A great day of grilling, now doing some late night story/game design work for my our steampunk apocalyptic (but hopeful) game...

There are 3 magic modes we couldn't model well with the System we were using (D&D), but modelling pretty well now....

The first mode is rending magic. It's like casting magic by ripping magic energy from the air. It's vulgar, quick, easy, and environmentally damaging (it is why the world is as it is)

There is bargaining magic, where you negotiate favors and magic with elementals...

Bargaining magic is powerful, but spirits are fickle and rightfully angry with what mortals have done to the planet. Also, rending magic can kill spirits, so there are less everyday.

Last, the Wizard Barons (yep, rober Baron wizards), have banned it...

Bargaining magic is what most priests and druids use. Religion of all sorts has been banned, so they live as renegades amongst the people, hiding bargains with spirits in their arts and crafts.

Last mode is weaving. This was long ago how magic was practiced...

...but give yourself a good star if you guessed that the wizard Barons invented rending for their magical machinery, and eventually outlawed weaving.

That was centuries ago, and weaving is a lost art.

Weaving magic is about the user triangulating the midpoint between their desires, the present and the past, bringing them into emotional resonance with the world.

It is a slower, more powerful magic. If it could be remembered and practiced, it will start to fix the damage.

The magic of weaving could eradicate the machines that constantly tear at the world and keep the wizard Barons immortal and powerful, so they will burn any trace of the magic where they find it.

To use rending magic, all you have to do is determine how much power you want and can handle, and be OK with the ecological damage. You can buy now and the earth pays later.

Bargaining magic doesn't tear the earth open, but you're at the whims of angry spirits.

And weaving magic is all about answering prompts about who you were, who you want to be, and why that matters now.

It is about creating a moment of emotional harmony with reality and letting it manifest.

And coming back to the power of designing for just my group...if I was trying to build ways to represent this and explain it to a lot of people, I'd still be struggling.

But I know my group and we've already gone through the narrative bits, so i build just enough.

Most important (and the reason I dont just use PF or 13th Age, both of which I like)...I realized that our story was not an action fantasy but a dramatic fantasy.

I need to talk about what dramatic fantasy is soon...

But spoiler! If you have a dramatic fantasy ("actions have consequences"), whatever you are using needs to support fictional position and consequence as a main concern.

I can throw out combat engines altogether for this group.

Bit that doesn't make combat engines bad! You just have to know your story and know your group.