Finding the right system is one challenge. Trying to make the actual magic system is another.

As mentioned, magic in this game is rooted in memories and emotions. Specifically, it uses one of eight based on Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions: Joy, Sorrow, Fury, Terror, Vigilance, Surprise, Enmity, and Trust. The question is, what does this magic even do?

For starters, I thought about all the different schools of magic and what they all specialize in, using Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition as a base. They had abjuration (protection), conjuration (creation), divination (learning), enchantment (manipulation), evocation (using energy), illusion (trickery), and transmutation (changing). I tried to expand from there, looking among other sources online to see if anyone has any other types of magic that I might be missing, only to discover that so many people have so many different types of magic for very specific circumstances. Wanting to make spell creation not an arduous task, I decided to make everything simpler but still allow players to have as much freedom as they can find. So, I boiled everything down to the barest of barebones.

Magic can do one of four things:

• Add to the world (creating, healing, enhancing)

• Remove from the world (destroying, damaging, debilitating)

• Change something (transforming, moving, manipulating)

• Keep something the same (protecting, blocking, preventing)

I also wanted the magic to have at least a few loopholes involved, too. That’s why I decided to include different levels of examples to give players an idea of what’s possible or what is considered “fair game.”

The potential overlap between spell types wasn’t 100% intentional, but it also wasn’t completely unintentional.

Of course, even if this is mostly freeform, there still needs to be a bit of balance just so everyone doesn’t have nukes on hand, even if everyone makes the agreement to not just have nukes on hand. True to life, we all have some memories that are easier to remember or more formative than others. So, why not rank spell strength based on that? But still, it’d feel a bit impractical or limiting to have the strongest memories affect everything and deal the most damage. So I came up with a solution: depending on the strength of the memory, you have different “maximum values” for certain parameters that you can choose from.

All spells start at the minimum value for each of four parameters: Number, Duration, Range, and Health. When making a spell, you select three of them to use and/or alter. Depending on the memory type, you have different ranks for each parameter available to you. So, a “Major” spell’s Number parameter can be either “Single” or “Multiple.” It just depends on what the player wants for their spell.

The only catch is that all the parameters must be obeyed. If a spell says that it targets a whole area, you have to use it on an area. You can’t just single out one person unless that area of effect only has that one person.

And finally, memories are about things or people or feelings. It’s how we remember how skilled we are at a thing, how we remember a relationship, or just how intense something felt at the time. A memory should have purpose beyond just being fuel for your magic. They should do things besides that, and casting those spells should be a mechanical sacrifice besides just forgetting something and roleplaying it. It’s for these reasons that memories have “enhancements” and “drawbacks.”

When making a spell, you write down what happens in the memory and you choose one of three options to give you a bonus and a different one to give you a penalty. As long as the spell is still in your arsenal and hasn’t been used yet, you have access to all the good and bad that comes with it.

And of course, when you finally decide to cast the spell and “burn” the memory attached to it, you have to actively destroy it. All spells are written on flash cards (or flash paper, if possible). You have to tear it, crumple it, burn it, whatever. Unless there’s a way to remember it, the memory is gone forever. This is here to help the “ludonarrative” aspect of it, to really get players in the mindset of the world around them and make them feel like they are losing memories without actually doing so.

The intent of the game is to use flash paper, as within the game’s world, magic is stored in items that look like polaroid photographs. When used, the items burn and melt away like old film reels do. So, the players use the flash paper for half of its intended purpose: to burn it. Granted, it can be a bit dangerous playing around with fire in this way, so there are alternatives to destroying the spells or even the material they use.