A cornucopia of magic systems

Howdy all,

GURPS Basic Set outlines a college-categorised, spell-based magic
system; this is expanded in GURPS Magic, and an alternative
Improvisational Magic system is detailed.

Other magic systems, of greater and lesser compatibility with Magic,
are detailed in other sourcebooks: Spirits, Religion, Cabal, etc.

How much have you enjoyed each of the available magic systems in
various GURPS books? What type of campaigns have they worked best in?

To what extent have you combined these various magic systems with
other supernatural power systems (psionics, super-powers, mysterious
technology, etc.)? How did it work out?

Which systems suit which style of world? Which type of players enjoy
which systems?

--
\ "For mad scientists who keep brains in jars, here's a tip: why |
`\ not add a slice of lemon to each jar, for freshness?" -- Jack |
_o__) Handey |
Ben Finney

Ben Finney wrote:
> Howdy all,
>
> GURPS Basic Set outlines a college-categorised, spell-based magic
> system; this is expanded in GURPS Magic, and an alternative
> Improvisational Magic system is detailed.
>
> Other magic systems, of greater and lesser compatibility with Magic,
> are detailed in other sourcebooks: Spirits, Religion, Cabal, etc.
>
> How much have you enjoyed each of the available magic systems in
> various GURPS books? What type of campaigns have they worked best in?

I like a lot of the various GURPS magical systems, but the one
thing that's always annoyed me is that not a single one of them
is truly generic and universal. They're specific systems with
specific rules rather than a general framework that would
allow you to create any type of magical system you want.
For that reason, I like the Hero rules more when I'm trying
to create or emulate a certain type of magic.

> To what extent have you combined these various magic systems with
> other supernatural power systems (psionics, super-powers, mysterious
> technology, etc.)? How did it work out?

We had a Wild Cards game going for awhile, and we had all sorts
of non-superpowered characters running around. My character
was a Sharpshooter super-normal, for example, and another
character was a Highlander Immortal who was Trained By A
Master(*).

An important NPC was an ace, but her powers manifested
as magic and the GM used the Magic rules for her. She was
very powerful and versatile, since she had 300 or so points
to work with, the same as the PCs. She wasn't much when
it came to direct damage, but she could kick some serious
ass when using non-damage spells. I think she'd have been
unbalancing as a PC, but she worked pretty well as an NPC
because 1) she didn't really have the mindset of a combatant
and 2) the GM made sure she didn't get out of hand.

Pete

* - The Highlander Immortal only had one hand. I can't
remember if we decided that his regeneration didn't
regrow lost limbs or if it just worked very slowly and
his hand hadn't come back yet. In game terms, he
hadn't paid the points for Regrowth but the GM was
going to allow him to buy it with an extra time disad
if he wanted to.

Anyway, the character was also allowed to buy
skills that he hadn't used "on-screen" yet and
justify them by saying he'd known them all
along, being really really old and experienced
and all. At one point the player bought the
Three Part Staff skill, I think it was, and happily
wrote it down on his sheet. It was only then
he remembered his character only had one
hand and couldn't use two-handed weapons.
The look on his face was priceless. I think
he kept the skill for realism's sake, since
it was something the character would know
even if he couldn't use it at the moment.