Ars Magica is the heavy hitter when it comes to freeform magic in TTRPGs. It's a noun-verb system where you combine one of 5 verbs with one of 8 nouns. This is arguably 40 spells, but while it's generally obvious what "create water" does, it's less clear what "transform body" does and you have a lot of freedom to work within those bounds. Thanks to this openness, the potential effects are essentially endless.
Here is a system by Cyborgs and Sorcerers which takes a similar freeform style and makes it into something Vancian. Essentially, you collect living spells in the form of nouns and verbs, and upon casting you lose the noun and verb you used. It has a much broader variety of nouns and verbs, which makes sense for a Vancian game system. In Ars Magica these are each their own skill, but if you're collecting them like Pokémon as you level up you want variety and specific words rather than a few categories and generalisations. We can take it further - we don't just want "animal", we want "goose".
What I'm beginning to wonder, however, is whether we need to use a noun and a verb at all. We could just do single word spells if we wanted.
You can just Verb the Noun
Say you have the magic Word "fire". The spell encompasses all that fire is - it can be a noun (a flame), a verb (to burn) or an adjective (fiery/on fire). The important thing is that casting a spell has an effect which is, in essence, "fire" in nature. What you couldn't do is "fire" a gun. Because spells aren't in English, homonyms don't translate. Being able to conjure fire doesn't mean you can summon my mixtape.
From here, a way to adjudicate the power of an effect is all you need. If you're familiar enough with DCC's spells, you can come up with numbers as necessary to keep spell power roughly in line with what's already listed at the same spell check result. If you aren't, a reference chart might be handy - maybe I'll make one later. Trust yourself a little on this though - if you're adjudicating Mighty Deed effects, you can adjudicate spell results too.
So, when someone uses "fire" to damage someone, just look up Fireball, and... wait, no, Flaming Hands, maybe? One is a level 3 spell and the other is level 1, so their power levels are very different.
 |
| Fireball art from DCC RPG p. 216 |
"Fire" is a level 1 spell because it uses 1 magic Word. It is adjudicated with effects similar in power to a level 1 spell. Flaming Hands, Magic Missile, hell, just rip the numbers from Chill Touch if the player wants to use it to enchant a weapon with flame. This is fairly simple for damaging spells, and any Word should be able to be used as a combat spell if the player finds a logical way to do so; casting "chair" on someone will cause an unseen force to smash a wooden chair over their back, WWE style.
If you want effects at the level of Fireball or another level 3 spell, you're going to have to use 3 Words to do so. This makes the spell more specific, and more specific spells should be more powerful. As Slight Adjustments put it, "Charm Goose should be more powerful than Charm Animal." (Note: this is also why casters might want specific Words rather than general ones - reward your players for figuring out a use for a stupid Word like "appointment") So to get the classic Fireball in all its glory, a caster might need to use the Words "fire", "throw" and "sphere". It's easier to fail this spell because it's treated as a 3rd level spell, and on a casting result of 11 or lower they lose all Words used in the spell.
10th level Wizards can only cast up to 5th-level spells. No Wizard other than Sezrekan has cast a spell using 6 Words, though the limit is theoretically nonexistent.
Other Effects
So that's hurting people covered, but the actual freeform stuff could be anything! How am I supposed to judge literally everything?
Similar to damaging spells, any spell used to incapacitate can take numbers from Sleep or Paralysis. These are some of the most straightforward ones, but there are spells throughout the book that give examples of moving objects, summoning creatures, detection and scrying, controlling others, healing (Lay on Hands is basically a spell), different forms of movement, raising and lowering ability scores, crafting magic items... I'm sure you can find a rough power level to compare to any effect your player comes up with.
Will it always be balanced? It'll be close enough. On balance: "The DCC RPG has no such rules beyond the generalities of hit dice and dungeon levels." - p. 384. Generalities are the realm within which we are working, here.
Obtaining, Keeping, and Researching Words
The number of spells known is the number of Words a character can keep in their mind at any given time. Wizards keep a Grimoire - Words can be transferred from the Grimoire to the mind through memorization, and when a Word is lost by a failed cast it returns to the Grimoire it was memorized from.
A Wizard can take one day to attract and capture a random Word in their mind, as long as their Grimoire does not reach the limit of words than they can keep memorized. If it does, their mind will not attract new Words. If the Wizard wishes to obtain a specific Word - and it can be any Word - it will be necessary to Quest For It (Judge's discretion).
It then takes the rest of the week to copy the new Word from the mind into the Grimoire. This is a complex art and it's where the real "research" is.
Having multiple Grimoires doesn't circumvent the natural limits - simply having those Words in a Grimoire binds them to the Wizard, even if they aren't currently memorized. Another Wizard's stolen Grimoire is still bound to that Wizard (even beyond death) so the most effective method to increase one's library is often theft.
Alternate Methods
There's some interesting potential here for other caster types. A Sorcerer might have a Word in their blood, which never leaves them even through casting failure, at the cost of one extra slot. A Magician might replace their lost Words with random ones each day - a steady supply without research, but one they need to improvise with.
If this system is used with Clerics too, deities might have a list of Words relevant to their domain which they grant to Clerics.
Invoke Patron
Instead of Patron Bond and Invoke Patron, a Patron has their own magic Word. This is something like a true name - it holds the essence of an individual identity - but it does not grant power over the Patron like a true name would. Instead, the first casting of a spell using the Word "Bobugbubilz" would act as casting Patron Bond (Bobugbubilz) and subsequent uses would act as casting Invoke Patron (Bobugbubilz). Note: this doesn't preclude the caster from using the Word to bond another person to the patron; since the system is freeform, one Word can be used for both of these effects.
Invocation of Patrons can be combined with other magic, allowing the Patron and Wizard to cast a combined spell together.
As with Invoke Patron, spellburn is mandatory to use a Patron's Word. When a Patron's Word is lost due to a failed cast, the Patron will return it to the Wizard the next day - provided the Wizard is holding up their end of the deal. Patron taint also applies.
Misfire and Corruption
When casting multi Word spells, randomly select which Word is relevant to misfire or corruption (where applicable).
Misfire: roll 1d3 (1) the spell takes effect, but it is a hindrance rather than a help (2) the spell takes effect as if the magic Word was its opposite, e.g. you cast "ice" instead of "fire" (3) generic misfire table
Corruption: Other than the corruption tables, the corruption should be relevant to the Word. Roll 1d6, +1d per additional Word (1-2) permanent purely cosmetic transformation (3-4) transformation causing minor hindrance or annoyance (5) minor corruption (6) major corruption (7) transformation with penalty to use of limb or a sense (8-10) greater corruption
Mercurial Magic
Each Word has its own Mercurial Magic. When casting multi Word spells, randomly select which Word's Mercurial Magic takes effect for the casting.
Runic Magic
The runic alphabets are made up of symbols that are able to attract Words into the symbol itself and instruct the Word for the casting of the spell. Differences in script account for why one language's Ward and another's function in different ways, though the consistency of runic magic makes it a useful tool. Any magical rune known to the caster can be inscribed using a Word like "writing". Combining "writing" with another word can inscribe runes the caster does not know, which is in itself a useful tool for learning new runes. Unless specified (perhaps requiring another Word), the rune will be in an unknown language.
Scrolls
The effect of a scroll is pre-determined when the scroll is created - a scroll intended to throw a fireball will always throw a fireball. The spell check result, however, is not necessarily predetermined, so all power levels (including failure and worse) are possible.
Example Word List
- Animal
- Beast
- Horse
- Goose
- Light
- Sound
- Dark
- Dazzle
- Flash
- Charm
- Friend
- Mind
- Person
- Human
- Demihuman
- Cold
- Touch
- Death
- Smoke
- Gas
- Poison
- Cloud
- Mist
- Color
- Bright
- Read
- Write
- Understand
- Language
- Detect
- Perceive
- See
- Hear
- Feather
- Weight
- Fall
- Familiar
- Bond
- Fire
- Ice
- Lightning
- Water
- Earth
- Air
- Force
- Motion
- Mend
- Break
- Flight
- Levitate
- Rope
- Bind
- Climb
- Sleep
- Paralyze
- Immobile
- Stone
- Ward
- Door
- Portal
- Teleport
- Evil
- Good
- Law
- Chaos
- Neutrality
- Extrasensory
- Telepathy
- Resist
- Invisible
- Memory
- Open
- Shut
- Find
- Search
- Monster
- Summon
- Porcupine
- Ghost
- Phantom
- Illusion
- Weak
- Strength
- Agility
- Stamina
- Intelligence
- Personality
- Luck
- Plane
- Demon
- Dragon
- Transform
- Replicate
- Food
- Speed
- Fungus
- Missile
- Mirror
- Sphere
- Large
No comments:
Post a Comment