I fear I gave Mind over Magic short shrift in my initial post. That tone was born out of a bit of frustration in not having any idea how to not ruin the futures of my students but as I stumbled through the game, online resources, and *sigh* the official Discord for the game, things started to fall in place. So here’s some things I have learned through trial and error as well as from some online sources.

Don’t Fear the Training Wheels

There’s three modes: relaxed, standard, and relentless. Relaxed is a good way to get to know the game. After selecting a mode, you can customize it further. Below are the settings for the basic, unadulterated relaxed mode:

The good news is that you can access the Difficulty Settings through the ESC menu at any time, so if you want to cool things down or ramp things up later on, you can do so on the fly.

Keywords

Before you leave your game setup, you get to choose your keyword style. MOM uses a system of keywords assigned to various elements that dictate requirements for assigning rooms to areas you build. In the case of “balanced”, you’ll get keywords like “elevated” (no adjacent rooms or foundations below), “lofted” (taller than it is wide), and “skewed” (one outer wall at least 3 blocks higher than the other). When designating a room type for a space in your school, that room type will have a keyword requirement; you will have to “build to that keyword” in order for the space to qualify as that special room type.

Note that not building a room to satisfy a keyword does not prevent you from using it as a dining room or research room or whatever. Building a room to satisfy a keyword only enhances the purpose of the room. All keywords can be found in the Codex so you will know how to build a room before you start laying down walls.

“Basic” style is the most flexible, and a solid choice for the most permissive set of keywords while learning the game.

Your Staff

I’m going to be vague because I’m not 100% solid on all of the numbers and slots and how they’re applied to the game as some don’t come into play until well into the mid- to late-game.

Tooltips

Thankfully, most every element has a tooltip. Hover over a UI element and you’ll see a progress spinner in the upper right corner of the tip; if you wait until it completes, you’ll be able to mouse over underlined items in the tooltip panel for an additional tooltip. A nice feature found in many Paradox games as well.

NPC Species

There are three starting species: Wolfkin, Vivified, and Human. Wolfkin can sleep anywhere without detrimental effects and have improved speed. Vivified have higher HP and can eat pretty much anything without penalty. Humans have increased mana pools and have a boosted chance at Mana Burst, which allow for a spell to be cast with 0 mana cost.

Elemental Values

Each NPC in the game has elemental scores. Each element has specific uses. Fire can be used to improve cooking, hunting, and destroying obstacles while Nature can benefit harvesting, chopping trees, and creating wands, for two examples. Since the early game requires a lot of tree chopping, rock mining, and plant harvesting, Nature and Earth are good skills to start with. I’d also recommend a high Lightning, as it contributes to research. Don’t worry, though: as you invite students, you can influence their elemental attunement by crafting and awarding specific wands.

Note that having a low elemental score doesn’t mean an NPC cannot or will not perform actions governed by that low score. Everyone can be assigned to almost anything through the priority manager.

NPC Stats

NPCs have four stats: HP, mana, power, and speed. HP should be obvious. Mana is used for anything magical, which is basically everything aside from hauling resources, eating, and sleeping. Mana is replenished at the school’s Mana Stone, or through Mana Lanterns that can be researched and built later on. Power contributes to attack, and speed determines acting order in combat.

Relics Slots

I have to say that I’m not sure what relics are as I have yet to encounter any, but it looks like they are items that can be equipped and will boost stats and abilities. Relics are gained by graduating students into the world, or by dismissing staff members. There might be other methods of obtaining them, but they don’t play a part in the very early game.

Primary Elemental Attunement

Each NPC has a primary elemental attunement which determines their highest elemental stat. Each element comes with it’s own set of combat abilities which are listed on the character sheet. Some of these combat abilities are governed by the level of the character and unlock over time.

In addition, there’s a drop-down which allows you to select your initial staff’s elemental leaning, so you don’t need to leave this assignment to chance.

Founding the School

Each NPC has unknown quirks which will be revealed through play. You can also re-roll your staff entirely if you don’t like anything about them, and can re-roll their appearance as well.

When you’re done, you can begin!

Series Navigation

Mind Over Magic – First Steps >>