Expedition: general discussions.

I did something similar once, and I still sometimes think about it. I think that maybe someday I'll post not just one, but two posts a day in the gaming thread.

Well, no, I'm going to find a job that leaves me with enough time for my hobbies.

Another problem that I mentioned to Heroist and Revan some time ago is that sometimes our ideas overlap. Of course, the implementation isn't exactly the same, but there are still some doubts due to the potential for it to be seen as derivative. As I was writing this, I remembered another similar case. This also creates certain problems.

In such cases, I say that it's all been done before in The Simpsons, and I continue to do what I think is right. I change some things so it's not exactly the same, but I think that good ideas can and should be used as inspiration, adopted, and built upon. Of course, it's more about rethinking and reworking them to fit your own needs, rather than direct plagiarism. For example, in my theoretical expansion, I'm planning a mechanic of visits, borrowed from Revan, but the hours and action points are combined into a single pool of energy points with its own rules of use and a mechanic of sleep deprivation (to be like in real life). This concept fits so well with my original ideas that I can't help but use it, and it immediately solved a problem with one lore aspect that I really wanted to show, but didn't know how. At the same time, I borrowed the karma system from Fallout (for the same lore aspect) and, to top it off, added a strength check for using weapons from New Vegas (because I liked the idea and because I wanted to add critical misses).
I remembered how in one of the episodes of Star Trek Voyager, the plot was exactly the same as in one of the chapters of my comic, and I had watched Voyager long before I drew that chapter. And in general, the concept of Voyager is very similar to the concept of my comic. And the captain of Voyager is very much like my Cap, the similarity is more than just fitting into one archetype. I laughed, made a post in the community, and recommended Voyager to watch.
In general, I don't see anything wrong with using really good ideas and reworking them to fit your own needs, just as there's no point in trying too hard to be different from everyone else. I think that if a creator is a truly creative and responsible person, passionate about inspiration, then they will still filter other people's ideas through the prism of their own vision, adapting them to themselves in the process, and in the end, something of their own and unique is born. Of course, you need to feel the line between a source of inspiration/reference and direct plagiarism, and try not to cross it, but I think that this line is quite noticeable and normal people don't want to fall into outright copying. In general, I could talk for a long time on this topic, lol, so I'll wrap it up, I hope it's clear what I mean.

Perhaps I'll elaborate a little more, so there's some kind of illustration. In total, there are 7 colors of auras planned, each of which (possibly) will increase certain parameters, and 6 of which will unlock the corresponding type of "magic". The white aura will have a different, more modest bonus, so that people who want to play as ordinary guys won't be too upset. In fact, most people in the lore will be white-aura users, while mages will be relatively rare. Players are special snowflakes and will be given the opportunity to choose.

Magical auras will be divided into two conditional groups: pure and hybrid. The pure ones include red, blue, and yellow, while the hybrid ones, as you can guess, include purple, orange, and green. As for the concepts of the directions:
Red - physical and destructive aura, directed outwards.
Blue - "spiritual-mental" aura, directed at internal control.
Yellow - pure healing aura, without any special frills.
Purple - partly antimagic, partly influencing the mind.
Orange - an aura for those who heal and maim. Probably the least interesting of all on paper, being the most direct of the hybrids.
Green - an aura of people of culture. First of all, all sorts of health transfer, creation of chimeras, and creation of homunculi. In other words, more complex and less direct manipulations than the other two healing auras.

It sounds interesting, and it looks like it's designed for a party of mages. So, at the start, a certain school of magic is assigned to the player, and it's no longer possible to learn another magic? And can people with hybrid auras have access to the schools of pure auras?
Hybrid auras reminded me a little of my concept from the magic setting (Salidera, if anyone remembers), where you can combine schools of magic. For example, if you take Air (mind control) and Fate (which includes manipulations with the soul and body), you can get a necromancer, etc. I didn't develop this aspect much and definitely don't plan to run an expansion based on this setting, but I really wanted to include a necromancer character in the main cast, and the original seven schools of magic didn't include necromancy.