How to make magic use friendlier? - Page 4

FF_Ninja · 02-24-2016, 08:07 PM

I'm in the process of putting together a fantasy campaign (and actually a campaign world, from the ground up). In the process of this, I find myself going over the GURPS: Magic system a few times. While I don't mind complexity, it isn't exactly "pick up and go" and does require significant player investment (in order to understand proper spell use, plan ahead, develop a capable spell library, etc).

This isn't my quandary, however.

Unless I've been doing it wrong since I picked up GURPS - which is a valid possibility - Magic is something most mages (read: mages that aren't walking around in a Very High Mana Field or that don't have some sort of absurd energy regeneration from some source) are only able to utilize magic very infrequently. The reason for this is, frankly, energy/fatigue costs. Even with a high-HT character (and most mages aren't exact Olympic athletes), a small handful of spells (or one or two large ones) will leave him effectively spent for hours.

Of course, my perspective might be a bit skewed - YMMV, am I right? - so I'm here to pick your brains.

Without buckets of CP into exotic advantages, is my assumption on the limited rate of spell usage accurate?
In your GURPS travels, have you ever run across a magic system that allowed for more regular, consistent magic use? Did it work out well?
If I were to develop a world where magic was more frequently used (like, say, the Harry Potter universe), could you pose any theories as to how I could manage that?
Do you feel like the GURPS magic system is perfectly fine as it is?

I briefly considered a few possibilities - making the entire planet a Very High Mana field, or increasing the rate at which energy (not FP) regenerates - but I suddenly realized that I shouldn't rely entirely on my limited experience. You guys have more games under your belt than I could play in a lifetime.

02-24-2016, 08:07 PM	#1
FF_Ninja Join Date: Feb 2016	How to make magic use friendlier? I'm in the process of putting together a fantasy campaign (and actually a campaign world, from the ground up). In the process of this, I find myself going over the GURPS: Magic system a few times. While I don't mind complexity, it isn't exactly "pick up and go" and does require significant player investment (in order to understand proper spell use, plan ahead, develop a capable spell library, etc). This isn't my quandary, however. Unless I've been doing it wrong since I picked up GURPS - which is a valid possibility - Magic is something most mages (read: mages that aren't walking around in a Very High Mana Field or that don't have some sort of absurd energy regeneration from some source) are only able to utilize magic very infrequently. The reason for this is, frankly, energy/fatigue costs. Even with a high-HT character (and most mages aren't exact Olympic athletes), a small handful of spells (or one or two large ones) will leave him effectively spent for hours. Of course, my perspective might be a bit skewed - YMMV, am I right? - so I'm here to pick your brains. Without buckets of CP into exotic advantages, is my assumption on the limited rate of spell usage accurate? In your GURPS travels, have you ever run across a magic system that allowed for more regular, consistent magic use? Did it work out well? If I were to develop a world where magic was more frequently used (like, say, the Harry Potter universe), could you pose any theories as to how I could manage that? Do you feel like the GURPS magic system is perfectly fine as it is? I briefly considered a few possibilities - making the entire planet a Very High Mana field, or increasing the rate at which energy (not FP) regenerates - but I suddenly realized that I shouldn't rely entirely on my limited experience. You guys have more games under your belt than I could play in a lifetime.