[gurps] Village Mages using GURPS MAGIC 4e

[Brandon Cope]

Matt Riggsby wrote:

> On 4/3/07, Matt Riggsby <iron.llama at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > At some point, I started a list of things one needed to take into
> > account to figure out how much magical labor was available to a
> > society.  I never finished it, but it got pretty long.
>
> Found some notes on the subject:
>
> Total % of people with Magery:  It's the one everyone looks at, but
> just looking at that assumes that all potential mages can become fully
> trained magicians, which is probably far from the case.  Magical labor
> is further constrained by *at least* the factors below.

In some lands, it may be illegal for a commoner to be trained as a mage,
regardless of how talented they are. OTOH, someone born with M2+ might
automatically become nobility (mageocracy).

> Age distribution:  A third to half of the population will simply be
> too young to be effective spellcasters.

And how many kings would trust a bunch of 12 year olds running around
casting spells, anyway?

> Distribution of Magery levels:  Is magery distributed evenly (as many
> people have Magery 0 as Magery 1, as many have Magery 2 as Magery 1,
> etc.), or according to something like a bell curve (10 people with
> Magery 0 for everone with Magery 1, etc.)?

For my campaign, I use something like 100:10:1 for M1:2:3 ratios. magery 0
doesn't figure into it, because the lowest level of Magery someone can be
born with is 1; M0 represents training in magic by someone who was not
born with talent. About half of these with Magery have some form of
Aspected Magery.

> Correlation of IQ and Magery:  Is Magery an innate talent which
> doesn't correlate meaningfully with intelligence?  If so, a few
> potential mages may have IQ scores too low to make much training
> feasible.  If available, the ability to train and increase existing
> Magery could compensate for that.

Again, in my campaigns, there is no meaningful correlation. IQ 8 and M3 is
as likely as IQ 13 M1. However, those with higher levels of Magery, even
if idiots, will recieve more training than someone with M1.

> Detection of potential mages:  This is potentially a big one, since
> finding potential magicians is a bit of a needle-in-a-haystack
> situation.  Who is looking for potential magicians, and how hard are
> they looking?

Old mages. Paranoid nobles. Evil Queens under a Dark Prophecy.

> Incentive towards particular areas of magic:  Mages might easily be
> draw into areas which could be regarded as non-productive.  Casting
> spells to mend peasants' bones or improve their crops is all well and
> good, but it may be much more lucrative to create elaborate illusory
> entertainments for the nobility, foretell their futures, or assure
> their good luck.

Given a pseudomedieval setting, priority for helpful spells would probably
be: nobles, animals, crops, peasants.
--
A generous and sadistic GM, Brandon Cope  http://www.geocities.com/copeab

"It has fallen upon me, now and again in my sojurns through the world, to
ease various evil men of their lives. I have a feeling it will prove thus
with the Baron."
-- Solomon Kane ("The Castle of the Devil", Robert E. Howard)