Easy to learn full-blooded magic system

[Ry]

So I have this friend; let's call him "adanacyr."

This friend confessed a horrible secret: despite 10 years of DMing D&D, he still doesn't know a flaming arrow from a prismatic sphere. This has lead to a vicious circle: His games don't prominently feature magic users, so his players never get interested in them, so he never has to know more than a mild mock-up of how a few spells work at a time.

He's interested in The Elements of Magic, and some of the skill-based magic systems that are out there, but the main thing is this: What magic system produces D&D-style wizards and is easiest to learn? (I've heard about Elements of Magic, some Psionic stuff by Green Ronin, and the Blue Rose campaign setting).

 

[DeBracy]

Well, rycanada... first off I'd like you to know that your friend "adanacyr" doesn't need to feel a bit ashamed. Really. I myself got the Wheel of Time RPG a long time ago and boy it took me a long long time to understand how magic worked. First off I never quite understood what kind of check you were supposed to roll to see if you cast the spell properly (because that's how it works in most RPGs darnit!). Eventually I discovered it didn't involve a check at all... you just spend a spell slot and tadaa..! stuff just happens (spooky, eh?).

When it comes to the different magic systems I can't offer you (er... your friend I mean) much help I'm afraid. I've had a look at the Blue Rose preview and I liked what I saw of the magic. I really don't know if that system would produce D&D-style wizards though. Probably not. That's the reason I won't recommend Wheel of Time either although I personally think that system is pretty neat.

I hope you get some better tips from people who are more into D&D and magicsystems (I'm supposed to be a no FX d20 Modern guy myself ).

 

[Turanil]

D&D magic is overly simple: you have spells per day memorized, and you spend them out of your brain. I fear that other systems are going to be much more complicated (like the new Black Company stuff). You could also try for 3.5 psionics...

 

[tjoneslo]

I symathize with "adanacyr". I am also a long time DM who has trouble keeping track of the 2000+ spells that inhabit the D&D worlds. I've tried everything: Making smaller lists of spells, designing my own spells, none of it seems to work. If the D&D magic system, with it's huge list of spells and inconsistnt list of spell effects is "overly simple", I'd hate to see what a complex spell system is like.

I've looked through the D20 Modern and D&D psionic systems. They are slightly better if only because they have fewer effects required to memorise.

My one suggestion is to make up your own spell lists for mages to cast. Make the list very small, say 5 spells per level. That's still 50 spells but should be more manageable than the full list. I'll bet if you ask on the general board what spells to use you'll get a good limited selection.

 

[Emiricol]

You might also check out Codex Mysterium (http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/revi...ctive&reviewer=d20+Magazine+Rack&product=CODM for a review). It is adaptable fairly easily. Elements of Magic, which you mentioned, basically takes it even a step further towards the Ars Magica model (of which I am a fan). They offer increasingly customized magic (EoM moreso than CM)

 

[Geron Raveneye]

So I have this friend; let's call him "adanacyr."

This friend confessed a horrible secret: despite 10 years of DMing D&D, he still doesn't know a flaming arrow from a prismatic sphere. This has lead to a vicious circle: His games don't prominently feature magic users, so his players never get interested in them, so he never has to know more than a mild mock-up of how a few spells work at a time.

He's interested in The Elements of Magic, and some of the skill-based magic systems that are out there, but the main thing is this: What magic system produces D&D-style wizards and is easiest to learn? (I've heard about Elements of Magic, some Psionic stuff by Green Ronin, and the Blue Rose campaign setting).

Uhm, I'd have one advice for this..friend...of yours. Drop the wizards and go for sorcerers first. The advantage being that a sorcerer only has a small handfull of spells, cusomized to his personal tastes, which he uses all the time. That way it is easy to familiarize oneself with D&D spells bit by bit.

And trust me...there are only a few who can recite any spell from D&D from the head.

 

[RangerWickett]

I wrote Elements of Magic - Revised, so I'll come out and say it's not simpler than D&D, just more flexible, and a little more elegant. Once you learn the system, you don't have to keep on learning new spells on a case by case basis. You can just learn how to make spells, and the mechanics apply for every spell.

Of course, at low-level, it's really easy to use EOM as a player, because you don't have many options. However, it is certainly not something you want to jump into with a 10th+ level character, the same as playing D&D at 10th level your first time would be really confusing.

 

[Voadam]

I would agree with Geron Raveneye. Make all casters spontaneous casters like sorcerers and bards who only know a limited number of spells. No wizards, and clerics and druids use the spontaneous divine caster rules from UA (They get spells known from the sorcerer chart plus domains for clerics and summon nature ally spells for druids).

This way you only need to know about a dozen basic spells for each class and as they go up in levels the increase in spells known is slow and in manageable steps and allows a balanced way to allow in non-core spells without changing the power of divine casters. If I had my campaign to do over again this is how I would run it, I hate the open ended spell choices of divine casters.