Implications of Gurps Magic on a Merchant Princes-like setting - advice needed

Calliban · 08-06-2019, 12:50 PM

I'll be running a Fantasy Venice campaign where PCs are all members of a Merchant Family trying to ascend to glory. I'll be using GURPS Crusade and all the Hot Spots as background, but there will be some supernatural stuff going on.

I've decided to allow cinematic Martial Arts to make duels feel more vibrant, and probably Divine Favor to allow for cleric-like powers to priests and such. Probably a lot of stuff from the Social Engineering series to help emulate the intricacies of the Intrigue and all the Commerce going on.

One of my players asked for GURPS Magic, as he is a fan of the Standard magic system; We rationalized Magic could easily be a forgotten science that is being re-discovery during the renaissance. It has been a long time since we used Magic on our campaigns (late 3e), but I have some concerns.

A Merchant campaign has a lot of planning trying to predict the demand for goods, as well as travel and negotiation to acquire and sell given goods. If I recall correctly there are a lot of spells that can predict markets, create goods, simplify travel, and facilitate negotiations.

My concerns are mostly to think how to avoid a Mage from hijacking the campaign and cheese/shutdown an important part of it.

Are there any specifics I should change in the rules to make sure everything works out in the end? Any advice on how to deal with Magical Economies?

Thanks!

08-06-2019, 12:50 PM	#1
Calliban Join Date: Jan 2006	Implications of Gurps Magic on a Merchant Princes-like setting - advice needed I'll be running a Fantasy Venice campaign where PCs are all members of a Merchant Family trying to ascend to glory. I'll be using GURPS Crusade and all the Hot Spots as background, but there will be some supernatural stuff going on. I've decided to allow cinematic Martial Arts to make duels feel more vibrant, and probably Divine Favor to allow for cleric-like powers to priests and such. Probably a lot of stuff from the Social Engineering series to help emulate the intricacies of the Intrigue and all the Commerce going on. One of my players asked for GURPS Magic, as he is a fan of the Standard magic system; We rationalized Magic could easily be a forgotten science that is being re-discovery during the renaissance. It has been a long time since we used Magic on our campaigns (late 3e), but I have some concerns. A Merchant campaign has a lot of planning trying to predict the demand for goods, as well as travel and negotiation to acquire and sell given goods. If I recall correctly there are a lot of spells that can predict markets, create goods, simplify travel, and facilitate negotiations. My concerns are mostly to think how to avoid a Mage from hijacking the campaign and cheese/shutdown an important part of it. Are there any specifics I should change in the rules to make sure everything works out in the end? Any advice on how to deal with Magical Economies? Thanks!