[New Release] GURPS Powers: Totems and Nature Spirits

[Steven Marsh]

We've got spirit, yes we do! And with GURPS Powers: Totems and Nature Spirits, so will you! But only if you're prepared to treat the realm of spirit with respect . . .

With this supplement, you'll discover the power wielded by shamans, medicine men, and other spirit-workers, with 28 sample totems and 17 archetypal roles. Your journey to the spirit world is just a download away, thanks to Warehouse 23!

[Celjabba]

Very nice work, and it offer a new power-based power set, neatly filling an hole next to divine power, chinese elemental, psionics and others.

A few thought after a first read :

Quite short but complete.
Perhaps too short ? one page with a fully worked exemple character and an exemple of partial manifestations at various power level would have been nice, and there is a couple "see Gurps power p xxx" that could have been expended instead.
On the other hand, it is very cheap !
Cheap in price, not in quality : there is a lot of solid work here, and it show !

Lots of crunch, but easy to read, and with some nice levity added.

3e Lensman Sense of perception is back !

One nitpick : the extended enhancement for Nictitating Membrane feel off to me ... I will have to think about it.

Congratulations against to Refplace for his first Gurps book.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

Very nice work, and it offer a new power-based power set, neatly filling an hole next to divine power, chinese elemental, psionics and others.

Thank you for the feedback!
The power set is based on existing work from GURPS Thaumatology (Spirit Vessel) and of course from GURPS Voodoo in Third Edition but I was hoping enough was added and clarified to make it a full set usable on its own.
And not just for shamans.

Originally Posted by Celjabba

Quite short but complete.
Perhaps too short ? one page with a fully worked exemple character and an exemple of partial manifestations at various power level would have been nice, and there is a couple "see Gurps power p xxx" that could have been expended instead.
On the other hand, it is very cheap !
Cheap in price, not in quality : there is a lot of solid work here, and it show !

Good concern, and one I was a little worried about. No one in the playtest had a question that I think would have been addressed by that kind of example and that space would have cost 3 or 4 totems.
I tried to break up the how to use this so it became apparent as you read through it rather than by a fully complete example. Sort of a show your work rather than show the results approach.
In a larger book I would have done both, but as you say this is short and cheap.
And I really wanted as many examples as I could fit in! The original draft had many more totems but it was a more complicated "Connect the pieces" approach and tester feedback made me opt for fewer totems but each worked out in more detail. I am happy with that change and thank the playtesters for it.

Originally Posted by Celjabba

Lots of crunch, but easy to read, and with some nice levity added.

3e Lensman Sense of perception is back !

One nitpick : the extended enhancement for Nictitating Membrane feel off to me ... I will have to think about it.

Congratulations against to Refplace for his first Gurps book.

I'm no Kromm, Steven Marsh, or Steve Jackson but I always liked a little humor in SJG publications so I tried. Glad you liked it!

Yes I missed Sense of Perception not being in Fourth Edition and was thrilled Kromm let me add it.
One thing that came up for some was understanding how it works. I think the quote on p. 15 helps explain it and why its in the book in the first place.

Fair point on the enhancement for Nictitating Membrane. It was a close call in my opinion and questioned in the review but I think it works, primarily for the same precedent Extended was created for other abilities. After the first sense (usually the primary one) the value for other senses sharply drops off.
Still to be safe I specifically called it out in my final draft notes so it would not be overlooked and get looked at by the editor.*

Really glad you liked it and thank you again for the feedback.

*Note: Unlike it would have been overlooked but I figure anything that might be a change or controversial deserves calling out by the author so nothing just slips through.

[Humabout]

For anyone interested in an alternative approach to Totem Spirits based on Spirit Vessels from Thaumatology and ties in Divine Favor, Powers, and spirit-related Pyramid articles, I wrote this back in 2015 as part of Pyramid Write Club. It includes a variety of totems that include animals, demons, elementals, and a ghost in the machine. Check out Totem Spirits for an alternative, if that sounds interesting.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Humabout

For anyone interested in an alternative approach to Totem Spirits based on Spirit Vessels from Thaumatology and ties in Divine Favor, Powers, and spirit-related Pyramid articles, I wrote this back in 2015 as part of Pyramid Write Club. It includes a variety of totems that include animals, demons, elementals, and a ghost in the machine. Check out Totem Spirits for an alternative, if that sounds interesting.

Nice take on it, you can see how much Spirit Vessel inspired both of us but we went in separate directions for the bulk of our material despite the common origin. Nothing stopping you from presenting your own Totem book, especially since mine was focused on animals which leaves a LOT of room left over.

[Humabout]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Nice take on it, you can see how much Spirit Vessel inspired both of us but we went in separate directions for the bulk of our material despite the common origin. Nothing stopping you from presenting your own Totem book, especially since mine was focused on animals which leaves a LOT of room left over.

It's always interesting to see variations on a theme this way. It'd actually make for a fun game among bloggers, honestly - have multiple people create an expansion based on a rule or something and post their results. I've seen this down with musical composers a couple of times and the results are always cool.

Anyway, congrats on the publication, Rory!

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Humabout

It's always interesting to see variations on a theme this way. It'd actually make for a fun game among bloggers, honestly - have multiple people create an expansion based on a rule or something and post their results. I've seen this down with musical composers a couple of times and the results are always cool.

Anyway, congrats on the publication, Rory!

Interesting idea, Douglas and a few others did something almost like that where they posted on a theme for a week or so.

And Thank you!

[GMJer]

The supplement I didn't know I needed. I like it.

Totems are like ancient tropes. Even when I don't use these rules specifically for an animal totem, I think the idea of the roles the spirits fill will be helpful in designing characters for just about any genre.

Thanks!

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by GMJer

The supplement I didn't know I needed. I like it.

Totems are like ancient tropes. Even when I don't use these rules specifically for an animal totem, I think the idea of the roles the spirits fill will be helpful in designing characters for just about any genre.

Thanks!

Your welcome! Thanks for the feedback too.

[safisher]

I like this book. The Vancian style magic gets all the love, but for most of the world and history, animism is the magic they know. Between this book and the Assisting Spirits section of Thaumatology, you have a really good system for representing a lot of magic in more "primitive" settings.