gibbousmoons
Well worn.
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- May 4, 2013
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In this RP, the players are a group of magi, allied for practical or ideological purposes. Voluntarily or fleeing an angry mob, your character finds him or herself in a land ruled, not by millennia old families of magi, but by 300 year old families of magi united only in their fanatical independence from the Clock Tower.
Altogether, it's a good place to make a fresh start, but like most places it's safer with a group. If you survive and prosper you'll be able to create a new power block, a new force to contend with the old. If you die?
Well you'll be dead, then.
-- -- --
Players start with a certain 20 experience points to assign. They can get more points by lowering one of their existing stats by a number, getting that number more points.
Combat and other rolled actions in this quest will use the following system. A 1 in a stat represents the 'average' level. A 0 means 'untrained'. When you use one of your stats to do something, you roll a number of d10 equal to your stat and add them together. For example, P1 and P2 are engaged in manly fisticuffs. P1 is using a spell to increase his Body to 6, and P2 has a Body of 3. P1 rolls [3,4,6,5,1,2]= 21, P2 rolls [6,6,6]= 18. P1 succeeds in beating P2 up, dealing the difference in damage.
This is the format character sheets are to take.
Starting Stats
Physical
- Body, strength, dodging, running, and also your health track. You start at 1.
- Mind, noticing things, thinking deeply, putting clues together. You start at 1.
Magic
- Magecraft, how skill at recognizing/identifying supernatural effects. You start at 1.
- circuit number, how many circuits you have. Starts at 5.
- circuit quality, how much Od each circuit can generate. Starts at 5.
Enhancements- bought during chargen or play for experience points.
[] Physical training. You are stronger and faster than the average person. Increase Body ny 1. Costs 2 experience points, caps at +4.
[] Mental training. You are think deeper and more quickly than most. Increase Mind by 1. Costs 2 experience points, caps at +5.
[] Studiousness. You spent more time engrossed in study. Increase Magecraft by 1. Costs 2 experience points, caps at +5.
[] Length of line. Your family's roots go back further in history. Increase circuit quality by 1. Costs 1 experience point.*
[] Circuit number. Through luck or design you were born with more magic circuits than average. Increase magic circuits by 1. Costs 1 experience points.*
[] Enemy. Your family or yourself has made a foe.*
- [] slight. You can expect them to inconvenience you when they can (+1 exp)
- [] minor. They'll hamper your ability to research freely, but not your life (+3 exp)
- [] major. They'll try to kill you, and have good odds of succeeding. (+6 exp)
- [] severe. The want you dead, and totally outclass you. (+10 exp)
*cannot be bought after chargen.
Magecraft- it comes in two steps. In the first, you say your incantation and gather your Od, then you actually cast your mystery (referred to as spells from here on out because I don't want to type mystery every five seconds, like I'm writing some kind of demented Scooby Doo fanfic). There is no roll. Magecraft works by making itself work. Magecraft with an ongoing duration needs a constant flow of Od from your magic circuits to keep working, and most magi cannot cast more than one spell at once, given the complicated nature of magecraft. You can have up to (magecraft/2 rounding up) spells active at any given time.
From a player's perspective, you have a maximum Od pool of your magic circuits times your circuit capacity that you activate at the start of the fight. You subtract the cost of the spell, as determined by the categories below, when casting it, and you regain Od when you release the spell, and your circuits generate more.
Most of the time spells are re-discovered, not created. This is because making new spells is stupidly dangerous, and likely to get you killed by your own magecraft and/or receive a sealing designation and spend the rest of your days locked up inside the Clock Tower. Here's the process anyway, because you lot are all horrible, horrible people.
First make a description of what you want the spell to do, as well as how it works. Then you walk through the list and figure out how much it costs.
Making Spells- go through each category and select the appropriate levels. Spells have the following attributes: [Name, Speed, Scope, Severity, Authority, and description]. You add all of the point costs together to determine the cost of your spell, in experience points and in Od from your magic circuits. Spells have a minimum cost of 1.
You create mystic codes (magic items) in the same way, except that they have a surcharge of 5 experience points to create them. When activated, they cast the spell(s) built into them at half of the normal Od cost. The main benefit of using mystic codes is that activating them skips the first step of casting spells, though it still takes the time indicated with its speed stat to charge. It also doesn't distract your character, leaving them able to still cast other spells while using the item, in most cases.
Speed
- E, true ritual, taking a day to cast (-5 points)
- D, ten line, taking a minute to cast (-2 points)
- C, five line, taking half a minute to cast (-1 point)
- B, one line, takes five seconds to cast (+1 point)
- A, instant, takes no time to cast (+3 points)
Scope
- personal, dealing only with the caster's own body (-1 point)
- anti unit, dealing with only a single target (+0 point)
- anti group, dealing with a small group or area (+5 point)
- anti army, dealing with a large group or area (+10 points)
- anti fortress, dealing with a large, hardened target(+20 points)
Severity- the maximum effect of the spell counts
- E, minor, inflicting no lasting effects (+0 points)
- D, slight, inflicting a change undoable mundanely (+1 point)
- C, significant, not undoable by mundane means(+2 points)
- B, major, creating a condition that will have severe long term effects (+3 points)
- A, permanent act that cannot be undone, like death (+5 points)
Authority- (how easy it is to negate with magecraft is based on this)
- E, the spell is widely practised (-2 points)
- D, the spell is known by a good number (-1 points)
- C, the spell is known by a few families (+2 points)
- B, the spell is known by one family (+3 points)
- A, your original spell, do not steal (+5 points)
Here are a few examples.
Golem from the Ground (cost: 5)
- speed: B (+1)
- scope: anti unit (+0)
- severity: C (+2)
- authority: C (+2)
- description: A spell that rips the earth up into a vaguely humanoid shape that obeys you.
Reinforcement (cost: 1)
- speed: B (+1)
- scope: anti unit (0)
- severity: E (0)
- authority: E (-2)
- description: a spell that makes something stronger while it's active
Gandr (cost: 7)
- speed: A (+3)
- scope: anti unit (+0)
- severity: C (+2)
- authority: C (+2)
- description: a black curse fired from the fingers, inflicting unwellness.
Wand of Graffiti (cost: 5, use: 1)
- speed: B (+1)
- scope: anti unit
- severity: D (+1)
- authority: E (-2)
- description: a cylindrical rod two inches thick and four long. Pointing it at an object transmutes the air touching it into colorful paint.
Detection Bounded Field (costs: 6)
- speed: D (-2)
- scope: anti army (+10)
- severity: E (0)
- authority: E (-2)
- description: a defined area within which intruders can be detected.
Altogether, it's a good place to make a fresh start, but like most places it's safer with a group. If you survive and prosper you'll be able to create a new power block, a new force to contend with the old. If you die?
Well you'll be dead, then.
-- -- --
Players start with a certain 20 experience points to assign. They can get more points by lowering one of their existing stats by a number, getting that number more points.
Combat and other rolled actions in this quest will use the following system. A 1 in a stat represents the 'average' level. A 0 means 'untrained'. When you use one of your stats to do something, you roll a number of d10 equal to your stat and add them together. For example, P1 and P2 are engaged in manly fisticuffs. P1 is using a spell to increase his Body to 6, and P2 has a Body of 3. P1 rolls [3,4,6,5,1,2]= 21, P2 rolls [6,6,6]= 18. P1 succeeds in beating P2 up, dealing the difference in damage.
This is the format character sheets are to take.
Starting Stats
Physical
- Body, strength, dodging, running, and also your health track. You start at 1.
- Mind, noticing things, thinking deeply, putting clues together. You start at 1.
Magic
- Magecraft, how skill at recognizing/identifying supernatural effects. You start at 1.
- circuit number, how many circuits you have. Starts at 5.
- circuit quality, how much Od each circuit can generate. Starts at 5.
Enhancements- bought during chargen or play for experience points.
[] Physical training. You are stronger and faster than the average person. Increase Body ny 1. Costs 2 experience points, caps at +4.
[] Mental training. You are think deeper and more quickly than most. Increase Mind by 1. Costs 2 experience points, caps at +5.
[] Studiousness. You spent more time engrossed in study. Increase Magecraft by 1. Costs 2 experience points, caps at +5.
[] Length of line. Your family's roots go back further in history. Increase circuit quality by 1. Costs 1 experience point.*
[] Circuit number. Through luck or design you were born with more magic circuits than average. Increase magic circuits by 1. Costs 1 experience points.*
[] Enemy. Your family or yourself has made a foe.*
- [] slight. You can expect them to inconvenience you when they can (+1 exp)
- [] minor. They'll hamper your ability to research freely, but not your life (+3 exp)
- [] major. They'll try to kill you, and have good odds of succeeding. (+6 exp)
- [] severe. The want you dead, and totally outclass you. (+10 exp)
*cannot be bought after chargen.
Magecraft- it comes in two steps. In the first, you say your incantation and gather your Od, then you actually cast your mystery (referred to as spells from here on out because I don't want to type mystery every five seconds, like I'm writing some kind of demented Scooby Doo fanfic). There is no roll. Magecraft works by making itself work. Magecraft with an ongoing duration needs a constant flow of Od from your magic circuits to keep working, and most magi cannot cast more than one spell at once, given the complicated nature of magecraft. You can have up to (magecraft/2 rounding up) spells active at any given time.
From a player's perspective, you have a maximum Od pool of your magic circuits times your circuit capacity that you activate at the start of the fight. You subtract the cost of the spell, as determined by the categories below, when casting it, and you regain Od when you release the spell, and your circuits generate more.
Most of the time spells are re-discovered, not created. This is because making new spells is stupidly dangerous, and likely to get you killed by your own magecraft and/or receive a sealing designation and spend the rest of your days locked up inside the Clock Tower. Here's the process anyway, because you lot are all horrible, horrible people.
First make a description of what you want the spell to do, as well as how it works. Then you walk through the list and figure out how much it costs.
Making Spells- go through each category and select the appropriate levels. Spells have the following attributes: [Name, Speed, Scope, Severity, Authority, and description]. You add all of the point costs together to determine the cost of your spell, in experience points and in Od from your magic circuits. Spells have a minimum cost of 1.
You create mystic codes (magic items) in the same way, except that they have a surcharge of 5 experience points to create them. When activated, they cast the spell(s) built into them at half of the normal Od cost. The main benefit of using mystic codes is that activating them skips the first step of casting spells, though it still takes the time indicated with its speed stat to charge. It also doesn't distract your character, leaving them able to still cast other spells while using the item, in most cases.
Speed
- E, true ritual, taking a day to cast (-5 points)
- D, ten line, taking a minute to cast (-2 points)
- C, five line, taking half a minute to cast (-1 point)
- B, one line, takes five seconds to cast (+1 point)
- A, instant, takes no time to cast (+3 points)
Scope
- personal, dealing only with the caster's own body (-1 point)
- anti unit, dealing with only a single target (+0 point)
- anti group, dealing with a small group or area (+5 point)
- anti army, dealing with a large group or area (+10 points)
- anti fortress, dealing with a large, hardened target(+20 points)
Severity- the maximum effect of the spell counts
- E, minor, inflicting no lasting effects (+0 points)
- D, slight, inflicting a change undoable mundanely (+1 point)
- C, significant, not undoable by mundane means(+2 points)
- B, major, creating a condition that will have severe long term effects (+3 points)
- A, permanent act that cannot be undone, like death (+5 points)
Authority- (how easy it is to negate with magecraft is based on this)
- E, the spell is widely practised (-2 points)
- D, the spell is known by a good number (-1 points)
- C, the spell is known by a few families (+2 points)
- B, the spell is known by one family (+3 points)
- A, your original spell, do not steal (+5 points)
Here are a few examples.
Golem from the Ground (cost: 5)
- speed: B (+1)
- scope: anti unit (+0)
- severity: C (+2)
- authority: C (+2)
- description: A spell that rips the earth up into a vaguely humanoid shape that obeys you.
Reinforcement (cost: 1)
- speed: B (+1)
- scope: anti unit (0)
- severity: E (0)
- authority: E (-2)
- description: a spell that makes something stronger while it's active
Gandr (cost: 7)
- speed: A (+3)
- scope: anti unit (+0)
- severity: C (+2)
- authority: C (+2)
- description: a black curse fired from the fingers, inflicting unwellness.
Wand of Graffiti (cost: 5, use: 1)
- speed: B (+1)
- scope: anti unit
- severity: D (+1)
- authority: E (-2)
- description: a cylindrical rod two inches thick and four long. Pointing it at an object transmutes the air touching it into colorful paint.
Detection Bounded Field (costs: 6)
- speed: D (-2)
- scope: anti army (+10)
- severity: E (0)
- authority: E (-2)
- description: a defined area within which intruders can be detected.
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(-4 exp)