I came up with this after finding the Wikipedia page on non-transitive dice, though the "elemental magic" premise is admittedly fairly weak and just there to spark the imagination while playing. To start off with, you'll need either the following tables to compare your actual d6 rolls to, or to print and assemble paper or cardstock dice with the following sides, at least one of each for each player:
water: 1, 2, 16, 17, 18, 19
air: 3, 4, 5, 20, 21, 22
fire: 6, 7, 8, 9, 23, 24
earth: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Examining the numbers involved will show that each element beats the preceding element on the list 2/3 of the time, but is even against the "traditionally opposed" element (fire vs. water or earth vs. air) and that fire has a slight overall advantage, but is rather inconsistent in any given roll.
Each player should roll all four (or one of each if hey have more than one each) to determine their primary element, which will be the highest single die of the roll. Dice of that element may always be rerolled once each turn. Descriptive narration of attacks and defenses is encouraged, such as "With Water, Air, and Fire I send a jet of high-pressure steam at B!" "I raise a wall of twice-hardened Earth to block A's attack and deflect the cloud of vapor." Of course, due to the reroll rule described above, even when they have access to multi-element attacks most players will stick to their primary to gain the best advantage, like the defender, B, above.
Two players then each pick one die and roll against each other, the winner of the roll subtracting the loser's result from his own and adding it to a tally of Victory Points. At 25, 50, 100, (and so on, doubling each time) VP the player gains the ability to roll another die for each attack or defense, in whatever combination suits their fancy - ala Zero no Tsukaima mages and their dot/line/triangle/square system, though in a long game even larger polygons are possible. In the example above, A has Fire for the primary element and rolls 17, 5, 8 (rerolled 7 so the original is kept) for a result of 30, B is Earth and gets 10 (reroll 13) & 14 (reroll 11 so the original is kept) for a total of 27 - so close, but A gets three VP. With three or more players, the attacker and defender positions should be rotated evenly, or else the loser becomes the next attacker and chooses their target from the players other than the previous attacker. Note that the latter method can lead to some players not having the opportunity to face as many contests and thereby fall behind in VP.
An unlucky player can be left far behind in the power stakes despite the widening intervals, so it is suggested to eliminate anyone who falls two dice per roll behind the lead. Play continues until only one player remains, a predetermined number of VP is reached, or all players get sick of rolling dice and keeping a tally. My own suggestion would be 300 VP divided by the number of players for a start. Possible further modifications involve the abiliy to bet extra VP on a roll before it's made, granting a bonus related to the number of VP involved, adding effects for specific element combinations/ratios, or taking the simple combat mechanic and turning it into the core for a basic RPG with persistent characters and so on, deducting VP lost from a pool of hit points and maybe adding some standard dice for non-magical attacks - I'd suggest 2d8 or 2d10 for each VP tier; given that elemental die results can range up to 24 this makes physical attackers a viable threat but still inferior to elementalists on average.
- CD, has played week-long games of Cosmic Wimpout to one million points before...
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"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
water: 1, 2, 16, 17, 18, 19
air: 3, 4, 5, 20, 21, 22
fire: 6, 7, 8, 9, 23, 24
earth: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Examining the numbers involved will show that each element beats the preceding element on the list 2/3 of the time, but is even against the "traditionally opposed" element (fire vs. water or earth vs. air) and that fire has a slight overall advantage, but is rather inconsistent in any given roll.
Each player should roll all four (or one of each if hey have more than one each) to determine their primary element, which will be the highest single die of the roll. Dice of that element may always be rerolled once each turn. Descriptive narration of attacks and defenses is encouraged, such as "With Water, Air, and Fire I send a jet of high-pressure steam at B!" "I raise a wall of twice-hardened Earth to block A's attack and deflect the cloud of vapor." Of course, due to the reroll rule described above, even when they have access to multi-element attacks most players will stick to their primary to gain the best advantage, like the defender, B, above.
Two players then each pick one die and roll against each other, the winner of the roll subtracting the loser's result from his own and adding it to a tally of Victory Points. At 25, 50, 100, (and so on, doubling each time) VP the player gains the ability to roll another die for each attack or defense, in whatever combination suits their fancy - ala Zero no Tsukaima mages and their dot/line/triangle/square system, though in a long game even larger polygons are possible. In the example above, A has Fire for the primary element and rolls 17, 5, 8 (rerolled 7 so the original is kept) for a result of 30, B is Earth and gets 10 (reroll 13) & 14 (reroll 11 so the original is kept) for a total of 27 - so close, but A gets three VP. With three or more players, the attacker and defender positions should be rotated evenly, or else the loser becomes the next attacker and chooses their target from the players other than the previous attacker. Note that the latter method can lead to some players not having the opportunity to face as many contests and thereby fall behind in VP.
An unlucky player can be left far behind in the power stakes despite the widening intervals, so it is suggested to eliminate anyone who falls two dice per roll behind the lead. Play continues until only one player remains, a predetermined number of VP is reached, or all players get sick of rolling dice and keeping a tally. My own suggestion would be 300 VP divided by the number of players for a start. Possible further modifications involve the abiliy to bet extra VP on a roll before it's made, granting a bonus related to the number of VP involved, adding effects for specific element combinations/ratios, or taking the simple combat mechanic and turning it into the core for a basic RPG with persistent characters and so on, deducting VP lost from a pool of hit points and maybe adding some standard dice for non-magical attacks - I'd suggest 2d8 or 2d10 for each VP tier; given that elemental die results can range up to 24 this makes physical attackers a viable threat but still inferior to elementalists on average.
- CD, has played week-long games of Cosmic Wimpout to one million points before...
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows