What is Old, is New Again!

I'd be curious to know if there's a single person in the universe who has ever created a tabletop RPG that didn't find the creation of a magic system as the most challenging chapter in their game. I wouldn't be surprised, as creating rules for something that doesn't actually exist is challenging, to say the least. If I had decided to make magic "NPC only", this game would have been finished 2 years ago.

All of that being said, the most difficult part of this journey has also been the most fun I've had in making this game. From the beginning, making this game has always adopted what I like to call, "The Goldilocks Method" to game design. The first attempt was "too light". The second attempt was, "too heavy". I'm hopeful that this 3rd attempt is "juuuust right".

To be perfectly honest, this is a redesign of the first magic system I put together. While functional, it was bland and uninspiring. What I've tried to do this time around was to inject more flavor and reinforce the Sword & Sorcery genre while keeping the system simple and intuitive to use.

This magic system is based on one of the sample magic systems in the original Fate RPG, called the "Door to Shadow" system. It's a free-form system, where you simply run through a list of several questions to determine the spell's difficulty, cost and parameters. I added a number of Sword & Sorcery elements around the system and tweaked the modifiers to create what I believe will be the magic system for the game.

I know that I could have saved myself a lot of time, trouble and stress by simply creating a list-based magic system, but for this game, that simply wouldn't do. The rest of the game is built with the intention of putting most of the "heavy lifting" on the GM's shoulders, freeing up the players to focus more on description and roleplaying. I believe that a free-form magic system helps maintain that design goal.

Here are the highlights of the system.

• Spell default is Poor [-2]
• Spell cost comes in the way of Wounds to the caster:
• Poor [-2] to Fair [0] Spells = Minor Wound
• Good [+1] to Superb [+3] Spells = Serious Wound
• Legendary [+4] or higher Spells = Critical Wound
• Spell Questions
• Casting time (default is 1 minute0
• Scope, or area (default is "nothing")
• Number of targets (default is 1)
• Special effects (wounding, incapacitating, transformative, "something from nothing")
• Duration (default is 1 Exchange)
• How will spell affect story?
• Spell Requirements (can mitigate difficulty)
• components
• focus items
• special timing
• special location
• animal or human sacrifice
• research or preparation

For some of the flavor elements, there are a few "Laws of Magic" to encourage the Sword & Sorcery genre.

"Success Begets Success" - When a spellcaster is successful with a spell, their next spell will get a bonus.

"Magical Energy is Impermanent" - When a spellcaster dies, all of their spells dissipate, and any magical items they have created turn to dust or shatter into a million pieces.

"Magic, Like the Universe, Demands Balance" - Whenever the caster has a major failure, the spell backfires in the worst possible way.

"Magic Protects Itself" - While not sentient, magic has some sentient-like behaviors.  Once per day, if the caster is wounded and in fear of their own demise, they can create a defensive blast of magical energy that affects everyone in the same Zone as the caster.

"The Spellcaster's Soul" - Those who spend their lives unlocking the secrets of magical energy bond with that magical energy.  This means that any caster who meets the gaze of another caster or magical being, they can instantly recognize them as a user of magic.  The caster may also gaze into the soul of another caster or magical being to try and discover the true nature of their sorcery.

I am very anxious to test this system and finalize the magic system, once and for all!