Orbit Magic System
This module adds flexible spellcasting on top of the Orbit core.
Table of Contents
Objectives
This magic system aims to give players the freedom to handle magic as they wish by being flexible, but sufficiently limiting so that it doesn’t get out of hand.
The main tool to achieve this is the metacurrency: Mana. As in Vagabond1 1which is a major touchstone, alongside SWADE, for this magic system, Mana can be used to modify or enhance spells.
The second element is skills. Magic relies on stats, as in many other systems. Depending on the setting, you may want to change which skills are tied to magic.
Investing metacurrency into magic-tied skills will, as with any other skill, make you better at the kind of magic tied to it, which we can represent by raising the baseline for automatic success, and giving access to more spells of that category.
Mana
Beyond the standard uses for Mana in rolling (it’s still the system’s metacurrency), there’s a few uses for Mana in the system:
- Changing the shape of a spell
- Increasing the range of a spell
- Increasing the area of effect of a spell
- Combining spells
Base Spells
- Slime: Coat a target in sticky slime. 2 2Targets for coating must be at most of around your size, e.g. a creature of your size, or a small area of around your own surface area.
- Slide: Coat a target in slippery stuff.
- Acid: Coat a target in corrosive acid.
- Bolt: Throw a bolt of any Element or Energy at a target, dealing damage.
- Manipulate: Manipulate any Element or Energy.
- Telekinesis: Move things as if they weren’t at a distance. 3 3using your magic skill instead of your otherwise more appropriate skill for moving stuff
- Telepathy: Talk to other beings at a distance, silently. They can answer.
- Mind-reading: Read minds. Might be spotted.
This is a non-exhaustive list. If your setting needs more spells, feel free to add them.
Elements and Energies
There’s 4 default elements and 4 default energies.
| Elements | Energies |
| Fire Water Air Earth | Electricity Heat Sound Light |
Possible groupings
These spells should be tied to one or more skills, depending on the level of granularity of the magic system in the setting. If we have one skill, the grouping is trivial. In this document, we’ll have 4 groups: Coating, Elemental, Energetic, Mental. Elemental and Energetic might look small, but note that Bolt and Manipulate are very flexible spells.
| Coating | Elemental | Energetic | Mental |
| Slime Slide Acid | Manipulate Element Bolt of Element | Manipulate Energy Bolt of Energy | Telekinesis Telepathy Mind Reading |
Combining Spells
You can use Mana to combine the effect of spells you know. These Composite Spells will share in the effects of their sources. For example, you might combine Slime + Manipulate Fire to get a persistent, adhesive burn. Or you might combine Telepathy with Manipulate Light or Manipulate Sound to temporarily blind or deafen a guard without actually emitting light or sound. Or you might combine Slime or Slide with Telepathy to make a thought particularly slippery, or sticky in one’s mind.