Here are the first rough guides on game mechanics:
For the cooperative storytelling, there is no need to invent new rules the ones from SM2 will do just fine:
http://lemuria.org/SM2/roleplaying.htmlFor the magic system, there will be something very new.
Spells will be defined by the following characteristics:
- a (unique) Name
- an Intent
- a Base or source of power
- a Power Level or strength of the effect
- an Effect Description
The new elements
Intent and
Base work as a dual-axis category. Both are single-word categories.
Intents are concepts like
harm, protect, control, transform. It describes what the spell is supposed to do. Magic being an art of the will, intention is important. As a spellcaster, you don't just create a ball of fire - that is actually just the means. What you (magically) do is create a ball of fire
in order to harm someone. A spell without intention is unimaginable. And yes, that does mean you
can't use a Fireball (which is a
harm spell) to light a campfire. You
can use it to burn a peasant and throw him into the firewood to get a fire started. If you're a member of the Underworld. :-)
The
Base of a spell is where it draws its power from, how it manifests. These are words like
fire, water, stone, death, mind, etc. - they describe how the spell works to achieve the intent. The base is also important for
spell interaction.
Spells interact with each other based on their bases. This is especially important in magical duels or Certamen. Interaction can be normal, strong or weak. It is always reciprocal. For example, fire interacts weakly with itself. You can throw a fireball right through a burning room and neither fire will be affected very much. In Certamen, a fire-based defensive spell will be very ineffective against fire-based attack spells. At the same time, the fire-based attacks will, while passing easily through the fire-based defenses also not affect the defenses very much. Fire and water, on the other hand, interact strongly. A shield of ice (water-based protection spell) will be very effective against a fireball. At the same time, while the fireball will be very likely blocked, it will also do a lot of damage to the shield of ice.
In Certamen that means that there is a strategic balance between passing through defenses and doing damage, and smashing into defenses to take them down (so your future attack spells can do more damage).
The actual numbers depend on the
power level.
The
effect description is a free-form text that describes what exactly the spell does. Spells are exact in so far as doing exactly what the description says and nothing else. See the SM2 example - you can't use a "summon undead army" spell to summon an undead servant, because it a) summons an army, not just one and b) it summons soldiers, not servants.
Like in both predecessors, spell formulas can be traded.
Learning will be much simplified and automated.
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