@wizz said in Mage 2.0 Conversion Discussion:
@ganymede said in Mage 2.0 Conversion Discussion:
Eliminate the Orders and Paths. No more favored or opposing Arcana. Or free point of Resolve of Composure. Just buy the Arcana and the Gnosis, and the rotes, and play.
Cutting Orders, Paths, and improv casting entirely would definitely be the easiest, most straightforward way to do this without really breaking anything.
I just like the idea of keeping improv casting, haha, because it gives structure to those "oh shit, I need to blow a hole in this wall/stop this monster/go Away" moments.
I also really like the idea (and might be the only person on the forum, haha) that improv casting with penalties could be used to experiment and justify spells unique to a character, or even roleplaying learning a new spell in class. There actually is a Down And Dirty Casting sidebar that could be used for this instead.
@misadventure said in Mage 2.0 Conversion Discussion:
Reskin spell building from Ars Magica, Masterbook, RuneQuest Sorcery, etc with WoD terms.
I actually don't think Mage's arcana and spell system is a horrible fit, if you invert the emphasis on rotes vs improv, and it feels a little more versatile than Ars Magica, for example.
@coin said in Mage 2.0 Conversion Discussion:
You can get rid of Paths and Orders and just have everyone pick ONE Arcana as favored at the beginning of their studies, and then let them pick a second later (it'd be nice if the choice had to come from the --shit, I forget the terms, but the way path arcana are divided, the two types of Arcana), once they've advanced, and each combination of two Arcana should have two "opposites", one of which is their Inferior.
For example, maybe your student has Matter, they need to pick one of the ... uh... non-physical, I guess? I still can't remember the term--Arcana. So Maybe they have Matter and Mind. Opposite of Mind is Life and opposite of Matter is Spirit (EXAMPLES, obviously, do whatever). So the character developes one of those as their Inferior.
Making it a player choice makes a lot more sense than trying to lay it out by default by discipline, as I did above, haha. I like it! (ETA: Subtle and gross Arcana!)
Subtle and Gross! Thanks.
But yeah.
As for the Disciplines/Houses, I would probably just scrap the way Houses work in Brakebills and retool it to fit the system you're using, largely BECAUSE some of them just won't make sense (like Illusion). You can even do it with Paths, but have paths be something each student chooses via which Arcana they choose. I mean I understand canonical adherence but it seems like a small sacrifice to make so that things are a little less annoying.
In fact, my suggestion would be to compromise from both sides--you're getting rid of Paths and Orders, but you're sticking to Arcana, so the divisions of magic in Brakebills should adhere closer to that than what is canonical in the books, just for your own peace of mind and a lower degree of hassle.
As for improvised casting, I would combine it with an experimental casting system wherein students can cast things based just on their Arcana knowledge, but the risk is huge--the difference between improv and experimental is basically "experimental is done within the confines of certain safeguards, i.e. in class, with a tutor, etc., whereas improv is done without such safeguards and can end up fucking. you. up. royally".
Even minor improv casting should be really dangerous, and experimental casting should be the way in which they cast things that they will later have as rotes (so maybe a spell counts as "experimental" if they're currently coursing something that teaches it--re: Intro to Ghosts Seminar from my earlier example could enable the "experimental" casting of certain Death rotes the character is actively learning, while other stuff would fall under improv (and be more dangerous).
