ftp.ee.pdx.edu/2014.02.ftp.ee.pdx.edu.tar/ftp.ee.pdx.edu/pub/frp/gurps/gurps_sp.readme

Text File | 1991-05-29 | 4KB | 77 lines

This is release 1.0 of a spell list system for GURPS, a variant magic
system.  The document won't make much sense without the GURPS Basic Set
(third edition) and GURPS Magic (second edition, but the first edition
could be used in a pinch.)

===============================================================================

This directory, SpellLists, contains a few random files, a Makefile,
and the following subdirectories:

Documents: contains .ms source for certain random documents.
Grimores: contains scripts that produce grimores for the spell lists.
Hardcopy: contains skeletal files that are soelim'ed into .ms files for
the description of the magic system itself.
Lists: the spell lists themselves.

Type `make' in this directory.  Many things will happen.  If they fail,
you can always read the .ms files themselves; it'll be pretty
non-linear, but you'll get the gist of it.  If everything works, print
out the document Hardcopy/MagicSystem.ms.  (Or look at it with a
previewer-- I'll swear that xprev on a Sony works, but I don't know
about others.)  I don't have any luck reading it at a terminal with
nroff...

Remember, tbl code is all over.  So use a command similar to

    tbl MagicSystem.ms | troff -ms

to print out the file.

=======================================================================

To quote from the introduction:

"This system stems from the assumption that the basic principles
behind, say, fire magic and air magic are very different. Although both
are characterized as secular elemental magic, a mage cannot blithely go
off and learn spells from both fields. On the other hand, it is
insufficient to simply restrict mages to a single "College" from GURPS
Magic. Each college has too few spells to make an interesting
character. Furthermore, this approach would neglect special cases-- how
would one model a magic user with power over shadows? Such a magic user
would find learning to cast Darkness a trivial task, but couldn't
understand Fireball for beans. Also, the current prereq. system is hard
to manage. I can't count the number of mages I've seen who had Seek
Plant as one of their spells to help fill out the "One Spell from Each
of Ten Colleges" prerequisite. Finally, there are no earth-shattering
or highly idiosyncratic spells in GURPS Magic.  Somebody who is good at
fire magic can throw three fireballs at you and run away. Somebody who
is really good at fire magic can throw fireballs at you until the
people you're with fill him with arrows. A person doen't get called
Wizard because he can throw 2d6 fireballs for free-- a Wizard isn't
just efficient at doing what an apprentice can do. A Wizard can do
things that lesser mages just plain cannot. So, out of irritation, I
drafted the spell lists."

Even if you think magic should be partitioned differently than I have
done, you may find the prerequisite system I propose useful.

You will note that `he' is usually used to refer to a generic person.
If you decide this makes me a sexist pig, sue me.

======================================================================

Feedback craved. Don't incorporate any of this material into anything
you sell, unless you're Steve Jackson Games. (Consider it my part to
compensate for the fact my tax dollars went into raiding your company.
But remember, this text is going to remain availible to anyone who
wants it. Don't expect to gain title to it just by publishing it.) If
you do incorporate anything into anything you release, whoever you are,
credit me. Distribute everything in this document to anybody you like.

        -Stephan Zielinski

...!uunet!lurnix!stephan -or- [e-mail]
1239 17th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94107