Thinking about transactional/relational magic systems
An Indonesian Magic System over at Afraid of Encounters got me thinking about magic systems that should be transactional/relational but are not. D&D gives us a half-dozen divine/infernal magic user classes, but mechanically they play like mage/sorceress with flavor text. A cleric, druid, and warlock can go through an entire session using spells with very similar effects without addressing devotion or ethos. And this carries over to "hybrid" classes of paladin and ranger.
I mean, you could actually play the original rules for high-level spells or spend half a session looking for mistletoe, but who wants to do that?
I'm more than a little bit obsessed with Die at the moment, but I've not read the spin-off TTRPG yet. Maybe I should because the comic sets up a magic system where all abilities are transactional/relational.
- Godbinder (cleric): Negotiates favors with supernatural deities. Every miracle has a price.
- Hacker (skilled thief): Pays for abilities in fairy currency that vanishes overnight. Bound to an economy of crunch time and grind.
- Emotion Knight (paladin): With great power comes a nagging voice of intrusive thought.
- Dictator (controller): Controlling a character binds the player to a relationship. You want it? You own it!
- Master (GM or meta-character): Changing the rules means you're bound by the rules.
- Fool (wild thief): Uh, not sure how this works beyond making it as amazing and stupid as possible.
In Ironsworn you could possibly do divine/infernal magic through the vow mechanic. Developing a relationship is a "quest" with a progress track, and testing that relationship by being too needy might require another vow.
Another way I can see it would be to use something like FATE points or strings:
- The GM offers the player a chip in exchange for a plot complication. "Your host expects you to drink alcohol, which is forbidden by your ethos. What do you do?"
- The player offers a chip to activate an ability. "I ask my matron to save my friend from certain death."
- The player can also proactively invoke their ethos by suggesting their own complications. "I can't hit him, he's a member of my religion!"
Just some ideas to explore in future sessions. The idea is to give divine/infernal spellcasting mechanics that drive story.