Pyramid #3/91: Thaumatology IV

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by PK

Speaking solely as "the Monster Hunters guy," and not an editor/staff/etc., I wanted to thank Lex for coming up with Technomysticism. It's a great idea that really expands techies in a new direction, and it fits MH perfectly yet is also something I would never have thought of. I'm definitely putting it on the menu in my future MH games.

Yeah, I got to see this before print and I liked it it then too. A really nice addition IMHO.

Originally Posted by johndallman

The Codex Duello article is nicely done, but has the same problem as I've seen with magical duelling systems in other games: why is there all this additional stuff that only happens in formal magical duels? Ars Magica is the only game I've seen with an answer to that, where the duelling mechanics are part of the core of the magic system.

Thanks! I left this intentionally up to the GM/setting, but my headcannon answer is this: You don't duel with just any pistol - you have duelling pistols. Specialized equipment to help you settle the matter at hand. That's the reason. I'm sure you could create spells for the mechanics themselves if you wanted too. Also, I wanted to make sure that this was as generic as possible so I created a ruleset I felt was flexible enough to do whatever it needed to do in whatever system it was dropped in. :-)

Originally Posted by johndallman

However, in a nice piece of GURPS integration, the fast-draw rules from p10 of Tactical Shooting look as if they'll work fine with Wands at High Noon.

Yes. This was intentional. I didn't make it explicit and I'm glad that someone saw it without me having to do so.

[ajardoor]

Hey, quick question about the Codex Duello article;

How does the RPM variant work with the rules about attacking - how long is an attack (the one based on mST) supposed to take, how much "energy" does it cost? Duels don't use standard spells, so a RPM duellist isn't gathering energy?

I guess giving an example of play for a RPM duel would work.

Thanks!

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by ajardoor

How does the RPM variant work with the rules about attacking - how long is an attack (the one based on mST) supposed to take, how much "energy" does it cost?

It takes 5 seconds for non-adepts and 1 second for adepts. Don't challenge an adept to a duel if you are a non-adept unless your skill is high.

Originally Posted by ajardoor

Duels don't use standard spells, so a RPM duellist isn't gathering energy?

They are...but not really. The Partition takes care of the energy part.

[cbower]

I posted a review here.

[PK]

Originally Posted by cbower

I posted a review here.

Thanks! It was a good review, and appreciated. My only quibble is that you explicitly review The Tome of the Black Island as "a GURPS article" and ding it for missing GURPS stats -- but it was a systemless article (as indicated by the purple), intended to be used in whatever system the reader prefers.

[cbower]

Originally Posted by PK

Thanks! It was a good review, and appreciated. My only quibble is that you explicitly review The Tome of the Black Island as "a GURPS article" and ding it for missing GURPS stats -- but it was a systemless article (as indicated by the purple), intended to be used in whatever system the reader prefers.

A fair objection, but I had forgotten till you reminded me that the color codes mean anything. I'll adjust the rating a bit.

[PK]

Originally Posted by cbower

A fair objection, but I had forgotten till you reminded me that the color codes mean anything. I'll adjust the rating a bit.

Thanks! And I definitely understand how you might have preferred a GURPS article with full stats for this. Systemless articles walk a fine line between "this fits into any relevant campaign, regardless of its game system and magic system" and "darn it, I'll have to do all of the work to stat this up."

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by cbower

I posted a review here.

Thank you muchly for the review!

[Rindis]

My thoughts, a little late:

Generally, differing magic systems and the such are neat, so a Thaumatology issue is a good idea. This particular one... not so much.

"Technomysticism", sounds like good enough idea. At least as far as I can tell, since I don't have Monster Hunters, and don't get the template stuff going on here. Some of the general concepts for handling the mix of technology and magic sound good, and I'd look them over if I did any contemporary fantasy settings (not very likely).

I'm not into horror, so "The Tome of the Black Island" wasn't useful to me. It seemed well presented, though it didn't spark any thoughts of just how it'd actually be handled in any system.

"Dark Alchemy" was a little on the horrific end again, but certainly has a few things I'd use.

"The Thaumaturgy of Metallurgy" was pretty much the type of thing I was expecting when I saw the Thaumatology IV cover. A new magic college? Neat! And it looks good in general. I think I'd have let the Anvil Strike spell go though. I like and appreciate the spell and its writeup, but it only works in a setting where getting hit with 28d just flattens the character, or makes him accordion shaped for a bit. Normally though, it's just going to produce too much gutch for the needed light-hearted tone. (Doing lots of collateral damage other than that would be fine....)

"Codex Duello" is a good idea, but it just didn't work for me here. (The bits on wands and the like was good!) Too much work to do to figure out how to get it to gel with any particular system, no dives into how and why mages will actually agree to this, what kind of cheats of the system might be attempted and why they do/don't work.... It's a decent seed, but that's it.

The Random Thought Table was an interesting idea. And since that's all that piece is supposed to be, it works. I don't think I'd ever go with reputation-based magery, but it might inspire something down the road.

[J. Edward Tremlett]

Revised Grade: C

C is for Cthulhu. That's good enough for me.