Magonomia® Preview: Strongest and Weakest Spells

Magonomia®, the tabletop RPG of Renaissance wizardry, is coming soon! We’re on track for a July 2021 general release. While you’re waiting, let’s continue to look at the magic system and the spells. The spells are inspired by folklore and real-world books of magic; they’re the centerpiece of the game.

Spells of High and Low Degree

The power of a spell in Magonomia is rated by degree, from first to sixth. Degree is simply a more atmospheric term than “level.” First-degree spells are the weakest that are useful in adventures. Sixth-degree spells are the most powerful spells PC wizards can attain. Seventh-degree spells are thought to be possible but they’re legendary, out of reach for player characters: the elixir of eternal life, for example.

Magic in Magonomia is based on literary or historical sources so it is different from conventional fantasy. There are no fireballs, no interdimensional travel, and no mind control. Historically-themed magic doesn’t mean low magic or weak magic, though! Check out one of our sixth-degree spells, which PC wizards can attain after completing many adventures.

Chariot of the Winds

Degree 6 Sorcery; governed by Mercury

Invisibly transport a group of people through the air. Conjuration.

Onstage Preparation: 1 minute

Augmentation: None

Components: Sigils, implement, incantations

Activation: Spend a Fate Point; Overcome vs. 6

Duration: Until the end of the journey

The wizard conjures spirits who can carry them and up to ten other people through the air over long distances. When your character learns this spell, they form a pact with whatever type of spirits fit the theme of their magic, be they sprites or daemones of the upper air or the King of the Eagles. The spirits transport the caster and their companions by some magical conveyance, which could be a chariot made of rainbows and drawn by cloud horses, a flock of bat-winged imps who carry people by their clothes, or a whirlwind.

While traveling, the characters are invisible to normal sight but they can see the landscape from their altitude of about a thousand feet. The speed of travel is about 200 miles an hour—as fast as an arrow. The travelers are magically shielded from the full force of the wind.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have the simple but often versatile first-degree spells. Every wizard begins with four first-degree spells in their repertoire.

Chill of the Sudden Draught

Degree 1 Sorcery, Witchcraft; governed by Saturn

A cold breeze blows out light sources or blows things around. Conjuration.

Onstage Preparation: Fast

Augmentation: None

Components: Spirit container, implement, incantations

Activation: Overcome vs. 1

Duration: Instantaneous

An airy spirit moves as a cold draught into a zone the caster can see. It can blow out a handful of typical light sources—candles, lamps, even covered lanterns. It can also do anything a natural breeze could do: scatter papers off a desk, sweep a path across a dusty floor, or slam a door. If you succeed with style, you can control the draught well enough to waft a piece of paper into your hand from across the room.

Magonomia® preview: two spooky spells!

Editing on Magonomia® Core Rules is humming along. We missed posting the promised weekly preview last week because I was heads down on editing tasks. To partly make up for that, I’ll give you not one, but two spells that aren’t present in the Starter Rules!

It’s a bright, sunny spring day outside, but I’m currently checking the final edits on Sorcery spells, so let me give you two spells that are spooky as all get-out. That’s Sorcery for ya!

Will-o’-the-Wisp

Degree 1 Sorcery, Witchcraft; governed by the Moon

Conjure an Eerie Green Light up to two zones away. Conjuration.

Onstage Preparation: Fast

Augmentation: Activate concurrently

Components: Spirit container, implement

Activation: Overcome vs. 1

Duration: One scene

A will-o’-the-wisp is a spirit that dwells in bogs and has a body made of cold, flickering green flame. You have a pact with such a spirit and can command it to float in the air where you direct it. It burns as bright as a single candle, so you can use it as a light source or as a signal. In darkness, the Eerie Green Light Aspect can be Invoked to aid Actions that unnerve or frighten people.

Whispers of the Bones and Ashes

Degree 1 Sorcery, governed by Saturn

Find human remains and possibly learn a useful fact about them. Conjuration, Necromancy.

Onstage Preparation: 1 minute

Augmentation: None

Components: Incantations, a small item from a ghost’s previous life

Activation: Overcome vs. 1

Duration: One scene

You conjure a ghost into yourself and thereby gain the ability to hear a faint, constantly muttering whisper coming from any corpse. You can hear the whispers through several feet of earth if you pass nearby. Any piece of a corpse larger than a hand emits such whispers, as long as the person died before the piece was removed (an amputated limb is not detectable by this spell). It even works if the remains have been cremated.

Usually, the whisper is just unnerving nonsense, but if you succeed with style, you learn something potentially useful about the corpse, such as how long it has been dead or perhaps even the name it had in life.

These spells are Open Game Content, licensed to the public to use, modify, and republish under the terms of the Open Game License, version 1.0a

Conjuration of the Salamander -- Magonomia Spell Preview

We’re working on finishing up the manuscript for Magonomia Core Rules. If roleplaying a wizard who uses Renaissance themed magic appeals to you, our crowdfunding campaign is accepting late pledges through March 31, 2021. Here’s an example of one of our 200 spells in the core book, inspired by Renaissance sources:

Conjuration of the Salamander

Degree 4 Sorcery; governed by Mars

Conjure a salamander—a small, cold, poisonous lizard with power over fire. Conjuration, Needs Fire to Survive

Onstage Preparation: 1 minute

Augmentation: None

Components: Fire, circle, alchemical reagents, incantations

Activation: Overcome vs. 4

Duration: Until the salamander dies or is dismissed

A salamander is an elemental spirit of fire that takes the form of a three to six inch long, cold, moist, lizard-like creature. Salamanders have extremely poisonous skin and breath. They must be handled with gloves or tongs. Their elemental nature gives them fantastic powers over fire.

The conjured salamander obeys the wizards’s commands, within reason. Giving the salamander an order takes up the wizard’s turn in an Exchange. It’s Timid by Nature, so it’s reluctant to attack creatures with its poison. It will gladly extinguish and control fires.

Special: You can dismiss a salamander by ordering it back into the conjuring circle (or drawing a new circle around it) and speaking a brief incantation. Its body seems to burst into flames but its spirit is released and lives on. This also means you can use this spell to dismiss any rogue salamander you might encounter in your adventures.

Extra: Salamander (Major NPC)

Permissions: Learn the spell Conjuration of the Salamander

Costs: Spell

Aspects: (Fantastic +6) Controls and Extinguishes Fire; (Fantastic +6) Deadly Poison; Needs Fire to Survive; Timid by Nature

Skills:   Good (+3) Stealth

            Poor (-1) Fighting

Stress: Physical: 1 box

            Mental: 2 boxes

One might expect a fire elemental to be made of fire, but the salamander is a small, moist, cold creature that looks like a lizard that’s three to six inches long and has golden stars upon its back. They arise, phoenix-like, among the flames of any fire that has burned continually for seven years.

Be careful not to pick up a salamander without gloves, for its skin is so poisonous that it can kill through contact with flesh, and its foul breath is equally poisonous. If it wraps itself around a young tree, the tree withers and dies, and the fruit upon it becomes tainted with deadly poison. Likewise, if the salamander falls in a well, it poisons the well. Fortunately, this is a rare occurrence, because the skin of a salamander is so freezing cold that it causes water to freeze soon after immersion, though the salamander can claw its way out of the ice.

If a living creature touches the salamander or is exposed to its breath, resolve that as an Attack vs. Physique using the (Fantastic +6) Deadly Poison Aspect as a skill. The salamander can Create an Advantage to spread its (Fantastic +6) Deadly Poison Aspect to food or drink, which then Attacks whomever consumes it.

The salamander has marvelous powers over fire. It can instantly extinguish any fire it touches, even a raging conflagration that engulfs an entire Zone. A fire guarded by a salamander will never spit out hot embers or move beyond its confines, but burn safely at whatever temperature you desire, for the salamander can regulate the heat of the fire at will. Contrariwise, the salamander can use its (Fantastic +6) Controls and Extinguishes Fire to Create an Advantage to fan the flames and create a Hazard—then put out the fire when it’s no longer needed!

A salamander feeds on fire and Needs Fire to Survive. It will die within an hour if left at room temperature. Some wizards keep a conjured salamander in their laboratory for long periods, feeding them hot coals every day.

Having a salamander in the lab is a great help to brewing potions and other processes that involve fire. The salamander sheds its skin like a snake. That skin is extremely valuable; if enough are collected, they can be fashioned in to silk-like garments that never burn.

(c) 2019-2021 Shewstone Publishing LLC. The text of this article may be copied, reused, and modified under the terms of the Open Gaming License, version 1.0a.

By the Pricking of My Thumbs ... Spell Teaser for Magonomia

We’re working on finishing up the manuscript for Magonomia Core Rules. If roleplaying a wizard who uses Renaissance themed magic appeals to you, our crowdfunding campaign is accepting late pledges through March 31, 2021. Here’s an example of one of our 200 spells in the core book, inspired by Renaissance sources:

By the Pricking of My Thumbs

Degree 3 Sorcery; governed by Mercury

A Fetish temporarily grants (Good +3) Alert for Approaching Creatures.

By the pricking of my thumbs,

Something wicked this way comes.

--William Shakespeare, MacBeth, Act IV, scene 1

Onstage Preparation: Fast

Augmentation: None

Components: A bag of animal parts, blood, incantations

Activation: Create an Advantage vs. 3

Duration: Until the next sunrise or sunset

A spirit you have evoked into an object—a Fetish—can be awakened with two drops of your blood (one from each thumb). It lends you its Aspect, (Good +3) Alert for Approaching Creatures, which you can use as a skill instead of Notice to detect people approaching.

The spirit gives a silent warning in the caster’s mind when a significant mortal creature approaches. What counts as significant depends on the spirit’s perceptions, not on human reason, though it only goes far off if the Activation failed. If you succeed with style at detecting creatures, the spirit tells you something true and relevant about the creature, as it did for MacBeth’s witch: “something wicked this way comes,” in her case.

(c) 2020-2021 Shewstone Publishing LLC. The text of this article may be copied, reused, and modified under the terms of the Open Gaming License, version 1.0a.

New Magonomia® spell: Cloak of Shadows

With Halloween approaching, I thought I’d share a spooky new Magonomia® spell I revised today.

Cloak of Shadows

1st Degree. Sorcery

An enchanted cloak lets the wearer Create an Advantage on Stealth Tests

Aspects: Fetish, Requires Shadows

Components: A dark colored cloak embroidered with sigils on the inside

Preparation: Offstage; bind a spirit into the cloak

Activation: At will; speak the spirit's name; Create an Advantage vs. 1

Duration: One scene

Augmentation: None

The wizard enchants a dark-colored cloak by binding a Spirit of Shadow into it. The cloak permanently becomes a Fetish. In shadowy places like a dark alley or a forest, anyone wearing the cloak can call the spirit’s name and it will bend shadows, which enfold and caress the wearer. (They feel like cold feathers brushing against their skin). This allows the wearer to Create an Advantage on Stealth tests.