Freeform Magic System?

[Umbran]

Two words...Ars Magica. That is all. That is...the way.

Or, if you want to extract it from it's setting, there's the magic system from Mage: the Ascension.

 

[utopia27]

Or, if you want to extract it from it's setting, there's the magic system from Mage: the Ascension.

This works better than it sounds like it would... I ran a short campaign of (old-style) 7th Sea using Mage the Ascension magic (I really didn't like the 7th Sea stuff...). Worked marvelously once I walked players through about their first 15 spells. They really got to enjoy coincidental magic (and its power) once they got the hang of it. On-the-spot spell composition wasn't much their bag though.

I've always liked it since I'm a math and optimization guy - "a dash of this and two spots of that" churn it through one formula for difficulty, and another one for resistance. The two formulas work together to get a Pareto curve (jack of all trades penalty)... voila!

Fortunately with me GM'ing it meant they had fast adjudication, with insightful troubleshooting. I guess it could be ugly if the expertise goes the other way.

 

[Yair]

I really like Ars Magica's system. You can download the fourth edition for free from e23. In a way, this is the worst version of the rules - dry and tedious. Go to Fifth Edition for a more refined and consistent version, or to Third Edition for a simpler more free-form system.

[ArM's system is based on five verbs - like "create - and ten nouns - like "fire". You get a "skill" in each verb/noun. To create an effect you add up the verb, noun, a dice, and a few other modifiers - if it's high enough, you succeed. If it's too low, you get fatigued. The rules are mostly about giving the power levels needed to do various things in the 50 verb/noun combinations. ArM's advantage over other systems is in the pseudo-Aristotelian view behind its magic, providing it with flavor (such as the Latin names of the verbs/nouns and their choice) and consistency (such as the theory of "species" of sensory perception, not being able to change something's essential nature, and so on). That, and decades of gaming experience.]

I'm not really familiar with any of the other systems mentioned.

 

[Prophet2b]

Wow! That was a lot more replies than I was expecting. Sweet.

I thought the Four-by-Five system was very interesting, and I'm definitely going to be checking out Ars Magica.

Thanks!

 

[Mark Hope]

Or, if you want to extract it from it's setting, there's the magic system from Mage: the Ascension.

Awesome stuff. Highly recommended.