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GURPS Magic vs GURPS Thaumaturgy.
I have been reading the descriptions of these two books and am wondering how much overlap there is between them. GURPS Magic claims to have an expansion of the magic system from the basic set, rules for alchemy, as well as a freeform magic system. Thaumaturgy also says its has a reworking of the base magic system, a rule set for alchemy/runes, a freeform magic system, and magic as powers. Is there overlap between the two? For instance are those alchemy rules the same in both books? If not which one is generally considered better?. I have seen a lot of love for the Ritual Path Magic from GURPS Thaumaturgy, is that different than the freeform system from GURPS Magic?
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· 4 yr. agoI think you mean GURPS Thaumatology, not GURPS Thaumaturgy, so I'll answer assuming that's what you mean.
GURPS Magic expands the basic magic system that comes in the Basic Set. If you like that magic system and want a more fleshed out version, GURPS Magic is the book for you. In particular, it has a ton of spells.
GURPS Thaumatology is really a book about tweaking the magic system or building your own. It has a whole bunch of rule tweaks for how to make that basic magic system feel different, a few completely different magic systems and a bunch of stuff about how to think about magic systems and their impact on your game.
Weirdly enough, Ritual Path Magic is in neither book. It was invented after Thaumatology came out for the GURPS: Monster Hunters campaign book, and later expanded into its own book, confusingly named "GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic".
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Op · 4 yr. ago
Oh yeah that is confusing, thanks. When you say Thaumatology has a few completely different systems, are they fully worked out systems or more like quick examples? If I bought Thaumatology would there be any system there which I could use straight away or is it more of a design instruction type book?
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Magic in the Basic set the is very basics. The Magic book expands the spells and adds some options. Thaumaturgy adds even more options. Thaumaturgy is basically Martial Arts for Magic. Like everything in GURPS, it's all optional and all interchangeable.
Thaumaturgy adds a few completely alternate systems for spellcasting, including Ritual Path Magic, Threshold Limited, and some others. I don't have the books with me at the moment, so I can't actually compare, but yes, RPM I believe a more refined of the freeform system. I've never used it personally, but I'm also pretty sure that the Mana/FP usage is different in RPM.
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It should be noted that the expanded spell list in Magic are the same spells you use with alternate systems (besides freeform like syntactic)
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GURPS Magic is mostly just a long list of spells (800+), an expansion of Chapter 5 from the Basic Set. It then has a single chapter (11 pages) on ideas for alternative magic systems.
GURPS Thaumatology fleshes that chapter out into a full book, basically a toolkit for designing magic systems.
RPM is a worked example of a magic system based on ideas in Thaumatology in the same way that GURPS Psionic Powers is a worked example of the ideas from GURPS Powers. It's a separate book, though technically you could rebuild it yourself from Thaumatology.
Which magic system to use (and thus which book to buy) depends on what you want the campaign to look like. The regular magic system limits mages by which spells they know and the amount of fatigue they can spend per encounter. The rituals in RPM are very flexible but slow so usually depend on pre-cast charms in encounters, giving it more of a vancian/D&D feeling. In addition, the regular magic system is very well defined so the GM can usually just trust the players to go ahead and use it, but RPM being flexible requires a lot more rulings from the GM.
I personally prefer a variation of Sorcery, because it meshes well with other power systems rather than being a separate mechanic.
If you're relatively new to GURPS, or if your group has a background in D&D, I'd recommend you get GURPS Magic. The list of spells will be familiar to people used to the Player's Handbook, even if the mechanics are different, the regular magic system has been playtested the longest, and requires the least GM moderation.
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Op · 4 yr. ago
Interesting, thanks. Could you tell me more about Sorcery? It says you can build spells as advantages, how does that work? How customizable are those spells?
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An important thing no one has mentioned - Thaumatology has only a few new spells in it.
So if you just buy Thaumatology, you're only going to be able to use the spells listed in Characters.
Magic is a huge list of spells.
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IIRC, Thaumatology gives completely different magical systems with little overlap with the base Magic system.
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Op · 4 yr. ago
OK, how does it differ from the one from the GURPS Magic Rule system. I've heard the Thaumaturgy one is based on rituals with long crafting times, what is the system from the GURPS Magic book like?
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Each week I try and post an update of what’s going on at Gaming Ballistic. What went well, what needs more attention, and an eye on upcoming releases plus company health.
Two weeks, deliberately this time. Lots of work. Surveys coming in, starting to pivot to stragglers. Hope to delivery the initial PDFs of the OSE Solos to backers come Monday. Starting to commission art for the next projects.
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Shield’s Up got one new rule, and art commissioning has started. I’ve decided for various reasons to go straight to retail with this one. As soon as the art is done, I’ll put it up for sale. I may actually fire up “pre-orders” on my Shopify Store so I can get a feel for how large the initial print run needs to be.
The landing page for the DFRPG Bestiary Kickstarter is live: Nightmare Fuel.
I’ll be doing the campaign on Backerkit Crowdfunding this time.
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Membership status: 63 patrons and $463 per month.
Special Content in September: The initial preview of Vampire Hunter Belladonna was uploaded Aug 31, but it’s real close to September. A near-final version of VHB followed soon after. Shields Up and initial playtest files of Garden of Evil made available. All four hyperlinked OSE solos. It’s been a very good month for output so far!
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For those familiar with the GURPS Infinite Worlds campaign setting, they probably know that there are basically no futuristic or FTL-containing worlds.
I have to admit, it always bugged me that there were NO worlds with FTL or super futuristic tech. A while ago however I found this link (warning: its an old HTTP link) by Kenneth Hite, the author of GURPS Infinite Worlds, where he describes how the Infinity Patrol may itself be manipulated by future times and/or timelines.
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Have any of you ever incorporated these into your games? I found this pretty fascinating!
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The Generic Universal RolePlaying System, or GURPS, is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems were story- or genre-specific.
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Created Sep 4, 2010
