GURPS Magic: Artillery Spells

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Bruno

An excellent read, very enjoyable. My only real complaint is that we don't actually have some sort of artillery Knowledge and Food spells. Come on! We've got the Death Spells precedent to live up to!

For instance, for the Food college a spell called Mass Slaughter seems pretty self evident...

Don't know why, but for some reason the first thing that I thought of was Explosive Cheese Ball.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Don't know why, but for some reason the first thing that I thought of was Explosive Cheese Ball.

Alternate name: Fondue Party.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Might I suggest that the putative Poison Food against a whole army suggested on page 6 be called "School Lunch"?

How about 'K-ration Special?'

(K-rations weren't terrible, exactly (or so I've heard, not having eaten any), but they weren't good, and they weren't designed for long-term consumption, which is what they were used for - they were meant to be an emergency meal for a few days at a time, not months straight.)

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

How about 'K-ration Special?'

(K-rations weren't terrible, exactly (or so I've heard, not having eaten any), but they weren't good, and they weren't designed for long-term consumption, which is what they were used for - they were meant to be an emergency meal for a few days at a time, not months straight.)

D-rations rather than K. The original D-ration bar was reputed to be the most heinous thing that could ever be mistaken for chocolate at a moderate distance. Possibly a result of the strange additives like oat flour among other dubious things.

Why would anyone put uncooked oat flour into something that was supposed to be a non-melting chocolate-like bar? Crazy "nutritionists" go back a long way before the modern age. See the movie "The Road to Wellville" for examples.

If anyone has heard that "D-rations weren't that bad" the original WWII formula was redone in 1958 and this removed the oat flour and generally improved taste. However, it still not only didn't melt in jungle heat but was stil very difficult to chew.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

D-rations rather than K. The original D-ration bar was reputed to be the most heinous thing that could ever be mistaken for chocolate at a moderate distance. Possibly a result of the strange additives like oat flour among other dubious things.

Why would anyone put uncooked oat flour into something that was supposed to be a non-melting chocolate-like bar? Crazy "nutritionists" go back a long way before the modern age. See the movie "The Road to Wellville" for examples.

If anyone has heard that "D-rations weren't that bad" the original WWII formula was redone in 1958 and this removed the oat flour and generally improved taste. However, it still not only didn't melt in jungle heat but was stil very difficult to chew.

I guess that means the current generation of D-rations are the protein bars sold a health-food stores. Don't melt, high concentrations of proteins and nutrients, and horrible taste.

The current generation of MREs used in the military are actually fairly edible, but I still wouldn't want to live on a steady diet of them for more than a few days.

[edk926]

Well stuff like that is primary made to last a long time, not for pleasing taste. I mean some hardtack made for the Civil War is still edible.

[William]

Originally Posted by Silver on the Tree

"Into the oven in a dish, covered with milk, isn't it, and a knob of butter on top, lovely. Lord knows it is good someone enjoys the hard biscuit the way you all do. Not so good halfway across the Atlantic, I can tell you. By then you would swap the lot for a good warm slice of bara brith."

By the way, quick question before I purchase: all the spells in the example pdf require at least Magery 4. Is that true throughout the entire supplement?

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by William

By the way, quick question before I purchase: all the spells in the example pdf require at least Magery 4. Is that true throughout the entire supplement?

Assuming I'm counting right, there are six spells that require only Magery 3, two that only need Magery 1, and two that require Magery 5.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by William

By the way, quick question before I purchase: all the spells in the example pdf require at least Magery 4. Is that true throughout the entire supplement?

As Diomedes says, it's not universal, but it's pretty consistent to require Magery 4, yes. The book explains this, suggesting that artillery-type spells are typically confined to "archmage" level casters, but offers suggestions for reducing the Magery prerequisite if you want to make them more widely available.

[William]

Thank you.