Magic Mechanics

[Da_Killah]

I was wondering if maybe this had already been done.  I was thinking about having magic drain health and completely forego an extra stat for casting.  ie. I cast and lose 10 hp cept as a caster i lose less(same spell half cost).  I've been thinking about this and it seems like it might work as long as I don't make it too easy to gain health.  If anything like this has been done it'd be great for me to use as a basis or gain new insight.  Either way comments and critisism are welcome.

[Arturo G.]

Hi there!

I think you are providing very few information about the initial system you want to change to fully understand your proposal, although it sounds like a very classical RPG.

Previously to talk about the mechanics, it would be nice to hear what is your problem with the original system, and especially what do you want to achieve with the new system.

Anyway, regarding magic systems, I will recommed to read the article titled: "Breaking Out of Scientific Magic": (http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/magic/). It can widely open your mind. Perhaps you will discover that, what you really want to do is something completely different.

Cheers,
Arturo

[JakeVanDam]

I found all of the articles on that page (as well as on the rest of Mr. Kim's site) very well written and informitive. I would definately read 'Magic in Society'. The two 'Real-World Meaning' articles apply more to terms used than the mechanics themselves, but can be helpful if you are designing a full world, rather than just a mechanic.'Magic in "Vikings and Skraelings"' is a good example of a unique magic mechanic.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya Killah,

Welcome to the Forge!  I'll offer you the best advice I can.  Over my years of experience I have come to find that sub-systems for things like Magic will work pretty much no matter what they are.  Any system you come up with will be just fine so long as it's A.) useable and B.) fun.  It doesn't matter if you use manna, hit points, powerpoints, Stats, or whatever else.  The reason that it doesn't matter is your magic system is (most likely) not what your game is about.  There are far more interesting things that you have to talk about than the mechanics of your magic system.  Almost anything will work so long as it has the A & B I mentioned above.

As for critiquing what you actually wrote, Arturo has a good point.  It's hard for us to say much because we know so little about your game as a whole.  My suggestion: make another new thread here in Indie Design to tell us about your game.  And if you would, answer these three questions in it:

1. What is your game about?

2. What do the characters do?

3. What do the players do?

Peace,

-Troy

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

I see some embedded assumptions here.

On an internal, fiction level:
What is magic in your game (not "how does it work")? What does it do for the fictional characters? Why do they use it?

On a game design level:
What are the rules about in your game? That is, what is the root of the stories that you use it to tell and how do the rules draw from that root?

[Callan S.]

Welcome to the forge, DK!

How are you excited for magic to work. What way do you think it'd be really cool? Is it something like a mage frying a bunch of gobo's, but screaming in pain for the cost of that action, appeal to you?

Or is it more the mage clutching at his side, with a grim determination in his eyes to win the battle?

[smokewolf]

I was wondering if maybe this had already been done.  I was thinking about having magic drain health and completely forego an extra stat for casting.  ie. I cast and lose 10 hp cept as a caster i lose less(same spell half cost).  I've been thinking about this and it seems like it might work as long as I don't make it too easy to gain health.  If anything like this has been done it'd be great for me to use as a basis or gain new insight.  Either way comments and critisism are welcome.

Thats exactly the type of system I wrote for D20 Modern (Magic: The Science and Art of Causing Change - http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4305& ). There is a demo of it you can check out there also. Although it is written for D20 Modern the rules could be used by any system really. But basically I set up charts for spell effects (duration, casting time, magical effect, etc.) each assigning a number what the effect is. This number then is both the target number of the spell and the amount of HP's you lose as the caster. I also setup templates to make spell creation a breeze, takes only a few seconds to create a spell with them or you could create totally unique ones in minutes.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Although it is written for D20 Modern the rules could be used by any system really. But basically I set up charts for spell effects (duration, casting time, magical effect, etc.) each assigning a number what the effect is. This number then is both the target number of the spell and the amount of HP's you lose as the caster. I also setup templates to make spell creation a breeze, takes only a few seconds to create a spell with them or you could create totally unique ones in minutes.

I don't see how this could be used with many, many systems.

Let's hear from the originator of the question about the nature of the challenge. Then we can offer assistance.