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<blockquote data-quote="Samloyal23" data-source="post: 2506014" data-attributes="member: 21432">What you need to do is make list of the types of effects you want to allow, break those down into components like area, target, energy type, and type of action, then create a symbolic description for each component.&nbsp; You might want to look at the structure of kennings used by viking era poets.&nbsp; These were complex, layered nicknames for common objects and activities.&nbsp; For instance, you could call combat &quot;the raven's game&quot; on account of the way they eat carrion on a battlefield after a war.&nbsp; The battlefield then becomes &quot;the raven's playingfield&quot;, weapons become &quot;the raven's claws&quot;, and an attack becomes &quot;the raven's scratch&quot;.&nbsp; Now add another element, say fire.&nbsp; You can call fire something like &quot;the death of trees&quot; or &quot;woodbane&quot;.&nbsp; A fire spell that targets a single enemy becomes &quot;a claw of woodbane scratching&quot;, while a wide area of effect fire spell is not just a &quot;fireball&quot;, its &quot;the raven's playingfield is clawed by the slayer of trees&quot; or &quot;the bane of wood running across the raven's field&quot;.&nbsp; You could even describe the effect as being like a spreading wing of fire instead of an exploding ball, while keeping the actual effect the same in game terms...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Samloyal23, post: 2506014, member: 21432"] What you need to do is make list of the types of effects you want to allow, break those down into components like area, target, energy type, and type of action, then create a symbolic description for each component. You might want to look at the structure of kennings used by viking era poets. These were complex, layered nicknames for common objects and activities. For instance, you could call combat "the raven's game" on account of the way they eat carrion on a battlefield after a war. The battlefield then becomes "the raven's playingfield", weapons become "the raven's claws", and an attack becomes "the raven's scratch". Now add another element, say fire. You can call fire something like "the death of trees" or "woodbane". A fire spell that targets a single enemy becomes "a claw of woodbane scratching", while a wide area of effect fire spell is not just a "fireball", its "the raven's playingfield is clawed by the slayer of trees" or "the bane of wood running across the raven's field". You could even describe the effect as being like a spreading wing of fire instead of an exploding ball, while keeping the actual effect the same in game terms... [/QUOTE]

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