GURPS Infinite Worlds: Magic and Homeline

EdtheDM · 02-07-2008, 08:26 PM

How does magic work if your mage returns to Homeline? I understand Homeline is a no-mana world in the campaign setting so as I interpret it, that means that the mage is left out to dry with regards to casting spells while at Headquarters.

Is that correct? I was also wondering if there is an advantage that allows a character to bring his own reality with him, i.e., a mage with points in that can still cast spells on a no-mana world.

The player in question is using Unlimited Mana rules and I change the Threshhold from world to world as they move around. The problem occurred when the ISWAT team returned to Homeline and was subsequently attacked by a team of assassins sent out by an Enemy.

The mage was left at quite the disadvantage and I just set the Threshhold for Earth to a very low level, forcing him to burn Fatigue and then health to defend himself in short order to prevent triggering a Cataclysm.

Can I please get pointed in the right direction or get some feedback on the approach I took with it?

Thanks in advance.

Ed

Anaraxes · 02-07-2008, 08:36 PM

The Mana Enhancer advantage lets you bump up the local mana level for you and perhaps a small area.

EdtheDM · 02-07-2008, 08:54 PM

Thank you, sir! Your GURPS-fu is powerful, your chi is strong!

Captain-Captain · 02-08-2008, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EdtheDM

How does magic work if your mage returns to Homeline? I understand Homeline is a no-mana world in the campaign setting so as I interpret it, that means that the mage is left out to dry with regards to casting spells while at Headquarters.

Is that correct? I was also wondering if there is an advantage that allows a character to bring his own reality with him, i.e., a mage with points in that can still cast spells on a no-mana world.

The player in question is using Unlimited Mana rules and I change the Threshhold from world to world as they move around. The problem occurred when the ISWAT team returned to Homeline and was subsequently attacked by a team of assassins sent out by an Enemy.

The mage was left at quite the disadvantage and I just set the Threshhold for Earth to a very low level, forcing him to burn Fatigue and then health to defend himself in short order to prevent triggering a Cataclysm.

Can I please get pointed in the right direction or get some feedback on the approach I took with it?

Thanks in advance.

Ed

IW .22 says all field work along magical lines HAS to be done in the field. This sucks for your mage. Arguably not having those abilities in his home dimension (if most of the campaign is on Homeline itself) constitutes a disadvantage he could use to replace some of his others.

The fact is an ISWAT PC should have the points to handle himself in bad situations, even without his spells. Having access to Reich 5 machine pistols and other goodies is supposed to be a perk for ISWAT agents.

However, as noted above, mana enhancer is a good thing for the PC to have under the circumstances.

quarkstomper · 02-08-2008, 06:15 PM

When I ran an IW campaign a couple years ago, my daughter played a mage with the Mana Enhancer advantage. It worked pretty well, and I used it as a nice plot device in one session where her advantage inadvertantly "jump started" the mana level on a timeline were magic had gone dormant. The resulting increase in mana bumped the timeline to a different location in the quantum. Oops!

Later on in the same campaign the party recruited an NPC sorceror from a timeline in which the American Revolution was being fought with magic. (Franklin and Jefferson were mages, didn't you know that?) I decided that the sorceror could do magic on Homeline, but only by performing a ritual in which he uses some of his own blood; effectively burning HP instead of FT. He did this in secret, (mostly because the magic he was performing was in the pursuit of his own agenda).

02-07-2008, 08:26 PM	#1
EdtheDM Join Date: Sep 2007	GURPS Infinite Worlds: Magic and Homeline How does magic work if your mage returns to Homeline? I understand Homeline is a no-mana world in the campaign setting so as I interpret it, that means that the mage is left out to dry with regards to casting spells while at Headquarters. Is that correct? I was also wondering if there is an advantage that allows a character to bring his own reality with him, i.e., a mage with points in that can still cast spells on a no-mana world. The player in question is using Unlimited Mana rules and I change the Threshhold from world to world as they move around. The problem occurred when the ISWAT team returned to Homeline and was subsequently attacked by a team of assassins sent out by an Enemy. The mage was left at quite the disadvantage and I just set the Threshhold for Earth to a very low level, forcing him to burn Fatigue and then health to defend himself in short order to prevent triggering a Cataclysm. Can I please get pointed in the right direction or get some feedback on the approach I took with it? Thanks in advance. Ed

02-07-2008, 08:36 PM	#2
Anaraxes Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: GURPS Infinite Worlds: Magic and Homeline The Mana Enhancer advantage lets you bump up the local mana level for you and perhaps a small area.

02-07-2008, 08:54 PM	#3
EdtheDM Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: GURPS Infinite Worlds: Magic and Homeline Thank you, sir! Your GURPS-fu is powerful, your chi is strong!

02-08-2008, 06:15 PM	#5
quarkstomper Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: The Enchanted Land-O-Cheese	Re: GURPS Infinite Worlds: Magic and Homeline When I ran an IW campaign a couple years ago, my daughter played a mage with the Mana Enhancer advantage. It worked pretty well, and I used it as a nice plot device in one session where her advantage inadvertantly "jump started" the mana level on a timeline were magic had gone dormant. The resulting increase in mana bumped the timeline to a different location in the quantum. Oops! Later on in the same campaign the party recruited an NPC sorceror from a timeline in which the American Revolution was being fought with magic. (Franklin and Jefferson were mages, didn't you know that?) I decided that the sorceror could do magic on Homeline, but only by performing a ritual in which he uses some of his own blood; effectively burning HP instead of FT. He did this in secret, (mostly because the magic he was performing was in the pursuit of his own agenda).