Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-29-2021, 08:54 PM   #11
Ulzgoroth
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Medium

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyneras View Post
I always thought of it as the equivalent of yelling into a thick fog "Hey! Come over here please! I'd like to talk to you!"
It's not restricted to spirits that are nearby, though. That's the thing. You want to invite Julius Caesar's ghost to your tea party in Sidney? He likely won't show, but he will know you asked.
__________________
I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident.
Ulzgoroth is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2021, 09:59 PM   #12
kirbwarrior
 
kirbwarrior's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Medium

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth View Post
It's not restricted to spirits that are nearby, though. That's the thing. You want to invite Julius Caesar's ghost to your tea party in Sidney? He likely won't show, but he will know you asked.
How far is that range? Can I call the ghosts of astronauts that flew too close to the Sun? One that had a poor accident on the moon? Australia?
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmicfish View Post
While I do not think that GURPS is perfect I do think that it is more balanced than what I am likely to create by GM fiat.
kirbwarrior is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-30-2021, 06:20 AM   #13
Not another shrubbery
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Medium

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth View Post
It's not restricted to spirits that are nearby, though. That's the thing. You want to invite Julius Caesar's ghost to your tea party in Sidney? He likely won't show, but he will know you asked.
Yeah. Don't forget the need to share a language though. The Universal enhancer is a bargain if you want to do stuff like a Meeting of Minds séance (maybe even inviting Steve Allen to host).

Quote:
Originally Posted by kirbwarrior View Post
How far is that range? Can I call the ghosts of astronauts that flew too close to the Sun? One that had a poor accident on the moon? Australia?
I'd figure the scope to be equal to whatever the travel limit of the campaign is. It's up to the GM if they want to set range limits, of course.
Not another shrubbery is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-30-2021, 06:33 AM   #14
RogerBW
 
RogerBW's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: near London, UK
Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Medium

The existence of Medium defines quite a bit about spirits in that particular world. I think the only game I've used it in is that occult WWII game, where clearly spiritualism had to be a thing – but the implications of at least some spirits of the dead being geographically available are substantial.

I'd like to see it broken down as "perceive insubstantial", "communicate with insubstantial".
RogerBW is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-30-2021, 10:20 PM   #15
kirbwarrior
 
kirbwarrior's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Medium

Quote:
Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery View Post
I'd figure the scope to be equal to whatever the travel limit of the campaign is. It's up to the GM if they want to set range limits, of course.
That feels a bit iffy to me compared to how ranges in GURPS usually works on traits (which only leans more into my feeling iffy about the trait in general). With that kind of range, Medium is just much better in spacefaring campaigns than island survival ones.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmicfish View Post
While I do not think that GURPS is perfect I do think that it is more balanced than what I am likely to create by GM fiat.
kirbwarrior is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-01-2021, 04:05 AM   #16
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Medium

A couple of add-on pieces for Medium:

Help Onwards This specific enhancement for Medium allows the medium to show how a newly dead spirit how to move onwards to its appropriate afterlife, reincarnation, etc. The medium can also force an unwilling spirit to move on, by winning a Quick Contest of Will with the spirit. The spirit has +1 to Will for this purpose per week since its physical death. If the spirit moves on, the medium can cut its ties to the material, preventing it from being brought back. This is the medium's equivalent of the Final Rest spell.

Spirit Testimony This is intended to allow a spirit to give testimony in court, or the like. Affliction [10] 0f Negated Advantage (Not Insubstantial, Not Invisible) +120%, Negated Disadvantage (Not Mute (substantial only)) +230%, Reliable +2 (+10%), Easily Resisted +8 (‑40%), Immediate Preparation Required, 1 minute, ‑30%, Insubstantial Only ‑30%, PM ‑10%, [35]. This version usually only works if the spirit is willing and waives its resistance roll. To be able to force a spirit to testify, remove Easily Resisted and add more Reliable.

Last edited by johndallman; 05-05-2021 at 04:34 AM. Reason: Get the Affliction right
johndallman is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-01-2021, 05:38 AM   #17
Ulzgoroth
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Medium

Quote:
Originally Posted by kirbwarrior View Post
That feels a bit iffy to me compared to how ranges in GURPS usually works on traits (which only leans more into my feeling iffy about the trait in general). With that kind of range, Medium is just much better in spacefaring campaigns than island survival ones.
How ranges usually work with traits is that the trait says exactly how range works with it. Medium mostly...doesn't. Medium only appears to distinguish two range bands: "nearby"/"in your presence", where you can detect and converse with spirits, and everywhere else.
__________________
I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident.
Ulzgoroth is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-01-2021, 07:48 AM   #18
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Medium

We have not pinned the range down in the occult WWII campaign, but the general pattern is that calling spirits ad hoc works fine within a mile or so. If you want to call them over long distances, especially across a national border, you have to do a formal séance, possibly combined with a Summon ritual (Path/Book magic, p. 162 of Thaumatology).
johndallman is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-01-2021, 08:14 AM   #19
Daigoro
 
Daigoro's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Medium

IIRC, when I played a medium character, Medium by itself seemed to make sense, but it wasn't clear what it actually did when combined with other spirit-oriented powers like See Invisible (Spirits) or Spirit Empathy. Which is a way of saying that it works fine in low-level occult investigation games (which makes sense as I recall it was introduced in GURPS Horror*), but doesn't mesh with more super-powered games.

*Oops, as the OP also said.
__________________
Collaborative Settings:
Cyberpunk: Duopoly Nation
Space Opera: Behind the King's Eclipse
And heaps of forum collabs, 30+ and counting!
Daigoro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-01-2021, 11:42 AM   #20
transmetahuman
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Default Re: [Basic] Advantage of the Week: Medium

Quote:
Originally Posted by kirbwarrior View Post
That feels a bit iffy to me compared to how ranges in GURPS usually works on traits (which only leans more into my feeling iffy about the trait in general). With that kind of range, Medium is just much better in spacefaring campaigns than island survival ones.
Standard spirits can't travel fast enough to be any use at all at interplanetary distances, much less interstellar. Can you imagine even jogging (flying at Move) to the Moon? Even the ones with psionic or magical Warp aren't likely to burn all their FP+ER for some vague invitation. Not even from a friend.

I guess if you rule that Mediums can transmit more information than the invitation, the Medium's general location, and maybe a "voice equivalent" to let the spirit recognize who's calling (which is about what I picture it doing), the spirit could relay it to another Medium and you'd have one-way FTL communication. Still not very game-breaking, especially since most spacefaring settings have FTL comm anyway.

Really, the same applies to long enough terrestrial distances - you can call Napoleon from Chicago, but he's probably not going to spend several days getting there.

Edit: just remembered the Inner Astral, which might provide shortcuts - if spirits in your setting can access it, and if the spirit knows its way around in there, and if the location information presumed to be sent is able to be used to exit the Inner in the right place.

Last edited by transmetahuman; 05-01-2021 at 11:46 AM.
transmetahuman is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
advantage of the week, medium, path/book magic, spirits

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:42 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.