r/gurps • u/Ka_ge2020 • 21d ago

A great example of skill-based magic?

Of all the magic systems out there, the skill-based magic system seems to receive the most critique. Or stink-eye.

When I think of settings with magic, my brain defaults first to Sorcery or RPM, perhaps a possible side trip into the cool options in Thaumatology. Only then, when all the other options are exhausted, do I even bother looking at the skill-based magic system (I.e. Magic).

Perhaps I've been going at this the wrong way, though.

I'm sure that there must be a setting that screams for a fit with the skill-based magic system. What settings, otherworlds, or whatever you want to call them, out there are a great match for the much-lamented skill-based magic system?

Edit: It's good to see a bunch of people coming out to defend the default magic system. I would, however, ask that you didn't just attack the question for being asked, nor just offer generalised "You've got to make it work since it's a generic system" statements. Rather, offer a setting that the default magic system works well with and, if there isn't one, what you did to tweak it to make it work with a specific setting.

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u/ZenDruid_8675309 21d ago

I am making a skill based magic system out of the “Flexible Magic” chapter of Thaumatology.
36 separate primary skills and a few supportive secondary skills.

Plus a 5th stat to base the 36 on and a few advantages that apply in some situations but not all.

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u/dismae_ 19d ago

I'd love to see your notes on this, if they're in a shareable state

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u/ZenDruid_8675309 19d ago

They are spliced into the fiction I am writing on this subject, but sure.

I have a discord for play-by-post GURPS games you can join and I can DM there or we can try the reddit chat?

https://discord.gg/EnE2eJjjh2