Hey all! My game group and I played Genesys for the first time over the weekend and discussed our thoughts on our podcast, Split the Party . We mostly discuss the magic rules, since we really disagreed about this part of the game. Anyways, let me know what you think, or if you think we had any major oversights in our understanding of the game. If you like it, please subscribe, since there will be plenty more Genesys content on the way!

Oh, and as a bonus, my co-host wrote and recorded a Genesys parody of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas!

I've only listened to half of the podcast so far (work drive is only so long), but so far I'm enjoying the debate on magic. God knows it's captured the majority of the conversation on this forum.

The topic of spamming heals was as far as I was able to go in the podcast. One possible "fix" struck me immediately, and will be enforced in my game: if circumstances don't change from one check to the next, you only get one skill check for an activity per encounter, and I'll extend "encounter" to include the rest between encounters if short. Spamming a check is exploiting mechanics at the expense of narrative tension. The dice should narrate what happens after you line up your resources to take your best shot at something. Attacks are an exception because an opponent is actively defending, and therefore changing the circumstances of a fight round by round. Healing DURING combat would likewise offer changing circumstances.

So repeatedly casting heal outside of combat as a way to rejuvenate the party and backdoor your way to recovering strain shouldn't be allowed. If a target's circumstances change, then another attempt can be made. A wound resists your efforts to heal? give them a potion before you try again, since it will repair some of the damage, etc. It shouldn't be a purely mechanical exercise to completely heal the party risk-free. A longer rest period should eventually allow for another attempt.

Another possibility: healing is typically divinely sourced magic, so if you fail a heal check, that's your deity making a statement, and asking for help again could provoke that deity's anger. Upgrade the difficulty once for every subsequent attempt, whether or not it succeeds. Going into the next battle with short circuited magic should feel like a real risk.

All that said, I'd probably allow one mass heal attempt and a targeted one, rationalizing that they are different spells and asking for different divine blessings to be brought to bear. But unless the rest period is fairly long I would say you get one shot at targeted healing someone between encounters.

Now that I've listened to the other half of the podcast I can say that

1. I liked the podcast. I'll submit a review on iTunes when I can.
2. I really understand your extended discussion of something feeling off about magic, and about the system in general being almost impossible to play directly out of the box. It's a toolkit for sure, and not all the tools are there. But what is, is very well done, as you folks noted. I hope as your group crystallizes a better magic system for your particular table that you share your thoughts on the choices you made to get there.