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Looking back to character creation, you will see three magic related traits. Two Attributes Vis Pool Maximum and Current Vis Pool, and one skill Wizardry. Now lets give them some meaning.
For the purposes of this game I picked the Latin word for power, vis, as a universal energy source. (I didn't want to use words that currently exist in actually spiritual believes of cultures I am not part of, so I picked a dead language). And though it is reasonable to think of it as a power pool, it really represents how much and how often a mortal mind can interact with an extra-mortal power source, the Universal Realty Engine. The complexity of channeling the very mechanics of the cosmos are exhausting, and can be exhausted. So, while it is easier in game terms to think of it as an actual pool of energy, the reality it is more a measure of mental/spiritual stress, thus it is derived by Smarts and Ego.
I don't what an over complicated system so it essentially has two elements. First, is casting spells using the Wizardry Skill. This is as simple as defining the spell effect you want, setting a difficulty to it, and rolling to see if you succeed. A Yes indicates a successful casting. An Exceptional yes, allows you to raise one aspect of the casting (say include more people or cause more damage). A No indicates that you failed to cast the spell successfully, but it isn't a catastrophic failure. If the spell should have been well be low your abilities, down grade the qualities of the spell and have it perform in a sup par manner (you may want to aske a Fate check to see if it is a simple Failure, but I think Wizard should waist a round casting for nothing). If it was at or even stretching your abilities then it is just a failure, but still may cause Drain. If the answer is an Exceptional No the magic gets out of hand and either backfires or produces some interesting random result (I suggest a Fate check with backfire as the probably outcome).
Whether the spell is a success, a failure or a backfire you have to roll for Drain. Drain is a roll set by the difficulty of the spell against your Current Vis Pool attribute. The question is Did I suffer Drain. If Yes lower the Current Vis Pool by one step. If it is an Exceptional Yes, lower the current Vis pool by two steps. If the answer is No then your Vis Pool remains the same. If your answer is an Exceptional No then your Vis Pool actually raises by one step indicating some insight into casting that particular spell. Make a note of that, as it may indicated a growing talent for that sort of spell (giving you a plausible reason to get a Gift easing the casting of such spells).
(Remember when doing skill checks in Mythic RPG you set the CF to 5 for the skill check. Varying CF is to escalate role play scenes. Otherwise this magic system would get way out of hand very quickly.)
Current Vis Pool Refreshes over night to its maximum if the character gets a chance to rest in a safe environment. Once per day, the character can meditate using Wizardry skill against current Vis pool. A success raises the Current Vis pool by one rank. This can be attempted just once per day. An Exceptional Success raises it by two point. All failures simply result in no raise.
Modifiers of all sorts could be applied to this roll. A favorable environment, a failure to concentrate, some special "components" that boost magic in this dimension, etc. I will future out more about that in play.
When I have a chance to play this system (the next installment should lead up to the opening scene) then I will drop back in here and add some examples from real play, and we will see if this system needs a bit of tweaking.
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