RPM: I Ching

[Refplace]

I was playing around with some ideas and while I do not think I will use this one I thought I would share it with you and see if anyone likes it.
the I-Ching is a way of divining things but what if you could use it as a magic system?
For an RPM system you would have 1 Path for each Trigram plus 1 for Magic.
Casting rituals based on any 2 of the Trigram paths gives you 1 of the 64 hexagrams.
I will start with the Trigrams, if there is interest I can post the HExagrams, or rather the names of them. However 64 is a lot of work if no one is interested.
Trigrams
‘
Trigram 1
Creative, Force, Heaven, Sky
NW, Father, Head, Strong, Creative, Horse

Trigram 2
Joyous, Open, Lake
West, third Daughter, Mouth, Pleasure, tranquil, complete devotion, sheep, goat

Trigram 3
The clinging, Radiance, Fire
South, Second Daughter, Eye, light giving, dependence, clinging, clarity, adaptable, Pheasant

Trigram 4
The Arousing, Shake, thunder, East, First Son, Foot, Inciting movement, Initiative, Dragon

Trigram 5 the gentle, Ground, Wind,
SE, First Daughter, Thigh, Penetrating, gentle entrance, Fowl

Trigram 6
The Abysmal, Gorge, Water, North, Second Son, Ear, Dangerous, in-motion, pig

Trigram 7
Bound, Keeping still, mountain, NE, Third Son, hand, resting, stand-still, completion, Wolf, dog

Trigram 8
the receptive, Field, earth, SW, Mother, Belly, Devoted, yielding, receptive, Cow

[Refplace]

The idea is simple enough but in play it would require a lot of imagination and creativity to use. I was originally considering it as another Symbol Magic system with random drawing for spell effect. But I think the level of time and creativity in a game would be too much.

[Christopher R. Rice]

In my current game, I've been treating them as a form of Fortunate-Telling that gives a bonus to Greater Sense Chance rolls if you roll it beforehand (+1 on success; +2 on critical success; -1 on failure; -2 on critical failure). I also give a -5% energy reduction for using Traditional Trappings. Since from what I understand the I Ching is above all a divination tool, a kind of sortilege.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

In my current game, I've been treating them as a form of Fortunate-Telling that gives a bonus to Greater Sense Chance rolls if you roll it beforehand (+1 on success; +2 on critical success; -1 on failure; -2 on critical failure). I also give a -5% energy reduction for using Traditional Trappings. Since from what I understand the I Ching is above all a divination tool, a kind of sortilege.

It is that.
My thoughts are along the line of Making the future happen the way you want it in a more overt fantasy world. Also as expressions of mystic elements you could focus them on making things happen, especially with the base elements or mental aspects.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Refplace

It is that.
My thoughts are along the line of Making the future happen the way you want it in a more overt fantasy world. Also as expressions of mystic elements you could focus them on making things happen, especially with the base elements or mental aspects.

I suppose it could be used like that, interesting thought.

[PK]

I love the idea of turning 8 Path skills into 64 Hexagrams. It's a lot of work, as you say, but is a great idea thematically.

If you're going to break up the effects by Hexagram (which I think would be necessary to really capture the I Ching), I'd make a few more changes to RPM. For example, I wouldn't even associate each of the 8 Trigram Paths with a specific subject; they're simply the Trigrams. (With no "Path of Magic," you'd use your core skill to refill mana reserve.) So instead of having to match up effects by Path, you'd always use exactly two Trigram Path skills -- perhaps rolling against the average instead of the lower one. Then you just count up how many effects you're using, instead of worrying about which Path they come from. The downside being, of course, that the spell as a whole has to make sense for that Hexagram. (Multi-Hexagram spells might be possible, but should be considerably more difficult.)

Very interesting idea here . . . whether it's worth the effort to go all-out into 64 different "effect trees" is up to you, of course.