Post NaGaDeMon / RoleVember 2019 - More questions than answers
I've been getting a bit of positive feedback from various sources about the magic system currently in development, but there has been a bit of hesitation about it from certain quarters as well.
I've been asked why I haven't just gone with Ars Magica, and adapted that as the fundamental magic system. I can only guess that the person who made that suggestion didn't realise that I've been developing the ideas behind this game for a couple of years, that the magic system needs to integrate into in existing set of mechanisms that aren't related to Ars Magica, and that I'm planning to sell this game and therefore can't just rip it off wholesale.
I've had it suggested that an open ended magic system has a tendency to end up too vanilla. In the attempt to make everything special, you end up with nothing being special. That's something I'm hyper-aware of, and I've commented on it a few times over the past decade (or so) of blogging.
An idea that there should only be half a dozen verb words has been suggested, the next step wuld be to shoehorn anything else into those words, or simply state that anything that can't be shoehorned is beyond the scope of magic. That runs counter to most of the ideas that I've been trying to develop in this game. I want the magic to be open ended but structured, modular in such a way that new ideas can be introduced as new mystic books are added into the system for characters to find.
I've been thinking of pulling the magic system across to the six element system I've used a few times in the past (air opposes earth, fire opposes water, metal opposes wood). This would set up more of an immediate structure to the magic, with examples beings the way that earth magic tends to focus on stabilising and getting to the inner core of things, while air magic focuses on surface appearances and movement. One of the problems here is that certain effects would require combinations of elements, and similarly it raises the question that certain sources of magical energy would intrinsically be linked to certain elemental forms.
It's an easy fix to early problems, but that easy fix feels like it might cause more problems later.
One of the things that I'm still aiming for is a logical progression of many pathways. Just like I suggested in posts a while ago regarding Walkabout career progression. A lot of things should be accessible early on; but like a game of Go, once you've started a strategy of moving forward the options become narrower and more critical. The spell component words will be like that, as you get to higher levels you'll become more aware of what is out there, but if you want to emulate someone else's magic you'll have to unlearn what you have learned.
I've been asked why I haven't just gone with Ars Magica, and adapted that as the fundamental magic system. I can only guess that the person who made that suggestion didn't realise that I've been developing the ideas behind this game for a couple of years, that the magic system needs to integrate into in existing set of mechanisms that aren't related to Ars Magica, and that I'm planning to sell this game and therefore can't just rip it off wholesale.
I've had it suggested that an open ended magic system has a tendency to end up too vanilla. In the attempt to make everything special, you end up with nothing being special. That's something I'm hyper-aware of, and I've commented on it a few times over the past decade (or so) of blogging.
An idea that there should only be half a dozen verb words has been suggested, the next step wuld be to shoehorn anything else into those words, or simply state that anything that can't be shoehorned is beyond the scope of magic. That runs counter to most of the ideas that I've been trying to develop in this game. I want the magic to be open ended but structured, modular in such a way that new ideas can be introduced as new mystic books are added into the system for characters to find.
I've been thinking of pulling the magic system across to the six element system I've used a few times in the past (air opposes earth, fire opposes water, metal opposes wood). This would set up more of an immediate structure to the magic, with examples beings the way that earth magic tends to focus on stabilising and getting to the inner core of things, while air magic focuses on surface appearances and movement. One of the problems here is that certain effects would require combinations of elements, and similarly it raises the question that certain sources of magical energy would intrinsically be linked to certain elemental forms.
It's an easy fix to early problems, but that easy fix feels like it might cause more problems later.
One of the things that I'm still aiming for is a logical progression of many pathways. Just like I suggested in posts a while ago regarding Walkabout career progression. A lot of things should be accessible early on; but like a game of Go, once you've started a strategy of moving forward the options become narrower and more critical. The spell component words will be like that, as you get to higher levels you'll become more aware of what is out there, but if you want to emulate someone else's magic you'll have to unlearn what you have learned.
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