Spirit Magic
I love Magic in OSR games. It's often quick, visceral, and difficult. However, there are many occasions where the prohibitive nature of acquiring or using spells can interfere with what may have been a very rewarding narrative experience. I don't love that so much.
A few published games and independent game-design philosophers have floated the idea of experimental magical casting - warping the intent of a spell along the same lines that it was originally created. For example, what is the real difference between Create Light and Darkness? Well, it seems obvious at first, but there's a very real paradigm here that implies these are, in fact, two facets of the same spell. Both deal with the amount of light in a given area, and most often, these sources of light/darkness do not behave as normal darkness/light.
So, what if someone were to create the spell... Un-Darkness? This is the big step forward made by experimental casting. Create Light and Darkness become the same thing when experimental casting is put on the table. Each simply favors one expression over the other, but for all intents and purposes, these are both the manipulation of a single entity: Light. My favorite expression of experimental casting surely comes from Dying Stylishly Games's prehistoric hack of Lamentations of the Flame Princess known as Wolf-Packs and Winter Snow (which you are doing yourself a disservice to not buy, read and play at least once for its amazing capacity to make over-world survival a quest in itself).
The problem that this very cool magical experimentation mechanic then brings about is that magic by and large tends to be fairly prescriptive. Spells are normally heavily constrained within bounds that are, for all intents and purposes, disappointingly formulaic. A fireball is a fireball is a fireball, and that kind of sucks when you want it to, say, chase someone as they serpentine down a hallway.
Link Skywalker has addressed this a few times with the Magic Words posts on his blog. While Spheres of Power for Pathfinder and Mage: the Ascension both bring to the table very nebulous and fun interpretations of magical domains, Magic Words and Magic in the Moment both look to simplify and "nebulize" the concept further still. The "spells" that your characters know are made much more into domains of power and their powers do not simply stop at the explicit definition of Create Fire. You're just as capable of smothering out flames as you are at creating an honest-to-god firestorm. The question is a matter of difficulty modified by surroundings, intent and the like.
As you can see, this can tend itself to chaotic and fun magical casting that absolutely dwarfs the rest of the player classes in any given game or system, bar none. We're back to the days of 3E D&D and this time... it's p-OSR-nal (?).
Anyway. I love Magic in OSR games. So here's an OSR mod that mashes up both of the philosophies above to create a system that will absolutely exacerbate the problem of magic being too damn fun.
I call it Spirit Magic. Enjoy.
- - -
Spirit magic is a system that relies on players’ creative use of various words and their connotations. The words represent realms of magical understanding and are ambiguous on purpose. The damage and final effect of the spells are at the GM’s discretion. The GM should look to the Magic-Users’ HD and degree of success for any variables such as length or damage.
Wizards and the Like : 20 Forms and 20 Beasts
The origin of this spellcasting tradition is buried as far back as the history of humanity itself. Some say special individuals carried burning blood, or that others were touched by sky-lit spirits. Understanding of the material world through observation allows one to commune with the spirits that guide the beasts and winds.
The spells of these enlightened individuals reflect their understanding. An individual who understands the nature of Mammoth may channel giant strength to bulldoze a group of bandits then use the same knowledge to cast a spell to trumpet an intimidatingly loud victory. Another who understands the Form of Flames may burn flesh with a touch or extinguish all torches in sight with a snap. Players are encouraged to think creatively, as there are no hard definitions to the abilities of any Beast or Form.
Clerics and the Like : 9 Divine Domains and 20 Sacred Acts
The Domains of the Mystic and their 20 Sacred Acts function much the same as Forms and Beasts. However, these are much less concerned with the material - theirs are the realms of the ideal. They bear not only knowledge, but a connection.
As such, their words allow them to become as the spirits themselves - one who Breathes does not simply exhale fire, they breathe fire. Or perhaps they have the Domain of the Void, and so they do not breathe at all, or when they do, it is like nebulae above.
Rolling for Success
Players who are casting a spell will propose an effect related to one of more of their known words. Divine Forms and Beasts are most often nouns, and their effects should relate directly to their functions or behaviors. The Sacred Acts are verb-like, but they and Divine Domains should be treated the same.
Magical Difficulty
Spirits are powerful tools, and as such, most spells beyond very basic uses should incur some risk. This is reflected in a modified player skill. For each element of added risk, add 1 to the Save difficulty. For example:
Player Roll
In the same vein that spells can be made harder by circumstance, they can be made easier by preparation. For each step taken by the player to appease the spirits, add 1 to the player’s roll.
In many cases, even if the spell is a success, targets will be offered the opportunity to save against the effects. Sometimes, the magic-user may even be asked to make an attack. While the full effects of the spell are not guaranteed, there is often some success to be found.
Targets will always take at least half damage before resistances on a miss or save and be subject to the effects of the spell for the rest of the turn if it is an attempt to inflict a status.
Failing the Spirits
Failing to coerce the Spirits might invoke some horrible effect proportional to the intent of the magic-user. Spirits are defiant and mischievous more than outright malicious and are flippant more often than punitive. Failing to whisk a mound of dirt into a cube may instead warrant that the pile is dispersed harmlessly in a puff of dust onto the players’ faces. However, do not presume that all spirits are so kind - if a spirit denies a magic-user’s damaging spell, they may very well turn it back on the caster. Likewise, it is equally possible that the spell is indeed fulfilled - at a price.
A few published games and independent game-design philosophers have floated the idea of experimental magical casting - warping the intent of a spell along the same lines that it was originally created. For example, what is the real difference between Create Light and Darkness? Well, it seems obvious at first, but there's a very real paradigm here that implies these are, in fact, two facets of the same spell. Both deal with the amount of light in a given area, and most often, these sources of light/darkness do not behave as normal darkness/light.
So, what if someone were to create the spell... Un-Darkness? This is the big step forward made by experimental casting. Create Light and Darkness become the same thing when experimental casting is put on the table. Each simply favors one expression over the other, but for all intents and purposes, these are both the manipulation of a single entity: Light. My favorite expression of experimental casting surely comes from Dying Stylishly Games's prehistoric hack of Lamentations of the Flame Princess known as Wolf-Packs and Winter Snow (which you are doing yourself a disservice to not buy, read and play at least once for its amazing capacity to make over-world survival a quest in itself).
The problem that this very cool magical experimentation mechanic then brings about is that magic by and large tends to be fairly prescriptive. Spells are normally heavily constrained within bounds that are, for all intents and purposes, disappointingly formulaic. A fireball is a fireball is a fireball, and that kind of sucks when you want it to, say, chase someone as they serpentine down a hallway.
Link Skywalker has addressed this a few times with the Magic Words posts on his blog. While Spheres of Power for Pathfinder and Mage: the Ascension both bring to the table very nebulous and fun interpretations of magical domains, Magic Words and Magic in the Moment both look to simplify and "nebulize" the concept further still. The "spells" that your characters know are made much more into domains of power and their powers do not simply stop at the explicit definition of Create Fire. You're just as capable of smothering out flames as you are at creating an honest-to-god firestorm. The question is a matter of difficulty modified by surroundings, intent and the like.
As you can see, this can tend itself to chaotic and fun magical casting that absolutely dwarfs the rest of the player classes in any given game or system, bar none. We're back to the days of 3E D&D and this time... it's p-OSR-nal (?).
Anyway. I love Magic in OSR games. So here's an OSR mod that mashes up both of the philosophies above to create a system that will absolutely exacerbate the problem of magic being too damn fun.
I call it Spirit Magic. Enjoy.
- - -
Spirit Magic
The Details of SpellcastingSpirit magic is a system that relies on players’ creative use of various words and their connotations. The words represent realms of magical understanding and are ambiguous on purpose. The damage and final effect of the spells are at the GM’s discretion. The GM should look to the Magic-Users’ HD and degree of success for any variables such as length or damage.
Wizards and the Like : 20 Forms and 20 Beasts
The origin of this spellcasting tradition is buried as far back as the history of humanity itself. Some say special individuals carried burning blood, or that others were touched by sky-lit spirits. Understanding of the material world through observation allows one to commune with the spirits that guide the beasts and winds.
The spells of these enlightened individuals reflect their understanding. An individual who understands the nature of Mammoth may channel giant strength to bulldoze a group of bandits then use the same knowledge to cast a spell to trumpet an intimidatingly loud victory. Another who understands the Form of Flames may burn flesh with a touch or extinguish all torches in sight with a snap. Players are encouraged to think creatively, as there are no hard definitions to the abilities of any Beast or Form.
Clerics and the Like : 9 Divine Domains and 20 Sacred Acts
The Domains of the Mystic and their 20 Sacred Acts function much the same as Forms and Beasts. However, these are much less concerned with the material - theirs are the realms of the ideal. They bear not only knowledge, but a connection.
As such, their words allow them to become as the spirits themselves - one who Breathes does not simply exhale fire, they breathe fire. Or perhaps they have the Domain of the Void, and so they do not breathe at all, or when they do, it is like nebulae above.
Rolling for Success
Players who are casting a spell will propose an effect related to one of more of their known words. Divine Forms and Beasts are most often nouns, and their effects should relate directly to their functions or behaviors. The Sacred Acts are verb-like, but they and Divine Domains should be treated the same.
- Every Spell incurs a roll to see if it succeeds unless the effect is negligible, narratively necessary or low-risk enough to warrant a handwave
- Every Spell should be treated as a Save on the magic-user’s part. The base Save should be equivalent to the magic-users’ Save against Magic, if applicable.
- Modifications to the Save should be made depending on how difficult or risky the evocation of Spirits is at the time of casting.
- Modifications to the Player’s Roll should be made depending on items or practices made to appease or tempt the Spirits into action.
- If the system does not promote the common use of Saves, then a skill check modified in the same ways works.
Magical Difficulty
Spirits are powerful tools, and as such, most spells beyond very basic uses should incur some risk. This is reflected in a modified player skill. For each element of added risk, add 1 to the Save difficulty. For example:
- Any attempt to draw upon more than a single Spirit
- Affecting a disproportionate number of targets
- Casting a spell in a chaotic environment
- Casting a spell discreetly
- Casting a disproportionately dangerous spell
Player Roll
In the same vein that spells can be made harder by circumstance, they can be made easier by preparation. For each step taken by the player to appease the spirits, add 1 to the player’s roll.
- Casting a spell in a grandiose manner
- Preparing some ritual
- Sacrificing an appropriate item
- Expending dye
- Having the help of another caster
- Taking a second turn to cast
In many cases, even if the spell is a success, targets will be offered the opportunity to save against the effects. Sometimes, the magic-user may even be asked to make an attack. While the full effects of the spell are not guaranteed, there is often some success to be found.
Targets will always take at least half damage before resistances on a miss or save and be subject to the effects of the spell for the rest of the turn if it is an attempt to inflict a status.
Failing the Spirits
Failing to coerce the Spirits might invoke some horrible effect proportional to the intent of the magic-user. Spirits are defiant and mischievous more than outright malicious and are flippant more often than punitive. Failing to whisk a mound of dirt into a cube may instead warrant that the pile is dispersed harmlessly in a puff of dust onto the players’ faces. However, do not presume that all spirits are so kind - if a spirit denies a magic-user’s damaging spell, they may very well turn it back on the caster. Likewise, it is equally possible that the spell is indeed fulfilled - at a price.
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