Well, i've decided to go full steam ahead on my setting project. I've got Flesh Smiths in lieu of magic spells, involving lots of messy surgeries, grafts etc. Now i want to introduce a second source of magic (of a sort) into this setting.

The idea is that a bunch of ascetic monks/warrior poets called Word Smiths, are trained in a very austere manner. They are empty vessels that are filled with the doctrine of their order. They are then sent out into the world with a number of Universal Truths. These are statements that unless things really get shaken up are the truth. The monks then travel, the purpose of this is to understand their Personal Truths. These are things that are subjective, but are the truth for that particular person. The monk travels and as he learns about himself, the world about him and other people, he starts gaining Conviction about his personal truths, until his conviction is so great that these personal truths become actual truth for the Word Smith.

Possible Universal Truths:

Everything dies.

The sunrise will always follow the sunset and the sunset will always follow sunrise.

Every action has a consequence.

Example Personal Truths:

My favourite colour is red.

I am reckless.

My friend Marcus is reckless.

The King does not care for his subjects.

Now, the idea is that the Word Smith can affect the world through both the universal truths and, once his conviction is high enough, his personal truths. These will be magical effects. I am also toying with the idea that it would be possible to tie several truths together for more complex magic.

Example: The Word Smith declares to the world that "Every action has a consequence!" and the truth of that statement allows him to alter reality (cast magic). In this case his desired magic is to divine whether a course of action will have the desired effect (a sort of augury spell).

I plan to spell out what kind of stuff can be done with the Universal Truths, but it's the Personal Truths that will be very tricky. There's no way in hell i can map that out for even 1% of the eventualities.

So, i need some kind of mechanism or template to serve, so that GMs can come up with stuff once their players have discovered their personal truths. Which is where i'm stuck.

I'm toying with the idea of having a bunch of templates like abjuration, conjuration etc, where i map out what is possible with the diferent types of magic. Then you meld the personal truths to those templates.

Example: Conviction: "My favourite colour is red"

Abjuration effects: You can create a barrier to keep the subject of your convcition out or in. (In this case an anti-red shell! Anything red in colour cannot approach the Word Smith or leave his person).

Conjuration effects: You can summon something to do with your conviction (in this case a nice warm red sweater or a red monster is summoned).

I'll obviously have to give more rules detail than that and it's going to be a bit freeform. I will also have to lay done some guidelines about how characters gain their convictions, but any comments or ideas about how to proceed?

Edit: Clarification.

Wow ... that's sorta ... hippy.

If a Word-Smith becomes sufficiently convinced that Marcus is reckless then it means that Marcus must, in fact, be reckless?

That's going to tear the living hell out of a lot of the traditional ideas that, for instance, Marcus's player should control his own character, and the GM should control the King (whether he cares for his subjects or not) and all that ... isn't it?  It's sort of consensus-reality on maximum overdrive.

Quote from: TonyLBWow ... that's sorta ... hippy.

Well, it's not meant to be!

Quotea Word-Smith becomes sufficiently convinced that Marcus is reckless then it means that Marcus must, in fact, be reckless?

Nope, it's a personal truth for the Word Smith. He is convinced that this is the case and therefore he can effect it. It does not mean that Marcus even is reckless, but that the word smith believes it enough to be able to effect it. So maybe, now that he is convinced that Marcus is reckless, if he uses this personal truth to use the Necromancy school of magic, he would be able to remove effects such as magical anger, beserk rage and the like from Marcus. Or, he might be able to buff Marcus when the smith is convinced he is carrying out a reckless action (say charging some orcs). Maybe in this case he could increase his armour class or something.

The personal truths are not universal and so the word smith wouldn't be able to actually control Marcus in any way.

Quote from: One Horse TownOr, he might be able to buff Marcus when the smith is convinced he is carrying out a reckless action (say charging some orcs). Maybe in this case he could increase his armour class or something.

Heh heh heh ... Oh, the apparent innocence of that.

That bribery thing there is a powerful mechanic.  By all means, give it a try:  It's got legs.  It'll do all sorts of interesting stuff ... some of which you may like, and some of which you may hate.  I'll be interested to hear how it works out for you!

Quote from: TonyLBHeh heh heh ... Oh, the apparent innocence of that.

That bribery thing there is a powerful mechanic.  By all means, give it a try:  It's got legs.  It'll do all sorts of interesting stuff ... some of which you may like, and some of which you may hate.  I'll be interested to hear how it works out for you!

Yeah, i have a feeling that it'll have to be a lot more structured than any of my examples. I might even limit the personal truths to the Word Smith himself, after all, they are personal truths right? Then, this wandering monk type character is on a journey of self discovery and he can only affect himself with his personal truths, whilst the universal truths are...well, universal.

I want magic to be different in this setting. So, i started off with the Flesh Smith and now want something where conviction is what you want to effect things magically. You have to believe in magic to benifit/suffer from it.

An alternative to the above is simply to have the power in the words themselves. Power words, if you like. The Word Smith's quest is to find out the true words for everything. Say, he discovers the true word for Fire. He can then utilise Fire magic using the magic school template. Abjuration; protection from fire, conjuration, summon fire creatures or start a campfire etc.

Sorry to ruminate on the board so much, but i've ditched this as an idea. Far too wishy-washy and not really fitting to a place where the Flesh Smith lives. So, i'm going with a spiritual equivalent to the Flesh Smith; the Soul Smith. This is far easier to do and more fitting. It also fits in with my ideas for spirits to be a big part of the setting. Spirits of Hate, Violence and other emotions. PCs choose a few emotional 'strengths' which will have in-game effects and the spirits and the Soul Smith will fit into this perfectly.

Dead-end on the word smith. Soul Smith for the win. :cool:

I like the universal truths idea a lot though. Maybe as a universal mechanic. Perhaps the group (or just the GM, or maybe chosen at random with a table or cards or something) jots down three universal truths that they and the world (i.e. GM) have to follow. Forcing the players to find solutions through their universal limitations.

Truths like - Violence is the idiots answer.

Making players with High intelligence unable to commit violent acts.

Or: Death is only the beginning.

Where the characters have to die before the game actually begins
... interesting.