To Call Upon the Powers of the World - "Magic" in the Jewelsea

21 May, 2026

I've long disliked the way magic is portrayed in fantasy RPGs, with a neat delineation between "magic" and "mundane." I prefer a vision more accommodating of multiple perspectives, able to accept that there are feats that are outside the experience of some groups yet a part of daily life for others. I've tried to excise mentions of the word at all as I work on the Jewelsea RPG. It's too easy for someone to get the wrong idea about what it means and what it implies.

Despite my feelings on magic, I'm still very attracted to the trope of a wizard: someone who uses their great knowledge of the workings of the world to twist it to their advantage, to force the powers of the world to answer their call. I've toyed with and discarded a lot of magic systems, both those found in published rules, on blogs, and of my own design. I didn't want to simply recreate the modern D&D wizard, able to trivially call up a spell in a single combat round that was easily controlled with little cost other than preparation time and no chance of unintended consequences. I also wanted to represent beliefs that were common in history but are little represented in vernacular fantasy.

To that end, I came up with three systems:

• Invocation, where a character calls upon a power (a god, a spirit, a demon, etc) and requests a boon, usually something that could plausibly happen. They either offer a sacrifice as part of the invocation or promise to make a sacrifice to the power at some point in the future. The better the offer and the less asked for, the more likely it is that the character gets exactly what they want the way that they want it.
• Ritual - performances involving a carefully planned process that the world responds to, producing a fairly reliable effect. This includes using proper tools, timing, location, and sacrifices in addition to performing chants, dancing, singing, or other highly regimented activity as the ritual demands. Attempting to deviate from these requirements significantly raises the chances that the ritual will go out of control or cost the performer more than they intended to pay.
• Devices - items left over from prior ages of the world. They produce things that most closely resemble a D&D spell. They are usually able to produce their effect once when activated and then must be recharged by performing a thematically related activity.

I wrote up rules for Invocations and Rituals prior to last month's playtests at Forge Midwest. They're a good starting point, but based on my playtesting I think they need more work. I have presented them below.

Invocations

Invocations take place in the form of swearing a vow to a god or some other power. An invocation includes:

• Naming the entity you are requesting act in your favor
• Naming yourself as the requester
• Naming the sacrifice you have made or will make to the patron in the future
• Naming what you request of the patron

After invoking a power and making your request, assemble a pool of dice, beginning with your Fate die and your Fortune die. You may add more dice to the pool (starting at d6) or upgrade the size of existing dice one step for each of the following:

• You offer regular sacrifices to this power
• Your request falls within the power's interests or domains
• You are at a shrine or holy site relevant to the power
• You have not made other requests of this power recently
• This power has given you a similar boon before
• Your request is an extremely plausible coincidence
• You are offering a particularly generous sacrifice

Downgrade a die for each of the following:

• You have made many demands of this power recently
• You are in a place anathema to this power
• You are not part of a culture or religion that recognizes this power
• You have not offered any sacrifices to this power recently
• Your request is overly specific
• Your request is something that is extremely unlikely to happen
• Your offering is stingy

Roll your pool and keep the highest result.

• On a 4 or higher, you get a minor boon that may not be what you asked for.
• On an 8 or higher, the power acts on your request, but perhaps not exactly how you intended.
• On a 12 or higher, you get exactly what you asked for. Extra results of 4 or higher can be spent as Gambits to bolster your highest roll.

If the powers answered your request, add the sacrifice you offered to your debts tracker.

Rituals

Rituals are highly regimented activities, calibrated to precisely manipulate the forces that create and maintain the world in order to produce a desired effect. They involve a precise performance, often including chanting, singing, dancing, and instrumental music, requiring properly prepared sites, tools, reagents, and sacrifices.

Tools might include

• fetishes,
• rods
• staves
• wands
• grimoires
• idols
• mirrors
• orbs
• talismans
• amulets

Reagents

• Potions
• Salves
• Scrolls
• Runic carvings

Sacrifices

• Effigies
• Animals or plants
• Blood

Each ritual lists the effect it produces and the toll it takes on the performer along with a list of the required knowledge, location, tools, reagents, and sacrifices in order to properly perform it. When performing a ritual, the following modifiers apply to the saves.

Knowledge - Have you performed the ritual before?

• No - -2, and you must suffer the ritual's consequence
• No, but you have a written source on hand describing its performance - -1
• Yes - +1
• Many times +2

Location - Are you in the proper location?

• Not even close - -2, and you suffer hard tax
• Vaguely similar - -1
• Yes, this is the right type of location - +1
• This location has been specifically prepared for the ritual - +2

Tools - do you have the required tools?

• No tools at all - -2, and you lose control of the ritual
• Substitute tools - -1
• The right kind of tools - +1
• Tools specifically made for this ritual - +2

Reagents - did you prepare your body and tools with the required reagents?

• No - -1, and you must suffer blowback
• Yes - +1

Sacrifices - did you make the appropriate sacrifices?

• No - the ritual fails
• Used substitutes - -1
• Yes - +1
• Yes, and they were particularly fine sacrifices - +2

When you perform a ritual, the world pushes back against you:

• You suffer blowback (eventually there will be a mishap table)
• You lose control of the ritual
• You suffer hard tax
• You suffer the ritual's consequence

Roll each of your saves, adding your modifier total from above to each. If your modifier total is 8 or higher, you may roll an additional save against a chosen stat. For each success, you may remove one of the above consequences.