Originally Posted by Anaraxes
It's perhaps worth keeping in mind that RPM was designed for Monster Hunters, which is to say a secret magic, wainscot fantasy in the modern day. Its restrictions are there by design, to create the feel that was desired for that genre. (One reason charms exist, for instance, is to reward research about your target and preparation. It's not just the spellcasters that have a use for Giles' library.)
If you're running more of a D&D-style artillery wizard action game with a lot of flash and bang, then RPM isn't really the magic system you want. You're looking for a different feel. Other elements you might want to consider changing are grimoires (do you want wizards to cast long rituals out of books, or just hit 'em with the spells they know in their head) and correspondences. (Perhaps take a cue from D&D there, and just mention "material components" just for color, while avoiding getting slowed down by actually tracking their consumption and totting up modifiers for finding appropriate stuff to use in your rituals, which is another one of those research-and-prep things.)
So, yes, if you mostly like RPM, but want to blow stuff up, then you'll want to modify it to get a different feel. As has been mentioned, RPM is more powerful and flexible than some of the other systems in part because it's so limited in other ways. So you might want to rein it in in other ways.
GURPS Magic was originally designed for that sort of feel, with its ultimate origins back in Wizard, extending the Melee arena combat game. It's moved on from there, of course, but it still has the effects of expecting mages to stand toe-to-toe with warriors (while not completely dominating them, quadratic wizard style).
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