OK, with the errata for Street Magic in the works, I recalled some spells that I had written up (back in the day when I & several others did an APAzine called Scrawls from the Sprawls) and now, with SR4, thought they could use some updating. Since I'm not quite yet familiar with the new system yet, I thought I'd post them here, get your feedback & see where it goes.

This is how they were orignally printed (again, many thanks to Stephen Kenson who helped flesh them out at that time). I've also included the Design Notes as well;

SHOCKWAVE (Combat)
Type: Physical Range: LOS Duration: Instant Drain: M3
Description: This spell forms a sort of invisible magical 'grenade' that detonates at the designated target & sends out a blast-wave of force. The spell does Stun damage with a base Staging of 2 & a Force equal to the caster's Sorcery skill. The blast is treated like that of a normal grenade, losing 1 point of Force per meter from the target. Impace Armor does protect from the secondary blast-wave, but the 'ground zero' target of the spell gains no armor bonuses. Magicians sometimes use this spell against floors to create a powerful blast to stun or knock down opponents. If the spell is used in this manner, have all targets in the blast radius make a Quickness Test against the caster's Sorcery; -1 to Tagert # per meter from the center of the blast.
Design Notes: Staging 2 Combat Spell (M1), Drastic Effects (+1 Category, +1 Staging), Stun Damage Only (-1 Category), Physical (+1 Staging).
Several styles emerge from this one particular foumula. It can be a wave of force & blow outward, or it could only cause shocks along a flat surfacelike the groung or a floor. If the spell is only made to knock targets down & not cause damage, it becomes a Manipulation spell.

I'll post the other spells later.

Actually, Shockwave made it into official canon, more or less (in 3rd ed. it was called Thunderclap). Though with the way the spell system was redefined again, individual spells tend to be a bit more powerful and versatile in their base form. As a result, some of the killer ideas from 1st ed may end up being a bit outclassed by their 4th ed counterparts. For instance, area effects maintain their full power within the whole area of effect (and, presumably, are cut off at that boundary).

As for Shockwave itself, the current version is a bog-standard Indirect area combat spell with the Blast elemental effect tacked on - which lets it do physical damage as well as retaining the fun knockdown and environmental damage goodness. But being an Indirect area spell with an elemental effect, the drain is generally bit higher than that of the equivalent spell in the earlier editions. Another, similar spell, called Blast, uses a much less powerful force to inflict Stun damage (akin to a physical punch), and lacks the secondary effects.

Still, I can't think they've exhausted all of the possibilities with the current spell design system (or cribbed all of the good ideas from the past), so I, for one, would be interested in seeing what else you have.

Ah, thanks, TonkaTuff, I had completely forgotten about Thunderclap.

Here's another spell from back then;

Greatest Fear (Illusion/Manipulation)
Type: Mana Range: LOS T#: Willpower Duration: Sustained Drain: D2
Desc.: The target 'sees' his/her darkest, most nightmarish fear made manifest before their eyes. The caster makes a Resisted Test against the target Willpower attribute (again the caster rolls Force + Magic Pool with a T# equal to the target's Willpower; the target rolls Willpower vs. Sorcery/Force. The caster has to get enough successes to equal a Threshold equal to the target's Willpower).
Design Notes:Realistic Full Sensory Illusion (S1), Drastic Effects (+1 Category, +1 Staging. The spell has to find the target's fear & can cause almost total incapacitation). The spell does NOT effect non-living things (rocks, bricks, ect). The Mana version will NOT effect persons with cybersenses (sight, hearing, ect.) The Physical variant is Drain: D3

I'm confused, it's Mental, right? Why wouldn't it affect someone with cybernetic senses?

In fact, since it doesn't ever have an effect on a non-living object, why would there be a Physical Version at all? It finds the greatest fear of drones and sprites? What does that even mean?

-Frank

That's why it needs updating. I believe that Greatest Fear (Mana) should also affect those with cybersenses, but it may have to do with the connection of living senses with the brain.
The Physical variant, I forget.

Heh. It's starting to look like Kenson might've paid a bit more attention to your work than you might have suspected. =)

This one sounds alot like the spell Foreboding (same name in 3rd and 4th), albeit in single-target form (realistic, multi-sense mana illusion, causes negative pool modifiers for every net hit. If net is over target's will, they're either paralyzed with fear or run away). I'm assuming with the single-target version, it'd be the former since there'd not really be a convenient area/target to run away from. Dropping the area effect like so would drop the drain down to base (Force/2). Alternatively, you could hit them with Control Emotions (mental manip) and choose Fear as your target, which has the same drain, but a much-reduced effect (merely -2 modifier) if they try to act counter to the emotion.

And it's possible that the Physical variant was necessary to affect people with cybernetic senses in 1st ed (I don't recall exactly how that worked at the moment - though I thought they had the 'you paid for it in essence' rule even then.) Rather than just projecting a shadow into their mind, it made a physical illusion that could be picked up on sensors. Though what it would look like to unaffected observers is a bit unclear - maybe just an indistinct, shadowy shape.

I hadn't thought of that, Tonka. Yes, I had asked SK for the help whenI was designing the spells, not only becuase he wrote the 3rd ed. magic books & did have a better graps of it all at that time.

Two other spells remain, Laryngitis (inspired as a low-powered way to get a 'subject' to be silent) & Identify Magical Tradition (back then, it was much easier to tell). The second seems rather moot now with 4th ed.

An amusing few spells I came up with were these:

He's Okay - This spell causes the secuirty guard to believe that the caster is one of those people, for whatever reason, that normally is allowed to go around their security check point. It could be a vending person that they have "seen" before or some other person that is not in their normal passcode system but is needed ocassionally.

New Supervisior - A variant of He's Okay but they let you into their secure areas because you are in charge of them.

Clap attack - Replaces the actions of firing a gun with clapping your hands in your mind. The subject will drop their weapon and start clapping at their target thinking that they see and hear their guns going off but just barely missing.

Visual Twist - Illusion spell that rotates a person's vision anywhere between 5 and 45 degrees as controlled by the caster. This is great for dealing with people who are driving.

Friend or Foe Fog - Illusion spell that causes a person to believe he saw past an illusion for a moment and his teammate or coworkers are really the enemy. It causes other people to flicker like something lost control for a moment and sends the feeling of discovery and alarm. This way the spell only has to work for a second, then they will be trying to 'disbeileve' everything they are seeing or what people around them are saying.

Security Test - The people in the area think that the alarm they just responded to was just a security test and they just got the all clear. The group can possibly act like they were hired to test the security and be brought into the security center.