Runecrafting

Are you tired of using the same spells and magical objects over and over? Do you want to feel like you an actual mystic using their arcane knowledge to bend the fabric of reality. Do you have an idea for a really stupid magic item to annoy that one guard for the rest of their life?

With Intro to Runecrafting, you can use this system neutral magic system to inscribe objects with almost any effect you can think of, without any of the crunch.

Credits

Intro to Runecrafting © 2023 by MrHitchhikerDave is licensed under CC BY 4.0. You may use and remix this system for any project as long as you credit me.

Additionally, this system was inspired by Mindstorm's blog "Spell Friend and Enter." If you want to see ideas for how to use this mechanic with Intro to Runecrafting, see the following section:

Spring Board

Spell Friend and Enter:

• Instead of using materials to inscribe a rune's sigil, letter tiles must be used as a sacrifice. If the sigil is destroyed so are the letters.
• Runes work as in Spell Friend and Enter, but the tiles must be bound to the object via a material related to the effect.
• Both systems apply, but Intro to Runecrafting is a lost text about how the ancient civilizations made magical objects, and Spell Friend and Enter's method is how people use the runes now.

Potions

• Potions trade longevity for flexibility; any material may be used to brew a potion as long as each addition matches the individual effect.
• Potions last for 1 minute per closed shape in each effect's sigil.
• The longer you brew a potion, the more powerful the effect is.

Spells

• Spells trade longevity for power; a spell is usually much more powerful then the equivalent rune effects, but only lasts "one turn" per closed shape.
• Spells must consume a material related to the overall effect to work.
• Backlashes from poorly designed spells permanently alter the object ("Big Man" gives a person disproportionate limbs, "Mend Life" gives the target rapidly growing tumors, etc.)