In reply to archypetro (msg # 825):

I did that once. :)

yea, i feel a bit silly about it now.

Though i'm curious that none of the moderators have replied to met yet - a little bit worrying :)
Either way there won't be long to wait now.

OOC- If interested, go here:  https://www.kickstarter.com/pr...ampunk-rpg?ref=email
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:28, Wed 29 June 2016.

Aethulred, are you connected to this project?  I wouldn't mind supporting a fellow RPOLian.  =)

In reply to Aethulred (msg # 828):

Link is broke.

I fixed it.  =)

In reply to Mad Mick (msg # 829):

No, just know the gent who is running it ... and happen to like Victorian SF.

I am running a sort of Victorian SF game now, here on RPOL.

Is it in GURPS?

In reply to Tortuga (msg # 833):

Yes, Of course. It started out as a X-files sort of thing and now I have two FBI agents exploring that world after some hasty training in 19th century American history, technology and behavior-manners.

See: FBI; Special Investigations Division

In reply to Aethulred (msg # 834):

It doesn't mention GURPS anywhere on the Kickstarter page and the Animal Data card doesn't seem to have any GURPS stats on it. This is really GURPS?

No, Sorry... the Kick starter is NOT GURPS... I thought he was asking f my Victorian SF game was GURPS... I just figure it will be reasonably easy to adapt...

Let's design magic systems.

Something simple but flexible. You know what's a good system? What they use in the Avatar series. Benders can manipulate forces... and that's it. Despite the simplicity, there's a great deal of flexibility in it, and a range of power. In GURPS perhaps we'd say everyone had the Elemental power focused on a given element, or even just the Control advantage.

So let's muse on that. Take a relatively simple theme (in the above example, elemental power) and expand it into a setting's sole magic system. Something that'd be cool to use in a GURPS campaign. And let's figure out how they'd work in GURPS.

Ideas?

In a classical western / Christian view all magic was intercession - asking for the assistance of an angel, either one of the heavenly host for white magic (which was limited to healing and the finding of lost things I think) or a fallen for all black magic, at the eventual cost of your soul.

That would be fairly easy to implement in GURPS I think.

In reply to Aethulred (msg # 832):

OK This from the VSF Game designer, who may join this forum as he is a GURPS player too.

"Both are point construction character systems. SoE  [sic STARS of the EMPIRE] has six stats and two of them have no counterpart in GURPS stats (Personality and Comeliness, although both could be rounded out with GURPS advantages or perhaps skills). Attributes in SoE run from 0-25 for humans but an "average human has a stat of around 10, so the range is wider in SoE. Skills are less in number and wider in applicability, but function in a similar vein.  Fortes work very much like Advantages. We've played with having Foibles which would be analogous to Disadvantages but so far have not wanted to add the page count.

I think a conversion would be fairly easy, but I'm biased because I have played a lot of GURPS and converted several other system's characters over to it including Morrow Project and Space 1889"

Maybe post about this in the steampunk discussion group? link to another game

In reply to Tortuga (msg # 837):

GURPS Magic system has most any spell you want now, and can easily adapt those you might find need for, the issue is the many colleges that overlap and the hierarchy of prerequisites, which in some cases is flat stupid. if you take Weather for example, it is a combination of air and water along with electricity.
WHY would SEEK AIR be so important to folks who live in lots it? It's useful for Dwarves and Aqua-men, but the average human has no use for it. But it is a prerequisite for a fair number of other spells folks would use.
I have tried running Magic using the six "colleges" of the Harn Magic system with GURPS spells ... it works but I'm not wild about it. And the Meta Spells are really a 7th group/college.
I haven't found another spell grouping I have liked much, so perhaps the best way is to use GURPS  spells, forget the "4 Elements" crap and allow a beginner to work up from 1 FP spells to 2 FP, 3 FP etc as he progresses. The Weather spells would draw from water and air and electricity, which is generated with air and water. No college is exclusive of any other...
Another thing you can do is limit Magery to Magery 0, a 5 point advantage. Each spell is a hard or very hard skill (although I'd keep them in the spell lists).  1 point in a spell makes you dangerous. Working up to level 15 with a spell will be costly and there won't be many mages with 40 or more spells. GMs will need to limit the wanna be geniuses  who want IQ 13, 14 or 15 at huge expense.
No system is perfect.. this is just a thought I am working toward in games I run. I find that magic can easily usurp a game leaving the 90%  people with boring 150 point characters that wander along and watch mages do all sorts of exciting things. not my idea of a good game. I'd rather have everyone have a smattering of spells in different fields, so they have to work together to succeed.

In reply to Tortuga (msg # 840):

Thanks, done

Well, that's why I'm saying "look at Avatar". The power setup is on its face very simple (All powered individuals can control an element) but within that very narrow scope there's a lot that can be accomplished.

What other similarly simple paradigms can offer a similarly broad range of interesting capabilities?

Good if all you want is an Elemental system ... but there is no Light and Dark, No Making and Breaking ... nothing for Organic substances ... no healing for one. I think it's too limiting.

I like channeling in the Wheel of Time.  It uses five different elements, but those elements can be combined in many different ways for a wide range of weaves.  Some effects like Flight and Resurrection aren't possible, though.  Channelers can link to pool their power, similar to GURPS.  Channelers have innate differences.  Some can only weave a trickle, and others have great strength in one or more floors (elements).  I especially like the bond Aes Sedai can create with their warders.  There's a great deal of experimentation that can take place, as channelers rediscover lost weaves or create new ones.   I like the organic way using magic is described, drawing saidin/saidar and combining different powers.

In reply to Aethulred (msg # 839):

Hello. I'm the writer of Stars of Empire which is the Kickstarter mentioned. https://www.kickstarter.com/pr...-a-vsf-steampunk-rpg

I am a big GURPS fan, but wanted to build my own system. The Invention rules will transfer to GURPS fairly easily. The settings are written to be rules agnostic. All the vehicles are described in real world stats to make conversion to any system easy.

In reply to tsofian (msg # 846):

Anyone planning a GURPS post Apoc, survival game?

Sorry but I haven't heard of one.

My own Isle of the Three Sisters will have some Survivalist tendencies to the game.

link to another game

In reply to Rockwolf66 (msg # 848):

Had a glance there, but hard to tell. It is about a cruise ship that gets trapped in a different dimension, right?

It's about an Island Resort that gets displaced in Time and Space. the once idealic tropical paradise is now a dangerous jungle filled with things from across time and space.