02-06-2013, 05:29 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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RPM: Greater vs Lesser
Well, just a simple question.
Is there a hard and fast rule somewhere I can use to determine what effects are Greater and what not? EDIT: I don't mean that provocativly. RPM sounds cool to me, but I don't trust my own judgement so I can't realy use it.
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Lindencon Last edited by alimantando; 02-06-2013 at 05:38 AM. |
02-06-2013, 05:44 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Yorkshire, UK
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Re: RPM: Greater vs Lesser
I'm sure those with more experience with RPM will chip in, but this has come up before, and Ghostdancer covered thus:
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02-06-2013, 09:40 AM | #3 | ||
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: RPM: Greater vs Lesser
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Sorry to be blunt, but there's not a long list of various effects marked Greater and Lesser anywhere. As SCAR says, there have been various threads on the forum with advice, and the upcoming RPM book will go into it in more depth. The rule is the one in MH1. Quote:
Then again, all RPG rulesets ultimately involve GM judgement. Last edited by Anaraxes; 02-06-2013 at 10:23 AM. |
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02-06-2013, 11:28 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Oregon
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Re: RPM: Greater vs Lesser
Hopefully the upcoming RPM book will delve further into how to classify Lesser and Greater effects. I'd especially like if it offered common "switches" - ie, while hurling fireballs or healing wound with a touch are Greater effects in a modern secret-magic setting, they may be Lesser in an over-the-top DF game. I think as long as the GM is consistent within a particular game world, it should be alright, and can actually help to heighten the tone he's trying to achieve in that game.
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02-06-2013, 11:51 AM | #5 | |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
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Re: RPM: Greater vs Lesser
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02-06-2013, 11:59 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Oregon
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Re: RPM: Greater vs Lesser
Good question. Presumably the current mode was chosen for its relatively simplicity; effect "complexity" is a binary switch. For each Path you can have a particular cut-off point, with everything above being Greater, and everything else Lesser. Now, I wouldn't necessarily have a problem introducing a third effect rank in, each one adding +1 to the multiplier rather than Greater's +2. But you're still left with the (now slightly weightier) problem of classifying what particular effects fall where on the spectrum.
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02-06-2013, 12:01 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: RPM: Greater vs Lesser
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Feel free to extend the system to include a Medium Effects category -- no doubt with a energy multiplier of 2 instead of 3 -- if you find that useful. Of course, the more granularity you add to this classification, the harder you make the OP's problem. What if "Effect Level" were just a real number from 1.0 to 3.0? Is my effect really a 2.179, or it it more of a 2.201? How can you judge? A bigger world switch would be type of campaign. RPM is intended for "secret magic" type settings, which is the basis of the "observer" notion for Greater Effects in the first place. I suspect the costs of the various paths are also intend to nudge mages into preferring certain types of spells. DF-style games wouldn't have any problem with mages blasting their way through all problems, and might make Energy cheap, but crank up the cost of divination or travel. |
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02-06-2013, 01:40 PM | #8 | |
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Oregon
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Re: RPM: Greater vs Lesser
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02-06-2013, 01:48 PM | #9 | ||||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
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Re: RPM: Greater vs Lesser
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When GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic is released (and we haven't announced a date yet, sorry, but we are working on it), it'll include much, much, much, much -- yeah, let's throw one last "much" in there -- more detail on every individual spell effect. For example, you'll find an entire paragraph devoted to the Restore Body effect, including details on the recommended differences between Lesser Restore Body and Greater Restore Body . . . but it's still up to the GM whether an effect is Lesser or Greater, regardless of what examples I give. Quote:
Also, because it's magic, if you make the call and later decide that you made the wrong one, you can change it. You let the player use a telekinetic punch as a Lesser effect and now he's unbalancing the game with it? Hey, guess what? It was only Lesser because Virgo was in alignment with Sagittarius, and that just ended -- now it's Greater. ("When will they realign?" "Oh, about 210 years from now.") Quote:
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In the RPM book, I actually offer a new, optional take on Lesser and Greater effects that is based on "secret magic" and the Observer Effect -- partly to contrast the two and clarify this point.
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02-06-2013, 02:15 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Re: RPM: Greater vs Lesser
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And what about using a spell to kindle self-sustaining effects? Presumably a short-lived magical spark can still ignite a long-lasting forest fire; and a short-duration (and relatively lower-mass) magma excitation might start up a sustained eruption. |
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