Inspired by the Arsenal Method on page 189 of the Magic Burner.
Spells, though not “creepy living things” are none the less, complex formulas and rituals that allow a mage to tap into the forces of magic and bend them to his will. These spells formulas are normally written down in spell books. Memorizing and retaining such spells is difficult and exhausting work.
Mages are living Spell Matrix and must choose what spells to impress upon themselves, (Presence minus one).
They then must “cast” (impress and absorb) these spells just like putting them into a physical matrix, noting how many successes were received at the time of casting as these results will be used when the spell is released.
It takes as long to release a spell as it did to impress it (extra time in absorbing becomes extra time in releasing) However, a mage can cut time for releasing his spell by increasing the obstacle and undergoing another spell tax roll at the new obstacle. Any spell failure during impression or releasing (combat conditions can raise spell obstacles and cause a good impression to fail to be released) are treated normally via BWG rules. Each time a spell is released, the Die of Fate is rolled, on a result of one the released spell fades from memory and must be reimpressed/absorbed before it can be used again. A mage may clear any spell from his mind, releasing it to make room for another one.
A mage may choose to permanently impress a spell upon his mind after he has used it enough times to fulfil his Presence Aptitude. Once permanently impressed, the spell becomes just like a Standard BWG Sorcey Spell, but it does limit the mages flexibility in spell casting some (Presence -1 = total number of spells) but he doesn’t have to worry about the DoF causing it to fade from his memory either.
This wouldn’t stop Mages from enchanting scrolls, making wands, or casting from spellbooks or scrolls but rather, it feeds into the fiction of mages who need such things as there’s only so much room in their memory for spells.
(In my game, an Enchanted Scroll is a spell matrix/sustainer usable by any who can read it, while a spellscroll is a written set of instructions, it holds no magic and therefore is only useful to a mage).
Please let me know what you think.