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[evictedSaint]

Heyo everyone.  I had an idea a while back for a game mechanic that I thought could be pretty cool and I've been rolling it around in my head ever since.  I thought I'd put it up here for some feedback or ideas, and see what you guys think.


The basic concept is that there are Mages who can call upon elements and structure them in specific ways to create and cast unique spells.  The idea is akin to Magicka or Unsounded, but much more diverse.

These spells would have a certain basic structure; Control - Action - Object.  Players could modify and play with this structure to build increasingly complex multi-part spells in an organic way, like building a sentence.  Each element would be part of a Tech Tree that a character could research as they further their study of magic, allowing them to specialize in certain areas.  What makes Mages different from other people and animals is that they intuitively know the most basic and crucial control element: Intent. Intent is essential to almost every spell, as it allows a Mage to bend the elements to perform how they want.  A spell without Intent will act in unpredictable (and often disastrous) results. 

 
Control Elements:  Intent, Direction, Conjure
Action Elements:  Force, Temperature, Pressure, Permanence, Color, Emotion
Object Elements:  Water, Air, Stone, Iron, Light, Time, Space, Gravity, Life

This list is by no means exhaustive, and no element is strictly in one category. For example, Life is often an Action (giving Life to an object or a dead body), but can also be the Object of a spell (such as if you wanted to speed up the growth of a sapling with Time).

I drew up a little example in the spoiler below:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A character would have two stats that determine their spell-casting abilities:  RECOLLECTION, which determines how many elements a Mage can pull together and cast in a single turn, and FOCUS, which is the number of lines a Mage can cast together. 

Example:  Let's say a Mage had a Recollection of 4 and a Focus of 2.  He can pull and cast 4 elements in a single turn, or he can spend two turns to pull 8 elements before casting for a more powerful or complex spell.  However, he would run the risk of being interrupted before he can finish his multi-turn spell.

This also makes the Conjure element riskier.  If a Mage is in the desert, he can pull from the sand without having to spend a slot on Conjure.  On the other hand, if he needs water for a spell, he would have to lengthen his spell by adding Conjure, thus reducing how much he can do in a single turn.

Sorry if this post comes off a bit rambly, I don't have it nailed down too well in my head yet.  What do you guys think? Any ideas?

[~Neri]

This seems interesting.

[WillowLuman]

So, magic kind of like a drag-n-drop programming puzzle game? Sounds pretty cool. I imagine a game would involve players blowing things up in their faces/otherwise failing due to forgetting a crucial step, much like math.

[Remuthra]

The more common term for Light would be Fire, in classic Greek fashion.

Iron seems like an odd choice for an element.

Spoiler: My Elemental Pairs from an old game (might be useful) (click to show/hide)

Fire
Frost
Life
Death
Chaos
Order
Earth
Air
Darkness
Light
Time
Force

[evictedSaint]

So, magic kind of like a drag-n-drop programming puzzle game? Sounds pretty cool. I imagine a game would involve players blowing things up in their faces/otherwise failing due to forgetting a crucial step, much like math.

Yeah, like forgetting to put Intent in at the beginning of their spell and accidentally setting EVERYTHING on fire instead of just the ogre.

The more common term for Light would be Fire, in classic Greek fashion.

Iron seems like an odd choice for an element.

Spoiler: My Elemental Pairs from an old game (might be useful) (click to show/hide)

Fire
Frost
Life
Death
Chaos
Order
Earth
Air
Darkness
Light
Time
Force

Fire and Light are not the same thing, though.  It's possible to make Fire by combining Temperature and Air (and maybe Pressure).  I suppose it would be handy to allow players to research "short-hand" elements that take up only one slot instead of two or three.

Iron (Fe) is actually a pretty basic element.  I'm afraid of getting too abstract and having an element be the "catch all", since this concept is about forcing the players to think and apply elements logically.  It defeats the purpose if they go "X + Arcane = Y" all the time.

Imagine if a player wanted to target an enemies sword and make it melt in their hand.  They would have to know the element Iron to have it as an object, as well as Temperature to heat it up.

[Remuthra]

Iron (Fe) is actually a pretty basic element.

Yeah, but Earth is even more basic, and can be said to include it. Also, depending on your base mythos, Fire and Light can be different forms of the same element. It's pretty common, really (see: Four Elements, Ayleid Mythology).

[evictedSaint]

I guess it boils down to how general vs how specific the elements need to be. 

That was another concern; if a player has to scroll down a list of available elements every time he wants to cast a spell.  I don't want "Earth" to affect a sandy desert, a stone boulder, loamy soil, and an iron sword all at the same time, but is having 4 seperate elements to cover them too much?

I'm open to ideas and suggestions, since I'm just spitballing here.

[Pencil_Art]

Maybe have less specific spell elements generate less powerful spells?

[evictedSaint]

Maybe have less specific spell elements generate less powerful spells?

But how do you quantify that, though?

[Yourmaster]

Do we need to draw? I can't draw.

[Tawa]

This seems interesting.

* Tawarochir watches intently.

[~Neri]

Maybe have less specific spell elements generate less powerful spells?

But how do you quantify that, though?

Give an element a level of specificness?

Maybe the number of obvious branches something has could be the power rating?

Earth would be a 0.01 for example. It branches off into many seperate things, power multiplier should cap at 1. Iron would be quite specific, although it could branch off into a couple. Making it a 0.95-0.99ish. Aka: Really powerful in its targeted area but useless elsewhere. If two Mages vie for control over the same thing in combat, whoever has the better multiplier for that concept gets control? If they were trying to toss the same rock at each other for example.

Multiple routes to multiple concepts would work as well for research. And technically wouldn't need to a multiplier until someone researches it. Probably could go backwards as well to get less specific concepts in different trees. Like using an Earth pathway to get to Iron and then jumping from Iron to Atomic to Gold to Wealth to Greed to Emotion to Happy for example

[evictedSaint]

I like the idea of having multiple connecting branches, but the power multiplier is definitely too much.  Players shouldn't be sitting with a calculator trying to optimize the spell - it'd slow the game to a standstill.  They should be finding creative ways to use what they have to accomplish what they need.

Concievably, any spell can be cast from the most basic elements if you have enough Focus and Recollection.  The more veristile elements (space, time, life) would have a high investment cost to unlock, but once you had them you could use it as much as you please.  That's why I'm wary of saying "X element is objectively better than Y" - knowing another element should give you versatility over your opponent, not "a more powerful version of Y".

[evictedSaint]

Do we need to draw? I can't draw.

This is just a discussion of a proposed game mechanic, not an actual game.  You don't need to draw anything.