RPM in Banestorm

[ericthered]

I've always wanted to run banestorm, but using the standard magic system has always pushed me away from it. I think that RPM may work, but I'd like to get advice before doing so:

1. what pitfalls can you see here?
2. can the feel of the setting be preserved with RPM? (yes I know there are lots of feels).
3. I want to play around with mana levels A LOT. how good is 'good'? and should I increase the mana gathered by a multiple (halved in low mana, doubled in high, ect.) or simply give a bonus to rolls (which will just add a flat amount)?
4. Any paths you would add or cut for banestorm?

As completely side notes, any comments on the following:

• ER is at half price, but the -1 is per attempt, not per every three.
• You can specialize in your path skill: it becomes hard for the specialty, and defaults at -2 to the rest of the path: effectively you get +1 on that and -1 on everything else. Examples include Energy (fire), Matter(Stone), Undead (Animated Corpses)

Thanks!

[Langy]

I don't know a huge amount about the setting, but nothing I can think of would lead to the setting being harmed at all by using RPM instead of normal magic. I can't see any reason you couldn't just toss it in and be done.

Just for kicks and giggles, here's a ritual for creating a global banestorm:

Create Banestorm
Spell Effects: Greater Transform Crossroads, Greater Create Crossroads, Greater Transform Magic, Lesser Create Chance
Inherent Modifiers: None.
Greater Effects: 3 (x7).

A banestorm is created that randomly swaps people between dimensions all across the world and all across time.

Typical Casting: Transform Crossroads (8) + Create Crossroads (6) + Transform Magic (8) + Create Chance (6) + Area of Effect, 4000 miles (80) + Subject Weight, 3,000 lbs (5) + Distance, 3,000 years (14) + Distance, 1 dimension (10). 959 energy (137x7).

[ericthered]

Yeah, that's one thing that appeals to me for RPM in banestorm: there seem to be remnants of a few truly epic spells lying around: The banestorm is only one of them. Others include the Djinn's Ascension and likely where-ever the sea elves came from.

The system also explains why dimension travel is so blastedly difficult: there's a greater crossroads effect over the entire continent. And using RPM, the spell doesn't even have to have gone wrong: it just picked up a LOT of quirks.

Two comments about the spell as written:

Where is subject weight coming from? is it the weight limit on things to be transferred? weren't entire villages moved?

1000 energy is pretty hefty, don't get me wrong, but is it enough for a spell that changes the world that badly? I think in a thread someone suggested making a level beyond greater....

[Langy]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Where is subject weight coming from? is it the weight limit on things to be transferred? weren't entire villages moved?

1000 energy is pretty hefty, don't get me wrong, but is it enough for a spell that changes the world that badly? I think in a thread someone suggested making a level beyond greater....

It's been a long time since I read or played in Banestorm; I didn't remember any large items being moved, only people. If entire villages, houses and all, are moved, then increase Subject Weight to 150 tons - this'll increase the Subject Weight modifier to +9 and increase energy cost by 28. Increase it even more if larger things have crossed over, too.

And yeah, it's for the individual items.

--

Good point, Ajardoor. The spell I put up would be the result of their critical failure on the ritual for a somewhat more targeted spell, not the spell they tried to cast.

[SCAR]

Originally Posted by Langy

It's been a long time since I read or played in Banestorm; I didn't remember any large items being moved, only people. If entire villages, houses and all, are moved, then increase Subject Weight to 150 tons - this'll increase the Subject Weight modifier to +9 and increase energy cost by 28. Increase it even more if larger things have crossed over, too.

From the GURPS Banestorm (4e) page:

Welcome to the land of Yrth, a magical realm of incredibly varied races and monsters – including people snatched from our Earth and other worlds by the cataclysmic Banestorm!

Whole villages were transported – from such diverse locales as medieval England, France, Germany, and the Far East. Now humans struggle with dwarves, elves, and each other. The Crusades aren't ancient history here – they're current events!

[Refplace]

I Think Daraweavers post has it well covered.
Illusion could be its own Path easy enough though. Greater Effects for the Crate rather then Illusion spels and some need Mind as well.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by SCAR

From the GURPS Banestorm (4e) page:

Yeah, but did the buildings get transported or just the people and the things they were carrying? *shrug*

[ajardoor]

Originally Posted by Langy

Just for kicks and giggles, here's a ritual for creating a global banestorm:

Create Banestorm
Spell Effects: Greater Transform Crossroads, Greater Create Crossroads, Greater Transform Magic, Lesser Create Chance
Inherent Modifiers: None.
Greater Effects: 3 (x7).

A banestorm is created that randomly swaps people between dimensions all across the world and all across time.

Typical Casting: Transform Crossroads (8) + Create Crossroads (6) + Transform Magic (8) + Create Chance (6) + Area of Effect, 4000 miles (80) + Subject Weight, 3,000 lbs (5) + Distance, 3,000 years (14) + Distance, 1 dimension (10). 959 energy (137x7).

Technically, that's not the Banestorm was supposed to do. It was originally an attempt to rid the world of Orcs - but it botched and then destroyed most of the elf population, ruined parts of the world, permanently penalized magic involving teleporting and THEN started teleporting in humanoids from other worlds, IIRC.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I've always wanted to run banestorm, but using the standard magic system has always pushed me away from it. I think that RPM may work, but I'd like to get advice before doing so:

1. what pitfalls can you see here?
2. can the feel of the setting be preserved with RPM? (yes I know there are lots of feels).
3. I want to play around with mana levels A LOT. how good is 'good'? and should I increase the mana gathered by a multiple (halved in low mana, doubled in high, ect.) or simply give a bonus to rolls (which will just add a flat amount)?
4. Any paths you would add or cut for banestorm?

I'm pretty sure the feel of the setting can be preserved. I'd suggest a few tweaks, though.

On the mana level thing, I would look fo a way to model the fact that the more ambient magic it is, the more dangerous spellcasting becomes: sure, you can gather the energy you want more quickly; but unless you're really skilled, your spellcasting is likely to develop more unintended quirks. High and Very High Mana (especially the latter) should be a double-edged sword.

For the Paths, I'd recommend two things:

1. Reorganize the Paths in a way that makes them more closely resemble the Colleges from GURPS Magic: use Paths of Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Sound, and Light instead of Matter and Energy; use separate Paths for Plant, Animal, and Body instead of having the Path of Body handle all three; fold the Path of Spirit into the Path of the Undead (Yrth mages tend to treat spirits as a special case of the undead, as there are rarely any spirits that aren't undead), rename "Crossroads" as "Gates", and drop Chance (Yrth magic rarely involves the manipulation of chance). Possibly add Paths for Illusions and Food (yeah, food; for some reason, the mages of Yrth have an entire College dedicated to it) — though personally, I'd use the Path of Magic to craft illusions.

2. Remove the Path defaults to Thaumatology. The mages of Yrth tend to be a lot more specialized than RPM, with it not being uncommon to have a pyromancer who knows little if anything other than the magic of Fire. Mind you, even with these changes, a RPM-based mage is still going to be considerably more versatile than a mage using the rules found in GURPS Magic.

I'd also switch the roll for refilling your personal energy reserve from the Path of Magic to Thaumatology itself: it's such a fundamental task that a mage can't help but be proficient in it. This has the side benefit that the Path of Magic remains optional, and need only be studied by mages who are interested in the special benefits it provides instead of being a must-have for all mages.

Originally Posted by ericthered

As completely side notes, any comments on the following:

• ER is at half price, but the -1 is per attempt, not per every three.
• You can specialize in your path skill: it becomes hard for the specialty, and defaults at -2 to the rest of the path: effectively you get +1 on that and -1 on everything else. Examples include Energy (fire), Matter(Stone), Undead (Animated Corpses)

Thanks!

That first option is going to seriously restrict the amount of magic one can accumulate. If you don't waive the penalty when accumulating energy to refill your reserve, then reserves above a certain size become difficult or impossible to fill; if you do waive it, then players will get the largest reserves they can afford, perform their magic directly out of their reserves if at all possible (meaning that their first castings will always be nearly immediate), and focus instead on refilling their reserves immediately afterward. As well, you'd need to tweak the Quick and Dirty Charms table to account for the more rapid decline in skill; I'd have to crunch some numbers to know how it would change, other than to say that the Safe Thresholds would drop considerably. Overall, I would ot recommend this change.

I have no problem with your notion of optional specializations for the Paths; though as I said above, I'd be inclined to start out with more specialized Paths in general and to narrow things further from there.