STEVE JACKSON GAMES

Transcription

Written by WILLIAM H. STODDARDCover by DENIS LOUBET, PAT MORRISSEY, BOB STEVLIC, and JOHN ZELEZNIKEdited by ANDREW HACKARD and JEFF ROSEIllustrated by ABRAR AJMAL, ALEX FERNANDEZ, DENIS LOUBET,BOB STEVLIC, EVA WIDERMANN, and ERIC WILKERSONISBN 1-55634-519-41 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10STEVE JACKSON GAMES

CONTENTSINTRODUCTION . . . . . . 4About GURPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41. PLANNING THECAMPAIGN . . . . . . 5GENRES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6High Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Low Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Myths and Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Dark Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Light Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Sword and Sorcery . . . . . . . . . . . . 7On the Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Crossovers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9SETTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Fantasy Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Motifs, Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Fantasy in the Real World . . . . . . 13Motifs, Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14SCOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Point Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Area Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Arc Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Base and Mission Campaigns . . . 15Campaign Style:Aspects of Realism . . . . . . . . . . 162. THE SUPERNATURAL. . . . . . . . . . . . 17Behind the Curtain: Point Costs . . 18MAGIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Intrinsic Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Subjective Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19The Three Laws of Magic . . . . . . . 19Nature and Supernature . . . . . . . . 20Knowing Good and Evil . . . . . . . . 21Using Magic in Campaigns . . . . . 21MAGICAL OBJECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Natural Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Enchantment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Runic Enchantment . . . . . . . . . . 25Familiars and Fetishes . . . . . . . . 26Named Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Holy Relics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Foci . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Using Magical Objects inCampaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29MAGICAL BEINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Spirits in the Material World . . . . 30Gods, Spirits, and Mana . . . . . . . 30Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Demons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Evil Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Half-Mortals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Using Spirits in Campaigns . . . . . 33Being a God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33MAGICAL REALMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Dreamlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Faerie Realms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Afterworlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Spirit Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Heavens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Hells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Archetypical Realms . . . . . . . . . . 36Pocket Universes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36THE DEAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Ghosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Ancestor Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Afterworlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Reincarnation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Resurrection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Ascension and Deification . . . . . . 38Revenants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383. WORLDS. . . . . . 39FRAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Planets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Many Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Above and Below . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40PLAYING WITH MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Altering the Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Creating the Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41MAGICAL LANDSCAPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41The Living Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Enhanced Environments . . . . . . 42Impossible Environments . . . . . . 42Unevenly Distributed Magic . . . . . 43Aspected Mana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Mana Basins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43GURPS System Design STEVE JACKSONManaging Editor ANDREW HACKARDGURPS Line Editor SEAN PUNCHProduction Manager MONIQUE CHAPMANArt Director STEVE JACKSONPage Design PHILIP REEDProduction Artist ALEX FERNANDEZMana and Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Magical Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Spirits of Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45PLANTS AND ANIMALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Plant and Animal Legends . . . . . 46Imaginary Species . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Magical Species andMana Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Plant and Animal Spirits . . . . . . . 49MONSTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Giants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Behind the Curtain:How Strong Is a Giant? . . . . . 51Hybrids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51The Chimera’s Pedigree . . . . . . . . . 52Possessed Creatures . . . . . . . . . . 52Unnatural Swarms . . . . . . . . . . . 53Magical Creations . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Victims of Curses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Offspring of Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Primordial Entities . . . . . . . . . . . 56RACES AND CULTURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Exotic Customs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Races . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Interfertility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Wugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Alternative Lycanthropies . . . . . . . 60Unique Beings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61The Place of Humanity . . . . . . . . 63Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64MAGIC AND TECHNOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . 64Alternative Technologies . . . . . . . 65Magically EnhancedTechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Variant Natural Laws . . . . . . . . . . 65Technomagic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66When Magic BecomesTechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66TechnologicallyEnhanced Magic . . . . . . . . . . . 66Exotic Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68CIVILIZATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68True Kings andSacred Covenants . . . . . . . . . . 68Supernatural Elites . . . . . . . . . . . 69Pirate Commonwealths . . . . . . . . 69Fantastic Customs . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Everyday Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Prepress Checker MONICA STEPHENSPrint Buyer MONICA STEPHENSMarketing Director PAUL CHAPMANSales Manager ROSS JEPSONErrata Coordinator ANDY VETROMILEGURPS FAQ Maintainer STÉPHANE THÉRIAULTLead Playtester: Peter V. Dell’OrtoPlaytesters: Kimara Bernard, James L. Cambias, Mike Dokachev, Kenneth Hite, Phil Masters, Kenneth Peters,David L. Pulver, Gene Seabolt, Michael Suileabhain-Wilson, and Chad UnderkofflerGURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid and the namesof all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated,or used under license. GURPS Fantasy is copyright 1990, 1995, 2004 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal,and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encouragethe electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.2CREDITS

The Genius of a People . . . . . . . . . 70Magic as a Resource . . . . . . . . . . 71The Control of Magic . . . . . . . . . 71Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Foreign Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Multispecies Empires . . . . . . . . . . 734. HISTORIES . . . . . 74FRAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Historical Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Mythic Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Mythology, Part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76PLAYING WITH TIMELINES . . . . . . . . . . 77Real History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Mythology, Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Divergent History . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Zeitgeists: Spirits of Time . . . . . . . 78Invented History . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79HISTORICAL ERAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Dawn Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79City-States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Empires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Decadence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Exhaustion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Catastrophe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Dark Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84New Beginnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85DISTURBANCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Natural Disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Plagues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Magical Disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Divine Punishments . . . . . . . . . . . 89SHADOWS OF THE PAST . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Genealogies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Ruins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Relics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915. LOCALITIESAlternative Wizards . . . . . . . . . . . 124Why Are ThesePeople Together? . . . . . . . . . . 127ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES,AND SKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Behind the Curtain: Cost of Dividedand Restructurable Magery . . 130Ally or Asset? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132New Perks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Magical Afflictions . . . . . . . . . . . 133New Meta-Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134New Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Skills and Size Modifiers . . . . . . 137WEALTH AND STATUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Currency and Prices . . . . . . . . . 137Status and Cost of Living . . . . . 137Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138EQUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Exotic Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Petards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Vehicular Weapons . . . . . . . . . . 1447. MAGICAL ARTS . . 146USES OF MAGIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Low Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Formulaic Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Man Proposes,God Disposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Naming the Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150High Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151. . . . 92SETTLEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Isolates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Villages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Towns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Agrarian Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Temporary Settlements . . . . . . . . . 95Imperial Capitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96City of Wonders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96SERVICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Medical Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Transportations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Inns and Taverns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Information Sources . . . . . . . . . . 99Courts and Castles . . . . . . . . . . . 100Holy Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Sanctity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Magical Capabilities . . . . . . . . . 102Schools for Sorcerers . . . . . . . . . 102Behind the Curtain:How Many Mages? . . . . . . . . 103THE STRUCTURE OF MAGIC . . . . . . . . 153Levels of Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Levels of Skill andSkill Hierarchies . . . . . . . . . . 153Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154How Much Detail? . . . . . . . . . . . 154Ritualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155SYSTEMS OF MAGIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Custom-Built Magic . . . . . . . . . 155Alternative Magic Systems . . . . . 155Behind the Curtain:Making Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Modified Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Magical Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163True Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Nonhuman Magic . . . . . . . . . . . 167EXPANDED SPELL LISTS . . . . . . . . . . . 168MAGICAL PLURALISM: HOW TOUSE THIS CHAPTER . . . . . . . . . . . 1726. CHARACTERS . . . 1048. STORYLINES . . . 173CAMPAIGN STYLES ANDPOINT VALUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105RACIAL TEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105From Creature to Character . . . . . 106Cold Iron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Behind the Curtain:Selkie Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Undead Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Player-Designed Races . . . . . . . . 113OCCUPATIONAL TEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . 114ADVENTURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Into the Labyrinth . . . . . . . . . . . 174Perilous Journeys . . . . . . . . . . . 175Hunting Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Warfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Treasons, Stratagems,and Spoils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Diplomacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Confrontations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180CONTENTSThrough a Glass, Darkly . . . . . . 181Learning Experiences . . . . . . . . 182The Responsibility of Power . . . 184Shore Leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184SUBPLOTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186WAR IN FANTASY SETTINGS . . . . . . . . 186Varieties of Forces . . . . . . . . . . . 186Strategic Positions . .

GURPS Fantasy describes many legendary beings, creatures, and objects, and gives advice on using GURPS for your own fantasies. The final chapter puts it all togeth-er in a new fantasy setting, Roma Arcana, based on the legends of ancient Rome in its darkest and most exciting time. If you want to start a new campaign in a familiar but exotic setting, Roma Arcana is ready to play. If you’re .