Variants for GLOG mishaps and Dooms.

Here's a primer to GLOG wizard stuff if you have no idea what I'm babbling on about.

One of the things GLOG magic has going for it is the tension associated with powerful spells. You can always add more juice to a spell, but it drastically increases the risk of [bad thing] or [very bad thing] happening.

The standard way it works is that doubles give you a random 'mishap', while triples give you a predetermined 'doom'. Your mishaps and your dooms are tied to your school of wizardry.

But I want to simplify and generalize that system to make it compatible with classless play ala Knave or Into the Odd. Type1Ninja's excellent ruleset here is what I've been using. It make two changes. Firstly, there is a single class-agnostic mishaps/doom table. Secondly, the trigger mechanism is changed from matching die faces to simply checking for a 6, with a secondary stat which ticks down over time to make dooms more likely. It's good! But it doesn't quite make my soul sing.

Here are a few untested spitball mechanisms along the same lines.

Variant 1: Feedback Damage.

If a die rolled when casting a spell is non-unique, then the caster takes that much in damage. Subvariant: the damage is dealt to INT instead of HP.

So a roll of 3,3 deals 6 feedback damage. A roll of 4,1,4,4 deals 12. A roll of 2,5,5,2 deals 14.
Rolling two dice on average deals a little over 1. Rolling four deals on average a little under 6.

Pro: I think it's cute. No extra rolling. No cross referencing.
Con: Lots of slowdown from arithmetic.  Just injuring yourself doesn't seem thematic enough to represent failing an archmage level spell.

Variant 2: Make the Match Determine the Mishap

Check for matching faces. Consult the chart below for the consequence.

Double 1: Spell fizzles.
Double 2: Brainfog. You can't remember how to do language or magic for 1d6 rounds.
Double 3: Thematically appropriate magical residue ruins your clothes.
Double 4: Lose an extra MD.
Double 5: Horrible cramps. Spend the next turn spasming in pain or take 1d6 damage.
Double 6: The spell is spectacularly loud and bright, like fireworks hitting a warehouse full of gunpowder. Spend a turn blinking the spots out of your eyes.
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Triple 1: Lose the ability to cast magic for a day.
Triple 2: The spell is split in half. One half targets you or your location. Not a problem if that's what you meant to do, but...
Triple 3: Some nearby elementals are annoyed by your spell and come to smack you around. Fire elementals for a fireball spell, Sand elementals for a sleep spell, Friendship elementals for a charm spell, etc.
Triple 4: After doing its job, the spell turns around, tells you it quits, and walks away, never to return.
Triple 5: One of your hands explodes into bloody mist.
Triple 6: As double 6, but also [sum] blast damage to you and everyone nearby.

Pro: Basically just a randomly table of mishaps for which you don't have to roll separately.
Con: Basically just a randomly table of mishaps for which you don't get to roll separately.

Variant 3: Check the Sum

If you roll doubles, reference the [sum] against the following chart:

2. Nothing happens. You forgot to actually activate your wizard gland and now you've wasted everyone's time.
3. You sneeze at the last second, cancelling the spell. Sparks come out your nose. Take 1 damage.
4. The spell has stagefright. You can either spend a turn giving the spell a pep talk, or lose the ability to cast that spell for the rest of the day.
5. The spell works, but it's much smaller than expected. 
6.  Nearby non-magical creatures get angry at you until sunrise. So basically everything except humanoids and cats.
7.  Nearby magical items get angry at you until sunrise. Hope your spellbook is belted shut, or it's gonna start biting.
8.  The spell is hungry. Choose to either lose a ration or burn an extra MD.
9.  The spell is hungry. Choose to lose a finger or a toe.
10.  You cast the wrong spell, ya doof!
11.  The spell is replaced with the primordial spell, the first spell ever cast: Summon [dice] Angry Cats. Until sunrise, this is the only spell you can cast.
12.  The spell mutates.
13.  You mutates.
14.  The magical energy crackles around you as a bright aura. You light up your surroundings like sunlight, but also can't see anything because of the glowcloud in front of your face. It will dissipate next sunrise.
15.  The strain was too much for your atrophied wizard body.  Lose one STR and drop to 0 HP.
16.  Oops. I think one of those Magic Dice you burnt was actually your gallbladder. You're fine for now, but you'll die if you don't see a doctor soon. 
17. Okay, that time you definitely cast a spell using one of your bones. How in the heavens are we going to regrow your femur?
18.  Your spell superimposed another reality on top of your own to make the magic happen. Something incomprehensible hitches a ride through the gap.
19.  This hose ain't turnin' off. The spell just keeps happening for as long as you stay conscious. 
20.  The force of the spell causes your name to echo across the psychic realm. Everyone in the world knows your location. Most people will immediately brush it off because it's a qualia with no associated stimuli. But anyone who loves you or hates you will know the feeling to be true.
21. A godling with a relevant domain takes notice of your spell and sees you as an usurper.
22. A godling with a relevant domain takes notice of your spell and falls in love with you. This is worse.
23. The spell itself falls in love with you. You can never again cast another spell except for this one, and the spell doesn't quite work as well for anyone else ever again.
24. All your remaining MD are added to the spell. All scrolls, magic tomes, and spell snakes on your person are burnt up and their intrinsic MD are added to the spell. Your body and both of your souls burn up, each adding MD to the spell. You're dead, and the spell has probably taken on a life of it's own and turned into some kind of demon. But wow, that was some good casting.

Pro: More powerful Magic leads to more powerful backlash. Nifty.
Con: Except only kinda because the distribution of Nd6 conditional on doubles is wonky. Odd numbers can only occur on rolls with at least three dice. 

Variant 4: Unlucky Numbers

Choose some specific face on the dice. Count the number of dice showing that face. Do something bad in response to the number. Prime candidates include 6 to represent overpowered magic ripping you apart, and 4 because of it's general associations with death.

Single 4: Spellburn. The magic gets a stuck in your fingers. Take 1 damage.
Double 4s: Random Mutation. After a minute, save or it's permanent.
Triple 4s: Magical Incontinence. You drop to zero hp, and all your remaining magic dice are expended on random spells which you have about your person or in your head.
Four or More 4s: Catastrophe. You explode violently in a shower of bad luck. You die. Anyone nearby is stunned. Those you care about nearby take damage equal to your HP. If there's a structure nearby that you care about, the blast damages it. If you are advancing through a tunnel to an important treasure, the blast caves in the ceiling and prevents your allies from advancing. If there's any way the explosion could plausibly work against your goals, it does so. Mama Spacetime is not happy about the ruckus you've been kicking up, and it's time for her revenge.

Subvariant: the unlucky rolls are cumulative until you take a rest. So if you get spellburn, then you take one damage for each of the rest of the spells you cast during the encounter. If you roll another 4, it moves you up to taking a random mutation each spell you cast.

Pro: Small enough to memorize and uses without reference. I could paint little scary faces on the dice. 
Con: This was the second one I came up with, but I had to place it fourth for reasons. If you put this in a rules document, you'll need to come up with three things to put in front of it, which might ruin the flow of the page.

Variant 4.3: Just use Variant 3 but with the trigger being the presence of an unlucky number.

Variant 5: The secret underdeveloped soul inventory one.

I've been messing around with a GLOGalike where magical powers and so forth take up inventory in your soul. That's for a future post, but it's conceptually similar to what this cool kangaroo posted about over here with memory slots. 

Each pair of matching dice fills one memory/soul slot with magical residue. Triples count as three distinct pairs. Too much high wizarding, and you'll start losing your powers or memory. Eventually your soul will just be an empty husk full of broken magic.

A soul surgeon could maybe help you avoid this fate, but you'd need to be insane to trust one of those.