05-24-2012, 06:22 PM | #1 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
|
Pyramid #3/43: Thaumatology III
The number 3 seems to come up a lot where magic is concerned, and e23's Pyramid #3/43: Thaumatology III is no exception. Yes, we liked the theme so much that we did it again . . . twice. In the spirit of GURPS Thaumatology, this issue of Pyramid takes a long look at different ways of working magic:Grimoires, potions, spells
— Rev. Pee Kitty & Kromm
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
05-24-2012, 07:55 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: Pyramid #3/43: Thaumatology III
Sounds good. On my to do list for next payday.
And Alchemy from the preview almost makes my mode skills RAW :) Cool, at least its a precedent I can point to. |
05-24-2012, 08:50 PM | #3 |
Join Date: May 2008
Location: CA
|
Re: Pyramid #3/43: Thaumatology III
The Alchemy and Cultist of the Elder God articles are excellent; now we just need proper enchantment in the RPM system and we're set;)
|
05-24-2012, 08:55 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
|
Re: Pyramid #3/43: Thaumatology III
Got it, reading it, looks great so far :) be back tomorrow after I'm done.
__________________
All about Size Modifier; Unified Hit Location Table A Wiki for my F2F Group A neglected GURPS blog |
05-24-2012, 09:04 PM | #6 |
Join Date: May 2008
Location: CA
|
Re: Pyramid #3/43: Thaumatology III
Depends on if you make extensive use of RPM or not; personally, I'd probably buy it just for the Alchemy, but that's up to you.
The only things I dislike about the Alchemy system are the examples of the required materials. Rather than being all about drawings of stuff, I'd be happier with animal body parts or natural elements, etc. Things like 'eye of newt' or 'a hawk's feather', rather than 'a picture of an airplane' or 'an autographed drawing of Road Runner'. That said, it's easy enough to just say the required materials need to be more traditional and less drawings, especially since there are very few examples of materials - you'd need to come up with some of your own, anyways. |
05-24-2012, 09:35 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
|
Re: Pyramid #3/43: Thaumatology III
Well another Alchemy system is nice to have and as its for RPM which is popular and getting expanded 'soon'. Also as it is for RPM and that is built off merging Path?Book and Symbol/Syntactic from Thaumatology it can probably be modified without too much hassle for those. Note I haven't read it yet.
|
05-25-2012, 02:54 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Land of the Britons
|
Re: Pyramid #3/43: Thaumatology III
I bought this book yesterday as soon as I saw it (before this thread was up) because I've been looking forward to it for weeks now (due to my own speculation from leaks). Its got a number of interesting articles, the alchemy looks like it could be awesome - but I've never bothered trying to learn Ritual Path magic as I removed magic from my MH setting, so I might have to go back and learn it now...
The main reason I bought it however was for the cultists! Now that I've read that article through once or twice to get a general idea of how it'll play (not crunched the differences yet though)... my assessment is that it doesn't seem like they'll play overly different in how they feel compared to Mentalists. Cultists (ie all the variants) get a handful of key differences, and upgrades in theory, but they look as though they get much of the same flavour and drawbacks. They generally should, but it looks like a white wash of the psi flavour over other core 'mechanics' so that you don't have to be stuck with using the Mentalist abilities. This certainly is good if you want the flavour and power source, but without the limitations of the powers in Psi. I was sort of hoping for something a little more varied that just a straight up blend, to be brutally honest, as I really like new mechanics to play with. It's a great article for showing how to mesh to the two... so I'm currently going through with a fine-toothed comb and making a personal wizard version with one or two differing mechanical twists to scratch that itch for me. So it still gets full stars as the main reason for me in buying pyramid is to harvest well formed ideas which you I warp to my own agenda! I love the Box Labelled: To Pandora article, and am once again jealous of Steve Marsh and his gaming history. The Sorcery Levels take on magic also looks very useful... if I could find a use for it. Very much something to read before making a world/campaign by the looks of it, clearly a lot of work has gone into it and it'll be very resourceful if you can utilise it. I just don't have any room for it in my games atm. The odds and ends are pretty usable too, even if its just a tiny spark of an idea. Overall I'm very impressed with this article, I hope for Thaumatology IV in the future, the series is awesome.
__________________
...like a monkey with a wrench. Last edited by PseudoFenton; 05-25-2012 at 03:04 AM. |
05-25-2012, 04:39 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: The ASS of the world, mainly Valencia, Spain (Europe)
|
Re: Pyramid #3/43: Thaumatology III
Quote:
Mechanically, it's a straight up blend, true. I didn't think about it, but I could have added some more psi abilities (available to both mentalists and cultists). This article, however, was an experiment on trying to add more flavor text, and doing so in the style of DF14. I think I succeeded, but it's only my opinion. As for playing similarly to Mentalists, well, the thing is, by the flavor, they're not that different. |
|
05-25-2012, 04:53 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Land of the Britons
|
Re: Pyramid #3/43: Thaumatology III
Quote:
I enjoyed the flavour and write up in the article, and as I say the mechanics are still useful as a 'proofed' form of combining the psi flavour with other professions mechanics, so its not without its uses. I'm also sure other readers are less interested in what I was craving and will be fully satisfied with the ready made format for getting those cultists in their games!
__________________
...like a monkey with a wrench. |
|
Tags |
path/book magic, pyramid 3/43, pyramid issues |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|