4e does have some changes that help a bit, even if technically you need to grab two books (Magic and Thaumatology) to get "generic" magic.
In fact, I know I've done the same mage fluff-wise at wildly different point levels based on different systems.
School-List "default" Magic (One Skill per Spell)
Improvisational "School Skill" (25-30 skills to cast everything)
Single-skill Magic (Varying roll penalties for different spells)
"Super Powers" (works kind of like HERO system, using Basic Set 4e and Powers. 4e Supers is more of a "these are the genre directives and how to use the Basic Set and Powers to make your hero!")
The "generic" books for 4e tend to be more generic than even 3e, focusing more on genre conventions than settings, even if they usually have a chapter with a sample setting.
The core assumption of 4e is that folks are doing an Infinite Worlds campaign. There's still plenty of space for one-world settings, but a lot of the flavor text makes the assumption. Fantasy Includes an Infinite Worlds-style write up for "Roma Arcana" or a High Fantasy Rome. However, there's more than enough in the 4e Fantasy book that one isn't beholden to that specific setting. 3e's Fantasy setting is now its own book, Banestorm.
SJGames has yet to release the 4e equivalent of the Math-gasm like Vehicles or Mecha, but from write-ups in 4e Space they're focusing more on the end results than the Engineering.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
In fact, I know I've done the same mage fluff-wise at wildly different point levels based on different systems.
School-List "default" Magic (One Skill per Spell)
Improvisational "School Skill" (25-30 skills to cast everything)
Single-skill Magic (Varying roll penalties for different spells)
"Super Powers" (works kind of like HERO system, using Basic Set 4e and Powers. 4e Supers is more of a "these are the genre directives and how to use the Basic Set and Powers to make your hero!")
The "generic" books for 4e tend to be more generic than even 3e, focusing more on genre conventions than settings, even if they usually have a chapter with a sample setting.
The core assumption of 4e is that folks are doing an Infinite Worlds campaign. There's still plenty of space for one-world settings, but a lot of the flavor text makes the assumption. Fantasy Includes an Infinite Worlds-style write up for "Roma Arcana" or a High Fantasy Rome. However, there's more than enough in the 4e Fantasy book that one isn't beholden to that specific setting. 3e's Fantasy setting is now its own book, Banestorm.
SJGames has yet to release the 4e equivalent of the Math-gasm like Vehicles or Mecha, but from write-ups in 4e Space they're focusing more on the end results than the Engineering.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll