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Old 12-11-2018, 05:19 AM   #1
Icelander
 
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Default RPM Rituals: Official, Semi-, Quasi- and Un-official

I'll be using the RPM system for a modern Monster Hunters/Secret Magic campaign set on the Gulf Coast and the Caribbean. One player, playing a former homicide detective with medium and spirit powers*, is interested in having his character be learning to cast spells, but would prefer to be able to pick pre-defined spells to having to manipulate the RPM system for each magical act.

The list of rituals in the RPM supplement doesn't cover nearly all the spells that he might be interested in doing and as the player is unlikely to do the work and I always try to avoid unnecessary work, I thought I'd check what has already been published in addition to the basic book.

I was wondering if anyone can point me to a source for all RPM rituals that have been published by SJ Games, in supplements and Pyramid magazines, as well as those rituals privately written up on personal websites or these forums by authors involved in the Monster Hunter line and the RPM system. For that matter, I'd welcome pointers toward less official sources with well-designed RPM rituals.

I have Project Grimoire 2.02, but don't know if any further work has been done on that project (writing up GURPS Magic spells as RPM rituals). I would be very interested in RPM conversions for the Path/Book rituals in GURPS Thaumatology.

As for specific spells/rituals, I'm basically looking for anything that deals with spirits or can be justified as spirit-assisted. Speak with Dead, compelling or convincing non-sapient minor spirits to serve as spies, scouts or distractions, symbiotic protective arrangements with spirits, equivalents for Rider Within for spirits, pentagram wards, fetishes and amulets that protect from various kinds of spirits or specific spirit attacks (i.e. influence or possession), etc.

There will be other spellcasters in the campaign, so I'm going to need other kinds of rituals as well, including rituals that would be suitable for ritual magicians in traditions such as Hoodoo/Vodou/Vodú/Vudú/Voodoo/Brujería/Candomblé/Macumba/Obeah/Palo/Santería.

Can anyone assist me with links to online sources for rituals and suggestions for supplements and Pyramids to buy?

*A devout, if fallible, Catholic, he can sometimes see spirits around dead bodies and believes that before souls go on the afterlife, his gifts allow him to perceive them. He regards this as a divine duty to speak for the dead, finding justice or at least discovering the truth about victims of homicide, and regards the spirits of the deceased as persons with rights and feelings, whether he can perceive them or not.
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Last edited by Icelander; 12-11-2018 at 05:29 AM.
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Old 12-11-2018, 11:25 AM   #2
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Default Re: RPM Rituals: Official, Semi-, Quasi- and Un-official

Is Project Grimoire a supplement, thread, or webpage? I couldn't find it on a quick search.
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Old 12-11-2018, 12:57 PM   #3
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Default Re: RPM Rituals: Official, Semi-, Quasi- and Un-official

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Originally Posted by naloth View Post
Is Project Grimoire a supplement, thread, or webpage? I couldn't find it on a quick search.
Here is the forum thread where I found it.

If Raekai is reading this, thanks, and I wonder if you ever did any more conversion work from GURPS Magic or other sources.
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Old 12-11-2018, 03:35 PM   #4
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Default Re: RPM Rituals: Official, Semi-, Quasi- and Un-official

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Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
Here is the forum thread where I found it.

If Raekai is reading this, thanks, and I wonder if you ever did any more conversion work from GURPS Magic or other sources.
Thanks. That thread is actually replaced by this one if you want to update your link. The download for the xls only works from the newer thread.
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Old 12-12-2018, 01:02 AM   #5
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Default Re: RPM Rituals: Official, Semi-, Quasi- and Un-official

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Originally Posted by naloth View Post
Thanks. That thread is actually replaced by this one if you want to update your link. The download for the xls only works from the newer thread.
Right, thanks.

I've got the newer download, it seems, from a year or so back.
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Old 12-12-2018, 08:59 PM   #6
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Default Re: RPM Rituals: Official, Semi-, Quasi- and Un-official

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Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
Here is the forum thread where I found it.

If Raekai is reading this, thanks, and I wonder if you ever did any more conversion work from GURPS Magic or other sources.
Y'all are very welcome!

As my signature says, I've pretty much abandoned the project. It's definitely worth another look if I can find both (a) the time and (b) a rekindled interest in RPM. (Though, knowing that the community would still be interested in something like this makes me want to bust out all of my old RPM notes right now!) Typically, my players prefer systems like Sorcery and Psionic Powers, so my attention has gone in that direction over the past—*looks at thread date*—four years. Wow, time has flown.

I'm honestly just glad to see that the link still works. I move stuff around in my OneDrive so often, but I try to not break stuff that I've linked to the forums.
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Old 12-13-2018, 09:43 AM   #7
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Default Bane Bullet Charm

What is the canonical way to enchant a bullet as a charm so that it does extra damage against certain categories of foes?

I understand this could be done with Bestows a Bonus, but let's assume we want to have the option of higher damage than that open.

Is there any way to make the damage either part of basic Dmg of the bullet (and thus adding for the purposes of penetrating DR) or at least Follow-Up?

And while damage would seem to fit under Destroy Matter for normal targets, Destroy Spirit for ghosts, qlippoths and demons and Destroy Undead for zombies or vampires, could extra damage to "all supernatural targets" be Destroy Magic?

Can anyone good with RPM rituals write up a sample Supernatural Bane bullet Charm that does an extra 2d pi (ideally added to the bullet damage for DR purposes, Follow-Up if that's imlossible) to any supernatural target?
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Old 12-13-2018, 10:31 AM   #8
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Default Re: Bane Bullet Charm

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Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
What is the canonical way to enchant a bullet as a charm so that it does extra damage against certain categories of foes?

I understand this could be done with Bestows a Bonus, but let's assume we want to have the option of higher damage than that open.

Is there any way to make the damage either part of basic Dmg of the bullet (and thus adding for the purposes of penetrating DR) or at least Follow-Up?

And while damage would seem to fit under Destroy Matter for normal targets, Destroy Spirit for ghosts, qlippoths and demons and Destroy Undead for zombies or vampires, could extra damage to "all supernatural targets" be Destroy Magic?

Can anyone good with RPM rituals write up a sample Supernatural Bane bullet Charm that does an extra 2d pi (ideally added to the bullet damage for DR purposes, Follow-Up if that's imlossible) to any supernatural target?

There is some discussion on this in this old thread. Basically PK recommended treating a +2 bonus as +2 or +1 per die, and there was some cost discussion.
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Old 12-13-2018, 03:53 PM   #9
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Default Re: Bane Bullet Charm

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There is some discussion on this in this old thread. Basically PK recommended treating a +2 bonus as +2 or +1 per die, and there was some cost discussion.
As a damage bonus with a weapon is a narrow category, there doesn't seem to be any incentive to cast a ritual giving a bullet Charm a bonus to damage only against a specific category of foes, when you can have an unlimited damage bonus against any target for the same energy cost.

This seems to lead to uninteresting results, as I find the idea of Werewolf Bane, Ghostkiller or Supernatural Slayer bullet Charms much more flavourful than Bullets of +2 to Damage. And while I might allow basic enchanted bullets that hit harder, I would like Bane bullets enchanted against specific foes to receive a substantially higher bonus damage for the same energy cost.
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Old 12-15-2018, 09:27 AM   #10
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Default Re: Bane Bullet Charm

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Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
And while I might allow basic enchanted bullets that hit harder, I would like Bane bullets enchanted against specific foes to receive a substantially higher bonus damage for the same energy cost.
One rule hack would be to apply an advantage limitation as a discount on the energy cost. Accessibility Limitations or the Limited Defenses modifiers for defensive abilities would be good candidates.

Either set of limitations would give large discounts if the susceptible targets were defined narrowly. This could potentially become game breaking. The main downside for such limited banes is that charm slots would be wasted if used on an invalid target. To fully exploit the discount, the PCs would need to do their research and figure out what they are going up against. In my opinion, this would be very fitting for a monster hunters game.

Players may also try to break the game by claiming discounts on broad categories of targets. GM fiat will be required to establish balanced discounts. But this shouldn't be any more difficult than the GM calls RPM already requires.
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