The GIT! wrote:

Fermmoylle wrote:

Now, if I can create a 20-letter fantasy alphabet, I think my work is done. 20 letters + 10 digits total all 30 runes. :-)

Sorry to bump this thread but did you get any further with your magic system?
 

Nope. I've kept this on a to-do folder since my publisher asked me for a new novel.

If you want to grab what I've posted so far and expand it, feel free to do so. I'll probably be busy for a couple of months.

Ok, I'm working on this once again.

I've changed the Move rune to Emotion (since Move can be emulated by Manipulate) and this is the final result:

Now bear with me. This is the runic symbols used when writing magical formulae. However, this also doubles as a somatic component when casting a spell: if you look closer, the runes represent the human body--the caster would dance (I was thinking about the mudras and other magical poses) when invoking a spell... or she could use a lower effect spell and use lesser moves.

Opinions?

Let's use the sample spells from the first posts on this topic:

Lighting bolt (Destroy Human with Magic): Far missile (4), Instant (1), Individual (1), 2d6 damage (3) -- total mana: 9
Cure light wounds (Heal Human Life): Touch (1), Instant (1), Individual (1), 1d6 healing (2) -- total mana: 5
Wall of ice (Guard with Created Water): Melee (2), 15 minutes (3), Large room (3), -3 penalty to hit through (3) -- total mana: 11
Ox's Strength (Enhance Human Life): Melee (2), 15 minutes (3), Small room (2), +2 bonus to Strength (2) -- total mana: 9

Of course there's more than one way to create the spells above. It's a bit freeform and I think this is a good thing.

Btw, since we are on this topic, I was thinking about the hardcoded numbers on the spell creation. What about something looser?

Duration 
1 - Instant
2 - 1 combat exchange (need also a way to quantify off-combat instances)
3 - 1 conflict
4 - 1 scene

michaeltaylor wrote:

It sounds like you're going for the magic system in Fairy, Queen and Country (http://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/48752/faerie-queen-country).

I'm not entirely sure what the similarities are between what Fermmoylle has developed here and the magic in Faerie, Queen & Country. To be fair it has been a while since I've read that book but, IIRC, characters actually take damage when casting spells and there's no mention of mana gathering or runic casting. If the similarities are to do with effect, are of effect, duration etc then you may be correct - but other magicsystems (such as the one in All For One) have done this as well.