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Old 04-22-2020, 03:20 PM   #11
Prince Charon
 
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Default Re: [Path/Book Magic] 'Grimoire' worldlines

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2 View Post
On 23 February 1956, a solar storm filled Earth's skies with auroras and static. Or it was believed to be one ...

<SNIP>

The year is 1962. As the introduction of magic was only eight years ago, society itself has not changed much. But the changes, where they have occured, promise to be profound.
Um, your math seems off, as I'm pretty sure 1962 is six years after 1956.

It's a very interesting timeline, could be cool to game in, though the description seems to imply that Book styles are not sufficiently widespread for it to fit within the Grimoire designation. Of course, I may be misunderstanding you there.
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Old 05-01-2020, 09:55 AM   #12
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Default Re: [Path/Book Magic] 'Grimoire' worldlines

A couple of related Book styles that exist in some of these settings:

The Scrolls of Hephaistos (aka 'Book of Hephaestus' or 'Tome of Vulcanus') is a single-Book, Effect Shaping style that is very common as a beginning textbook on practical magic in the USA of Grimoire-1 (and is roughly as common on Grimoire-2 and Grimoire-4). It is claimed to be a translation of a set of leaden scrolls found in an abandoned temple in the mountains of Arcadia, Greece, in 1643, though this is generally considered unlikely.

Ritual Magic (Scrolls of Hephaistos) is the core skill, and as the style only uses one book, there is no separate 'Book' skill. The book does cover one other skill, though: Meditation (Thoughtforms), an optional specialization of Meditation, focusing on the crafting of thoughtforms, artificial spirits with limited will, but limited capabilities (see also GURPS Horror for 4e, p81). This is necessary because the style lacks a Summon ritual, as free-willed spirits can be far more troublesome.

Endure Elements; Book-0, 10 minutes
Curse Sanctum; Book-0, 1 hour
Firecalm; Book-1, 10 minutes
Know Fault; Book-1, 10 minutes
Fix Glitch; Book-2, 10 minutes
Read the Manual; Book-2, 10 minutes
*Ghost Sword; Book-3, 30 minutes
*Conjure Flame; Book-4, 10 minutes
Empower; Book-4, 10 minutes
Loyal Item; Book-4, 1 hour
*Repair; Book-5, 30 minutes
*Embody; Book-5, 2 hours
*Machine Blessing; Book-6, 1 hour
*Fetish; Book-8, 1 hour

Rituals marked '*' are defined, but not described in enough detail to cast, in the textbooks for middle schools and junior high schools. They are included in the larger high school and college versions of the texts.

'Machine Blessing' works pretty much exactly like 'Weapon Blessing' (Thaumatology p155), save that it provides its blessing to any single machine, of any complexity (from simple machines like screwdrivers to very complex ones like computers).

The normal procedure for Embody and Fetish is to craft a fairly weak thoughtform, bind it to the item or body with the appropriate ritual, and then repeat the process to feed other weak thoughtforms to the one already there (which tends to be faster and easier, as the existing spirit is helping you; how much faster and easier depends on the GM), enhancing it. This can be quite slow, but it both reinforces the intended purpose of the spirit, and is often safer and less difficult than shaping a spirit of the necessary power in one act.


The Technician's Manual is a simplified version (or rather two versions) of the Scrolls of Hephaistos, which leaves out several rituals that the authors did not see as necessary for the style. Separately, each version is somewhat less common than the Scrolls of Hephaistos, but in combination, they are a fair bit more common.

Ritual Magic (Technician's Manual) is the core skill, and as with the Scrolls of Hephaistos, the book also covers Meditation (Thoughtforms), and does not require a separate 'Book' skill. The Book is found in both Effect Shaping and Energy Accumulating versions, by separate writers (which resulted in new printings with slightly altered titles). The 'Effect Shaping Technician's Manual' has Ghost Sword but not Machine Blessing, while the 'Energy Accumulating Technician's Manual' has Machine Blessing, but not Ghost Sword. Ritual Magic (Technician's Manual) and Ritual Magic (Scrolls of Hephaistos) default to each other at -1 for the Effect Shaping variant, or -2 for the Energy Accumulating version.

Curse Sanctum; Book-0, 1 hour or 5 energy
Know Fault; Book-1, 10 minutes or 5 energy
Fix Glitch; Book-2, 10 minutes or 4 energy
Read the Manual; Book-2, 10 minutes or 5 energy
Ghost Sword; Book-3, 30 minutes
Empower; Book-4, 10 minutes or 6 energy, +1 per 5 FP transferred
Loyal Item; Book-4, 1 hour or 9 energy
Repair; Book-5, 30 minutes or 8 energy
Embody; Book-5, 2 hours or 12 energy
Machine Blessing; 11 energy
Fetish; Book-8, 1 hour or 13 energy

The normal procedure for Embody and Fetish is the same as with the Scrolls of Hephaistos, above.


Thoughts?
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Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 06-28-2020, 09:05 AM   #13
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Default Re: [Path/Book Magic] 'Grimoire' worldlines

I've started working on infoboxes for these timelines, which I should have done sooner. Since I'm doing them late and somewhat out of order, I've included links to the description, and will probably be editing links to the infoboxes into the earlier posts.

This one looks ready:

Grimoire-5, 1190

Current Affairs
A disturbingly well-organized Scandinavian werewolf cult expands east and south through the lands of the Rus', to the great concern of noble and clergyman alike. Meanwhile, Pope Gelasius IV seeks to drum up support for a new Crusade, but worries that it will again be redirected against the Byzantines, whom he wishes to keep strong as a buffer against the growing threat of the Fatimids.


Divergence Point
This worldline appears to have been an historical echo of Grimoire-1 until 1119, when William of Mons invented a primitive linotype machine, and a printing press.


Major Civilizations
Western (multipolar), Orthodox (empire with rivals), Islamic (multipolar), Chinese (empire with satellite states), Mississippian (decreasingly multipolar).


Great Powers
Angevin Empire (feudal, CR2); Holy Roman Empire (feudal, CR1-3); Eastern Roman Empire (feudal oligarchy, CR3); Crowns of Spain (feudal, CR2); Fatimid Caliphate (theocracy, CR4); Song China (dictatorship, CR4); Ghana Empire (feudal, CR2); Papal States (theocracy, CR4); League of the Mississippi (clan/tribal, CR2).


Worldline Data
TL: (3+1)^; Mana level: low with variations and ley lines at higher levels (some aspected)
Quantum: 6; Infinity Class: R6; Centrum Zone: Red

Notes
Most 'monsters' and other magical creatures on these worldlines are Book magicians, or the products of their work, rather than being 'naturally magical' beasts. The werewolves above make use of the Book of the Wolf (a usually-oral Book from the start of that thread), or transform with the aid of a magician who knows it.


Thoughts?
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Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.

Last edited by Prince Charon; 07-01-2020 at 07:26 PM.
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Old 06-28-2020, 10:02 AM   #14
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Default Re: [Path/Book Magic] 'Grimoire' worldlines

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
I've started working on infoboxes for these timelines, which I should have done sooner. Since I'm doing them late and somewhat out of order, I've included links to the description, and will probably be editing links to the infoboxes into the earlier posts.



Thoughts?
Your Current Affairs appear to be totally mundane and generally full of nothing but the sort of things that makes some people find Medieval history tedious. The Path/Book flag would usually draw persons interested in magic rather than medieval politics.

Add magic.
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Old 06-28-2020, 11:02 AM   #15
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Default Re: [Path/Book Magic] 'Grimoire' worldlines

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
This worldline appears to have been an historical echo of Grimoire-1 until 1119, when William of Mons invented a primitive linotype machine, and a printing press.

Thoughts?
Surely you mean movable type and a printing press?

Anything that casts whole lines of type with any degree of reliability would be a post-industrial-revolution device, simply for the number of moving parts involved.
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Old 06-28-2020, 02:30 PM   #16
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Default Re: [Path/Book Magic] 'Grimoire' worldlines

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Your Current Affairs appear to be totally mundane and generally full of nothing but the sort of things that makes some people find Medieval history tedious. The Path/Book flag would usually draw persons interested in magic rather than medieval politics.

Add magic.
I kept trying to come up with something and drawing a blank, outside of a vague thought about a vague threat lurking... somewhere vague, which is really not useful.

Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
Surely you mean movable type and a printing press?

Anything that casts whole lines of type with any degree of reliability would be a post-industrial-revolution device, simply for the number of moving parts involved.
I know. It was intentionally bizarre, to create a mystery for outtimers to wonder about/solve (like, the most plausible reason for that to exist is that William of Mons encountered an outtimer, and it's far enough back that if he did, said outtimer predates Van Zandt; a possible but less likely answer is that William or a friend got an incredibly detailed but very limited vision of the future; a twelfth century clockmaker inventing a linotype machine without outside help is really far out).
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"The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates."
-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.

Last edited by Prince Charon; 01-23-2023 at 11:47 AM.
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Old 06-29-2020, 06:33 PM   #17
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Default Re: [Path/Book Magic] 'Grimoire' worldlines

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Your Current Affairs appear to be totally mundane and generally full of nothing but the sort of things that makes some people find Medieval history tedious. The Path/Book flag would usually draw persons interested in magic rather than medieval politics.

Add magic.
After some consideration, I'm thinking about replacing the run-on sentence about England in Current Affairs with something like this: "A disturbingly well-organized Scandinavian werewolf cult expands east and south through the lands of the Rus', to the great concern of noble and clergyman alike."

Might move the link to a Notes section below Worldline Data, along with a summary of the concept behind the linked thread: Most 'monsters' and other magical creatures on these worldlines are Book magicians, or the products of their work, rather than being 'naturally magical' beasts. The werewolves above make use of the Book of the Wolf (a usually-oral Book from the start of that thread), or transform with the aid of a magician who knows it.


Does that work?
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Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 07-01-2020, 07:29 PM   #18
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Default Re: [Path/Book Magic] 'Grimoire' worldlines

OK, as there were no new objections or other suggestions, Grimoire-5's infobox has been edited. Here's the next one that I've gotten into postable form:

Grimoire-1, 2027

Current Affairs
While the world watches the Scramble for Asteroids, and the US Supreme Court considers a case on the rights of free-willed undead, intelligence agencies wonder and worry about the strange spies their mages and spirits have detected, whom they believe are Not Of This Earth.


Divergence Point
Technically unknown, but historical inertia effectively died on September 11, 2001, when a group of magicians saved the World Trade Center with wind magic and machine control.


Major Civilizations
Western (multipolar), Orthodox (empire with rivals), Chinese (empire), Indic (empire).


Great Powers
United States of America (representative democracy, CR2), United Kingdom (representative democracy, CR3), France (representative democracy, CR3), Germany (representative democracy, CR3), Russian Federation (dictatorship, CR4), Peoples Republic of China (oligarchy, CR5), Brazil (representative democracy, CR3), India (representative democracy, CR4).


Worldline Data
TL: mature TL8^ (space industry at early TL9^); Mana level: mostly low, with variations and ley lines at higher levels (some aspected)
Quantum: 6; Infinity Class: Z2; Centrum Zone: Red

Notes
Scholars investigating the no-longer-secret magical history of this Earth have discovered that while there was a werewolf cult in Scandinavia in the twelfth century, a form of which survives in the modern era on Grimoire-1, 2, and 4, it was never as large, organized, nor dangerous as the one causing trouble on Grimoire-5. The free-willed undead, which include some, but not all, local varieties of vampires and mummies, as well as what might be called liches, among others, are of much greater concern on this Earth, as few of them have a form of morality that modern humans find socially acceptable, and most of those are the younger, less powerful undead.


Thoughts?
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

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-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 07-07-2020, 05:20 PM   #19
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Default Re: [Path/Book Magic] 'Grimoire' worldlines

I've been working on an article on the various types of vampires that exist on the Grimoire worldlines (mostly ritual magicians with peculiar styles), but it's taking me longer than I'd like (as usual), whereas this template for a more 'traditional' vampire is ready now:

Infectious Vampire Template, Grimoire-1 and 4

Attributes

ST +4 (Magic, -10%) [36]

Secondary Characteristics

Per +2 [10]

Subtotal: 46


Advantages

Hard to Kill 3 [6]
Hard to Subdue 3 [6]
Longevity [2]
Magery 0 [5]
Night Vision 4 [4]
Regeneration (Slow; Magic, -10%) [9]

Craftiness Talent +2 [10]

Perks

Sharp Teeth. [1]

Subtotal: 43


Disadvantages

Frightens Animals [-10]
Social Disease (Vampire) [-5]
Uncontrollable Appetite (Blood) (12) [-15]
Weakness (Sunlight, very common, 1d per 30 minutes) [-15]
and -25 points in Phobias, Obsessions, and/or Compulsive Behaviors related to vampiric weaknesses that the victim is aware of.

Quirks

Low body temperature. [-1]
Pale complexion. [-1]

Subtotal: -72


Features


Skills

Mage Sense [Per/E] [2] Per+1
Running [HT/A] [2] HT
Sex Appeal [HT/A] [2] HT
Stealth [DX/A] [2] DX+2*

*Includes +2 from Craftiness Talent.

Subtotal: 8

Total: 25


Notes

This type of vampire first appeared in 1902 CE on both Grimoire-1 and Grimoire-4. It is generally believed that an unknown mad scientist (magician) infected the likewise unknown Patient Zero (or made him or her self Patient Zero), as part of an experiment, the goal of which we can only speculate on. This is the only known form of vampire on these worldlines that is able to pass on the curse easily or by accident (via Social Disease, in this case). In nearly all other cases, either it is not a curse in the usual sense (most often it's a magical style, or in some cases a fetish, if the 'vampire' is still alive), or passing it on requires a ritual.

While the disease may be passed on by a bite or kiss, the target is at HT+5 to resist the infection from a kiss unless already having an open wound inside the mouth, and HT+3 to resist this illness from a bite wound (or a kiss with a wound in the mouth). In the event of sexual contact or blood exchange, the victim resists at straight HT, unless other factors modify it. If failing to resist on the initial roll, the victim rolls each day for 1d+1 days, or until rolling a critical success or critical failure on that roll. A critical success ends the infection immediately, while a critical failure ends all resistance, but means that the victim takes 1d+3 tox damage over the course of that day. During the period of change (the 1d+1 days mentioned above), the victim will be feverish, nauseous, sleepy, and take 1d-4 tox each day. The canine teeth will grow during this period, and the victim's skin will become pallid, and later cool to the touch. At the end, the victim has the above template in full.

Some vampires of this type learn or develop Per-based Ritual Magic styles, often with some form of Esoteric Medicine as the core skill. If the victim already has Magery 0, add the five points to Per, instead.

Mage Sense is the skill of detecting the various things mages are capable of detecting - not only sensing magic items, but being the target of hostile rituals (see Sensing Ritual Attacks, Thaumatology p138; note the Per-4 roll, which is the same as the default for a Per/Easy skill), changes in mana level, and anything else the GM agrees can be detected by a Per+Magery roll. In case it needs to be explicitly said, Magery Talent helps this skill.

A somewhat similar disease-based vampire exists on Grimoire-2, created by ritual alchemists employed by Nazi Germany in 1935, intended to be used as nocturnal shock troops. By the time the full downsides of the disease were understood, it had already escaped containment via certain prostitutes and some nurses and orderlies. The template is modified as follows: replace ST+4 with ST+6, and add DX+1 & IQ-1; remove Mage Sense and replace Magery 0 with a further +1 to Per (total of Per+3); replace Craftiness with Strangler; add Damage Resistance (Magic, -10%; Tough Skin, -40%) 2 to Advantages; add Berserk (12) & Bloodlust (12) to Disadvantages, and Feral Manner to Quirks. Cost is 25. ('Feral manner' is quirk-level Bestial: you do understand civilization, but you don't always pay attention or care that much when you don't think you need to, which can lead to trouble in social situations.)


Thoughts?
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

"The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates."
-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.

Last edited by Prince Charon; 12-21-2020 at 03:45 PM.
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Old 07-07-2020, 07:30 PM   #20
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Default Re: [Path/Book Magic] 'Grimoire' worldlines

Where is Leech? The defining trait of a traditional vampire is beneficial vampirism (obsessive vampirism is just another psychological illness found in humans).
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