Pyramid is the monthly GURPS supplement containing short articles with
a loose linking theme. This time it's magic.
Technomysticism (W.A. Frick) gives a lens for the Techie
template from Monster Hunters: the Technomystic, who takes a
ritualistic and spiritual approach to high technology. (This is very
reminiscent of some of the shamanic powers I remember from Werewolf:
the Apocalypse.) This works fairly like the standard techie in terms
of role in the party, but it's an explicitly magical approach, making
devices work for the technomystic… or stop working at all. This looks
mechanically pretty solid, though it's not a style that really appeals
to me.
The Tome of the Black Island (J. Edward Tremlett) describes the
origin and nature of a very cursed book of magic, and the sorcerer who
wrote it. This is clearly intended for a fantasy campaign, or at least
one where magic is widely known, and it really deserves to be the
focus of a series of adventures.
Eidetic Memory: Dark Alchemy (David L. Pulver) lists several new
potions related to death and the undead. Preserve a severed head and
let it answer questions; distil a victim's memories into a drinkable
form; make a corpse look as though it is still alive. These vary from
the harmless to the repellent.
The Thaumaturgy of Metallurgy (Ted Brock) expands on the Metal
spells from GURPS Magic's Technology college, building them into a
stand-alone college. Which means it has a big attack spell. Yes, you
can now summon an anvil to drop on someone. But you can also suck the
iron out of someone's blood, spray metal pellets as from a shotgun,
and so on. I am unconvinced by Essential Metal (a mere "three times as
strong as iron" puts it at the bottom end of the steels), but there's
definitely fun to be had here. (Especially with "Transmute Metal".
Yes, it only lasts for a minute, but, well, mercury is a metal…)
Codex Duello (Christopher R. Rice) provides a framework for
resolving magical duels: a challenge, a partition to protect
bystanders, sizing up the opponent, then the duel itself. I love the
idea, but there are significant implementation problems (a
cheaply-prepared duelling ground makes it harder to create the
partition than having no preparation at all, and all that sizing up
the opponent does is give a speed bonus to the first round of combat).
Mages are given extra spells (basic attack and defence modes) so that
non-combatant mages can still duel, which feels as though it removes
some of the flavour – yes, I can see why it's done, but to me it makes
the duel feel too artificial, rather than something that could have
evolved from genuine wizardly battles. Designer's notes
here.
Random Thought Table: The Power of a Good Reputation (Steven Marsh)
suggests a setup in which magical power derives from the number of
people who think you have magical power, perhaps even the size of your
audience at the time you're casting the spell. It's an intriguing
idea, and links stage to real magic in a plausible way.
Short Bursts: Tech Support (Matt Riggsby) is more Car Wars tie-in
fiction.
Out of these articles I'm most likely to use the Metal college, but I
don't tend to run a great many games with magic in them at the moment
(partly because I'm playing in one where the PCs are exploring the
fundamental structure of magic, among other things). I may well adapt
magical duelling, but it'll take a fair bit of work to fit my ideas of
how it should go. Pyramid 91 is available from
Warehouse 23.
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