RPG mechanics ideas: Freeform magic

Velexiraptor posted a brief reflection on what a "magic" system should do in a game.

In another thread of hers I had half-jokingly made a comment along the lines of ~I'd rather we had the opposite [of making martial classes function with moves in a similar manner to spellcasters], just give the scene some hitpoints and if you magic it hard enough with a big enough wand it changes~.

Meanwhile, my primary model for doing anything remotely like this, Mage: the Ascension, I mostly remember as being literally unplayable since I just ended up constantly second-guessing and self-censoring as to what I could or could not do given this sphere and that effect and where was all this mass and energy coming from and if I could make a grain of sand appear where previously there wasn't one could I also make that same raw energy and level the entire city block etc. etc. etc. - in other words not very good guidance as to objective checks and balances.

So here are some notes on what those checks and balances might look like:( Read more... )

Obviously this is incomplete and cannot be played on its own - it's meant at this time to be no more than a conceptual framework. Felt cute, might delete later and whatnot.