Writing Alternative Ritual Path MagicIf you’re not a writer or game designer, you might not understand the following sentence (or at least not all of it): That article nearly ate my soul and stole my sanity. It started small, honest, four thousand words, but it started to grow. It was like a thing alive. I […]
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Boil and Bubble: Magical Styles – Spellslinger
Whoa, Black Betty, bam-ba-lam Black Betty had a child, bam-ba-lam The damn thing gone wild, bam-ba-lam Said it weren’t none of mine, bam-ba-lam – Black Betty, Ram Jam It’s a pretty established fact that I produce more GURPS material than I can possibly get published – there is only so much space in Pyramid and […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: The Old Ways
Writing The Old WaysThe Old Ways was perhaps one of my favorite articles to date. I’d been writing pretty steadily at that point, but I previously had a gap where I didn’t submit anything or had written anything noteworthy. The last issue I appeared in had been Pyramid #3/49: World Hopping and I’d gotten my […]
Continue readingBoil and Bubble: Using Magic to Target Hit Locations
Targeting hit locations with magic is fairly straightforward in most cases: If the damage type of the spell can’t target the location – then the spell can too. But what if you want to target a hit location with a spell that doesn’t allow it or specify a damage type (like many spells in GURPS […]
Continue readingBoil and Bubble: Spell Kits For Casters – The Necromancer
“In glamoury that necromancer held his hosts of phantoms and of wandering ghosts…” – The Lay of Leithian, J. R. R. Tolkien In a previous post, I talked about various “wizardly” archetypes and how you might create them using RPM. In this post (and successive ones if it continues to prove popular), I’m going to […]
Continue readingBoil and Bubble: Beginner’s Ritual Path Magic
I’ve done a ton of blog posts on Ritual Path magic…because, well, I like it and there is a demand for it right now. So hey, give the readers what they want. Monster Hunters covers what fairly large spells and competent casters might look like, but what about less-competent characters? Everyone has to start somewhere […]
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Boil and Bubble: Diablorising Ritual Path Magic – The Necromancer – Part III
And the final in my installment for Diablo II’s Necromancer. my “conversion” of the Diablo II Necromancer’s skills. Lastly: Poison and Bone! Poison and Bone Most of the spells and abilities listed here involve inflicting poison damage or conjuring bone constructs. Teeth Spell Effects: Greater Create Matter. Inherent Modifiers: Damage, External Small Piercing (Cone, 3 […]
Continue readingBoil and Bubble: Spell Kits For Casters – The Gatemaker
“One man only had perished in the fire. When the last of the Hydes was buried in this place of shade and stillness, the sad urnful of ashes had come from a distant land; to which the family had repaired when the mansion burned down. No one remains to lay flowers before the granite portal, […]
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Boil and Bubble: Diablorising Ritual Path Magic – The Necromancer – Part II
I’m continuing my “conversion” of the Diablo II Necromancer’s skills. Next up: Curses! Curses Most of the spells and abilities listed here involve weakening your target’s body and mind. Amplify Damage and is not here because my version of that actually made it into GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic (p. 35). Dim Vision Spell Effects: […]
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Boil and Bubble: Diablorising Ritual Path Magic – The Necromancer – Part I
Before I write anything else, let me first say that recreating spellcasting classes from the Diablo series is probably best down as powers (in fact, I’d probably use PK’s Sorcerous Empowerment article). That said, ritual path magic can work quite well too! A few quick notes. First, in the Diabloverse, it’s probably wise to put […]
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