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Edge of Dreams
2012-08-09, 01:04 AM
I'm working on some game design of my own and looking for other systems to read up on and learn from. I'd like to hear about systems that incorporate any or all of these qualities:

1) All (or most) characters have/use magic (spells or powers, not just magic items), but dedicated spell casters are not the number one focus of the game (so Mage: The Awakening doesn't count, but Dresden Files RPG might).

2) A Magic Knight or gish play style (using magic in combination with mundane skills and combat styles) is explicitly allowed for or even encouraged. I'm particularly interested in games that do this but are not class based.

3) Customizable magic - particularly systems where the available base effects and costs are mostly clearly defined, but players can choose to spend more resources for bigger or modified effects.

Totally Guy
2012-08-09, 02:33 AM
For "all/most characters have magic", are you talking about the player characters or the game's setting?

I could talk about different aspects of Burning Wheel for your points but for different parts for different points. For 1 I'd talk about how elves spell songs work. For 3 I'd talk about some of the sorcery options orcs and men can use.

faustin
2012-08-09, 09:05 AM
What about Pact Magic, or Incantations?

CET
2012-08-09, 09:13 AM
I'd check out either of the Mage games from white wolf. I think some of the fluff is kind of silly, but their overall approach to magic works very well and I think it fits with what you are looking for. It's designed around general guidelines and very much encourages improvisation and combination with mundane abilities. The power level can also be controlled fairly easily by limiting access to higher ranks in particular types of magic.

If you are looking for a system and like either WoD engine, it's definitely worth a look. Even if you are just looking for source examples for a homebrew system, I'd give it a look.

jseah
2012-08-09, 10:55 AM
Are you looking for a game system or for a magic system? They're not quite the same thing.

Coz I have this (http://www.scribd.com/doc/23054439/Intralis-Seeds-of-Magic) magic system I'm halfway done writing (and will still be halfway ten years later) that has all three points.

1) Everything uses magic. Lifeforce is literally made of magic. Lack of magic is deadly.

2) Magic warrior/gish is the default. Without complex spells, you default to magic warrior (or more like magic artisan if you are not combat trained)

3) Every magic effect excepting lifeforce is broken down into Actions, Techniques and Components.
Components are the business end that does stuff.
Techniques affect how the effect unfolds.
Actions define the basic parameters of the magic effect.

Building a spell, like fireball, is a matter of choosing your components and applying combinations of techniques to get the effect you want. Just by looking at the structure of the spell, you can predict from the rules exactly what it will do and how it will interact with other spells.
The system supports things from simple effects like boosting your jump to get over a wall, to lazorring enemies, to complicated stuff like wards, alchemy and magic items. Teleportation is still in planning phase where I have yet to fully work out the details (but the general idea is already in there)

The system is highly grounded in physical and metamagic stuff, so I haven't included mental effects, divination and mystical things in general. The system is also fully explanatory, so mysterious magic pretty much doesn't exist.

Speed of play is not guaranteed. =D

Loki_42
2012-08-09, 11:37 AM
Hmm... Warrior, Rogue, and Mage (http://www.stargazergames.eu/games/warrior-rogue-mage/) might be worth a shot. It fits your first two points perfectly, and I can't think of any games that aren't caster focused that do 3 well. This just basically converts the three most common class types in fantasy rpgs into your ability scores, and most people are expected not to specialize in one entirely. Anyone with enough points in Mage can use magic, and they can balance that out with their points in Warrior and Rogue.

NichG
2012-08-09, 12:08 PM
Slayers d20 could work for this. Any character can learn and cast a few spells of up to 3rd level (though possibly quite poorly), but you need to be a casting class to get higher level stuff. Magic users will dominate, but ironically a fighter with the right dips into magic using classes will be a better caster than most dedicated casters since casting spells runs off of hitpoints and your Fort save.

It isn't quite customizable like that, though metamagic becomes much easier to use and apply in that system.

TomPliss
2012-08-09, 12:14 PM
How about a RuneQuest ?
(various editions, i don't know much about differences)

You will get the 3rd point for sure:
there are different type of magic (and you aren't forced to use them all) :
Rune magic will let you upgrade spells (spending more "mana", and having a more difficult spell to cast),
Divine for the same (except you need to learn a spell to a leve and can cast inferior ones,
And Sorcery will let you cast spells with amplifiers for bigger zone, longer effects, ...

The system is not class-based but skill based (even if you initial profession determines your initial skills).

And we will say that anyone can cast magic : it only require the character to learn 1 skill for RuneMagic (or many for sorcery). They will need runes to cast, but hey, they can find some !

Randomguy
2012-08-09, 01:15 PM
You could use Psionics and power points as your main magic system. It's very intuitive; it's basically mana.

eepop
2012-08-10, 12:13 PM
Alpha Omega fits the bill. Its Sci Fi, not fantasy, but you could adapt it if you want.

Its not class based, everyone except one race generally picks up some amount of magic from my experience, and the spell system is very customizable.

That said, the support for the game is slow as molasses, and it does have some balance issues if you crunch the numbers too hard.