Divination anyone?
I always wanted to make my own compendium of spells and magic powers for my adventure games. It is Herculean task, because my ideas of spells and powers change with time. Also because there is so much of that. Full of Augean stables shit XD Yeah, I don't care for it now. But it brought other ideas.
I worked a little bit on Divination magic and it gave me some headache. Storygames have a good way of dealing with a lot of Traditional and OSR problems. And divination is one of those. You can just ask someone "What do YOU think appears on this ominous vision?" which is a great way to treat it. "You get bonus +X to chosen roll" is a shitty way to do it. "You get a straight answer about one element of the world" is an exponential workload on a GM. I get it is fun for a player to just LOCATE OBJECT but it can be a pain for a GM to actually emulate it in a world. Unless you make the spell work in certain situations on a certain objects which makes it not fun to use. And I'm not sure of there is a balance that makes it work.
Anecdote time
I once GMd disastrous campaign in DnD 3.5. I lost my group from university and didn't have anyone to play so I found a group online in nearby city. They knew each other which seemed like a bonus - no need to find and schedule with other people.
It was problematic on many levels. They couldn't agree how to play, some wanted thespian drama of reclaiming lost home, others wanted combat dense optimised play. There were also interpersonal dramas and I quickly lost heart for the game.
One notable thing about them was their obsession with knowledge. Once they found out I let them roll knowledge skills when they ask me questions next level up they all invested a ton in them. And invited a friend to play some knowledge based class.
Then magic users started slinging divination left and right. I remember they did it first time on a wishing well and when I asked "what does this spell reveal?" it apparently reveals every detail of a spell cast on the thing. I didn't memorize every spell in a book to be able to answer so I just said it's psionics. Next time they invited another friend to play psion so they could counter it.
It didn't last long, I felt very unwelcome and I was also appalled at how much workload I'd need to be able to react to DnD divination magic. No fuckin way. OSR era it is!
Augury time
Actually I hated being magic user with divination spells in OSR systems. By virtue of being Vancian spell slots are rare, why waste it on a spell that gives a vague hint about something you already suspect. Well, in very specific scenarios it might be viable but I've seen many new players learning a lesson 'better act than know' when it comes to their one or two spells per day. I certainly did.
Detect Magic in OSE lets you know which parts of environment are magical or enchanted. That's it. It can be decisive in an adventure but most of the time it will just be wasted effort without GM set up or improvisation. Or maybe to know if item is magical or not, but you still don't know how to use it or if it's cursed or not.
We get these two things. Either spells are narrow and situational and not really worth the effort or they let you know very specific mechanical information that demands system mastery from a GM, using prewritten adventure or give them fuckton of workload to do before they run anything.
In the meantime storygames can do this shit:
Destiny’s Plaything:
At the beginning of each mystery, roll +Weird to see what is revealed about your immediate future. On a 10+, the Keeper will reveal a useful detail about the coming mystery. On a 7-9 you get a vague hint about it. On a miss, something bad is going to happen to you.
or AUGUR
When you summon a flock of crows and ask a single question, roll +wits. On a strong hit, you interpret their calls as a helpful omen. Envision the response (Ask the Oracle if unsure) and take +2 momentum. On a weak hit, the crows ignore your question and offer a clue to an unrelated problem or opportunity in this area. Envision what you learn (Ask the Oracle if unsure), and take +1 momentum.
It's not really to say "don't play other types of games or in other cultures of play". I think it is mostly to say - if you don't want strictly mechanical divination you gotta depend on GM fiat. Similarly with illusions there is no binary 'now it works' / 'now it doesn't'. You cannot make divination about player skill.
Scrying time
I guess divination in Trad is just GMs bias. You'd either need to fall on the scenario/campaign to present effects of divination as foreshadowing or keep to strict mechanical advantages.
In OSR though I think using solo tools like oracles and stuff can lead to the emergent narrative. Like with reaction roll giving you prompt to interpret the result as something - consecutive bad rolls in a region might signal characters do something wrong. Maybe they present as enemy faction, they don't adhere to local customs or maybe there is a war? But divination? Use Oracle tools and then present the stuff to the players.
I don't think it leads me to any bigger point. I think in the end when it comes to OSR games I'd drop strictly mechanical divination spells and lean towards oracles and other randomisation tools to suggest the omens and signs. Casting dice on altars, asking oracles in temples, learning how to read signs from movements of crows, fish and whatever. Or maybe even getting knowledge from dark forces, scrying from creature entrails of positions of dead bodies. Or more scholar, astrological and numerological divination.