Arcane Focus
This scintillating Orb feels warm to the touch, and produces charges of multi-colored light as it is handled. When you roll 9 or less on a Cast a Spell move while holding the Orb, you can attempt to invoke its power to salvage the spell. Give the Orb +1 Stress, and then roll +Stress. On a 10+, the Orb releases its Stress in a magical burst, and the GM will describe what happens. On a 9 or lower, you can roll you Cast a Spell move again. The Orb’s Stress resets to 0 naturally when you sleep for the night. 1 Weight, Dangerous.
No 6- outcome?
I feel like this is the start of a good idea.
Alfred Rudzki I would guess a 6- would be a normal GM move. Many people, myself included, prefer items and moves not tie a GM’s hands by specifying a 6- outcome
Oh, sure, I get that, but that feels suuuuuuper weak sauce if you’re making a custom move. It feels like “you really can’t think of an interesting and unique way this could go wrong?” Obviously feelings vary, but i hardly consider “making a custom move memorable by giving it unique fallout” to be tying my hands 🙂
And that’s cool. Just pointing out that there are a lot of GM’s (and people with a lot more experience with the system than me) that prefer a 6- isn’t given. Now, if the 6- details are in addition to the normal GM moves, sure that’s fine, but in most cases they replace the GM move so always having the orb explode with a 6- gets boring. If they want to give some suggestions on moves for a 6- that’s one thing, but to write on a 6- X happens I don’t like. So, I suspect we’re not that differing of opinion, just on how it is written (a paragraph offering some GM move suggestions is different than stating this is what will happen)
That’s a really cool start.
1)When you use the sphere you’re actually rolling three times the dices. I would advice you to reduce the rolling. Maybe when you toll 9- and, then you roll for the sphere, it counts as a 10+.
(so you roll 2 times)
Or maybe: when you’re using the Orb, and you should roll for the Cast a spell move, consider it as a 10+, the sphere takes +1Â stress and roll…
(so you roll once).
2) As far as i understand, the move of the sphere is a “roll low one”. I would specify it, and ass a 7-9 result, like:
6-: nothing happens other than the result of your magic roll.
7-9: choose: take +1Â stress or your enchantement is somehow too powerful.
10+: the orb release its stress. Bat things happens.
If you prefer, you can choose to reverse it in a roll high move: the sphere start with 2 stability, and at each time, you get -1 stability (you can go negative).
Thanks for all of the feedback. After considering all of this I am thinking of this more simplified approach:
This scintillating Orb feels warm to the touch, and produces charges of multi-colored light as it is handled.
* When you Prepare Spells while possessing the Orb, count your Level as 1 greater than it is.
* When you Cast a Spell while holding the Orb, you can draw on its power to take +1 forward. When you do, the Orb takes +1 Stress. After you resolve the spell, roll +Stress. On a 10+, the Orb releases its Stress in a burst of magical energy, and the GM will describe what happens. The Orb resets its Stress back to 0 naturally while you sleep.
I like that version a lot more than your original. I also think adding the higher level when preparing was a good choice. I often find myself giving wizard and cleric PCs items that open up their spell choices to give them some flexibility. I think I would run the item like this:
This scintillating Orb feels warm to the touch, and produces charges of multi-colored light as it is handled.
* When you Prepare Spells while possessing the Orb, count your Level as 1 greater than it is.
* When you Cast a Spell while holding the Orb, you can draw on its power to take +1 forward. If you do, and your Cast a Spell is a 10+, the Orb takes 2 Stress as its magic fuels your spell. If you roll a 7-9, the Orb takes 1 Stress and you choose an option from the 7-9 list as normal or you can choose not to pick from the list and the Orb will instead take 2 Stress. On a 6-, the Orb takes 1 Stress in addition to whatever the GM says. After you resolve the spell, if the Orb’s Stress is greater than 2 it releases its Stress in a burst of magical energy, and the GM will describe what happens.
*If you possess the Empowered Magic or Greater Empowered Magic moves, on a 10+ you may cause the Orb to take 1 Stress instead of choosing from the 7-9 list to gain its effects.
The Orb resets its Stress back to 0 after you have slept.
Thats just how I’d probably run it. Not saying you should do it that way or anything. I could probably fiddle with the text a bit to make it shorter or more precise in its wording.
Increasing your effective level when preparing spells is always awesome; I did the same thing with a magic item I posted the other week, the Diadem of Clear-mindedness. I approve.