[OOC] Worlds of Fire

[momothefiddler]

I've been exceptionally busy leading up to today's quarterly reviews. I'd have warned you, but I didn't expect it to be such a big deal; sorry.

More generally, it may have something to do with the sheer number of games of which ericthered is a part, combined with the comparatively small (as far as I can tell) group of regular posters in this subforum.

EDIT: Of all the places to get a 3...

[Lamech]

I'm still here, just sort of following along. Side note, what are we looking for in here again?

[momothefiddler]

We're looking for the person who was seen in the area. Ideally we want to find him and get him (and all of us) back to the shelter safely.

[Totem]

Originally Posted by Totem

As you move along the corridor there is a giggling from the darkness behind you. Almost immediately it's repeated from in front. As you look around there is a rush of air beside both Jorin and John, and both mages feel a sharp tug as some of their hair abruptly goes missing. The giggling then picks up again, moving away in opposite directions down the corridor.

Part of the reason that I asked about people vanishing was that I was assuming that there would be slightly more reaction from Jorin and John to this bit. Having rechecked the GURPS Magic rules, I'm not seeing what I had been expecting to see, namely, that once you have a piece of someone (hair, teeth, nails, blood) you can target them with spells at no effective range penalty (though obviously this will require a couple of extra spells to make it work). The two pieces of fantasy writing that I've been reading recently both go for this idea, and I think I was expecting GURPS to pick it up. Balance issues would ensue though, and the nearest I've found so far is the Homonculus spell.

Depending on the system of magic that John and Jorin come from I can see that they might not even be familiar with this concept. As I said, in the two fantasy works that I've read recently this has been a sufficiently standard concept that the lead character in both of them takes it as a death threat when someone tries to get hold of some of their hair. Let me know their reactions to this concept in this thread and we'll proceed from there; this only really works as a threat if you know to watch out for it.

[momothefiddler]

Originally Posted by Totem

Part of the reason that I asked about people vanishing was that I was assuming that there would be slightly more reaction from Jorin and John to this bit. Having rechecked the GURPS Magic rules, I'm not seeing what I had been expecting to see, namely, that once you have a piece of someone (hair, teeth, nails, blood) you can target them with spells at no effective range penalty (though obviously this will require a couple of extra spells to make it work). The two pieces of fantasy writing that I've been reading recently both go for this idea, and I think I was expecting GURPS to pick it up. Balance issues would ensue though, and the nearest I've found so far is the Homonculus spell.

Depending on the system of magic that John and Jorin come from I can see that they might not even be familiar with this concept. As I said, in the two fantasy works that I've read recently this has been a sufficiently standard concept that the lead character in both of them takes it as a death threat when someone tries to get hold of some of their hair. Let me know their reactions to this concept in this thread and we'll proceed from there; this only really works as a threat if you know to watch out for it.

I was expecting something similar, and in fact was intending to use the connection in the other way to target them - or at least be able to follow the hair. I spent a lot of time looking through GURPS Magic myself, and was unable to find anything of the sort - even Seeker, which is one of the only spells affected by the metaphysical connection of familiarity, can only be cast on an individual or manmade object.

That's part of the reason my response was so anticlimactic - I was expecting it to be a big deal, but then after extensive searching I found nothing of the sort.

I'm guessing variant magic systems would find that useful, though. I'm fairly sure the one in Monster Hunters makes use of that concept, and I think at least one system from Thaumatology does, but it doesn't seem that the default GURPS magic system incorporates much of that at all. Perhaps these giggling creatures use some other system. Even if so, though, it wouldn't make sense for Jorin to know what they're up to (ugh).

[Lamech]

There are some systems in thaum that allow for such connections. I'll assume John has heard of one and respond when I get more than a minute.

[Totem]

Originally Posted by momothefiddler

I'm guessing variant magic systems would find that useful, though. I'm fairly sure the one in Monster Hunters makes use of that concept, and I think at least one system from Thaumatology does, but it doesn't seem that the default GURPS magic system incorporates much of that at all. Perhaps these giggling creatures use some other system. Even if so, though, it wouldn't make sense for Jorin to know what they're up to (ugh).

I think the best bet here is to work on the assumption that Jorin and John are aware of the concept (they both have Thaumatology and have been hanging around the Western Harbour for a while, which can expose you to all sorts of stuff) or to just take a step back and effectively remove the situation from the game. One way they both have an idea that this could be dangerous, and the other we go on to some other situation instead. I leave this choice to you, since either way works for me; the current situation can only go forward as is if Jorin and/ or John has some idea of the kind of threat that the situation represents.

[momothefiddler]

I'd rather go with the idea. I'm pretty used to it and I like it and, like I said, I'm surprised it's not in there anywhere.

[Totem]

Originally Posted by momothefiddler

I'd rather go with the idea. I'm pretty used to it and I like it and, like I said, I'm surprised it's not in there anywhere.

As I said, I think it's a balance thing more than anything; the ability to hit someone without range penalties like that with only the addition of a single spell to kick things off would prevent some serious issues for magic users in-game. It makes things very easy for enemies to target the players, or very easy for the players to target an enemy, which might kill a plot with everyone being paranoid about leaving hair around the place and so forth and enemies being potentially removed so quickly.

[momothefiddler]

Thaum. p243 has an entry on Sympathy, with several examples of substances giving sympathetic bonuses from +1 to +4. Perhaps it would be better for balance if sympathetic connections helped balance out range penalties instead of completely bypassing them?

As for enemies being removed quickly, I had thought the sympathetic connection a trait of a different type of magic (that these giggling creatures have) rather than an addition to the current 'standard' magic that we have (including the -2 to -6 penalty for insufficient sympathetic connection and the +0 for a minimal connection). Perhaps it could even be an advantage - maybe even one that comes in levels. At first level you gain the ability to use sympathetic connections (with the 1-4 points of bonus as above). After that, the strength increases, but only to counter range penalties (at level 2 you'd get 2-8 points of range penalty cancelled, at 3 3-12, etc.)

I don't know how balanced that is but it doesn't seem as immediately broken as completely ignoring all range?

On the other hand, this has the potential to get way too complicated. If you'd rather just drop the matter entirely, that makes sense too.