Lots of really neat projects see reality thanks to the Kickstarter platform. Two such projects have made waves in the gaming industry such as Oculus Rift and Ouya. Kickstarter is changing gaming in many ways, allowing smaller studios to gain more funds to begin building their creations. This week, I am taking a look at Spheres of Power: A New Pathfinder Magic System.
Shows Us Options
For table top players, sometimes we just want options. This can include making house rules or looking for supplement material. Spheres of Power is one such supplement. Spheres of Power seek to change how magic in Pathfinder works (on an optional basis of course). Spheres of Power is not like the age-old system including levels and spells per day. They want to offer “a flexible, intuitive, and completely new tool for your gaming toolbox.”
How does Spheres of Power work? The creators explain this simply as giving creative control to the users. A person can create the type of mage they want to play instead of just choosing from the limiting supply of archetypes in the player’s guide.
For example, say a player wants to create a fire mage, specializing in blasts. Spheres of Power, on the other hand, allows that caster to be built around the player’s character concept, through the selection of spheres and talents. This allows casters to be build around a concept in a manner currently similar to the way talent-based classes (rogues, alchemists, fighters,) are created.
Simply put, the player can custom build his or her mage instead of being cookie-cutter.
Spheres of Power has surpassed its initial goal of $1,500. They are now working into the stretch goals and currently have a total of $15,398 pledged. This project is still open until September 1st.
What is Pathfinder?
Pathfinder is a RPG table-top game that was built off of Dungeons and Dragons revised 3.0 edition. It first saw the light of the public in 2009 when it was published by Paizo Publishing.
Would you use a sphere-based magic system in your game? Why or why not?
