2013

I would like to apologize for taking so long to update this blog. 2012 was much busier at work than I expected. 2013 looks like a year with plenty of opportunity to push these designs further along.

Naturally, I did not stop thinking about the process over the last 12 months, and I believe I have made a few advancements.

1. There are only four core Abilities needed to define any character.
   
Abilities:

1. Intelligence:  used to solve problems and learn.
2. Charm:  used in social interactions.
3. Athletics:  used in various physical trials.
4. Perception:  used to assign value to sensory input.

Originally, I wanted more Abilities to define the characters, but it is obvious that is unnecessary and inefficient. When looking at the actual Trials (dice rolling) to overcome obstacles, humans use all their traits(under any given ability) in combination to succeed. Athletics uses speed and strength, Charm uses looks, moxie, and speech, etc. The deciding factor for me was that a character in a tough situation would use any and all in the same trial/encounter to succeed and trying to boil down the exact trait the character is using is just splitting hairs and needlessly bogs down the rules.
The actual defining of what any given Ability score represents in the character is the role of the player. The lead trait of that character's Charm may be good looks, but the secondary trait of a quick wit is doubtlessly used in many situations. The player defines the character, but this does not change the mechanics of the game. Whether the player defines their character as more good looking than humorous, or more quick than strong has no impact on whether the character is successful against a Trial, where all their effort is used. It does have a large impact on how the story is told, and how the character is perceived by others. For instance, a good looking character will get more attention from a distance, but and engaging character will have more impact in conversation. Each player decides their characters role, and the GM makes the story around them.

2. The game mechanic.

Trials

Trials are the actual dice rolling to determine success in an encounter. The example here is spellcasting.

The spellcaster determines the total number of dice they can roll in a skill test to cast a spell.  As with all skill tests, there are three components that add to the total:

1.       Relevant Ability dice:  Intelligence for Elemental casting (for instance).

2.       Relevant Skill dice: There may be more than one and they stack. Vocal Channeling plus Semantic Channeling plus Focus Channeling.

3.       Relevant Knowledge dice: If our Mage was casting a fire spell, then Fire Magic knowledge dice could be added here.

The roll is made, and if the Target to cast the spell is reached with the roll, the casting was successful. In our example, a mage is casting a fire spell.  He has 5d6 Intelligence, 3d6 Vocal Channeling skill, 2d6 Semantic Channeling skill, 2d6 Focus Channeling and 3d6 Fire Magic knowledge.  A breakdown of his roll:

1.       Intelligence: 5+5+5+4+2=21

2.       Vocal: 2+3+4=9

3.       Semantic: 2+4=6

4.       Focus: 2+3=5

5.       Fire Magic: 6+6+3=15

Total=56, which is greater than the 50 pt Target to cast the spell. The spellcaster is successful.

Had this been a combat, the two combatants would roll and compare their totals to see who won and by how much, as I demonstrated some time ago in an earlier post.

The Rule of Karma and Fatigue, or The rule of Ones and Sixes:

During the Trials in any particular encounter, when a one is rolled on any die, that die is removed on any future Trials in that encounter only. This represents fatigue and/or low moral-confidence. Roll all sixes in any roll of a Trial (note the mage in the example above had five such rolls), then any lost die from that roll set due to the fatigue/moral are immediately rolled and added to that Trial. Moreover, if all the die in a roll of all sixes are already present, then the character gets a Karma reaction (based on which roll in the trial was maxed out).

This sounds complicated perhaps, but can be a fun 'game within the game'. Note: all dice are restored after each encounter during the break between encounters, whether that encounter is a combat or a haggling foray in the market. The characters will naturally regroup before moving on.

3. Spells are simple in concept, but perhaps complex in casting.

Targets for spells are high. Spellcasting is difficult, and successful casters quickly learn any skills that will aid them. Note in our example, the mage is using 3 relevant skills, and would have missed the Target without them. Had the mage been unable to speak, or move, or had lost their focal item, then failure would have been more likely. That is why each aspect of a spellcaster's skills and knowledge are so important. any one of them can be the difference.

Some spell examples:

Flame

Knowledge: Fire

Target: 50

Casting time: 1 round

Effect: produces a small flame at the end of the fingertip that is exactly like a candle flame, except that the fingertip is not burned.

Maint: 1d6/turn

Mend

Knowledge: Weaving

Target: 50

Casting time: 1 round

Effect:  causes the fibers of any non-living organic substance to reconnect where the caster touches. The higher the number is over the Target, the more seamless the repair. Must be recast for each type of material (cloth, leather, wood, etc). Multiple recastings on the same seam will improve the mending.

Maint: 1d6/turn

Blow

Knowledge: Air Magic

Target: 50

Casting time: 1 round

Effect: a channeled blast of air sufficient to blow out a candle at 10 feet distance. This can be in any direction from the tip of the caster’s finger (or lips), so it could be used to levitate a feather, as the force can be modulated.

Maint: 1d6/turn

Dig

Knowledge: Earth Magic

Target 50

Casting time: 1 round

Effect: digs/burrows a four inch deep, four inch in diameter hole in any earthen surface (soil or stone) every turn where caster touches.

Maint: 1d6/turn

Flash

Knowledge: Light

Target: 50

Casting time: 1 round

Effect: causes a flash of bright light from the palm of the caster. If in melee, this can stun an opponent.

Cannot be maintained.

These are examples of the simplest spells. More complex ones would have higher Targets.

4. Bonuses, Bumps and Pips:

Regardless of what task the character is trying to achieve, they will use a very wide selection of conditional modifiers to assist them. All characters (not just spellcasters) can gain magic-based skills (many of what used to be Feats) to assist them consistently, spell-like skills that work when a Trial is passed, and various items that will assist them only when used. For instance, a Bard could sing a rousing song that could prevent the Rule of Fatigue, or aid the Rule of Karma. A shrine could bless a character to have +1d6 on every Trial where they pronounce a Deity's name at the start of the Trial. Another example is a root, that when eaten gives 2d6 Strength boost to the Athletics ability. The possibilities are very wide open and allow for more tools for the GM to tell the story. Of course, players will be alert to chances to help there character and more focused on discovering these possibilities, which is hopefully, more true to the Darwinian concepts behind this game.

Magic Spells Reconsidered

Now that we have established the pip system as the range in which bonuses dwell, it should be no surprise that this will transfer to magic as well.

Before we can design spells, we have to define how magic works, or more specifically, how spellcasting works. There are two types of magical energy. Spiritual and Elemental. Spirit energy coming from life and belief. While, elemental energy comes from the magic latent in most elements. Spirit Spellcasters attempt to move the spirit energies to do their bidding, while elemental caster attempt to energize and focus the energy to the task. Spirit energies flow through the soul of the caster, while elemental energies are controlled by the mental focus of the caster.

Thus, spirit casters attempt to find the spiritual rhythm  of the energy and align it to their need, while the elemental caster identifies the magic of the materials being used, energizes and manipulates the magic.

So, each caster uses their skills and bonuses to cast their spell, the spellcasting roll is compared to the resistance roll of the target. Below the target is a failure, but over the target is the amount of success the spell has. This success, depending on the spell, can be channelled to an effect. This overage is the damage of a spell meant to damage, or a time extender for spells with a timed effect, like water breathing. Some spells will give the caster the option on directing the success down different avenues.

Magic spells are usually learned from a teacher (or church), and each teacher(or church) has a repertoire of spells that a student may learn. Each culture has different spells that work in much the same way, but are cast in largely different ways. Different vocal, somantic and material components can be used to create the exact same result. Some similar spells may have very interesting differences. Bards and fire mages can cast the same spell effect, but they do it in vastly different ways.

Successfully casting a spell is not a given. There is always a chance that the target will be too high, and the spell will fail. Usually this simply means the magic never formed, but occasionally the magic will come forth in an uncontrolled way.

To Feat or Not to Feat

As most of us who have played role-playing games before know, once the basic stats, abilities or skills are laid down, then we often get to choose a bonus power for a character. For the most part, I think this idea is cool, but I do not believe that it should be doled out in a systematic progression. Like any skills or bonuses we might achieve in real life, these advantages are part and parcel of who we are and the story of our lives.

Eagle Scouts earn their way. Black belts are earned. Invitation to join social groups such as Freemasons are often extended to those who have made efforts in society. Most colleges only accept applicants who have the proper credentials, etc.

Of course, we often find in the modern world that devoting time, money and effort will get us most of what we want. In a medieval setting, the really interesting pathways to knowledge and power were adventures in themselves. It was a different set of rules from our modern world. Might was right and it damn well took what it wanted. Knowledge was often hidden and its access very limited. Secrets were everywhere and ignorance of what lay just 10 miles distant from someone's own home was standard. Add magical power to the scales, and I believe there are many possible stories to be told.

Rules, of course, are all about defining the what, when and where. In this case, players should be given story lead options for their characters. Your character lives in dreamland provence, and the local militia offers training in these weapons, fighting styles (feats) and skills. These religions offer opportunities for their followers. These local guilds or industries (like fishing in a seaside village) offer this array of skills and feats, etc. Social organizations and familial ties could offer yet more opportunities.

Each advantage is situational. Example: Liam gets a +3 bonus for using a targe from his homeland (in addition to the targe's defensive rating, due to special training he received as a young man from the Shieldmaster Angus McLean of his village. It does not apply to other shields Liam might use. Perhaps their is a fierce clan pride bonus whenever Liam wears his tartan or the badge of his clan. Perhaps this is only triggered when the opponent insults his clan and the bonus is plus +4. The amount of the bonus would be tied to the story and the character of Liam.

As the story advances, Liam's bonus could change. Liam could have slain a wyvern that was attacking the village, making him a local hero. This could mean many different situational bonuses while Liam is in the local area, and it could also add to the ferocity of his defense of that area's honor. The bonus could grow from +4 to +6 when opponents insult his village, etc. The possibilities are endless, but they should be determined by the character's actions and work with the story.

This would also hold true for knowledge. If Liam travelled to Egypt, he would certainly start acquiring knowledge about Egyptian culture, and perhaps some skills of that culture. Exposure to new information will slowly add understanding, while determined study will foster quicker growth of knowledge or skills. As mentioned above, opportunities to gain are always there and central to the story. The Gamemaster will award special bonuses in reflection of character actions and efforts. They would not be awarded by gaining 'levels' or accumulating points.

Consider the ramifications of this type of progression. One character, Dirra, is always scouting ahead of the party. Naturally, skills associated with a scout will grow with all of Dirra's effort in that role. Concentrated effort by Dirra to study the tracks of every creature they encounter would grow a tracking skill. Detailed study of plants would foster herbalism, etc. By not just picking a skill from a list, the character who has just been though a long dungeon doesn't suddenly gain charioteering. The player directs the character's efforts toward that character's goals in the story. The gamemaster awards progress as the story unfolds.

As skills are earned this way, so are special powers. Again, these are all awarded in story based on the character's action, and never chosen from a list. It is the character who dared to pull the sword from the stone, drink from the mystical fountain, walk through the magical mirror, etc who is forever changed. Some powers are only obtained through special quest, or only after joining a certain group (Wu-tang clan does not teach outsiders).

In my mind, this opens a whole world of possibilities for discovery and is much more realistic in terms of how characters should accrue skills/powers.

Weapons and Armor

Given the Pip System for Skills, it follows that Weapons and Armor should have a fixed value for how much damage they can do and how much damage they can resist. First, we have to decide that weapons don't kill people, skilled warriors do. Weapons are simply tools used by creatures with widely varying levels of skill. If you give two combatants each a dagger, the more skilled (or lucky) is going to win. If you give one combatant a sword, and the other a dagger, then the sword gives an advantage, but more skill will win out.

The theory is that the possible damage of the weapon is added to the combat role. The opponent also rolls. Whoever has the higher total overcomes the other's defensive skill and the difference is the damage dealt. This damage is then reduced by the Armor Rating of that being's armor. So, if the successful attack scores 5 points of damage, but the defender has chain mail that reduces it by 6, then no damage is dealt. (in hard-core rules, the Armor takes the damage and must be repaired).

To make this terribly simple, I will use the top damage listed in the d20 equipment list as the base damage of each weapon type. There, a dagger would do 1d4 damage. Here a dagger does 4 damage. A poor quality dagger would do 3, while a well-made dagger might do 5 or more, etc. Again, the skill of the weapon user is a much higher determiner of success than the damage rating of that weapon.

Armor, on the other hand, would either have a simple rating or a flexible rating determined by its condition. For example, some fine studded leather armor has a rating of 8. It could either always be 8, or it could have 80 damage absorption points, and its armor rating could be one tenth of this point total rounded up at any given time. Example: this armor absorbs 4 points in the first combat round. 80-4=76. 76 divided by 10 is 7.6, which rounded up is 8. So, for the next round, the armor can absorb 8 more point. In the next round it absorbs 2 points, so 76-2=74 which still rounds up to 8. In the third round, it absorbs 7 points, and 74-7=67, which rounds up to 7. So, the next round it can only absorb 7 points, etc.

Armor, regardless of damage absorption point totals, can only reduce the damage so much. If the example armor, which is at 7 points was hit with 13 points in the next round, the armor would take the first 7 points, and the wearer would take the rest.

The real problem with armor is its weight. For each 50 lbs of equipment, the character subtracts a d6 from their Athletics skill die rolls.

Skills-The Pip System

My original thought was to have skills grow by 1d6 for each increment. Now, I am considering a pip system for skills. That is, the value of one's skill is a constant that is added to any skill rolls. So, Braegar has some melee attack skill with his sword (8 pts) and he takes a swing at a goblin. Braegar's Athletics is 6d6, so he rolls 6d6 getting a 21, then adds 8 for his skill. His roll is a 29. Other pips for the quality of the sword Braegar is using could also come into play.

Pips also make magic bonuses easier by giving pips instead of whole dice.

The maximum number of pips one can have in any skill is equal to the max possible in their intelligence ability (example-5d6 has a max of 30).

Of course, magic and other considerations stack.

Skills Redone

Here is a list of some skills that might be used:

Athletics-ability to move the body, coordination.

Melee Weapon-each weapon is trained separately.

Ranged (weapon)-each weapon is trained separately.

Climbing

Jumping

Riding

Swimming

Tumbling

Hiding

Move Silently

Pick Pocket

Use Rope

Armor

Shield

Ambidexterity

Mounted Archery

Mounted Combat

Running

Two-Weapon Style (skill level minus 2d6)

Escape Artist

Balance

Evasion

Ready Action (action) - you always practice this opening combat action.

Smithing (any)

Bull Rush

Stability

Somantics-spellcasting skill

Intelligence-ability to learn or solve problems

Learning-each die of learning is subtracted from any learning task.

Decipher Script

Chemistry (Elemental)-knowledge of mundane substances that aid in elemental spellcasting.

Alchemy-knowledge of magical substances that aid in elemental spellcasting

Appraise

Craft mundane (type)

Disable Device

Forgery

First Aid

Innuendo

Knowledge (subject)

Profession (type)

Read Lips (language)

Write Language (language)

Wilderness Lore

Tracking

Elixir making (type)

Concentration

Craft magical (type)

Medicine

Open Lock

Scrying

Use Magical Device

Scribe Scroll

Perception

Listen

Spot

Search

Blind-fighting

Spirit Spellcasting (spell)

Potion-making (type)

Spirit Sensing (type)

Animal Empathy (type)

Intuit Direction

Sense Motive

Use Spiritual Device

Enhanced Sense (type) - enhances checks involving that sense.

Imbue Charm

Spirit Tracking

Mantra of Iron Will

Centering

Charm
Bluff

Diplomacy

Disguise

Gather Info

Handle Animal

Intimidate

Perform

Speak Language (language)

Vocalization-spellcasting skill

Leadership

Gambling

Reset

DragonCon 2011 was great. I spent most of the time listening to game designers on the various panels. One thing that Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance, etc) said really stuck with me. He said basically that the only useful ability score or skills are the ones you actually use in the game. The pure economic efficiency of this is not lost on me. While the whole attention of this blog is to design a game that observes principles of evolution in it's design, there is no reason one has to be burdened with all the underlying information that reality consists of. To wit, my game concept would be much easier if it was simplified.

Naturally, I do not want to compromise the real feel of the game, but the essence of the game is the story. Shedding the mathematics and making the story more central is what I want. That said, I want the story to be realistic even with magic and other fantasy elements. So, let's see what we can do to make this less complicated.

Clearly, I have too many ability scores. What scores do you use in actual game play?

Definite-
1. Intelligence-used to solve problems and learn.
2. Charm-used in social interactions.
3. Athletics-used in various physical trials.
4. Perception-used to assign value to sensory input.

Possible-
5. Reflexes-used to determine is character avoids damage/spell effect. (Question-wouldn't perception or athletics do the same thing?)
6. Health-physical health (Question-wouldn't Athletics work as your physical health, thus subtracting would diminish your ability? Ditto for mental/stun attacks on Perception)

Using the four scores from the Definite section only, we can see a game mechanic that is both simplified and effective. Any skills would ADD to the base ability(i.e., the dice are added).

Originally, I thought 3d6 would be an average human score in each of these ability scores, but I now believe 5d6 is a better representation. Thus, losing a dice of perception when stunned would be more palatable.
The 5d6 average would clearly give more variations and thus represent the underlying complexity more effectively.

To start, a player would get 5d6 in each of their four abilities, plus one of the following kits:

1. Exceptional Slummer-8d6 to spread among their abilities, a set of poor quality clothes, and a poor quality weapon.
2. Merchant's child-6d6 to spread among abilities, and 200 silver pieces for equipment.
3. Lord's offspring-4d6 to spread among abilities, and 600 silver pieces for equipment.
4. Wealthy child-2d6 for abilities, and 1800 silver for equipment.

Higher starting amounts would mean possible servants and hirelings. Naturally, the GM would have to present the viable possibilities available in the locale they create, but the possible kits would all be related to the world/story in an integral way. Adding previous vocations or previous associations in kits is a great way to add back story. The possibilities are in no way limited to the choices above. Certainly, there have been entire books written on possible character kits for other gaming systems. The question is only what the GM will allow for the story being told.

The equipment list from the previous posting is still mostly valid, though I plan to make much more of issues of quality in my own campaign.

So what about skills? I have never met anyone whose skills outstretched their abilities, so I suggest that the ability score be the limiting factor on skill growth. The previous list in this blog is pretty comprehensive, but there is not much use in the added complexity. The new skill format is pretty simple:

Sword use (Athletics) xd6, where x is the level of the skill learned. x cannot exceed the level of the relevant ability or intelligence, whichever is higher. I will rework the earlier skills post later, so that players will have a list.

Another major change is making skill growth story related. To improve a skill, characters must find the means (trainer, money, books, materials, etc) and work out training in the story. It can be as simple as applying the training of a weapons master in combat, but the GM awards/rewards characters skill advancements based on their actions. So, there is no accumulation of experience or development points. Instead, the player incorporates the characters development in the story through the character's actions. If the character joins a wizard's guild, then spell training is more likely than if the same character joined a dojo. The GM has built a world with centers of power controlled by certain groups. For the characters to gain power, they will need to interact with these groups. Tricks of the trade have to be learned from people in the trade, etc.

Thus, skill opportunities and the back story add another level of complexity to the character creation process. Taking the four kits listed above, now add different learning opportunities. Let's say their are four main religions in the place of origin for these characters. Each religion would provide a different set of cultural biases and different learning opportunities. A religion based on death would likely have learning opportunities for identifying/using poisons, for instance. The overall culture might be militant, providing weapon training to all characters, but the poison training would only be available to members of the death-based religion.
In some of the most metropolitan cities in the GM's world, there could be multiple sources to learn part or all the possible training for a skill. Knowledge is power, and there are no public libraries. Characters will have to bargain to gain knowledge.

Spells and such. Learning spiritual rituals or arcane spells is just another skill. Like all tasks, the more skill you have will help you be more successful. Each ritual or spell has to be learned separately. The target score for the skill role will vary depending on circumstrance, so it is good to have higher skill on the more useful tasks. Failure is common in both types of spellcasting, which is why characters spend so much time and attention to improving their chances of success through their actions. While the chance of casting any spell is variable, the result is more stable. To simplify spellcasting, the magic formed is limited and not a stream of focus. Once cast, the magic is whole and the caster has no ability to grow or enhanse the magic without casting another spell. Thus, the variance is in the casting, ranging from backfiring failure to overwhelming success. The highest percentages being either failure or success, with success being the standard, expected outcome of the spell.

As each ritual is individual to the spirit it is directed at, and each arcane spell is individual to the mage's mind who first discovered it, learning spells and rituals can be a unique process each time it is done. Once learned, the caster may cast it any time they like, as often as they have the means to do so.

That is rough sketch of where I am taking this. As always, feel free to comment!

What's Going On

After months of posting without much response, I have decided to take further development offline. More to the point, I'm developing a campaign specific set of rules for the limited cultures I want to use. Once I have some viable rules for playtesting printed, I'll gather some battle-tested gamefreaks to test it all out. Please feel free to continue commenting here, as I will check back from time to time.

Thank You.

Review: Spirit of the Century

On the advise of a good friend and long-time gamer, Jeff Kahrs, I borrowed his copy of "Spirit of the Century" by Donoghue, Hicks, and Balsera. It is a role-playing game that takes place in the 'Pulp' era, with all the decidedly fun Pulp hero archetypes and scenarios.

The reason he suggested I read it was two-fold (He will correct me, if I am wrong). First,  the rules are simple and direct, as this is meant to be a 'pickup' style game (i.e., simple is good). Secondly, every rule and concept leads right back to the story. For the players to use the game mechanics of fate points to reroll or add a bonus to critical actions (skill rolls), the player must invoke 'aspects' or story themes. The player is forced to enhance the story by telling how their character's aspects fit in the scene to allow heroic action.

Really, it is quite clever how the designers marry creative role-playing with power gaming. I could only imagine how much more colorful many a gaming session would have been if the die rolls had been so directly effected by role-playing effort in other games. Point made.

While I view our game construct here to be more for experienced gamers, it might not hurt to encourage role-playing through nudges and bumps to die rolls. Also, it will not hurt to have this apply at a couple of different levels of action. While I have always allowed players to 'grease the wheels' of an adventure through solid role-playing (i.e., made NPCs more forthcoming and dropped hints or clues in accordance with their efforts), it would not hurt to write in some solid suggestions at some point in this process.

Thanks Jeff!

Elemental Spell List

Spell Name:   Resistance to Elements

School: Any
History:  As early caster explored areas of intense elemental nature, or to protect themselves from their own experiments, they developed this spell to help protect themselves.

Maximum Casting Time:   1 round
Minimum Casting Cost (Base Duration):   40 (10 minutes)
Overage Effect:   each point over adds a minute to the duration
Spell Effect:   provides 1d6 damage reduction from the element described (fire, cold, water, air, earth, metal, wood, magic, etc). These effects can be stacked.

Range:   touch.

Spell Name:   Jet of Cold
School: Ice
History:  an early attack crafted by ice mages.
Maximum Casting Time:   5 turns
Minimum Casting Cost (Base Duration):   40 (instant)
Overage Effect:   for every six points over, the mages may choose to extend the length of the jet an addition 5 feet or add +1 to the damage total.
Spell Effect:   creates a roughly 5 inch diameter jet of cold energy to emanate from the caster's hand and travel 40 ft, causing 1d6 base damage. if forty feet of space is not available, the effect my rebound off solid surfaces.
Range:   as described.

Spell Name:   Detect Poison
School: Any

History:  caster want useful knowledge
Maximum Casting Time:   10 turns
Minimum Casting Cost (Base Duration):   40 (1 minute)
Overage Effect:   caster may either extend distance 1 ft per 1 point overage, or they can use the overage to overcome anti-detection magics.
Spell Effect:   detects poisons within 10 ft radius, and with overage can detect hidden poisons.

Range:   touch

Spell Name:   Stun

School: Perception
History:  mages who specialize in mind attacks discovered this dulling attack.
Maximum Casting Time:   1 turn
Minimum Casting Cost (Base Duration):   40 (instant)
Overage Effect:   each overage point extends distance 1 foot.
Spell Effect:  A blunt attack of mental energy (3d6 potency) is aimed at the target. Target saves vs Willpower. Every point over the willpower roll is a combat round that the target is stunned. If the attack fails to stun the target, the target knows from where the target originated.
Range:   20 feet.

Spell Name:   Flash
School: Fire or light.

History: as casters started learning how to use magic to make flame and light, they learned the value of a flash of light as an attack.
Maximum Casting Time:   6 rounds
Minimum Casting Cost (Base Duration):   40 (instant)
Overage Effect:   every 10 points over (rounded down) adds 1d6 to the attack strength. Max 6d6.
Spell Effect:   A flash of light (power 3d6) blinds one seeing target. Target saves verses Health. For each point of above the health role, the target is blinded for 1 turn.
Range:   line of sight.

Material Components For Every Elementalist Mage

From our previous discussion on fire mages and material components:

Fire mages, for instance, can use any combustible fuel to aid their spells, but the quality and quantity of those fuels can range widely. Common natural ingredients(carbohydrates) wood, cloth, food would be energy level 1, but how much mass would be needed?

Energy level 1(wood or other carbohydrates):
oven dried or completely dehydrated fuels (such as from an ancient desert tomb) 10 lbs
charcoal 7lbs
air dried wood 14 lbs
green or living tree 28 lbs
water-soaked wood 90 lbs
rain-soaked living tree 120lbs
lamp-oil soaked wood 3lbs
greek fire coated stick 4 ounces
alcohol beverages with 50-80% alcohol 1 liter


Energy level 2 (flamable oils):
lamp oil-crude 4 standard flasks (soaks 12 lbs wood)
lamp oil refined 1 standard flask (soaks 12 lbs wood)
grain alcohol 90-100% 1 liter

Energy level 3 (Highly flammable compounds):
greek fire - 1/12 standard flask (standard flask can coat 40 sticks)

Energy level 5 (Explosives)
There might be some limited explosives discovered on our alternate earth, but none at this time.

Fire or heat could give a bonus to fire magic casting, just as rain or cold might hinder it. Strong sources of fire or heat can be used by a fire mage to transfer the effect into a spell. Molten lava could fuel a spell. A burning house could. Note how much fuel the mage can gather in one 5ft hex of influence to determine how much fuel they can gather in one round at their skill level.

Please note how each level of energy is broken down into nice 1d6 chunks. Every mage will have a casting skill. A mage can convert 1d6 of material component per every 1d6 of casting skill they have per round they can spend casting. Note that the caster can move 5ft without penalty every round while in this collection phase.

Ice mages get 1d6 for every cubic yard of ice they use.
Death mages get 1d6 for every 1d6 of Health they destroy.
Air mages get 1d6 for every round they breath clean air (during casting).
Earth mages get 2d6 every round they touch earth while casting.
Sun mages get 1d6 every round while in the sun.
Water mages get 1d6 every cubic yards of water they use.
Etc.

There are higher energy material component examples for these other types of mages, but not with the ease of a fire mage.

Then there are bonuses for sympathetic material components, like a bird feather for a fly spell. These often add a 1d6 and are consumed with the casting. Better examples can add more energy. Obviously, a feather from a griffon would add more than a sparrow's feather. Condition is also important.

More bonuses can be found from sympathetic tokens. Obsidian tokens are good for aiding fire spells and last through several castings before crumbling.

Of course, wands and staves are very carefully crafted magical items that can aid the caster repeatedly, but more on that later.

Somatic components- gestures aid in gathering casting energy and focus. Each round spent making these gestures (and not gathering energy from components) adds 1d6 per round for a maximum of x rounds, where x is the total skill dice in spellcasting the caster has. This is often done in conjunction with a verbal component, which must be heard at least 10 feet from the caster, or fail aiding the spell. Again, this adds 1d6 per round for a maximum of x rounds, where x is the total skill dice in spellcasting the caster has.

Beginnings of Elemental Magic

As higher intelligence came to the races, each race started to be more analytical of the world around them. Elemental magic, much like science, started first with defining the known world. The classical elements they defined were Earth (sometimes further divided between Stone and Metal), Water (and Ice), Air, Sun (also Heat or Fire), and Magic. Unlike our world, the fantasy world would consider Magic as a natural element.

Magic would, for many early thinkers, define events that would later be defined by other elements and processes. Magic being found in all other elements in limited amounts would excite many early thinkers to focus on it.

Each race would have its own discoveries. Many races would specialize in magics best suited to their local environment.

Starting with basic combinations of elements in the form of compounds or potions, or with accidental discoveries of the power of will to influence magic, basic magical spells would develop.

The much more common and older Spiritual Magic establishment would completely overshadow the early centuries of Elemental Magic. In many places, the powerful Spiritual Magic Establishment would try to crush the upstart Elementalists (Dark Ages of Elemental Magic).

Magic, of course, is not a fad. The power of early Elementalists inspires many more would-be mages. Over time, the elementary level of spellcasting is defined in several different cultures independently. As magic is an elemental physical force, it works the same wherever the mage learns it.

Beyond the basics, there is much to be said for the application of imagination by various researchers in discovering new spells.

From a game rules standpoint, I am starting with the basics that each researcher would discover first, then demonstrate some advanced forms. These basic spells represent what researchers would most want from magic and are crude and simple. Later advanced forms will emphasize skill and art in casting.

So, here is a short list of the traditional uses of magic through spellcasting (non-clerical):
1. Resist damage or shield.
2. Project damage.
3. Effect perception or influence minds.
4. Create light or flame.
5. Repair or heal.
6. Detection
7. Create materials from nothing
8. Apply force without damaging (unseen servant, hold portal)
9. Summon/control animals/creatures/demons
10. Animate undead/bind spirits to items.
11. Control intelligent beings.
12. Clarification (Comprehend languages, Identify)
13. Effect weather.
14. Enhance abilities or attacks in melee (short lived boosts)
15. Physically alter substances.

These are just a few that I have quickly thrown out to show the variety of goals different researchers might have. The important thing to understand is that most of these would be common desires in any culture. Thus, each culture would find a way to make this work using the material components of their environment.

To be clearer, there is more than one way to cast the same spell effect. You might wave your arms differently, say different phases, and use different materials, but the end result would be the same. X amount of material will produce x amount of outcome for someone with y amount of skill. So, when basic spells are defined, they only describe the casting in terms of the variables that the caster can use to achieve the desired result. Specific activation phrases, somatic motions and material components are not usually listed specifically until more involved rituals and castings are learned.

As noted in the previous post dealing with material components, the fire mage could use the same types of fuels to cast a wide variety of spells. The mage's skill allows the mage to collect the energy mentally and form the spell. The fire mage would not be able to use water as fuel, like the water mage would or wind like and air mage, etc. But many of the same spells could be cast by each type of learning. Once the magic is in the mage's control, forming the spell is very similar.

Magic is everywhere, the key is to determine how each culture would most likely access it. For instance, humans would more likely find magic through fire, air or music (bard), than through water. There is nothing to say there are not human water mages. There are, but there may not be any sea elf fire mages. It has to improve survival opportunities to become commonplace. Quirky hermit mages may study anything, but larger support and training opportunities would be with the more common types.

Could mages find their inspiration for the sun? moon? stars? darkness? life? death?   Of course. The mage may believe their power comes from the moon, but it is more likely air magic. It would be the lack of perception on the part of the mage to not realize this. Naturally, the mage might have a significant confidence bonus when the moon is out due to cultural bias.

There are many different ways to package magic schools and teachers which are largely based on culture. As mages advance to mastery, they do not require material components to cast spells. Instead, the material component is simply providing additional power to the casting. From this perspective, it doesn't matter where the original learning to convert materials from came from, but the mage that can learn how to convert different sources is more versatile.

Please note that mastery is slow to come about, and mages will always want any edge they can find. Indeed, the finest schools would probably offer teaching of many different 'schools'.

Of all the design concepts we have discussed, this is the hardest one for me to finalize. It may be that the final product is different from what I am stating here, but that is why I have saved this for last. In our world, so much information is now world-wide, that it is really hard to envision a world where knowledge and learning are very different from culture to culture, region to region. Throw in magic and mythical races, and how well information spreads is very clouded.

Trade, that would normally facilitate the spread of knowledge (or at least information), is hindered in so many ways. Certainly, one of the big strengths of early empires would be the heightened trade activity within its borders. In my own world design, these empires are critical to the development of elemental magic knowledge. Not only does it require a large number of food producing citizens to facilitate a mage economically, but the intelligence needed to cast magic is very high. Libraries and schools (university is too big a concept) for magic knowledge would be rare anywhere there was not a huge civilization to foster them. Furthermore, the churches would not harbor a threat to their supremacy, so it wouldn't happen everywhere. Sparta would not have a mage school, for instance.

The rise of a mage-led empire could be a possibility. Just as likely, secret societies of mages could form to share knowledge. The only certainty is that elemental magic is too powerful not to find success and a place in most societies at some point.

Regardless of these developments, the spells in game terms should follow a logical progression of increasing difficulty to cast. Where I had originally wanted a specific formula for each spell, I now see magic spellcasting as a skill of the intelligent mind. If the mind forms it, then the source doesn't need to be specific. The source just needs to be within the spellcaster's experience and skill.

What does occur to me is that some magical 'schools' would be easier to learn in than others. It is always easier to destroy than to create, so teachings based on fire or death which consume or destroy would take less effort than earth, water or air type magics. Life or transcendent magics that see magic for what it is would be much more difficult to learn. This would also explain why more primitive cultures would first develop fire or death magic before others.

In some cultures, elemental magic would be viewed as another gift of the gods and part of the mother church. In others, power is power might rule the culture. Again, the gamemaster will determine what advancements and cultures exist in their design. I'm trying to show many different takes on the same material to help in designing cultures for all the non-human races that should exist in a fantasy world.

In conclusion, I will design the elementalist spells to follow in a manner that allow destruction and consumption easier than creation and life. Also, deception will be easier than clarification for spells that effect the mind. Summoning and binding spells will be more difficult on a scale from simple creatures to intelligent beings. Binding spirits will be very tricky and advanced, so controlling intelligent undead/demons will not be remotely basic.

Spare You The Details

One of my prime playtesters (Zanna) made a very astute point concerning the process of designing the non-human races. There is no point in leading anyone who might read this blog down any 'rabbit holes' where I expound on the virtues of choosing one set or another of evolutionary factors.
In fact, world creation in this sense is a creative process of the gamemaster, but it has to stand up to a very simple set of qualifiers.

1. Every race (regardless of intelligence) competes with other races and creatures for survival.
2. Survival depends on resources.
3. Every intelligent race has a variety of cultures within it that compete for dominance.
4. All races and cultures must have variation to support evolutionary advancement.
5. These advancements help improve the efficiency of resource usage.
6. Magic is a resource that is also a tool in the more intelligent races and cultures.

Largely, D&D has failed to show enough variation in its races until it released world-based supplements. Even these fall short due to other shortcomings of D&D, and not the imagination of the many contributors. It should be noted that these variations were very popular and added significantly to the game.

Also, there are no half-elves. Elves and humans are distinct species and their DNA would not produce a viable off-spring. Of course, humans and elves on your world COULD be of the same species, but that would not really follow the logic of the evolutionary theory standard we are working with here. If you do have mixing of the races, please be sure to have traits thought out for those who have less than 1/2 blood of a race. What is being a 1/4 elf like? 1/8? 1/16?  How much percentage does one need to be accepted? How much to use race-specific items? Thanks again to Zanna for posing the 1/16 blood quandry.


So, rather than plot out all the advancements over time of the races, which might not be pertinent to these core rules that others might use, I'll forego describing the variety of races.

Instead, I will try to explore the different possible elemental magics and their logical development regardless of race. In this way, the gamemaster decides what 'technologies' or levels of advancement for magic the races of their world have obtained.

New World Order

As I mentioned in my last post, I want to set the world up from a point 10,000 years prior to the present and let it naturally evolve from there. In general, I would like to couple mythologies with the cultures that spawned them. This means that the mythological creatures that are associated with the various legends need a home too. Beyond that, there will be races and creatures you'll want to throw in. These need a home, too.

Naturally, your world may be totally different from our earth in every meaningful way. The Core Rules should be similar in any case.

Also, one could stop the timeline moving forward to a pre-historic, hunter-gatherer society, or travel past my intended time-frame to a near Victorian steampunk genre. There is all kinds of flexibility, and it might be fun to consider.

Since I am concentrating on Europe for my own campaign, I will touch on some considerations that I am looking at to give an idea of how things might progress.

From earlier migrations out of Africa, Europe is already populated by many humanoid races and mythical creatures humans arrive (vs just Neanderthals in our own world). These human tribes migrate through the Middle East and up through the Danube river valley and spread out from there. This was the Stone Age, which lasted until about 3,000 BC. It was replaced by the Bronze Age which lasted until about 600 BC, and then the Iron Age took hold.

While I intend to start my campaign during the Iron Age, many artifacts will be preserved from the Bronze Age. As mentioned in previous posts, Spiritual power can reside in any item carried and used by a powerful hero of ages past. Also, as the Magical items are created, extra care will be taken to preserve these items. I mention this now, to help put in the back of our minds where ancient civilizations rose and fell, and where their artifacts may be found. Also, when ancient tomb is uncovered, arrowheads and other items will not likely be made of iron and so forth.

The Classical Greek and Roman Empires took place during the Bronze Age.

The questions I have are as follows:
1. What races were in Europe before humans arrived?
2. How does the presence of these races influence/change the eventual distribution of humans?
3. How does magic affect the timeline?
4. How do gods affect the cultures?

Of course, all these questions are inter-related.

We know that written languages came into use during the Bronze Age, and this would be an important development in the retaining and spread of magical power. Elemental magics in their raw, naturally occurring forms would be discovered prior to this in the Stone Age, but only simple, direct uses would  be practiced by the various tribes. Much more common in the late Stone Age would be spiritual magic, as agriculture and animal husbandry would give rise to a power priest class (among others). Sustained prosperity (praise the gods!) would mean booming populations and much higher pressures to expand or protect power bases. This would push technological growth.

I would argue that these pressures would be come super-inflated, causing incredible wars and conflicts during the Middle Bronze Age. Clearly, more cultures attuned to worshipping the sources of spiritual power on scale with Egypt would have arisen and conflicted. Pharaohs and other priest-king-gods would arise and convert, sublimate or kill all who opposed them.

For the sake of simplicity, one could argue that all bonuses on a national scale equalled out in proportion with historical advantages and the same cultures dominated in much the same way. I would argue against this idea, but many of us do not have enough time to reinvent the wheel in this case. The balance of power between Egyptians, Hittites, Kassites and Hurrians might have been completely different. The Assyrian empire might have risen sooner, or the Egyptians might have dominated completely.

Certainly, the even earlier Sumerian empire could have survived and flourished and with strong magics might have expanded to the area of the later Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, or Persian Empire with Gilgamesh as their leader!
Fortunately, there are not that many major human cultures to look at and analyze, so it becomes a matter of what story you want to tell. For my part, I do not want to add too many other races to these old kingdoms, but it might be interesting to allow another race to assume the role of one of the old kingdoms.

Rather than expand old empires, you may wish to have evolutionary pressures from magic to cause all such cultures to be lessened or restrained. Other angles have played out in D&D, such as the rise of Necromancer kings and their legions of undead fighting for control of the old kingdoms. There is little doubt that many interesting ways can be invented to explain the past history of your world and how things came to be.

Back to Europe. Our European tribes left well before these Old Empires formed, though they will be influenced by any powerful cultures that enter their territory.

The Greeks and Romans are two big areas of development. Greek myths, which the Romans copied in so many ways, are very rich in content. The Greeks not only provide strong spiritual forces, they also start to define much of the material world. The Greek world and the Mediterranean are ideal for a Bronze Age campaign. As the Greeks and Romans have a direct role in the formation of Europe, their cultures will have to be quantified more carefully. The Germanic/Norse culture and the Celtic cultures also seem strong enough to hold their own in a fantasy setting, it just depends on which you want to emphasize.

All the European cultures have variations of similar creatures, such as fairies, elves, sprites, gnomes, goblins, etc. I leave it to you to develop whichever best fits your story. In my mind, Europe is largely unconquered by humans, and many forests (gone on modern maps) and mountain regions are controlled by other races. These races have variations themselves. As I mentioned earlier, there will be nine races of elf in my campaign world. Sprites will be much more varied.

Orc is largely Tolkien's name for a race of evil humanoids (akin to ogres of legend), but has been used so often, that one would think orcs were as solid as Dragons in ancient folklore. Not so much. Goblins enjoy a much longer history, and much more variation. Of course, you could name your evil humanoids 'n00bs' if you wanted to, but Tolkien showed exactly how rich a bit of research can make a fantasy writing effort. And his names all derive from his strong understanding of ancient languages and lore.

Also take into consideration the geography and ecology of your world. The entire area of eastern Europe was originally covered by virgin forests. Travel by people was limited to river routes until about the 14th century; roads and bridges appeared much later. Many places in Europe were 'remote' and sheltered. Living in or near a forest in a world or long, dark, cold winters would make anyone cautious. When those same forests are the homes of goblins or worse, no one is going to be overly adventurous.

So, I'm looking at cultures that hug waterways and fortify heavily. Hunting parties travel in large groups, and trade is slow to develop. Spirit worship is very strong and is a big part of survival. Cities have large temples, and every village has a shrine. Religious conflicts are common. Slavery is common. Theft is common. Suffering among the weak is common.

Logical World Design

As you can tell from the title of this blog, I adhere to the concepts of Darwin's Theory of Evolution and the advancements science had made in the theory since then. That in no way means I fail to appreciate the social and religious efforts to understand our place in the universe. Creating a alternate world of magic and myth brings any such appreciation to the fore.

Let us image that I was highly enamored with one ideology to the point I wanted to mold the imagined world in that view alone. It might be cool to have heroes that lived and died in honor of one mythos in a world where everyone either revered the true gods or were enemies. Dune might be an example of this type of concept. I liked Dune, but I don't recall many non-human races. Throw in a few dozen non-human races. Would all these races follow the teachings of the Orange Bible? I would hope not. Cultures that are not different in ideology, have no relevance.

One ideology for all cultures implies that no other perception of reality is feasible, or that one culture has successfully dominated the rest. Christianity has attempted to systematically dominate the western hemisphere of our world. This was achieved by many means, which I will not detail here. Even at the highest point of power for the Catholic Church, the Christian faith was divided into numerous sub-groups. Today, one would be hard pressed to identify every church that has adopted a variation of Christianity. No one ideology has ever dominated the entire human civilization, and it would not make sense for one to.

Of course, Christianity and all the other faiths of our world do not have spirits granting powerful spells (in a game mechanic sense). It is the nature of social groups to stratify, it should be recognized that every spirit that still communed with its followers and empowered their priests would be revered, even if a stronger force intervened. The stronger force would, more often than not, supplant the weaker over time, but the weaker would have more staying power among the faithful.

The Romans viewed other pagan gods in terms of their own set, which was essentially the gods of the Greeks. When they conquered other peoples, it seems they attempted to rename the gods of the defeated to their own. Later, after they adopted Christianity, they 'decreed' changes that changed pagan festivals to christian holidays in a very determined manner. It is hard to identify what would have happened if these defeated cultures still had strong communion with their gods.

I bring this up now because spirits, heroes and gods will be the main identifiers of cultures (after race). It would not seem right that a tribe of goblins would worship elven gods, but it should be clear that all goblins do not worship the same god. Elves would not either. In fact, it should be that even when large groups of elves worship the same god, there will be various factions that worship that same deity differently. Naturally, the variations will make for many interesting stories and adventures.

I encourage variation. It takes more work for the gamemaster, but it should pay dividends in the end.

This sort of thing is not the standard D&D fare, and you may find it too cumbersome for your world. As we discuss the origins of the various races and their cultures, I will point out why the variations make sense. Our own western culture marks many of its most important events by these schisms, and the cultures of our magical world will also be marked by the power struggles of the Priest-King-Gods and the factions they create. Remember that spiritual power is reflexive in this game system, so the more followers one has, the more powerful they become. Egos will clash. Belief systems will clash. Races will clash. War is always the final argument.

Switching gears, anthropologists on our world strongly believe that humans originated from the African Continent, coming out of Africa in at least two major waves in the distant past, as we have found fossils that show migrations of pre-Homo sapiens. How many divergent species of proto-human rose and fell before the the dominate strain won out is not clear at all. Moreover, as all life on our Earth comes from one original spark billions of years ago and all life here is related by this, so I recommend that all life on our alternate world is related in this way. Clearly, each culture/race will be too preoccupied to discover this, much less to admit this to themselves.

Magic, the subtle chaotic force, will be what pushes so much variation in the backwaters of time. The question becomes not where they came from but where did they end up when they rose to sentience. Our own ancient human cultures first rose around the middle east and spread from there because agriculture and the domestication of animals made these places favorable, but a magical world could have other spots that favored growth of other races. It stands to reason that human expansion would be dulled somewhat due to so much competition. This is not to say these races are all in contact. Some races could find very distant homes from the first human civilizations.

It is an interesting dilemma. The first major migration from Africa could have happened 100 million years before this cultural development, so time is not a real issue until we define who rises first. Also, humans are a very recent addition to North and South America, which becomes interesting if other races develop seafaring first.
In my own world, the dwarven race worship the Dragons, and a particularly clever dragon transports his dwarven followers to the gold-rich areas of Central and South America. Even though the human culture is there already, the dragon and dwarves make a strong case for supremacy.
Magic is a game changer. Modes of transportation change because of it, but more importantly, all forces that effect survival are changed to a degree by magic. When farmers can pray for more crops or for more herd animals to be born, the surplus of resources causes a quicker rise of skilled laborers and civilization in general. Of course, all the magical beasts and other races keep growth in check, but we have to define how.

In my world, I chose Dragons as the first sentient race. Magically spawned from the dinosaur age, these creatures have since given rise to an intelligent variety of the the species. They develop language and learn to develop a symbiotic relationship with the nearby dwarves. Dwarven language is a direct offshoot of draconic. Dwarves benefit from this advancement and serve the Dragon-Gods. Not to mention there is a sharp decline in the local giant population. I am intentionally skipping several developmental steps of my world, but choosing the first races to ascend has a ripple effect on their neighbors.

In another part of my world, an ancestor gives rise to fairies, sprites, elves and all the sylvan ilk. Can elves produce children with humans? Could half-elves be a regression of elves that can mate with humans? Shall we call them the Irish? Sorry, I could not resist.
In actuality, my world has the sylvan cultures rising on an island, and elves take the lead in sea travel. The human cultures they first interact with become influenced by them. I originally have nine races of elves populating my world. Again, variance is more true to reality and hopefully more interesting. In any case, elves are third to rise.
Orcs are fourth to rise
Humans are fifth
This is not to say humans are less intelligent, when they get it going as a civilization, than those before them. In fact, their ability to adapt and learn is a big strength.

Back to the Irish. Any cultures we take from our history have to have a reasonable origin on our alternate earth, but they are a comfortable short-cut.

Reading this back, I know I skipped around a bit. There are so many considerations that it can be a bit much. The main point is that all the non-human races rose from ancestors of a migration around 100 million years ago out of Africa, and they are all very different now. Modern humans migrated out of Africa about 20,000 yrs ago on my alternate earth and were limited in their successful migration patterns. Consequently, all the human cultures of our earth will not be represented.

In turn, the migrations of the non-human races will be taken into account along with their cultural impacts on each other. The rise and fall of past civilizations will be considered up to the present day of our campaign world. Power groups will be defined and important resources identified. The evolution of Magic Use will also be studied, allowing more spells and rituals to be identified and added to game play. Demonstrating this process will show why most magic is not generic, but culturally based. Once we have magic in place, we will be ready to playtest.

On a playtest note, I only plan to develop one human culture for characters to come from. As that group travels, I'll develop the other cultures and allow additional character choices.

Developmental Review

I want to present an overview of how far along we are toward developing the core rules and forming a playtest group.

Core Rules:
I. Player Character Creation
     1. Ability Scores-complete
     2. Races-not defined
     3. Skill Tree-mostly complete.
     4. Money and Equipment-complete.

II. Magic
     1. Spiritual Magic
         a. concept-largely complete.
         b. spells-partially complete.
         c. definitions of spiritual spellcasting aids-partial
         d. dieties, heroes and other spirits-partially defined (specific to campaign)
     2. Elemental Magic
         a. concept-largely complete
         b. potions-defined
         c. material components-partially defined.
         d. elemental 'schools'-scketchy
         e. spells-not even close

III. Combat
     1. Melee-largely defined
     2. Time and Movement-needs work
     3. Magic-not close

IV. World
     1. Races-not defined
     2. Cultures-not defined
     3. History-not defined
     4. Gods-not defined

While I plan to discuss world design here, my own world, Rheen, will not be defined here. My playtest group will have to discover it on their own. I encourage each gamemaster out there to enjoy creating their own world, and I will be happy to discuss world design concepts that I'm not going to use in contrast in this blog. In my mind, deciding which cultures/races are emphasized on your world is a person decision that relates to the story you want to tell.

What I will emphasize in this blog is the concept of Evolution, and the logical progression of events one might expect when Evolution is applied to a fantasy world. At all times I want to make clear how advantages and resources cause cultures to flourish and how there is no static universe.

Also, I will make recommendations that stray far from the cannon of D&D and Tolkien. This may take you out of your comfort zone. You do not have to accept my ideas, and I welcome clarifications. 

That being said, the Core Rules look to need some heavy grunt work in listing out spells and clarifying processes. I want to begin translating some D&D spells to this system, while adding many others. As was demonstrated with Spiritual Magic, the spells are not really that similar.
Many D&D spell effects are not individualized here. By contacting a helpful spirit, the spirit magic caster has many more role-playing and tactical options to consider, rather than casting a D&D spell with only one desired effect. This fluidity is central to spiritual magic.
Elemental magic, on the other hand, will be much more like chemistry and physics. Desired effects will have to be designed, spells exact. Magic is naturally a mildly chaotic force, and controlling through the focus of the mind will have interesting variances, but most of these spells will have what I hope are logical progressions.

Lastly, I want to put forth the concepts of Cultural Bias and Veils of Ignorance. Ideally, the player will have a clear understanding of the social role of their character. To this end, I recommend that your players only be introduced to those mores and customs central to their character's origin. As I envision an ancient world rife with dangers and constant struggles, it doesn't seem to me that a more civilized world like 'The Forgotten Realms' is the right concept. In fact, the world of 'Conan' with its city-states and its despots might be much closer to the mark. Cultural identity is heavily emphasized in a world where ancestral spirits empower cultural continuation.
Gods like Thor and Zeus are not interested in cultural diversification. Defeat. Enslave. Grow in Power.
Thus, strangers are enemies. Strangers are not kindly greeted. Cities of any size have an area outside their most secure gates to quarter travellers and facilitate trade. Guards are not lax, and are often in large groups. Individuals do not travel the open road alone. The larger the travelling party, the better.
As in medieval society in our past, the vast majority of people never leave the village of their birth. Their knowledge of the outside is not based on scholarship. If our forefathers believed in the mythical, can you imagine what people in a mythical world imagine are outside their walls at night?

Part of my effort here is to change the way fantasy role-playing games are approached and played. Too often, the game starts with tired cliches that are formulaic at best. While I will not spend too much time on these concepts, I will design the rules to emphasize what the characters could realistically expect from their culture. Cultures survive because they are self-perpetuating. Magical, deity-led cultures more so.

Designing alien cultures for all the other intelligent races might be too much to take in, but I do recommend challenging convention. While it may be nice, as a player, to visit other cultures and see the familiar, cookie-cutter fantasy setting, it would seem more interesting to visit other races/cultures and have to figure things out. Try for exotic, but practical. I'll put examples of this later in future posts.

Ok, enough soapbox.

Children of Cain

I was listening to an adaptation of Beowulf on cd and giggled when the mythical monsters of the world were attributed to the progeny of Cain. I guess that if you are going to paint our world in black and white, this is not an unreasonable way to look for the divide. While Judeo-Christian mythology can have a place in our alternate world, we have to separate each culture's perspective from the cold genetic history of each mythical creature's origin.

As I mentioned previously, defining the origin and rise of the intelligent races is key to designing the world. Dominate cultures tend to erase weaker cultures in the course of time, and the addition of numerous intelligent races to compete for resources raises the ante.

In fact, it completely puts the history of human cultures in our past on it's ear. Consider how many intelligent races are represented in classical D&D:

human
elf
dragon (several varieties)
gnome
halfling
orc
goblin
bugbear
giants (several varieties)
brownies
dopplegangers
dryads
ettins
gargoyles
gnoll
lizardfolk
hobgoblin
kobolds
jackals
were-creatures (several varieties)
lycanthropes (several varieties)
mermen
mindflayers
ogres
pixies, nixies and nymphs
sahuagin
satyrs
cyclops
trolls
tritons
troglodytes
titans
sprites and sylphs
Not to mention the ones in Monster Manual 2 or Fiend Folio...

Well, you get the point. Most of these races have a home territory and are integral to the ecology of the region. They each compete with the other races (and among themselves) for resources and influence. These are not recent additions to our alternate earth, but have been developing over the eons. The resources and areas that they inhabit are not open to expansion by humans or other races without conflict. This many intelligent races means wars are a common aspect of history. It also means that many human cultures that developed on our earth never happened on our alternate earth.

In fact, much of the migrations of humans might never have happened. It will be critical to the success of our game to understand this concept and design a world largely unknown to humans. I'm inclined to give each ancient culture its due, but must consider limiting expansions of cultures. Survival pressures are higher and technological advancement aided by magic is in play.

My original concept was to have a world developed to about 800 AD with regard to cultures and technology, but I now view that only as the absolute limit going forward. It seems reasonable to go back to 10,000 BC, place the mythical races and wildlands (where all the monsters live) and develop forward. By sketching each culture's pre-history from this point, the history will be realistic. Of course, we may decide, reasonably so, that some races peaked in power and influence before this point. The Tolkien formula is to have most of the non-human races in decline, with forgotten histories shrouded in history. I prefer to have most races still actively fighting for survival. All the races can have great(and not so great) fallen civilizations in their past, but I do not want paint the elves or any other race as descended from a more powerful races and having extra long life-spans and such. While human mythology in our world commonly makes humans to be descended from god-chosen prototypes that lived longer lives and did not have to struggle just to survive (and Tolkien's Silmarillion echoes this), I'm not inclined to follow this old pattern.

Instead, the races developed over the eons. Some may have discovered agriculture, language or magic first, and this will determine dominance. Strength alone may dictate that Hobgoblins dominate Kobolds, but magic can be the great equalizer. Certainly, some races will dominate and enslave others. So, races will have high and low points depending on their circumstance, and they may all feel like their gods chose them to rule, but that is not how I want to go about designing it.

More Thoughts on Potions

So, if we define reagents reasonably, potion brewing and spellcraft should progress from that. Potions that do not rely simply on the natural effect of their contents alone, but instead hold a spell effect will require a specific gem dust to seal in the magic until the potion is consumed.

So, a potion of healing derived from ginseng root extract alone, would have a shelf life, but it would not require any spellcasting skill or gem dust to create. An elixir of firebreath would.

A couple of definitions.

Potion: any combination of liquids or suspended reagents not requiring spellcasting to create. One uses potion-making skill to create potions.
Elixir: any combination of liquids or suspended reagents that require spellcasting skill to create and that usually have a spell-like effect when consumed. One uses Alchemy skill to create elixirs.

Alchemy differs from potion-making in that magical ingredients or spell-casting is required to produce the desired elixir (or salve, etc).
Potion-making skill would involve knowing how to prepare raw ingredients to the finished product.
Herbology skill would help one locate the raw plant ingredients in the wild.

Potions (and scrolls, spell tokens, etc) can be used by spellcasters as a platform for larger spells if they have the skill.
Elemental Spellcraft derives from the framework of potions and their raw materials. A witch at her caldron is much more dangerous than the witch alone.