Magewars and Dragons - A Pen and Paper attempt

[Tokata]

So,
No idea wether someone thought of this bevore but - how about using magewars as a base for a pen and paper game?
(Who has no idea what pen and paper ist: 1) Shame on you! 2) Short: Imagine a Mmo like world of warcraft without an pc, converted to a boardgame, just without a board 3) Googel it )

Ok i guess every1 reading this sentence now knows what i'm talking about when is ay pen and paper (pnp) - if thats not the case: Go googel!^^

Even if the rules may seem to be long now - compared to other pen and papers - they are nothing. Also, most of them are just common sense and i feel writing them is almost not needed at all. I do it nonetheless

Bevore you continue reading, i want to apoligize for any mistakes i make, i'm not a native english speaker

Once again: Bevore you read this, its important you have a vast glimpse of what pnp is about

Shorts:
Exp = Experiance
DM = Dungeon Master, / Game leader
pnp = Pen and Paper

What you will find:
0 - Pro's and Con's
1 - World and Story
2 - Bunch of Rules
3 - Battles
4 - Roleplay

All this rules are just an idea and still in "the alpha" - so i'm glad for any advices


0) Pro's and Con's

Pros:
- You don't need to teach your players new rules (hell if you ever read the entire the black eye rules you know how big this pro actualy is ^^)
- IF you need to explain the system to your players - it will be fast. (alot faster then the averange pnp system at least)
- The world of magewars isn't exactly filled with lore right now. If people play this as an pnp and write their adventures in the lore forum, it could fill the world with more life
- A fight system with numerous ways to individualize your characters

Cons:
- If you want to implement skillchecks for running, jumping etc - you have to invent them on your own.
- You can only play magic characters (according to the rules i offer here - you may always change this and let a warlord be a mercenary leader meele fighter if you wish to - but you have to get the rules for your own then )
- If you don't want to design your own mages - only 8 characters right now

so basicly all the cons just require some effort



1) World and Story:
Well thats pretty much up to the dm, but you can easily stick to the world of magewars.


Examples: For our examples, we will use 3 Mage apprentices, Raziel, Misha and Elenore, who, for different reasons - hunt the warlock cairne bloodsong. The Priestess Elenore got a dream of her god, the wizzard raziel hopes for arcane knowledge and Misha as a childhood friend of Raziel feels responsible for him, and decides to join him, so shes able to keep trouble away.


2) Bunch of Rules
Ok here is where the deal starts.

2.1) Characters
Each player select a character (a mage). Depending on how powerfull you want your people to be you may give them a number of spellbookpoints, of with they may build a spellbook. (If you want to start with a group of apprentice mages who can cast 1 spell each fight - give them 1 or 2 points only, if you want experianced archmages for truly gigantic battles and hordes of enemys give them the full 120 points)


2.1.1) Spellbook Building:
NO "Buildings" - Ofc your mage may summon a wall, but don't allow them to take spawnpoints, temples, siege weapons etc. in their spellbooks - if a mage want to take a conjuration in his spellbook judge wether or not he may do so. You may let mages have acess to different buildings at specific battles in the campain, for example defend a temple, but don't let them summon temples
NO Monsters - You should be generealy carefull with monsters in mage spellbooks, commonly as with conjurations you need to decide wether or not to let it in. Personaly, i would allow the summoning of etheral creatures if one of the mages REALY wants to, but in general I recomend sticking no monsters at all. If you want you can take familiars  and mercenaris wich they not summon but who travel with them for whatever reason.
NO Equipments - Equipments are your tools to "reward" the mages - they may loot it from enemys, buy them in towns or get them as rewards for their acomplishments. The only equipment that isn't targeted by this rule is the forcemasters blade, as it belongs to the mage^^

note: On every card the dm has the last word wether or not you may include it


Example: Each of our apprentice mages gets 3 Spellpoints to build their starting spellbooks with:
Elenore, the priestess chooses  Minor Heal, Pillar of Light and Pacify -  she wants to support her group
Misha, the Forcemaster chooses Galvitar, Force Blade - she wants to go for the meele fighting
Raziel, the Firewizzard chooses 3 Flameblasts - he wants to go for powerfull magic spells to destroy his foes


2.1.2.) Experiance:
You will reward the mages with experiance in form of spellbook points, with wich they may include new spells to their spellbooks. - How you want to distribute it is up to you - you may give experiance for certain monsters to the mage who killed it, to the mage who dealed the most damage, or just give experiance for damage and healing done etc., or for roleplay purposes, all up to you (if i say you, i target the dm )
I recomend a flat experiance gain for every1 + some bonus experiance for those who shined in certain tasks
I also recomend the following formular:
10 Exp = 1 Spellbook Point
Monsters MAY give their creature level in exp, if you want your mages to get stronger through fighting. (so if a character kills of 10 wolfes (level 1) they get 1 spellbookpoint.

As i said, giving players experiance is all up to you.
I just highly recomend the 10 exp = 1 spellbook point formula, because getting exerpiance often keeps your players more on track then getting 1 spellbook point every evening of play

Example: After a day of play the players accumulated xp:
Elenore: 19 XP
Misha: 17 XP
Raziel: 21 XP
So Elenore and Misha both have 1 Spellpoint more to include to their spellbooks, while Raziel already has 2
Elenore decides to put another minor heal in her spellbook
Raziel goes for an fireball
While Misha decides to save her spellpoints for more a more powerfull spell.


2.1.3.) Battle:

Battles are fought in spaces, like in the magewar arena. you may obviously block some parts out, or put some walls on the battlefield bevore the battle starts. up to you

2.1.3.1.) Players in Battles:
In battle, each mage starts with his chaneling and 0 mana. Battles are fought normaly. Equipments doesn't need to be summoned. (Care: The forcemasters blade has to be summoned each battle!)
After battles you have two options -
1) each mage gets back each of his spells after battle. Pro: Multiple battles possible Con: May afflict rp usage of spells (This doesn't need to be a con, but it can)
2) Each mage regenerates all his spells once a day Pro: Spells seem rare, players will think bevore casting. If a spell is used in battle, it isn't avivable for rp purposes and vice versa Con: Multiple battles a day /Long fights are harder to pull of.
3) Each mage regenerates spells equal to 1 spellpoint per houer  Pro: Spells regenerate constantly, and players can decide wich spell they need to have back fast, and for wich spell they can wait. Rp spellcasting will get interesting con: Lategame, when players hurl realy much spells in epic battles, they will need years to regenerate spells.
4) (Warning: For this attempt, you need to chance the exp gain alot,): Players won't get their spells back to their books automaticly, but need to buy them back via experiance.

Note: I would recomend something between 2 and 3 - While they act, mages regain spells equal to X spellbookpoints / houer and if they rest for a long time (the night for example) they regain their entire spellbook)

Note: You may want to give mages acess to special one-time-use-spells - a priestess for example could have access to one resurection, wich she could cast on other mages as well as npcs  - but there is no way to refresh this spell. A brave warrior who defeated a demon avatar in the name of light may get a divine intervention stuck to him etc.

Note: You may want to change the total life value of the player mages to half, or even a third its realy high - Also you may think about halfing the channeling value (to 4/5) - Life and channeling value may be increased with experiance over time (For example 1 life = 20 Xp, 1 Channel = 50 xp, just hypotetical values)


Example to my method of spell regeneration: Our mages burned all their spells in the last confrontation. Now they walked for 2 houers - they regained spells equal to two spellbook points. Elenore chooses to regain blinding flash, Raziel gets two of his flameblasts back, while Misha still wait one more houer so she will be able to summon her beloved blade again.


2.1.3.2) DM in battle

Now this is your section. And with you, i target the dm, again.
For Battle purposes you have:

Monsters. For novice mages, even 1 or 2 monsters may proove to be a almost impossible task (Just toss a group of 4 mages with 3 spellbook points each against an earth elemental and you know what i mean) - so try to balance out the fights. let the mages feel pressure, but try not to kill them

Mages. If you want a REALY powerfull opponent for your players you can toss them a earth elemental, or a horde of 200 goblins. Or pit them against a mage. Mages make great bosses, build them spellbooks, give them some adds, maybe incrase their life and they will cause huge headache to your players.

Objectives: Obviously, you may get different objectives in fights for the players. Kill the mage bevore he can cast his escape spell (kill him in 10 rounds). Destroy the gate to hell bevore it can spit out an archdemon. Defend the temple that holds back the dark forces. and so on. Obviously, if they fail, they have to face the consequences (For example to face a demon avatar, if they are unlucky)

Note: Equipments: You may attach equipments to powerfull enemys - this will leave the players with the choice: Will they try to defeat the foe with the equipment, to potentialy loot it? Or will they destroy the equipment so they don't need to fear its wrath? Keep in mind to always put some dissolves in enemy-mage-spellbooks, so they can use it if a player steals an equipment you don't want your players to have

Note: Feel free to adjust any values as you feel you need it. Just inform your players you did this .. or not.. if you want them to have a nasty surprise - I recomend crit imunity (critical hits won't ignore armor) if you want tougher creatures. Also, you may want to equip monsters with "basic" equipments like leathergloves to make them tougher.

Note: Always keep in mind your players may want to flee of battles

Note: If your players attack enemys they know they can't defeat, make sure they know they can't defeat him. if they proceed fighting and don't want to flee, don't hesitate to kill them...

Note: Once your mages are grown  a bit you may want them to have a fight with 12 goblins or some kind of mosnters you don't have enough cards for - just let them come in as reinforcements after they died

Note: You may want to modify some monsters, for example remove the "slow" of the earth elemental and grant it a quick attack. Do such modifications as you feel you need, you are the dm, you tell the story

Note: You may want to stick enchantments to your npcs's so they are more powerfull.

Note: Don't use the "hinder" rule if mages want to flee


Example 1: In a fight, our three adventurers may find themself faced to 3 Knights of Westlock, the townguards, who attacked the group because raziel is accused of throwing a fireball to a peasant. (in fact, a servant of Cairne did this, but try to explain that to the angry townguards). The leader of the townguards just came out of a brothel, so he has the Bull Endurance enchantment on him. The mages now have to choose wether they want to flee, fight, or try to talk their way out of the situation. Since our three mages feel too proud to flee and don't see a way to talk their way out - so the fight agianst the three brave townguards starts.

Example 2: The three mages find themselfe faced against an earth elemental - an easy opponent for much xp, they guess. - since its slow, they can just kite it till its dead. But once the earth elemental arrives there is a nastry surprise - it can do his "two fisted power smash" as a quick action and may do it after a move, even thou its "slow" - seeing they can't deafeat such a powerfull foe our three mages decide to flee and take a run for it.

Example 3: The mages have grown in power and finaly face their foe - The warlock Cairne Bloodsong. He ist about to open a gate to hell, to summon aldramech (Say he will suceed in 10 rounds). He is defended by several firewalls, wich hinder the movement of our heroes as well as two whirling spirits and several imps and other demons.
After our heroes mannaged to fend of the demons, and get through the firewalls, there is not much more time left. Cairne almost opened the gates to hell, aldramechs voice already fills the caive. The mages wave their most powerfull spells to destroy the gate to hell - just in time,they suceed, but now they are exhausted, wounded, almost out of spells and still have to face the enraged Cairne. Will they suceed, or will their jurney end as a sacrisfice to Cairnes Demonic lords?


3) Roleplay
Well, as the world of magewars is just about to develop, and we don't know much about its lore, its pretty much up to the dm to set up the tasks for his players. Just keep in mind the spellbooks of your mages, and that they may use this spells to solve the tasks you give to them Be prepared to face a teleport if you want them to climb up somewhere.




Note: Oh bevore i forget - some players tend to attack townguard and so on - make sure that while you are in town, you have some "nsc cards" (like knights) avivable for a townfight
Note: You may want to include skillchecks - you need to make this rules up on your own Or maybe i update this if someone has a good idea on how to implement it

[Tokata]

- This space is reserved for eventual additions, depending on how this idea evolves -

[Sailor Vulcan]

This is an amazing idea! I love it! The battle system sounds particularly ingenius. The spaces of the arena, but without the outer walls! Perfect for roleplaying. However the rulebook you posted here needs to be more organized and legible. Also, I don't think putting those kinds of limits on what your mages can cast will make for a very balanced game. I'm pretty sure you gave the Forcemaster an advantage there, since she's better at soloing. Of course, since I STILL haven't had the chance to play a full game of Mage Wars yet, I wouldn't know for absolute certain.

How about this for a premise? You are a student in a university for Mages in Sortilege, and you are on a field trip/vacation/whatever. Or the adventure can take place at the university. This university has six colleges--one for each major school of magic. Your character will start out with only minimal spellbook points and stats, as well as weak or nonexistent versions of their mage class's special abilities.

For dungeon looting, I think it should depend on the scenario. I have an idea of kidnapped professors or parents/important public figures. When you rescue professors, they'll teach you a new spell or two. When you rescue your parents or an important public figure, they give you new equipment. Some enemy creatures can have equipment to loot as well.

Of course, for equipment you can buy them for in game money/campus credit or something. Your character can get a part-time job.

Also, if we're having some of our adventures in a school, we cannot CANNOT forget the minigames. Competitions and sports and stuff. Some of those minigames might have prerequisites, like being trained in a certain school of magic or having certain kinds of spells available in your spellbook.

Apprentice Mages that can only cast 1 or 2 spells per fight sounds rather boring. That sounds like the level of middle school mages, and I'm not sure anyone's going to want to play as one of those.

Also, I don't think it's a good idea to play as a mage with a full 120 spellbook points right from the start. That would be like starting from the level cap, since only some of the best mages get selected to fight in the arena, and they all have 120 book points. Those mages are already long out of graduate school. If you want to have the opportunity to level up your character and still be consistent with the story, I would say all mage characters in the RPG are students.

I think creatures are absolutely fine, as long as we're sticking to the amount of spellbook points available. Let's face it, a nature student in their senior year in magical college should be perfectly capable of summoning a few Ferrets. And again, I'm pretty sure that banning all, or even a significant number of creatures would give soloing mages an unfair advantage compared to their teammates, rivals and enemies.

Here's what I'm thinking for the stat/level up system:

All Mages start out at Rank 1 as high school graduates or Freshmen--or rather, Freshmages.

Rank 1--High school graduates and Freshmages have:

*1/6 of the spellbook points that an arena level Mage of the same class has
*20 less Health than an Arena level Mage of the same class
*the same channeling rate as an Arena level Mage of the same class. This rate does not change with Rank up.

*additionally, all Mages start out with up to 8 starter spells. You want these to not get too close to your maximum Rank 1 spellbook points, because if they do it will be very hard to learn new spells during your freshmage year. Of course, you can also find a specialized Mind Mage who can force you to forget spells, they often do it for free, but some of them might charge you, especially if you rely on their services too much.

Rank 2 is Sophomage, Rank 3 is Junior Mage, and Rank 4 is Senior Mage. Rank 5 is Graduate Mage, and Rank 6 is Arena level.

Each Rank up is equivalent to another year of successful magical college curriculum, and you gain 1/6 of the spellbook points that an arena level mage of the same class has. When you Rank up you also gain +5 max health. Also, different types of activities and actions could have different types of EXP. Different types of campaigns or classes could also award new knowledge and skills for completing them. They can also be used to recruit new party members or befriend NPC's. Once you've reached Rank 5, it's time for graduate school. Rank 5 Mages are pretty powerful mages. Rank 6 mages are the ones that can be drafted into the arena. If a Rank 6 mage loses in the arena, they die in story too, so you better hope that your GM isn't sadistic enough to draft your mage. Although if you have a sadistic GM, you might want to think of finding another GM.

Your idea of 10 EXP=1 spellbook point has merit, but if we're trying to make the story consistent by making the characters start out as student-level Mages, it will be harder to calculate that way, especially if you want characters to gain experience from both their classes and campaigns.

Also, I hate not being able to have the freedom to customize my build. If I start with no spellbook points and only get a couple points in each battle out of several hundred battles, I'm going to be severely restricted in planning my Mage's spellbook for the long term. I don't want my Mage's spellbook to be a hodge podge of random spells that were only useful for a short while when they were learned without regard for how they work together in the long term. Having 6 levels and gaining 20 spellbook points for level, while being able to forget spells with the help of an NPC mind mage completely eliminates this problem. It gives the players more leg room to customize their characters and their characters' magical education for the long term without it being at the expense of their character's life, well being or overall magical ability in the short term.

So what do you think? Are my edits and additions approved?

This is an absolutely amazing wonderful idea, but I think it still needs some work. I deeply look forward to playing this.

[Texan85]

The problem I see is that you have assumptions based on prior players of pen and paper RPGs, and while there are a lot of them on the market, it seems like a shrinking kind of game because of the typical group time commitments, which brings up my concern. Not all Mage wars players are pnp players and without an experienced pnp person to learn from, how are they going to make up their own checks and etc? You would almost have to have a full length kind of book because of the gaps in experience and because you wouldn't want to exclude non-magewars board game players to feel left out because a game like that is an expensive endeavor you have to do it right in order to ensure it being a success.  But in like 5-10 years and 500k units of the core game sold, then it would be a great time for them to branch out with a very clean and accomplished, crisp pnp rpg. But before an iOS/android/pc version of the board game. Which is what I would love to see, mtg is making just stupid money every year with online content.