Today on the Mystic Theurge blog – Blue Magic (for all you Final Fantasy junkies out there)!

14 thoughts on “Today on the Mystic Theurge blog – Blue Magic (for all you Final Fantasy junkies out there)!”

1. a simple solution. I like it. 

2. Quick Study/Blue Magic should be “on a hit” or “on a 7+” (they mean the same thing), not “if you succeed.” It’s also very odd calling for a roll when you’ve only got miss/hit, instead of miss/7-9/10+.

   That aside, I’m with Tim: it’s nice and simple. I’m not sure it even needs the “take +1 forward while acting on the answers,” or at least you could find a way of folding it into the effects of the +Int roll – that would make it make more sense, actually:

   Quick Study

   When you experience the effects of an arcane spell, ask the GM the name of the spell and its effects, then you may roll+Int. On a hit, the GM will tell you which memorised spell you can forget to instead be able to cast the one you just experienced. On a 10+, you also take +1 forward when acting on the answers the GM gave you. This new spell is lost when you prepare spells and you may not add it to your spellbook.

   Something like that, anyway.

3. Knowing a spell and getting +1 for knowing is already a move in its own right, mashing it together into a single move with spell-stealing is a bit dirty pool. Take that out and give the spell-mimicry different 7-9 and 10+ results (like you have to forget a spell vs. you don’t), and let them steal spells they can see, not just “experience” (does that mean having the spell cast on you?) and you’ve got a pretty rad set of moves. Oh, also let them replace an old spell with the new one, as well as take it at next level. My 2 cents.

4. Alex Norris Good call on the hit vs. success thing. Since it’s altering a current “official” move, I didn’t want to mess with the base too much. I like what you did there moving it to the 10+ level.

   Johnstone Metzger  I can’t imagine getting a free spell (on your version of 10+) – even temporarily – is a good idea because that’s a thing that happens at level-up. Replacement keeps the numbers the same. Also “experience” is a nod to certain disabled character archetypes, like the blind prophet. Trying to not bias to the sighted. Could move the “take it at next level” down to the 2-5 Move, but would need to come up with something different at 6-10…  unless there just is no 6-10 variant?

5. You could honestly go without a 6-10 variant if the move only lets you take a spell next time you level up, I think.

   I agree with Johnstone that it would parse better with the +1 forward entirely removed, incidentally.

6. Well getting spells at level up is only 1 option. You can get new spells from ritual, found spellbooks, buy them somewhere etc. 

   Allwoing to get extra ones on a hit from a 6-10 move shouldn’t break anything. 

7. Man, you want wussy DW characters. If a free spell seems overpowered, go with this: on a hit you have to forget a spell you have memorized, and on a 7-9, you can only use the new spell once and then you forget it too.

   Then you can have an advanced move where on a 12+, you don’t have to forget a spell.

   Bam, done. Also keep in mind if I steal the necromancers spellbook I can learn all his spells without levelling up, fuck the numbers. Descriptive advancement, yo.

8. I didn’t see Alex Norris post when I first commented. His is not a bad way to combine the two, but I kind of like the idea that you don’t necessarily know the spell you’re going to mimic/steal before you cast it yourself, you just have the evidence of it being used.

9. “In your presence” is another possible alternative to “that you can see.”

10. LOL I don’t know about “wussy” but yes, I do tend to play DW on the low-magic end of things; spells aren’t quite so freely accessible. There is something to be said for loosening the restrictions in a higher-magic setting.

11. Heh, see I usually tend to think of “low-magic” more as “PCs aren’t wizards” or something. Although I feel like there’s trend of under powered 3rd party DW classes, when compared to the base classes. It was the opposite when people starting making their own Apocalypse World classes, they tended more toward power creep. That’s what I was thinking of.

12. Johnstone Metzger I agree. I’ve seen a few wusses out there because people seem to be scared to create moves with mechanical advantages. Strong = awesome. And we RP to be awesome. The core Fighter is awesome. At 7th level he can kill a dragon with one blow.

13. Does anyone have any ideas for adapting Blue Magic to Mages?

    http://www.mediafire.com/view/?i5has0rh422pgaz

14. The easy thing to do here would be take the Multiclass Dabbler and grab Quick Study/Blue Magic. You might be able to fool around with Counterspell somehow but it seems the less obvious and simple route.

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