Eysryn Stones. The magic of the future?

[Arceius]

I am a GM and in every campaign I run I try out something special. In my current campaign I am testing out Heroic Specials. These are special items and abilities that the heroes posses that has RP and gameplay impact. For my next campaign though (already in the design phases because of it's general nature) I'm testing out a lot of things. One of these things I'm testing out are little wondrous stones called "Eysryn Stones" (don't mock my name, I took the letter Y and ran with it).

Eysryn Stones

The entire concept behind Eysryn Stones is "Magic is available to everyone", and that is just what they do. Anyone in the world can pick up an Eysryn stones with the same efficiency as the next average Joe. (In the setting humans are non-magical and have no other access to magic).

How They Work

Eysryn stones are small concentrated pieces of magical energy, that when discharged, produce a magical effect. An Eysryn Stone holds a single spell of any spell level, but only has the magical energy to charge a single level of spells, a single time a day. An Eysryn Stone can be combined with other Eysryn Stones to cast a spell of a level equal to the total number of Eysryn stoned used in the combination. An Eysryn Stones energy can be used to power the spell of another Eysryn Stone in your Cluster (a group of all the Eysryn Stones you have). An Eysryn Stone that has cast it's spell, has charged the spell of another Eysryn Stone, or has been used in the casting of a higher level spell becomes dormant. An Eysryn Stones spell can be powered by another Stone after it has become dormant. To increase the number of spells your Cluster can cast you need merely to gather a Thread from any Eysryn Stone you can touch, and expend the energy an Eysryn Stone in your inventory.

I never crafted the full rules (what checks are needed for the various activities, though likely it would be spellcraft or UMD) because two of my players decided that they did not like the idea.

Keep in mind that just because everyone can USE them does not mean that everyone HAS them. The Stones themselves are rare enough that rich lords my only have a single stone; Threads however are much more common and anyone who has a Stone is likely to have several Threads. Adventurers, of course, would possess more Eysryn Stones than lords having taken them from other adventurers, found them in dungeons, and gotten them as prizes or other loot.

So, with two players not liking the idea, I have come to the GitP Forums (and the infinite wisdom within) to see what their responses are. Any advise on changing, improving, or reasons why it's the most terrible idea in existence are welcome (though a clear indication of whether you are for or against the idea would be appreciated.)

[Greenish]

What? Are they 1/day, or 1/until recharged, or both? What on earth are "Threads"? Can they cast any spell or just a certain one?

What are you trying to achieve? It sounds like a really low magic game, so D&D might not be the best system.

[Arceius]

What? Are they 1/day, or 1/until recharged, or both? What on earth are "Threads"? Can they cast any spell or just a certain one?

What are you trying to achieve? It sounds like a really low magic game, so D&D might not be the best system.

They are 1/day, I didn't really make any way for them to be recharged beyond waiting for the next day. Every Stone "knows" a single spell (not necessarily of first level, though if it's not you'll need more stones).
Threads are the magical code of an Eysryn Stone. If you gather a Thread from an Eysryn Stone then you can use that Thread to cast the spell that was inside the Eysryn Stone you took the Thread from. (Sorry for not explaining those better, skipped right over them.)

As to what I was trying to accomplish, I was trying to put the emphasis of the campaign on a different source, rather than magic. So I took magic (mostly) out of the equation. The other source is magical, just not straight up magic.

[Greenish]

They are 1/day, I didn't really make any way for them to be recharged beyond waiting for the next day. Every Stone "knows" a single spell (not necessarily of first level, though if it's not you'll need more stones).

So they only "go dormant" for the day? The term evokes something more permanent, though that may well be between my ears.

Threads are the magical code of an Eysryn Stone. If you gather a Thread from an Eysryn Stone then you can use that Thread to cast the spell that was inside the Eysryn Stone you took the Thread from. (Sorry for not explaining those better, skipped right over them.)

So, how do you gather the threads? How many threads can you get from a single stone? How come they're more abundant than the stones? Can you feed the threads into a stone to power a higher level spell?

As to what I was trying to accomplish, I was trying to put the emphasis of the campaign on a different source, rather than magic. So I took magic (mostly) out of the equation. The other source is magical, just not straight up magic.

Your approach seems to put more focus on magic (by making it rare and valuable). And yes, those stones are straight up magic.