[Magic] A Pound Takes Up 2 Cubic FEET?!

[pestigor]

Originally Posted by scc

No, I'll quote the entire sentence this time: "The caster may add any amount of pound-capacity he can afford, while increasing the size of the “inside” by 2 cubic feet for each pound;"

So two cubic feet are added to the bags inside for every pound of increased weight it can carry.

Just got back from a road trip and BOY, did I misread that spell!
After reading the rest of the posts the thing to remember about Gurps MAGIC (the book) is that it is what it is. Gurps isn't some kind of reality simulation that you change parameters in to see what happens...I mean you COULD do that but it kind of defeats the point of playing a game and you're not going to get any kind of REAL data.

If you're really sold on using Gurps MAGIC then you'll have to come to peace with the fact that it's kind of arbitrary, nothing is stopping you from deciding to change spells to fit your need or sense of reality.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Any number of things that aren't simply solid spheres. Shape matters, too. Not everything is compact, flexible, and efficiently packed. A chair inside a bag does not have the density of wood.

It's often useful to have a capacity in terms of volume as well as weight.

Good point, but I'm still struggling to think of things where it would matter much. The light-weight plastic dog carrier I have would be about 2cf but weighs more than a pound. However, it occurs to me that what the space does do is give room for living creatures to move around in, practise their forms, organise fight clubs and stuff like that.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by scc

Additionally I'm pretty sure that helium is normally stored for transport under pressure and for magically-enhanced helium I see no reason why removing this property would be beneficial.

Because I decided putting it under pressure would distort or destroy the magic, hence why the PCs were more worried about volume than weight.



And yeah as Vaevictis Asmadi points out, plenty of things to transport that might take up more space than weight. That's why the spell has two measurements to pay attention to.

[Bruno]

1 lb/2cf does sound silly, but you're at the very smallest end where the square-cube law is working distinctly in your favor. Weight of a hollow item goes up with surface area, while volume of course is volume.

What's the weight and volume of a large dog crate? Or heck, just a crate (the wooden shipping kind so beloved of first-person shooters)?

There's not a lot of point in smuggling an empty crate, but the point stands.

You'll certainly never be able to smuggle your inflated blow-up doll in the simple 1 lb/2cf Hideaway >.>

[scc]

@Bruno, Cube-Square law doesn't apply.

Given that 2 Cubic feet for 1 pound means that items with a density of more then 100th that of water and that the density of water is generally viewed as the least dense substance of transport purposes (Less dense stuff is rarely transported, and if it is it's usually compressed) should make it clear why this is over kill.

Finally there's no reason or ability to use this for bulk goods movement as you can't make a Hideaway of more then 100 pounds, which still weighs 100 pounds and would set you back around $45K

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by scc

Finally there's no reason or ability to use this for bulk goods movement as you can't make a Hideaway of more then 100 pounds, which still weighs 100 pounds and would set you back around $45K

And where do you find this rule?

[Calvin]

To reiterate Vaevictis Asmadi's point, I think it matters more for objects that just happen to be really long.

You might have enough weight allowance in your hideaway for a staff for example, but not the capacity volume-wise. Though this does assume that the volume has its dimensions fixed when you create the spell, otherwise the hideaway would just narrow and lengthen to accommodate the staff.

[scc]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

And where do you find this rule?

There's no text no enchanting to a higher level for Hideaway, so you only get one session and 5,000 energy is probably the practical limit for Q&D, and it would take 200 days for S&S to match it.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by scc

There's no text no enchanting to a higher level for Hideaway, so you only get one session and 5,000 energy is probably the practical limit for Q&D, and it would take 200 days for S&S to match it.

Right, so no actual rule, just a feeling. Understood.

I'll note, I once had a group of Characters spend 6 years of game time enchanting in preparation for a mission... so two-hundred days isn't a "limiter" in any manner.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by scc

the density of water is generally viewed as the least dense substance of transport purposes (Less dense stuff is rarely transported, and if it is it's usually compressed)

This is absolutely false. Virtually everything transported is *less* dense than water, simply because most freight moves by ship and if you load a ship so it is more dense than water, it *sinks*.

You normally assume general freight is between 25 and 50 lbs/cf (0.4 to 0.8 times the density of water). Though if you are designing a ship to carry ore or liquified natural gas you may be outside that range, and you should check your design for stability for the 0-25 range, since the buyer may someday want to move it with empty holds and will probably sue you if you didn't mention he needed to add ballast before doing that.