Arcana: A New Fantasy Roleplaying Game

[Gnomemaster]

Introduction by the Author

As I read about the coming of 4e, it drives me nuts that over the past 8 years I have spent roughly 1,800 dollars on books only to have them become no longer rel relevant. This has inspired me to create my own roleplaying game that addresses so many of the problems I have with DnD.

Even though I am a very loyal fan, I dislike many of the classes, the Vancian method of spellcasting, and the lack of customization and simplicity in armor class. This is my game, I need as much help as I can get, so far it is only me working on this, if anyone wants to offer help or criticisms, you need only post. Thank you.

Gnomemaster.

The Old World

The Old World is comprised of three major regions. In the west is the continent of Kargea, built upon the ruins of ancient empires, it is ruled by the many squabbling houses of the Arcane Congress. Kargea is a land where magic runs rampant; it seeps through the everyday life. Almost every Kargean citizen knows a few spells. Kargea is home to gnomes, humans, high elves, and half-elves.

To the East lies the uncivilized frontier of Alacaron, even after centuries of colonizing attempts, the Kargeans have yet to build outposts deep enough in the country. Alacaron is a divided continent ruled by barbaric tribes and untamed frontiersmen who rarely work cohesively. Alacaron is home to orcs, dwarves, Halflings, and jungle elves.

Separating the two is the destroyed island-city of Stratton. Once the gem of the Northern Sea, it now hangs in a green cloud of necromantic energy that corrupts and kills all who enter without protection. A few minutes later, the body having decayed hideously, rises again as a draugr, a being that is neither living nor dead.
The Old World is a land of danger, corners may hide a new creature waiting to eat you, patrons at the tavern may be hiding knife blades to slip between your ribs, dragons soar overhead looking for easy prey, demons and devils reach into the minds of the easily corrupt, and worse.
Are you prepared?

 [note]That's just a small snippet of what I have. I already know that the class system will be Mage, Warlock, Priest, Scout, Warrior, Paladin, and Thief. All of them will get spells (even the Thief, Scout, and Warrior, classes that would normally receive no such thing).[/note]

Please let me know if I am on the right track.

[Gnomemaster]

Chapter Two: Magic
The Old World is rich in magical energy; powerful mages rule Kargea and Stratton hangs in a cloud of Necromantic energy. Magic in the Old World is divided into various colors and styles.
 
'¢   White Magic: White spells include blessings, protection, purity, 'buffs', and light (but not necessarily good). Spells of white magic tend to protect and defend the weak.
'¢   Red Magic: Red spells include war, destruction, fire, ice, electricity, acid, and other energies. Spells of red magic tend to be attack spells that focus on dealing damage.
'¢   Black Magic: Black spells include death, amorality, demons, devils, undead, 'debuffs' and darkness (but not necessarily evil). Spells of Black magic tend to use attrition as a theme.
'¢    Purple Magic: Purple spells include prophecies, illusions, trickery, and knowledge. Spells of Purple magic tend to use Divination and Illusions.
'¢   Green Magic: Green spells include nature, growth, fury and blessings. Spells of Green magic tend to give blessings to beasts, and include the organic side of nature.
'¢   Blue Magic: Summoning, transformations, dreams, and the planes of existence. Spells of Blue magic tend to create or conjure aid from thin air.
A spell's color denotes what color it appears when under the watch of a detect magic spell. Spells are cast by sacrificing points from a pool called Spirit. A caster has a set amount of spirit points available which can then be used to cast a spell, spells can be augmented by adding extra points to the cost. Below is an example spell:

Vesilda's Missile
Type: Red Sorcery
Level: Mage 1
Points: 1 Spirit
Save: Reflex Save avoids
      Duration: Instant
      Casting Time: 1 Standard Action (SA)

A violet bolt of arcane energy is unleashed from your fingertips. It soars through the air and explodes on targets in a shower of sparks.

Vesilda, a powerful and ancient Strattish mage handcrafted enough spells to fill a library with spellbooks. This spell creates a magical ball of energy that erupts. It deals 1d8+1 magic damage. Add +1 damage  for every 1 Spirit spent (maximum of +5)

Spells are given a name, a type that denotes color and whether the spell is sorcery, enchantment (buffs), disenchantment (debuff), or a summoning. Their level shows the class and level, the points explain how much the original spell costs (without any augmenting), and the save tells us what type of save is needed to avoid damage. The duration tells us how long the spell should last and lastly how long does the spell take to cast.

[Kalos Mer]

I too am making my own game - more in reaction to d20 etc. not really fitting the style of game I want to play than in distaste about 4e.

Let me offer you some advice based on my experiences so far.  The first thing you ought to do is try to figure out what styles of scenarios you want to be able to play in your setting.  Do you want your game to involve a lot of intrigue?  Intricately tactical battles?  Should the level of danger inherent in combat tend towars Gritty Realism, Swashbuckling, Epic Fantasy, etc?  Once you've figured out the answers to some of these questions you can approach the building of the setting in a more focused way.

I assume that this game is still gonna be a d20 game with classes, levels, etc?  I like the idea of different colors of magic.  Do mages study one color, or multiple colors?

[Polycarp]

Along with Kalos Mer's question, could a spell conceivably be multicolored?  You might have a demon summoning spell (black/blue) or a protective aura of fire (white/red).

Spells are given a name, a type that denotes color and whether the spell is sorcery, enchantment (buffs), disenchantment (debuff), or a summoning.

This seems a bit redundant.  If buffs are white spells (as per your description), why call it "white enchantment," since enchantment would be white by definition?  The same thing goes for debuffs (black) and summoning (blue).  What does the categorization add to the system?

[Gnomemaster]

The buff is supposed to be redundant. Buffs and Debuffs are just meta-game talk that grants bonuses or penalties. I use the terms enchantment and disenchantment instead. Now, an enchantment in Dungeons and Dragons means "I cast charm person!" while an enchantment in my game means "I cast Ironflesh! You get 10/- DR for the next three minutes"

Now, not all Enchantments are white.  Most bonus granting spells are white, however all colors will receive buffs. For example, a spell called  armor of the fire lord that wraps you in plates of burning magma that grants a small armor bonus coupled with a small amount of fire damage would be a red spell.

The colors are all flavor, they are meant to create strong divisions between the different types of mages. I have been working a bit on how the game is going to end up, and I think to begin that you need to have a strong goal set.

Arcana is designed from the skeletal remains of the d20 system in the hopes that it will provide players with a new and unique experience. Right now I am focusing on rebuilding the classes and the spell system (No small feat, I assure you!) I am looking to Arcana Evolved for a lot of inspiration, in fact the Mage is almost a copy of the Magister class. It is all wrapped around the idea that you get several cool abilities as well as Spirit points to cast spells. (Note: The class features section of Chapter Three in Arcana Evolved is OGC)

[sparkletwist]

Hmm, the magic system seems sort of MTG crossed with D&D... interesting stuff.

Do mages tend to specialize, or generalize? Are there certain colors that have an affinity or opposition to other colors? Maybe there are certain areas of the game world that have different affinities to different colors/types of magic and whatnot... is the essence that the magic is drawn from able to be colored by these aspects as well? (sort of like MTG's colored mana)

(If you don't have answers to some of this stuff then it's ok too, it might at least be good things to think about :D )