Formless Magic [Updated]


#21

I think this looks pretty good. My concern over the formless magic has been that it interrupts the flow of play, and allows the caster to dominate table time. I talked about a possible solution to negotiating the spell at the table here (which is crafting the spells between sessions): Spellcrafting and Words of Power


#22

Hey @Baron_Sandshrew, good stuff there! I like how you have the various words interacting & the power levels.

One thing I noticed was a lot of ‘negotiate with the GM for how this works’ - I think putting some more thought to how things play out at the table (from both player & GM point of view) could really you out.


#23

That’s great feedback. I’m adding some advice in the next draft on how to solidify some ‘bread and butter’ spells that are used regularly to smooth that out. The arcane mage knows they can use the words ‘arcane’ and ‘missile’ to deal magic effort to a single target or basic effort to up to 4 targets. No discussion, just two known applications. If they want to use that combination of words for something new then a discussion would have to come up. This is also why I’ve never attempted this before ICRPG. These conversations could be long even with a relatively lean system like ICRPG, it could be ages to iron things like this out in a denser system.


#24

Thank you for the specific positive feedback and considerations. I get a similar ‘wishy washy’ sort of feeling from re-reading this draft. I am working on solidifying a default system and presenting it more clearly at the front of the document. I still want to maintain some of the alternate takes but am trying to parse them out and consolidate them in the ‘alternate rules’ section to streamline the process for groups that want a system that just works out of the box. Again, really appreciate the input!


#25

You’re welcome! It’s a bit long (1 hour) but this video about designing board game rules helped me a lot in figuring out how to write things out in a good way.


#26

Updated version

I took in some of that feedback and tried to clarify the mechanics, expand on the examples, and added a bit of loot.


#27

Much better! Well done!


#28

I’ll look it over but there is a lot of promise in this.


#29

Thank you very much! I posted a more complete 1.0 version in a new thread.

Based on the feedback I’ve received over the process I’m challenging myself to streamline the terminology and refine the mechanics even further. I just finished a plain text draft of the revised system stripped of examples and author interjections. I want to make sure my rules are concise and understandable at their most basic. I want examples and diagrams to enhance understanding and inspire creativity, not be necessary to comprehend the system. I hope to post that version soon for feedback.

Thank you to everyone who had taken time to read and comment on this project!


#30

This makes me think about what a conversion of the Dragon Shouts from Skyrim would look like in ICRPG.


#31

This is a super cool idea!

I’m thinking pretty hard about trying to build a class type based around this. I think it would be so fun to play around with.