I don't think I can really do much of anything with your system as it
is, without the ability to target specific people/places/things. Either there's more to what you've got in your head, or I'm just not getting your concept.
I actually attempted to do this very thing, once upon a time. Let's see.
A lot of effects can be modeled if you use 'cards' for more literal elements of magic, and give them both literal and metaphorical meanings. The Fire (though I'd actually call it The Heat, for reasons explained later), in other words, would stand for flames, heat, strength, and passion, while The Earth would be solid matter, stubbornness, durability, and endurance.
You can reduce the card set significantly if you allow each one to be used in multiple ways. Inverted and reversed meanings of cards
(invert a card, and you remove that attribute; reverse it, and you use
its opposite) let one card serve as two to four, depending on if the concept the card represents has an opposite that's different from its absence... and whether there's ever a time when the absence of the opposite of a concept matters. Heat and Water, alone or in combination, would let you produce Heat, Cold, Water, Drought, Steam, and Ice- and that's just the obvious physical options!
It's also easier to make this work if you have a grammar, so to speak; when you can use the same 'card' as either target or effect, depending on where you use it in the line, you gain a lot of flexibility. If my terminology hasn't made it obvious yet, I envisioned my system as being based on cards, with a spell being a line of cards read left-to-right. Cards off the line (above or below) would modify the ones on the line (specifically, the card in a specific position on the line is modified by the cards directly above and below it).
My take on enhancements would've had something like being a strength enhancement (or upping your personal body heat, setting yourself on fire, or making yourself CARE MORE, depending on intent), while would be enchanting yourself with fire. would be scrying- literally meaning something like 'Let my vision go from here to my target'.
Permanence would be simple. Add Inverted Time- the absence of time- to something. The same concept works for stasis, depending on how much you intensify the concept of 'absence of time'.
I actually have some notes back at home on what I developed. This is what I remember off the top of my head. Would you like to know more?
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
is, without the ability to target specific people/places/things. Either there's more to what you've got in your head, or I'm just not getting your concept.
I actually attempted to do this very thing, once upon a time. Let's see.
A lot of effects can be modeled if you use 'cards' for more literal elements of magic, and give them both literal and metaphorical meanings. The Fire (though I'd actually call it The Heat, for reasons explained later), in other words, would stand for flames, heat, strength, and passion, while The Earth would be solid matter, stubbornness, durability, and endurance.
You can reduce the card set significantly if you allow each one to be used in multiple ways. Inverted and reversed meanings of cards
(invert a card, and you remove that attribute; reverse it, and you use
its opposite) let one card serve as two to four, depending on if the concept the card represents has an opposite that's different from its absence... and whether there's ever a time when the absence of the opposite of a concept matters. Heat and Water, alone or in combination, would let you produce Heat, Cold, Water, Drought, Steam, and Ice- and that's just the obvious physical options!
It's also easier to make this work if you have a grammar, so to speak; when you can use the same 'card' as either target or effect, depending on where you use it in the line, you gain a lot of flexibility. If my terminology hasn't made it obvious yet, I envisioned my system as being based on cards, with a spell being a line of cards read left-to-right. Cards off the line (above or below) would modify the ones on the line (specifically, the card in a specific position on the line is modified by the cards directly above and below it).
My take on enhancements would've had something like being a strength enhancement (or upping your personal body heat, setting yourself on fire, or making yourself CARE MORE, depending on intent), while would be enchanting yourself with fire. would be scrying- literally meaning something like 'Let my vision go from here to my target'.
Permanence would be simple. Add Inverted Time- the absence of time- to something. The same concept works for stasis, depending on how much you intensify the concept of 'absence of time'.
I actually have some notes back at home on what I developed. This is what I remember off the top of my head. Would you like to know more?
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.