There was a 2nd Edition Forgotten Realms campaign mod made by some official TSR guys with a complete Rune Magic system.

good luck finding it though. It was on the internets, but I haven't seen it for a while.

This is the idea behind one class in a game I'm making. That said, I'm not giving you my ideas as they're copyrighted.

>>2550692
>>2550696

I prefer to make my own stuff anyway. I'm a compulsive homebrewer, i can't seem to leave anything game related alone. i always have to at least tweak it a bit.

I'd say for the sake of balance make the powerful runes be the broad, general concepts. But then again I know next to nothing about game balance.

In b4 Christian raaage

To give you an idea of the numbers, for starters i'm going to make about fifty runes. Twenty lesser (The weakest), fifteen minor, ten major and five greater (The strongest).

To keep the game quick and simple, i'm going to print out and stick the runes symbol on one side of a wooden token, and the name and aspect on another, with the shape of the token representing the runes power (Lesser are teardrops, Minor are lemon-shaped, Major are triangular and Great are square/diamond depending upon the orientation of the stickers)

>>2550720
Where the fuck are you from, the Bible Belt?

>>2550739
I like this idea...but I don't really see how you can create any game balance...BUT

Aside from that, I would suggest that the most powerful runes should be the ones that have the most raw power, and there should be gradually weakening versions of them, so that when characters find the greater versions of runes they already have, it will work like a power-up. The more "utility", "attribute", or "elemental" runes should make up most of the weaker ones.

>>2550796

The games is rules lite, narrative heavy. I'm just trusting the players not to be morons and do stupid shit with magic. Plus, there will be limitations on how many runes a player can know, and of what power, as well as how many they can string together.

This has already been done by the diabolist class in Palladium Role playing game, to the point of runes and magic circle diagrams and details.

You want runic magic? Buy a bag of runic stones. Assign magical properties to each rune. Make player shake bag and draw X runes/day for each level. Make those the only ones available. Enjoy superior problemsolving RP.

>>2550837

That actually sounds like an interesting concept. I have a bag of rune stones (Two, in fact. some crappy plastic ones and some cool gemstone ones i keep in a glass cabinet), relics of a juvenile hobby, so that is something i'll definetly look into at a later date, but isn't the type of game i'm currently interested in designing.

>>2550829

As i've said earlier in the thread, i prefer to make things myself.

Ok, then I don't see any problem with this after all. as long as you know the group is trustworthy

The other thing is that instead of making stronger fire runes, you should just have one fire rune, and then have multiple strengths and varieties of "damage runes" that are a necessary component to any combat spell.

>>2550843
Picking letters out of a bag does not make a very good spell system.

Each rune does something specific and drains the user to a particular degree when used, because they need POWAH to work. Throw too many giant flaming angry rocks at your enemy and you die of exhaustion. Runes can be manipulated and rewritten or appended to yield differing results, but doing so takes time, practice, patience and a lot of trial and error. Lots of error. To comedic effect.

>>2550846

I'm currently against the idea of "Meta-runes", which would be things like damage or AoE, as they dont' seem realistic in the setting.

Instead, it'd be something Great Rune of Energy, breaks down into the Major Runes of Light and Fire, which break down into the Minor Runes of Sun, Star, Heat and Sparks, which break down into the lesser runes of etc etc

>>2550864
As long as the greater runes are fuckhueg and incredibly complex and give the caster insane power.

>>2550871

Pretty much.

There are three ways to cast runes. Speaking their name, drawing them (in the air, on the ground, whatever) or throwing a physical representation of the rune (i.e. a runestone) at the target. each has different advantages and disadvantges.

Runes can be amplified, which makes them count as one rank above usual. To amplify a rune, simply cast it in a way which complements its aspect, i.e. casting a wooden tile bearing the rune of wood, or drawing the rune of fire with a burning branch. For more complex runes, with more lesser aspects associated with them, this can be more difficult. you may only amplify one rune per spell.

>>2550920
So if you cast a Rune of Energy in the desert at sunrise using both sunlight and starlight via mirrors and shit to create the pattern on the ground and then somehow make a lightning bolt hit it and set it on fire...you'd basically become god?

>>2550940

Ampifying a Great rune creates a True Rune, the strongest rune of its type. Each mind can only contain one at most, and most can't even maintain that, and they require a lot of power to use, but they are monstorously powerful. with a True Rune of Energy, you could glass the entire desert.

There's also talk of a rune above True Runes, the All Rune, from which all other runes descend, and if a mortal could obtain it they would become a god.

The weakest runes should be fairly broad categories, which can be combined into more specific and thus more powerful Bind Runes.

However, what you are essentially doing is what the Chinese did when they created Hanzi: simple concpets were combined to form more detailed and specific concepts.

The Germans never took Bind Runes to their logical conclusion: western Hanzi, but Bind Runes are essentially the primordial ooze from which Hanzi originated.

One resource you might want to read is http://www.eskimo.com/~ram/ , because his artificial language design breaks words down into fairly simple catagories and modifiers that link together to create an almost endless variety of words.

Just be careful. The Runes were simply named for mnemonic purposes and people started assigning them mysical meanings. It's not like there was a Rune for most concepts.

Things like "female" were generated by writing the "male" Rune upside down, rather than having a seperate, "female" Rune.

>>2550920
Throwing rune stones at people sounds a bit...lame to me, to be honest. I mean what would be better, setting fire to the end of your own finger and drawing a rune in midair to immolate someone, or throwing a little piece of rock at them while yelling?

"GO, BULBASAUR!"

>>2550940
>you may only amplify one rune per spell.
I presume this also means one aspect of a rune, too.

>>2550963
Because women are upside-down men? That...makes no sense.

>>2550972

To amplify a rune at all, you need to satisfy its Prime aspect, and at least some of its secondary aspects. Only great and major runes have secondary aspects.

So, to amplify sparks, heat, sun or star, you'd just need to symbolically fulfil that aspect. To amplify Fire or Light you'd need both to fulfill the primary, and some of the secondaries. To amplify the great rune of energy, you'd need to do what another anon described above, basically.

>>2550969

You have a point... maybe remove that. but i'd like a third way to cast runes...

In the runic system I used in a homebrew, runes were more like a language then spell words. There'd be runes for broad ideas like Fire and Water and stuff, but the way the runes were written or said, along with modifier words, would actually determine what they do.
For example, on a door you might have runes to do with locking written over it, and on it you might have the rune for fire surrounded by the runes for touching, so anyone touching it would be burnt, etc.

I think that if these top 5 runes are incredibly broad subjects, and all the lesser runes are derivative, then defining the top 5 should cause the rest to trickle down from them.

My attempt:
Energy - Force - Faith - Life - Knowledge

>>2550998
Tattoo them onto your body. Permanent enchantments.

Current Rune ideas (Not all of these will make it to the final version);

Great Runes; Major Runes; Minor/Lesser Runes
Energy --> Fire, Light --> Sparks, Sun, Star, Warmth
Substance --> Earth, Water, Wind --> Rock, Metal, Wood, River, Rain, Flesh
Space --> Motion, Distance --> ??
Time --> Past, Future --> Memory, foresight
Soul --> Emotion, Understanding --> Fear, Love, Anger, Knowledge
Unlinked runes; People, Beasts, Nature,

I'll update this as i think through various ideas, plus i need to work out what would count as minor or lesser

>>2551034
Energy opposes Matter (or whatever you wanna call it)
Life opposes Death
Knowledge opposes Faith

>>2551047

Actually, thats how warrior special abilities in the setting work. by combining runes into a combat style, and marking yourself or your weapons with them. This gives less versatility than rune magic, but can be more effective at dealing damage etc. there's also styles which work forming runes with the pattern of your sword strikes or punches and kicks.

>>2551034
Hmm... more interesting ideas i must contemplate. Thank you.

>>2551065
No problem. I actually quite like the >>2551057 idea, with opposing schools of casters. I can forsee problems with making each derivative more and more vague, as magic has a lot of aspects to it

>>2551047
The Patryn were cool, but that doesn't mean I necessarily want to play one.

GB2DeathGateCycle

>>2551051
With >>2551057 I suppose time and space would essentially be covered under Matter/Substance, since they are part of the materia. Erm...that's all I got.

A problem I'm seeing, is that with the current numbers of runes in each group, each great rune only has 2 major runes, and the major runes don't even have that.

>>2551088
Actually, I was going for something a bit more "magitech" feel. Caster would learn various specific runes, tattoo them onto his/her body permanently, and then channel energy into them as needed or whatever. Makes for some fairly awesome yet silly "technomage" asshattery like conjuring a flaming sword in one hand or projecting a physical barrier with your forearms, etc.

>>2551104

Great and major runes are meant to be rare and powerful. Very few people even know one great rune, and PC's probably won't encounter them until they reach the upper ranks of power. major runes are still big, but most powerful mages will know at least one. lesser and minor runes are the workhorses of normal magi.

>>2551133

Thats... not a bad idea actually. a magic user, not a warrior type, who uses tattooed runes... that could work very well.

>>2551168
Started reading runes at a very young age but didn't have the memory capacity to remember all those combinations and permutations, so he/she started scribbling them down on the back of her hand during classes. Gradually started having the more basic useful spells tattooed permanently onto hands, arms, feet, etc and it just grew from there. Now he spends all or most of his spare time researching to find more powerful and effective spells and adding more and more to the runes on his body. After so long, they've merged into just one big massive pattern which can be triggered in parts ranging from the smallest, say a finger, to an entire arm at a time for various results.

>>2551194

It'd certainly get around some of the limits i've set for rune casters of other types, such as "You can only truly understand a limited number of runes, and can only cast runes you truly understand" tattoo's can get aroudn this. However, it'd probably be physically draining, or evne warping, and may have psychological side effects to boot... still, interesting

>>2551213
Even better. The more tattoos you get and the more often you use them, the more it warps your grip on reality.

Okay - First attempt. I'm not sure how to go about expanding it though.

>>2551224

Interesting... this makes me think of changing the system a little.

Get rid of lesser runes, fold them into minor. have more great runes (say, 6-7) to allow for matter and spacial stuff.

Thanks, that type of diagram is going to prove very useful.

Also, feel free to assign each aspect rune a cool name. i don't want to just say "Fire rune" i want my players having fancy lingo to play with (No idea why, but they love playing with words)

>>2551244
Maybe just go with some latin, everyone loves latin

>>2551249
Ancient Egyptian.

>>2551249

Latin =/= Runes

Celtic or Norse is a better suggestion.

Rip off of and extend Eternal Darkness, anyone?
Target, Effect, and Alignment
You could assign each rune a point value, and add all of them together (it's like runic Scrabble!) to determine either required level, magic energy drained, or whatever you think the cost for casting spells should be.

Instead of using a fuckload of Paragon runes tho, you'd have descriptors of a sort... I'll let you guys figure that part out.

Sanskrit.

>>2551224 creator here.

True - Omni
Energy - Navitas
Faith - Fidas
Matter - Res
Death - Nex
Knowledge - Scientia
Life - Vita

>>2551275

Hmm... what about condensing life and death into a single category? I know they're opposed, but to me they just seem like two sides of the same coin. The great rune could be mortality or something of the sort. the fact of both life and death.

>>2551275
>Vita

But seriously, NO. Runes + Latin = no. Latin + Magic = Harry Potter. Runes are Norse.

Google Fu

http://www.badalijewelry.com/runekey.htm

has a list of runes, along with nordic translations of words. maybe worth a look?

>>2551288
Heh, okay, I'll leave the naming alone. Currently putting more work into rune explansion

>>2551285
Have it so that the direction the rune is drawn in or represented in controls which aspect of the force it is controlling - or even in what manner it controls a specific force (drawing it, sending out, radiating, linear, etc).

>>2551307
This is a good idea.

Slight additions, my brain is starting to run dry. Help, anyone?

>>2551288
Norse you say?
True - Sannindi
Energy - Atferd
Faith - Trú
Matter - Efni
Death - Andlát
Knowledge - Fródleikr
Life - Aevi

>>2551288
Most magic/occult-related books are written in latin.
This is not really surprising, considering latin was the language of all the scholars until 2 or 3 centuries ago.
J.K. Rowling crap has no claim on the idea of mixing magic with latin.

>>2551305
lol explansion

>>2551320
Water encompasses oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, rain, fluids, etc.
Earth encompasses trees, forests, rocks, mountains, volcanoes...

Hmmm...that's a difficult one.

>>2551337
True, but people will automatically associate it with Harry Potter. Even though the "Latin" they use in the HP books is just total bollocks that sounds like Latin.

>>2551341
You've brought up an interesting point. Combinations.
Volcanoes - Earth/Fire
Forests - Earth/Life
Rain - Water/Air
What are we doing with these?

OP here. you guys are awesome. you've taken my idea to now heights.

Done a little more. Stumped for faith in the self and both the death ones. I'm also not sure about my earth decisions

>>2551371

Self; Ideals?

Undeath; Raising, Speaking to the dead (Need a better term)

True Death: binding?

>>2551320
True Death> decay, ?

>>2551389
PROTIP: Speaking to the dead is necromancy. Blame Hollywood for making us think it involves raising zombies.
Players may need some persuasion before they accept this.

>>2551371
"Gods" and "Self" might be "Self-Belief" and "Religion"

>>2551389
>Undeath, speaking
Necromancy -> Divination(?) and Resurrection
>True Death
Banishment magics.

>>2551389
Morales and Ambitions? (And therefore the manipulation of the two)

Raising and Controlling

Banishing (Turn undead =P) and ... Something. I'll draw up the final 3rd phase runes when I get that last True death rune.

>>2551400
Wait, scratch that. Combine Necromancy->Summoning with an aspect of Life and you get Resurrection.

A lot of these lesser runes are going to have to be combinations.

Woops, forgot my lines.

>>2551413
Thanks, I've nabbed a couple of your ideas, and finished off my version of the 3rd phase

>>2551434

That looks like a good basic set... Now, from the rest of the thread, we just need to work out the hybrid runes, then translate it all into norse and find a cool symbol for each one... can't be that hard, right?

Diagram creator here, my main idea is that for the larger effects, lots of runes will need to be combined. We've already had the raise dead idea, but things like Rock+Heat+Wind = Meteor shower. I'd also like to see a ritual system, where multiple casters can combine common runes and their collective power to get absurd results

Heat+Rock+Growth+A SHIT LOAD OF POWER=Volcano.

>>2551448
>I'd also like to see a ritual system, where multiple casters can combine common runes and their collective power to get absurd results

"Earth!"
"Fire!"
"Wind!"
"Water!"
"Cheese!"

>>2551455
BY YOUR POWERS COMBINED I AM ...

A giant fondue set.

>>2551463
No. Cheese truth.

>>2551481
Oh wow. Hostile casters entering a ritual and adding a random rune. Instead of fireballs, balls of lukewarm moss. Oh my, this would make ressurection particularly risky.

To archive or not to archive, that is the question...

Also, someone mspaint up a version of the chart with the norse translations. then, maybe, lets look up the nescessary symbols and shit. What kind of symbols were you looking for OP?

>>2551501
Hey, uhh... the body doesn't work, but at least we got his mind back in it. That's gotta count for something, right?

>>2551507
Diagram creator here, is there an online translator function somewhere? And I'd suppose that the runes we want will be tied to the language aswell.

>>2551518
Not sure about a translator, but I found a Norse to English PDF and I have time on my hands. Gimme a few minutes.

>>2551547
Awesome. I'll go on a hunt for rune symbols

Small problem. We've got 43 runes here, each needing individual symbols. The most uniques I can find in one place is 30. Are we going to look for more or just make a few up? And how are we going to assign each rune to each symbol?

>>2551581

Just make some up, i guess. its not hard. just straight lines in an odd pattern vaguely representing something or other. Assign them based on what looks best and most relevant.

>>2551581
Greater runes are made up of their various constituent runes, so their true names are combinations of the names of the lesser runes that make them. With some leeway, else everyone would know the most powerful magic in the universe.

>>2551596

That doesn't nescessarily need to be literal. Maybe just make them reminiscent of the related runes, but each related rune is "corrupted" slightly, deviating from the higher pattern and thus being weaker.

>>2551581
Just use something that has more symbols in the first place.
http://unicode.org/charts/

Personally, I'm a fan of Yi script for this kind of thing. I think there are enough symbols for your purposes even if you just use the radicals.

Right, I'm still 14 symbols short, but this is good enough for now

>>2551734
The Yi stuff looks good, but I think we should leave it to OP to decide on what language/symbol style he wants.

>>2551742
Wow...those are some pretty damn simple runes. I was expecting something a bit more...well...intricate?

Have a translation. I had to cheat and use Icelandic for some words, but what the hell, it's close enough, right?

>>2551765
God bless you Anonymous, truly you are he who delivers

>>2551754
Those are the fucking ORIGINAL runes. What do you think rune even means.

>>2551775
That's why I tried to get the simplest closest to the middle.

>>2551769
Hey, no problem, I had nothing better to do. Besides, this is teegee, contributing's what makes this board :awesome:

OP here, looks awesome. Use whatever runes or languages you think best, it isn't my area of expertise. I'll actually need to rework the system a bit, to make it worthy of this wonderful rune system.

>>2551222
this.
DEAR GOD, THIS!!!!!!

Good ideas for runes:
Content(Nouns:
Elements-
Earth
Fire
Wind
Water
Ice
Lightning
Dark
Light
Gravity
Void
Attirbutes (verbs):
Movement-
Hold
Fly
Move
Throw
Swim
Actions-
Touch
Pierce
Smash
Cut
Mend

make the higher great rune consist of the 2 lesser runes so that when you write a heat rune ontop of(or i conjuntion with) a light rune you get a fire rune

>>2551802
Ok, well I don't particularly want to make up my own runes, so I'll have a scout around on that unicode site for something vaguely Nordic looking, beaing as we already have the translation

The old Ultima games had a system of reagents/power words.

Reagents all had attributes (black pearl, for example, was movement and energy, Nightshade was toxins and poisons, mandrake root was magical power, and was used in most high level magic)

They also had words of power, that were incantations for spells.
Syllable Meaning Spelling
An negate ah n
Bet small b eh t
Corp death k oar p
Des down d eh ss
Ex freedom x
Flam flame fl ah m
Grav energy gr ah v
Hur wind h oo r
In create ih n
Kal invoke k ah l
Lor light l oar
Mani life m ah n ee
Nox poison n ah ks
Por movement p oar
Quas illusion kw ah ss
Rel change r eh l
Sanct protection s aa ng kt
Tym time t ih m
Uus up oo ss
Vas great v ah ss
Wis knowledge w ee ss
Xen creature z eh n
Ylem matter aye l eh m
Zu sleep z oo

Example:
In Mani Ylem = create food
Bet Mani = Lesser Healing
Wis Quas = Dispel Illusion

>>2551828
I think you got Syllable and Spelling the wrong way round. Also, before anyone else gets round to it,
>hur

>>2551828
>HUR WIND HOOR

>>2551828
It was expanded to a runic system in Ultima Underworld, abolishing the reagents in the process.

>>2551856
Moar liek HURR, amirite?

>>2551810
I'm working with a limited system here, as I'm not making up runes, and to be honest, that's more trouble than it's worth. What I intend to do is have each rune a deviation of the one before it.

>>2551742
To simplify this I suggest, the outer-most ring be given rune names from the anglo runes, and that the inner 6 be given names from the anglo runes. Represent Truth as O.

To form the middle ring, like fire, or air, you should combine the two outer runes.

Example: Fire would be HeatLight.

>>2551887

Ideally, the symbols will be relatively simple, so its easy to pick them out and tell them apart.

I'm inclined to make the greater runes fractals, or at least partly so, both to incorporate the lesser runes being a part of it, and to explain how some of the lesser runes don't look a whole lot like their parent greater rune.

But maybe I'm just a whore for fractals.

>>2551994
What the heck, go for it. Fractals are kinda cool.

>>2550678
Do you, by chance, have a larger version of that pic OP?

That specific pic would help, I like the style of the symbols

>>2552039

Sadly not, i just googled "Symbols" "Sigils" and "Runes", downloaded a variety and chose the best.

>>2552045
link plz?

>>2552068

Go to google. select "Images". Type in "Symbols" or "Sigils" or "Runes". its on the first page.

Behold, for I doth return. Any suggestions?

>>2552160
Piss, I forgot the undeath translation

>>2552160

That seems perfect. Thanks very much /tg/, you've saved me a lot of work and really made my day.

>>2552185
So very close.

>Fixd

>>2552189
So how's the system going to work? We need specifics man!

>>2552203
Or at least promises of a rapidshit when you're done.

Also, epic work was done here today, someone archive this shit

>>2552192

Aren't Air and Details both the same rune.

Maybe you could use the Brand of Sacrifice for one of your runes? Maybe Fate or Death

>>2552241
... GODDAMNIT. Thanks anon. I'll see what I can do.

yes

OP here, system basics.

Same base mechanic as Unisystem, D10+skill+stat, beat a target difficulty.

Stats are Physique, Reactions, Intellect and Essence.

Physique is your physical strength and constitution, Reactions is your mental and physical speed and reaction time, Intellect is your pure processing power and mental prowess, Essence is the strength of your soul and creativity. Stats usually range from two to five, with less than two being below normal, and above five being superhuman.

Skills will be entirely cribbed from Unisystem, modified to fit a quasi-medieval setting.

For rune magic, you can hold up to intellect+runes*2 points of runes in your head, with the outermost branches being one point, and increasing as you go in. A starting rune mage knows seven minor runes.
You can string up to runes+essence/2 runes into a single spell.

Rune magic spells only get the bonus from your runes skill, as no stat is applicable (This is changed for certain abilities). However, the strength of the runes used, the relevance to the task as well as a cool description can net you bonuses. the greater the margin of success, the greater the effect of the spell.

GODFUCKINGDAMNITPLEASETELLMETHEREARENOMOREMISTAKES

>>2552293
You missed a spot.

Heh, Fate+Prophecy+Rebirth = Destiny change!

>>2552275
With regards to your formulae, does that mean (intellect+runes)*2 and (runes+essence)/2 or intellect+(runes*2) and runes+(essence/2)? It makes quite a difference.

>>2552315
>Fate+Prophecy+Rebirth=End Of Days.

>>2552293
Looks alright to me. Good jorb.

>>2552327
Brilliant. My work here is done. Except, I now encourage people to come up with spell effects and the required runes

>>2552327
>Great Jeorb.

>>2552322

(intellect+runes)*2 and (runes+essence)/2

Those. sorry, i wasn't too clear.

I need to work out the Life Points calculations, as well as magic points etc, but those should be relatively simple. I also need to work out Rune Warrior abilities. The advantage they have will be a wider library of runes and more powerful uses (Adding a state to the runes roll) but less flexibility (A rune attached to a sword can't be used in any other context, likewise for one tattoo'd on the skin)

>>2552334
Decay+Smiting=Plague
Lightning+Body=Speed
Growth+Body=SUPERSIZE ME
Scrying+Mind=Telepathy
Rock+Heat=Magma

That sort of thing?

>>2552386

I'd guess so...

Enhancement+Self = I am Awesome!
Rain+Decay = Acid Rain

>>2552386
>>2552404
I think I'd have to insist on the fractal runes idea for stuff like this. The runes pictured are basic pattern shapes, and the rune itself consists of as many individual interconnecting strokes as you need, with angles, curves, etc oriented in a particular manner to achieve a very specific effect.

So you could have one Scrying+Mind rune in a pattern that allows you to look briefly into your immediate future and another one that gives you the ability to read other people's thoughts.

>>2552419
Important to note, this would also make it far more difficult to make the more complex effects than just drawing a couple simple lines. Puts a bit more of the effort back into the magic, in actually finding the right combination of lines to grant a specific effect.

OP, presuming we work off of
>>2552293
do you have any specific limitations in mind other than just how many runes may be combined? Such as:
1: what runes may be combined. Are runes from opposite trees unmixable? (energy runes cannot cross with matter runes etc)
2: multiples of one rune? (light + heat = fire, light + light + heat = flash of flames with possible blinding effects)
3: do runes have to be combined to have an effect? (using only one light rune to make just light)

BANKOROK REDGORMOR CHATTUR'GHA

>>2552429
Good sir, your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
So, you're sorta saying that casters can combine runes to get any reasonable effect, right?

>>2552436
>2
I'm seriously recommending my >>2552419 idea for this for sheer versatility without combos becoming silly.

Diagram creator here. I'm assuming that there are a fair few eiher Misc. runes, or extensions to the chart, which should eventually cater to all spell needs

>>2552419
>>2552429

You are essentially correct. When cast, the runes form together into various patterns, but have no strict use. the same two runes could do a variety of different things, although not nescessarily at the same time.

>>2552436

Runes from opposite trees can be combined, but you get a penalty to the runes roll for doing so as the energies conflict somewhat.

You may only use each rune once in an individual spell.

You can use a single rune to cast a spell. these are easy and commonly used by most people.

Just to say, magic in the setting is very common. nearly everyone knows at least one or two minor runes which help them in everday life.

>>2552444
I'm saying that the runes in the diagram should be patterns, not the actual runes. Drawing a basic rune pattern does bugger all, but manipulate the exact shape within the pattern you want and it gives you various effect.

So, say, a series of interlocking loops forming the shape of Fire and Rain combined. Flaming balls fall out of the sky. Although it might mean that spells would have to be written down or drawn in some way beyond just waving your hands about.

Then again, you could pattern a sword in a certain way and then when held in a particular position, it forms a rune that shoots lightning at stuff?

So what's happening, is that there is a pattern, into which the runes are copied (Pattern and Runes must be exact, or manipulated to change the effect), there may be an activation word of some sort, and thus the spell is cast. If the pattern were say, a perfect circle, would this mean casters would carry round a book, in which every page was a pre-drawn circle, and then write the desired runes into them?

Wind + water + decay + fate(time) = massive erosion.
Manipulates the battlefield to your advantage, but only in ways that involve the destruction of the land itself.
Cue rockslide, crushing foes.

>>2552520
For that matter, could they prepare a load of diagrams for common spells beforehand or do the spells have to be drawn when they're cast?

>>2552520
>>2552533

Spellcasting is done by either speaking the runes name or drawing it. multiple symbols can be woven together into a greater symbol in order to increase the effect, but i'm leaving that kind of thing to stunts, and not bothering with cut and dry rules for it.

Prophecy + True Death = You have X days to live

OP here, realising there's as lot more work to be done to make this remotely fair.

We have the normal runecasters down, pretty much, but two things suggested in the thread- Tattoo'd casters, and Rune Warriors, are virtually untouched. Thoughts on how to do them?

Also, do we base everything off the same runes, or make custom rune trees for specific things? i.e. a combat tree or something of the sort for rune warriors.

One idea i had for versatile rune warriors was modular tattoo's. The tattoo, on its own, is nothing special, but a certain movemetn or manouver forms it into a specific rune. this prevents the constant drain and reality warp of the tattoe'd caster and is more flexible (I.e. it could become a number of different runes, depending on the movement), but also lacks the passive benefits.

Ideas for rules for Tattooed casters- They add their Physique when working out the number of runes they can have available, before the amount is doubled.

When they roll a 1 on a runes roll, they critically fail and gain a disadvantageous mental or physical warp. When they roll a 0 on a runes roll, they critically succeed, boosting the spells effects and gaining a beneficial mental or physical warp.

it needs another disadvantage to be balanced with normal runecasters i think.

For rune warriors, the equation uses the physique stat rather than the intellect stat, and each rune they "Know" must be associated with a piece of equipment or a part of their body. During a manouver (A stunted attack) with that part of the body they may utilise the Runes effects. They cannot cast magic without a Manouver.

most NPC's will know one or two minor runes, or have a minor runic tattoo to help with them with labours etc. If your running it, considering the runic economy may be of use in sculpting the world.

Question; Is there anything in this game which isn't "Lol, Runes"?

>>2552835
For Rune Warriors, have their armor/weapons, have seemingly inane lines all over it. When they adopt a specific stance or enact a certain move, careful observers notice the lines make up a rune, thus utilizing their power for a split-second when the warrior needs them.

Smiting + Growth: ENJOY YOUR HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE TUMORS.

>>2553173
Not so's you'd notice.

>>2553188

Perhaps have something of a mix?

Fractured runes are easier to apply, and can have multiple uses, as well as not draining energy passively like whole runes do, but they also provide no passive benefits, just being active in the split second they are whole.

Whole runes are harder to apply, and are single purpose, as well as being a virtually constant energy drain. However, you are never without the advantages given by them.

Looking at it that way, protective runes would likely be the most common whole runes, as constantly wasting power on an attack rune would be silly.

Makes sense certainly.

>>2552441
NETHLEK REDGORMOR ULYAOTH

ANTORBOK MAGORMOR MANTOROK
Now, I cuts you.

>>2553379
FUCK YES ETERNAL DARKNESS.

Only vidya gaem that accurately captured the FEEL of Lovecraft. They need to make a sequel, but are too busy with this Too Human bullshit.

OP here. Oddly enough, i've never had the chance to play eternal darkness. I've heard about it, and it sounds awesome, but i've never even seen it played, let alone been the one holding the controller.

>>2553434
It's not the most expanded and refined magick system (with a "ck," motherfuckers) ever created, but it's very nice and you don't really need any more than the few spells offered and their over 9000 variations thereof.

>>2553416
I agree entirely Silicon Knights should take their Too Human crap, burn it, and make something awesome again... something with even better runecasting than Eternal Darkness.

Back to topic. I suggest that instead of arbitrarily putting spells together from runes, a noun (target), verb (what to do to target), adjective/adverb (how shit is going down) system would be very nice.
Assigning limits to number of runes used (4e runecasting! 3 in hero, 5 in paragon, 7 in epic) or some kind of point value to each (aforementioned runic scrabble) for limitation or magic point cost could easily make freeform runecasting easy.
I might attempt the impossible and make runecasting for 4e. In place of "powers known," "runes mastered."

>>2553523

Scattered throughought this thread are various little bundles of rules, which i'll probably end up having to compile into a nice little word doc and /rs/ing for /tg/ to enjoy. until then, ctrl-f for important terms and info. though don't bother with "rune".

Also, good luck with the 4E thing. its not my type of game but if you like it, enjoy.

Also, a thought for balancing Runecasters versus tattoo'd casters. A tattoo'd caster has greater limits on the number of runes they can weave at a time, due to their imperfect understanding of the runes themselves. maybe not "They can string less runes together" but increse the time it takes, so a tattoo'd caster might take two rounds to form a runic phrase which a normal caster could do in one

>>2553173
This is purely the magic system, which OP specified to be rune based. Obviously that's going to sink a little into everything, but I'm sure the game will only revolve and runes as much as D&D revolves around magic.

Wait ...

Shit.

The world strikes me as quite different to D&D. Magic is much more universal, with everyone knowing a trick or two, even if its just the farmer using a strength tattoo to help in the fields, or his wife using heat to keep the food warm while waiting for him to come in from the fields. I like settings like this. high magic, but still relatively normal.

rolled 64 = 64

>>2551269

PARGON PARGON PARGON PARGON

God that shit got annoying after awhile.

How has noone noticed this is a complete rip off of Charter Magic from the Old Kingdom books by Garth Nix?

>>2550678 have the really powerful runes be broad, general concepts, and the lesser runes each being an individual fragment of it.
This. You make a bunch of fundamental concept runes and you end up with a bunch of combos that by all rights ought to be defined (I want my fire+water+air+earth–distance-near–destruction spell), but really don't need to be (from the designer's point of view). If your fundamentals are made up of small, ill-defined runes, there's no system to figure out and complain about. It's like, if we tried to build words up from pictures of the concepts they are made of, we'd end up trying to invent meanings for implicit words, but since we just use a bunch of squiggles, it's no biggie when "gnorm" has no meaning.

well, I'm late. But if you want to do the whole combo-magic thing check out Natuk's magic system. I liked it.

http://rivendell.fortunecity.com/castle/882/witchspell1.htm

Old-ass game.

OP here, after waking up and having another read through this thread, i think we can let this one rest for the while. i'll probably be back at some point, so we can further develop rune warriors and tattoo'd casters, and maybe even come up with some more archetypes. but that can wait till next time.

Many thanks /tg/

>>2553293
>:V

GOD DAMMIT

>>2555910
How has no one noticed that Charter Magic from Garth Nix is a complete rip off from Ultima, actual runic magic, other countless similar "real world" magic practices, Eternal Darkness, Dungeon Keeper...