[RPG]: GURPS Magic, reviewed by Frank Sronce (4/5)

2nd Level RPGnetter · #1 02-14-2005, 01:00 AM

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11086.phtml

Frank Sronce's Summary:

More spells for GURPS than you can shake a wand at!

Go to the full review for more information.

2nd Level RPGnetter · #2 02-14-2005, 12:51 PM

Post originally by Eric Christian Berg at 2005-02-14 11:51:37
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I just finished reading through this over the weekend and I have to say that I enjoyed the little snippets of fiction at the beginning of each chapter covering a magical school. They ranged in tone and switched between connected stories and standalone scenes. I found them very entertaining and I usually don't pay a lot of attention to such things.

2nd Level RPGnetter · #3 02-14-2005, 01:52 PM

Post originally by Frank Sronce at 2005-02-14 12:52:03
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Crud, I left that out, didn't I? Yeah, most of the little chapter intros were very well written. I'd meant to mention that.

2nd Level RPGnetter · #4 02-14-2005, 02:59 PM

Post originally by Nat at 2005-02-14 13:59:18
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Does this book talk at all about using the Unlimited Mana rules with 4th edition?

2nd Level RPGnetter · #5 02-14-2005, 03:20 PM

Post originally by Andrew Hackard at 2005-02-14 14:20:31
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No. There has been talk of a "theories of magic" book to be released later which may or may not include UMana.

2nd Level RPGnetter · #6 02-14-2005, 04:10 PM

Post originally by TGryph at 2005-02-14 15:10:47
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One of the best reviews I have read on this board in a long time. I have the book, now I want to put aside the Basic Campaign Book and read Magic! Thanks for your complete and well written review.

2nd Level RPGnetter · #7 02-14-2005, 10:09 PM

Post originally by Brandi at 2005-02-14 21:09:46
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... between the content of this book and the contents of GURPS Magic and Grimoire for 3rd edition? I'm interested mainly in mechanical effects, for if I can switch over to 4th and still use my 3rd ed magic books with relatively little need for conversion, it's a Good Thing for a tight-budgeting gamer.

2nd Level RPGnetter · #8 02-15-2005, 12:14 AM

Post originally by Jürgen Hubert at 2005-02-14 23:14:40
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are <i>these</i> spells:

http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/login/article.html?id=46

These are some of the coolest spells I have ever seen. What's not to like about spells like "Transfer Pregnancy", "Remove Fetus", or "Sequence DNA"?

It's a real shame that they were not included in the book...

2nd Level RPGnetter · #9 02-15-2005, 01:31 AM

Post originally by Polaris at 2005-02-15 00:31:19
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Brandi,

There are only a couple of minor mechanical differences.

First of all, spells always take a minimum of 1 sec to cast regardless of skill (except for special blocking spells).

Second, blocking spells no longer get an energy cost break for high skill levels.

Also some of the spells underwent minor rewrites but they are very minor for the most part.

-Polaris

2nd Level RPGnetter · #10 02-15-2005, 07:12 AM

Post originally by Frederick Brackin at 2005-02-15 06:12:21
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The spells from Magic Items III were included, but the ones unique to Technomancer were not.

There are about 5-10 entirely new spella.

Al the Missile class spells are redone as per the pattern established in the 4e corebooks.

Some of the spells were changed, mostly in small ways. Penetrating Blade comes to mind.

That's about it.

Frederick Brackin