[Prince Charon]

Applying Hedge Magic to the Hypnotism skill seems like it would allow for both mind control & mental illusions. At the lowest level of mind control, it could be treated like the Enthrallment skills in Basic Set (Characters) pp191-192 (which themselves fit with Hedge Magic applied to Public Speaking, Singing, and other 'bardic' skills), but on a more individual level. More detailed forms of mind control should be possible, though how powerful and how specific depend on the GM; agents of the Ministry of Serendipity would be very skilled with the Hedge Magic of Hypnotism. Illusions should likewise not be terribly difficult when trying to fool an individual. Combining Hypnotism with other skills like Performance, Public Speaking, or perhaps Gesture should make it easier to effect a group. Combining it with Artist, Calligraphy, and/or Writing could allow one to create an effect when not present, but this does mean the caster has less control over what exactly it does. Ratpiping, from GURPS Thaumatology: Urban Magics p21, could be duplicated by combining Hypnotism and a Musical Instrument skill with Hedge Magic. Using Hypnotism rapidly in combat is another matter, as Hedge Magic is usually slower than normal uses of a skill. Depending on the GM, it may be possible, but would require other forms of extra effort, such as a weapon or other tool that was specifically designed to aid Hypnotism (see below), or adding other skills and accepting significant skill penalties.

Applying Hedge Magic to various craft skills like Smith, Armory, Jeweler ('Three rings for the elven kings under the sky...'), Artist, or Engineer seems like the way to make Hedge Magic Items. It's nicely consistent with how Tolkien's magic items seem to be created (they often aren't 'magic' exactly, just very well-made, by people who know some aspects of the Secrets of the Universe). Most magic items in this style would simply be very fine or superfine versions of normal items, made with materials and technology that normally wouldn't allow that level of quality, and that are perceptibly magical to a Mage; these might be more common than some types of low-level magic items in canon Yrth. Items with truly magical abilities would be rather less common, but not impossible - in most cases they just make it easier to apply Hedge Magic to one or more mundane skills, usually in a specific way, but a few are less subtle than that (crafting a Ring of Invisibility would be very difficult; crafting the One Ring would be a truly epic undertaking, and would require the maker to first craft and distribute other quite powerful rings, as Sauron did). How good the item is depends not only on how well you roll when creating it, but how much extra effort you put in, and how epic or mythic is the player's description of the act of creation, backstory of the components, et cetra. As with the rest of this system, the creation of magic items is very freeform, and every magic item should be unique. If you have access to a copy of Thaumatology: Urban Magics, you might get some inspiration from Lapidism (p18) and Sacred Architecture (pp21-23).

So, how do you think this would effect the various cultures of Yrth?

What other skills might it be interesting to apply Hedge Magic to, and in what way?