Another word based magic system

Background

In my game, I mention a type of magic called Grammary but, I haven’t taken the time to really look at it as a codified system. In my currently running campaign, there is an NPC who is actually an illusionist mage. Up until recently, I’ve been simply running her abilities as supernatural powers without any particularly unique stylings. It’s occurred to me however that providing a scope and framework for her abilities can really help define her for my players as well as open up the door for player-run mages in the future. To that end, I aim to describe a word based magic system that fits my goals and that I can be generally happy with.

Before writing this article, I found that there were already lots of word based magic systems. Of particular interest is Ars Magica and Gramarye. Gramarye even shares a name with my system! As for Ars Magica, it’s been around for a long time. Maybe it’s the original word magic system? I will attempt to carve out a niche of my own but, I’d be lying to myself if I thought that my system was going to be totally unique. As for original inspiration, interestingly the best inspiration was the Bible.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1

Goals

In order for my ideas to be a success, the system must meet certain criteria.

Magic must be quirky

The magic is about weaving the power behind words into a potent string. Though I aim to have a base of two words (noun and verb), the effect must be open to interpretation and thus certain quirks every time it’s used. Using the same “spell” multiple times should generate slightly different effects. To an extent, that is flavor that the storyteller is responsible for but, the system must support the storyteller in that regard.

The system must be abstract

As I use a variant of FUDGE, I want to keep the 7 step descriptive levels. I also want to keep the abstract and rules-light nature of FUDGE. The rules must be able to handle a huge variety of situations and results. It cannot be a series of spells codified and written in stone.

The system must be simple

Simplicity leads to easy understanding and faster play. When a system is simple (and hopefully elegant), it fades into the background and just becomes a piece of the fabric of the game. This aligns neatly with the other goals. The system can’t dominate playtime, nor can it bog things down.

Grammary

Words have a deep and concrete power that is fundamental to everything around us. Words are used to describe things and actions and in doing so, they define that thing. Words can set limits and they can create. They can sway emotions and they can even shatter empires. Grammary is the application of words coupled with will to sway the universe to comply. The right combination of words, said at the right time can have amazing effects.

Each noun and each verb count as one supernatural power. Thus, someone capable of having 4 abilities would instead be capable of understanding 2 nouns and 2 verbs or one verb and three nouns, etc. The magic can only use the words that they understand but within those words are a slew of different effects and options.

In order to cast a “spell”, the mage will select one verb and one noun and then roll their will against a target difficulty in trying to meet their desired effect. The difficulty is dependent on the level of effect desired. In that sense, causing a mild distraction is a mediocre effect while teleporting the party is a superb effect. Should the mage fail poorly enough (four minuses or a terrible), the mage is exhausted and cannot attempt any more magical effects. Certain verbs and nouns are just more difficult to work with. The storyteller can allow a mage to take extra time to mitigate some of the strain and thus, reduce the difficulty but this is entirely up to the storyteller.

Verb	Description	Difficulty
Create	Allows the mage to bring something into being that wasn’t there before.	Hard
Destroy	The mage can break or weaken something that was once strong.	Moderate
Alter	The mage can change a feature of something or the thing.	Hard
Mend	The mage can repair something that was once damaged.	Hard
Move	This allows the place of something to change.	Moderate
Protect	The caster will strengthen a facet of something or the thing.	Moderate
Control	The caster will be able to manipulate a thing even without the thing wanting.	Hard
Know	Allows the caster to learn all manner of information.	Hard

 

Noun	Description	Difficulty
Body	The body of any living thing except plants.	Hard
Light	Bend light to make the semblance of other things.	Hard
Mind	The most sacred part of all beings, their very self.	Hard
Spirit	Things beyond this plane, both human spirits and others.	Hard
Wind	Harnessing the element of wind.	Moderate
Water	Harnessing the liquids.	Moderate
Earth	Harnessing the very ground underneath, the more ordered the more difficult	Moderate
Energy	Harnessing fire and other energies.	Moderate
Plant	That which grows and craves sunlight. Green and otherwise.	Moderate

Conclusion

In the end, this took more from Gramarye that I had originally entailed. As it stands looking it over again, I basically recreated the Gramarye as a lighter version. Sadly, this didn’t fit what I wanted but it shows that the Gramarye is an awfully elegant system.