[Magic In Myidealworld]

If you have time, I would very much like to know more about what you have in mind for the magic system.

Magic In Myidealworld

I've been interested in magic systems since stumbling across GURPS version which appealed to me greatly at the time. Before then the magic systems I'd seen or played had been variations of D&D system with specific named spells where (if you were lucky) one would fit the dire straights you found yourself in and (if you were really lucky) you'd happen to have it memorised! However the GURPS system took a more granular approach where you might choose a particular college, for example Fire, and then learn the basic spell forms, Seek, Create (Ignite), Control, Shape, Destroy (Extinguish), etc. These would ultimately build the more classic (D&D style) Fireball and Wall of Fire type spells. I never actually got to play with the GURPS magic system and I don't remember it well (as it was *cough* years ago) but I've always assumed you could create new spells dynamically to suit any situation from these basic building blocks.

I experienced a similar approach in a little indie game called Magicka which I bought on Steam last year. The system allows you to create spells by combining up to 5 elements (from a choice of Arcane, Cold, Earth, Fire, Life, Lightning, Shield, Water) with form of casting (self, force/beam, area of effect, imbue item). There were 2 additional elements that could be created from the base elements, namely Steam and Ice. Depending on the element(s) used, force/beam casting could produce projectiles, beams or sprays and self casting could produce healing, armours and auras. Interestingly the area of effect form could be combined with the others forms as well as elements to produce arcs, walls and circles. Selecting the same element repeatedly in your "formula" could increase its potency i.e. it would likely do more damage or more healing. There was also something about crossing beams but I never played it in multiplayer so I'm not sure what the significance was (other than making me sing the Ghostbuters theme).

I think systems like these where you can "craft" or "build" spells fits nicely with the Mythurna philosophy and your desire to leave things as open, flexible and modable as possible: magic Lego if you will!

Magic In Mythruna

I've been searching the forum and what I've found two forms of magic one where you can craft objects that can be used in world and augmentations which can be used to enhance your character (collated below) and a passing references to Elves having innate magic which hopefully means that mages, wizards, magic-users, shamen, spell-chuckers (call them what you will) will be an available class.

The Elements

I assume you meant the elemental magic forces, which the obvious ones are:
-air
-fire
-water
-earth
-life
-spirit
-gravity
-electricity
-light

The difference between earth, life, and spirit may change and they may become the same or something... though in my current design they serve different purposes.  Light and fire may merge but I like the idea of heatless light.

I also feel like there are two that I'm missing but I don't have my notes in front of me.

and:

... I've evolved some new ideas that I'm playing with also.  In this approach, I've reduced the base magics down to gravity/matter, heat/light, and electricity/magnetism.

The ability to conjure water or fire or air (or anything else really) then becomes a manifestation of these.  In this mythology, someone who could manipulate water is just attuned to a certain frequency of gravity.  Is also nicely supports something like teleportation while still leaving it a really complicated build to produce.

Magic Lore

In one old set of notes, there is the physical plane and the spirit plane separated by the astral plane.  The spirit plane is where the ghosts live and the physical plane is where the rest of us live.  The astral plane is basically devoid of energy.  All gems and crystals punch through these layers in some way but only spirit crystals punch through to the spirit plane as they are a result of this all being twisted together.  Mythruna (the planet), at least in this particular mythology, is uniquely twisted in this way which is why the spirit plane bleeds into the physical one at all.  In my old DMing days, this was how I internally explained ghosts, etc..

A similar but separate mythology explained all magic as a bunch of spheres that were misaligned.  Because they are out of whack, sensitive people can see them and potentially learn to manipulate them.  Life energy in this approach is a harmonic combination of the other elemental energies.  Combined with the above, life with a spirit is a combination of other magic energies in harmonic resonance that pulls a spirit to the astral plane.  When the body dies the spirit goes back to the spirit plane.

The interesting thing in both of these approaches is that there is no "spirit magic" energy.  It's a place not an energy.  I waffle on this one but I will likely drop it as a separate force.

Similarly, the distinction between gravity and earth energy is a very weak one and I may just combine those.  This would make earth energy one end of a spectrum that goes through magnetism, light, and heat/fire.  In the other direction, water then air then back to fire again.  And then life force is a meta-energy... if those others were in a circle then it would be in the middle and the convergence is strong enough to punch through to the astral plane.

This is the problem of having collected reams of hand-written material over the long years of DMing pen-and-paper role playing games.  (Only as I said in the other thread, it didn't actually have to work in that case.)  And I've been thinking about this kind of "magic system" since 2003 or 2004 when I tried to implement some of it in Neverwinter Nights mods... and then subsequently tried to refine the ideas for the RPG I was designing way back then before scrapping it.

So I'm still working on it... and was actually trying to fill gaps in the magic-physics part earlier this evening.  In one field based design, it's convenient if all of the four element magics (earth, fire, air, water) have a positive and a negative side that can be combined in specific frequencies to create physical manifestations and/or used to manipulate those (which would allow some cool things like "bending" as  in the Avatar series though I don't know that I'd take it that far).  If I do that, it may be convenient to treat electricity and magnetism differently.

Electronics and Augmentations

Electronics will be a part of the magic system as electricity is one of the elemental magic forces.  I think I was up to at least 8 the last time I checked but I'd have to look at my notes.  It might have been twelve when I tried to add diametrically opposed forces.  Also, it won't be based on large blocks but on small components... ie: it won't take a whole basement to make a door bell.  It will be more like making placeable objects except you'll be making magic circuits where beams of energy interact through different crystals, gems, and materials.  Hint: sand, glass, and black marble become important materials.  ...also, gravity is one of the magic elemental forces so with the right components could lead to thrust blocks, effective antigravity, etc.

and:

Yeah, you'll be able to build little "circuits" (though not in the classic sense) using crystals, gems, prisms, etc. to define the pathways and junctures, etc..  It will be similar to electronics but more like manipulating energies than having a full circuit.  In other words, you won't need a closed loop with ground.

Glass becomes a universal conductor and black marble becomes a universal insulator.  Glass prisms and prismatic crystals can be used to redirect the energy and/or combine it with other energies... some similar to the way transistors work.  Some gems can be used to convert one energy to another type and some can store energy for later release.

Spirit crystals emit whatever energy is pumped into another spirit crystal... so they act as wireless conduits.  I believe there will be a signal strength according to quality... but the range will always be longer than would be achieved through point-to-point light beams.

The resulting "circuits" will be small wafers that can be stacked and/or plugged into slots on your body or in weapons or other items.  And actually, stacking, or 3D circuits, may just be a natural requirement of building the "wafer" in the first place.  So stacking may not be a separate thing... but part of the circuit builder, ie: you build up layers like a real 3D electronics chip.

and:

Mythruna will have something similar to this in the form of "magic electronics" which is the best way I can describe it.  There will be something like 10 or so elemental magic energies that can be manipulated in crystal circuits similar to the way light would work.  So you can combine different magic energies, split them, convert them, etc. to make everything from locks to magic devices that enhance your players' abilities.  These would be more like the item crafting, though... not giant rooms of blocks but small components that could be plugged into your body, weapons, other objects, etc..

Some example energies that can be manipulated: life force, spirit energy, electricity, light, heat/fire, gravity, etc..  I've designed some simple circuits on paper to do some simple magic devices but I haven't fully vetted the design against more complicated things.  Things like "magic missile" are pretty easy to design as are "water breathing" and simple things like that.  Teleportation, bio-keyed locks, etc. are trickier and I have to do some more paper design before I know if the system will work.