That's Right: Fantasy Anime Steampunk Space Opera

Our next weekly roleplaying game is a bit of a mashup: We’re playing in the Spelljammer setting using Full Light, Full Steam for mechanics. Think fantasy anime steampunk space opera. Or something like that. Before talking about what the specifics of our group’s setup, I want to touch briefly on a few system issues.

The only real changes I had to make to the Full Light, Full Steam rules to make this work were related to magic and skills. On the skills side, Motoring is replaced with Riding, and Weightless is out in favor of Weaponry. Beekeeping, Ether, Jury-Rigging, Gadgeteer, Horticulture, Mechanics, Steam, and Theory are all gone. Everything technology-related now falls under the Technology skill. The rest of the new skills are all Magic skills. Spelljamming replaces Piloting. Healing works like an improved version of Medicine (and possibly Empathy). The other five skills pretty much straight translations of Ars Magica verbs: Creation, Destruction, Control, Divination, and Transmutation. Want to make or summon things? Use Creation. Need to blast someone? Destruction, baby. Control can be anything from telekinesis to mental domination, while Divination and Transmutation allow you find stuff out and to change things that already exist.

The important thing about Magic skills is that they’re tied to the new Magic Condition Battery. The key difference between these and other skills is that using them always involves risk, so any use of magic may discharge your Magic Battery. That seemed like a good way to avoid having to keep track of spells per day while still maintaining the feeling of magic as a limited resource. Recharging your Magic Battery is much easier than recharging the other three, however, as it simply requires eight hours of rest and either praying for spells or studying your spellbook (or however else you get spells back).

I believe that the difficulty for Spelljamming checks will be determined by the Helm Type and Maneuverability Class of the ship in question. Note that unlike the original, simply sitting in a helm doesn’t drain all of your spells for the day. Tough checks may discharge your Battery, however.

That’s it so far. I’m sure things will come up in play, but I think this will deal with 95% of potential system issues. Later in the week, after we hash out a few details, I’ll talk about what sorts of stories we’re going to try to tell in this crazy world, and I’ll get into a few details about characters.