Game System

The World
All life can use magic to some degree. Unlike more sentient beings, most life specializes in one element and sticks with it. Cereberi are hounds that can spark and control flame to kill and cook their prey, while their cousins in more frigid weather can manipulate water. Some plants can control light itself, and bend and twist light to even reach the darkest caverns underground, while others can poach water from even the driest climates. There are even rumors of ancient subterranean trees that grow under miniature suns of their own creation.

Whatever the case may be, magic is not an exclusive attribute to certain gifted characters that have pointy ears and snotty attitudes. Even the lowliest bacterium can wield its might in the micro environment, causing some interesting variations of pneumonia. Simply put, magic in this world is the ability to manipulate remotely without physical contact.

For other details, see the world article.

Starting Out
Your character is a citizen of the Republic of Bastion. Depending on where you are born and raised, this will effect your starting skills and attributes. Bastion is a place of relative peace, and is undergoing an era of enlightenment 50 years after they have eradicated the Empire of the Sun from the southern part of the continent after a great war which claimed many lives and devastated the southern lands to an area known just as “the wastes”.

You have now come of age, and now have the next four years to learn a trade. Sponsored by your home city, you can either stay or travel to the other cities, learning what skills they have to offer. You can spend the time however you like, splitting the years up between the cities becoming a jack of all trades, or specializing in one field.

Magic
Magic is an ability everyone has based on both strength, intelligence, and creativity. To move a rock with your mind you need the physical strength to move it yourself, the ability to imagine the entirety of the rock, as well as concentration to keep it in place.

To start a fire, you need to know what fire is. To move water you need to understand fluid mechanics. To heal you have to understand medicine. A physically weak scientist has a wider variety of spells than a hulking wrestler, but the wrestler can manage a larger boulder to chuck.

Magic is called "dynamics" in this world, due to it being seen as a natural, if not yet wholly explained, phenomenon.

The Basic Stats
The core of the game system is taken from the Fallout "SPECIAL" system


 * Strength directly effects melee, carrying capacity, and intimidation. Determines the weight of what you can manipulate.
 * Perception effects what you can notice, how quickly you learn. Determines potency of insight based skills, as well as illusions.
 * Endurance determines health, and how long an effort can be maintained. Determines the length of abilities.
 * Charisma effects how others treat you, and how effective you can fool them. Needed for illusion spells and charm spells.
 * Intelligence determines what you know and how quickly you learn. It determines what spells you can use in the realm of spells that effect the natural world
 * Agility effects movement, stealth, and jumping. Effects how well you can move while casting.
 * Luck effects everything. A lucky dunce can move mountains, or an unlucky prodigy can fail to open a door.

A Word on Additional Stats
Unseen by players are different modifiers given to skills and attributes, both positive an negative. For example, a person from Fault, with high strength and a martial background will receive a "melee combat" bonus to be used in their rolls when appropriate. There are also negative modifiers: this same person may have developed a rigid personality and stance, giving an intimidating presence that decreases their charisma.

How Skills are Used
Everything is a challenge, rated from Paltry to Impossible. The most basic action takes a skill of 10.

Roll: Challenge mod: Failsafe (+13), Paltry (+4), easy (+2), simple (0), difficult (-2), hard (-4), legendary (-6), impossible (-15)

Luck: Add or subtract a point for increments of 2 away from 10. At a luck of 0, every roll will be -5, at 20, +5.

So, say you want to ignite a torch from 10 yards away. If you are trained in starting fires, it's an easy task. This is an intelligence based skill, and yours is 12, so that comes out to 14. However, your luck is 5, so that gives you a handicap of -2, evening out at 12 for the skill. You need to roll 12 or less to succeed.

Throughout the game your personality will flesh itself out. Say you play as an honest character: stealing with be difficult for you. However, if you play as a rouge who gets caught one too many times, stealing will be paltry for you, but getting a favor from an authority will be hard. These are gained over the course of time.