Book/Path Magic

[Refplace]

OK here is my current list of traditions to be used as examples or to test the system in various ways.
Cultivation; Cyber Mage; Divine Paths; Dragaera Sorcery; Dragon Mage; Elven; High Arts; Hekau; Hermetic; Invocation; Naruto; Shamanic; Sorcery or other Synonym; Story Magic; Travelers; Tree Magic; Vocational Magic; Voodoo; The Way of Changes; Shadowrun.

Obviously some of those would never see print due to licensing issues. But they help test the system for various settings and styles of magic with the goal of making a generic and universal magic system.
Example description...
Cultivation
Type: Low Magic
Skill: Ritual Magic (Cultivation, Wu Xing)
Charms: Natural objects and personal weapons.
Path Skills: Alchemy, Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, Wood.
This tradition is based on Wuxia and especially Xia fiction which in turn is based (loosely) on Taoist lore. Practitioners focus on spiritual growth, working with the natural energies of Yin and Yang, Cinematic skills such as Blind Fighting, Body Control, Breaking Blow, Esoteric Medicine, Flying Leap, Immovable Stance, Invisibility Art, Kiai, Light Walk, Mental Strength, Parry Missile Weapons, Power Blow, Pressure Points, Pressure Secrets, Push, Throwing Art, and Zen Archery could all be used as is or treated as path techniques. Power based versions for most of these are referenced below, many comparing favorably to the cinematic skills.

Even in that description you can see its not final and I want to offer the GM multiple ways to do things. Simply by invoking different options.

Elven
Type: High Magic
Skill: Musical Influence
Charms:

The long-lived elves have a need to fight off boredom and complacency. One way they do this is mastering craft and performance skills, producing extreme quality and nuance. They have two major traditions, High and Low Elven.
High Elven
Paths: High Art; High Craft
High Elven has Art and Craft Paths
Low Elven
Paths: Hunters Path; Natures Path; Warriors Path.
Low Elven is about nature and does not use most laws. Warriors Path, Hunters Path.

[whswhs]

I don't see Dragaeran sorcery as a good fit to path and book magic. I would be more inclined to use it for Easterner witchcraft.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I don't see Dragaeran sorcery as a good fit to path and book magic. I would be more inclined to use it for Easterner witchcraft.

Oh it definitely fits Easterner Witchcraft. But using the same core rules with some tweaking I think it works for Sorcery too and that would make life easier on the GM and players running the setting.
They cast faster - Ritual Adept.
Bonus from the Orb for Imperial Sorcery but not Elder Sorcery.
Different paths and does not use spirits as the underlying form of energy but instead uses chaos energy or the Amphora. The original sources of Book/Path used Spirits (Voodoo and Spirits, dont recall on Castle Flakensitein)
But the version in GURSP Thaumatology was more vague and clearly allows for different forms of energy.

[namada]

Originally Posted by Refplace

But with all those limitations aside, what kind of things would you like to see in such a thing?

None of that...
No offense intended, but the best thing about Path/Book Magic is precisely the fact that it isn't as codified as GURPS Magic. That's the draw for me & I'd rather leave it as is, other than adding other Paths or Books, that is.

[cupbearer]

Originally Posted by Refplace

I liked Book/Path magic from when I first saw it in GURPS Spirits and GURPS Voodoo.
It gives a certain flavor to spell casting that is good for certain settings. My main issues with it are its not universal enough and there is no spell design system. I have been playing in a modern campaign using Book/Path for about two years now and about a year ago I took some serious stabs at addressing these items.
Let me be clear this is not for a GURPS supplement I intend to pitch in the near future. The current demand is for less crunchy material, though should that change I would indeed like to pitch it.
But for my own creative project I have worked out a spell design system (actually 3 versions, giving the GM options that yield similar results but work it through in different ways) and a number of example traditions and new tweaks based largely on my Affinity Magic system work.
Regretfully, I cant share much here if I ever hope to get it published.

But with all those limitations aside, what kind of things would you like to see in such a thing?
So far I have examples for different core skills, variations on Ritual Adept to help support specialists, Effect and Energy Accumulation, and about a dozen traditions each aimed to showcase a different style.

If you like Book/Path your reasons for that would be helpful. Similarly if it doesn't appeal to you.
things you would like to see, even specific traditions also would be useful.
I may list my current set of traditions if there is interest.

Edited to Add
SJG does not like it when authors write a supplement before getting a contract as that process involves them working with the author to get an outline they feel works best for GURPS.
My first two supplements GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits and GURPS TT: Spirits (in editing) suffered from being written ahead of time as part of a much larger Shamanic Powers concept. Even breaking them down and rewriting there were artifacts left over that made those individual products harder to write and edit. So I try very hard not to do that anymore!
Lesson learned.
What I have here is a rough outline, examples, and a bunch of notes that I can adjust later. the purpose is to get things on paper as I think of them in enough detail that I wont forget and can come back to later.
Some field work is done like testing math but nothing is set in stone or complete enough to be published. this really is an outline and various ideas I think would be good to have but the editors or play testers may disagree and want cut. In particular most of the current example traditions will likely be cut if I ever submitted it - though they may be a designers note. They are just test beds to see if certain ideas work.

Well I wrote a post suggesting you do this. So I’m here for it.
I was hoping you we’re adding this to the template toolkit already, but a standalone book would be cool.

[cupbearer]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Off to a Halloween party, Ill do that tomorrow. Thank you.


What I am currently going with is rather than reinvent the wheel a conversion system. So Convert GURPS Magic and GURPS Powers to rituals. And another more freeform version that converts Realm Magic to rituals which shares something with RPM.
It could change but I built a decent number of spells that way and the numbers come out in the ballpark of each other so I like it. Also its pretty simple and lets the GM choose what they like best yet wind up with similar results.

This is a decent idea. I would prefer a whole cloth design system but that is pretty hard

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by cupbearer

Well I wrote a post suggesting you do this. So I’m here for it.
I was hoping you we’re adding this to the template toolkit already, but a standalone book would be cool.

Yeah, it was out of scope for that supplement though. I felt it appropriate to at least reference several systems but even if I had done more than that it would not have done the system justice to be slipped into TT:Spirits.

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by namada

None of that...
No offense intended, but the best thing about Path/Book Magic is precisely the fact that it isn't as codified as GURPS Magic. That's the draw for me & I'd rather leave it as is, other than adding other Paths or Books, that is.

I'm kind of there too. At first I thought it would be useful to have an instruction manual for making new rituals, but then I tried a few just going with my gut instincts and it wasn't a problem at all.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by namada

None of that...
No offense intended, but the best thing about Path/Book Magic is precisely the fact that it isn't as codified as GURPS Magic. That's the draw for me & I'd rather leave it as is, other than adding other Paths or Books, that is.

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

I'm kind of there too. At first I thought it would be useful to have an instruction manual for making new rituals, but then I tried a few just going with my gut instincts and it wasn't a problem at all.

So are you both actually opposed to any design system? Or ok with one as long as its not going to take to much space?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Refplace

So are you both actually opposed to any design system? Or ok with one as long as its not going to take to much space?

A very mechanical way to create new spells and particularly whatever spells you need to solve The Problem Of The Day just leads to RPM, which we already have.

I'd probably try and be careful about even accepting new Rituals. A magic system that does some things well, some things poorly and some not at all has character and players would have to think about how they were going to use it. A magic system that will do anything as log as you document that you've jumped through all the hoops is kind of boring to me.