[MH] Using RPM for lower-powered genres

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by Langy

Do you think it would be too unbalanced to use the skill bonuses for Sympathy, Names, and Contagion in the RPM system? I really like the flavor of them, but I'm not sure that allowing up to a +11 skill bonus would be a really good idea. Sacrificing for energy seems perfect for MH and RPM in general, too, (though I don't think that should be a bonus to skill).

Finally, how would RPM interact with different mana levels? Is this going to be covered in MH2?

I'm really hoping that there will either be some sidebars in the upcoming MH books or an entirely separate book that's all "here' s how to run MH using every single book the bits in MH are cobbled together from." Covering Psionic Powers, Thaumatology, High Tech, Gun Fu, Loadouts, Divine Favor, etc.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

Magery 3 [35], Ritual Adept [40], Thaumatology (IQ/VH) 15-, 9 Ritual Path (IQ/VH) skills at 15- ...

Magery can take Limitations, and although I don't seem to recall any RAW-legal Limitations on Ritual Adept, it should be possible to come up with some that any non-too-incompetent GM would accept.

Also with 12+Magery being a hard cap, it's not clear to me that high IQ is particularly useful.

And contrast it with the standard GURPS Magic adventurer mage, with Magery 3 and IQ 4 costing a total of 115 CPs. That's a large chunk too. Add in having to pay 1 CP each for 20 spells, and 5 more VH spells costing 2 CPs each, and we're talking 145 CPs. The chunk just got even huger.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Langy

Do you think it would be too unbalanced to use the skill bonuses for Sympathy, Names, and Contagion in the RPM system? I really like the flavor of them, but I'm not sure that allowing up to a +11 skill bonus would be a really good idea. Sacrificing for energy seems perfect for MH and RPM in general, too, (though I don't think that should be a bonus to skill).

MH, pg 33, sidebox, upper right corner. I believe that should answer your question. :)

Finally, how would RPM interact with different mana levels? Is this going to be covered in MH2?

MH, pg 36:
"such as one where magic has been cast consistently for years" ... sure reads like a Normal Mana Zone after a millennium of use.

"Ritually desecrated areas are unable to produce any ambient energy." ... I imagine that would be a No Mana Zone. And relatively easy to generate (and repair).

Assuming Low Mana has no modifier to energy accumulation, and is the default situation worldwide, a High Mana Zone would give up to +10 to energy accumulation checks.

*guesses*

[Enoch]

I think mana levels should effect how fast accumulating energy takes. That's how it works in Thaumatology at least.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

MH, pg 33, sidebox, upper right corner. I believe that should answer your question. :)

No, not really. I'd like to use some of those modifiers, but I'm not sure on if it's balanced with the rest of the system. You can quite easily net a +11 bonus to cast on yourself or one of your friends if you use some of the modifiers, for example. I'm curious if this would be balanced or not, not whether or not I can use them if I wish to.

"such as one where magic has been cast consistently for years" ... sure reads like a Normal Mana Zone after a millennium of use.

"Ritually desecrated areas are unable to produce any ambient energy." ... I imagine that would be a No Mana Zone. And relatively easy to generate (and repair).

Assuming Low Mana has no modifier to energy accumulation, and is the default situation worldwide, a High Mana Zone would give up to +10 to energy accumulation checks.

*guesses*

I figure mana levels will impact energy accumulation checks, yeah. Not sure if Low Mana is the default situation or not, though. I think multiplying the amount of energy would make more sense, though - say, x2 for Normal mana, x4 for High mana, and x10 for Very High mana, and of course any failure in gathering energy in a Very High mana area is considered a critical failure, with all the horrible penalties for it. No Mana areas you can't gather any energy, though you may be able to use energy you've already got.

[PK]

For the record, the rules on sacred places, desecrated areas, etc., were designed to replace the idea of "mana levels," simply because I've never seen the concept of "mana levels" come into play in any monster hunting fiction I've watched or read. If someone can't cast a spell, it's because the area is warded, or ritually prepared against it, or something similar. I never hear, "Oh darn, I can't cast this spell because this valley isn't magical enough." So there aren't any hidden rules or assumptions for mana levels built into RPM -- if anyone wants to come up with them, I'm interested in hearing how well they work, but not because I think they need to be added to RPM.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

For the record, the rules on sacred places, desecrated areas, etc., were designed to replace the idea of "mana levels," simply because I've never seen the concept of "mana levels" come into play in any monster hunting fiction I've watched or read. If someone can't cast a spell, it's because the area is warded, or ritually prepared against it, or something similar. I never hear, "Oh darn, I can't cast this spell because this valley isn't magical enough." So there aren't any hidden rules or assumptions for mana levels built into RPM -- if anyone wants to come up with them, I'm interested in hearing how well they work, but not because I think they need to be added to RPM.

The Hollows book series definitely has 'mana levels', though they're in the form of Ley Lines rather than the way they're normally shown in other GURPS settings. I was planning on doing something similar - a Ley Line would be a High Mana zone, while a place where they intersect might be a Very High mana zone. Either that, or Ley Lines would be Normal, intersections would be Very High, and the normal world would be Low. I haven't seen any Monster Hunter fiction with No Mana zones, though I intend to use them.

[Enoch]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

For the record, the rules on sacred places, desecrated areas, etc., were designed to replace the idea of "mana levels," simply because I've never seen the concept of "mana levels" come into play in any monster hunting fiction I've watched or read. If someone can't cast a spell, it's because the area is warded, or ritually prepared against it, or something similar. I never hear, "Oh darn, I can't cast this spell because this valley isn't magical enough." So there aren't any hidden rules or assumptions for mana levels built into RPM -- if anyone wants to come up with them, I'm interested in hearing how well they work, but not because I think they need to be added to RPM.

Ah well, then my take is as follows:

Mana levels effect the time it takes to accumulate energy.

• Low Mana: 10 seconds
• Normal Mana: 5 seconds
• High Mana: 3 seconds
• Very High Mana: 1 second

RPM is what I'll be taking from the MH series the most, because sadly my group has a strange aversion to any genres but fantasy and space opera (yes that specific).

-Joshua

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Langy

No, not really. I'd like to use some of those modifiers, but I'm not sure on if it's balanced with the rest of the system. You can quite easily net a +11 bonus to cast on yourself or one of your friends if you use some of the modifiers, for example. I'm curious if this would be balanced or not, not whether or not I can use them if I wish to.

If everyone can use them, and everyone with the Thaumaturgy skill can, then they are balanced. Its' a campaign feature. (The primary difference is that they'd be able to gather energy faster thanks to the higher margin of success.)

Personally, if I was going to use them, I'd make the character divide the additional bonuses between the accumulation stage and the casting stage. So +11 from correspondences, giving somewhere between +0 and +11 to all energy accumulation rolls and the remaining unused bonus to the casting check.

I figure mana levels will impact energy accumulation checks, yeah. Not sure if Low Mana is the default situation or not, though. I think multiplying the amount of energy would make more sense, though - say, x2 for Normal mana, x4 for High mana, and x10 for Very High mana, and of course any failure in gathering energy in a Very High mana area is considered a critical failure, with all the horrible penalties for it. No Mana areas you can't gather any energy, though you may be able to use energy you've already got.

Low Mana gives you a -5 to spells. Normal Mana removes that penalty (giving a +5 bonus if Low Mana is the calibrated default; which is the max bonus allowed by the RPM rules from a location). If Low Mana is +0, Normal Mana is +5, then High Mana should probably be +10 and Very High Mana being +15 or +20 depending.

Or, if you prefer, use the Greater Effect Multiplier chart. "Normal Mana" is 0 Greater Effects, "High Mana" is 1 Greater Effect, "Very High Mana" is 2 Greater Effects, etc. So x1, x3, x5 energy accumulation rates.

*rambles*

[Christopher R. Rice]

I've been planning to do this for my upcoming Steampunk Sci-Fantasy campaign, since the setting focuses heavily on alchemy I've got a half-written up system using MH RPM as a basis for a free-form alchemy variant system. Yeah, it works, and it works well you just need to keep in mind what others have said, the system is REALLY versatile, Ritual Adept (which is just renamed Path/Book Adept from GURPS Thaumatology) is supposed to be expensive.

Ghostdancer