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Old 10-02-2020, 09:11 PM   #11
Mister Negative
 
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Default Re: What are the best magical systems in GURPS?

I, too, love the Core magic system, but that's because that is the feel and style I want for my game. I do a little working on the edges with how Power Investiture works (because I like the idea that Clerical magic is also, itself, a worked magical tradition with prereqs), but it's core magic at the base.
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Old 10-02-2020, 09:16 PM   #12
kirbwarrior
 
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Default Re: What are the best magical systems in GURPS?

I find Magic as Powers the most playable magic system. Some of the others excel in ways it doesn't, but being able to just right down a power that is 'magic' or 'psionic' or 'soulcasting' just works in my experience. I love Syntactic Magic but it's always too good and sometimes not good enough.

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Originally Posted by ravenfish View Post
the core principal of individually learned spells which are usable basically at will but are exhausting to cast mimics very well much of the fantasy fiction I enjoy
You've basically explained why I dislike it so much. The core is what I want, the result is so bad at doing the core that I honestly can't say it's even close.
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While I do not think that GURPS is perfect I do think that it is more balanced than what I am likely to create by GM fiat.
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Old 10-02-2020, 11:41 PM   #13
Ulzgoroth
 
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Default Re: What are the best magical systems in GURPS?

Divine Favor is kind of an older sibling to Sorcery, but I think it deserves mention. It's a very interesting option for its focus...
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I'd just like to put in a word for the poor maligned core magic system. While some of the spells therein have faults (and I am led to understand that it tends to break down at very high point values), the core principal of individually learned spells which are usable basically at will but are exhausting to cast mimics very well much of the fantasy fiction I enjoy (really, Gandalf's recounting of his magic workings in Moria might have been taken straight from GURPS, and Raistlin Majere casts remarkably like a GURPS mage considering that he is supposed to be a DnD wizard), and it plays well enough at the table. It has all sorts of variant systems designed for it, so a setting can have many clearly different types of casters without the need to learn or create fundamentally different rulesets. Plus, it comes prebuilt. Most of the other systems either require huge amounts of assembly beforehand or else require far more judgement calls and outright haggling in play than I enjoy making as a GM or relying on as a player.
I like a lot about its skeleton. The trouble is that if you don't want to accept the spell list as written, even curating it (let alone revising or rewriting) is a huge project.
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Old 10-03-2020, 01:35 AM   #14
bocephus
 
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Default Re: What are the best magical systems in GURPS?

I prefer the Core system, but I do muck about with it a little when it comes to "Divine" casting.

Im experiencing RPM at the moment, and it fits well in the world we are running but I dont think it would fit in any of the ones I have made.

Sourcery / Magic as Powers is probably my other option for my world building.

My default is the Core system.
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Old 10-03-2020, 02:56 AM   #15
a humble lich
 
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Default Re: What are the best magical systems in GURPS?

I have to agree with the people who have said that it varies a lot by what kind of game you have. I like powers as magic for supers type games, RPM for modern fantasy/world of darkness/monster hunter type games, and the core system for fantasy.

In general though, as a player I think I like the core system best. I personally find that I want magic using character to be able to do a wide variety of things. However, RPM or Path type systems are a little too freeform for me. As a player I like having a list of spells that I can look at to define what my character can do. With the more free form systems, while there is a feeling that my character can do anything, there is also a feeling that my character isn't guaranteed of being able to do anything. But again, that is purely a personal preference, I definitely see a place for RPM type magic.
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Old 10-03-2020, 03:25 AM   #16
Blind Mapmaker
 
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Default Re: What are the best magical systems in GURPS?

If you know what you're doing, it can be fun to mix and match systems, especially if you have a kitchen-sink fantasy setting with wildly varying traditions. In my current campaign, I'm using modded Standard Magic for the majority of nature-based casters (further modified by tradition), heavily "stylised" Standard Magic for the academic mages with grades dictating what you can learn when, modded Path/Book Magic for shamans, Ritual Path Magic for geomancers, Sorcery for magic fools, Magic as Powers for untrained casters and Divine Favour for clerics.

It all depends on how different you want them to be and how much time and effort you're willing to invest. Oh, and you probably don't want to do that if you're cursed with munchkinny players that are just waiting to exploit the smallest inconsistency.
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Old 10-03-2020, 04:40 AM   #17
Tinman
 
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Default Re: What are the best magical systems in GURPS?

As GM I find Magic as powers (& Sorcery) the most balanced.
With RPM I find that casters overshadow others to the point of, no one wanting to play anything else.
I also like the wildcard core magic system introduced for MH in Technomancer. That way I don't have hundreds of spells filling my sheet.
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Old 10-03-2020, 05:42 AM   #18
khorboth
 
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Default Re: What are the best magical systems in GURPS?

Every time I go world-building with magic, I pull out the old magic toolbox. What's it going to be today? What best fits the feel I want?

What I put in my fantasy world is nothing like what I did in the World of Darkness conversion or in a supers game.

Honestly, I feel like the question us akin to asking what the best weapon in GURPS is. Spear? Omni-blaster? Smart Gyrocs? Innate attacks? Enthrall? It depends on the setting and game.
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Old 10-03-2020, 08:29 AM   #19
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: What are the best magical systems in GURPS?

With RPM, I find that it balances well if you strickly enforce quirks and botches, which adds to the RP experience, especially if the botches only effect the practitioner. For quirks, the first one-point quirk that I always give for RPM rituals is that the ritual can no longer benefit from Luck, which greatly increases the chance of a botch (mechanically equivalent to the Unluckiness effect), with each further quirk rolled as normal. For botches, I find that targeting only the caster makes a horrific point (for example, a 30-point Path of Magic botch that strips Path Adept from a practitioner for a month).
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Old 10-03-2020, 09:17 AM   #20
Rupert
 
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Default Re: What are the best magical systems in GURPS?

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
With RPM, I find that it balances well if you strickly enforce quirks and botches, which adds to the RP experience, especially if the botches only effect the practitioner. For quirks, the first one-point quirk that I always give for RPM rituals is that the ritual can no longer benefit from Luck, which greatly increases the chance of a botch (mechanically equivalent to the Unluckiness effect), with each further quirk rolled as normal. For botches, I find that targeting only the caster makes a horrific point (for example, a 30-point Path of Magic botch that strips Path Adept from a practitioner for a month).
The spell has already been cast when the quirks are applied, so it not being affected by Luck isn't doing that much to it.
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