tad10
Elisha Dushku
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Colored Mana works great in an RPG: the single best RPG boardgame's (Magic Realm) mana system is color based.The whole colored mana idea was Brad's baby. People told him it was dumb, but he just keeps with it. I think it's pointless and potentially convoluted.
The most well known colored mana system is probably MTG - but that's not a very good implementation of colored mana: in a game of MTG you end up with either too little mana early or way too much mana late. In MR, you are never mana screwed to start but you also never have too much mana, casters have to carefully manage their mana pool: allocating phases to unfatiguing and enchanting chits or tiles or seeking out sources of colored magic.
With respect to classes: colored mana systems are another resource you can use to define classes. In MR you've got the sorcerer which is a standard Wiz blaster type with access only to purple magic but he can start the game with a very large mana pool. (e.gMagic Realm Sorcerer ex 2 Week 1 on Vimeo) You've got a couple of chars who can use and create two colors but can't start with as large a mana pool and finally you've got the Magician who can access every color except white. However the Magician is severely limited in his ability to create colored magic so his ability to cast almost any spell color is balanced by his mana pool restrictions.