Do you enjoy special powers/magic/whatever systemes that are fuelled by a point pool you need to monitor and periodically refresh, even passively?

Yes, I do, much more than the D&D "you forget any spell you cast" system.

That said, my favorite system is the one of The Lord of the Rings Coda, in which you have to roll to avoid fatigue, and if you have an active spell, or cast a spell recently, you get a penalty to the fatigue roll.

It depends on if it's just a mechanic or if it's the principle of how magic is supposed to work in the setting.

Just as a mechanic, it's okay, I can give or take it. It is not in and of itself very interesting but I don't need a mechanic to be 'interesting.' The rest of the magic system as a whole needs to have something more going for it, though. For example Runequest uses Magic Points/POW but how magic is structured over that is interesting, with things you need to sacrifice POW for, shaman's fetches vs. sorceror's familiars, all that stuff..

On the other hand as a part of a campaign setting, if magicians just have a 'magic meter' and use spells innately fueled by their magic-meter reserve, as a base flavor, I don't really like that. It makes the magic seem unmagical to me.

Fatigue systems are pretty cool; it does essentially demand that your wizards be tough in the stat that covers fatigue but that's not necessarily a problem in my opinion - others may not like that, quite reasonably. I admit I really like memorization magic when viewed in the sense of Dying Earth or of Amber's lynchpin casting, but those are really specific views of magic that understandably won't fit all settings well.

All this only pertains to magic in the sense of using magic spells, etc. If it's just how much a superhero can use his force beam, yeah, that's fine (though fatigue might be equally reasonable there too.)

Yes, I do. That's one of the reasons that I like the new HackMaster...

I especially like old RuneQuest, with its two different scales -- short term "magic points" for Battle/Spirit spells and long term "Power sacrifices" for Rune/Divine spells. The systems tie in with spirits, Power crystals, worship, slave bonds, and other things.

Chivalry & Sorcery is great if one wants a lot of involvement in details of a magician's undertakings; otherwise, it may seem overwrought and dull. Tunnels & Trolls has a distinctively far-out, "just a game, and a wild one at that" attitude. The Fantasy Trip makes some things (e.g., invisibility) perhaps prohibitively costly to use for such extended periods as might be common in, e.g., D&D.

The Arduin Grimoire has in my view probably the best "mana point" system for D&D. Unfortunately, it does not detail the standard D&D spells; one must come up with one's own assessments for those.

I've recently come to a new appreciation of Vancain casting.

I like mana.
Arduin has a great pairing of mana and Vancian slot magic.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;457921Do you enjoy special powers/magic/whatever systemes that are fuelled by a point pool you need to monitor and periodically refresh, even passively?

Yes.  

We use actually a number of setting based sources of power, and the mana simulates the ability a caster has to manipulate that type of energy before resting.  Dedicated casting types often start with Spirit and 3-4 other types of spell source they can draw from.

Quote from: From the wiki-•Animist SP  --Powered by the Animal Oversoul -Best for controlling and summoning animals, or affecting the animal/human connection.
•Artificer SP   -Powered by reaching out to the echoes of the Creator's Song in the Void.  These spells are done in 'Makerspeak', and are used to imbue and change material items.
•House of Air SP-Powered by the the Endless Sky on the Second Station (Since the House of Air was destroyed).  These spells affect air and flight, as well as weather.
•House of Chaos SP-Powered by the Well of Chaos on the Eighth House, which forces the void apart.  Thes es[ells affect odds and the capricious whim of chance.
•House of Death SP-Powered by the Polar Well of Death on the House of Death, Zevashopal.  Harmful spells that know only hurt.
•House of Earth SP-Powered by the Endless Solidity of the House of Earth.  This powerful source affects both rock and earth, as well as plants and wood.
•House of Fire SP-Powered by the Well of Fire on the Third Station (as the House of Fire is no more).  These spells affect the always popular fire and smoke catagory.
•House of Life SP-Powered by the Polar Well of Life, on the House of Life.  These spells affect hope and birth, and promise.
•House of Order SP-Powered by the Well of Order, which binds the Void together. Spells from this source remove randomness.
•House of Water SP-Powered by the Endless Sea on the House of Water.  Thes spells affect fluids in general, and the oceans and rivers, as well.
•Mentalist SP-Powered by the Humanoid Oversoul.  Spells that derive power from this affect the minds of others, or the caster.
•Necromantic SP-Powered by the conduit from the House of Death to all the Soul's End Journeys
•Restorative SP-Powered by the cunduit from the Well of Life to the beginnings of the Soul's Journey.
•Shade Sp -Powered by the void itself.  (unknown for millenia, not used)
•Spirit SP--The personal power of the caster's trained mind.  This is the power to start and sustain a spell that comes direct from the caster.

The more sophisticated the spell is, the more points and the more types of magic that are needed in the 'recipe'.
 
So simple spells will pull a little spirit (the part of the spell that comes from the caster) and maybe one other type of power source.   Low level spells maybe spirit and 2-3 other types.  But higher power spells might have 4-6 types of spell points needed.

Spell points generally return at about 5% of total per hour, unless the caster has learned the 'reclamation' skill.

This fulfills the type of game I like to play, but it also is a direct representation of the setting flavor.

I've never been a big fan of mana-point systems.  They're not terrible or anything, but there's something about them that rubs me the wrong way.

RPGPundit

Mechanically I've always preferred them over vancian fire and forget systems.  But in either case it was just a balance thing and it was really the flexibility of manna that I preferred not necessarily the mechanics specifically.

My preference is with spell systems that allow you to cast as many spells as you want but with some form of risk with casting each one or casting to many.

Quote from: Aos;457980I've recently come to a new appreciation of Vancain casting.

Only after reading The Dying Earth have I come to truly appreciate the spell memorization system.

I was in fact thrilled to see that MRQII's Sorcery system combines Magic Points and spell memorization. The best of both worlds.

Quote from: The Butcher;458042Only after reading The Dying Earth have I come to truly appreciate the spell memorization system.

I was in fact thrilled to see that MRQII's Sorcery system combines Magic Points and spell memorization. The best of both worlds.

I'm not sure if i can articulate this properly, but I think the key to making Vancian casting  appealing is the way in which the abstraction is integrated into the setting fiction.
Fuck that's cludgy.

Quote from: RPGPundit;458025I've never been a big fan of mana-point systems.  They're not terrible or anything, but there's something about them that rubs me the wrong way.

RPGPundit

As a rifts fan, I'm surprised you say that.

My new system, all powers can be used without limit.

Quote from: Aos;458084I'm not sure if i can articulate this properly, but I think the key to making Vancian casting  appealing is the way in which the abstraction is integrated into the setting fiction.
Fuck that's cludgy.

If by "abstraction" you mean, the idea that the human brain can only hold a certain number of spells, and the explanations thereof as featured in the setting (e.g. magic as a set of hyperdimensional mathematical formulae whose cerebral storage somehow starins the brain; or spell memorization as something that requires more than just memorizing information, but also to capture and shape some sort of energy pattern inside your skull, which is released by the casting), I think I see where you're coming from.

Quote from: The Butcher;458152If by "abstraction" you mean, the idea that the human brain can only hold a certain number of spells, and the explanations thereof as featured in the setting (e.g. magic as a set of hyperdimensional mathematical formulae whose cerebral storage somehow starins the brain; or spell memorization as something that requires more than just memorizing information, but also to capture and shape some sort of energy pattern inside your skull, which is released by the casting), I think I see where you're coming from.

That's exactly what I mean. You need to have an answer to the question, "why can I only cast this spell once?" and "because it's the rules," doesn't cut it.