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Preliminary warning: I am reviewing GURPS Magic using a copy that is extremely old. My copy has only 112 pages and is one edition behind what you will find at your friendly local gaming store. Whatever those extra sixteen pages are, you won't find them referred to in this review.

(I have a sneaking suspicion that it's the spell flowcharts, like those found in GURPS Grimoire, but I'm not exactly sure.)

First, a presentation of what's in this book, and a general rumination on the quality of the system. Artistically speaking, I'm pretty sure there will be completely different pictures in the GURPS Magic on store shelves now than in the one in my hands. If for some weird reason you're wondering about the art in the first edition, it's pretty solidly in the "unmemorable" category.

GURPS Magic is split up into four sections. The first is the overview of the system and how to use it. This section is concise but informative at about 15 pages.

The section section, easily the largest at 55 pages, is a giant list of spells. This is the main focus of the book and covers a large variety, from the traditional Lightning and Fireball to the more obscure Mollusk Control and Heal Plant. However, practically any spell can be a great boon when used intelligently. (There's an amusing little question on page 15: how many different ways can you magically put out a fire? My estimate is at least fifteen...)

The third section is 16 pages of alternate or supplemental magic systems. The improvisational system isn't bad; however, the designers missed the boat by not giving rules for an improv-only magic system. Fortunately, there's a free article off the SJGames website detailing just hat. http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/Roleplayer/Roleplayer19/OnlyImprovMagic.html The Rune Magic system is, in my opinion, weak. I can't see myself ever using it. On the other hand, it only took up three pages, so you'll only pay about 47 cents for it. The rules for clerical magic are just fine; basically, the rule is "create a wizard, then call him a priest." OK, so there are more options than that, but that's mostly it. I quite like the Knack rules for giving characters the ability to cause one spell's effect at will. The cantrip rules (magical poems that can be done without knowing any spell in particular) are greatly entertaining, even though they would almost certainly degenerate into silliness. The example given in the cantrip section sounds straight out of Illuminati University... The alchemy is also just OK.

Finally is the characters section, best described as a sort of mish-mash of whatever fantasy stuff had to be thrown in. This includes (but is not limited to) Magery limitations, suggested wizard types, stereotypical fantasy races, werecreatures (huh?), demons, golems, and the undead. I hear some of this last stuff (races, werewolves, etc.) was cut from the second edition, but that may or may not be true. In any case, it seems kind of misplaced where it is.

So, here's your Generic Universal Magic system. (GUMS? Mmm...nah.) Firstly, I've had more people tell me they dislike the GURPS magic system than any other facet of the entire GURPS product line. These same people always admit that it works just fine, and there's nothing wrong with it in particular...they just aren't enthusiastic about it.

I don't really see a problem. Sure, it's a bit formulaic, and sure, a lot of the cool spells have massive prerequisite chains, but everything in here makes sense. Think about it...if you wanted to, say, read minds with magic, you'd have to know how to Sense Emotion, and to know how to do that, you'd have to know how to sense people in general.

The other nice thing about the system is that it seems to be pretty widely applicable. Phil Masters did a good job of using it for GURPS Discworld. I think it would work pretty well for most fantasy settings, although of course some might need minor tweaking. To name just a few that would work with only minor alterations, the Wheel of Time series would work just fine, as would Diane Duane's Support Your Local Wizard. In fact, it seems like most "generic fantasy" wizards act like they do in GURPS.

Admittedly, a couple of sources won't work with the default system. David Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean, for example, show the need for GURPS Magic to have an improvisational-magic-only system, but once that's in place it translates just fine. You'll hardly require much work to convert anything to GURPS Magic. (If you're translating from another *game*, it can be much harder. The magic systems in D&D and Palladium, e.g., are much less logical and therefore harder to convert.)

So, it's magic. It'll work just fine, it can be widely applied, and it's internally consistent. It's not flashy, and it's not one of those books that makes you leap up and run to the store to buy the first copy. It is, however, generally useful and utilitarian.

As a completely irrelevant aside, I would like to point out that RPGing vegetarians object to classifying books with a 4/5 in substance as "Meaty." Thank you for your time. Editor's note: err... right, sorry.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

GURPS Magic
Author: Steve Jackson Category: game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Line: GURPS Cost: $19.95 Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-55634-129-6 SKU: 6023 Playtest Review by Sam Lindsay-Levine on 08/06/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Generic	Preliminary warning: I am reviewing GURPS Magic using a copy that is extremely old. My copy has only 112 pages and is one edition behind what you will find at your friendly local gaming store. Whatever those extra sixteen pages are, you won't find them referred to in this review. (I have a sneaking suspicion that it's the spell flowcharts, like those found in GURPS Grimoire, but I'm not exactly sure.) First, a presentation of what's in this book, and a general rumination on the quality of the system. Artistically speaking, I'm pretty sure there will be completely different pictures in the GURPS Magic on store shelves now than in the one in my hands. If for some weird reason you're wondering about the art in the first edition, it's pretty solidly in the "unmemorable" category. GURPS Magic is split up into four sections. The first is the overview of the system and how to use it. This section is concise but informative at about 15 pages. The section section, easily the largest at 55 pages, is a giant list of spells. This is the main focus of the book and covers a large variety, from the traditional Lightning and Fireball to the more obscure Mollusk Control and Heal Plant. However, practically any spell can be a great boon when used intelligently. (There's an amusing little question on page 15: how many different ways can you magically put out a fire? My estimate is at least fifteen...) The third section is 16 pages of alternate or supplemental magic systems. The improvisational system isn't bad; however, the designers missed the boat by not giving rules for an improv-only magic system. Fortunately, there's a free article off the SJGames website detailing just hat. http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/Roleplayer/Roleplayer19/OnlyImprovMagic.html The Rune Magic system is, in my opinion, weak. I can't see myself ever using it. On the other hand, it only took up three pages, so you'll only pay about 47 cents for it. The rules for clerical magic are just fine; basically, the rule is "create a wizard, then call him a priest." OK, so there are more options than that, but that's mostly it. I quite like the Knack rules for giving characters the ability to cause one spell's effect at will. The cantrip rules (magical poems that can be done without knowing any spell in particular) are greatly entertaining, even though they would almost certainly degenerate into silliness. The example given in the cantrip section sounds straight out of Illuminati University... The alchemy is also just OK. Finally is the characters section, best described as a sort of mish-mash of whatever fantasy stuff had to be thrown in. This includes (but is not limited to) Magery limitations, suggested wizard types, stereotypical fantasy races, werecreatures (huh?), demons, golems, and the undead. I hear some of this last stuff (races, werewolves, etc.) was cut from the second edition, but that may or may not be true. In any case, it seems kind of misplaced where it is. So, here's your Generic Universal Magic system. (GUMS? Mmm...nah.) Firstly, I've had more people tell me they dislike the GURPS magic system than any other facet of the entire GURPS product line. These same people always admit that it works just fine, and there's nothing wrong with it in particular...they just aren't enthusiastic about it. I don't really see a problem. Sure, it's a bit formulaic, and sure, a lot of the cool spells have massive prerequisite chains, but everything in here makes sense. Think about it...if you wanted to, say, read minds with magic, you'd have to know how to Sense Emotion, and to know how to do that, you'd have to know how to sense people in general. The other nice thing about the system is that it seems to be pretty widely applicable. Phil Masters did a good job of using it for GURPS Discworld. I think it would work pretty well for most fantasy settings, although of course some might need minor tweaking. To name just a few that would work with only minor alterations, the Wheel of Time series would work just fine, as would Diane Duane's Support Your Local Wizard. In fact, it seems like most "generic fantasy" wizards act like they do in GURPS. Admittedly, a couple of sources won't work with the default system. David Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean, for example, show the need for GURPS Magic to have an improvisational-magic-only system, but once that's in place it translates just fine. You'll hardly require much work to convert anything to GURPS Magic. (If you're translating from another game, it can be much harder. The magic systems in D&D and Palladium, e.g., are much less logical and therefore harder to convert.) So, it's magic. It'll work just fine, it can be widely applied, and it's internally consistent. It's not flashy, and it's not one of those books that makes you leap up and run to the store to buy the first copy. It is, however, generally useful and utilitarian. As a completely irrelevant aside, I would like to point out that RPGing vegetarians object to classifying books with a 4/5 in substance as "Meaty." Thank you for your time. Editor's note: err... right, sorry. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)