GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 19: Incantation Magic

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by PK

Hey, feel free to leak whatever you want; it's your book. :)

Then I shall.

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Ghostdancer - Seriously? I don't recall seeing a single example of a spell loadout on your blog, and I've been watching fairly hard for it since its something I've been trying to encourage you to blog about for a looooooong time

I do think worked examples of things are something would be awesome if GURPS did more of, one of my favorite GURPS books ever was GURPS Wizards, since it had fully statted, with gear and name and story, wizards for all the concepts it was demonstrating

I actually even played one of the worked example characters in a campaign!

edit - Since I am the one making silly comments about the loadout topic, I'll try to post one of my own loadouts this eve

Really? Not this one? Or this one? Or this one? Or these two for Patreon patrons?

I have blogged about it - five different times. And there's another one in the future. Right now, that's not where my creative energies are but I did it because you asked if I would.

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

I was trying to be mysterious... Spoilsports...

Mysterious may make something popular, but it doesn't convince people to buy the product. This is a product. I want people to buy it so I can write another product that people will hopefully buy.

Originally Posted by Pseudonym

Gave it a quick read through, I think it looks fun, and kinda want to see how it would play out versus RPM.

One small thing though, on p.27, Greater Solidify Spirit references the undead path instead of, presumably, the necromancy path.

Originally Posted by PK

Darn it! (said the embarrassed editor).

Share any other goofs you find and we will do an errata fix after giving it a week or two so they can all shake out.

GRAH! I spent DAYS looking over this (that was a late addition though, so maybe some forgiveness) and something still slipped through.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Pseudonym

Gave it a quick read through, I think it looks fun, and kinda want to see how it would play out versus RPM.

I was pleasantly surprised; I'm one of the few who was bored to tears by RPM. It had enough of both true Vance (though the limit was more than seven spells, alas :)) and even some of Arneson's components.

[dripton]

Quickie review:

It's Ritual Path Magic, Dungeon Fantasy version. DF: the GURPS line with way more magic systems than published adventures!

The basic idea is that there are 8 Paths, which are kind of like Colleges in vanilla Magic, except there are fewer of them so each is broader. Each is controlled with a Very Hard skill, and there's a master Very Hard skill that needs to be at least as high level as the highest Path skill, and there's a Talent that boosts all of them. Incanters can cast spells that fit into one (or more, at a penalty) of their Paths. Incanters cast slowly, so most of the time they prepare spells before the adventure (which has the benefit of moving the arguing with the GM about custom spells out of play time into prep time), called incantations. They get a limited number of slots to hold such incantations. They get bonuses for wizardish things like spell components and grimoires. They can also make infusions (potions) and scripts (scrolls) which are variations on the idea of incantations, with slightly different rules.

And then there are a bunch of rules for creating your own spells. Figure out which Path(s) it's in, figure out how powerful, etc. There are a few dozen example spells, but not nearly as many as in GURPS Magic, so Incanters (like Sorcerers) are for players and GMs who are willing to tinker, while Wizards are easier out of the box. (And, like Sorcerers, if we're lucky there may be more spells published in the future.)

And there's a 250-point template called Incanter that has the expected Unusual Background and Talent and Path skills. Otherwise Incanters are pretty similar to Wizards -- attributes in the same ballpark, similar nerdy disad choices, spells banned from affecting the same stuff (healing, animals, etc.) to avoid stepping on Clerics and Druids. You could remove Wizards in favor of Incanters if you want, or allow both in parallel.

Very crunchy book; I'd need to play with it for a long time to really know how I like it in practice. But a lot of people like the RPM system, so bringing it to DF is a great idea. Excited to have another option, but probably won't add it to my current DF game. (Except for Professional Skill: Dungeon Butcher.)

[RobKamm]

(For the record, you can either buy this from Warehouse 23 now (see link below) or if you're pledging to the Kickstarter you may add $8 to your pledge and acquire this as an add-on, via Backerkit, after the campaign ends.

Evil dilemma! Get the book now or help push the Kickstarter over the line but wait until it is over to start reading. I know I should put the money in the get-a-shiny-new-box pool, but I'm not a patient person by nature. Hmm...

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by RobKamm

Evil dilemma! Get the book now or help push the Kickstarter over the line but wait until it is over to start reading. I know I should put the money in the get-a-shiny-new-box pool, but I'm not a patient person by nature. Hmm...

First day sales are a useful metric for new writers...more people buy it, the better chance for other proposals to go through...Also. Buyyyyy it. You know you want toooo.

You can buy it more than once. It's ok. Your wallet won't mind. It's got lots of crunch that can be ported to non-DF games you know. Such delicious crunch. Like a bowl full of crisp cherries or candied delights. What could it hurt to buy it now? Nothing. Nothing at all....

[the_seeker]

Mercy! I'm a poor, poor man. We'll see how much mad money I have at the end of the month...

[Greg 1]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Congratulations to Kuroshima and Ghostdancer!

Hell yes! This one looks like a beauty. Thank you very guys! :)

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by the_seeker

Mercy! I'm a poor, poor man. We'll see how much mad money I have at the end of the month...

Go sell some blood. You don't need it. :-D

Originally Posted by Greg 1

Hell yes! This one looks like a beauty. Thank you very guys! :)

Well, thank y'all for buying it (or intending to).

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

First day sales are a useful metric for new writers...more people buy it, the better chance for other proposals to go through...Also. Buyyyyy it. You know you want toooo.

this was my concern expressed on the Kickstarter thread.
PKs response helps

I suspect the "Top Men" will soft pedal sales till after the results are in from the Surveys. The Zen Masters (Darn now I want a T short as stretch goal) will also add to the numbers so it should be good.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Refplace

this was my concern expressed on the Kickstarter thread.
PKs response helps

I suspect the "Top Men" will soft pedal sales till after the results are in from the Surveys. The Zen Masters (Darn now I want a T short as stretch goal) will also add to the numbers so it should be good.

Interesting, very interesting. (Somewhere in the night, Douglas Cole is forced to take a drink.)