This weekend my group decided to start a fantasy campaign again, as our long-running D&D Greyhawk adventure ended a while ago. I convinced them to try RQ III/BRP, and we chose the Iron Kingdoms setting where we had some pretty fun adventures in the past, using the True20 rules last time.
Now before we can start, I've got some work todo and would appreciate any help there. I don't think I'll have any problems with the steampunk side of things, as BRP already has rules for firearms and robots are robots, whether they're called 'steamjacks' or not...
But I'm still not sure about the magical choices. First, let's get some premises down:
* We've got several big faith systems and divine magic exists.
* There's an Earth Mother faith that seems more animistic.
* People can study to become wizards.
* Wild talents, aka.a Witches are feared among the populace.
* Minor wild talents exist that can channel magic for song (bards) or more martial endeavors ('gunmages')
Now I've basically got two issues. First, the witch/wizard dichotomy. This clearly stems from the different classes in 3rd edition D&D, but it's so nicely written into the background and especially our starting adventure that I definitely want to keep it -- even emphasize the difference if possible.
I thought of using Magic and Sorcery, one for the academics, one for the wizards. I'm not entirely sure how to distribute things. The more error-prone nature of Magic would seem appropriate for Witches/Sorcerers, but on the other hand it could represent a more studious approach that lets you truly 'get' magic whereas your hedge warlock has to resort to superstitious spells -- and maybe consort with demons and evil spirits.
The other issue is what I'll do with shamanism and divine magic. Both Magic and Sorcery somehow look like different versions of the RQ III systems, so I don't know how much things will clash. I could live without shamanism and just use Earth Mother divine magic for that kind of stuff. It's still pretty close to Sorcery after that and I'm not entirely sure about Initiates -- it will make things less deadly, but do I want divine magic that common.
I actually thought about using either Psychics or Superpowers for that, but both seem to require some major rewording not to disturb the flavor.