Alternatives to Mana/MP?

[guest509]

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.

[AgingMinotaur]

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

[Etinarg]

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).

[Quendus]

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.

[requerent]

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.

[Quendus]

Charisma! For bonus points you can pretend during character generation that it's the traditional dump stat

[Vanguard]

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.

[requerent]

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.

[ekolis]

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!)

[Vanguard]

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.

[ekolis]

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.