could possibly allow people to do literally anything it occurred to me that if you made a system where the "spells" are listed as options for their eventual results. Such as
Deal 6d6 damage to any target within 100ft and which you have line of sight to
Things like that. So whether you launch a fireball at someone or a lightning bolt or spawn a gun and shoot it you will deal 6d6 damage to a target within 100ft. Now lets say that another option was:
Move a target living creature that weighs no more than 400 pounds 30 feet in any given direction
Now whether you are force pushing someone or teleporting them or stomping on the ground to send shockwaves that makes them fly backwards the EFFECT is the same.
Now you get into what I think would be the cool part. You could start mixing and combining different abilities for more powerful spells. So if someone is standing on the edge of a building then use your force push and make them fall off. That's the best spell effect for this moment. But if he's very tough you might want to add on the "deal 6d6 damage" effect as well so the target will get hit with some explosive force and then fly off the roof.
It would make a fun game of combining and selecting optimal spell effects and the narrative options would make for a tremendously fun group narrative. For instance if another spell effect you have is the ability create a large sized object in a stable location then that guy on the roof could be crushed by a small water tower and swept away. The options are enormous and because the system simply doesn't care about trappings you can make a Fire Mage just as easily as you can a reality altering wunderkind. One just hits the mugger with a firewhip to deal damage and the other makes the gun explode in his hand to deal damage (actually that wouldn't be quite right, that would have to be some disarm effect combined with a damage effect but you get the idea!).
So you could rank "effects" in order of power, say 4 ranks. And finally you would make a difference between "static powers" and "spontaneous powers". Meaning a difference between your mutant characters eye lasers and a wizards spell which he uses to shoot eye lasers that round. So that static powers would gain an additional minor "modifier" effect. Which would be some small bonus. So what this would allow would be in, say, an X-men style game for you to have 3 characters with the following powers.
Johnny Flame: Fireballs deal 6d6 damage and have a chance to make their opponent catch fire, taking 1d6 damage next round
One-Eyed-Mythical-Giant: Eye laser deals 6d6 damage and has a 300 foot range
Thundercloud: Lightning bolts deal 6d6 damage and have a +2 to hit.
That way even with static powers that have only a single effect you can make a party feel like they have different abilities by giving those small "modifier" effects which, while having a reasonably small effect on gameplay would allow identity even with single effect abilities.
That's all for now. And I know some of this is kind of undefined but I have a lot in my head. Anyway, what do you all think?
I've been thinking about a magic system which does not have any trapping or "spells" but instead has results of spells listed and ranked in order of power.
The idea occurred to me when a friend was designing a campaign and wanted the characters to be able to rewrite reality as their power. Sort of like the guys at the computers in the matrix or the aliens in Dark City etc etc. So in puzzling over what system could possibly allow people to do literally anything it occurred to me that if you made a system where the "spells" are listed as options for their eventual results. Such as
Deal 6d6 damage to any target within 100ft and which you have line of sight to
Things like that. So whether you launch a fireball at someone or a lightning bolt or spawn a gun and shoot it you will deal 6d6 damage to a target within 100ft. Now lets say that another option was:
Move a target living creature that weighs no more than 400 pounds 30 feet in any given direction
Now whether you are force pushing someone or teleporting them or stomping on the ground to send shockwaves that makes them fly backwards the EFFECT is the same.
Now you get into what I think would be the cool part. You could start mixing and combining different abilities for more powerful spells. So if someone is standing on the edge of a building then use your force push and make them fall off. That's the best spell effect for this moment. But if he's very tough you might want to add on the "deal 6d6 damage" effect as well so the target will get hit with some explosive force and then fly off the roof.
It would make a fun game of combining and selecting optimal spell effects and the narrative options would make for a tremendously fun group narrative. For instance if another spell effect you have is the ability create a large sized object in a stable location then that guy on the roof could be crushed by a small water tower and swept away. The options are enormous and because the system simply doesn't care about trappings you can make a Fire Mage just as easily as you can a reality altering wunderkind. One just hits the mugger with a firewhip to deal damage and the other makes the gun explode in his hand to deal damage (actually that wouldn't be quite right, that would have to be some disarm effect combined with a damage effect but you get the idea!).
So you could rank "effects" in order of power, say 4 ranks. And finally you would make a difference between "static powers" and "spontaneous powers". Meaning a difference between your mutant characters eye lasers and a wizards spell which he uses to shoot eye lasers that round. So that static powers would gain an additional minor "modifier" effect. Which would be some small bonus. So what this would allow would be in, say, an X-men style game for you to have 3 characters with the following powers.
Johnny Flame: Fireballs deal 6d6 damage and have a chance to make their opponent catch fire, taking 1d6 damage next round
One-Eyed-Mythical-Giant: Eye laser deals 6d6 damage and has a 300 foot range
Thundercloud: Lightning bolts deal 6d6 damage and have a +2 to hit.
That way even with static powers that have only a single effect you can make a party feel like they have different abilities by giving those small "modifier" effects which, while having a reasonably small effect on gameplay would allow identity even with single effect abilities.
That's all for now. And I know some of this is kind of undefined but I have a lot in my head. Anyway, what do you all think?