Make Magic Fit the Setting AND Gameplay

Magic systems are some of the most exciting and most intimidating to design. The needs vary based on the genre, setting, and style of game. Here's how we made ours. Chapters: 0:00 Can Magic Feel Mysterious AND Reliable? 0:30 A Decade Inside Blue Shiners 2:16 The First-Ever Playtest (and First Time GMing) 3:34 What Was Actually Missing: Mystery 5:48 What Aether Actually Is 8:30 The Old Magic System: Customization-First 10:49 Forms, Telltales, and Mainlining Aether 11:51 Five Arcs, Too Many Focuses 15:34 Case Study: Unravel 17:12 The Verdict: Too Crunchy for Tactical Combat 19:00 Cut Idea: Wild / Chaos Forms 21:36 Cut Idea: The Full D12 Roll Table 22:55 The Current Magic System 25:22 Step Dice, Dice Pools, and Upgrade CS 28:02 Doom: The Cost of Going Big 29:22 The Playtester Who Finally "Got It" 38:30 Balancing Without Homogenizing 40:30 True Aetheran vs. Path: Depth vs. Simplicity 42:10 Closing: More Lore Videos? 🎲 Playtest and talk TTRPGs with us: discord.gg/c2dqZ2xDeX 👀 Follow the game: BlueShiners.com · @BlueShinersRPG 🏃‍➡️ Quick Start Rules: https://tinyurl.com/4tey8bym 🤓 Full Handbook: https://tinyurl.com/nffe92p6 📝 Pregen Character Sheets: https://tinyurl.com/39kmuwaj 🔔 New Blue Shiners devlogs every other week, subscribe so you don't miss one. #TTRPG #GameDesign #TTRPGDesign #IndieTTRPG #DiceMechanics #BlueShiners