Mortal and Immortal MAGIC

“The ur-mage Klemto, it is said, traded his ties to the earth for an ageless body. Long did he rule in the craglands, until his apprentices removed his weighted boots while he slept, sending their once-master floating into the heavens…”

MORTAL MAGIC…

• …DISPLACES

o a weight on your shoulders

o a gap in your memory

o a knot in your soul

• …is DISCOVERED

o mighty bloodline

o ancient tome

o favor of the gods

o alchemical accident

• …is CIRCUMSCRIBED

o does only what mortal labor could

o sacrifice tools or materials (a pickaxe to magically dig a tunnel through stone, oil to start a fire)

o one task at a time

• …RETURNS

o dusk

o dawn

o moonrise

o death

IMMORTAL MAGIC…

• …COSTS

o your eye

o your name

o your birthright

o your empathy

• …is SOUGHT

o anyone can bargain with the eternal

o greater boons must be begged of higher powers—but are these spirits real, or just different faces of the infinite?

o those most desperate face the highest price

• …is BOUNDLESS

o unshackle the soul

o turn back time

o snuff the stars

o (The greater the boon, the higher the cost)

• …EVANESCES

o the gift remains

o the magic fades

The Lore of BEASTS

• Commonly asked of the eternal

• Mortal mage can harness the abilities of an animal instead of humans

• Lore of the crow allows magic flight

• COST is always the wizard’s humanity—never again will they be accepted by civilization

COMMENTARY

“Mortal magic” is almost entirely lifted from a great OSR blogpost that I have lost track of—if you know what I’m talking about, let me know! It reminds me of my favorite limit on “Wish,” too: “anything a person could do in a year.” Build a tower, yes. Kill a king, sure. Destroy the moon, no.

Immortal magic, on the other hand is deliberately open-ended. If you’re using it in a game, this is a roleplaying challenge, not something to solve with the numbers on your character sheet. What ancient power might be willing to help you? What do they demand in exchange?

RULES

Oh, you want an actual magic system out of this? Well, why not. We’ve been doing great stealing thus far, so let’s steal a little more. Take the Magic Dice terms from the GLoG ([DICE], [SUM], etc.); those are good. No spells, though, they don’t fit the paradigm. No Mishaps or Dooms, either. Keep it simple. Still terrifyingly powerful, though. Use these rules at your own risk.

MOSAIC-strict: MORTAL MAGIC

• Power represented by Magic Dice (MD, d6s)

• Get an MD when you consume a source of power

o Heart of a dragon

o Soul of a mage

o Fragment of an ancient artifact

• Roll to perform a single task with magic

o Performed as well as [SUM] people working at [DICE] x normal speed, with your level of skill

o Sacrifice tools to use them in the task (a pickaxe to have your magic dig through stone, a sword for your magic to defend you)

o On a 1-3, the MD return

o On a 4-6, the MD are lost until the next (pick one and stick with it)…

 …dusk

 …dawn

 …moonrise

 …death

• Magic CONTESTS

o Both sides roll, the winner can use the difference between their [DICE] and [SUM] and the loser’s

o Example: 

 Vlahal and Cohstr are having a Wizard’s Duel

 Vlahal rolls two MD and gets a 3 and a 4

 Cohstr rolls one MD and gets a 5 

 Vlahal rolled one more MD than Cohstr, so his final [DICE] is 1

 He also got a higher [SUM] (7 vs 5), so his final [SUM] is 2

 Vlahal’s magic strikes at Cohstr with the force of two people attacking at normal speed. En garde!

Is this too vague? Maybe. Game-able magic systems that don’t package their effects up into spells are hard. The more open-ended the abilities, the more narrative they become. In my experience you have to abstract something, either the economy of power, or its nature. Traditional Vancian spells do the former; this is a stab at the latter. It’s open to abuse by clever players, sure. Whatever. It’s magic!

The original post I got took these ideas from (would that I could remember where I saw it!) had a deliberate bronze-age flavor, and I agree. These rules conjure up an image of sorcerer-kings raising massive ziggurats, bargaining with djinn for immortality. Keep in mind, too, that a “task” doesn’t have to be physical! How many foes could a silver-tongued mage sway to his side, if there were five of him negotiating in double time?