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Old 05-31-2014, 10:44 AM   #1
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default [Basic] Skill of the week: Alchemy

While the Alchemy skill appears in Basic, it isn't described in any detail. That's left to Magic, which has a complete chapter about it, with enough elixirs described to make a passable adventuring profession, provided you get to spend a lot of time in the lab.

Thaumatology adds a lot of supporting detail, while Thaumatology: Alchemical Baroque is a setting that uses alchemy a lot more than Banestorm or Cabal do, and connects it to Path/Book magic. Pyramid 3/28: Thaumatology II fills out the mechanics and the elixir list usefully. Ritual Path Magic has its own form of more-flexible alchemy, of course.

I find it's years since I looked at Alchemy - indeed, my clearest memories of it are from reading the first edition of Magic. In fact, I have never played or run a GURPS game where it was significant. That's a hole I'll fill sometime now I've noticed it.

What have people done with Alchemy? Since it isn't often mentioned in the threads about Magic, is it satisfactory, or just little-used?
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