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.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by 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.


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.

Thank you, originally I was trying for another Symbol set for an article I hope to submit and my campaign. Trying it on for size with RPM seemed like a decent idea, just a lot of work and doubtful most players would like it.

Ok, I will put it on "low" instead of back burner and see what simmers up.
The hexagrams as the required rather then optional casting, plus the limited effects should get compensation for those drawbacks.
I am thinking of emphasizing the divination aspects as well. Hmm smelling good so far as a kind of class or profession rather then just an alternate magic system. Mix in Illuminated and Power Ups Impulse Buys and a kind of Visualization and Serendipity power set.
Cool, thank you just knowing someone thought it interesting is given me some ideas.

[DangerousThing]

I seem to remember that the specific lines that changed from the first trigram to the second seemed to have an importance.

[William]

The way I understand it, when a hexagram is created through yarrow-counting or coin-casting, there are multiple results that can give you each line.* A line may be "young" or "old." You get two hexagrams by changing any "old" line into the opposite kind. The first hexagram describes the current situation and the second hexagram describes future conditions surrounding possible courses of action. The same young-old system could certainly apply when casting a single trigram.

This level of detail isn't necessary to get substantial depth out of the system, however. 8 trigrams can correspond nicely to Paths or Realms, and/or 64 hexagrams could be individual spells of a decently-sized College which uses rune-casting.

I've always been fond of this system as a possibility for exotic casting. In the short-lived DC comic The Great Ten, one of China's officially-recognized superheroes is a robot whose computing system is based on the hexagrams (which are, after all, just binary numbers).

* Yarrow-division and coin-casting give the same odds for a yin or yang line, but different odds of young and old lines! Yarrow is the more traditional method (and someone who does this probably keeps their I Ching wrapped in silk stored in a place above head height, too).

[Refplace]

Yeah William has the right of it. I am by no means an expert but I was going for a simplier approach.
Each hexagram has an inner and outer trigram and the outer represents a change to the inner. I think that is about as much detail as most could handle for gaming purposes and the old and young lines would add way too much word count.