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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pinotage" data-source="post: 2691386" data-attributes="member: 15194">Elements of Magic: Mythic EarthElements of Magic: Mythic Earth is a pdf product from E.N.Publishing. It's written by Ryan Nock and details spellcasting in a d20 Modern world using an elegant spellcasting system based on magical skills and traditions, and is easily adapted to a fantasy settings using details provided in an appendix. The pdf has a page count of 64 pages, 59 of which are devoted to the content of describing a mythical earth and its spellcasting system. Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth normally retails for $8.95.Initial Impressions:I'm not familiar with the elements of magic system, so this was my first dive into a system that I've heard a lot of good things about. Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth comes as a single pdf file, but is well put together and offers the viewer a lot of options. Readers can change the appearance of the pdf, by, for example, removing the header bars, or by replacing the color bars with greyscale ones. So instead of providing a black and white version for printing as a separate file, this pdf provides an all in one solution. Layout is very well done, writing is clear and there is some good art in the pdf by J.L. Jones, Susan Knowles and Jen Starling. The pdf also makes good use of sidebars to offer additional material or explanation.As this was my first look into the elements of magic system, I was surprised by how simple and elegant it was. Using magical traditions of a mythical earth (essentially our earth with myths, legends and superstitions come to life) characters can gain access to magical skills that allow them to cast spells. The system provides a tremendous amount of flexibility, allowing characters to design their own spells using well-defined building blocks to do so. While the system is elegant and flexible, it also requires some work in designing spells, and, as a new magical system, takes time to get used to and use.The Details:Mythic Earth is divided into several chapters that delve into the various ways to expand a d20 Modern game into a mythical game where folk tales and legends come to life. It includes an appendix that provides all the information, and several examples, to use the magical system provided in a d20 fantasy setting. All of this information is contained within the High Fantasy setting, a mythical earth-like world, consisting of a magical world with magical races, Gaia, and a non-magical world, the one we know, Terra.Chapter 1 - Myths: The first chapter delves into the world of myths, explaining the role of myths in culture, their nature in the everyday world, and how to create your own mythos based on mythical themes. Myths can take on many forms, such as the many Greek myths, the legends of the power of the Egyptians, or King Arthur of Britain. The chapters gives flavorful background explaining the use of myths and typical elements of myths. Myths explain the mysteries of the world, and this is often a compelling aspect of any game world, making the mythical world particularly rich.The author goes on to explain the monomyth - a story common to all cultures where a hero departs, does great and mythical deeds and then returns with newfound power - and expands on the monomyth to develop a Fellowship Cycle which makes room for a group of adventurers in a mythical world. It offers good explanatory advice on how to make the most use of myths for single or multiple heroes. The last section of the chapter details numerous mythical themes that can aid in the designing of your own mythos. Examples include the Afterlife, myths related to gaining dominion over the afterlife or avoiding death, and Guardians, such as the minotaur or other famous guardian beasts. The chapter sets the scene for the spellcasting system development, and does so in style.Chapter 2 - Spellcasting and Magical Traditions: This chapter explains the magical system and how spellcasting works. It provides all the details required to rule on spellcasting, and includes magical feats, magical tradition feats, creating magic items and lots of other information. The spellcasting system is based on magical skills, that are granted through acquiring magical tradition feats. Succeeding at a magical skill check allows the character to cast a spell. Two types of spells are described - ritual spells that can be cast by non-magical humans from ritual texts and requires no magical skill, and spontaneous spells, which require magical skills and tradition feats. Spontaneous spells can be cast on the fly, which takes longer, or they can be specific signature spells associated with a magical tradition which take a standard action to cast. Characters can even cast spells that are above their magical ability by overpowering the spells, suffering harmful consequences as a result. Numerous other options are included, such as long spells (gaining a bonus to a magical skill check if you take longer to cast a spell) or assisted rituals where more people are involved in ritual spellcasting.A large portion of the chapter is devoted to the magic feats, either mage or tradition feats. Tradition feats give you access to magical skills required to cast spells, while mage feats affect how characters cast certain spells. The mage feat Command Undead, for example, allows characters to use charm magic to affect undead creatures, while Armored Casting reduces the penalties for casting in armor. Tradition feats are the meat of the chapter, detailing numerous mythical traditions and their related and associated magical skills. Tradition feats include Classic Fey tradition, Christian Healer tradition, Feng Shui tradition, Voodoo and numerous others. The last section of the chapter is devoted to crafting and creating magic items, and provides several examples of magical items such as the infinite ammo clip. Some sample ritual spells are also provided, while the majority of chapter 4 is devoted to detailing the creation of spontaneous spells.This chapter transforms the mythical world into a mythical spellcasting world and mechanically succeeds very well. It covers a lot of ground and numerous mythical traditions, and provides a flexible and elegant framework for a magical setting in a mythical earth-like world. It's not something that can be learnt on a single read, and so requires some effort to come to grips with the intricacies of the system. However, once that is achieved, it makes for a smooth and flowing system of mythical magic.Chapter 3 - The Magic of High Fantasy: This chapter provides details on the High Fantasy setting, a setting of two worlds - Terra, the world as we know it, and Gaia, the world of the magical races. There are two organisations in this world to look after magic and assist human, the Bureau (peacekeepers of the magical world) and the Knights of the Round (devoted to protecting society from magical threats). Both are described in sufficient detail, including history and typical tasks of said organisations. The chapter continues with a description of Gaia, the magical world, and its geography, including cities of note and their Terra counterparts, and other structures of note.The remainder of the chapter is devoted to a new advanced class, the mage, a spellcasting advanced class for d20 Modern characters, several new magical items found in the High Fantasy setting, and four sample NPCs. The most valuable part of the NPCs, though well detailed and interesting, are the signature spells, as these give some examples of ready to use spells that are otherwise missing from this pdf, and will provide some ideas along the lines of how to develop spells. I found this to be an interesting chapter, although perhaps somewhat sketchy on the details of Gaia, and the NPCs provided a welcome look at the application of the mechanics of the system.Chapter 4 - Spells: The last chapter is all about creating spells. Each of the ten magical skills is described as well as how to create spells from that particular magical skill. Enhancements can be applied to each skill to change to standard spell template, such as increasing range or duration. Details are also provided on dispelling magic.The ten magical skills are: attack, charm, create, cure, defend, divine, illusion, move, summon, and transform. Each of these magical skills allows the creation of various spells, and they can be combined to create more interesting spells and provide extensive flexibility. I was drawn to the system because of its potential, flexibility, simplicity and elegance, and it's overall well suited to a d20 Modern world. A very nice piece of work, overall.Appendix - Mythic Fantasy d20: The appendix provides all the details required on how to use the Mythic Earth material in a d20 fantasy setting. It also provides a number of fantasy tradition feats, such as magefire or wild spellcraft. The adaptation is reasonably straightforward, but given the sheer volume of spells available using the core spellcasting system, it strikes me as a daunting task to apply an entirely new magical system to replace something already so well developed, despite the apparent benefits. The spellcasting system allows unlimited spellcasting of any spell associated with a tradition feat, and DMs will need to be prepared to handle spells created on the fly by players who are spontaneously casting rather than using their limited signature spells.Conclusions:Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth provides a complete spellcasting system for creating spellcasting of mythical proportions. It's elegant and flexible, provides all the required details for the magical system, and is particularly suited for the d20 Modern world, where I'd definitely be inclined to use and explore the potential of this product. I'm in two minds as to its use in a fantasy setting, and whether it can replace the core spellcasting system, or whether it can be used in addition to it. However, despite the learning curve to come to terns with the system, and the additional work required to create spells and expand on the system provided, it's a very good, very flexible, elegant, versatile and creative system, for which I'd give it four and a half stars, rounding down to four stars.</blockquote>

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