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I have not done much in Rational Magic for the last month as I have focused on getting the kickstarter ready for The Sassoon Files (which will start September 1^st). I did get two decent play-test sessions down, where I re-verified the combat works and then focused on refinements to the magic system.

Some background and a shameful secret about the magic system in Rational Magic. When I first started on the game system, I didn’t want to have any magic. The title “Rational Magic” refers to the “magi-technology” that exists in the settings, not an ability that players have. However, playtesters complained. “It’s called Rational Magic; it should have magic!”

So I went to a magic system that was very similar to Savage Worlds. Magic abilities are defined “specials”. In Savage Worlds, that’s called an Edge; in D&D, that’s called a Feat or an ability; in Fate, it’s called a Stunt. A discrete ability which can be flavored by the settings.

I found that to be very boring. It may work for a combat oriented game like Savage Worlds. In my game, I found it limiting.

So I went back to the source that was my system inspiration for the rest of this game: Barbarians of Lemuria (uh… Honor + Intrigue the BoL variant which I really like). In Barbarians of Lemuria, magic is free-form, with rank (up to rank 3) limiting the effect, and mana limiting the usage frequency. In turn, mana is regulated by costs and modifiers. For instance, a spell that takes several weeks to cast or can only be cast during an eclipse costs significantly less mana, allowing the wizard to cast spells that otherwise would require more mana than is available. The result is a free-form system wherein players can create the magic spell “on the fly”, using a simple cost-structure.

BoL magic system is elegant, but the system is explicitly not made for frequent player-character mage roles. It’s a game about barbarians than smash and kill and then drink about how wonderful that was. It’s too simple for a game in which multiple players will specialize in being the wizard in each campaign. But it could be a basis for a more complete magic system.

I decided on 3 directions for the magic system: 1) Use engineering-ish names for schools of magic, to give it a “techno” feel. 2) Attempt to keep the free-form manner of BoL’s magic system, with ranks of magic, mana to limit frequency, and a cost structure which modified mana cost. 3) Give plenty of examples within each magic section to show players what they can create with the free-form spells and use to form their own spell templates.

This is what I set out to do. I created a system consisting of several schools of magic, each with 3 ranks of ability (actually 5 ranks, but rank 4 and 5 are “Game Changer” Lore Sheets). Each school has example spells which can be used for templates, for quick play. And there is a page of rules for how to modify the spells duration, area effect, damage, etc.

However, I feel that I need to put a little more work into the magic system. It’s not rules-heavy at all, but it’s a little clunky for new players. I believe this is a presentation issue. I need to put the basic rules of how to change the mana cost of a spell all onto one page so that players can learn to create free-form spells within a power range rather quickly.

I also have to go through extreme use cases a little more. During play-testing, we went through a lot of “what ifs.” I found that a player could make a Rank 3 spell that will take down many city blocks or destroy a small town, but will somehow have to come up with the power for that spell over the course of several sessions or through ritualistically sacrificing a few people (yes… working as intended). But creating area-effect teleport spell at Rank1 has some game breaking issues. I had to come up with reasons why someone with a Rank 2 spell in Material Meta-Magical Creations cannot create a pile of uranium at critical mass.

A side benefit of this use case testing is that we are coming up with creative uses for magic and creating more examples to give the players.

All of this will be in the next update of Rational Magic rule book, sometime in the next two weeks.