Listed below, in order of usefulness, are descriptions of how the various types of Power Framework apply to my campaigns. They are:

1. the Variable Power Pool
2. the Multipower
3. the Elemental Control.

More complex to run but much more flexible than a Multipower, an unlimited Variable Power Pool is used to represent "natural" magicians; those with such a complete knowledge of the basic principles of magic that they are able to knock up a spell more or less on the spot rather than relying on set spells from a spellbook. This sort of magic pool will tend to be the domain of fairies and demons and things rather than PC wizards; sorry about that. Ain't life tough.

That being said, a VPP is the easiest way to create the sort of wizards found in D&D (and many other fantasy systems), where the wizard must have access to a written version of a spell which must be learned each and every time he or she wants to cast it. In such a case, the VPP Control (see HSR p.116) would have the following limitations:

Only change to powers (spells) available in spellbooks (-½)

In other words, if the wizard's spell books are taken away or destroyed, s/he is limited to whatever spells are currently learned. However, there are no restrictions on what spells could be learned, if the resources are available. This means that, for a wizard at least, spell books are valuable items and not to be endangered lightly.

Powers require extended study time to change (-¼)

Exactly how much time is required is dependant on the power level of the spell being learned. I prefer to use a ratio of 5 minutes per 10 Active Points in the spell (120 active points per hour).

Powers must have only one charge (-1¼)

If the wizard wants to have more than one instance of the spell available, s/he will have to learn it twice and therefore take up more of the Power Pool with it. I have reduced the Limitation for a single charge from -2 to -1¼ to allow for the fact that some spells will use Continuing Charges (see HSR p.103)

Powers require a Skill Roll to change

The way I run this is to require a Magic Skill Roll (modified by -1 per 10 Active Pts) at casting time. If it is failed, then the spell doesn't work and is wasted, and where appropriate, Side Effects come into play.

In addition, the spells within the wizard's spell books will have their own specific modifiers, such as Gestures, Incantation, Focus, etc.

A Multipower an easy and convenient way to run a magical repertoire. It works in exactly the same way as the "classical" roleplaying wizard, in that it allows you to build up a substantial array of spells, among which you must choose to suit the circumstances. The disadvantage of using a Multipower rather than a Variable Power Pool is that it does not reflect the situation where a wizard's exact repertoire depends on the contents of a spell book which could be taken away. It does, on the other hand, reflect a wizard who could (eventually) rewrite his or her spell book even if the original Focus is lost.

The Multipower pool is a pool of Active Points which can be called on to run a bunch of different spells. Therefore, the pool-size must be at least as large as the active-point value of the most powerful spell to draw from it. In game terms, the pool consists of all the spells the wizard has "in mind" at any given time. Since it has to be divided up amongst the wizard's spells, it will be possible to keep fewer powerful spells than puny ones active simultaneously.

Advantages and Limitations can be applied to the Pool itself. The most common Limitation will be the Focus — the Spellbook. Most of the time, I would expect a Spellbook to be defined as Independent (-2 Limitation), which means that it can be stolen away from you. That would, I agree, be a real bummer, but what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander — if you can steal an Independent spellbook, you can make use of it yourself. Assuming, of course, that you avoid the nasty magical traps which make it hum with suppressed power, that you have a Magic skill and that you can break the cryptographic system the sensible wizard has written all his spells in. An Independent spell book can't be copied without spending the character points required to build the duplicate Multipower.

Once you have your Power Pool, you can start building powers to draw from it. The maximum size (active point value) of power you can have running to begin with is as many Character Points as you have in your pool, or your INT x 5, whichever is smaller. But with this limitation in mind, you can have as many individual powers running as you have the END to pay for. . . which brings us to the next point: paying for your powers.

It may be helpful to think of the points in your Power Pool as RAM (Random Access Magic) when it comes to building and buying powers. Unless a power is bought with a limitation such as "Beam Attack", it can usually be run at any power-level you choose. If the power only uses as much RAM (as many character-points) as it requires to run properly, it costs 1 character-point per 5 Real Points to buy for a Multipower "slot". If, however, it always grabs the same amount of RAM regardless of the level at which you wish to run it (and therefore always costs the same END to run), it only costs 1/10th of the Real Points to put into a slot. There is a minimum cost per slot of 1 character-point, but these cheap slots (known as "Ultras" can allow you to build a substantial repertoire cheaply, at the cost of flexibility.

I don't particularly like Elemental Controls. I know that they have their uses, but for the purposes of my game, they suck, so we won't be using them.