So I spent a lot of time thinking about the implications of magic in games. This led me to create a game all about magic. It is called The Circle and is made in the apocalypse engine. A good friend of mine described it as “Mage without all the extra bullshit”. I would appreciate any feedback you all have.
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It’s quite interesting, although I’d really love to see some examples of how the domains could be used outside of the defined ‘moves’, since 15 possibilities doesn’t really exhaust what I’d like to be able to do in a game about magic.
I’m adding examples and explanations to the doc slowly. Generally the rule is. You can do anything and what you do determine the roll. Thanks for the feedback!
I’m just spitballing here, so take this with a pinch of salt, but have you considered using moves similar to the Practices from Mage the Awakening? They’re fairly well outlined in Tome of the Mysteries, and they seem as though they could be condensed and translated to a PbtA style moveset fairly easily (some of the classifications seem to be made to arbitrarily separate a five-dot system.)
1-dot Practices: Compelling, Knowing, Unveiling
2-dot Practices: Ruling, Shielding, Veiling
3-dot Practices: Fraying, Perfecting, Weaving
4-dot Practices: Patterning, Unraveling,
5-dot Practices: Making, Unmaking
This is just a few translations off the cuff, but you get the gist:
Compel a Domain when you subtly influence a simple phenomenon without harming it, granting it the ability to cause harm, or altering its fundamental nature.
Ascertain Knowledge of a Domain when you open your mind to its mysteries, thereby discerning answers — and sometimes even questions — without the medium of sense data.
Unveil a Domain when you expand your senses to the phenomenon to perceive resonance or other hidden forces.
Rule a Domain by performing elementary manipulations of its phenomenon, harnessing your powers for personal gain, or inflicting others with lesser curses and complications.
Conjure a Mystical Shield by fashioning the forces of your domain into armor, thereby granting protection from the perils of the mortal and supernal realms.