Taking Some Time

I begin double employment soon, but the reason I haven’t posted much lately is that I have been working on other things. Mostly, I’ve been dealing with work stuff now that we are in the national media.

Outside of that, though, I have been working on one of my hobbies – world design. This time, instead of Dira, it is generic place for the creators of the Action! System. The rules are free (as in beer and as in speech), under the OGL. (The OGL is closer to the Creative Commons License is some ways than the GPL.) One company has made a fantasy setting, but there are no free rules for magic. Since the forums went down, there is not even a quick guide to converting from other systems.

As I am want to do, though, I did not want the generic rules to reflect Yet Another Middle Earth Like System. Unlike Dira, though, there would be elves and such, because the generic rules need elements of the familiar to RPG folks. So, I came up with the following goals:

  • Blend elements of Chinese and Japanese ideas of magic with the traditional western elements.
  • Create a magic language that is not Latin and does not sound like Latin, yet is simple to use as a role playing device.
  • Allow for low magic settings and high magic settings.
  • Work out the mechanics of spellcasting and magic item creation in an almost textbook fashion. This allows non-spellcasting characters to learn magic, yet still be unable to use magic.
  • Move away from the idea of ‘formal schools of magic’.
  • Set up different types of magic that are distinct, but not stronger/weaker than others.

I published a bit about lenga, the language of magic earlier. The grammar is similar to Esperanto (Nonus end in a, plural is denoted by a tse- prefix, verbs have three tenses, adjectives end in e, etc.) and the vocabulary is inspired by various Bantu languages. I enjoy fiddling with this.

There are two types of spellcasters in this system, echewa and surgura. Echewa believe in strict mental discipline and controlling the wild force of magic through formula and intense study. As such, they excel in magic requiring control. The cost for their percision is power. Surgura believe in directing, but not controlling magic. As such, they tend to create various mental and physical buffers to encourage magical force into desired outcomes. As such, they excel in protective and shielding spells, but tend to have unreliable outcomes when using magic. A person cannot become both, nor can they switch.

Spells are divided into five groups representing the five forces of nature: Wind, Earth, Fire, Water, and the Void. A spellcaster can focus on one group, or cast spells in all five. There’s no difference in the magic available to an echewa or surgura – the difference is in the effect.

As I stated some time ago, casting a spell has five components – the first one is a mental ability that is available only to spellcasters.

Anywho, that’s what I’ve been up to. I hope to have my idea playtested next month. I’ll let you know.