Quote:
Originally Posted by weevis
This comment that you made struck me -- I admit I have been thinking about things the opposite way. I've been thinking that I want the two magic systems to be as mechanically different as possible, otherwise why bother to include two systems?
As a hypothetical example, I feel like I could possibly stat absolutely everything I want to do forever for the rest of my life using only GURPS Powers. But I'd never have to buy or read another GURPS book again, so where's the fun in that? So I thought the contrasting mechanisms would be fun and in fact finding contrasting mechanisms was my goal.
Maybe I am thinking about this the wrong way and I should instead try to make the two as mechanically similar as possible, as you suggest, for ease of gameplay. As I said, I've never tried to GM a campaign with multiple magic systems.
My major concern when I thought to post was actually just how to be sure one type of magic didn't completely outclass the other. I figured it would be better if they worked differently, not a drawback. I will look at the article and think about this.
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Just because something is mechanically the same as something else doesn't mean you can't make it seem like something else flavor-wise with a few slight tweaks. I did this in my Chronicles of Ceteri campaign setting with psionic powers. Each
power had a seperate power modifier with different effects even though all the powers were built the same way (with advantages).
I don't see why you can't apply the same logic here. Make things as similiar as you can and then start working from that point to make the flavor-different.
As a word of warning, unless you cap skill levels for RPM it will outstrip psionics fairly quickly. That's just a feature of the system - it's supposed to get more powerful as your can harness more energy. Also, you may wish to look at DF19 - it's a worked example of Effect-Shaping Ritual Path Magic and may prove useful for the second style of powers you're trying to create.