Pyramid #3/115: Technomancer

[Kromm]

You foolish mortals
Magic shall trivialize
The atom's power

— Graffiti at ground zero

In Merlin, the world of GURPS Technomancer, the Atomic Age ushered in not just an era of terrifying destructive power but also the dawn of magic on Earth. Human history was forever changed by both science and forces beyond science's reach. And in 1998, so was GURPS.

But time flies. Twenty years have passed since the release of Technomancer, and also in Merlin. Pyramid #3/115: Technomancer updates the setting in myriad ways:

Technomancer Needs Hunters!

By Kelly Pedersen

There may never have been a GURPS setting better-suited to GURPS Monster Hunters than Merlin! Professional hunters in a world where magic isn't a secret and everybody knows monsters exist have things both easier and harder, and this article demonstrates why.

El Paso Vice

By Paul Stefko

You could skip from the Atomic Age right to the 1990s or the present, but then you'd miss out on the 1980s, heyday of the GURPS Action cop. Forget about shaving this morning and leave the socks at home. Just slip a white Armani jacket over your pink T-shirt and you're dressed to fight crime in the world's most magical city.

Eidetic Memory: Merlin Declassified

By David Pulver

Old secrets, new developments, and a mini-grimoire of powerful magic . . . straight from the keyboard of the setting's creator. This is a "must have" if you game in the world of Merlin, even if you play it straight and don't add Action or Monster Hunters to the mix (though both will be a lot more fun if the heroes can toss around Starbolts and Laser Eyes!).

Revised Templates, Come Fourth!

By Kelly Pedersen and David Pulver

Adapting the many nonhuman races of Technomancer from Third Edition to Fourth Edition would be a lot of work. Wouldn't it be great if the conversion just magically appeared? Oh, wait – it has!

And editor Steven Marsh bookends these articles with thoughts of his own – including a Random Thought Table looking into how and why the world of Merlin is so accessible, and offering gamers ways ease into or jump into Technomancer campaign.

—

Store Link: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-2715
Preview PDF: http://www.warehouse23.com/media/SJG37-2715_preview.pdf

[Gollum]

Wow ... Technomancer. I've got that old book. A big idea to update it and to add all those new and interesting articles to improve it.

[johndallman]

There's been a recent thread discussing this very Pyramid, and the idea of more 3e settings being updated via Pyramid issues.

I'm all in favour of it. Doing, say, 2-3 issues a year like this would keep the project moving.

[Gollum]

Yes. Updates for 3rd edition books have been begged for here or there. Until now, the answer was always: you can do it yourself; just download GURPS Update. Maybe because a good format wasn't found yet.

Now it is: a Pyramid issue with a lot of articles to improve even more the work already done.

I find that great.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Hm, how much of this requires Technomancer and how much is worth grabbing if you just want mechanics to play "modern day + magic"?

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

Hm, how much of this requires Technomancer and how much is worth grabbing if you just want mechanics to play "modern day + magic"?

See if my review helps you figure that out.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by Refplace

See if my review helps you figure that out.

Sounds a lot more like it's Technomancer-focused.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

Hm, how much of this requires Technomancer and how much is worth grabbing if you just want mechanics to play "modern day + magic"?

I would say that of the articles in this issue, the "El Paso Vice" (converting the Action series) and "Merlin Declassified" (new spells) could both be quite useful to such a campaign. My own article, "Technomancer Needs Hunters", is focused on converting the Monster Hunters campaign frame to Technomancer, and Monster Hunters already has magic, so it probably isn't as useful (unless you really like the standard spell magic system, and want to use that with Monster Hunters instead of the Ritual Path Magic system it presents).

[DaibhidC]

I loved the update of the magic + tech vibe to social media. Given how Merlin's history reflects the real world, I'm now imagining Soulspace answering serious questions as Westminster and Washington decide whether aggressively targeted dreamware political ads constitute magical interference in an election.

[rkbrown419]

Loved the issue, though I wish there was more of an update on the timeline to see how history has continued to diverge from our world.

However, while putting the racial templates into GCA I found a couple of errors in the point cost. The Spider People templates ranged binding attack numbers don't add up. With the stated modifiers "(Rapid Fire 7, +70%; Retractable,
above +100%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%; Sticky,
+20%; Takes Recharge, 15 seconds, -15%)" a Binding 10 should be 49 points not 38 raising the whole template to 41 points. The Hellraker template includes Social Stigma (Monster) which is already in the Demon Meta-Trait that's also part of the Hellraker. Eliminating this duplication raises the Hellraker to 79 points.
Am I missing something about why they are priced the way they are or did I just find an oops in the issue?