[MUD-Dev] Re: spell design systems

[Travis Casey]

On 22 September 1998, Vladimir Prelovac wrote:

>   The spells are one of my concerns. I am looking for a spell system, that
> would be possible to code, and would let the spellcasters create new spells in
> the game. Something like spell researching.

> What I, so far, have in mind is making a base of 50 or 100 various effects
> that a spell may produce. Then making a base of 50-60 basic spells (as a
> combination of those effects) which the player can start with (finding runes
> near his village, a local wizard teacher, a wandering mage... ). ALL the other
> spells shall become to existance by the spellcasting players themselves (ie.
> after some time spend on research, mixing various material and such, a mage
> could come up with a new spell). He would then give it a name, write it to his
> spellbook, and maybe teach it to his friends. That way the new spell, carrying
> the name he gave it, would be tought in the lands for generations after. Do
> you have any ideas on this, advice or such. (I've downloaded the list archives
> and have just started browsing it, and didnt come to any such discussion yet.
> Heh, did you know there are more than 20,000 sheets of paper there? :)

There are a few different spell research systems that I've seen
used/proposed which could work.  In the archives, you'll find a post
of SDL, a "programming language" for creating spells that was proposed
originally as a magic system for a paper RPG, but which should be
adaptable to muds.

WEG's Torg system had an excellent spell creation system in its Aysle
supplement; unfortunately, its no longer in print, so here's a quick
description:

  There are four magical skills:
    conjuration -- the ability to create things
    alteration  -- the ability to change things
    apportation -- the ability to move things
    divination  -- the ability to gain information about things

  There are 22 arcane knowledges, in five categories:
    Essences
      Death, Life, Time, and True Knowledge
    Principles
      Darkness, Light, and Magic
    Mixed Forces
      Inanimate Forces and Living Forces
    The Seven Kindred
      Aquatic, Avian, Earthly, Elemental, Enchanted, Entity, and Folk
    The Elements
      Air, Earth, Fire, Metal, Plant, and Water

  A spell has three elements:
    Pattern -- the raw material from which the spell is made
    Mechanism -- the means used to manipulate the pattern to obtain an
        effect
    Result -- the final effect of the spell

  The arcane knowledges are linked together in certain ways, which are
  shown in a diagram which I can't easily represent here (if anyone's
  interested, let me know... I ordered a scanner today, so I should be
  able to put it up on Friday if anyone wants to see it).  To figure
  the difficulty of a spell, you trace a path along the diagram from
  the pattern, through the mechanism, to the result.

  Thus, for example, for a spell which turns a person into a frog, the
  pattern would be Folk, the mechanism would need to be Life, and the
  result would be Aquatic.

  There are then several "theorems" which can be applied to limit a
  spell in different ways, and thereby to reduce its cost.  For
  example, the theorem of contagion states that it is easier to cast
  a spell if you have a physical object which represents the pattern
  knowledge or the result knowledge.  In the case of a person to frog
  spell, you could make it require a piece of a frog.

  The spell designer also chooses one or more of the range, speed,
  effect value, volume, area of effect, minimum skill, casting time,
  and several other qualities of the spell; which ones have to be set
  depends on the spell -- e.g., a spell which only affects one object
  doesn't need a volume or area of effect.

  Lastly, there are certain modifiers to how the spell is cast that
  can be chosen; these are:

    impressed -- the spell is cast and impressed into a person or
      object.  It can then be released later with just a word or
      two.
    focused -- the spell is linked to another person or object than
      the caster.  Normally, a spell ceases when its caster is killed;
      a focused spell ceases when the person it's focused into is
      killed or the object destroyed.
    wards -- wards are spells which are linked to a divination spell
      and both focused and impressed into an object.  Hence, they
      trigger when the divination spell detects that the condition for
      release has been fulfilled.

  Certain modifiers may require more tracing on the spell diagram --
  for example, if a spell is to be impressed, a path is traced from
  the Folk knowledge to the pattern knowledge of the spell, and the
  cost of that path is added to the spell.

On rec.games.design recently, there's been a discussion of ideas for a
game which involves mages designing and casting spells with runes -- you
might want to check it out.

--
       |\      _,,,---,,_        Travis S. Casey  <efindel at io.com>
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