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Building Magic Systems


Veino
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So, I'm building a new world for a forum and the world exists for the forum. It's not like my other worlds where they're primarily novel or short story projects. This is one I'm making from scratch and it is high fantasy, which means there is magic. Problem is that magic for a rp forum is way different than a magic for a novel, which usually is one system. However, for the forum, I need to work on developing a system that is interesting, compelling, limited enough to not be game breaking, but still leaving enough freedom (and information) for writers to develop their own mini-systems and kinds. 

 

Anyone done something like that before? Or been in any forums that did a good job on it? Good places for developing a decent magic system? 

Aure entuluva! Day shall come again! - The Children of Hurin

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Heya! Thanks for joining the World Building Coterie and starting our first topic! Hopefully, we'll lure in a few more members soon.

 

Can you tell me a bit about your RPG's basic premise and what you mean by a magic system? For example, do you have just one race/species of character that can be created  (i.e. humans)? Is the world some form of Earth?

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

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RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

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So; and this is just my personal opinion -

 

What you need to do is establish levels of magic in terms of scale.

Duration
Area of effect
range of casting
time of casting
rarity of ingredients

effect of spell

if you have a general guideline for those details for each level of the magic then you can let the players define the flavor it comes in for themselves. 

For instance if one player loves Norse mythology and wants to do something like Runes they could carve symbols on stones and throw those stones to "cast" the spell and when the stones hit the ground they crumble and release the spell. Which follows the guideline of the levels. Another player might be big on Newer Age spirituality and she might want to do an elaborate ritual with circle walking and incense and sacred herbs etc - and when she calls the corners and releases the energy she has willed into being the spell goes boom; and then follows the guidelines. 

 

As long as you've clearly defined the limits of each level you can leave the creativity of description on the player. If there are some areas where you don't feel comfortable or wouldn't fit your world you can note down anything you consider "outside" the scope of the world you're building. 

I mean those are just my thoughts initially. 

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2 hours ago, StormWolfe said:

Heya! Thanks for joining the World Building Coterie and starting our first topic! Hopefully, we'll lure in a few more members soon.

 

Can you tell me a bit about your RPG's basic premise and what you mean by a magic system? For example, do you have just one race/species of character that can be created  (i.e. humans)? Is the world some form of Earth?

 

Of course! Worldbuilding is my main jam, even fandom boards like Star Wars, I'm always building lore and integrating new things into the setting. 

 

Yeah, it's an original world fantasy that pulls from classic fantasy tropes. Roughly, the world is divided between the forces of Undeath and the living species, and they've been in the midst of a thousand year crusade that's come to a halt after both main armies have been wiped out. So there's Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Orcs, Wights/Vampires/Liches, plus smaller conflicts and stuff. So with magic, there's necromancy, divine magic, and someway to work in wizards/mages/whatever. Let writers develop their own little areas of the world in a sandbox. 

 

1 hour ago, Bolgron said:

So; and this is just my personal opinion -

 

What you need to do is establish levels of magic in terms of scale.

Duration
Area of effect
range of casting
time of casting
rarity of ingredients

effect of spell

if you have a general guideline for those details for each level of the magic then you can let the players define the flavor it comes in for themselves. 

For instance if one player loves Norse mythology and wants to do something like Runes they could carve symbols on stones and throw those stones to "cast" the spell and when the stones hit the ground they crumble and release the spell. Which follows the guideline of the levels. Another player might be big on Newer Age spirituality and she might want to do an elaborate ritual with circle walking and incense and sacred herbs etc - and when she calls the corners and releases the energy she has willed into being the spell goes boom; and then follows the guidelines. 

 

As long as you've clearly defined the limits of each level you can leave the creativity of description on the player. If there are some areas where you don't feel comfortable or wouldn't fit your world you can note down anything you consider "outside" the scope of the world you're building. 

I mean those are just my thoughts initially. 

 

Those are good ideas. Limits are a good idea. It works better than trying to develop a single source to encompass the different aspects. My novels usually have only one form of magic and that's the foundational system of magic, and generally the only one. Like one uses music. This seems to need different sources and styles and that's where I'm running into dead ends. 

Aure entuluva! Day shall come again! - The Children of Hurin

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My site is also classic high fantasy with a sort-of sandbox take. The world itself is original, but we're incorporating bits and pieces of other fandoms that we love.

 

Another thing you can look at is build your system around each "race" of magic users. For example, Race A can do X, X, and X, but not Y. Make the abilities and limits on a per race basis. Then,  if Player A picks from Race B, they know the range of powers they have to work with. For example, one race might use a highly ritualized type of magic system while another can do some of the Harry Potter "wave a wand" and "poof" you're a ferret magic.

 

Then, it should be easy to define things using some or all of @Bolgron 's suggestions. 

 

I totally love world building too! 

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Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

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That's what I was considering. I'm not sure I want to limit it quite so far, since I won't be making magic powers/abilities. It'll be a general framework, but then what people want to do, it's whatever they can think of, I think. 

Aure entuluva! Day shall come again! - The Children of Hurin

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