[gurps] Character Development Question

[Clinton N. Fell]

Well since I didn't see a response to Kurt's request and am a big fan of 
the series myself, I figure I might as well throw in my two cents.

I think the earth magic charms are probably easiest to model in Gurps like 
the Alchemical charms in Gurps magic.  The charms in the series seem 
somewhat easier and faster than those in Magic, but a simple tweak to the 
time requirements should handle that. 

Ley-line magic is closest to the normal gurps rules.  But rather than 
fatigue ( I don't remember any references to the magic draining the caster 
more any any other activity) you have the an energy draw rate from a 
tapped line and on rare cases a energy reserve (like spell only FT) and 
smut.  I would probably set the draw rate equal to the level of magery in 
the caster (1/minute for magery 0, 1/sec for magery 1, etc).  Using a 
familiar to filter the smut is the normal way this is handled for ley-line 
magic, but for game balance I might set the energy cost of the spell equal 
to the "smut" halved for white spells, and full for grey/black spells.  I 
would set the filtering level of the familiar (poor little fishey) equal 
to the HT of the familiar per day.  Any excess of that filter would spill 
over to the caster's soul.  To reflect the problems of a tainted soul I 
would use progressively worse disadvantages (Minor social stigma - smutty 
soul -1 some of the time...... Up to a black soul with Callous, Major 
social stigma, etc.).

Curses also follow closely to normal gurps rules and I may count any spell 
that requires Magery 2 or 3 as a Curse.  I'd have to look at that.  I 
would probably follow the Ley-line model but double the smut cost.  This 
probably wouldn't be a big deal since so few non-demons can even think 
about throwing curses.

The Weres and Vampires should be easy to model, same with Pixies and 
Faries.  The lepreacans may be trickier but they are somewhat rare. 

Human Wizards I would probably limit to Magery 0.  They need to screw with 
forces man really shouldn't to get any real magic done.

Now the Ever-After would probably take some work.  Plus the second sight 
to see it.

Without rereading stuff and doing some more thinking this is probably 
where I would start.  Your opinion and results may vary.

Clint



Kurt Feltenberger <kfeltenberger at yahoo.com> 
Sent by: gurpsnet-l-bounces at sjgames.com
01/24/2008 11:05 PM
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Re: [gurps] Character Development Question




Caterpillar: Confidential Green Retain Until: 02/23/2008 



Chris J. Whitcomb wrote:
> Kurt Feltenberger wrote:
>> Folks,
>>
>> I was wondering if anyone has developed anything for Kim Harrison's
>> "The Hollows"/Rachel Morgan series of books?
>>
>> Thanks!
>
> Never heard of it.  Any chance at getting a brief synopsis? 

Sure.  There are six books out, the seventh is on the way, and it deals 
with modern magic.  There are three types of magic, Earth charms, Ley 
Line, and Curses.  There are several races in the books other than 
humans; witches, elves, demons, wizards (humans who can do magic), 
vampires, werewolves, pixies, fairies, and several other minor races. 
The magic using races are broken down thusly:

Witches:  can use Earth charms or Ley Line magic.
Elves:  can use Ley Line magic
Demons:  can use Earth charms, Ley Line magic, and Curses. 
Human (wizards):  can use Ley Line magic

Earth charms are usually prepared in advanced and used at a later time.
Ley Line magic can also create charms in a manner similar to Earth 
magic, but is also the flashy "zap your ass with a bolt of power" type 
magic.
Curses are the most powerful magic and come with "smut" that darkens 
one's aura.  This is the high end magic.

The background is that in the 40s the world got big into genetics, more 
so than we did in reality.  By the early 1960s, a genetically altered 
tomato spread the T4Angel virus that killed a fair bit of humanity, but 
left the Inderlanders (the non humans) relatively untouched.  It was at 
this time the Inderladers choose to make their presence known and ever 
since then witches, vampires, weres, and all the rest (except 
demons...they usually stay in the Ever After) are common sights.  Use of 
magic is usually a subtle affair, but Hollywood style battles have been 
described in the books.

Some links:  http://www.kimharrison.net/  This is the author's web page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Morgan

Thanks!

-- 
Kurt Feltenberger
kurt at thepaw.org/kfeltenberger at yahoo.com // http://www.teotwawki.net

?Before today, I was scared to live, after today, I'm scared I'm not 
living enough."  - Me 

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