Gurps Magic 4th - Sorting of Spells

[spacedragon]

Gah! It appears the spells within each college are sorted in some unusual order related to the number of pre-requisites they require. (Sounds like one of those good ideas on paper, but bad in practise; there is a downloadable chart for pre-reqs). It takes AGES to find the definition of spells. In the next printing can you re-sort them alphabetically within college please?

[nanoboy]

It's more convenient for making NPC's that way. You just go through the college, starting with the basic spells, and work your way up to what you think that NPC should have. It is similar for making PC's. I understand that it may be a little harder to look up, but each college doesn't take up that many pages to be a problem.

[Gef]

I turn to the alphabetic index first. It's no problem. -GEF

[KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads]

Well, that's one of those things (a couple, to tell the truth) D&D does better than GURPS: spells in alphabetical order (artwork is one another).

[spacedragon]

Originally Posted by nanoboy

It's more convenient for making NPC's that way. You just go through the college, starting with the basic spells, and work your way up to what you think that NPC should have. It is similar for making PC's. I understand that it may be a little harder to look up, but each college doesn't take up that many pages to be a problem.

Which is easier? Using the PDF flowchart to pick the spells, then alphabetically looking up what they do? Or using the insane sorting order of the rulebook to pick the spells?

[nanoboy]

Originally Posted by spacedragon

Which is easier? Using the PDF flowchart to pick the spells, then alphabetically looking up what they do? Or using the insane sorting order of the rulebook to pick the spells?

I just page through the relevent chapter and pick the spells. For me, it helps that they are in that "insane" order. I like the flowcharts, as they can be useful, but when it's crunch time, I just use the order in the book.

Magic has its problems, but I don't think that the order of the spells is one of the chief examples.

[Saf]

Has anyone made a flowchart or excel sheet outlining all the spells and their prereqs?

I have started working on one with my limited time. my hope is to be able to have the sheet color different cells and change the text to indicate what spells you have learned, are able to learn, and can't learn. One issues I've found being new to the system, and RP in general, is getting all the prereqs for that really cool big spell you want and what order is the best way to get them.

[Akicita]

Originally Posted by Saf

Has anyone made a flowchart or excel sheet outlining all the spells and their prereqs?

Flowcharts, yes. You can find Magic Spell Charts as a PDF on e23, and IIRC, it's free.

[Dunadin777]

With how many spells I outright ignore from the Magic book, I could care less what the internal sorting method is. I start by looking at my prereq charts, then I use the index to find the page number. For me, more annoying than the sorting issue is the fact that some of the spell entries refer you to a mirror entry later in the book. If you have repeat entries, it seems more intuitive to me to make it where the first reference is the complete write-up and only the later, redundant entries are listed as "see Air College, p XX"

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Akicita

Flowcharts, yes. You can find Magic Spell Charts as a PDF on e23, and IIRC, it's free.

That one! Linked

I prefer the sort by preq count as it makes sense. Start at the beginning and work your way up.
Makes it easier when learning the spells and building characters.
Trying to find a particular spell is not hard as most colleges are only a few pages so sort going through them is pretty fast if you can figure out what college it is.
Once your used to it its all fast anyhow but in the meantime there is also the index.