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Old 01-05-2025, 04:34 PM   #1
Kesendeja
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Default What Magic system for an action oriented monster hunt

My game is heavily inspired by certain video games, Resident Evil and Devil May Cry being the two foundational. Bioweapons happen first and disguise the first wave of demon attacks. There are also going to be other supernatural creatures as well. So far I'm definitely going for inspiration from Castlevania, though the possession route of Buffy has its appeal.

No one in my group really likes the standard magic system.
So here is what I need:
  • It needs to be fast enough for combat, but also need cabals and rituals for really large effects.
  • Can handle different styles (I need to differentiate the various traditions somehow and this would be the best way)
  • Has a downside, usually fatigue or quintessence cost (which is the main problem with Sorcery, everything is too cheap)
I'm more than willing to use houserules to modify whatever system has the best bones, but I need help.
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Old 01-05-2025, 04:49 PM   #2
Whitewings
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Default Re: What Magic system for an action oriented monster hunt

On the first part, simply rule that spells using long distance modifiers must be cast ceremonially, increase casting time, and allow the various modifiers for names, sympathy, contagions, decans and whatever else you choose to apply only to ceremonial casting.
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Old 01-05-2025, 05:50 PM   #3
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: What Magic system for an action oriented monster hunt

Incantation Magic (DF19) is essentially the magic system from Monster Hunters (Ritual Path Magic) restructured to fit into a more action-oriented setting (Dungeon Fantasy). That doesn't require spells to have a cost associated with them, but it does allow for you to get a bonus to cast if you sacrifice HP, FP, ER, or magical components (and as anything beyond minor cantrips have a penalty to cast, this can be useful). Additionally, while spells can be cast in combat, most of the time you'll want to prepare them beforehand, which can also serve as something of a cost (you have to expend a prepared spell). There are also a number of spell effects missing, but you could easily add those back in from RPM (for example, there's no option to heal, as that's the purview of clerics in DF, but you could easily just use the rules from RPM for healing). That also only allows for large-scale rituals in the form of having your friends sacrifice their own HP/FP/ER to help power your spell, but once again, you could adapt the rules from RPM here - this would basically work out to splitting the SP amongst the participants and requiring each to succeed, as well as tossing on an additional -1 per participant beyond the first.

As for different traditions/styles, that could simply come down to which Path(s) a given tradition practices. Although the framework could also allow for different traditions to use an entirely different Path structure - you could have some use the Paths from DF19 (Arcanum, Augury, Demonology, Elementalism, Mesmerism, Necromancy, Protection, and Transfiguration), some use the Paths from the original RPM (Body, Chance, Crossroads, Energy, Magic, Matter, Mind, Spirit, and Undead; there's also an option for Nonexistence, but that's a lot riskier to use), and still others use a completely different set.
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Old 01-05-2025, 07:23 PM   #4
dcarson
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Default Re: What Magic system for an action oriented monster hunt

I found that RPM works for a fast magic system because you can prepare charms ahead. So not just the caster but their party members can have a couple of charms that can be used just by triggering. Now the limit is you will run out of charms if you underestimate the problem. At which point you use the couple you prepared for when you need to bug out and hope you escape. And a clever use of low power rituals means you can do one or two on the fly using your internal reserve of power or you allies FP at a greater cost in FP.

The player in my one Monster Hunter campaign that really got into using RPM pulled off some major rituals that were side quests. Like using every deccanic correspondent they can find to lower costs. Which in one case meant breaking into the local shul to "borrow" a shofar, buying a couple thousand dollars of heroin and then breaking into a chemistry lab after hours to conduct the ritual there.

In another it was organizing on short notice a musical festival at an old quarry in the woods with lots of booze. Which meant a number of smaller uses of magic to get permits agreed to right away, booze donated, etc. Then doing the ritual during the festival so they could tap a FP from each participant.
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Old 01-05-2025, 08:11 PM   #5
Prince Charon
 
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Default Re: What Magic system for an action oriented monster hunt

For speed purposes, it depends on how much prep time the casters have. If you're OK with them preparing effects ahead of time, most forms of Path/Book Magic (of which Ritual Path Magic seems to be the example that comes up the most recently, and is used in the Monster Hunters setting) works quite well.

If they need to do stuff fast with no preparation, then it depends on how many points they have available, because Magic as Powers is as fast as the build and GM says it is, but even if you just have one big advantage and a lot of power stunts and/or alternative abilities, it tends to be a pretty expensive option, and it can require the player and GM to spend a lot of time on designing the effects, if you're not using a version with a lot of pre-made spells (like starting with Sorcery and just adding greater costs to a lot of them).

Tweaking Symbol Drawing magic a bit could work for this, but I'm less certain about the details for doing it ceremonially. EDIT: Broadly, you can take skill penalties or greater energy costs to cast Symbol magic faster in combat, and then for ceremonial magic you not only Take Extra Time, you also select times of day or night (or specific dates or seasons) that grant a bonus, perform the ceremony at an auspicious place, and have more items than just the normal symbols, much as you would in Path/Book Magic.
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Last edited by Prince Charon; 01-05-2025 at 08:29 PM.
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Old 01-06-2025, 02:26 AM   #6
KarlKost
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Brazil
Default Re: What Magic system for an action oriented monster hunt

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kesendeja View Post
My game is heavily inspired by certain video games, Resident Evil and Devil May Cry being the two foundational. Bioweapons happen first and disguise the first wave of demon attacks. There are also going to be other supernatural creatures as well. So far I'm definitely going for inspiration from Castlevania, though the possession route of Buffy has its appeal.

No one in my group really likes the standard magic system.
So here is what I need:
  • It needs to be fast enough for combat, but also need cabals and rituals for really large effects.
  • Can handle different styles (I need to differentiate the various traditions somehow and this would be the best way)
  • Has a downside, usually fatigue or quintessence cost (which is the main problem with Sorcery, everything is too cheap)
I'm more than willing to use houserules to modify whatever system has the best bones, but I need help.
Imho, this would be Realm Magic, definitely.

I also hate spell lists. Real Magic has no such things and you can do it without necessarily needing to resort to the constant maths of RPM or Incantation magic, and it is an open ended system of magic.

Alternatively, you can also go with Verb/Noun, it is also a good alternative.
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