How would you run a magic school RPG, /tg/?
Slap a load of anti-magic charms on the place and run a normal school.
Into the ground. Then turn that bitch into something profitable like a McDonalds or a Chik-Fil-A.
Off of a cliff
Who's the third character from the left?I recognized everyone, but the little blonde.
>>20190573Luna love-whateveriscalled.She was just there to be... there, literally she added nothing at all.
>>20190554I'd love to see this.All the happy, eager young children who can't wait to leave the drudgery of normal school and learn magic and then you reveal that there is no magic in this school and all of them start looking at you in disbelief and then with sorrow in their eyes.
glad that's all figured out then
>>20190576Shut the fuck upLuna is my waifu
>>20190576she added more than ginny
>>20190591mah bro
>>20190576I thought she added an interesting view into the tin-foil hat version of wizards.
>>20190596Snape's half-brother Snoop added more than Ginny
have any of you elegan/tg/entlemen run an adventuring school game, then?how to keep it from being 100% hokey?
I'm curious as well, how would you run a game in a school-setting with wizards as the students?
>>20190546in what setting? and for what purpose? I mean if the wizards are trained for combat use than it will be a little different if every civilian can just learn magic and shit
using MAID RPGreplace maidenly duties with lessons/exams
>>20190608The chosen one/s is hero/heroes.
>>20190608I would guess that the "hokey" is the charm.If I was to play in a game like that, I'd probably want to play up the role of class clown or... I dunno, Sakaki.
Luna is cool because she has cool name.
>>20190616And Magic? As it is, this is probably the best system to run it in.
we attempted this once. the game never really got off the ground because we were more interested on parallel campaigns run by one group member or another, and after the DM of that particular game was diagnosed with lukemia and had to move away for treatment, it was kind of the last nail in that game's coffin...... he's doing fine now, in full remission and everything, just living several state lines away. anyway, I had an elf who was supposed to be the hot-shot top-student with straight A+++s on all his classes, but it wasn't just because of an excellent intelligence score... he had a family heirloom, an intelligent dagger, that was just as smart as he was, and had been through this school 3 times before. classes are a fucking breeze with an undetectable super-intelligent study partner you can keep in your pocket. the rest of the party was various kinds of specialized wizard, sorcerer, and I think there was a druid and a cleric in there, but I was an Elven Generalist.
>>20190673Storytime?
Not like Hairy Pooper, that's for sure.
>>20190690wit beyond measure
>>20190688well, like I said, the game never got anywhere, we had an introductory session where we all got to show off a bit of what our characters did. I think the only girl in our party at the time was either transmutation or illusion focused, and had a magical wardrobe in her pointy hat, which she could change outfits with ala magical girl transformation sillyness. the evoker was a force specialist and a lecher, so that worked out for some shenanigans.on a related note, I once upon a time drew a loli wizard/summoner, with this really elaborate outfit with coat tails and summoning charms and etc... my girlfriend thought it was cute, and started asking questions about it. when I couldn't give much more details than "she's a wizard that summons monsters to fight for her" she kind of hijacked the character and started making up stuff about her, named her, etc... so I was thinking of helping her stat this character, and then run a "magic school" game for her to teach her the basics of playing D&D.
In a general sense, I just wouldn't. Inevitably you are going to get artificers in the tower next to the sorcerers and before ya know it some damn dragonblooded kid with more pretty than brains is shouting across the gap "IVE GOT A REALLY BAD IDEA!!" and some gnome who should know better is shouting back "AND I CAN MAKE IT A REALITY!"And then you wind up with shit like the helm of ears. Oh it works, but if anything louder than a whisper happens in your immediate vicinity you get deafened for a week. So just forget the idea of a damn mages school. Master and apprentice, apprentice and master. Its worked for 500 years and it should work for another 500.
>>20190737I guess you don't have the image of that character saved somewhere?
>>20190755nope, never scanned it.... shit, I don't think I ever even finished it. its still technically in nothing but non-photo blue pencil, at the moment.I was drawing it in a "character turn around" style, anyway. I was developing the outfit more than the character wearing it.
>>20190616And the master with teachers and the headmaster, and butlers with head boys/prefects?
I'd first create a comprehensible setting with actual use for magic and more than three possible jobs for mages. Also, a magic system that doesn't contradict itself.
First of all, I'd make sure that the story is not a wet dream about my self-insert Mary Sue, like in the second and third books of the Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan.I'd actually make sure that my characters can't fucking break the school system, if it wasn't my intention to show off the school as a new and experimental thing.
>>20190546We once created a Magic School setting for a game of In A Wicked Age. I played the school slacker who was framed for demonology. Myself, the inquisitor sent to question me, the preppy student uncovered a conspiracy within the faculty. It was fun.I want to hack Umlaut/Contenders to run a game where the players are faculty members of a magical school who have to solve the murder of the headmaster/compete for the honour of the job/plunder the school for good, strong apprentice stock/loot.
>>20190673>undetectable super-intelligent study partner>a fucking knifeKids just carry knives around in school and nobody notices. Must be set in the UK
>>20191353Or in the German Hauptschule.The only place where you don't get school shootings due to the students being likely armed just as much as the shooter. And most of them can call their family to beat up anyone they don't like.
>>20191391*extended family
>>20190620>Play students at magic school.>Hear rumors of new student in your year>Mother fucker is a nexus of magic>Would probably be targeted by wizard extremists>Meet Chosen One>Is total douchebag>Go on everyday adventures while C.O. saves the world with wizard brosCould also work that you never meet the Chosen One and are just reacting to his various escapades
>>20191496>"Oh shit, what's the school Kraken doing in the hallway?">"That kid apparently used it to crush some bad guy.">"Oh. Well, how the fuck are we meant to get to Charms?"
I'd run it like a fairly ordinary school, only their subjects also cover magic, the school would be year-long, and it would be fairly accelerated. Sure, it will be harsh on the slower students, but magic is too dangerous to be left in the hands of the incapable.
Like Skeelz in Urban Rivals. Charles Xavier School for Gifted Yangesters, but with MAGIC instead of mutant powers.
Academagia is a good inspiration for this kind of game.>Learning illegal magic on the side from a hidden school>Finding the edge of the world and getting some private coaching from the spirits there>Break into tower on the schoolgrounds that has been seperated from the timeflow by the founder of one of the houses and battle some asshole spirits inside>Steal cake Fuck the legislatores.Page 2>She doesn't see you sneak in behind her.>You get away with a nice slab of cake to eat at your leisure back in your room.
>>20191496>"So one of the suits of armor tried to throttle me earlier today.">"Yeah, golden boy's been trying to control them, but mostly they just get pissy.">"Fucking chosen one..."
>>20192420So.... Finals are coming up>yepHas.... Golden boy been plotting anything?>nopeNo demons being summoned?>nopeEvil wizards?>Well, that depends on how one defines ev-Any chance of his actions preventing us from taking the finals?>Well, no not reallyFucking chosen ones, ruin ever goddamn date you have but never cause enough chaos when you actually need it. Up for some magic beer pong?>Totally
>>20190546I've run an entire RPG about an adventurer's academy. It was fun, but uncomfortably like a dating sim near the end.
>>20192447>"God damn, my waffles turned into crows again.">"Golden boy been playing around with a mass transmutation spell. The Old Merlin almost burst a blood vessel. Almost blew the kid up right there, apparently.">"If he wasn't the Chosen One, he would have been a long time ago.">"Goddamn prick."
It would be a paranoid, secretive little world full of intrigue as the various staff & student factions vie for dominance and new recruits to their ways of thinking. There'd be those who think that magic-users should swear to harm no one, those who think that magic is a Divine gift, those who think it denotes superiority, those whose only concern is keeping the existence of magic a secret...all trying to work together and set the agenda.The cover would be a quiet private school for gifted young people. A place that recruits rather than advertises.
>>20192500I'd play it
>>20191496>>20192420>>20192447>>20192481I would play this
It's not a boarding school and there is no such thing as a dormitory wing. Instead you have your school grounds, and the majority of students rent apartments or room in nearby villages and towns. For the same reason there also isn't a Dining Hall, although there are vending machines.That's a point - the school isn't archaic and technologically outdated for the lulz, so it's not stuck in a romantic 1920.
As brothel. And im pimp
>>20192500Most of the teachers, even the most benevolent ones, would be scary people -- powerful, strong-willed, and desperate to impress on the students the need for secrecy.The tone of the place and the game would be defined by tension, suspicion, and temptation. Threats, enticements, ethical dilemmas, supernatural horror -- not to mention that all of this is being filtered through the exaggerated emotional responses of teenagers.
>>20192536Now, would the vending machines be run off city power, or would they be hooked up to some magic-based generator on the grounds?
>>20192566Yes, because it's stupid to not have backups. Especially in a place that will inevitably have as many encounters as a school will.
>>20190752The possibilities. . .are endless.All we have to do now is put them behind a big wall in a castle with a huge garden around it, make sure they have enough food and raw materials, and we can run a working world without them.
>>20190596I always understood Ginny as a thinly veiled invitation for frustrated girls to post bad fapfics on fanfiction.net.
>>20192597I think you mean schlickfics.
So.. this?
>>20192566Better question:Would it be an SCP?
Is there already a Mahou Shoujo rpg?
>>20192642>inb4 magical burst
>>20192559The practical solution to needing to teach the students mundane subjects as well as magical theory and practice would lead to a curriculum that combines them as much as possible.History lessons would start with the standard textbooks, but lecturers would also detail the wars, alliances, and movements among mystics that were going on as well. Chemistry would dovetail with alchemy, art and English would be used to teach the students visualization and memory skills, and so on.Interspersed with the more normal classes would be rituals. These would be deadly serious, because any messing around could wreak havoc on everyone present.I see the faculty as trying to marry ancient tradition to modern learning and teaching methods, complicated by the fact that there is only partial agreement among them on just how magic actually works, what can be done with it and what can't, and how it should be used.
>>20192622Goblinton Magical School for the Juvenile Delinquent
i'd use Wandering Monster High School
Free child control and no STDs for everyone!I guess such a school would be a full-on orgy during free times.
>>20192651I've been thinking of this setting as primarily for high school-aged students, but it would probably include some students who were younger and some who were older as well.Still, I think having most of the characters in their teens would allow for enough intelligence and autonomy to keep players happy, while placing enough limits on their power and freedom to create some interesting situations.Plus, teens are capable of everything from great heroism to utter depravity, and all points in between, usually with lots of enjoyable-at-a-remove histrionics.
We worked on something for this ages ago on /tg/. Scholomance, a system we tried to make diceless but didn't really work. The magic system also didn't work and was a bit too complex and counter-intuitive.Still, the setting was fun. An almost comically grimdark magical school with a "survival of the fittest" ethos, so the graduates could go on to manipulate the real world from the sidelines.
>>20192649>inafter thank you
>>20192722http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Scholomance
>>20192722You know, I was thinking that it would be interesting to start a game in a not-Hogwarts setting, then slowly but surely turn it into more of a Battle Royale with magic sort of thing. Teach the brats the fundamentals, and let them fight it out until only one remains. Then the adventure can continue when the survivor is thus allowed to join the elite cabal of wizards who deal with the nasties of the world.
>>20192622That's what I was thinking.Take the stuffy boarding school setting and add some magic and run it with actual fucking teenaged mischief as one the big plot points and you're good to go.Harry Potter as a setting is so fucking magical that it doesn't make any sense. Even just the idea of students getting to classes at all seems fucking unworkable when all the hallways and staircases are constantly shifting and every other step you take is just as likely to move you forward as it is to dump you in some secret chamber where they keep an eldritch horror for some ungodly reason.
>>20192825Yeah, Harry Potter makes more sense when it isn't being serious. I love the idea of total disregard of safety because magic can fix everything.
>>20192801>not-Hogwarts...You know, other books/movies/shows have done everything that Harry Potter did, only better, with a less retarded background. So why the fuck is Harry Potter so popular?
>>20192838Because getting kids to read books was such a big deal that the Harry Potter series got put up on a pedestal as some magnificent exemplar.It's not an awful series, it's just such a goofy retarded mess in comparison to other material, is all.
>>20192838It's produced for kids."Neckbeards who are picky about the mechanics of magic" isn't a great audience to sell to.
>>20192838Hell if I know. But I guess I just wanna watch those privileged fucks burn each other after they get the fundamentals down. I blame the author's communication with her fanbase and more-or-less writing based on what they want. And remember, her biggest fanbase are children and teens, so you end up with >>20192845.
>>20192801Nah.
>>20192722The way you cast a spell in that system is like a gamble. You are responsible when casting spell to calculate how much energy you put in that spell for it to succeed. If you place barely any energy into it, the spell might misfire or just fail, if you place much more energy than needed, the spell will become unstable and pretty much user deadly. AlsoI like how mitigation is a main part of the system> Mitigate enough of the energy required for the spell using these components, and only the tiniest portion of your magical energy will be required for the spell. However, that's the trick - estimating just how much mitigation a component offers and just how much energy as spell requires.
>>20192850I'm not even being picky about the mechanics of magic, I usually don't pay attention to that, because it's fucking magic. The rest of it is an even bigger clusterfuck than it's "mechanics of magic".
Schools of magic are pretty fucking old. Pretty sure that there is a tvtropes page on it, but fuck me looking for it.Also, I want to make a space school o' magic.
>>20192882I'm reading the wiki myself. So, the Headmaster would be the only one who really knows about the cost of spells and the mitigation values of the components?
>>20192801Hmm.. I'm pondering this idea and sort of imagining how each of the participants would receive some sort of magic trinket or power over a school of magic, but no instruction on how to use it, much like Battle Royale giving each student a random item or piece of equipment.So, maybe each participant is given an item which gives them control over some of the basic structures of a school of magic or some useful item like a large mana-replenishing crystal (instead of a generator, for instance) or a scrying stone that lets them check on all the other participants or a flying broom, for instance.Performance in this challenge determines one's placement in the school. If you're the first one to die, you end up in the near-remedial magic classes. If you beat everyone else, you end up in the top of the top private lessons where you are tutored personally by the best magic users in the world.Best part is that everyone you beat survives, though not unscarred, and they are aware of what you did and how you ended up in your position in the school...
>>20192952So pretty much having a team of resurrecters on hand throughout the battleground during the Entrance Exam (gotta name it something innocuous and boring to throw them off). And then let that experience power the inter-character relations throughout the following events? I like it anon!>Wageir andYes captcha, Scholomance seems to be a game of wagers. And what? I don't know.
>>20192882The general idea was that you could mitigate the cost of magical spell right down to zero but it also made casting the spell a more risky business - if you spent too much magic on it, it could furiously backfire in your face. If too little, then it splutters out with no effects.But yeah, the idea is that if you cast a fireball while holding a source of fire in one hand and a charred skull of an animal that burned to death in the other hand, while wearing a fire talisman and while Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" plays into a background, it'll cost less magic points from your personal source.
>>20192988Okay, that sounds about what I'd think it is. But it seems to totally lack the other things that make a school a school, seems more like a series of duels. But given the supposed diceless aspect, I'm gonna guess the school part would just be freeform RP, and new spells would be given to characters after they learn it in class?
>>20192978No idea what I'd do with the idea or if it's even scalable for a game setting, but it's an interesting thought.also, ChrowX here. Too lazy to tripfag things up all the time.
>>20193015Howdy lazyanon. You and I tend to run into each other a lot.
>>20192925Back during we discussed this, this was a fierce debate because someone who doesn't guess well could fuck up their spells over and over again.In the end, most of us agreed to settle on the following: In (non-compulsory) lessons, students get taught the costs of basic spells and basic mitigation in a non-meta fashion. The higher your year group is, the more spells and mitigators you know the SPECIFIC cost of.The point is that a lot of time, you might want to cast spells or use mitigators that will require a lot of guess work.Casting a firebolt with a source of fire in your hand is one thing.Surrounding the carcass of another student as he burns alive with a circle of ash, so you can use his spirit as a catalyst to summon a fire elemental is another thing entirely.
>>20193042Okay, that makes some sense then.
>>20192925Yes, Headmaster aka the game master calculates all of your items migitations effect on your spell, to get the true value of how much mana it in the end needs to work. If the player has been calculating correctly, paying attention to each change in his own stats, then it's time for the battleroyal. If you really wish to learn more, please, try to find the original post of this system. It got more details than that Wiki ever will have.
>>20193030We certainly do.It's a sign. A sign that I should stop being a lazy fuck and do some actual work on one of the dozen projects I've got collecting dust.
>>20193001I'm smart enough now to say that we went way too grimdark with Scholomance. It really wasn't enough of a school and was more like some madman's person Social Darwinism project, with a lot of dead teenagers stirred into the mix.In the end though, it should still be pretty bitter and grim. Survival of the fittest is the primary goal. The students who survive through to graduation are the most ruthless, the most intelligent and even just the luckiest. The other students are meant to be the primary obstacles.Also, one of the guys who worked on For'Channar here. Nice to see some interest in one of my old projects.
>>20193076Same here, though I managed to get the assets together for a quick board game type thing for roll20. I won't derail the thread here, so I'll email you the link, Chrow.>>20193084And good to see you too. I'd like to fiddle with Scholomance sometime, once I'm done dealing with the bazillion other projects I got gathering dust.
>>20193104Me too. The setting needs some patching up and pretty much ALL OF THE MECHANICS need working over. Although we wanted this to be a diceless system that relied on as little luck as possible, I don't think that worked out in the end.I'd like to keep the mitigation and guesswork of magic though.
>>20193133I like the core idea of guessing the mitigation costs, perhaps keeping track of effects to learn them. But yeah, the system seems to be a bit of a mish-mash. I'd like to perhaps see poker chips being used to represent mana. Characters can do things outside of battle to gain mana, perhaps if they learn stuff in class, successfully perform experiments and such. Drawback of too much mana though would be twofold: 1) the character becomes less of a caster, but rather forming into a more magical creature instead; and 2) opponents can use your mana for THEIR spells too if they're good enough. Needs work, I know, but it's an idea.In any case, I'm off to run some errands. Be back later magicfags.
Exams like in this game.NOTHING else from it.
So the school should have separate zones. >School GroundsOn school grounds the students have to obey the rules, follow instructions, stick to their schedules, attend pep rallies, and all the other BS you'd expect. No fighting or magicking each other. Of course, gossiping and bullying still happen. People form cliques, and make alliances. Students are divided up by year and class. >The Woods.In the Woods there are no rules of any kind. You can murder your classmates and raise the corpses as undead servitors. The teachers won't stop you, but the other kids might band together to do so. It's important to go out in the Woods with people you trust, but can you trust them? There are other things in the woods: monsters, nightmares, unnameable and unknown things. But why even go in the Woods? Well, you have to. You need magic herbs and shit. You need crystals to put on your wizard staff. You can't be a wizard without venturing into the woods. The teachers don't set times to go outside, they just set a deadline for assignments. That way it's harder to ambush each other. > The TownThe nearest town filled with muggles, who are wary of students from the school. "There's sumpin real queer about them kids." Using magic in town is forbidden. Kids who break this rule are taken into the office and never seen again. This allows a unique opportunity for fist fights that won't escalate into laser-blasting wizard fights. Students like to go to town to do somewhat normal stuff without worrying about magic-shit, but drama spills over anyway.
>>20192952This make me feel like you can use a fallen opponents body by "resurrecting" them into becoming ones minions. They could be used as a decoy, like a "flytrap", to lure opponents close enough to attack but also get ambushed in such ways of becoming immobilized. Because it depends on how much magic you put into the spell, the body will seize to follow orders and just become once again slack on the floor. By "resurrecting" I mean summoning a minor spirit/demon to take control of the body while the host is in a "coma".
>>20193168Another idea was that one of the biggest mitigators of all is time. A spell that was otherwise impossible suddenly becomes feasible if you turn it into a ritual that takes up half the day - one of the reasons why lessons aren't compulsory, there's a lot of more important stuff you can do with you time than learn the cost of a spell you will potentially never use. All sorts of different experiments to see how feasible a certain spell is, or to semi-determine the cost of the spell.It's a very meta-game, where a lot of knowledge obtained in-character actually matters to how you mechanically play it. That might make it a little bit too "gamey" for some people though. There's also the issue of people playing the game for a second time - they'll have to forget everything they previously learned on their other character. Then there's the issue of trusting people not to look at the Headmaster/GM tables...It's a beautiful idea but it's covered in flaws. It's only workable if you've got a lot of trust in each other.
>>20193204Sounds like the woods and the town are unnecessary additions. Couldn't you just add all of these facets to the school itself?
>>20192845>Because getting kids to read books was such a big deal that the Harry Potter series got put up on a pedestal as some magnificent exemplar.And how many of those kids have read anything other than Harry Potter?My younger brother is a perfect example. He fucking loved the Potter series, but I've never even seen him read another book except for when it's assigned reading for school.
>>20193319You could, but it's good to change up the scenery once in a while.
>>20193342A sufficiently MAGIC school contains all the environment necessary.
>>20193319Because there has to be a time for politicking and deception. And actual classes. Otherwise it's just a 24/7 wizard arena.
My two cents on the scholomancy thingYou need a mana resource for players to manage, as others have been saying. Something that players don't gain back quickly enough that they have to be wary of wasting too much on one spell.The headmaster could still calculate the cost of a spell and the effectiveness of each mitigator in secret with a player only knowing that they have to hit a specific range of difficulty, but not too far over that, or the spell turns supercharged and deadly.A player might know that their goal amount is around 20 and they can use skill, mana, and mitigators to reach that. They know for sure what amount of skill and mana they can spend, but not necessarily how effective each mitigator is, meaning they might still overshoot it
>>20193422That's the general idea, yeah. The barest bones of the system.Unfortunately, then we need piles and piles of tables for the purpose of determining magic cost of spells - and an actual system for the rest of the game.
Now you've gone and done it, you senile old bats! Lower the qualifications why don't you, hope nobody'll notice you're only after chasing skirts and willing servants. I warned you. The dumber the kids the more they'll want to complain and interfere with the school's business. We used to run an actual guild for the arcane with some students to fetch our things and eventually replace those who went senile. But now I don't think I'd tell the difference if every last one of you croaked and opened your chair for some saggy old ladies with scarfs, and impotent nobodies who couldn't make it as a local politician.See if you can chase me out, snot-nosed little maggots! I have spent centuries perfecting the art of sneaky and petty behaviour unworthy of a gentlemanly wizard, and if you think you haven't already been cursed to lose your hair before you turn fifty, you may want to do some scrying. And never approach me or my study again unless you want to do something for me.
Reading original threads. Like the setting but trying to grok the system. It seems you could learn the cost of a spell by under-powering it the first time. They you could just cast it over and over, adding one more mana each time until you got it just right.
>>20193204I like this.
>>20193539That's one way of doing it, if you've got the mana to support that learning technique - especially considering the more important spells you might want to cast will have gigantic point costs. Of course, you could try handling this by adding on mitigation but it'd have be mitigation that you know the exact cost of.For example, let's saying that at the end of the year, the students are given a group exam. A week after the announcement, they will have to summon a spirit, bind to a construct of their design and bend it to their will within a certain time limit. Then an elimination round will take place. Each construct shall fighter another. The designers of a losing construct will be expelled and the winners go on to the next year.The week before this happens, students will probably be rushing to learn the right amount of magic and mitigation for each spell, trying to figure out how to optimise their summoning spells, constructs and binding spells and more. Some might risk going to lessons rather than working it out themselves, in the hopes that the teachers will offer some relevant advice. Hell, the most successful students will likely be either spying on or trying to kill the students who are known for their abilities as summoners or golem-makers (and if they can't kill them, at least frame them or get them expelled).It just seems like it'd be a really fun game.
>>20190752>I'VE GOT A REALLY BAD IDEA!>AND I CAN MAKE IT A REALITY!>Dozens of magic items with horrible drawbacks.I don't know what you're talking about, this sounds like fun.
>>20193654And now I'm wanting to play in a campaign like this. I hate living in tiny-ass towns where you're the only person interested in PnP games
>>20193677You could always play online!But yeah, I know what it feels like. The game doesn't have a system yet if that helps.
Everyone always says I look like harry potter. I'm not sure whether I should be complimented or insulted.
>>20193654Okay, next question.There seems to be now hard cap on how powerful a spell you cast. No 'level' of a spell, to use D&D terms. A first year student, with lots of stuff for mitigation, could cast an epic level spell, and could cast it for 1MP. And if he fucked it up, the spell would fizzle from being underpowered rather than go all Sorcerer's Apprentice. That's a little weird. I do like that this system is at least trying to be different. It seems like it would be cool for online play, as it has no dice.
I want to do this in that Chelaxian devil-summoning academy they have in the Pathfinder setting. Half of the fun will be avoiding being used as a sacrifice/spell component by your instructors.
You just need to run this<
>>20193716
>>20193759As long as it's played in character, the chances of fucking up are exceptionally high as he shouldn't know the value of any of the mitigation or any of the spells. It'd either fizzle out as you said or it'd go horrible wrong. Another barrier is that the best mitigation is very hard to get. For example, phoenix tears are probably perfect for ANY sort of healing spell but in order to get them? Good luck tracking down/conjuring a phoenix, subduing it and extracting tears from it. Another thing, I don't know what rules we put down about stacking mitigation but all I know is that the idea of summoning Satan from wearing fifty pentagram necklaces seems a little stupid so first year students shouldn't be able to mitigate that way either.Finally, I thought you could cast a spell with zero MP and rely entirely on mitigation but that might just be me.About the diceless system, I'm not sure that's such a great idea. It didn't work well at all in practice and required lots of homebrewing. I'm sure we could come up with a better system that used dice.
>>20193759A limitation is needed to be set for each yeargroup. Think of it as a rule in the school. The ones found with more items will have them randomly confiscated item placed in a safe deposit in the school until further notice. As for the spell, the student needs to have witnessed it before use, when its a high tier spell.
>>20194034Takes away some of the allure of magic being... magic and insanely powerful, if you can handle it. It's supposed to be a game where the main advantage of experience is experience, rather than hard stat-increases.I suppose that an easy cap could be applied though. Like, you cannot cast a spell with a higher MP cost than 10 multiplied by your year group.So, ten for a year one student, twenty for a year two, thirty for year three, etcetera. Perhaps with the final year, year six, being uncapped for I CAN SUMMON SATAN potential.I'd like it if this disadvantage could be overcome by multiple students casting a spell in concert though.
>>20194121It's sorta necessary if that there's some kind of power ceiling.
I think that there should be a set of pre-existing spells, but which are only defined by their effects. Like, there's a fireball spell that makes a ball of fire. It costs 5 mana. Anyone can cast it; everybody knows it. But, every wizard has his own unique way to mitigate the spell's cost. Maybe one wizard lights a blue-tip match for a fireball. Maybe another has to chant in Latin, and matches don't work for him. There are common tricks, sure, but students have to experiment and come up with something that fits their own style and personality. That way, you can't just get a recipe off a senior and cast away like it's no problem. Each student has to come up with his own formula. Or cast expensive spells unmitigated and be a crummy wizard.
>>20194431Brainstorming here...We could give a character two stats for magic: Strength and Reserves. 'Reserves' is just your manna pool. 'Strength' is highest spell you can naturally cast. You then have two different things to add to spells: components and foci. 'Components' are whatever you add to mitigate the effective cost.'Foci' increase your effective strength of your magic. Components would be sympathetic magic and consumed items. Things like blood letting, long rituals, hair of your victim, and so on. They would be directly related to the spell cast. Foci would be more like wands, staves, magic circles, and power crystals. Rare items coveted by other wizards. They would work with any spell. If you cast a spell above your inherent strength, by using a focus, and you fail... then the spell will fail explosively.If you cast spell under your inherent strength, and you fail... the spell will fail relatively safely.
>>20194436I agree with the idea of basic "hard spells" that are gained through starting lessons. Not so sure if I like the idea of unique mitigation though. Perhaps just for those hard spells that you start with but not for anything else. The problem being that eventually you'd run out of things you could use for unique mitigation.The idea is that an older student wouldn't just hand down valuable recipes - Scholomances turns people into dicks. You want the knowledge of a higher year student, you're going to have to make yourselves useful. Harass his rivals, be his cannon fodder, gather reagents for him and generally be his slavish butt monkeys. Perhaps then he'll give you a bit of handy knowledge, so you can survive to serve him for another year.
>>20194555Not sure how much I agree with this either. There should also be some mitigation that lasts for a while. Using a lighter as a source of fire for a fireball, as an example. Of course the bonus would be small, something like mitigating one or two points at best but it'd be something. Perhaps you could break it or let the fire consume it for a few bonus points of mitigation though. It's just the way you describe spells, it makes it sound quite limited. Mitigation - or in this case components - is supposed to be something that's vast and varied.There's also the issue of over-complicating it by splitting each thing into two. It could potentially work out but the more stats you add, the more overlap bullshit you get like my lighter example. Not to mention if components are always consumed, the school would run out of resources pretty quick since mitigation is *required* for efficient spell-casting.
>>20194557I guess it depends on the availability of components. If it's only stuff like salamander blood, yeah. But if it's stuff like singing "God of Hellfire" by Iron Butterfly while putting road-flares in your hatband, then it's only limited by player creativity. I would worry that the game might then become a magical component trading-game, and less about free-formy magical thinking.
>>20194651Yeah, it's too complicated. I was just tryin' to think of some kinda power cap.
>>20190546like military school.Get experienced mages, ANTI MAGIC EVERY FUCKING THING, strict uniform standards, physical standards (no fat mages on my mark), and classes with fairly strict scheduling. Of course, as the students proved they weren't totally inept, I would give them more freedoms. Make sure to pound it into them that MAGIC IS SECRET etc, and teach them how to blend into normal culture (kids from mundane societies would help in these classes, since they would normally get an autopass)
>>20194711I agree that using thematic music should be thrown out of the window. It's witty but considering students will be using any advantage they can take, it'll end up being absolutely ridiculous and turn a lot of the stuff into a joke.All right, I guess that consumable Components is the road to the future but at the same time, trading Components and obtaining them should be an important and a valuable part of the game - without them, casting powerful spells will be nearly impossible.
Back folks.Seems like a lot of contention is around exactly how magic would be structured, if at all. I know this isn't exactly pertaining to the Scholomance setting or system, but feel free to harvest some ideas from an old quest idea of mine called "Managrafik" since I'm likely not gonna work on it for a while. Essentially, magic circles the game. These circles are composed of the circle itself (the Symbol) which provides targeting information, Runes written in them which provide the type of force used, and Accents which are added to the Runes to refine the effect. Each of these factors cost AP to use, which can easily be retooled with the mitigation system. And of course, there's the Medium on which the magic circles are drawn on (another opportunity for mitigation.)It can be found here for your perusal: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12fHuNhTTfTdZazVQwWRoLR6i5uuamWHUKzLZeOsw9Fk/edit
Replace letters with homonyms for 1337 3dgy 1nt3rweb credzzzz
I think an animated version of Harry Potter would have been pretty cool.
>>20194917Sounds interesting and it's been thought about - but in the end, it'd boil down to something fairly minor. A magic circle written in a suitably esoteric language (Hebrew, Ogham, Sumerian Hieroglyphs, etc) and with context to a spell being cast would grant a bonus. What it was drawn with would likely grant a bonus as well. Ash for a fire spell, salt for a water spell, blood for almost any spell, etcetera.And with the component system in place, it'd likely be consumed in the process of the spell, so another would have to be drawn for another spell.
>>20195062Well yeah. Like I said, just some ideas - this idea was made for a magic system consisting entirely of the magic circles, unlike Scholomance. Retool them as you would, but it just feels like this system lacks some structure so far, that's all.
>>20192838>>20192845You always do this shit to me, /tg/. You say something that piques my interest and then you proceed without giving me the information I crave. Care to name some of this "other material" for a bro?
Let me give you an example of how I think a basic spell would work. All of this is made up on the spot. Please forgive any maths involved.Barry Jotter wants to cast a firebolt - in other words, a basic damage spell with "fire" as a keyword. In the first year, he's taught the basics of how it works.Where α is the number of damage dice, 2α is the MP cost.If the range of the spell is touch, 2 MP is mitigated.In the second year, Barry Jotter learns how to make a damage spell far more dangerous. He gets taught to give it an area of effect - although he might've experimented with this himself before.Where 5β is number of feet he increases area by, 5β is the MP cost.In the third year, Barry Jotter gets taught how to master damage spells and how to give a damage spell a duration. Yet again, he might have discovered this himself through experimentation or a higher year pupil telling him secrets.Where γ is the number of additional rounds the victim suffers the damage dice for, γ(2α-1) is the MP cost.So, one day, a third year Barry Jotter decides to fry a bunch of first years for a laugh. He prepares a fireball to shoot at them.Two damage dice. (2x2) 4 MP.Ten foot area. (2x5) 10 MP.Two extra rounds of damage after the first. (2x[4-1]) 6 MP. Total cost before Mitigation is 20 MP.I'm not going to bother including mitigation in that example, that's just one idea of how a basic magic spell could work.
>>20195485Oh, and maybe something else that allows you to target a person or a location that isn't in sight with this spell as the final mastery. This multiplies the overall MP cost of the spell by 4.I haven't included the ranges because, well, these are the ranges. Touch, within sight or anywhere in the fucking world. Anywhere in the fucking world is as expensive as you'd think it is, too.
>people didn't forget Scholomanceson I am proud
More brainstorming here. Maybe we can try to salvage the diceless factor, but perhaps make the lessons themselves still necessary.>StatsStart with 10 points to go into stats:THEORY: The character's fundamental understanding of magical theory. THEORY is the highest level of spells one can perform. Lesser level spells can be combined into custom spells, but the total levels of the lesser spells cannot exceed the character's THEORY score, lest risk a severe under- or overpowering.COMPLEXITY: The character's ability to work a number of components into a spell. COMPLEXITY is the maximum number of components a character can put into a spell. However, this does not affect the mitigation of said components, only the amount of components which can go into the spell.FOCUS: The character's sheer power and finesse that goes into spells. FOCUS is the character's willpower that goes into spells, it's what makes them work in the first place. It modifies damage, increases areas of effect, improves odds of working by increasing the range of Mastery the character needs to achieve to make a spell work.>MP/Essence/Mana/Spirit/Aether/Etc.This is the total number of points in the previous three stats which serves as a character's magical reserves should the components not mitigate the cost of a spell. Have too little (2 or less, I'd suggest), and her magical ability goes down (minuses to the stats until the reserves replenish). Have too much (I'd say twice or once-and-a-half the normal score for this), and she risks becoming one with magic and lose her physical form and, eventually, her humanity. She would end up being no more than a summonable spirit.This would be represented with counters of some kind, something that can be exchanged between characters and the Headmaster. Perhaps there can be a mechanic which one character can use another's reserves in some instances.>cont'd...
>>20195775>MasteryAs a wizard climbs up the ranks of the Scholomance, she finds it easier to perform spells, even when the appropriate components aren't around or when she is stressed. This is represented as a plus-minus range of MP difference between the mitigation and the actual cost of a spell (denoted Mn, where n = difference; M3 means that the required difference between mitigation and actual cost needs to be either within 3 less or 3 more than the cost). Mastery also allows temporary modifiers to be placed on any of the three stats for the next spell.The first M-score listed for each rank is what is required for a spell to work at all. Ranges requires for a spell to be under- or overpowered are left to the Headmaster to decide.PROSPECTUS: M0FRESHMAN: M1SOPHOMORE: M2JUNIOR: M3; +1 stat at M0SENIOR: M5; +1 stat at M0GRADUATE: M7; +1 stat at M3; +2 stat at M0POST-GRADUATE: M9; +1 stat at M3; +2 stat at M0ADJUNCT PROFESSOR: M12; +1 stat at M5; +2 stat at M0ASSISTANT PROFESSOR: M15; +1 stat at M7; +2 stat at M2TENURED PROFESSOR: M18; +1 stat at M7; +2 stat at M2; +3 stat at M0PROFESSOR EMERITUS: M22; +1 stat at M9; +2 stat at M5; +3 stat at M0DEAN OF COLLEGE: M26; +1 stat at M12; +2 stat at M7; +3 stat at M2HEADMASTER: M30; +1 stat at M15; +2 stat at M7; +3 stat at M2; +4 stat at M0
>>20195797>>20195485>>20195775Now that we're talking maths, everyone's going to run for their lives. Anyway, I'll get to reading.
>>20195815We're good about fluffing up a setting, but absolutely arse about the crunch. Granted, there's a lot of systems we can use and retool as necessary, but you get the point.
>>20194917I haven't read anything in the thread so it's probable this comment is totally out of place, but, those runes look silly.
Also, there should be no spell cap by year. Anyone is supposed to be able to try to cast anything - it's not just not necessarily a good idea if you value your life.
This may sound odd (although I am on /tg/ so maybe not), it was mentioned earlier that we would need copious amounts of boring tables for different mitigations.As it turns out I love making boring tables, so as soon as we come to a basic idea of mechanics I can start making mitigation charts and posting them on 1d4
>>20196035Gotta remember that rules are Paranoia style - the players aren't actually allowed to know the mitigation rules.The easiest way to handle this, all things considered, is to probably let the GM make them up on the fly.
>>20195775Regarding stats, you missed out the physical affair. A lot of wizards aren't going to be very cerebrally-focused, whether we're talking about a weapon-freak who crafts magical blades, a Jeckyll 'n Hyde style nerd or a paranoid kid who transmutes his own skin to steel around others. On the other hand, I understand if you're focusing on the magic first.On to actual criticism:>TheoryNot sure how these levels would work... Perhaps if you multiple the Theory score by 5 and the result is the maximum MP cost you could cast?>ComplexityAll right.>FocusI don't quite understand the purpose. Why not just increase MP to increase the damage, as an example? No need for a stat that provides advantages to spells.>MPI'm fine with this. Double the "normal" MP max sounds fine to me for this transcendence idea you have.>MasteryYou could use this instead of Focus.>The progression systemNot sure I like it at all and I don't quite get how it functions in places. I'm sure it's quite intuitive but I'm certain we could work out something a little more basic and simple than that.
>>20196065>>20196035Mitigation numbers are best made up on the fly although a few examples might be nice. There's not really any tables needed for them either.Now, spells and their MP costs? THOSE will need tables by the hundreds.
>>20196071I remember when we tried to make the original system there was some debate regarding physical stat - a lot of people felt we should leave them out entirely and let physical fighting be ruled by advantage and such (so and so has a knife). I was never certain that was entirely wise, but I do think we need to keep combat stats very minimal.
>>20196006Yeah, they're pretty silly, I agree. It was an idea that I had once that could have sparked some inspiration. I do like the runes' design though and I may use them in something else down the road.>>20196015You do have a point. Using my brainstorming, perhaps consider THEORY to simply be the *recommended* spell cap? Spells exceeding the THEORY score may incur penalties to required Mastery to achieve the spell?>>20196035Yeah, this will require much table-making. Perhaps if we don't focus on statting every possible item in all of wizardly lore but rather making component mitigations based on an item's keywords, and simply statting the keywords instead? For instance, the classic eye of newt. It would carry the keywords of [Organic], [Small], [Sight], and perhaps [Reptile]. Depending on the type of spell being cast (itself having a series of keywords), each keyword would offer certain amounts of mitigation.>>20196065Yeah, there's a good point here. Would require a LOT of leg work on the Headmaster to keep track of ALL the mitigation values to keep things constant.>>20196071>TheoryDepends on the base factors of a spell, like elements, ranges, effects, stuff like that. Of course, higher level spells cost MUCH more to cast, requiring much more of the other two stats to work out, not to mention Mastery.>FocusEssentially, this is the modifier portion of the show. The personal touch we love to see in magic.>MPI wanna keep it simple, really, something that can make chargen a breeze for new players.>Mastery and RanksWell, it's a school. And I'm sure there's requirements to reach ranks within the school system. So there ya go. The bonuses are just theoretical right now and can be changed. It's just brainstorming.
>>20196133>Yeah, there's a good point here. Would require a LOT of leg work on the Headmaster to keep track of ALL the mitigation values to keep things constant.Well, the bigger problem is that the players could look up values online.>>20196133>>20196105You should go and read the old threads. We had the bones of a system set up in which there were no 'set' spells. Rather, you had certain schools of magic, and guidelines for how powerful certain effects were. Each 'effect' in your spell would cost so much mana. You'd add all of them together to get the mana cost for the spell.Those schools were also tied into our stat system, I think? Don't remember everything, it's been quite some time.
>>20196108That's because we were trying to create a too-smooth diceless system and it didn't work out, in my own opinion.If we're going to try and accurately simulate combat at all, we'll need the following:A stat that modifies how good you are hitting.A stat that modifies how good you are at avoiding hits.A stat that modifies how many hits you take.Another point: One of the big things about the Enchantment school of magic is that you could use it to attack the minds of others instead of using physical means... Which would mean that characters would either require mental equivalents of the stats above, or we could tinker the magic stats JSC posted to fit in with it (Theory to hit others, Complexity to avoid hits, Focus/Mastery to determine mental HP) perhaps. In the end, we need to accept that this can't be streamlined too much without making it ridiculous.Wow, designing a system from scratch is hard work.
>>20196191Yeah, I haven't looked at the older threads too much. I did notice the bare-bones system, but sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can help a lot. Sure, I know that my ideas won't be used in their entirety (if at all), but perhaps it'll help bring the existing ideas closer to completion...>>20196215...like this anon here. I guess I would prefer a diceless system myself, but that's just my preference. And yes, designing a system from scratch is HELL!
>>20196191I worked on the old system and I think it was pretty flawed in places. We're not advocates set spells and if I remember those days correctly at all, tables would've been a requirement for how spells functioned.
>>20196256To be fair, the old spell system could work. It's like what I did with Managrafik, where each element/force/source, range, target, effect, and so on added to the cost for a spell through the use of keywords. Component keywords can also be used for the mitigation of said cost as well. It could work, but yes, requires copious tables. Or at least a very studious note-taker of a Headmaster.
>>20196242>>20196133Well, I think we should start this out by deciding why we want a diceless system for this and what are the merits for this and how we could actually make such a thing functional, versus the advantages that dice systems bring and the experience we all have with that shit.
Well I wouldn't do one of those dystopian British shitfests where everyone has to live there and never sees their family, that's for damn sure.
>>20196215>Wow, designing a system from scratch is hard work.There's a reason most /tg/ homebrews never see the light of day.I'm not sure I like the use of such stats, but if we were to do so, I would venture that these stats should, baseline, be equal between all students. They should only be modified by spells and external effects.
WOAH, this thread kinda blew my mind; I'm the OP for Scholomance. I'd just come off reading Nobilis and was on a major "No Dice Is The Future" kick. Sorry about that. Might do it different now, but I think it has its charms. I did some of my best writefaggotry in that original thread. Does anyone know where the 1st one is, it was archived then but now seems to have vanished?
>>20196318It's the price you pay for sending your kid off to a good school.I believe you Americans experience it when you go to something called "college."
>>20196310I personally like a more narrative approach myself, and to me too much dice-rolling can really break a story. That, and dice make things too... luck-based for me in this sort of thing, where the characters supposedly are able to control and personalize their magic. Sure, there's still modifiers in play, and they can change depending on the situation, but with a setting like this, I'd like the onus for success and failure to be on the characters, not the dice.But don't get me wrong. Dice still work in many MANY ways. It's just my preferred play style.
I wouldn't teach just magic, for one thing. I'd establish a campus where all noble arts could be learned. Then I'd run it simply, like any other college. Students sign up for classes at the beginning of their semester, and pay according to the credits taken, with extra lab fees levied for some classes. I would also have employment options for students, as many colleges do, and student housing for those that need it.
This is a M4a1 loaded with rubber bullets. Since during your time here you have proven unable to grasp the idea of we do not want to be noticed your first and third will instead be switched to bullet evasion and stopping to prepare you for your future idiotic endeavors. Now start running.
>>20190737I was with you until you got to "D&D". Seriously, not a good system for this.
>>20196133I like this keyword ideaWe could have two types, the first affects what spells it can affect and would be shared by spells, and the second would determine how powerful the component is.Maybe the power could be applied to each keyword individually, such as Fire Strong, Necrotic Weak, ect. Although it would be much easier to just have a power overall for the keywords of a mitigation
>>20191353I live in a US farming town. Lots of people had knives when I was in High School.
I was coming back to Scholomance, I'd probably run it using Primetime Adventures.
>>20194917For more on magical runes, check out the Runes page for Tiffany on the tgchan wiki and Mosaic on 1d4chan.
>>20196662Oh, I know about those. I just have a habit of drawing my own stuff. And eventually, I would like to pen a fictitious language for a campaign or somesuch. Thanks for the heads up though.In any case, time to cook dinner here. Be back later.
>magic system based off categories centered around 'keywords'What is Ars Magica. What is Nain. There is no point reinventing the wheel guys, especially when the original is a really well-made wheel.
>>20196740>Ars Magica>Well made
>>20196356Well, that's good enough. I shared that line of thought when I started so I'll see what I can do.>>20196322I'll try and take a diceless look at this. Let me come up with something decent."Force" determines how good you are at hitting others and how much damage you do when you hit them."Reflex" determines if you act first and how fast you move."Vigor" determines how easily you're hit and how much damage you can take.Multiply "Vigor" by 5 to determine your "Health." This is used for your hit points.All normal humans have Force 3, Reflex 3, Vigor 3 and Health 15.Force, Reflex and Vigor can only be increased by magic, equipment or magical equipment.Health can only be increased by an increase in Vigor.At the start of a turn, compare your Reflex. If your Reflex is higher, go first. If Reflex is equal, you both act at the same time. In order to hit a target, your Force must exceed his Reflex. You may then deal damage equal to your Force to his Health.
>>20196942If two unaltered humans get into a physical fight using this system, it will result in something called a Schoolboy Scuffle. Neither party takes any damage, it just results in an embarrassing tussle between the pair and often just functions as a declaration of aggression. Whenever two opponents share the same number for their Force and Vigor, a Schoolboy Scuffle always takes place as nothing productive happens.This system starts getting dangerous when weaponry and magic get involved.Mundane weapons add one to your Force.Mundane armour adds one to your Vigor.Alchemy spells can be used to enhance either your Force, Reflex or Vigor.Finally, students also have two mental statistics."Will" determines how much damage your mind can take.Multiply "Will" by 5 to determine your "Sanity." This is used for your hit points.Like Vigor and Health, the human standard for Will is 3 and the human standard for Sanity is 15.A student's Will can be increased (or decreased) by specific Enchantment spells.Enchantment spells can also be used to deal damage to a student's Sanity.How's that?
>>20196942>In order to hit a target, your Force must exceed his Reflex.I GOT THAT WRONG.I meant the following:>In order to hit a target, your Force must exceed his VIGOR.
>>20196894>>20196894Ars Magicka has shitty character building and metafluff, but that's not the same thing as its magic system.
>>20196959This seems neat. I like it
>>20196894The magic system in Ars Magica is fucking fantastic.
>>20190546Maid RPG.
>>20196740The system is also intended to be diceless and with a modular magic system. Does Ars Magica work for that?
>>20196740Well, now I just feel like an ass. Shows how little I've read/played. I'll have to look at this some more.
>>20196959>If two unaltered humans get into a physical fight using this system, it will result in something called a Schoolboy Scuffle. Neither party takes any damage, it just results in an embarrassing tussle between the pair and often just functions as a declaration of aggressionI'm so so on the rest of it, but this is perfect.
>>20196942>>20196959I'll write up a basic fight using these principles.Barry Jotter makes the mistake of insulting Donald Sleazy as he walks by the other student. Donald throws a punch in response and the two engage in a pointless Schoolboy Scuffle.Then Donald Sleazy casts a spell that increases his Force and Vigor to 4 each (therefore his Health to 20). His Force now exceeds Barry's Vigor so he can now do damage to Barry's Health.Barry tries to respond to the hulked-out Donald by using up all of his MP on a damage spell, taking away 15 Health from his opponent. This is not enough to take him out. Donald finishes up the fight by whittling Barry down to zero and wins.If you reduce an opponent to zero Health, you can choose to either kill him or show mercy. Showing mercy gives your opponent one Health and allows him to act again - although you might have bound him or something similar.If a character is reduced to zero Health strange circumstances, such as an Alchemy spell that increased his Vigor running out, he automatically gains one Health and is able to continue functioning. This applies to Donald, once his spell duration runs out after the fight.
>>20197261>If a character is reduced to zero Health strange circumstancesRead the following:If a character is reduced to zero Health in strange circumstances
>>20197234I was tempted to mention that when a group of students chase another and they all have the same Reflex, it's called a Playground Chase Scene.That would've probably been a bit too much though.
>>20190554A decent start, I however favor a more permanent solution
Mention the type of spells that you'd like to cast if you were a student in Scholomance. Try to make them relatively simple one-stage things so I don't have too much to try and stat up.
Play a group of students who have background adventures and are forced to deal with shit that an unnamed/unseen Chosen One inadvertantly causes.
There have been a lot of attempts to create a definitive "I'm a wizard!" system. So far none has really done it all that well.
Shall I try and work on the Scholomance system on my own for now, since interest seems to be dead?
>>20197359You died like a bitch after your entire movement fell you hypocritical waterbending faggot.
>>20197809Oh, I'm still watching the thread. But I'm prepping up for some roll20 action, and I don't have any input. I'm sure if you put something on here, someone will have something to say about it.
>>20197874Well, I can try and rewrite your system from earlier into something I like a bit better and hopefully other people will be able to offer some interesting input.After that, all I can do is start work on spell tables.
>>20197995Well then anon, go right ahead.
>>20196108I think all stats should be magical, and physical stats assumed to be average. You're just an average person. If you want to be strong or have kung-fu, you would have to get it as like an advantage or feat.
Meh. It'd be a collage, not a high school.Seriously, almost every single kind of magic in fiction is dangerous even if it's NOT non-lethal, and teaching it to teenagers, who are by their very nature incredibly judgement-impaired is about the height of irresponsibility.Instead magic is a high-end Doctorate of sorts, something you go to collage for years for, to places like Yale or Oxford or something.
>>20197829>>20197995Well personally I'm interested to see what you do even though I can't contribute much right now, and I know I tend to be more motivated if I work in a group format, so perhaps you might find the group similarly beneficial.
>>20198097I agree with this in principle, but somethig like "Vigor" can describe magical as well as physical stamina. I did something like this (and other interesting things) with the Spheres of Aether system. It doesn't have a direct relation to Scholomance, but if you'd like I can post the PDF when I get home.
I was thinking that spells should default to being incredibly deadly. Like a first year student learns a simple zap spell that is basically a fucking shotgun. Accidents in the dorms are standard. But, there are ways to counter spells. A wiz could prepare a ward beforehand, or counter by spending his own MP. That way a wizard is a monster outside of school grounds. He could obliterate a SWAT team by snapping your fingers. Inside the school, if two wizards duel, it will be pew pew pew until one of them gets exhausted and finally drops-- gets lit on fire or turns into a toad or whatever. Smart duellists would figure out what types of wards an opponent had up and what kinds of spells he could counter/mitigate for cheap. If a guy has fire-blocking charms, hit him with transformation effects, etc.This also avoids having hitpoints. You have a super simple damage track instead: scratched, injured, incapacitated, critical. You never get down taking actual injuries until you have no mana left to counter. Or unless you get totally ambushed.
>>20198313Also, with a spell/counter-spell system, there could be an option of purposefully overcharging or undercharging your spell. You cast using 3 extra mana. Your opponent counters normally and doesn't beat your total. or You cast knowing your spell will fizzle. Your opponent counters normally and wastes mana.So there are no dice, but there is still an element of guessing how much mana a spell is worth, and how much of a risk your opponent might take.
>Magical StatsYou can spend STAT POINTS to increase three separate stats that determine your skill with magic.THEORY: The character's fundamental understanding of magical theory. THEORY is used to determine the highest level of spells one can perform. Multiply your character's THEORY by five. He cannot cast a spell with a MP cost higher this number, even if he can mitigate the cost with Components. Any attempt to do so will result in explosive failure.COMPLEXITY: The character's ability to work a number of components into a spell. COMPLEXITY is the maximum number of components a character can put into a spell. However, this does not affect the mitigation of said components, only the amount of components which can go into the spell.FOCUS: The character's sheer power and finesse that goes into spells. FOCUS is the character's willpower that goes into spells, it's what makes them work in the first place. Every point in FOCUS increases your character's MP Reserve by one.>Magic Points (MP) ReserveThis is your reserve of magic and it must be carefully maintained. A character gains 1 MP every hour until his MP is equal to his MPR. After this, he can only gain MP from supernatural means.If your character's MP Reserve ever drops to zero, he becomes weak and inept, almost incapable of functioning. His Theory, Complexity, Focus, Force, Reflex, Vigor and Will are all reduced to one until he regains at least one point of MP.If your character's MP is ever double his MP Reserve, his body is overloaded with magical energy and his spirit is liberated from the corpse as a ghost.
>SpecialityA wizard's SPECIALITIES indicate what sort of spells he is best at. When selecting a SPECIALITY for your character, choose a spell keyword. When casting spells that use this keyword, your character immediately mitigates 1 MP of that spell's cost. Examples of these keywords include [Fire], [Potions], [Charms] and [Necromancy]. You can have multiple specialities in one keyword.>MasteryAs a wizard climbs up the ranks of the Scholomance, she finds it easier to perform spells, even when the appropriate components aren't around or when she is stressed. This is represented as a plus-minus range of MP difference between the actual MP cost of the spell and the amount of MP the character has used on the spell.>Progression TableFIRST YEARS: 10 Stat Points, 10 MP Reserve, 1 Speciality and Mastery ± 1.SECOND YEARS: 15 Stat Points, 15 MP Reserve, 2 Specialities and Mastery ± 2.THIRD YEARS YEARS: 20 Stat Points, 20 MP Reserve, 3 Specialities and Mastery ± 3.FOURTH YEARS: 25 Stat Points, 25 MP Reserve, 4 Specialities and Mastery ± 4.FIFTH YEARS: 30 Stat Points, 30 MP Reserve, 5 Specialities and Mastery ± 5.SIXTH YEARS, GRADUATES AND BEYOND: 50 Stat Points, 50 MP Reserve, 10 Specialities and Mastery ± 10.Many of these names are placeholders and the final category is insanely powerful on purpose. This is the level of ability that full magicians should be able to wield.
Well, never mind on the Roll20 thing. It's derping like mad tonight. Oh well.>>20198428Interesting idea with the intentional over/undercharge. Though with overcharging, the spell has the possibility of backfiring badly on you, if I remember correctly.>Seriously captcha, 4 mismatches in a row? Fuck off!
>>20198826If Mastery allows you to guess at a range close to the real casting cost without any disadvantage, then what he suggested is an effective tactic against counterspelling.
>>20198896Ah, true enough. I was thinking under/overcharge was if you didn't meet the Mastery requirement.
>>20198913Well sure, if he went above Mastery and into overcast territory, I hope he enjoys backlash.
Well, we could play around with how it works. I just feel that, while a character is figuring out a spell, it's dangerous and risky. But once the player knows the exact spell cost, it's like a win button for him. Having a cast-counter cast duel puts the guesswork back in. It's what replaces the randomness of dice rollin.
>>20199036Like I said, I like the idea of countering as well, especially now that I understand what you were talking about with under/overcharge. Also, maybe put in a mechanic that a character can use someone else's MP. Probably at a reduced Mastery and at the risk of losing her own MP if it fails.
>>20199036It's a win button if he's got the MP and mitigation to make it strong enough to be a win button. And in the end, what's to stop you from having a spell that counters whatever spell he can use? He can throw firebolts at you? Good for him, if you've got the jump on him and you know this information, you can start off with a ward that protects against fire.Knowing the precise cost isn't a win button. Being smart is. I do like the idea of countering spells though, as long as the student who is counterspelling must spend MP equal to or greater than his opponent in order to counter.
Another thing... I guess it's hard for me to imagine a wizard in any serious physical altercation, except for a student who wants to resort to it. I just find it difficult having any justification for physical stats for a bunch of pasty, squishy meatbags who aren't doing much with said meat on their bones.Sadly though, I can't think of a mechanic that would replace it, other than a MP-as-HP sort of thing. But consequences are already in place with that. Guess my brain's starting to putter out.
>>20199088That sounds like the sort of dark magic that wouldn't be taught at a school.
>>20199188These aren't just standard wizards. It's not just a school to teach people how to be wiry, bearded old men. It takes in anyone who reveals their magical talent, no matter their inclination, their talents outside of magic or how long they will last. So yes, there will be people who will suit physical altercation to the ground.
>>20199367That's retarded, you need to teach them what dark magic looks like, and that means you need to teach them how to do it, albeit to a limited degree, at very least to teach them how to counteract it.
>>20199378So spellswords, magic-monks, and the like would be allowed into it? I was assuming the straight-up wizard route. Guess this hearkens back to the OP's question then.
>BODY ALTERATION [Organic][Alteration]The most common spells of the Alchemy school involve altering the human body being harder, stronger, faster, better. Students who have mastered these spells can use them to weaken others or even make these changes permanent.Using these spells, you may increase your character's Force, Reflex and/or Vigor by a number of points for the scene.Where α is the total number of points you've increased your physical stats with, 5α is the MP cost.In the second year, you're taught how to decrease the physical capabilities of others for the scene.Where β is the total number of points you've decreased your opponent's physical stats by, 10β is the MP cost.In the third year, you're taught how to make these enhancements last longer.If the enhancement is going to last for an entire day, double the MP cost.If the enhancement is going to last for an entire week, triple the MP cost.If the enhancement is going to last permanently, multiply the MP cost by four.>POTION MAKING [Potions][Crafting]Potions are essential in Scholomance, a form of mitigation in their own right. Keep a close eye on them though, or they may be stolen.Where γ is the MP cost of the spell you want to store in a potion, 2γ is the MP cost of the potion-making procedure.More importantly, potions can be used to store MP. Whoever drinks the potion gains the MP. This can be used to boost their MP above their MP Reserve.Where δ is the amount of MP you want to store in a potion, 3δ is the MP cost of the potion-making procedure.Drinking a potion has no MP cost.
>>20199188Yeah. And why practice kung fu for hundreds of hours when you can learn stoneskin in a day? This is a wizard game; they should be wizardly. Sure there could be a kung-fu guy, but that will be his special thing. And it might save his ass when the party falls in a reverse-magic zone, and he can still punch and kick while everybody else is fucked.But by having a combat-ability as a basic stat, it emphasizes combat. By having combat stuff as optional side-rules, it shows that it is an uncommon occurrence in wizard school. It's more about presentation and player-psychological than actual game mechanics.
>>20199496That's more or less what I see. I suppose it's unless someone sees a magic school in terms of a more paramilitary academy sort of thing, I really don't think that too much physical information is necessary - most physical things can kill a wizard outright: guns; blades; the occasional troll that wrecks havoc on the school grounds. I'd like to think that wizard students are not all like Barry Jotter and would rather use wits, strategy, and stealth to make it through.Again, my view. Not always correct and usually not like anyone else's.
>>20199496>>20199494Why not add a FIST spell or keyword which lets you hit magically hard? No wizard game is complete without the potential for a muscle wizard. Mechanically it can work the same as any other combat magic, you just throw punches instead of fireballs.
>>20199367>>20199413The school only appears to be a normal school. Really it works on a theory of Social Darwinism to breed a master race of die UberHexen. So first years get taught magic BEFORE they learn counter spells. >>20199127For countering, I thought it would work the same way as a spell: mitigated, but with a minimum of cost one. For direct spellage, it would be about forcing your opponent to run out of mana over a couple rounds, instead of one spell getting through the defenses. If the opponent with the smaller Mana Pool is clever, and if he concentrates on his foe's weak defenses, he could force him to spend 2M to his 1M, or 3M to his 2M. So that way he might win despite his initial disadvantage. I guess I imagine a wizard fight as more of a pro-wrestling beat down than a deadly gun fight.
>>20199533Muscle-wizard should be a viable build for players who want to get their hands dirty... bloody.But it should just be one option, and maybe not a common one among the NPCs.
Okay, I'm gonna go writefag a bit, and assemble some preliminary/suggestion rules. Maybe work on them power-cost tables. I'll check back in the next few days for Schoolomancer threads.
>>20198719I like your ideas but would replace [Points] with [dice pools]. So a first year would have 10d6 to divide amongst stats, and 10d6 mana pool. These could be rolled out to give a Point Pool to alot to stats, or you simply use assign Dicepools themselves for stats (2d6 in body, 3d6 in theory, etc)I also feel there should be a BODY Stat to represent physical strength, health, and athleticism, and a RESISTANCE stat perhaps to give mages a sort of 'damage shield'. This would enable you to have body focused mages, who put most of their points into body and resistance to 'tank' using self-effecting spells
It could even be something as simple as opposing rolls between Focus and Resistance, if resistance wins all effects are halved, if focus wins all reductions are bypassed, and resistance can be increased via certain spells such as shields.This would be null against pure physical damage, and there would be spell schools like Telekinesis which would deal physical damage to bypass spell shields - and spells that increase the Body pool to resist physical damage!
I'm gonna check out Ars Magica and take a good gander at its magic system. I think I'm about done with my system-making for now, so I may as well see if something already made would work well enough for my purposes.
>>20199602>>20199602Sure. But what I was getting at is if we model it as more magic, that obviates a lot of the need for mundane attributes.
>>20199796>>20199796Don't bother with most of the book, the magic system is the only noteworthy part.Well, that and the fact that it doesn't even try to be balanced, but that's not necessarily noteworthy in a good way.
>>20199959I noticed that. It tries to play heavily on the political intrigue of medieval Europe and throw a wizardly twist to it. The magic system reminds me of the basic idea I put up earlier, so the similarity is obviously there.I'd likely work out an adaptation of that magic system with the basic stat system I came up earlier (still kinda averse to throwing in a body stat, but we've already had that discussion.)
I'm kinda disappointed to see people so quick to abandon the original spell system backbone.The original conception had its problem, but I think the spell building concepts (as well as the fluff) were very strong.
>>20200199The basic backbone? I think we're trying to keep the idea of spell factors increasing magic usage and components and rituals mitigating the usage. I'd suppose it would be best to make the components moderately rare, so even if a player can guess repeatedly-used spells' costs (and thus mitigate them to zero), they can't spam those spells all the time.
>>20200500I meant the schools of spells.The old concept for summoning, for instance, was pretty cool.
>>20200524I see. Shall we start defining keywords for the Schools then? It *would* make sense to structure this like any respectable college or academy. Bear in mind that I would consider the Schools more in terms of function rather than element.>ELEMENTS (+ cost)Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Electricity, Ice, Metal, Wood, Light, Darkness, Mind, Space/Time, so forth and so on. >DESTINATION (+ cost)Self, Touch, Bolt, Explode, Surround, Split, Combine, Spray, Ray>EFFECTS (Schools TBD) (+ cost)Force (direct damage with element)Trap (elemental damage from trigger)Lock (prevent others from using a certain element/destination/effect)Detect (general magic sense and spec. senses for elements)Protect (shielding magic)Restore (healing magic)Consume (absorb magical energy of other effect)Convert (convert one magic into another)Seal (environmental anti-magic fields)Minimize (reduce one's abilities)Maximize (increase one's abilities)>COMPONENTS (- cost)Elements (physical elements nearby, a willing mind nearby, etc.)Size (the larger, the more mitigation)Rarity (the rarer, the more mitigation)Organics (the more natural, the more mitigation)>RITUALS (- cost)Time (the longer, the more mitigation)Diagrams (the more complex, the more mitigation)Chants (the more ancient the language, the more mitigation)Texts (the more original, the more mitigation)How's that for a start?
>>20200938There wasn't anything element specific. And frankly shouldn't be, as that's rather silly.I'm going to go see if I can dig up what was written before. I remember the summoning school was like making pacts, it was cool.
>>20201260Oh, I know the /summoning/ wasn't element-specific. I read the thread. But there were schools dealing with non-summon stuff, if I remember correctly.
I mentioned I would up this for examination, here's Spheres of Aether. Some aspects of it could work for this.
>>20201984So... where's the file. I think you forgot to link it.
>>20202262Ah, right. So I did. Here it is:http://www.mediafire.com/?76dzub53ar53v4o
>>20201306Yes, but none of them were anything so specific as elements. There were only 4 or so schools. From what I can remember (the first thread, which had a lot of good stuff, seems to have removed from the archives), it was something like Conjuration, Sorcery, Matter/Alchemy, and some sort of enchantment school. They were set up to be sort of opposites: Conjuration dealt with spirits, demons and the like where Sorcery dealt with the elements and other more corporeal effects; Matter dealt with tangible stuff while the enchantment school was matters of the mind.
>>20203410Ah, sorry about that. I guess I was going off of my own magic system. Feel free to scavenge and edit as necessary.Anyhoo, off to bed with me.
>>20199496Kung fu doesn't matter in a place like this. What matters is that a student can cast spells that give them superhuman strength, speed and endurance. It isn't physical skill triumphing over magic - it's just another form of magic in magic-based fighting.>>20199533Exactly. It's just another form of magic.>>20199602And as this guy said, most students consider these techniques a little too brutal and straight-forward - although they're efficient in their own way.>>20199691We're trying to make this system diceless and remove elements of luck. Also, physical stats have already been included up above - although they're mostly useless unless a wizard uses magic or weapons or magic weapons to buff themselves.>>20199796>>20199959>>20200070>>20200199>>20200500>>20200524>>20200938>>20201260>>20201306>>20203410>>20203943There's absolutely no need to copy off other systems when we're already got a mostly stable structure for magic already. It's one of the few things that we did have from the very start and I don't feel like getting rid of it actually.
>>20200938Perhaps I was a little over-protective initially. Lots of what you said is good but I feel like we shouldn't focus on such minor elements like that instead and instead follow the four initial schools of magic: Sorcery - Manipulation of Energy (all sorts of elemenetal magic. fire, water, air, earth, lightning, ice, light, radiation etcetera) Alchemy - Manipulation of Matter (making, breaking and changing physical objects. bodies, potions, weapons, armour, golems, etcetera) Conjuration - Manipulation of the Supernatural (deals with magic and magical creatures. counterspelling, summoning, unsummoning, binding, pact making, etcetera) Enchantment - Manipulation of the Mind (used for charming, controlling, terrifying other students and damaging their sanity)
>>20200938So I'd redesign this as the following:>SCHOOLAlchemy, Conjuration, Enchantment, Sorcery >DESTINATION (+ cost)Self, Touch, Bolt, Explode, Surround, Split, Combine, Spray, Ray>APPLICATIONS (+ cost)Force (direct damage)Trap (damage from trigger)Lock (prevent others from using a certain element/destination/effect)Detect (general magic sense and spec. senses for elements)Protect (shielding magic)Restore (healing magic)Consume (absorb magical energy of other effect)Convert (convert one magic into another)Seal (environmental anti-magic fields)Minimize (reduce one's abilities)Maximize (increase one's abilities)>COMPONENTS (- cost)Elements (physical elements nearby, a willing mind nearby, etc.)Size (the larger, the more mitigation)Rarity (the rarer, the more mitigation)Organics (the more natural, the more mitigation)>RITUALS (- cost)Time (the longer, the more mitigation)Diagrams (the more complex, the more mitigation)Chants (the more ancient the language, the more mitigation)Texts (the more original, the more mitigation)As long as we accept that some APPLICATIONS will only exist in certain SCHOOLS and will likely be vastly different between the separate SCHOOLS.
Into the ground.
>>20204195I suppose that I felt that shoe-horning magic based on both element and application into merely four schools felt a bit restricting. Maybe I'm just too used to more schools/more groups of magic and so forth. But with >>20204581, I think it can work, though it would take me a little more time to get used to just four schools of magic.
>>20204792Four distinctively different schools is better than sixteen almost identical ones, in my opinion.Let me give an example for spells with the Force Application.In my opinion, there's not much difference between through a FIRE DAMAGE SPELL and an ICE DAMAGE SPELL and an AIR DAMAGE SPELL.On the other hand:If you cast a Sorcery spell with the Force application, you can do 3 Health damage to a target for every 2 MP you spend. This represents doing direct damage by just throwing fire.If you cast an Alchemy spell with the Force application, you can exchange 3 Health from one target to another for every 5 MP you spend. This represents draining the life from one person and giving it to another, through vampirism or alchemical means or whatever.If you cast an Enchantment spell with the Force application, you can do 3 Sanity damage to a target for every 2 MP you spend. This represents attacking your target's mind rather than just his body.If you cast a Conjuration spell with the Force application, you can do 3 Health damage to a target for every 1 MP you spend IF the target casts a spell in the duration or IF the target is an innately supernatural creature.Suddenly, you have four different methods of damage dealing that you can do, due to the diversity of the schools. We could probably add in one last category though. Subtype. For example, a fire elemental is likely immune to any offensive spells that have the [Fire] subtype.Any thoughts?
>>20204921Guess that makes more sense. I do agree that the schools need subtype keywords, as I see a pure Sorcery spell using the [Force] application being essentially Magic Missile (non-elemental). I suppose classical elements would be under the purview of Sorcery, if I interpreted your example correctly.
>>20204994That's the idea I'm aiming for. Sorcery is supposed to be the most versatile school when it comes to damage-dealing.If someone's doing Sanity damage to you with Enchantment? You can just put up a spell with the Protect application that softens Sanity damage from mental attacks.If someone's dicking around with countermagic spells? You can just put up a spell with the Protect application that softens Health damage from countermagic spells.On the other hand, if someone's doing damage to you with a Sorcery spell that has the [Fire] subtype, you can put up a Protect spell against [Fire]. Doesn't stop your opponent from changing to the [Lightning] subtype instead. It's very difficult to stop someone good with Sorcery from dealing damage to you.Then you'd have Alchemy, which would be able to soften Health damage that you take from *any* source - in exchange for a very high MP cost.Each school should have a very different, very interesting niche. Students are free to specialise into any of the four schools - but in the end, the best students are the ones who acknowledge all of the schools.
bump.
Elemental trappings are probably most relevant in determining practical effects (kill someone with an ice spell and the only trace you'll likely leave is meltwater), miscasts (you miscast a flame spell and the entire room is likely going to burn down), and what things are relevant for mitigation (probably easier to produce a burned corpse than a frozen one).Also, I dunno about everyone else but I'd prefer to stick towards classic trappings of magic and stuff like elements rather than D&D type spells like MAJICK MISSILE and force spells and stuff. It fits better thematically.
>>20207226For Sorcery, that works. It's meant to be all about the elements anyway. Throwing about lightning, fire, ice and other elemental magic in haphazard and very traditional way. I agree that there's no need for "magic missile" or a magic missile equivalent there.Meanwhile, Alchemy is less about throwing around the elements and more about enhancing a student's abilities in combat. You can get superhuman strength. You can heal wounds. You can create potions. You can create powerful magical items.Enchantment on the hand is focused on avoiding obstacles. Is your target an unstoppable hulk? Attack its mind instead. Are you cornered by several enemies? Charm half of them into fighting for you. Do you need to meet someone who wants to kill you? Let an illusion do the talking for you.Finally, Conjuration is intended to degrade and swamp the enemy with disadvantages until he gives in. Curse a foe so that if he casts a spell, he suffers magical backlash. Prevent him from casting spell using countermagic. Force him to fight countless minions you've raised from the dead, summoned or bound to your will.If you prefer the more classical elemental magic approach then yeah, Sorcery would be the school for you. Shouldn't you give people the option to choose what sort of magic they want to play though?
>>20208090Yeah, I was only really talking to the guy who was talking about force effects above. We're pretty much on the same page as far as magic goes. Although, I remember Conjuration/Summoning being very focused on pacts. Hopefully we can keep that.
>>20191496I'd do one where there's a really clear prophecy for a chosen one, but literally nobody in the probably demographic fulfills the requirements. The party does the job anyway because they sure as fuck don't want to be eaten by a dracolich.
>>20192500>There'd be those who think that magic-users should swear to harm no one, those who think that magic is a Divine gift, those who think it denotes superiority, those whose only concern is keeping the existence of magic a secret...all trying to work together and set the agenda.>The cover would be a quiet private school for gifted young people. A place that recruits rather than advertises.But we already have the Marvel Heroic RPG and the X-Men supplement to Civil War is due next month. Seriously, you just described the X-Men with a few tweaks.
I would use magic like the force from the star wars D20 game. it would be skill rolls that could be modified by feats and lets players choose what to do for their growth. Take a couple of the classes like jedi gauradian, force adept, cleric, sorceror, and butcher them until you find a balance that feels good for you. make damage or healing checks based on the skill roll like 1point for a 13-16, 2 points for a 17-19, etc... make illusions last for minutes in the same way, etc.. this removes the preparing spells per day bull shit.
>>20209352I hope so too. That'd be an excellent aide for student politics and social manipulation.
>>20210233I meant pacts with otherwordly beings, though I suppose that might work.Unless you meant tricking a lesser student to forming a pact with a demon that benefits you for the sake of his 'protection', in which case hell yeah.
>>20210453Pacts with demons and pacts with other students too. Either or works.
How about an SR4 campaign with the players being students at MITT, TA&M&M, or (pick a more exclusive school with even greater levels of conspiracies and corporate shenanigans)? New wagemages are always worth a fair amount to corps, so there are plenty of opportunities for deals, blackmail, extractions, etc., all involving a bunch of students who (for the most part) wouldn't know how to log in to ShadowSEA if an Agent gave them instructions.Add in field trips to the metaplanes (courtesy of a professor's invoked Guidance spirit) cramming for finals, stealing each others' thesis notes, bargaining with a senior's Ally to write your paper for you, sneaking past the wards for a beer (or BTL) run, or the obligatory professor-gets-Inhabited-by-a-bug final exam.How deadly do you want it to be? Just change which party is secretly behind the school, and what they intend to gain from it. Don't want mundanes? Make it a secret, Hogwarts-style facility, whether it's a haven for the Awakened children of senior megacorp members, or a brutal training ground for SINless kids to be turned into wholly-owned deniable assets.
I think I would also move towards a college, rather than school setting.In the setting/game of mine, to use magic, one would have to be etched with a personal sigil. Doing so would be EXTREMELY painful to the person while awake, thus surgery would be the general way to apply the sigil.From there, magic would require long, and technical rituals to apply to one's Sigil, which acts as a grimoire for the mage. Once it is applied, the mage knows any spells applied permanently, but to do so, a specific formula would need to be meditated on for days.Having other experienced mages around would reduce the time, as well as distribute the pain, so cabals would become very popular.Magic school would essentially be colleges that help with research, acquisition, and consolidation of the worlds spells.One would also need to be tagged with a magical security number and graduate from a metaphysical institute to legally practice magic.From there, magic would intertwine with all lower fields of education, and wizards would be the best of mages, learning ALL mundane academia through eidetic memory.Going to a metaphysical institute would cost either money, or research rites, as spells would be patented, meaning each spell would be payed for individually.Magic training would then move to each level of society and employment. Complete industrialized magic. Class systems would show which actual course classes someone had taken.
