Temple of The Roguelike Forums
Development => Programming => Topic started by: requerent on May 03, 2013, 09:56:39 PM
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I'm look for words to describe the quantification of magical energy.
Mana is the most common, Od is pretty good, and Qi/Chi/Ki are all okay also.
However, I'm looking for one that is Renaissance-localized: I'm working on a project cosmetically inspired by the Italian commedia dell'arte, but is very loosely based upon the historical conflict between the Basque people and the Spanish kingdoms.
I want an anglicized word that describes a localized Spanish version of Magic Points- alternatively a Basque or Italian version would work. I don't mind anglicizing a word myself though- so if it's in another language that's cool.
Edit: It would be nice to have a repository of words in different cultures/languages that describe this idea.
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I usually find ideas like this by plugging the word I want through El Goog's translator:
Magia : "Magic"
Anima : "Spirit" / "Soul"
A lot of the terms I put in either came out sounding strange or sounding like normal english words you wouldn't associate with magic (like "vigor"). I quite like anima though :P
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"Vigor" sounds like a great Ren word for magic power!
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I guess some more context might be helpful---
The idea is that energy is drawn or drained from the natural environment and then used to animate units not too dissimilar from marionettes or puppets. Some have a continual power draw whereas others a one time animation cost.
These animations are extensions of the commanding unit, and result in a sort of hierarchy. So something that has to do with the divine right of kings could also be good. Something where power is drawn from nature but reserved for the commanding unit.
Vigor is better for like an inner life force, but not quite what I'm looking for. I think it's otherwise an awesome word.
Thanks for mentioning google-- It's pretty good. Something like Mundus could work.
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Energia (energy in spanish)
Natura (nature in latin i think)
Pater (father in latin)
I think they somewhat fit.
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Aether?
It's the stuff the fills the space between, but I could see it working for you.
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What about plain old "Power?"
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Judging from movies and books, mages are actually using their stamina to perform magic.
As they are breathless and can barely move after casting a lot.
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Animus or Anima seem obvious.
Spirit or enlightenment maybe?
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Regency. Domina. Arcanus, arcanus, arcana. Hegema, Hegima, hegemus, hegeminus, etc...Mastery, mystery, mysterious, mysterinous, mysterio...puppetry, puppetrous...nervous, nervinous, lignum..slav, slavus...galliwog, cochina...figurous...kratos...exousia, epitage...perpetuous...marionnetta, marionettous, marious...
There's a lot of crap in there, but some good stuff too.
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Let's cut out the middleman and just call it magic.
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Let's cut out the middleman and just call it magic.
Well sometimes it is theme specific. :-)
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The idea is that energy is drawn or drained from the natural environment and then used to animate units not too dissimilar from marionettes or puppets.
I guess this is how "real" magic works anyway. At least in our culture there is no word or concept for mana. In fact I don't know where mana comes from. The idea that wizards have mana they collect and when they run out of it they can't cast spells is coming from.. well.. games? D&D?
Wizards channel some kind of power, that's their skill. Maybe then stamina could be used to limit their power, so in fact you don't need Mana/MP at all.
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If I remember right, mana is originally a polynesian word describing some kind of spiritual force. And yeah, magic power being a finite, liquid resource is most commonly seen in video games.
In old fairy tales and myths, magic usually either has no specified limit (like, there's no rule for how often Odin can turn into a bird. He can probably do it whenever he wants) or else it has a finite number of uses for a specific power (three wishes, etc).
Video game magic tends to be really boring and samey. I'd like to see more games where magic is the ability to alter and understand the world in ways subtle ways according to intuitive or alien "logic" rather than it being a medieval rocket launcher. And more games where magic is outright evil. And more games where wizards can use their abilities whenever they feel like it. Or what about a game where you have to "pay" for your magic in some way? Like, you need to keep performing human sacrifices if you want to keep your magic powers. Something like that would be cool.
Also more games where fighters and other non-wizards are magical in their own way. Thor and Cuchulain and Hercules are all obviously supernatural, but they aren't wizards. It's dumb that games keep asking you to choose between a superhuman character with impossible powers versus a completely ordinary human being who works out.
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In old fairy tales and myths, magic usually either has no specified limit (like, there's no rule for how often Odin can turn into a bird. He can probably do it whenever he wants) or else it has a finite number of uses for a specific power (three wishes, etc).
I think part of it has to do with suspension of disbelief. A mere mortal isn't capable of rationalizing the full potential of a God-like being. Most paradoxes in theist religions are solved by simply acknowledging that humans can't fully fathom Gods- to do so is an act of bigotry. It isn't our place to assume the capabilities and objectives of a divine being, we can only operate on what information they've given us. Just as a dog can only understand so many commands, so too is a person's perspective of divinity limited.
Unfortunately, for a video game, we need to find some way to rationalize their super powers in a logical way, otherwise we can't make gameplay mechanics out of the ideas. Whether it is casting time, recharge time, mana, stamina, or whatever, we're only trying to represent the idea of Opportunity Cost as it relates to the resources that a character has at its disposal. From a design point of view, whatever the energy currency is, it should be as discrete as possible.
As far as the narrative is concerned... it's a failure when that energy currency isn't an integral part of the story. That 'lolz I'm out of MPs' moment is a failure of the narrative- not necessarily the mechanics. Though oftentimes the two work together to destroy the meaningfulness of the game.
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Mana is largely a game creation. But since we make games it's an important game system. It mostly translates to spirit or spiritual energy, or divine grace or will in English I'd say.
I can't remember which game it was, maybe a UFC game, but 'stamina' or 'energy' was a quickly refilling resource but it only refilled back up to the amount of health the player had left. So the healthier you were, the more stamina you had.
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From what you said about animating puppets et al., I'd vote for Anima/animus as the term(s) to use. And who can argue against how cool it would be with a RL that handles this whole issue more gracefully ;)
As always,
Minotauros
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I would think that also alertness, willpower, mind, focus, (con-)centration, mindforce can replace mana/MP, if you design the world so that one of them fits in. Furthermore, spirit, astral power, communion (for nature-based magic) could work.
On the other hand, player have been teached for decades that mana is magic power, so if you use something else, you must beaware that players will have a steeper learning curve (not much for one, but if you introduce too many new terms, it will sum up).
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Renaming mana won't add much to the learning curve - most will just think "OK, ____ is mana" after reading the relevant line in the tutorial. Those that don't do that will have the same thought after they cast a spell and their ____ goes down.
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For this project I'm working on, there is only one energy resource- so I'm not worried about confusing anybody.
I like something that has to do with communion- that's interesting. Although Anima makes a lot of sense, it isn't as theme-specific as I would like. I wasn't really sure what I was looking for at first, but I have better idea now.
The setting is somewhat stage-like with magical masks and puppets. They serve as metaphors for power, control and hierarchy, but it's driven by magical forces drained from nature, and yet should have something to do with performance arts.
I was thinking something like 'panache' or some other word that captures the idea of stage presence and the ability for a performer to manipulate or influence a crowd.
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Charisma! For bonus points you can pretend during character generation that it's the traditional dump stat ;)
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Charisma! For bonus points you can pretend during character generation that it's the traditional dump stat ;)
I like this. Like, magic is about appeasing the spirits, but the spirits are really superficial, so if you're sexy enough they'll want to protect you and do favors for you and you end up with amazing superpowers.
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Charisma! For bonus points you can pretend during character generation that it's the traditional dump stat ;)
LOL- considered Charisma, but it already has a place in D&D canon. I want something people aren't completely used to.
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Aww, you're just looking to rename mana, not replace it entirely? I was hoping for an entirely different discussion, and was prepared to leap into a discussion of Final Fantasy III's tiered spell system reminiscent of early D&D's Vancian magic (oh no! I ran out of level 3 spells! but never fear, I can burn a level 4 to cast this level 3 spell I really need right now!)
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Let's have both discussions.
I think there should be more games where magic doesn't cost any special resource at all. Using up a turn or some of your time is enough of an opportunity cost for most games.
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Another interesting system is that used by the (otherwise mediocre) DS RPG "Glory of Heracles". In GoH, there are six types of mana, each one corresponding to a different element. Each spell is also assigned an element, and casting any spell will deplete your mana in that element, but replenish a bit of your mana in the other five (sort of like the beam ammo in Metroid Prime 2). Also I think terrain works into it somehow, such that each element has an associated terrain and when you're fighting in a terrain, your mana for the associated element is restored quicker.