Hello Folks,
I've been tempted to write an article regarding the evolution of GURPS MAGIC since its first edition format came out in GURPS FANTASY first edition versus GURPS MAGIC in its current edition as Third edition (for use with GURPS 4e rules). Henceforth, I will refer to the various versions of GURPS MAGIC as:
GM1: The magic system introduced in GURPS FANTASY 1st edition, which also incidentally, introduced Yrth as a campaign world.
GM2: This is GURPS MAGIC 2nd edition, referred to as GURPS CLASSIC MAGIC. Note, that GURPS MAGIC 2nd edition first printing has minor differences than GURPS MAGIC 2nd edition final printing. In addition, GURPS GRIMOIRE came out adding more spells, some that were decent in my opinion, and some that were horribly balanced - but that's just one man's opinion. Many of the controversial spells such as Rock to Metal, Enlarge, etc, came from GURPS GRIMOIRE.
GM3: This is the current edition of GURPS MAGIC for 4e.
So, where to begin? This thread was opened up in response to a long running thread
HERE titled Yrth Technology. It prompted me to start to respond to the discussion regarding the use of Magic as technology and spell critical failures, and then I realized that I should turn this into its own thread. Below will be my next posts on changes between the editions that added a subtle flavor to the Yrth campaign if you used the rules from a given edition, and how it differs from subsequent editions of GURPS MAGIC.