Every month, Christopher R. Rice over at Ravens N’ Pennies releases a selection of goodies for his Patreon backers. Befitting the blog’s namesake, they are an eclectic bunch, and no two months see quite the same things covered. So, what do we have this time around?
The Hurt Locker - More Psi-Tech I
In this article, you’ll find a collection of gizmos that are either useful for psis or make use of psionic phenomena to operate. This first issue gives you the Obfuscating Material Coating for the sneaky sorts, Telekinetically Bouyant Textiles that gives psychokinetics a way to carry loads more easily, and the Sonokinetic Sound Baffler that, funnily enough, muffles sounds in its area of effect.
On the whole, this is a neat collection of useful toys, and if you’re making use of GURPS Psi-Tech, these will fit right in. If not, then reflavor them for your preferred brand of paranormal phenomena and use them anyway.
Boil and Bubble: Thaumaturgic Ritual Path Magic
Christopher loves creating variant forms of Ritual Path Magic, and they’re always interesting to read. Thaumaturgic Ritual Path Magic is no exception, which reflavors Ritual Path Magic and tinkers with its rules to suit a form of Christian magic that invokes angels to power its spells. It’s well worth a look as a basis for spirit-invoking Ritual Path Magic as well as an interesting variant in its own right.
The one disappointment I have is fairly minor. While it lists patron angels for a few of the Paths, it doesn’t do so for all of them.
GURPS 101: Alternate Alternate Form Rules (June 2016 Special #1)
A guest entry from Emily Smirle, Alternate Alternate Forms is one of the most elegant rules I’ve ever seen for GURPS. Treating alternate forms as alternate abilities is a simple yet brilliant idea, and there’s a good bit of advice on how to use this variant. If you have shapeshifters in your campaign, this article will be very helpful, especially if you’re running a high point total game with correspondingly powerful alternate forms.
GURPS 101: More Telepathy Powers for Psionic Powers (June 2016 Special #2)
As Christopher notes in the intro, there’s never enough powers for Psionic Powers. So, this article presents two more Telepathy abilities. Affinity gives you a telepathic bond with a person of your choosing, while Telelinguism lets you learn any language given enough exposure to it. Both come with suitable techniques that increase the usefulness of the two powers.
If you’ve got telepaths or telepathic creatures in your game, give this a look. They’re very thematically appropriate and have many applications for the creative.
GURPS 101: Dungeon Fantasy Styles - Zodiac Styles
A long guest piece by Hal Batty, Zodiac Styles details six martial arts for Dungeon Fantasy, based on animals of the Chinese Zodiac. To say that this is a fun article is an understatement. Each animal style comes with its own set of skills, perks, and power-ups, perfectly suited to the animal in question. The strong, tough Ox, the fleet-footed Rabbit, the cunning Snake, and more all make an appearance.
My favorite of the styles may be the Snake, with their focus on cunning, sneaky tricks, and rapid, precise strikes that leave their foes unable to effectively strike back.
If you have martial artists in your Dungeon Fantasy, this will give them some fun options to play with. If you don’t have martial artists, make a few as adversaries so that you can play with these. And if that’s still not an option, consider allowing other characters to learn these styles. That’s just how much fun they are.
In fact, the only real downside is that the other half of the Zodiac doesn’t get their own styles. On the upside, that gives you room to create your own styles, using these as inspiration.
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