My last installment of magical styles was almost a year ago. The post did prove popular, but I didn’t get back to this until now. Mostly because I’ve been really busy and this sort of intense article requires a lot of research and precise planning – styles take time to make the right way and […]
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Designer’s Notes: A Familiar Path
This started off life as a outtake from the already monstrous “Alternative Ritual Path Magic” and eventually grew into a article all its own. Not counting the time it took me to write the few chunks I excised from Alternative Ritual Path Magic this one took a surprising amount of time to incubate and write […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: Hidden Knowledge
Hidden Knowledge was one of those things I’d already written, but hadn’t really known it until someone knocked me on the head and said “Hey, consider writing this.” In this case it was Sean “Dr. Kromm” Punch. I’d asked him some advice on a particular subject and he gave it to – in spades (and […]
Continue readingBoil and Bubble: Spell Kits For Casters – Jack-of-All-Mages
Ritual Path magic is already pretty flexible. You can do just about any sort of spell you can visualize and it really doesn’t take that long to perform the spell itself. So what is a “jack-of-all-mages” in such a system? First, the Jack is less about being able to cast a specific group of spells […]
Continue readingGURPS101: Final Fantasy-Style Summoning
So, I’m a pretty simple guy. I like having a routine. I like having the same breakfast every morning (red wheat, one slice of toast with strawberry jam, half a banana, and one cup of coffee with 2 packets of splenda and creme). The reason I bring this up is that my girlfriend and best […]
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Boil and Bubble: Diablorising Sorcery – The Witch Doctor – Part II
Damn it, man! *itches skin* I need a hit, okay? So…uhh.. hey, I got this necromancy spells, right? I can quit when I want…I just need one more hit. One more hit ought to do it, right? Yeah. That’s it. For old times sake. Like the previous installment, this one is all about Diablo III […]
Continue readingBoil and Bubble: Sorcerous Hexes
Behind Ritual Path magic, Sorcery (from Pyramid #3/63: Infinite Worlds II) is probably my second favorite magical system out there. It seamlessly blends two things that I like about GURPS: flexibility and power builds. There have been many powers-based approaches to magic using modular abilities before – but I think PK nailed it perfectly with his […]
Continue readingGURPS101: Dungeon Fantasy and Flying Carpets
So I’ve been running a Dungeon Fantasy game for a while now – it’s a helluva lot more fun than I would have ever thought! – and one of the things that’s popped up twice is the flying carpet (Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables, p. 39). It follows the normal rules for the line ($20 […]
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Boil and Bubble: Ritual Path Magic Skill Levels
Anders sent me a PM the other day and asked a pretty simple question: What do skill levels mean for Ritual Path magic casters? You’ve got your shiny copy of GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic and you’ve just bought GURPS Template Toolkit 1: Characters…but now what? You’ve got your skill level description from p. 12 […]
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Boil and Bubble: Diablorising Sorcery – The Witch Doctor – Part I
Look…I like necromancy magic, okay? It’s not a addiction or anything, I can quit whenever I want. I recently got to play Diablo III and after my typical Barbarian run-through I fired up a Witch Doctor…man that was fun. Now, I’ve already created some Ritual Path magic spells for the Necromancer from Diablo II…why not […]
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