01-27-2018, 03:50 AM | #11 | |
Join Date: Feb 2016
|
Re: [Thaumatology] Thoughts on a magic system
Quote:
Two questions off the top of my head: What roles could grimoires/spellbooks play in this? One of the conceits of the setting is that spells are a kind of jumbled and lost art, and gaining new spells is a big thing. Second (and this is probably answered if I read Thaumatology closer), how about magical modifiers in this? EDIT: Speaking of the same, would final cost than be calculated using the methods with normal Path/Book magic? Last edited by Bazial; 01-27-2018 at 03:53 AM. Reason: Forgot a question |
|
01-27-2018, 08:47 AM | #12 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Shoreline, WA (north of Seattle)
|
Re: [Thaumatology] Thoughts on a magic system
Quote:
As for magical modifiers, those are folded into Ritual Elements needed to cast a spell, on Thaumatology p. 127. Those requirements can be ignored by casters with the appropriate Adept advantages on Thaumatology p. 123. A tip from someone who's run games using the full decanic modifiers system: unless your players like fishing for bonuses, using a whole lot of modifiers - or worse, making the mandatory for successful spellcasting - can get tedious really fast. You may want to figure out a little subsystem that can speed it up in play, e.g., "Ok, roll Thaumatology and spend $100 minus the margin of success to figure out enough modifiers and buy enough ingredients to cast tonight's ritual at no penalty," as opposed to spending the next thirty minutes of playtime running down components and flipping through the spell modifier charts. |
|
01-27-2018, 09:05 AM | #13 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
|
Re: [Thaumatology] Thoughts on a magic system
Quote:
Reducing the capabilities of Threshold even more with Skill caps and Prereq counts just makes magic that much rarer. For a really simple solution you could use standard Magic with the Ceremonial Only limitation. Then lift this for use of Jet and Missile Spell Items such as wands and staves. This greatly reduces the use of magic in combat while still leaving magic as a whole fairly common and powerful.
__________________
Fred Brackin |
|
01-27-2018, 09:14 AM | #14 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
|
Re: [Thaumatology] Thoughts on a magic system
You might also want to consider using a variant of Ritual Path Magic for this — specifically, replacing the Paths with Books and ditching the Adept Advantage.
Pyramid #3/66: Laws of Magic has an article in it called Alternative Ritual Path Magic, which basically goes through Thaumatology step by step and says “how would this or that apply to RPM?” The very first section of the article addresses using Books, and further explains the connection between Books and grimoires. |
01-27-2018, 10:09 AM | #15 | |
Join Date: Feb 2016
|
Re: [Thaumatology] Thoughts on a magic system
Quote:
|
|
01-27-2018, 03:10 PM | #16 | |||
Join Date: Feb 2016
|
Re: [Thaumatology] Thoughts on a magic system
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Right now, I'm rather erring on the side of my players, and despite all the love I have for RPM, Energy Accumulation and Path/Book, they are certainly not newbie-friendly, and my own knowledge of them need some brushing up. Character creation is coming up soon, and overall, I think I may just be going with low-mana, threshold ritual magic with slightly reworked colleges. It ain't perfect, and may be prone to some abuse, but luckily my players are nice people and don't particularly like munchkining of any kind. Right now, it's all really coming down to whether or not the emphasis should be on the rarity of spells, or on the preparation in casting a spell. Overemphasizing any of the two makes the other seem redundant, so it's really a question of which should be more foregrounded. |
|||
01-27-2018, 09:49 PM | #17 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, TX
|
Re: [Thaumatology] Thoughts on a magic system
Quote:
I then ran a different online game using Threshold Magic, a standard Threshold of about 25, and a Recovery Rate of about 35, and it worked out pretty nicely: the wizard went over threshold toward the end of the day, and there was a definite sense of "now I have to conserve magic" but he could still contribute if things got really dangerous. He pushed himself too far a couple of times - I was using a more generous Catastrophe table but he went overboard - and pretty much had to say "I cannot cast spells for a week or my character will explode." Fortunately, they were done with the adventure then and could take the time off. Long story short, moderate threshold, high recovery rate, less punishing catastrophe table gives you slightly more impressive wizards who can't wreck your game world's economy the way FP casters can. The recommend high threshold, low recovery rate, punishing catastrophe table gives you wizards that can do an impressive thing every few days but don't do very much magic otherwise.
__________________
Read my GURPS blog: http://noschoolgrognard.blogspot.com |
|
01-27-2018, 10:59 PM | #18 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
|
Re: [Thaumatology] Thoughts on a magic system
Generally why I prefer Energy Accumulation Path/Book Magic over Standard Magic or Threshold Magic, it hits that sweet spot of efficiency and effectiveness without creating strange magical economies.
|
01-28-2018, 09:03 AM | #19 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
|
Re: [Thaumatology] Thoughts on a magic system
Quote:
Just as a note and rueful one since I was a playtester for Cabal but I find decanic modifiers and their accompanying rules too complex in actual play as well. Judging by the people I play with any of Gurps major magic systems are near or beyond the complexity limits of what they'd like to play. Even when I GM and handle some of the complexity off-screen I.e. don't bother the players with it even standard Magic gets somewhat simplified.
__________________
Fred Brackin |
|
01-28-2018, 09:44 AM | #20 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
|
Re: [Thaumatology] Thoughts on a magic system
So, what exactly about it doesn't sit well with your players?
|
Tags |
magic, thaumatology |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|