Magic system for younger kids

question
#1

I’m running a game for the school where I work. In game magic is rare and dangerous. I plan on keeping to where you have to have a scroll or item to use magic at all. I love the magic system but I think its a bit heavy/wordy for them. I have a rough idea of if they get a spell of giving them a tokens and they spend one each time they use magic, once they are out they roll to see how many rounds until they can use magic again (pretty standard so far) and I have made some simple spells like this; Tangle Vine- all targets within near cannot move until the start of your next turn. int 13. but I’m looking for other ideas that might streamline this, or maybe existing spells that are a bit easier to understand. I guess I’m trying to see if anyone has used or heard of any streamlined and easy magic systems.

Thank you for any advice in advanced,
Looten

#2

Don’t write the spells. They are kids. You will get WAY better results by giving them the mechanics for the spell and then let them describe what the spell actually does.

  • Deal MAGIC effort
  • Heal for MAGIC effort
  • Give all your friends a 1D4 bonus on their next round for their rolls
  • Hinder an enemy in some way for 1D4 rounds
  • Gain the ability to do something cool for 1D4 rounds (fly, resist damage, become invisible, etc.)
  • Do something cool immediately (teleport, create an item or a barrier, walk through a solid wall, etc.)

Then let THEM say what the spell does. With the above example you can get “I make sticky caramel and cover that guy in it!”

Maybe its scalding hot caramel and hurts. Maybe the guy likes caramel and it heals him. Maybe everyone is excited by caramel so now they do better. Maybe its so sticky the target can’t move.

In any of those scenarios, you would NEVER get “I create sticky caramel” if you write ‘Tangle Vine’ as what the spell does. PLUS students can grow creatively in the process. Kids are the best to game with. My immediate advice would be to do everything you can to get out of their way by giving them everything they need to do whatever they can come up with.

They will blow your mind apart and leave you going, “Wow…”

#3

That sounds like a great idea! Thank you! And like you said, you limit the kids by giving spell names. If they want to do all ice stuff, they should be able to not to mention all the other zany stuff they will come up with.

#4

Thats the coolest approach on Magic i saw for a long time. Think this could totally find the way to my Table.

#5

I don’t have kids yet (first one on the way), so I might be completely off base and you can all tell me I have no idea what I’m talking about, but along with @BigGrump’s suggestions, what if you just stuck with the ideas of LEVELS and POWERS from MAGIC?

Don’t right down any spells, but when one the kids say “I want to make sticky caramel and cover that guy in it!”, you can make a GM call and say that sounds like a Level 1 spell and if they want to cover more guys in caramel you can increase the Power for each one affected?

That may be a way to introduce those mechanical dynamics without restricting the imagination and ingenuity?

#6

@Hans-Arsch It was how I ran warp shell with my daughter’s caster. She came up with all kinds of ideas and it was way cool. Thus the inclusion of walking through a wall because she told me “You said I can do something cool and that sounds pretty cool!”

ICRPG Magic (pg 24) also has a really good section on spell creation too if you want to stick more to the ‘levels’ concept but still keep it simple for your table @Looten.

But at the end of the day, leaving the player room to play is epic.

#7

I really like the token idea as a sort of magic currency, smart thinking there!

#8

Thanks! i think it lets magic have more of a punch and be useful, but also make sure it doesn’t get out of hand. Plus in a class room it teaches them to think ahead and plan wisely.

#9

I really like this, I can see using this for adults as well as a good simple way to create spells.