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Old 06-27-2015, 03:41 PM   #11
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Path/Book Magic question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lameth View Post
If you have a pic that found a lost library of occult lore, along with a real spell book, is that path or book? And why? And would it be one path, book of x? And what about if he finds a new spell on his own and wants to add it to his path? Etc.\
It depends.

The difference between a path and a book is not the physical medium. In my current fantasy campaign, for example, six of the seven races use path magic, including the race that has invented writing. The seventh, which has Eidetic Memory as a racial trait, does not; they use book magic—even though their "books" are purely oral traditions learned by heart.

What makes the difference is that a path is a set of rituals that all have some sort of logical cohesion as far as effects or subjects are concerned. A book doesn't; it's a group of rituals that were put together by an individual mage based on the connections they personally perceived.

Game mechanically, the core difference is that every Path defaults to an appropriate Ritual Magic at -6. Books have no defaults at all; you have to study the Book before you can even attempt casting. So if you think the character could puzzle out the basic rituals just from their general knowledge of the tradition, make it a Path. If not, make it a Book. That's from p. 127 of Thaumatology and it's the most important single difference.
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Old 06-27-2015, 04:07 PM   #12
johndallman
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: Path/Book Magic question

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lameth View Post
I just wish there was online or this website examples of NPCs or PCs that where written up with path AND book. I know the thaumaturgy book explains it somewhat but I'm lost in the big differences and the flow of the write up.
See "Paths vs. Books", Thaumatology, p122:
Quote:
Originally Posted by p122
This type of magic can also use two alternative systems
of organization. A version built around Paths assumes that
magic has a coherent, hierarchical structure. Each Path
focuses on a different aspect of magic or reality. The wizard
who masters it can produce a set of related effects.
If you're a Path magician, you learn Path skills, and can buy Techniques for rituals in Paths you know. Everything in a Path has an underlying theme, and likely uses related methods in working each ritual.

The Paths in Thaumatology are an example set. A GM can merge, split, or totally re-arrange them.
Quote:
A version that uses Books is more arbitrary and eccen-
tric, being based on a set of grimoires or similar references
that exist as physical objects in the game world. Each Book
may have some kind of theme or internal logic, but this is
often obscure to all but advanced students – the organiza-
tion of magic is much more a matter of style, or of the inter-
ests and peculiarities of various authors.
If the campaign uses Books, then magic isn't organised into a coherent structure. You learn a Book skill for each Book you have access to, and can buy Techniques for rituals in Books you have a skill for.

There are some potential variations in a Book campaign. For example, some Books might have shorter versions, missing some rituals from the full text, but using the same Book skill. Or a secret group of magicians might know Paths, enabling them to use a much greater variety of magic than most magicians, who are limited to Books.

But don't think of a Book as being like a D&D wizard's spellbook. It's a lot more like a Call of Cthulhu Mythos Tome, although usually not so injurious to the sanity.
Quote:
The difference between the two approaches is largely
one of flavour.
And both approaches use the same kind of rituals, which are listed in a set of example Paths in Thaumatology, because that's an easier way for gamers to understand them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lameth View Post
If you have a pic that found a lost library of occult lore, along with a real spell book, is that path or book? And why?
Could be either. If the book describes an organised system with rituals divided into categories with theoretical underpinnings, it's Path. If it describes individual rituals that work, but not how or why, it's likely Book.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lameth View Post
And would it be one path, book of x? And what about if he finds a new spell on his own and wants to add it to his path? Etc.
If that found book was from a Path system, it could describe one, several, or all paths, and contain any number of rituals from any of the paths it describes. If a character learned Path magic from it, and then came across a new ritual, he could easily understand it if it falls into a Path he has a skill for. If it's a Path that wasn't in the book, he'd have to work off his Ritual Magic skill default for that path, which makes it harder to understand.

If that found book was from a Book system, it is most likely a single Book, although it might be only part of one, or even several collected into a single volume. If a character learned Book magic from it, and them comes across a new ritual that isn't in any of his Books, then he has to learn the Book skill before he can cast the ritual. "Adding it to your book" isn't just a question of copying it into the pages: writing a new Book probably involves redesigning the rituals somewhat to make a new whole.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lameth View Post
And a pc that was raised with a true and cinematic witchcraft household ? Path or book ? And why?
Could be either. If their knowledge is deep, organised and adaptable, more likely Path. If it's based on unique items of knowledge, more likely Book. It's a campaign style thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lameth View Post
... what does it look like for someone to have both book and path? And what's the rules for it?
You know Ritual Magic skill, Path skills, and possibly Techniques of those Path skills. You also have one or more Book skills, and possibly Techniques of those. Having both is only meaningful if there are rituals in Books that don't make sense in terms of the Paths used in the campaign. To go back to the Call of Cthulhu example, spells for calling the spirits of dead humans would fit into the Path of Spirit, but summoning Great Old Ones wouldn't - they're utterly outside earthly understanding, and rituals for calling them wouldn't fit into a sane Path system.

Last edited by johndallman; 06-27-2015 at 04:11 PM. Reason: corrections...
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