TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
More clarification: How does Ars Magica not meet your needs?
Freeform magic/power systems
- Thread starter tecnowraith
- Start date
tecnowraith
First Post
I never said it didn't. But adding psionics, technology and playable races to Ars Magica is a bit work which I am trying to stay away from. Unless they did some already in their sourcebooks which i do not know.
Again, HERO or M&M should work.
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
Aus_Snow said:
Not at all.
In Ars and Mage, you buy points in vague ideas or concepts and can create specific effects on the fly by combining those concepts in different ways, with the GM extemporaneously assigning a target difficulty based on the impact of the effect desired. This is about as distant from the default power construction process of GURPS, HERO, and M&M as one can get.
In GURPS, HERO, and M&M you tend to build a list of very specific effects prior to play (usually referred to as 'spells' in the rules), though GURPS has had scattered optional rules for the kind of freeform magic that the OP refers. I assume that HERO and M&M have the same someplace. At face value, however?
The way that Ars or Mage treats powers is very, very, different than the way that HERO, GURPS, and M&M treat them.
[EDIT: FWIW, in theory I prefer the Ars/Mage approach, but the only game I've ever played that really made it 'sing' (other than Risus) was Legendary Lives. So, in practice, I prefer the GURPS/HERO/M&M 'build it with strict rules' approach.]
Last edited:
Yair
Community Supporter
Some playable races are available, but the selection is not considerable and they are scattered. Currently I think the offerings include the Nephilim, Devil Child, people with fearie-blood (including Redcaps and Samovily), and a few more. I expect more standard-fare, such as dwarves and sidhe elves, would become available with the realease of Realms of Power: Fearies in the coming year. Adding technology and psionics, however, is beyond the pale. It would require massive changes to the setting and rules.
wedgeski
Adventurer
I got a lot of mileage out of that book in the 80's, mostly because it was from the same stable as the Fighting Fantasy games, and my friends and I were in the mood for something other than the high-fantasy and sci-fi games we were playing at the time. The campaign turned into a sequence of really quite interesting alternative-history-England scenarios, and one of my friends liked it so much he started an Arthurian legends campaign which we still talk about to this day.
So considering just how compact the game is, we got a lot out of it. And you're right, the herbology stuff is dynamite. Might see if I can dig it out of my loft and transplant those bits to my 4E campaign.
Krensky
First Post
I wouldn't really think so. I know there are alternative philosophies of magic (Kabbalistic and Moorish, if I remember correctly), and in all honesty psionics is really just magic with a different description. The current edition, I think, has two books dedicated to non-Order magi, so I think something could be whipped up. Not really ideal though.
What's your stance regarding d20 technowraith? Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth might work for you. It's a seed based system (like Mage), is pretty easy to use, and handles multiple concepts of powers in one system. I've never played it, but OGL Steampunk has an interesting magic system, but I can't really describe it. It's a hybrid of feat and skill based, and covers all sorts of types of powers and effects, and has rules for advanced technology, although you'll need to fiddle with the fluff for a non-steampunk setting.
tecnowraith
First Post
The group says no to D20, only for last resort, and some do not like 4e. 3.5 magic I dislike the vancian magic and I am some what getting tired of the class system. Also i dislike the way Races are done as well like the Level adjustment. They also say no to Palladium system also.
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
I nearly forgot. . . Legendary Lives. The creator (Joe Williams) has made his formerly commercial games — along with several adventures — available for free download to fans. Yay!
tecnowraith
First Post
Nope, its skill based which I dislike.
Similar Threads
