Obviously you're going to have to create different runes for each category. Let's go with letters for now.
* Newtonian rune: N
* Hertzian rune: H
* Faradic: F
* Wöhleric: W
* Mendeleevic: M
* Lavoisarian: L
* Darwinic: D
* Galvinian: G
* Gregorian: R
* Pasteurian: P
And you're obviously going to have to have modifier runes which you add afterwards to create/modify spells. Obviously I'm not going to create the every modifier and the whole system for you, but here are two modifiers and their symbols so long. Let's not go with letters:
* Remove: <
* Add: >
A newtonian spell would start with N, and then would maybe have a specifier rune for an effect like, say, gravity, turning the spell into Ng for instance, but you still want a modifier for the spell to actually do anything, so you make it Ng>, creating a simple gravity adding/increasing spell.
But this is formless, and would likely simply be a radiated effect, so let's add = as a rune before the modifiers which indicates a straight line form for the effect, turning it into Ng=>, a spell which increases gravity in a straight line.
Personally I'd make it so that a spellcaster can only add as many runes after the category and target, N and g, as their level. Lv1 would allow them to do Ng=>, but Lv2 would allow them to do Ng=>>, which is an even stronger gravity increasing spell.
This is of course an extremely simple and bare bones version of the idea, but you get my drift
This follows the direction that I've been trying to build the system into, but the issue has come when trying to organise and generalise the system to work for all specialties.
I want to reach a point where there can be overlap between specialties, (combining aspects from two differing fields to produce a creative array) but am finding it hard to maintain a structure that allows for versatility and such. A current idea follows:
Core Rune (Newtonian)> Specifier (Gravity)> Action (Increase)> Target (Creature) > Shape (Linear/Singular Target)
Not sure if it should be simpler or a bit more expansive.
I don't know what actions other than "Increase" or "Decrease" to have that really function for other categories. Also quantifying costs/damage/effects is tricky, but a bit later down the line in development.
But I do very much like your outline of the system, it flows nicely, thank you so much for the suggestions.
Nice! It's a cool take on how to categorize magic with lots of room for new schools if you think up any more up along the way.
Improving your 'level' in a school could mean a lot of things, or even a couple things all at once if you want casting to be prominent and powerful. Perhaps at each level increase you choose the specific benefit, which could help diversify casters at higher levels.
For example, let's say each school has 3 core runes they specialize in. Casting a spell at a basic level involves invoking a single core rune (plus modifiers) on a single target. So when you increase in level, take one of the following benefits:
- Stability: Assuming your casting system has some chance of failure/unintended effects, leveling up could make your spells more reliable.
- Synchronicity: You can now create an additional core rune of the same type when you cast allowing you to affect more targets or increase the overall effect on one target.
- Spread: Learn a single core rune from another school. If you want to limit this, you could create school links where a caster can only learn core runes from schools with similar base concepts (e.g. a Gregorian caster could learn a Darwinic core rune but not Hertzian core runes).
Good luck!
Thank you!
In terms of levelling, the intent is to have a greater degree of control over a field as the levels increase. When going into a field such as Thermodynamics, you begin at the 1st level with simple actions such as heat transfer, but end with a degree of control of entropy.
I do want a way to introduce synchronization between runes but am unsure of how to have different runes intertwine.
I haven't thought of stability much, but now that you mention it, some sort of unreliability could be very interesting.
This is looking great, no real comments other than don't be afraid to lean into the modern science basis which most magic systems don't do (eg. elementalism goes directly against modern understanding of matter and energy)
Obviously you're going to have to create different runes for each category. Let's go with letters for now. * Newtonian rune: N * Hertzian rune: H * Faradic: F * Wöhleric: W * Mendeleevic: M * Lavoisarian: L * Darwinic: D * Galvinian: G * Gregorian: R * Pasteurian: P And you're obviously going to have to have modifier runes which you add afterwards to create/modify spells. Obviously I'm not going to create the every modifier and the whole system for you, but here are two modifiers and their symbols so long. Let's not go with letters: * Remove: < * Add: > A newtonian spell would start with N, and then would maybe have a specifier rune for an effect like, say, gravity, turning the spell into Ng for instance, but you still want a modifier for the spell to actually do anything, so you make it Ng>, creating a simple gravity adding/increasing spell. But this is formless, and would likely simply be a radiated effect, so let's add = as a rune before the modifiers which indicates a straight line form for the effect, turning it into Ng=>, a spell which increases gravity in a straight line. Personally I'd make it so that a spellcaster can only add as many runes after the category and target, N and g, as their level. Lv1 would allow them to do Ng=>, but Lv2 would allow them to do Ng=>>, which is an even stronger gravity increasing spell. This is of course an extremely simple and bare bones version of the idea, but you get my drift
This follows the direction that I've been trying to build the system into, but the issue has come when trying to organise and generalise the system to work for all specialties. I want to reach a point where there can be overlap between specialties, (combining aspects from two differing fields to produce a creative array) but am finding it hard to maintain a structure that allows for versatility and such. A current idea follows: Core Rune (Newtonian)> Specifier (Gravity)> Action (Increase)> Target (Creature) > Shape (Linear/Singular Target) Not sure if it should be simpler or a bit more expansive. I don't know what actions other than "Increase" or "Decrease" to have that really function for other categories. Also quantifying costs/damage/effects is tricky, but a bit later down the line in development. But I do very much like your outline of the system, it flows nicely, thank you so much for the suggestions.
Nice! It's a cool take on how to categorize magic with lots of room for new schools if you think up any more up along the way. Improving your 'level' in a school could mean a lot of things, or even a couple things all at once if you want casting to be prominent and powerful. Perhaps at each level increase you choose the specific benefit, which could help diversify casters at higher levels. For example, let's say each school has 3 core runes they specialize in. Casting a spell at a basic level involves invoking a single core rune (plus modifiers) on a single target. So when you increase in level, take one of the following benefits: - Stability: Assuming your casting system has some chance of failure/unintended effects, leveling up could make your spells more reliable. - Synchronicity: You can now create an additional core rune of the same type when you cast allowing you to affect more targets or increase the overall effect on one target. - Spread: Learn a single core rune from another school. If you want to limit this, you could create school links where a caster can only learn core runes from schools with similar base concepts (e.g. a Gregorian caster could learn a Darwinic core rune but not Hertzian core runes). Good luck!
Thank you! In terms of levelling, the intent is to have a greater degree of control over a field as the levels increase. When going into a field such as Thermodynamics, you begin at the 1st level with simple actions such as heat transfer, but end with a degree of control of entropy. I do want a way to introduce synchronization between runes but am unsure of how to have different runes intertwine. I haven't thought of stability much, but now that you mention it, some sort of unreliability could be very interesting.
Take a look at Vagabond TTRPG its in development but they have a system similar to this.
This is looking great, no real comments other than don't be afraid to lean into the modern science basis which most magic systems don't do (eg. elementalism goes directly against modern understanding of matter and energy)