Spiritual Distortion - ever used it?

[Gef]

GURPS Magic introduces Black Magic, re-cast in more generic form as Spiritual Distortion in GURPS Thaumatology (page 93). Short version: Magician gets some special benefit, at the price of becoming increasingly crazy (in steps of 3 character points) until he becomes unplayable (-30).

In my forthcoming campaign, magic works by channeling worldlaw of alien worlds to locally supercede natural law, and each such world carries a mark of power in the form of a psycholigical quirk, but Spiritual Distortion seems appropriate for the really alien, Lovecraftian worlds where geometry as all wrong, with the benefit being control over time and space unavailable from other magic (spells like Teleportation).

For those who've used this mechanic, how has it worked as a means to make players think twice about accessing these greater powers? How fast is the slide? Does the rule for removing spiritual distortion mean that the consequence is no big deal?

My sense is that it will matter how socially acceptable it is, at least among the society of magicians. If it's known that I have this power, then I can get my way by threatening to use it and only rarely make good on the threat. However, if I become public enemy #1 as soon as it's known that I've dabbled in the dark arts, then I keep it secret and can't make threats. Does that track with your experience?

What guidance have you given for how to roleplay the distortion? I've found that players tend to interpret crazy as random and random as causing trouble for other players, unless there's something specific to focus on.

On the whole, do you recommend aaginst allowing player characters to have Spiritual Distortion?

Thanks.

PS: Because my group will not be meeting face to face, I can invite players from pretty much anywhere to join us online (Discord or Zoom, to be determined). Sign up on this thread if intrested.

[Gumby Bush]

I haven't used it, but my sense when looking at it has always been that it requires High Will characters who use magic sparingly... or a campaign where short-lived characters are expected. If I were to create a character for use with this, I would buy Will+Magery as high as permitted.

The gaps in time required to remove distortion (and advice to GMs not to let it go too easy if characters are depending on it) seems to make that less of an issue.

[Anaraxes]

Also worth taking a look at the Corruption mechanic in Horror. Fairly similar concept -- energy spent on magic has a cost expressed in negative character points -- but the application of those negative points comes in the form of acquired Disads (which includes Quirks). The GM can define those, or come up with them in consultation with the player; the choice of Disads then can help inform the player's future choices of action for the increasingly insane character.

(-30 points of Mental Disads probably isn't going to be literally unplayably crazy, but especially if you take a strict literal interpretation of the effects of a lot of those Disads, it will certainly start to get really unpleasant by then.)

This kind of game mechanic IMO is only good for groups where the players are willing to get into it and "go with the flow", as opposed to those players that are always competing to minimize bad things to "win" the best, or the sort of takes Chaotic Neutral to mean "I can freely just do whatever random thing I want, and everyone has to be okay with that". If the player really wants to help portray a descent into madness, it'll work great. If not, there's not going to be enough mechanical rules to force a good narrative result.

[Prince Charon]

While I haven't used it, one magic system variant that I've been vaguely planning involves the idea of balancing Spiritual Distortion: using magics from different sources distorts you in different directions, and thus if you plan carefully, distortion from one source can be used to correct distortion from another (vaguely inspired by the way some fanfics I've read handle the psychological effects of Land Magic from MtG, where each colour pushes your personality in a different direction). Getting that to work could be pretty tricky, of course, which is why I've hesitated to try to do much with it.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Also worth taking a look at the Corruption mechanic in Horror. Fairly similar concept -- energy spent on magic has a cost expressed in negative character points

One of the bigger differences is that fueling magic via Corruption will always accrue a disadvantage (corruption which has inherente disad value, but may later morph into more concrete disadvantages OR advantage lost) whereas fueling magic via Black Magic or similar involves a roll to see if you acquire a Black Penalty (or Spiritual Distortion penalty) which sticks with you.

So in theory if you got good rolls you might not acquire BP many days using the free energy, but you will always accrue Corruption when casting that way.

[Gef]

Thanks for the tips on Corruption; I'll take a look.

Originally Posted by Gumby Bush

I haven't used it, but my sense when looking at it has always been that it requires High Will characters who use magic sparingly... or a campaign where short-lived characters are expected. If I were to create a character for use with this, I would buy Will+Magery as high as permitted.

Hi Gumby, from a PC perspective, yeah, extra power but use it sparingly is exactly what I'm going for, but as GM I also have to consider NPCs who use it recklessly, and how the community feels about it as a result. I want to calibrate the mechanic such that there's room for debate, with "too dangerous for anyone" and "devise appropriate safeguards" both justifiable positions.

--------------

Prince, that's an interesting idea and I agree challenging. One thing I'd consider as GM is how widespread it would be, among PCs and NPCs. If it's a complex set of rules that will only one player in a game will care about, then I'd pass. In my case, while different sources of spiritual distortion are available, they're all on the same end of the spectrum, so the won't cancel out and I'd be justified in making them synergize.

[isf]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

While I haven't used it, one magic system variant that I've been vaguely planning involves the idea of balancing Spiritual Distortion: using magics from different sources distorts you in different directions, and thus if you plan carefully, distortion from one source can be used to correct distortion from another (vaguely inspired by the way some fanfics I've read handle the psychological effects of Land Magic from MtG, where each colour pushes your personality in a different direction). Getting that to work could be pretty tricky, of course, which is why I've hesitated to try to do much with it.

Do you prefer using opposing pairs like Celestial/Infernal or circular patterns like Earth/Metal/Water/Wood/Fire?

[AllenOwen]

I've been working on using RPM to re create spells from various Conan RPGs. I've also been pondering how to handle the fact that Conan is a part of the Cthulhu Mythos, which means magic can/will cause you to lose your marbles. In the REH stories, magicians are often...not right in the head. Even the "good" mage Conan meets in Hour of the Dragon is...a little off.

I was trying to decide which is better for the setting: Assisting Spirits, with the attendant Spiritual Disruption or Corruption. I'm thinking Corruption might be better, as it is more fitting for the setting.

The reason I was thinking about Assisting Spirits is magic in Conan is often taught by someone or more likely, something that often have demands...and I thought Assisting Spirits would work for that. But, I can have Pact and Corrupting as Limitations on Magery(Ritual Path) to model that aspect as well.

The nice thing about GURPS is there's always more than one way to do things..

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by isf

Do you prefer using opposing pairs like Celestial/Infernal or circular patterns like Earth/Metal/Water/Wood/Fire?

Currently thinking circular.

[AlexanderHowl]

I generally run divine magic as spiritual distortion. The clergy cannot help but become more like their deities.