Recently, I’ve been thinking of coming up with a game setting with a more science-fantasy feel than the typical D&Dish fantasy world.
One thing I knew I would have to figure out is how “magic” would work. In the context of the setting idea, it really would not matter if it is actually “magic,” super-science, or some combination of the two. In fact a certain degree of ambiguity might be desirable.
So on Thursday night a few things gelled in my brain and I wrote them down before they escaped. This is only a starting set of postulates for how the science-fantasy magic system might work.
1) Long ago, all the magic in the world was gathered and imprisoned into a mountain consisting of a single gargantuan gemstone.
2) The gemstone mountain was shattered in a titanic explosion and countless millions of gem fragments were scattered across the world.
3) Each gem fragment contains a portion of the magic, still bound to the gemstone.
4) “Spellcasters” in the world know how to manipulate the magic in the gemstones.
5) Each time a “spell” is “cast” a fraction of the magic in the gem used by the spellcaster is released back into the world.
6) After a number of “castings” the gem crumbles into dust, when all the stored magic has been released.
7) Gem fragments come in various sizes and types that contain different amounts and forms of magic.
I’m starting to do a bit more thinking of what these starting concepts would mean for how an actual alternate magic system might be constructed, while still bearing some relation to the usual magic system found in D&D and old-school clones.
More to come when I feel it has gelled some more.
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