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Old 04-06-2012, 01:59 PM   #1
jeff_wilson
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Default We Can Market Fred's Invention to Thousands of Company's Agents

So I'm explaining to a junior secret master that the economics of enchanting don't permit everyone who wants one to have a magic-detecting ring, but he might be able to requisition a seeing-third-eye dog, and a set of identical rocks with Essential Earth on a couple of them is dirt cheap and every pawn- er, junior master should have a set in the cupboard, and at least one member of his team was already trained to apply the Brackin Essential Aptitude Test to subjects of all ages.

He turned down the set.

How can I explain how important it is to be able to screen people for magical aptitude? Not to mention "people" who may only appear to be such?
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Old 04-06-2012, 02:05 PM   #2
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Default Re: We Can Market Fred's Invention to Thousands of Company's Agents

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How can I explain how important it is to be able to screen people for magical aptitude? Not to mention "people" who may only appear to be such?
Why is it important in the campaign? If they are playing mages-guild talent scouts and this is way the guild just does things, then I'd try to figure out why he doesn't want to. If they are playing caravan merchants then I don't see why he should care. What purpose does Magery detection serve the campaign?
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Old 04-06-2012, 02:24 PM   #3
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Default Re: We Can Market Fred's Invention to Thousands of Company's Agents

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So I'm explaining to a junior secret master that the economics of enchanting don't permit everyone who wants one to have a magic-detecting ring?
It's only 100 energy (for either Aura or Detect Magic). A perfectly viable Q&D enchantment.
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Old 04-06-2012, 04:18 PM   #4
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Default Re: We Can Market Fred's Invention to Thousands of Company's Agents

Also, how common is Magery, and is it basically an untrainable gift, the result of initiation, or the result of training? These will affect how important it is to identify mages early.
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Old 04-06-2012, 11:53 PM   #5
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Default Re: We Can Market Fred's Invention to Thousands of Company's Agents

Yeah, I'd think that unless he has some IC reason to be invested in the long-term success of his side, he'd be leery of it too.

Just compare any job in the real world where something is clearly to the benefit of the company employing someone, but adds nuisance for an average shift for the worker. Unless he's rewarded for his extra nuisance, it's all too likely that he'll not care much for the long-term profit of his employer.
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Old 04-07-2012, 02:03 AM   #6
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Default Re: We Can Market Fred's Invention to Thousands of Company's Agents

The PC in question is a seriously ambitious career investigator into general weirdness, a team leader, and allegedly preoccupied with keeping the secret masters' conspiracy a secret. Modern and post-modern tech, so it's not like he's going to be personally lugging it over hill and down dale.

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It's only 100 energy (for either Aura or Detect Magic). A perfectly viable Q&D enchantment.
...for mages; the troubleshooter is not a magician himself, and they don't currently have a magician on their team. "Everyone who wants one" would require the 300 energy, non-directional version of Detect Magic, and Power 3 to make the Aura item go on its own.
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Old 04-07-2012, 09:21 AM   #7
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Default Re: We Can Market Fred's Invention to Thousands of Company's Agents

Could you describe "Fred's Invention"? There are some hints here, but I didn't see the thread where it first came up.
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Old 04-07-2012, 04:09 PM   #8
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Default Re: We Can Market Fred's Invention to Thousands of Company's Agents

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Could you describe "Fred's Invention"? There are some hints here, but I didn't see the thread where it first came up.
Years ago, in one of the periodic discussions of how common magery is and how common trained mages are, Fred Brackin invented a literally dirt cheap tool for testing people for magery. Reasoning that the ability of mages to distinguish Essential Fire from its regular counterpart on sight extended to other Essential materials, he conjectured that a set of otherwise identical stones including a few made from Essential Stone could be used in a guessing game to identify people with Magical Aptitude, or at least those with Magical Aptitude and a desire to win money or prizes. Neither spell casters nor enchanted items are required to administer the test, and one batch prepared by an Earth Mage in one day is more than enough to supply dozens of trusted minions to scour the county fairs and infiltrate bourgeois parlors the kingdom over.
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Old 04-07-2012, 08:47 PM   #9
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Default Re: We Can Market Fred's Invention to Thousands of Company's Agents

So to get this straight, in a TL8 secret magic campaign using the regular GURPS magic system (or at least the mechanics for Magery 0 and the Essential Earth spell) a PC is an agent of an illuminati and has been tasked with identifying mages. He has been issued a kit to do so, but refuses to use it. Is that accurate?

I'd be interested in knowing why he doesn't want to use it.

Also I'll point out that the Brackin test doesn't work as well in a secret magic setting. Mages that want to avoid the conspiracy will avoid the test or deliberately fail it.

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Old 04-07-2012, 09:30 PM   #10
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Also I'll point out that the Brackin test doesn't work as well in a secret magic setting. Mages that want to avoid the conspiracy will avoid the test or deliberately fail it.
There's that. Meaning you would still want some extra test for verification.

It's a bit of a handwave to extrapolate that aspect of Essential Flame to Essential Earth. That visibility might have been left off for a reason... it should probably be a Per+Magery roll AAR.
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