The Dice Pool Podcast - EPISODE 12 - Its a Kind of Magic (Part 1)

By GM Hooly, in Genesys

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On 7/13/2018 at 12:37 PM, O the Owl said:

I've heard mentioned in the podcast that Night's Edge uses a slightly altered version of the magic system. It would be great to hear the details. Also, I'm curious how much play testing the Dice Pool GMs have given the magic system as it's presented in the Core.

Shortly after the release of the Genesys Core I started what was going to be a short adventure (now ongoing campaign) to kick the tires of the magic system. It did seem to me that there were a few categories of spell type that were missing from a classic fantasy setting, and I added three new magic actions inspired by this Community post , namely Divination, Enchantment, and Illusion.

Could these spell types have fit into the existing magic actions? Sure, the system is fluid enough to allow improvisation. But in each case it really did feel as though these spell types deserved their own table of spell modifications.

In the end, that is why Genesys is a great tool kit. There is lots of flexibility and room for improvisation, but with enough crunch to allow GMs to create their home brew within an existing framework of rules.

Yes they could. However are you taking Spell Skills or Spell Actions? I think the later would go well and clean up some of the holes this system has.

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On 7/15/2018 at 7:08 PM, GM Hooly said:

Yes they could. However are you taking Spell Skills or Spell Actions? I think the later would go well and clean up some of the holes this system has.

So, here is an example for the Enchantment Spell (aka Magic Action). Total credit to @Cyvaris and @Palomarus for their work, as this is taken from their discussion (in the thread I linked above).

Enchantment

Concentration : Yes

Skills : Arcana, Primal

This action represents the characters ability to empower their words with magical energy to affect their target’s emotional state and compel, terrify, and beguile. The character targets a single creature or minion group with whom the caster is engaged, and makes an Arcana or Primal skill check. The default difficulty of the check is Easy. If the check is successful, the character may immediately make an upgraded social skill check against the target. At the end of the spell’s duration the target becomes aware that they were under the effect of a spell, though not necessarily who cast it.

Before making the Arcana or Primal skill check, choose any of the additional effects listed on the table below. These effects are added to the check.

Effects

Diff Mod

Range : Increase the range of the spell by one range band. This may be added multiple times.

+1

Intense Emotions : The target is filled with an intense emotion of the casters choice, such as anger, attraction, disgust, or happiness. The difficulty of all social checks the target makes are upgraded once to reflect this altered mental state.

+1

Suggest: The target will follow a short command spoken allowed by the caster as long as no direct harm would come to the target or their allies. If the task cannot be completed during the spell’s duration the Suggestion ends.

+1

Additional Target : The character can select one additional target to be affected by the spell, plus one for every two advantage spent. All targets must be within range.

+1

Modify Memory : The target will completely forget any memories of what transpired while under the effects of the spell.

+2

Enduring Feelings : The target will continue to suffer the effects of the spell for 1 hour per rank of Knowledge that the character possesses (without the character needing to utilize the Concentrate Maneuver).

+2

Compel : The target will believe any untruths that the character tells them while under the effects of the spell. In addition, the target can be compelled to attack another character, even an ally. Once the spell has expired the caster upgrades the difficulty of all future social encounters with the target by one.

+3

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Great episode as always!

You guys start mentioning how you need to broaden your perspective at the 3 hr mark, but it would be really helpful to get some tips on how to help players do the same. My players all come from a D20 background and seem to be stuck trying to replicate that magic system in Genesys (we play the Terrinoth setting). I don't mind them using the frame of reference from D20, but when it becomes more of a hindrance then a help, it presents 2 problems. First, it sets the expectation of effect, second it constrains the applications of magic that the players (and GM) can come up with.

Some examples:

The mage expects a fireball to annihilate all minions in an area, in D20 fireball is quite a potent spell and gets rather easy to cast at higher levels, but in Genesys its not quite the blast of death that it is in D20 unless you upgrade it with empowered and have a good implement.

The player wants to summon a rain storm and have it dowse out a raging building fire. Narrating that is no problem, but balancing the difficulty is tricky, especially when the player seems to think that feat is easy and I think it should be quite hard.

Fly and invisibility fall within the realm of augment, but that category isn't available to the mage (arcana), who is used to the idea that mages can fly and turn invisible, as in D20. Yes he can use conjure to conjure smoke or darkness, or a flying disk he rides on, but those don't feel the same to the player even though mechanically they can be identical. I'm tempted to just say you can do fly and invisible via conjure or some other spell type since you can duplicate the effects, but I feel that the different spell categories need to be differently narrated, otherwise there isn't much point in distinguishing between them.

On the expectation front I realize the core issue is that in D20 spells are intentionally overpowered compared to non spells as the character has them in very limited quantity, where as in Genesys your only limit on spells is time and strain, so to keep them balanced they need to be on par with non magical methods.

In the next episode could you touch on how to help players bridge the chasm between the D20 magic system and the Genesys system? Order 66 had something like this for the narrative dice system in general back on Episode 24, Kung Pow Chicken, something like that for Magic would be awesome!