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http://imgur.com/a/iIWfw

The magic system I made for the setting I'm currently creating. The magic is a Fullmetal Alchemist-esque type, wherein there are no words spoken, no gestures and no reagents, merely a rune circle enscribed on a surface. As such, the magic flows only through the rune circle, not the caster.
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>>27276154
Seems interesting. What are some other key runes that might come into play? For example: destroy, restore, diminish, increase?
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>>27276222
Since I'm creating every rune from scratch it will take me a while to build up a rune dictionary. But for argument's sake, any noun and verb will due.
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>>27276154

A guy on /tg/ used to develop a game based on runic magic. Check these threads in the archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=mosaic

And this on 1d4chan: http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Mosaic
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>>27276154
>runes are blatantly modified futhark
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>>27276266
Surprisingly enough, no. They are based on a runic alphabet, but not the futhark.
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Stat this, fagget
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>>27276311
Yeah, gimme a minute.
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>>27276283
It must be Tolkien's dwarven alphabet then, forgot what it's called.
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>>27276638
Cirth?

Also >>27276392

I'm still waiting.
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>>27276638
No it's not. It's a real world runic alphabet that I combined several letters in the word I want, flipped some letters around, dropped some. And then I made it angular. That's why it looks northern-Germanic.
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>>27276666
Well since >>27276311 does not follow my system's rules and do not have the runes I use, I can't. I was being facetious. One of my gaming group did come up with something nearly as intricate when I showed them, however.
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So I want to figure out how something like this could affect my world. And I want some input.

So /tg/ how could you use and abuse and break this system of magic? Assume you can use any word in the Oxford Dictionary as I have not completed my rune dictionary.

One of my players have already made a doorbell spell that makes a chime when you knock on it.
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Oh, neat, you actually followed up on this
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>>27276901
I have no idea if I did this right. The intention is for the inner circle to be completed first, and then be affected in order by the outer runes.
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>>27277367
>Broken circle

Oh shit nigga you done fucked up
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>>27276901
obviously an ancient city thats built in the layout of spell made up of a load of runes. Over the centurys, buildings have been destroyed and replaced, so its ineffective, but a few acts of landscaping could, at least partially, get one of the mightiest spells of all time running again.
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>>27277367
what.. what does it do?
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>>27277367
Nicely done. You made an explosion.
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>>27277417
"create large fire," "compress," "project," then "swiftly release"

it throws an exploding fireball probably

captcha: mssisll first
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>>27277424
Shit. Forgot image.
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>>27277417
I *think* it's a fireball.

Create Large Fire -> Compress -> Project -> Swiftly Release

In practise, I am relatively certain that I fucked up somewhere.
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>>27277429
thats some of the coolest and weirdest shit Ive seen come out of a... what is this even? Homebrew? This is real awesome.
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>>27277431
I'm stealing those runes by the way. They look neat.
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>>27277437
Can you post some of your runic alphabet as well? They look really cool.
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>>27277417
Looks like a fireball spell.

(((Fire)Create)Large) to be (Compressed) and (Projected) in a ((Swift)Release)) manner.

Probably could do without the Release rune and just go for the Swift.
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>>27277436
Check the OP.
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>>27277439
They're on my other laptop. Will post when I've made a decent amount.
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>>27277440
Then it would be more like a firebolt, since the compression doesn't get released.

Which is still cool, but it's just not as flashy as the classic fireball.
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>>27277452
I'm talking out of my ass here because I'm still not entirely sure about the parameters of the spell.

It would seem that the exploding fire bit would have to be in a smaller circle modifying the project rune since attaching runes to other ones by lines seem to have an immediate effect. Fireballs are supposed to explode on contact, which seems a little more complex than ((Compress)Release))
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so this is magical programming, that only affect the circle?
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>>27276154
>http://imgur.com/a/iIWfw
>Every single thing in this explanation of how this magic system works.
>MFW

I'm liking it, OP. I really am.
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>>27277487
Sounds like it.

There's also an action hierarchy built in to it. Shapes with the most sides go first, so circles happen simultaneously.
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>>27277487
No, the circle creates the magical effect of whatever you want. Put a central fire rune in there and it will create fire.

Unfortunately I have to head off to bed, got work tomorrow.
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>>27277367
if you used a rune like this, wouldn't it just project a fireball from the circle itself (as the OP says, magic only flows through the rune)? you'd have to specify a direction or it might just fly off into the sky.

anyway, the biggest "problem" i can see with this (as it stands) is that making more powerful spells doesn't require any additional effort. it takes the same effort to make a large fireball as it does to make a small fireball, you just change the word for "small" with the word for "large". likewise, you could change "large" to "gargantuan" or something and make an even bigger fireball.

the other "problem" is that it seems like anyone with a book of runes could make magic very easily. you'd expect every peasant to have a create fire rune in their house. maybe even a create food rune as well, if that's allowed. or a create gold bars rune. and by that point you don't have any peasants anymore. it's like a star trek replicator that anyone can draw on the ground.

i haven't seen FMA, but doesn't it focus heavily on the idea of "equivalent exchange", you need to give something to get something? building that into the system somehow might prevent your rune magic going out of control.

i say "problem" in quotes because you might be okay with these things.
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>>27277576
>you'd have to specify a direction or it might just fly off into the sky.
Best if you do it by compass directions, north by northwest, etc. Then you only need four runes, and you also have to keep track of where you are all the time.
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>>27277576
I actually kind of like the idea of powerful magic being commonplace because it gives wizards a pretty good reason to hoard knowledge.

Plus OP didn't really say what would happen if runes were completed incorrectly or in ways that aren't really natural (Woo! Linking Infinite Expansion rune to Infinite Containment rune!).

Peasants might be much, much better off for it a la Eberron, but then you always get some tryhard dabbler who wipes out a whole village.
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>>27276901
"destroy" and "atom"
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>>27277576

It could be an explosive rune. You could add a condition to "release" WHEN "stepped on" for a mine, or a time-release condition for a timed explosive.
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>>27277636
Not destroy, that simply removes it. You want 'separate' or 'divide'
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>>27277669

Could make a nifty sphere of absolute vacuum, though.
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>>27277576
Evidently wizards are like Discworld wizards, charged with making sure no one ever actually uses magic.

Because there is going to be some chucklefuck with more time than sense, who is going to wonder what will happen if he links "destroy" and "universe" together. So they will lock those books down really fucking tight, and let basically no one into their ranks.
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>>27276154
>http://imgur.com/a/iIWfw
>Bleh, may as well look at yet another lame homebrew
>Holy shit, this is...this is actually really neat.

I'm impressed, OP.
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>>27277576

Possibly the runes can have different "costs" in terms of comprehension. You can understand runes that do limited, small-scale effects simple enough to reliably draw them on a surface. But big concepts like "gargantuan" or even "everything in existence" would be very complex to draw and hard to grasp for an ordinary person. Could be that the higher-order concepts resist being "captured" in a rune, so the runes signifying them mutate over time.
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>>27277694
I'm imagining an intricate circle of runes that powers a measuring device so accurate that if the measurements are altered it affects the real world. I think it was Making Money.
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>>27277726
Yeah, the machine that predicted the economy affected the economy
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Its probably not that easy, and I made mistakes anyways, but here goes that.

Fascinating.
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>>27277718
Also, once the rune is complete, how does it activate? Greater spells might require energy or mass to be pumped "into" them somehow. Like killing someone or something within the circle to power the big "destroy country" spell.
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>>27277742
Create homonculus under your control?
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>>27277754
I was thinking a healing spell.
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>>27277742

Golem-making spell. I bet you can make a zombie/corpse golem if you place a corpse in this circle, too.
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After discussing it with a friend, we decided that since the ((Swift) Release) was on the same level as the (Create ((Large)(Fire))) it would just explode straight away.

Thus, I present version two. Assuming we are working from the inside out, this would create a compressed large fire, project it, and then swiftly release it after a small delay.
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>>27277759

You'd need to replace "create" with "restore" for that, I think.
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>>27277754
>>27277759
>>27277762
Well yeah, a golem, but it probably would work best when used on an actual dead body, since there are muscles and all that already present.
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Maybe have the circle only ever affect things inside the circle? And to have a ranged effect, use "project". This stops "destroy" and "universe" from being used, since the circle is not as big as the universe.

Also, what happens if you have different languages? Are there runes for concepts that don't exist yet? What activates the circles? What powers them?
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>>27277789
just realized thats exactl what >>27277762
said

>>27277765
also, you are bonkers, man.
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>>27277765
My understanding is that it works from the outside in.
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>>27277694
>Evidently wizards are like Discworld wizards, charged with making sure no one ever actually uses magic.

this magic system is very simple, though, which makes keeping it a secret very difficult. one guy could teach an entire town how to do this in a day. once the cat's out of the bag, it's not going back in, especially given how useful it would be to summon free food by scratching a rune on the ground.
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>>27277765
Is there a runic dictionary somewhere?
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>>27277831
>funky credit card
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>>27277836
OP mentioned he hasn't got one yet.
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>>27277831
this doesnt work, does it?

does it?
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>>27277836
OP said he was building one. I thought about offering /tg/'s help, but then I thought about how long it would take for every rune to just be different stylised penises, and realised that it would be a Very Bad Idea
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>>27277861
Goddamit, those lines disappered again, put the curve line from both un-connected cicrles to the centre.
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>>27277874
Also, I got rid of the wrong line on the top outer cirlce, so it overlays wrong.
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>>27277874
I still think the meaning of the new runes are not specific enough.


from da rulez:

>Runes are entire words, much like Mandarin/Kanji/Cuneiform. Each has a very specific and literal meaning. The rune for "contain" means that the spell is contained within the circle. You can't use this rune to contain someone within a cage.
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>>27277794
>since the circle is not as big as the universe

Hmm. I see the potential for a BBEG making an entire continent or nation into a magic circle, with enormous runes inscribed in the earth itself by slaves.
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>>27277811
Unless, of course, every person is branded with one of these.
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>>27277894
dude
duuuuuuuuuuude
that is fucking smart
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Some of you may have noticed that the fireball was displaying bugs with it's targeting feature, as well as an edge case scenario where reality was not accommodating the delay properly, resulting in a number of wizards blowing themselves up.

We hope this patch will fix those issues.

CHANGELOG:
1) The (Small (Delay)) rune should now parse before the (Swift (Release)) rune, thus avoiding point blank explosions.
2) A (Target) rune has been added, modifying the (Project) rune, thus ensuring that during the flight phase, a wizard will be able to direct it towards a given target.
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>>27277894

Holy shit, you could mind control and program people with runic tattoos.
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>>27277887
Kanji can have multiple meaning depending where and with what words they're used for, I presume the same of Mandarin, and have no clue on Cuneiform
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>>27277912
What would happen if you put a Exclusion:[Self] and removed the delay rune?
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>>27277922
Some kind of directional explosion centered on you.
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>>27277922

Something like a Flame cloak effect?
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>Programmers make a magic system.

I love you guys
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>>27277912

I love the patch notes. The whole "magic as programming" thing is a favorite concept of mine.
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>>27277915
but its right there in the rules. Every rune can only have one meaning, a very specific one
.
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>>27277935
Ooh, if we add a (sustain) rune we could create a flamethrower effect
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>>27277935
>>27277943
Well I know what I'm carving into myself.
Hmm, how would one do activation triggers? A whole separate circle?
>>27277959
True enough. How would it work if the cactus was eternity, the card was wealth, and the dice tower was decay?
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Just with this one example I think we've discovered the drawbacks of this magic system from a "Why can't everyone do it?" standpoint:

Spells need debugging.
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>>27277894
using the same logic, it would be fairly simple to tattoo a rune on yourself that makes you omniscient
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>>27277971
I think its more, one misstroke and your village just exploded, plus one would assume the closer the rune you draw is the actual rune, the more power you get out so swiftness costs power.
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>>27277971
It is exactly like coding! Sure you could make a "create" "infinite" "food" circle, but then it just spits out nothing but pure starch at a ridiculous rate that will not stop
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In Norse mythology runes were incredibly hard to come by
knowing three runes would be a testimony of respectable power
so a cap on this would be having to actually find out the runes before you can use them, but after that you can get as creative as you want
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>>27277990
I think because the runes are very specific in scope, sort of like object-based entries in some parsing software, you would have to clearly define the scope and meaning of omniscience.

Which could mean cataloging everything. Ever.
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>>27277971
I've actually enjoyed that aspect of it. Just imagine a wizard creating >>27277367
and then having it blow up in his face, then going back to the chalkboard, consulting with his colleague and creating >>27277765 and having it blow up in his face *again*, before finally realising what he is doing wrong and creating >>27277912, which is a fully functional spell.

Nobody became a wizard without losing a few eyebrows, after all.
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>>27278009
Heh, Could you create a black hole by doing [Mass[Gargantuan]-[Create]-[Sustain]?
Also, what would the effect of such a circle be before the hole was created?
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>Runes are easily available but people don't really know how to use them.
>They rely on wizards for guidance and aid.

>Wizards are tech support
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>>27276901
I want to know how a rune circle is activated
to see how automated you can get
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>>27278034
"Have you tried rubbing the circle out and starting over?"
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>>27278032
Sorry, [Mass[Gargantuan]-[Create[Sustain]-[Sustain]
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>>27277990
I feel like there would be an equivalent exchange of some sort here.

Either blood, or mana, or gold. An omniscience spell would have such a high cost that it would either crash when it runs out of resources (Presumably causing some kind of magical backlash), or chug along at an incredibly slow rate and never actually complete.

A wizard who finds a mana wellspring/gathers a lot of wealth/sacrifices a ton of people would have more resources available to cast, but probably still nowhere near enough to run Omniscience.Glyph
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>>27278034
Well, I have been called a tech support wizard before...
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>>27277999
>the closer the rune you draw is the actual rune

What, like each rune is based on some kind of Platonic ideal rune that corresponds exactly to the concept it signifies? I like that. It means bugs can get into the system because you can never get the brushwork (or however you draw) just right. Also limits the scope of magic because you don't want to fuck up a big spell.
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if you create this rune >>27277912 does it spit out a fireball as soon as you finish drawing the rune? would it just keep spitting out fireballs until you rub out part of the circle, or would it spit out a single fireball and then go inert? what determines when a rune is active or inactive? do you need to draw a brand new circle every time, or will an old circle do, even if you've used it before?
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Is it possible to add variables and conditional statements to this system to make it Turing complete?
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>>27278054
"And this here is the Omniscience Glyph. It's been running for 20,000 years and it's only about 2% complete. We don't really know what the ancients were thinking but it makes a nice conversation piece."
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>>27278054
>/Run Fireball.Glyph
>[Create [[Large]:[Fire]] ]
>[Project:[Target]]
>[ [[Small]:[Delay]] : [[Swift]:[Release]] ]
>Wait
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>>27278065
Yeah, so if you extend the line too short or too far, it doesn't work, or it does at a reduced capacity.
Take >>27277912 for example, misaligning the interior line angles generates a weaker, colder flame, while making the trapezoid shapes on the create rune too large or small from the ideal creates less fire.
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>>27277990
no because knowledge here is a shape/target not a component
just like 'dome' in the example, it's what you affect, now if you tried giving yourself knowledge 'of' magic in this way you would probably turn all your knowledge 'into' magic
no idea how that would work though
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>>27278082
Conditional statements appear to require their own runes. Multi-level statements would need their own circles.
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What happens if you create a broken spell? Like one that has no logical output? Like one that is just "run" and "fly" linked together?
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>>27278090
Knowledge into magic?
Holy shit, Einstein would be a mega wizard or aomething.
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>>27278089
Too many deviations from the ideal fizzles the spell, so if say you make minor errors all over the place, the spell fails or backlashes, same if you forget a rune when drawing it.
This'd make wizards careful and slow masters of geometry, taking a whole day on a single circle, to maximize its effect.
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>>27278049
where would you get the gargantuan rune?
and I'm pretty sure you'd need a [size of a star] modifier
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>>27278105
It would just create rapidly consume power until there's none left, at which point it crashes and explodes.
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>>27278109
Yes but he would turn catatonic in the process
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>>27278105
The Dreaded Boop

Reality itself corrects the error with a small booping noise. There are rarely survivors.
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>>27278114
Not to mention a [compress] rune too if he's trying to make a black hole.

Quick question, how would you modify something to a specific size? Like if you want to expand a dog to the size of a horse?
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>>27278105
You get a memory leak and cause a localised reality crash.

When rebooting, there are corruption errors and you are either left in a coma, or your body is twisted into some sort of nightmarish netherspawn.
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>>27278114
What do you mean where would I get it? The spell's aim is to create a garguantuan mass, what I'm wondering is does it create a large block of something? or because no material runes where present does is create mass in the form of gravity?
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>>27278130
Good point, thanks for the tip.
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>>27278130
Subscript in a rune.

Like, say [Increase: x2] [Size]].
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Have we figured out what fuels these circles yet?
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Presenting: Boolean logic runes. Enjoy, fellow wizards.
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>>27278156
OP has gone to bed, so who knows
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>>27278130
conditional statement were going to require their own runes
so [ {animal (in the circle)} grow(if smaller than) ->(a horse) ]
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So wizards run magic, and people use magic for all sorts of things, but the magic is finite and requires renewal, which requires wizards to do it all over again.

So magic is subscription-based and wizards are DRM-happy devs.
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>>27278161
I kinda want to see what would happen if you make a [create[[not]:[fire]] rune.
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>>27278165
Should we come up with something and base our conjecture on that or assume they just work and wait for OP to tell us what powers these things?
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>>27278161
wait, exclusion was already included by putting is in a circle that was disconnected from the circuit
so 'not' is already a thing
maybe that type of words should be indicated by the lines/circles that connect things
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>>27278178

Best-case scenario, a fire extinguisher. Worst-case scenario, a spell crash with the associated reality dump.
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>>27278178
A small genie appears and says "What the fuck, man?"
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We should have some way of sorting the runes into verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs. Also, a connection that refers to a noun "belonging to" another noun.

A numerical system will also be excellent if conditional statements are to be added.
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>>27278210
The different shapes could fulfill that nicely since they're sequential in terms of how many sides they have.
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>>27278186
I would imagine a conditional statement being a line that get's interrupted
and if the required conditions are true then the magic is allowed to flow trough, there wouldn't be an 'and' there would just be two interruptions if you want that
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>>27278156
I would suggest mana, which constantly springs into existence from small pores in the fabric of reality. If the mana density in the air becomes too low due to having been drained by previous casting, a spell will start to take longer and longer to complete, with sufficiently strong spells having requirements which require ridiculously large mana requirements.

A circle defines the area in which mana is drawn from the air in a spherical shape. A fireball spell would only require about half a meter radius circle and about half a minute to complete, but a spell for omniscience could span half the world and still take a thousand years, draining most of the mana in that space for the entire duration.

Mana can be collected and compressed into crystals, which are unstable and must be handled extremely carefully, and there is a certain level of efficiency loss when using crystals as opposed to ambient mana, but the tradeoff is that crystals are much more reliable and a given spell can be completed instantly using a crystal because it skips the process of drawing mana into the glyph, and even with the efficiency loss a crystal usually has a higher mana density than air.
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>>27278161
No, Boolean Logic is built into the circle itself. They aren't runes.
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>>27278229

I intended the bool runes I drew to be applied on the sites of the breaks, so that the magic "knew" how to parse the breaks. An AND and an OR would both be broken lines, after all.
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>>27278188
Hmm, tack a [sustain] modifer on there and you've got a fire suppression rune that you can stick on your buildings.

Though, there'd be some finagling needed to use candles and cooking fires and whatnot
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>>27278178
You create an area within the glyph where there is no fire if there is fire already.

Unfortunately, since you didn't specify what to create, you cause an undefined parameter error which crashes the system.
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>>27278210
the focus (innermost circle) must always have a 'noun' in it
a modifier rune needs to be an 'adjective'
and an affecting rune needs to be uuh, a passive verb?
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>>27278234
That could work. So you'd what, place the crystal over the centre of the base glyph? Centre of the circle? Anywhere within a set distance of the circle?
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>>27278248
Or maybe a [create[dome]]/[fire]
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>>27278260
Maybe have a receptacle rune, and you place the crystal on the circle encompassing that rune?

It should be something universal, like a pentagram.
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>>27278282
>>27278260

The central circle is where the magic happens, literally. I think you'd draw that first, and activate it with a crystal or sacrifice or whatever power source you have. Then you draw on the activated surface.
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>>27278282
You could place it in the circle, just not in any of the container circles.
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>>27278294
Alright I'm off gentlemen, luck and hopefully this thread'll be here when I rise.
>>
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>>27278234
related idea: ley lines

basically, the world is criss-crossed with a massive, metaphysical magic circle. all lesser magic circles draw power from it. some places are totally off the grid, so magic doesn't work there, while other places where ley lines intersect give off much more power, allowing more circles and more powerful circles (naturally, people tend to build temples, cities, ect, in places like these, so they are usually important areas). in most places, the ley lines only support moderately powerful circles. given that people tend to gather around ley lines, you are most likely to lose power out in the wilderness.

it might be added that ley lines occasionally move around, like a shifting magnetic field.
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>>27278234
Maybe also have blood be a viable and powerful source of mana, as well.
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>>27278314
I would think anything could conceivably be a power source. Not all power sources would be equal, mind.
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>>27278210
I took a course in linguistics before and this is pretty exciting. We will need to further refine the grammar of the language though, especially the syntax (should be easy since we are only dealing with imperative clauses). This will invalidate statements such as "fly walk run". Spells that fail to follow the syntax will fizzle and cause the magic to run amok or something.
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Let's have a try
I made a simple physical damage spell
now, can I use 'target' as a subject? Seeing as how it was an adjective in the example (as a location of the projection)
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>>27278314
>>27278308
>>27278293
>>27278234
Throw all of these together.

Natural mana is created from leylines/magical wellsprings, but quickly dissapates with distance. It can be trapped in crystals, so magic can be used away from the leylines, but the storage capacity of a crystal is limited, the conversion is inefficient, and they are very unstable. The other source of mana is blood, which is more powerful than ambient mana, but less powerful than crystals.

A circle, when activated, will form a sort of spherical area based on the radius of the circle, which will then draw mana first from the air, then from crystals, then from blood.

If no power source at all is present in the circle, it will crash and cause a magical backlash against the caster. If a spell requires more mana than is currently in the area, it will start to consume mana from the air and create a temporary magical dead zone as it attempts to complete itself. Since it is drawing directly from leylines at this point and the dense mana in the air has been exhausted, it is extremely slow. More blood/crystals can be added during this gathering time, which will be consumed as if it was present when the circle was activated and added to collected mana. If the circle gathers enough mana over time to complete itself, the spell will cast as normal. If the mana source is ever removed completely midway through the gathering process, it will cause a crash and magical backlash.
>>
>>27278359
I think that works. OP's rules say the magic works from the outside inwards.

So "Compress Target" here. Seems more like a shrinking spell.
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>>27278359
Interesting conundrum, actually.

In theory, that isn't a valid spell. You would need to specify an area around the target.

Right now you have [Compress:[Target]], but you need [Compress:[Target:Area]]
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>>27278359
I think it would just compress a single point, wouldn't it?
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>>27278449
with area being the focus and target being the modifier?
>>
So, how long until some asshole wizard goes to far and creates a magical AI?
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>>27278510
Yeah, I think so. It sounds right, at least.

[[Compress] : [Area @ Target]]
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>>27278488
>>27278449
Okay I get it, so target isn't supposed to be a person or object but more the metaphysical concept of choosing what gets affected
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>>27278535
Essentially, yes.

Target on it's own does absolutely nothing.
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>>27278529
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>>27278512
you'd need a considerable circle for that
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>>27278581
but what defines what area is what and what target is what? Dont you have to program in a way to determine the target?
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>>27278606
Two options: Either we assume a certain level of abstraction and allow the caster to define it as a variable with thought alone, or we add gratituous subscript to the circles that define the exact parameters.

Either way, we're working with a variable. it's just a matter of whether you want your magic to be more spontaneous or not.

Also, here, a gift.
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How about something like this? A overlapping circle on another circle with a "verb" as the rune with the most corners will be defined as a IF statement. Also, if a line splits into multiple, it means that a preposition is used.

This spell will then means: "If target is not human, create fire then project fire at target"

I have no idea how to implement the ELSE statement without ruining the aesthetics though.
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>>27278661
yeah, but does this meet the requirement of consisting of an inner and an outer circle?
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>>27278661
Target should be modifying Project, not affecting it.

And rather than being an IF statement, the [Target / [Human]] rune would flat out prevent the circle from using a human as a target.

So yeah, basically what you have there is a projected bolt of flame which cannot target a human. Nice job, actually, except the rough lines would cause it to bug out in all likelihood.
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>>27278661
well target is a modifier not an affection so it can't connect with a curvy line but that isn't important to your question
how you have done it it seems that you want to change a modifier in your circle by stating it again with some change outside the circle, I think it should always be possible to only have to state it once
have an extra layer for the 'project' affection and put the target modifier on that
and I'm thinking but the no-humans effect on an extra layer outside of that so that the entire spell up to then doesn't affect humans
>>
>>27278708
Can we please get this shorthand down properly? It's annoying having to work out which format each person is using.

Modifying - [Modifier : [Rune]]
Discluding - [/[Disclusion]]
Affect - [Affecting] > [Affected]
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>>27278641
unlimited poweeeer!
should this be possible?
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>>27276154
idk if anyone's asked this, but how will this figure into gameplay? Its an interesting system, but its mechanically clunky.
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>>27278769

"create large area", huh? I think for this to work you'd need to specify the material you're using in creation. Otherwise there's nothing stopping the program from just making a big sphere of air.
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>>27278769
am I r reading it wrong, or its it just creating a large area?


maybe, if it didn't break the universe, it could be used to make something tastes bigger on the inside
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>>27278708
Doesn't the modifying circle has to be an adjective or adverb? I split the affecting line into two since there is no way the current system can say "PROJECT FIRE at TARGET" and I took some creative liberties. But you have a point, perhaps the modifying rune can means "AT TARGET" if a noun is used to modify a verb. Something like "project fire swiftly at target" will then use both a noun modifier and a verb modifier.

And yea, the magic is suppose to be a mass-produced spell used for killing non-humans. The IF statement is to prevent the spells from being used on humans if they fall into the wrong hands.
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>>27278769
Almost.
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>>27278828
Talking about it in terms of adjectives, verbs and nouns is misleading.

It's just PROJECT being modified by TARGET and SWIFTNESS, which will cause X to be projected swiftly at the target. Target and Swiftness in this case both being variables.
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>>27278835
I think [Space] should be [Reality] or [Universe].
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>>27276154

Looks like an interesting thought exercise that I would never, ever, ever implement into an actual game. Players take long enough to decide what to do on their turn as it is, why the hell would I use a system that invites as much complexity as this one does and muddle it by adding physical runes that ingame just means I'd spend three minutes flipping through pages trying to figure out what each and every spell does instead of just reading a spell entry?

And my god, an order of operations. Most people on this very fucking board don't know the answer to 2*5-4/2+8, what the fuck makes you think they'd understand this shit?

I don't think OP actually plays P&P games, just reads /tg/
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>>27278828
what you have now is the fire being created and projected at the same time
I think you need a new layer to add a new command
there's also the fact that you first have target and then in a higher layer exclude human targets, couldn't you just exclude them at the beginning?
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>>27278926
see>>27278791
Its just gonna fall on dead ears man. Everyone's having too much fun making spell circles!
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>>27278926
>2*5-4/2+8
>10-4/2+8
>6/2+8
>3+8
11
>>
>>27278835
the double circle is an accident right? You're not trying to disclude a command?
so, if you're creating space then space would just be the focus, instead of area right? What is the difference between space and area?
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>>27278965
>not 16

>2*5-4/2+8
>10-4/2+8
>10-2+8
>16
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>>27278965

Case in fucking point


Multiplication and division, then subtraction and addition
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>>27278769
Flame protection spell! God, this is fun.
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>>27278926
you create your runecircles at the beginning of the day to plans you've come up with before playing
not suddenly during combat
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>>27278965
You just proved his point.
>(2*5)-(4/2)+8
>(10)-(2)+8
>10-2=8
>8+8=16
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>>27278992

I imagine this could be used to program enchantments into clothing, armor, jewelry, weapons and the like as well.
>>
>>27278799
or just of nothingness. Not even making something thats there into nothingness, just a theoretical sphere of nothing existing, interfering with nothing. Boring, but what would happen
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>>27278984
wow...someone never went go gradeschool!

>>27278992
So then why require them to have form at all, why not just give the players the elements and make the spells mathematically? I mean, I like the idea, but it just doesnt work in practice.
>>
is this already archived by the way? I will sure as hell need to get back to this to use it in a game.
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>>27278965
you FUCKING troll.
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>>27278991
why the double circle around fire?
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>>27279019
>>27279019
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2*5-4%2F2%2B8&dataset=
If something seems stupid, first check to make sure it isn't you!
>>
>>27279019
I didn't go to school in the US if that's what you mean. I don't know what bullshit they taught you over in Policestatistan, but here in Finland it's
Division | Multiplication > Addition | Subtraction
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>>27279023
everything gets archived on foolz

>>27279019
the only people who can remember most of the things they learned in grade school, are people in grade school
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>>27279062
which makes using / just stupid. Use : for division, so you can say dots before lines and everybody remembers. EZ M8
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>>27278873
Thinking in terms of adjectives, verbs and nouns makes it easier on the syntax though. The system is more of a linguistic one anyway, since there doesn't seem to be a way to manipulate variables that are already declared at the casting.

>>27278930
Yea, I should make the "create" rune a triangle instead. Also, shouldn't the spell be read from outside? It makes grouping statements together a lot easier.
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>>27279054
sorry, I had just interpreted it like a sensible human being would.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%282*5-4%29%2F%282%2B8%29
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>>27279053
he's creating an area that excludes fire
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>>27278992

Where does it say that, precisely? The OP didn't say that, and the link doesn't say so either. Further, he said "Fullmetal Alchemist-esque," and creating rune circles are definitely something a deft Alchemist can pull off midfight as long as someone else can stand in front of him and give him a little breathing room. Yeah, State Alchemists usually used pre-written runes to do their shticks, so what? I can guaran-fucking-tee you the first think an alchemist player is going to try to do when a problem comes up is to use alchemy to solve it, and then you spend 15 minutes flipping pages to check runes, the order of operations, sketching out the circle, and so forth. To say nothing of trying to pull that stuff off while other party members buy him breathing room while in combat. So in short, saying "you can't do it in combat" not only isn't true (unless you're literally saying they cannot draw in the dirt after they've rolled initiative, which is Retarded with a capital R), but doesn't solve the problem at all

I mean, what is this supposed to be if what you're saying is true? Is it Vancian Casting but with Build Your Own Spell? Why not just use a key-word based system? I know a few other systems have done that (which still sounds clunky but at least is usable mid-session)

It's just impractical. And like many impractical ideas, /tg/ likes it because of its novelty, not because it is actually a usable game mechanic
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>>27279087
Since when does "Interprate" mean "I added things to the calculations that just arent there.
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>>27279077
...that's stupid, I have never seen anyone have trouble with using a / to denote division before
>>27279087
Then there would have been brackets around those if that is what he was looking for.
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>>27279102
didnt know that even worked
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>>27279118
When given mixed values like that I was taught resolve it as a fraction, with values to the left of the division as the numerator and values to the right as the denominator THEN follow order of operations.
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>>27279125
>...that's stupid, I have never seen anyone have trouble with using a / to denote division before

this >>27278965 could have been avoided. This all could have been avoided.

Why didnt you stop it?

This is an appeal to your humanity: Call the number on screen to donate for replacing / with : for the mentally challanged.

You can make a change in the world.
>>
>>27279136
Then whoever taught you was doing you a disservice. If there were brackets where you put them, then yes, that would be true. But when there are no brackets, follow the order of operations strictly.
>>27279158
You are just asking for a change in symbol, that will just create MORE confusion.
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>>27279136
where did you go in school? Thats not to diss your country, its just that I never was tought anything of the likes.
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>>27279125
>>27279118
>>27279062
>>27279054
Regardless, my point about the impacticality of this system in game still stands. Dont get me wrong; I love it. But I promise you most players will spend zero time drawing the circle and will just use the math to generate spells instead. The circle is the most interesting part, but its just a byproduct of the mechanic.
>>
>>27279136

To get back to the topic, your post just gave me an idea that there'd be competing schools of runic magic based on how they choose to parse the runes. Like, one would read the order of operations from the inner circle out, the other would use the same spell, but read outside in for an opposite effect.
>>
>>27279173
>You are just asking for a change in symbol, that will just create MORE confusion.

Do you hate doing good? Do you want the blood of innocent children on your hands?

No?

Then donate to this number!
>>
>>27279085
it was first dreamed up by OP as going from the inside to the outside
you start with a focus and you affect it in some way, then you get a spell part and you affect that
thinking about it linguistically makes it easier but it does create pitfalls of trying to make it a straight up sentence.
>>
>>27279174
>>27279173
They actually re-taught us to do it that way when I went to college, believe it or not, because when you're doing ANY real math and you get multiple formulaicly derived numbers, thats the way they should be treated.
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>>27279186
Yeah, but really, mechanically smooth translates to boring in many cases. I don't want a basic mana pool, or vancian casting, I want something cooler. I don't want point buy or rolling during character creation, I want Shadowrun's priority gen or lifepath systems. Novelty is a whole new kind of fun all on its own, it doesn't have to be practical.
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>>27279220
Engineering?
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>>27279220
Im not talking about functional practicality, what Im pointing out is that the majority of players who actually understand the system will just ignore its most interesting element.
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>>27279230
is meant for>>27279203
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>>27279230
...Geology?
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>>27279247
you have to draw em up and give em to the GM, or you havent prepared them.

Only works with players who arent bothered by that. Players who are shouldnt play something like this in the first place.
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>>27279249
close: bioinformatics
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>>27279109
self is a modifier not a focus
Create self? release self? that doesn't make any sense
self is like target, only target is a variable that the mage chooses with his mind and self is pre-set and unchangeable in the circle
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>>27279220

It is fun right up until you actually run an actual fucking session actual fucking human beings and have to try to deal with shit mechanics, trying to contain and limit their damage like the Japanese military trying to control Godzilla

When you actually sit down at the table, then all your "fun" vaporizes and is replaced with frustration. Shit mechanics might be fun to think about, but when you get down to it, they're still shit
>>
>>27278926
>>27279107
I though it could be fun making the spellcasters slowly learn the form and meaning of each rune from various sources to create new spells throughout the campaign. As for using key-words, well, symbols are more immersive, I guess.
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>>27279267
This is what playtesting is for, anon.
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>>27278987
>>27279107
>>27279267

whats up with the pictures m8?
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>>27279285
>>27279267
what we're trying to tell you is that the idea is interesting and cool, but its not good for gameplay. Ive made like 3 homebrew systems that sell locally, and I can tell you that though I LOVE high learning curve shit like this, it DOES NOT play well.
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>>27279220
>Yeah, but really, mechanically smooth translates to boring in many cases.

not really. mechanically smooth means the actual meat of the game - the gameplay, the roleplaying - happens more easily. the most interesting part of this system is drawing spell circles, but you can do that just as easily by yourself without slowing down the game for group of other players like a blocked pipe.
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>>27279107
right, so if you're in a hurry you don't have the time to come up with complicated circles, just like your characters
and if you do want to take the time to draw long complicated spells then that's exactly what your characters are doing at the time
it draws you in
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>>27279199
Oh man, making a single rune the focus kinda limits the spell a lot, just like a computer code based around a single variable. I want to make spells that allow me to shoot lighting out of my mouth and fart fire from my ass at the same time.
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>>27279316
>Ive made like 3 homebrew systems that sell locally
dude, really? Where? What about? How locally? Can you give us an outline?
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>>27279285

Until some amount of playtesting lets me replace "scribble out runes" with "state a spell with an organized syntax," as people at an actual game tend to do, it's still going to be shit. You do not need to be a genius to see this, you just need to bring your head down out of the clouds and actually know what an actual game session is like. Even then it's probably overly complex and unintuitive

I mean this in all seriousness; have you actually played a P&P game?

>>27279338

So are we now assuming ingame time is equal to out of game time? Because if a "simple" spell looks like OP's picture and I have to flip to 5 different pages to figure out what the fuck it does (unless I just go off of what the player tells me, in which case writing the rune out was 100% pointless), one to look up each rune and maybe another to refresh my memory on how the lines indicate they're supposed to interact, that is objectively going to bring the game to a screeching fucking halt
>>
>>27279374
I made one for playing 40k orks that I dont sell for obvious reasons that Ive been hawking on /tg/ for free, I made on radpunk RPG thing, 1 really wacky ruleslight fantasy system, and another thats basically a sharpened version of CoC with some more meaty mechanics for certain things. Im on a computer at the library between classes, but if this thread is still up when I get home Ill post all the PDFs, considering they dont make me much money anyway.
>>
>>27279199
Also, what's wrong with making it a straight up sentence? All computer code can be expressed as a series of imperative sentences anyway. I guess it does take the magic away too much.
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>>27279393
>draw out proposed circle
>GM looks it over
>okays it
>spell takes effect
I GM'd a game over IRC using roll20, in FFd6 for over a year, for 6 players. The hardest part was making the maps before the session, and trying to guess what direction the players would take, so I could plan plot hooks. The actual gameplay? Really easy, and FFd6 requires you to do mathematics requiring a calculator quite regularly
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>>27279393
My gm would accept any circle I drew look it over and then in the heat of battle when I activate it tell me I take so and so damage because I didn't create it right.

Shit man I love this thing and if you sit down and use some time to make a proper circle its basically you making magic programs that you just hit execute on and done. One of the reason I like the wizardry books from baen. Magic as done by programmers.
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>>27279405
and how locally are you selling them

(I really want that Ork RPG by the way)
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>>27279367
I think it feels more natural like this, a spell having multiple affects is cool but you can't help feeling that you're actually casting two spells at the same time.
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>>27279426

>Draw out proposed circle
>Take 4 minutes to do so
>GM looks over it
>Either instantly okays it because he trusts the player and/or doesn't want to bother with it or spends another 2-4 minutes making sure it's right
>Okays it
>Spell takes effect
>The other players either do the same thing on their turns and gametime is virtually tripled or they just fiddle their thumbs while the party Alchemist holds up the game

Yeah that sounds fun.
>>
>>27279439
most people

1. aren't programmers
2. don't find programming very interesting (or they'd probably be programmers)

while there's nothing wrong with a niche game, a group of non-programmers are likely to get bored of the concept in practice once the novelty wears off
>>
>>27279393
Bro, I respect your opinion, but we're here for precisely the reason of figuring out the system. Shitting on other people isn't helping.

And a symbol or part-and-parcel based magic system isn't new nor upsetting. The Riddle of Steel had one, and Castle Falkenstein and Ars Magica come to mind.
>>
>>27279487
Or just gimmick it and have the runes scribbled on a special paper that needs to "tune" to the magic runes for a set period of time and when you destroy the paper the effect happens?
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>>27279506
I'm not a programmer. I work construction. I like the idea and mechanics.
>>
>>27279426
>prepare bunch of circles pre-game
>real excited, show GM what my character drew up in the morning, where you have to take a time intensive ritual to make the circle work
>GM looks it over, just nods
>We play
>encounter a group of goblins
>excitedly cast my first spell, erect energy shield
>Didnt specify that the energy should stay in place
>Accidentalchainlightning.jpg
>TPK

Sounds like fun.
>>
>>27279487
obviously since the turns are supposed to be happening at the same time the alchemist draws his circle while the others are making their rolls
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>>27279506
I am both of those things.

I love this shit, I really want to try to play it, even though ill be rubbish at it
>>
>>27279556
wizards: not made to last
>>
>>27279487
It takes 4 minutes to draw these things? Maybe on a computer, but in person this is the work of seconds. Furthermore, you could be drawing up circles while the other guys are taking their turns. And they will be doing the same for you. This injects an element of creativity into games that are otherwise "I run up and hit the guy"
>>27279556
Who says it has to be a TPK and not just a mild electric shock that affects only you? That would be a bad GM, not a bad system element.
>>
>>27279532
the idea is fun, no one is denying that

but, in practice, once you're halfway through a game and you've spent half your playtime already slogging through complicated spell circles because you just want to cast a fucking fireball, the mechanics of the spell circles begins to erode the fun of the actual game.

there are more elegant ways of handling this that don't require the player to complete a programming mini-game every time they want to use an ability. a simple keyword system works just as well for getting across the idea of what is happening.
>>
>>27279583
>Who says it has to be a TPK and not just a mild electric shock that affects only you? That would be a bad GM, not a bad system element.

I wasnt being sarcastic. It does sound like fun. I would rather have the chainlightning than just something that affects me. Im always for living dangerous in my RPG
>>
>>27279583
>Maybe on a computer, but in person this is the work of seconds.

You are assuming the players perfectly know the rules and syntax. As clearly illustrated by >>27278965, or even rudimentary experience in p&p games, this is not the case.
>>
>>27279557
Perhaps each rune, circle, and line require a turn (or some time units) to draw. This will encourage the caster to think and create efficient "quick-casting" spells during combat.
>>
>>27279613
Why not make that a Rule #0 of the magic runes?
"When submitting a magic rune circle to the DM, first submissions are final. If you notice something bad is gonna happen because you made a mistake, tough shit."
>>
>>27279607
look at magicka. Its, admitedly not even close to as complicated as this, but you also need a "formula" to cast spells. But after playing it for some time, you arent frustrated with having to look up the formula for a simple Haste, you have internalized it. You have the muscle memory already to just put down ARSE mines when you see somebody aproaching, or making it rain when an electric enemy appears.

You learn. You memorize. It will get LESS complicated and more creative the longer the game goes on
>>
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AHAHAHAHAHA
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>>27279629
I would instead make it dependant on your INt how well you draw stuff. Things can go horribly wrong, and the more complex you draw the circle, the higher are the chances.
>>
>>27279613
So because there are players that constantly ask "What do I roll to hit?" when it is always a d20 makes D&D a bad system? I mean, it is, but not for that reason. This isn't a hard mechanic to understand, and it isn't very time consuming, not substantially more than standard state-and-roll systems at least. There will be people who are unable to understand it, but I'm not saying EVERYONE MUST CHANGE TO THIS SYSTEM RIGHT NOW IT IS THE SECOND COMING OF GYGAX, I'm saying that this is a nifty system that I think is worth developing, because it will be fun, and if you don't think it will be fun you don't have to take part.

I don't even know why you posted here in the first place, because you could just ignore the system if it gets your guts that badly.
>>
>>27279665
I like your version of a repeater
>>
Why does everyone act like these are one use items? How about once you make the circle you can use it as often as you want provided you have the go juice. Paper wouldn't last long but inscribing it into something would. Now you have a chance to make literally any tool you want.
>>
>>27279665
I understand both circles independantly but working together? what do they do?
>>
>>27279607
>but in practice

It hasn't been in practice yet.
>>
>>27279644
>>27279629
#1 every layer circle costs a turn, you need to attune to the arcane forces and draw extremely precise geometrical shapes
#2 no backsies, once a spell is cast it is cast, you will have to live with the consequences or dedicate your life to finding a way to reverse time
#3 you need to have actually learned the runes you are using, you can't just look them up in the rulebook, your character needs to have learned them
>>
>>27279668
>This isn't a hard mechanic to understand

Alright. Tell me what these spells do and explain why it is so

>>27279665
>>27277912
>>27278835

You have 5 minutes from the timestamp of this post to reply with an explanation of each spell. Should be simple, right?

>Y-you don't like muh idea, w-why don't you get out, jerk! ;_;

It's a poor mechanic that needs to silence its dissenters. Sorry to rain on your parade buddy, but just because you like it doesn't mean it's good.
>>
What would a circle for (absorb(mana))->(inbue(target)) be? Like for a circle that simply collects ambient mana and charges power sources?
>>
>>27279665
what I'm seeing is the fireball spellbeing affected by a rune copier that is affected by 'self' (how does that work? selfing is not a word as modifier it wouldn't mean anything either) and then the rune copier is stopped?
Could you explain this one?
>>
>>27279793
>>27279665 is a repeated fireball spell, because of the second circle affecting the first
>>27277912 is a simple delayed blast fireball spell, because of the delay circle affecting the fireball circle
>>27278835 is a create matter spell, but I think that one is broken, since it will just create "area"
>>
>>27279793
Working from the inside out: The first circle creates and compresses a large fire. The second circle projects it towards a target. The third circle causes the large fire to be released swiftly, causing an explosion. The outermost circle contains a secondary circle which replicates the entire thing (Also itself, because it is specifically affected by Self) and Stop has been excluded, meaning it repeats until it can no longer do so.

It's a repeating fireball spell.
>>
>>27279793
Seriously because you don't like it doesn't mean its bad. Its new I will grant you but I see nothing much harder than learning what different reagents mix to become what potions. Hell one of our players is always picking plants because she knows what affects each has in game and she makes kickass pots out of them
>>
>>27279793
>It's a poor mechanic

You're acting as though we said it's done. This whole thread has been development. We've been asking questions and just plain making shit up to try and improve and better understand the system.

You're not sorry to rain on our parade, that's all you've been doing. You're a Negative Nancy.

Go away.
>>
>>27279793

>>27277912
Fireball.

>>27279665
Fireball that is supposed to be repeating but I doubt it will work.

>>27278835
And create area in space.

Come on, this is nowhere as complicated as Riddle of Steel. It will be niche, but playable.
>>
>>27279838
Removing time spent typing it out, I'd say that's 2 minutes, tops, for 3 different circles, one of which was rather complex. By recognising the circle for "fireball" only the circle for "repeater" needed to be analysed. That is how you speed the system up, by recognising common and standard shapes, then by combining them in new and creative ways.
>>
>>27279811
since what is created is formed from ambient mana anyway
maybe immediately ([inbue:target] > [mana])
using >>27278752 's format
>>
>>27279793
repeated fireball, fireball, create nothing in particular.

Do I get a price?
>>
>>27279815
Basically the outermost circle contains a repeater

It Swiftly Copies the Target Rune, without Stopping, and including Itself.
>>
>>27279880
>Fireball that is supposed to be repeating but I doubt it will work.

I looked at it again, and while I dont see why he put the "self" clause in, I think it would work. whats wrong with it?
>>
>>27279894
Ah OK then. Thanks.


Now if we take compress(large area)-> (small area) we get a crouching spell. Unless we set up two or more equidistant points in which it becomes a rending spell.
>>
>>27279793

What if the spell system is meant more for world-building, or for running a 1 on 1 game over IRC or a googledoc?

Or a forum game with 1, or more, people?

Then, the limits of turns and stuff become less... limiting.


It turns into a game about making use of the magic system, rather than an attempt to transplant this system directly into d20 or something.


If you can't see how something works, maybe you've just been looking at it in the wrong way.
>>
This reminds me of the flame cloak spell I made for a game once. The spell made massive fireball around me. Forgot to put in a flame shield spell for myself and the DM said I immolated myself and everything around me.
>>
>>27279920
Okay but then shouldn't be 'self' on the spot where 'target' is now, in the repeater I mean
not to be an annoyance but to better understand it for myself
and if stopping is excluded then that should be in the double circle rather than the repeater, because right now it is I think stopping everything except the repeating or the rune, or rather nothing because it's an affect without a focus
>>
>>27279950
Because when I include [Self] affecting the [Swift : [Copy]] > [Target : [Rune]], it will duplicate the entire circle rather than just the fireball section of it.
>>
>>27279898
>>27279886
>>27279880
>>27279847
>>27279838
>all dat TOLD
>>
>>27279838
>>27279847

So two people who've been following this thread from the beginning got it in the time frame given

>>27279898
>>27279880

And two people who couldn't make the time frame (one just barely missed it) but nonetheless agree with what was cast

So it's consistent at least, but far from speedy. Not bad, but I can 100% guarantee that if showed to players a week before game time, you'd have at least one or two people who had absolutely no idea how it worked

I don't know why that one guy is trying to bring up Riddle of Steel, though. I can say my game is less fetishy than FATAL, but that's still a lot of fucking room left
>>
>>27279950
Wouldn't the "stop" rune just stop the copying before it begins? There is nothing to repeat the copying, so even if the stop rune isn't there it will only fires two fireballs.

I guess what the spell is suppose to do is that the "copying" circle is suppose to repeat till the caster "stops" it, but we are going to need a WHILE loop, and a boolean indicating whether the caster has stopped the casting.
>>
If runes can call to runes you can make a massive spell simply by making it in smaller more manageable modules. I'm thinking a targeting spell tat finds thinks linking into a spell that collects said targets. All the loose change in the world is mine...
>>
>>27280017
The copy circle is affecting both self and the fireball circle.

Putting Self inside the copy circle would just create a memory leak.
>>
>>27280024
Most GMs probably wouldnt allow "self" as a rune though. Overpowered and such.
>>
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>>27280056
>completed my challenge according to specifications
>THEY MUST HAVE ALREADY BEEN HERE
Done talking to you m8, you're just going to keep moving them goalposts
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>>27280017
well the lack of repeating is what is being stopped, so I guess it does have a focus
I think 'sustained' would be better though, it already exists and is not a tricky double negative
>>
>>27280056
>you'd have at least one or two people who had absolutely no idea how it worked

Congratulations, you just described every person who ever learned a new system ever.

Fuck off.
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>>27280079

So you're claiming you haven't been reading the thread from the beginning then? That you just popped in to reply to a random post? Because you and I both know that isn't true.
>>
>>27280100
You got told, shorty.

It's time to stop posting.
>>
>>27280060
the stop rune is with a second circle, it excludes itself. It never stops
>>
>>27280060
No, the Stop rune is discluded, which means that the copy circle cannot be halted. The copy circle specifically targets itself due to being affected by the Self rune.

Although now that I think on it, this is a spell which is just going to copy itself until it crashes even if there is no wizard to cast the newly created spells.
>>
>>27280100
No, I was here from >>27279426 onwards
>>
>>27280100
Its not as difficult as you are making out. Besides chances are you won't be starting with the dictionary of runes as you make a character. Learn as you go works you know.
>>
>>27280127
I think that was the intention.

Look at the filename.
>>
>>27280075
"Self" is essential for any spells that target yourself though, such as self-healing.

Overpowered runes can be made to be extremely hard to learn. A rune like "Death" may require a sacrifice of millions of lives for the embodiment of Death itself to teach it to you.
>>
>>27280146
Well I would say target would occlude the need foe self but whatever.
>>
>>27280075
Quest item
stop the BBEG from finding the self-rune
altough, I think the really weird one is the copy one, would it allow you to copy a physical object? Sounds high level
>>27279954
do you mean compressing a large area untill it's small?
>>
>>27280138
the start will be the most interesting bit. you slowly accumulate more runes and modify the simple spells you knew from the beginning ever more.

It should work in a way that you cant just tell your party your runes (something in your brain that can process runes properly only other certain circumstances, which dont include just seeing a circle or getting the rune shown) so that everybody has to tap into a different pool of runes.
>>
>>27280118
>>27280127
Ohhh, I thought excluding uses a straight line instead of a curved one as OP states. Sorry about that then.
>>
>>27280100

Um. Why is this a legitimate point?

"Well these people were already here."

Yeah, okay, so?

They have, at best, 8 hours more than other people.

How does this make you right, exactly?

You ARE just moving the goalposts.
And my point about "maybe this isn't for a d20 system" or "it could be for a forum game or a 1-on-1 IRC or googledoc" still stands.

Games can have various niches. Not Omni-applicable. If they work well for their niche, good.
>>
>>27277742
The "create" there should probably be in a triangle, so peeps don't get confused as to what is affecting what.
>>
>>27280162
Yes mini black hole compression areas
>>
>>27280146
you can just write it on yourself. You dont need "self". And "self" in this context refers to the rune itself, not to the person
>>
>>27280175
energy is a focus so that shouldn't be a problem
>>
>>27280092
>>27280107

I don't think I will. I think I will continue to point out that your waifu system is both impractically complex and not conducive to actual play with actual people.

Feel free to continue to be mad about it, though.

>>27280135

Alright then.

>>27280138

It depends, I guess. If one starts out with only a handful of runes and number of circles, it might be easier to wrap your head around. I still think it looks like higher end spells will be overly complex.
>>
>>27280175
you're probably right.

The whole abstractt notion of "life" and "control" doesnt work that well in this system I fear. This spell is pretty darn powerfull but hella simple
>>
so using what we currently understand
>>27276311
would be an entire program with lots of different Boolean statements for different situations
>>
>>27280212
Right guys, time to stop replying to him
>>
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>>27280224

I imagine. Poor ideas seldom withstand scrutiny.
>>
>>27280212
>not conducive to actual play with actual people.

Considering this hasn't happened yet and we're still playing around with the high-level ideas of the thing itself, I don't see how you can make that assertion with any real confidence.

It seems you're upset that people have been paying enough attention to the discussion to meet your challenge.

But no one can make you leave, you're right. Be sure to ice those calves, though. I hear they get sore from moving goalposts.
>>
>>27280210
dang, hes right
>>
>>27280246
I imagine. Fish seldom drink beer.
>>
>>27280212
>>27280246

okay, just determine for us exactly what the goal posts are. what d we have to prove to show that a group could play that if they like complex systems?
>>
Autosage lads, new thread?

Unless of course captain no-fun objects, then I guess we'll have to let this idea die here
>>
>>27280264

>c Im mimiknig u u luk dum nao ;^D

Yeah alright.
>>
Has this thread been archived yet? It needs to be.
>>
>>27280278
YOU make a new thread, yes
>>
>>27280246
The only scrutiny you brought was blasted to pieces and now you're butthurt.
>>
>>27280281
the point was that your statement has about as much relevancy to this thread as mine
>>
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>>27280338
I liked his more. It just looked good.
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>>27280146

(((Life(Energy))-(Large)) would more or less serve as a big area death deal, wouldn't it?
>>
>>27280277
>if they like complex systems?

Well I guess this is kind of the clutching point, isn't it? I mean, if they *like* the idea of taking the time to write out complex spells to make repeating fireball spells or omniscience and somesuch, then who am I to say that's wrong?

But to more directly respond to your point, I'd say the main test would be an actual game played with people who have no existing preconceptions of the magic system at all. Then a Magicka-styled game would be played, where the players try to resolve situations by casting spells. The main tests would be A: How "smooth" the game feels (IE how much time is spent scribbling, and how much time is spent actually playing?) and B: The interpretations of the resulting magic (a system is worthless if three different people give three different answers, but this idea has fared pretty well in that regard)

Considering the system errs on the side of complexity, a pick-up-and-play style test with little to no notice wouldn't be fair. Something like a two or three days of heads up then a 3-5 hour session would be nifty.

>>27280299
>>27280289

Yeah alright.
>>
>>27280346
Probably would just make life energy in an area. You would need to specify collecting life energy to make it kill.
>>
>>27280346
Life might be even harder to aquire.

also, I dont understand how that would be a death deal, you would have to explain
>>
>>27280375

>B: The consistency of interpretations of the resulting magic

Fixt
>>
>>27280385

Because I didn't draw it, it is kinda hard to see, but there is meant to be a second circle around (Life(Energy)) for exclude
>>
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>>27280056
>>
>>27280402
New thread chaps
>>
>>27280394
Correction I fucked it up and only did the left bracket for said second circle.

>>27280395

Ha.
>>
>>27280375
>Well I guess this is kind of the clutching point, isn't it? I mean, if they *like* the idea of taking the time to write out complex spells to make repeating fireball spells or omniscience and somesuch, then who am I to say that's wrong?
>But to more directly respond to your point, I'd say the main test would be an actual game played with people who have no existing preconceptions of the magic system at all. Then a Magicka-styled game would be played, where the players try to resolve situations by casting spells. The main tests would be A: How "smooth" the game feels (IE how much time is spent scribbling, and how much time is spent actually playing?) and B: The interpretations of the resulting magic (a system is worthless if three different people give three different answers, but this idea has fared pretty well in that regard)
>Considering the system errs on the side of complexity, a pick-up-and-play style test with little to no notice wouldn't be fair. Something like a two or three days of heads up then a 3-5 hour session would be nifty.

yes, of course its complex. There are complex games, there are ones that are less complex, this is more complex. that doesnt disqualify it as fun.

And if the only way to argue is to show emperical evidence, than this whole theoretical discussion (that you started) is pointless.
>>
>>27280388
Agreed with life being harder to acquire, since you can resurrect people with it. Healing properly just need some "heal" rune while making golems need "animate" rune.
>>
>>27280395
>25 minutes to make a joke with the magic system

It's funny because you actually proved my point that making a spell takes longer than is really tolerable in an actual game. So, thanks for that I guess, I had a hearty chuckle.
>>
so I had an idea to limit widespread usage of this type of magic, spells must function as obscene quantum physics level descriptions of what is occurring, but fortunately you can create glyphs that hold definitions and functions, like IRL programming libraries, to have access to a library you must have a tattoo that links you to it, probably one that turns itself invisible so that you can't just copy it onto someone else later, and wizards form large guilds each with their own private spell library's
>>
>>27280418

I don't think you can resurrect with just "life". You need to fetch the correct soul or something, otherwise you're just animating a corpse.
>>
>>27280420
Eh, I'd love to validate that, but I wasn't really paying attention.

The entire point of such a system is that you wouldn't be creating them on the fly so much as memorising and drawing them.

If I studied the spell for moving goalposts, I could probably draw it in under a minute.
>>
>>27280422

I'm just visualizing wizards subscribing to glyph repositories and periodically getting their subscriptions updated by expanding their tattoos.
>>
>>27280420
yeah, with runes he made up just then, after having drawn maybe one circle before.

Do you know how long it took me to calculate my first AC without help? You dont want to know.
>>
>>27278260

Or just throw the crystal into the circle, smashing it, and releasing the mana, which the runes convert into... Whatever spell they're for.

Oh, but then it's not reusable...

Unless they're strong enough to not break when thrown on the ground, and the force just knocks all the mana out.
>>
So, this is probably insane, but...

What if you make some sort of mana-crystal/blood or other highly conductive material, and use that to form your circle out of?
>>
>>27277731
The machine was economy. The world around it was the projection of the machine. When the crazy builder guy pours water into "Gold banks have" vial, Moist is in the vault and starts to see gold dust and foam materialize.


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