Notes on a Magic System for d100 Games

Earlier I mentioned wantng to write a d100 heartbreaker system with better approaches to lots of things.

One of my sticking points has always been magic systems. As I mentioned last time it’s easy to bolt other rules onto the side of the Chaosium d100 system’s core.

• Skills seldom interact with each other. Various rules have created exceptions, e.g. Martial Arts and other unarmed fighting skills, and languages for those of us who bother about dialects and common roots. By and large one can add, remove, combine, or split skills with few repercussions.

• The core seven(ish) Characteristics affect skill percentages by +/- 1% per point in a few systems. Other versions, notably Call of Cthulhu, dispense with even this.

• While older versions rolled against core characteristics directly, usually CON for health checks and POW for will, luck, and sanity checks, the Mongoose versions of RuneQuest introduced skills based on those attributes, such as Brawn for STR, Resilience for CON (Endurance in Mythras), and Persistence for POW (Willpower in Mythras), which join the venerable Dodge for DEX (Evade in Mythras).

• For the most part the combat system uses Attributes derived from the core characteristics. One (e.g. I) could imagine removing them entirely, and deriving Hit Points, damage modifiers, Luck, and other derived characteristics some other way.

Regardless of how current magic systems work, we can bolt on whatever we like. Existing mechanics we can (but aren’t required to) use include:

• Skills, rated as percentile chances.

• a list of Spells a magician has practiced or memorized, unranked or ranked by “level”, Intensity, or whatever makes sense.

• existing Base Characteristics

• new Characteristics or Derived Attributes

• Runes, Techniques, domains, or anything else we can invent; there are precedents!

Grand Unified Magic System?

One idea I’ve been toying with for a while is to start with four meta-mechanics present in every RPG in every genre:

• Chance: rolling dice, drawing cards, pulling a Jenga brick, etc.
• Drama: doing things in the game world.
• Karma: having a skill, power, etc. listed on a character sheet.
• Resource: having some exhaustible resource in the game world, either as “tangible” objects or abstract points (Health Points, Magic Points, charges, uses per day, etc.)

It’s hard to imagine a useful form of magic driven solely by chance, but examples of the others abound:

• Drama: the character discovers a magical ritual, so she assembles the required implements, waits for a propitious time to cast it, and spends uninterrupted hours of game time to do so.

• Karma: the character’s sheet says they can fly, read minds, or whatever, usually as a result of a skill, class ability, advantage / boon / feat, etc.

• Resource: the character spends Magic Points to sour milk, boost their strength, etc.

Single Source Magic

In most mechanics all the elements are present to some extent, but in my notional system the simplest forms of magic rely almost exclusively on one:

• Ritual or Ceremonial Magic: (Drama) Ritual Magicians spend game time researching and performing (notional) rituals, sacrificing in-game resources (or beings) with (possibly unreliable) effects. Alchemists and even “scientific” inventors fit this paradigm. While potentially powerful, the research and time investment, not to mention potential hazards, makes this path less attractive for the typical adventurer. Possible models include the higher levels of Enlightened Magic, Animism in Mythras, various systems in Elric of Melnibone¹, magic in the non-BRP Castle Falkenstein RPG, and the “Sorcery” system in the also not-BRP but still excellent RPG Barbarians of Lemuria.

• Attunement: (Karma) Through birth, accident, rigorous training, or other means, this kind of magician can do things beyond ordinary mortals as easily as said mortals speak, walk, or (more likely) sprint. Whether achieved through esoteric practices or bestowed by unseen entities, the Sources of such abilities do not grant great power easily or without cost. Possible models include the empathic abilities of Enlightened Magic, the benefits of increasing Alignment in Magic World, low-level superpowers, and perks of cult membership in Mythras and RuneQuest.

• Will-Working: (Resource) These practitioners learned how to channel their own energies, e.g. Magic Points, hard to renew charges, or uses per unit of time, into superhuman abilities. While in theory both quick and powerful, in practice unaided mortals lack the stamina or psychic power to accomplish more than a few parlour tricks. This resembles a lot of systems in RuneQuest and its descendents, including Legend’s Common Magic, the Sorcery of Magic World, Mythras’s Folk Magic, OpenQuest’s Battle Magic, RuneQuest’s Spirit Magic, and Mythos-related “sorcery” not involving summoning things in Call of Cthulhu.

Multi-Source Magic

Each category of practice can augment the other:

• An Adept or Witch augments Rituals with the power of their own Psyche, and vice versa. The same talents that magnify their successes can also worsen their mistakes. Witchcraft in Renaissance is the obvious inspiration here. (Drama + Karma)

• A Magus or Sorcerer augments Rituals by tapping into other sources of supernatural power. In Magic, however, no power is “neutral”, and the nature of that power may shape or even pervert the magician’s original intent. Maybe nature spirits grant them “favors” in return for services rendered. Or maybe they summon and bind spirits, demons, and worse things like the worst necromancer or Mythos sorcerer. (Drama + Resource)

• A Priest or Cultist amplifies their own subtle abilities by making a Pact with Supernal or Infernal Entities. Such pacts require upkeep and sacrifices of some description. Theism in Mythras and Rune Points in modern RuneQuest would represnt a more intense relationship between a worshiper and their god than simple “Allegiance”. (Karma + Resource)

• A true Wizard blends all three techniques to amplify his powers to truly awesome and/or terrifying levels. Wizards might tap “mana” sources like ruthless Gloranthan sorcerers, acquire patrons like Elric did, or borrow power from ancient gods … yet still retain a reserve of power and the capacity to call in really big favors. (Drama + Karma + Resource)

Taking It Even Further

In a fit of madness I mapped up even higher power levels, involving travel between parallel worlds, superpowers, and channeling the power of one’s own worshipers into miracles.

How to implement these ideas is another matter. Maybe a unfied and ever-expanding list of spells and/or effects, with an abstract “power rating” met through “raising power” in rituals, channeling power from supernatural allies (or vassals), and drawing power from one’s own soul and blood.