A Slow Circle

I was inspired by some of Justin Alexander's posts on Ars Magica to check it out.  This isn't a full review but a collection of observations. For a more thorough review, look here . The system does several things that I liked. The focus on building a covenant essentially places the players into domain-level play from the very beginning, foregrounding issues of local politics. Also, there is a strong influence on long-term character development through what D&D would characterize as downtime actions.  The systems for things like training, teaching, writing books and developing spells are quite robust and as such play can be easily extended over seasons. This necessarily requires some abstraction, but the benefit is that character arcs are longer and the system supports stories with long-term payoffs. The magic system is central to the entire game and as such it is very detailed, certainly more so than most games I've played or run. It's difficult for me to determine...

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how to implement a magic system in my tabletop roleplaying games. I would like to create something rather long-lasting in a persistent world where players might be able to play over generations and see the effects of their actions.  As such, I want a system with rules that I can reference to consistently adjudicate actions. I also want to treat magic as a kind technology that can be developed over time to create emergent effects on the world. This post from the Crossing the 'Verse blog represents an attempt to codify mechanically how different types of magic might manifest. It is part of a larger, useful series attempting to reach the heart of what magic is, in-game. When considering the magic system one problem that emerges is how to explain why some people use magic and others don't. If magic can be broadly considered a kind of technology, then why is there a class of magic users and why don't peasants employ goodberries to feed th...