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And so SJG brings us GURPS Technomancer, the latest entry in the perennial subgenre of magic-meets-technology. I think it's kind of weird that of all the games in that genre over the years, the only lasting successes are Rifts and Shadowrun.

While those are perfectly good worlds for adventuring in, the settings have never struck me as very believable places, mainly because they're so aggressively dystopian. On the whole, I think GT's a marked improvement; it's just as "adventure-able" as either of the above, but I find it much more "alive" as a setting; I can easily imagine how a typical person lives in this world.

GT is essentially an alternate history that diverges from our own with the Trinity bomb test (the first A-bomb created a permanent storm that flings out mystic fallout; only two have ever been detonated). While society has been heavily influenced by magic since then, it hasn't been totally bent out of recognizable shape for two main reasons: First, anyone can learn spells, but only a relative few (in game terms, people with the Magery advantage) can actually make them work outside of the two mana-rich "fallout" zones. Similarly, enchanting objects is generally too much effort to be worth doing unless the result is a marked improvement over a mundane good (for instance, guns are a better investment than fireball wands, but flying carpets are a popular for those who can afford it since they're more easily storable and lower-maintenance than cars).

The rest of the world's history remains the same as ours, in broad strokes, though details vary (for example, the Berlin Wall was erected overnight via Elemental Earth magic, and part of the US public's opposition to the Vietnam War was over GI warlocks animating enemy dead for use as troops). Most of the dramatic themes (and even people) of our society are still present (racism, jingoism, conspiracy theory, and so on), so almost any "real world" plot can be directly ported into a GT campaign, in addition to the setting's inherent possibilities. I consider that a large bonus.

One place the book especially shines is how well it integrates the magic with the mundane; Shadowrun always overcame my suspension of disbelief because there weren't any spells useful to people outside the paramilitary. GT contains many spells like Transfer Pregnancy, Create Fuel, Delete Commercials (good for TV ads or spam), ones that bind elementals to maintain your plumbing, and so on. There are still some gun-bunny goodies like Hail of Lead and Mana Warhead, but I can very easily see the practical benefits of magic for Joe Blow.

The GT world is nicely fleshed out while leaving a decent amount of things open for individual GMs to customize, and the social, legal, economic, and religious consequences of magic are addressed usefully (Pulver's expertise at technical writing really shows in the Industrial Magic section) and interestingly (vampiric leukemia and black market date-rape alchemical potions are just two things I could spin a campaign around). The chapters on characters and campaigns, magic and society, and organizations are especially dense; campaign seeds drip from every page. My main requirement for game buys is that it give me plenty of new ideas; GT passes handily.

Basically, I can easily visualize what it's like to live in this world as an average person, which is a feel too few games provide. GURPS Technomancer is definitely a high-magic and somewhat pulpy world (it's not quite Feng Shui, but it's not gritty either), and if that's where your tastes lie, I highly recommend it. While you technically need the GURPS Grimoire (and the three core GURPS books) to run it, I feel confident I can do it justice just from GURPS Lite and wing the rest. If you're a modern-occult fan, give it a try.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

GURPS Technomancer
Author: David L. Pulver (dlpulver@kos.net) Category: game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games (www.sjgames.com) Line: GURPS Cost: $19.95 US Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-55634-359-0 Capsule Review by Joe Iglesias on 04/12/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern_day	And so SJG brings us GURPS Technomancer, the latest entry in the perennial subgenre of magic-meets-technology. I think it's kind of weird that of all the games in that genre over the years, the only lasting successes are Rifts and Shadowrun. While those are perfectly good worlds for adventuring in, the settings have never struck me as very believable places, mainly because they're so aggressively dystopian. On the whole, I think GT's a marked improvement; it's just as "adventure-able" as either of the above, but I find it much more "alive" as a setting; I can easily imagine how a typical person lives in this world. GT is essentially an alternate history that diverges from our own with the Trinity bomb test (the first A-bomb created a permanent storm that flings out mystic fallout; only two have ever been detonated). While society has been heavily influenced by magic since then, it hasn't been totally bent out of recognizable shape for two main reasons: First, anyone can learn spells, but only a relative few (in game terms, people with the Magery advantage) can actually make them work outside of the two mana-rich "fallout" zones. Similarly, enchanting objects is generally too much effort to be worth doing unless the result is a marked improvement over a mundane good (for instance, guns are a better investment than fireball wands, but flying carpets are a popular for those who can afford it since they're more easily storable and lower-maintenance than cars). The rest of the world's history remains the same as ours, in broad strokes, though details vary (for example, the Berlin Wall was erected overnight via Elemental Earth magic, and part of the US public's opposition to the Vietnam War was over GI warlocks animating enemy dead for use as troops). Most of the dramatic themes (and even people) of our society are still present (racism, jingoism, conspiracy theory, and so on), so almost any "real world" plot can be directly ported into a GT campaign, in addition to the setting's inherent possibilities. I consider that a large bonus. One place the book especially shines is how well it integrates the magic with the mundane; Shadowrun always overcame my suspension of disbelief because there weren't any spells useful to people outside the paramilitary. GT contains many spells like Transfer Pregnancy, Create Fuel, Delete Commercials (good for TV ads or spam), ones that bind elementals to maintain your plumbing, and so on. There are still some gun-bunny goodies like Hail of Lead and Mana Warhead, but I can very easily see the practical benefits of magic for Joe Blow. The GT world is nicely fleshed out while leaving a decent amount of things open for individual GMs to customize, and the social, legal, economic, and religious consequences of magic are addressed usefully (Pulver's expertise at technical writing really shows in the Industrial Magic section) and interestingly (vampiric leukemia and black market date-rape alchemical potions are just two things I could spin a campaign around). The chapters on characters and campaigns, magic and society, and organizations are especially dense; campaign seeds drip from every page. My main requirement for game buys is that it give me plenty of new ideas; GT passes handily. Basically, I can easily visualize what it's like to live in this world as an average person, which is a feel too few games provide. GURPS Technomancer is definitely a high-magic and somewhat pulpy world (it's not quite Feng Shui, but it's not gritty either), and if that's where your tastes lie, I highly recommend it. While you technically need the GURPS Grimoire (and the three core GURPS books) to run it, I feel confident I can do it justice just from GURPS Lite and wing the rest. If you're a modern-occult fan, give it a try. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)