Author Topic: Magic system and concept overview  (Read 1964 times)

Offline kertain

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Magic system and concept overview
« on: April 04, 2011, 12:15:48 AM »
Evening guys!

I am looking for two thing:
1) Down and dirty overview of the magic system for the RPG
2) Overview/concept for the magic system in the "world"

Some of my players aren't familiar with Dresden at all and I fear they will be limiting their view of magic to something more "traditional"
Example: Gurps: you buy the spell you want and it does xxx yyy to zzz. Dresden magic is freeform mechanically and in the lore. Trying to find a way to get that point across.

It seems a common mistake is players forget that you can do a magic maneuverer to place an aspect on something..that type of free thinking isn't common with most of the popular RPGs out there.

I was gonna write something up myself but figured someone out there might have already put in the effort and have something far better then I could come up with :)


Offline Belial666

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Re: Magic system and concept overview
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2011, 12:26:47 AM »
Are your friends familiar with Cosmic Modular points from GURPS and the Wish/Miracle/Shades type of spells from DnD? Basically, what a DFRPG wizard has is the amount of power he has to work with and how effectively he can control it. Within those limitation, he can choose exactly the type of effect he tries for. A DFRPG wizard can also increase said power/control by burning through expendable resources like mental stress slots, consequences and fate points to get bigger effects.

The drawback to this extremely versatile and very powerful form of magic is the number of times it can be used. A normal wizard can expect to use his magic up to 4 times per combat without expending extra resources and at most up to 8 times per combat if he gives everything he has.

Offline Richard_Chilton

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Re: Magic system and concept overview
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2011, 03:07:36 AM »
Back when the game first came out there was a great blog that went through the magic system and explained it in detail.

It's a bit long - but this is the best overview I've seen:
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=628
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=629
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=632
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=639
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=642
http://www.rickneal.ca/?p=654

Hope this helps!

Richard

Offline Tedronai

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Re: Magic system and concept overview
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2011, 04:53:13 AM »
certainly the best run-through that I've seen
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Offline Haru

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Re: Magic system and concept overview
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2011, 06:43:18 PM »
One thing to remember, I think, is that magic (no, all actions, but with magic it is even more complex, I think) is all about intent. You do not have a spellbook like in most other games, but a set of tools to push your intent into a form on the fly.

For example:
If you want to attack with fire, that is pretty straight forward: aim and shoot.
If you want to put up a block, you need to get a little creative. Maybe you are laying down cover fire, so the other guy does not get a chance to attack you.

Story wise, you are doing the same thing both times: throwing fireballs. Mechanically though, one is an attack, the other one is created as a block (you could do the same thing with guns, btw.). A maneuver can be done the same way, because a fireball is also really good at putting the "on fire" aspect on things. Although a block like the one described above is probably going to put the "on fire" aspect on the scene without an extra maneuver.

Remind your players of that, or they are probably only going to use their rote spells, because they think that is their "spellbook". Get them to think about what they want to accomplish with their action, not what spell they want to use.
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Offline kertain

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Re: Magic system and concept overview
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2011, 12:52:45 AM »
Thanks guys!

The blog and suggestions will prove to be very useful :)