Mana Rips and Surges for Lay Lines and Nexus in Gurps 4th

MANA RIPS

            Sometimes mana will spike outside of the network of ley lines and nexus. These mana rips are like tiny fragments of ley lines. They are much smaller than standard ley line fragments, as shown on the following chart.

Mana Level	Diameter
Very High Mana	3D6 feet
High Mana	2D6 feet
Normal Mana	1D6 feet
Low Mana	1D3 feet
No Mana	None

            Otherwise their strength is determined exactly the same way as a ley line.

            Most mana rips are not permanent. Only on a roll of a 6 on a D6 is it permanent otherwise it will form and dissipate in a matter of decades, roll 3D6x10 years for the length.

            Roll 3D6x10 years again for the length of time it will take the mana rip to reform on the site.

MANA SURGES

            A mana surge is when the power of a ley line, nexus or mana rip suddenly spikes. Roll on the table for the ley line strength and add that to the power of the affected phenomenon. These surges are often only the size of a mana rip.

            They last a few days based on the total mana level.

Mana Level	Length of Surge
Very High Mana	1D6+15 days
High Mana	1D6+10 days
Normal Mana	1D6+5 days
Low Mana	1D6 days
No Mana	1D3 days

            Surges are also semi regular occurrences, but frequency is really a matter of overall mana level. The higher the innate mana the more frequent the surges will be.

Mana Level	Time Between Surges
Very High Mana	3D6x10 weeks
High Mana	3D6 months
Normal Mana	3D6x10 months
Low Mana	3D6 years
No Mana	3D6x10 years

Ley Lines, Nexus and Astronomical Alignments for GURPS 4th

LEY LINES

         These are lines along which flow a worlds mana. Sometimes this power crests to the surface, in amounts that can be used.

Frequency and Appearance

            In any given 10,000 square mile area (100 x 100 miles), there will be several random ley line segments. When they surface, it will generally run for an average length depending on the overall mana sphere.

Mana Level	Frequency of Ley Lines
Very High Mana	3D6/10,000 sq. miles
High Mana	2D6/10,000 sq. miles
Normal Mana	2D6/10,000 sq. miles
Low Mana	1D6/10,000 sq. miles
No Mana	1D3/10,000 sq. miles

            The exact distance they run above ground and available is also related to the mana level of the world.

Mana Level	Distance
Very High Mana	3D6x10 miles
High Mana	2D6x10 miles
Normal Mana	1D6x10 miles
Low Mana	1D6x5 miles
No Mana	1D6 miles

            At times the width and height of the ley line is also important, both are determined, separately, by overall mana levels.

Mana Level	Width
Very High Mana	3D6 yards
High Mana	2D6 yards
Normal Mana	1D6 yards
Low Mana	1D6 yards
No Mana	1D3 yards

            The energy of a ley line will continually boost the magic points of a character by one point per rank of the ley line, which is determined by the overall mana level of the world in question.

Mana Level	Line Levels	Roll
Very High Mana	5-10	1D6+4
High Mana	3-8	1D6+2
Normal Mana	1-6	1D6
Low Mana	1-3	1D3
No Mana	0-2	1D3-1

            Ley line energy radiates power in the area around the line. Outside of the immediate line, and for each additional mile, the available power is reduced by 2, until there is no additional mana available.

NEXUS

            Nexus form in areas where two or more ley lines converge.

            The number of nexus points per 100x100 mile area is listed as a percentage of the number of ley lines. For example, if there are 10 ley line segments and a rating of 20% for nexus points, there would be 2 places where ley lines cross in that region.

Frequency of Nexus Points

2d6-2x5%

            As for how many lines flow into the nexus, that is left for the GM to determine. Alternatively, nexus can be broken down into three categories, minor, moderate and major.

Nexus Type	Roll
Major	6
Moderate	5-4
Minor	1-3

            The type of nexus determines how many lines intersect.

Nexus Type	Number of Lines
Major	3D3+1	4-10
Moderate	2D3+1	3-7
Minor	1D3+1	2-4

            These places of power often have power far outside of the lines flowing into them. The mana from each line is added and then multiplied based on the overall mana of the world. The higher the base level of the world the more additional mana is drawn to the surface by the nexus.

Multiplier of available power

1d6-1x5%

            The base diameter is the width of the largest ley line flowing into the nexus plus an additional 10% of all the lines that intersect.

ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENON

            Certain astronomical phenomenon cause surges along ley lines and nexus.

Noon and Midnight

            The most common surges occur daily, at noon and midnight. For a half hour on either side of the clock striking twelve, the points available increase by 10%.

Equinox and Solstice

            The vernal and autumnal equinox are two time a year where day and night are equal length. On the other hand, Solstices are when the sun is at the closest (summer) and furthest (winter).

            During the twenty-four-hour period all points available are increased by 50%.

Eclipses

            A lunar eclipse is when the planet passes directly between the sun and the moon. Typically, they last around ninety minutes, and during this time the available points are increased by 25%.

            Solar eclipses are when a moon or other body passes between the planet and the sun.

            Partial eclipses are when only a fraction of the sun is blocked (at least 50%). They don’t last long though, only around ten minutes. But they spike the available mana by 75%.

            Total eclipses are just that, the interposing body completely covers the sun. They are even briefer than partial solar eclipses, lasting two to eight minutes. But they are the most powerful of the common astronomical occurrences. Double all available mana.

            A solar eclipse created by more than one moon in alignment will raise the mana available by an additional 10% for each moon past the first.

            Of course, if the world has no moon, then eclipses are impossible.

Planetary Alignments

            Two or more moons aligning will raise the mana by 25% +15% for each moon after the second.

            When three or more planets, including the one with the lines in question, align, it causes a surge in power. Each planet in the alignment raises the mana available by 10%. They also last anywhere from 30 to 180 minutes (3D6 x 10).

Solar Alignments

            Multiple suns aligning raise the ambient mana by 25% per sun. So, during the few minutes of a triple solar alignment the mana peaks at an additional 75%.

A few of the rules I use

The main alternate rule I use is from Pyramid 3-83 "Knowing Your Own Strength" which brings the Strength Attribute back into line with all the others. I highly recommend it as it makes things a bit simpler in character creation. Or at least it has with my group.

Another is that HP is based on the weight of the character. Mass correlating to how much damage one can take actually works quite well.

Finally Ranged weapons use Per instead of Dex. Knowing several people who shoot on a regular basis, they have repeatedly said that its breath control and a steady eye that are more important with guns than nimbleness. Or at least if you don't plan to follow the "spray and pray" method of shooting.

These are the big ones that most of my builds take into account. When time permits I will do a second, vanilla build.

A New Take on Magic

I’ve been thinking about my Shadowrun inspired GURPS game and have an idea for magic. It’s based loosely on the ritual spellcasting out of the Magic book.

All spells are techniques based of a single skill called Sorcery, which is an IQ/VH skill.

Prerequisites, except Magery, are removed to make spells stand alone.

The techniques are Hard or Very Hard as they were originally.

This does have the potential to bring down the cost of spells, and a GURPS mage has to have a lot more than their Shadowrun counterparts. Under normal cercumstances they tend to be the most expensive template option, but this brings them down to the level of the cyber and skill based characters.

Aeldari (Warhammer 40K for GURPS)

I've been following Games Workshops setting for awhile now, and decided to take a stab at making my favorite race. I've tried to do them justice from a fluff perspective, while making them a little more alien than they have been written in game terms. 

Aeldari 125

DX +1, Will +1, Perception +1, Basic Speed +.5, Tech Level +2,

Advantages

Acute Hearing 2 [4], Acute Taste and Smell 1 [2], Acute Touch 1 [2], Acute Vision 2 [4], Aeldari Culture [0], Aeldari Language [0], Aeldari Literacy [0], Appearance (attractive) [4], Empathy (Own race only -50%, Always on-10%, Area effect 20 feet, +100%, Biological -10%, Telepathic -10%) [17], Hyperspectral Vision (Biological -10%) [23], Subsonic Speech (Biological -10%) [9], Tetrachomatism [1], Ultrasonic Speech (Biological -10%) [9], Unaging [15]

Disadvantages

Unusual Biochemistry [-5], Chauvinistic [-1], Destiny (Soul consumed by Slanesh, Mitigated by Soul Stone -60%) [-6], Discipline of Faith (Paths) [-5], Disturbing Voice [-1], Riddled Speech [-1], Sense of Duty (Large Group: Craftworld) [-10]

Skills

Emotion Sense [2], Empathy [2]

Discovering GURPS

I've discovered GURPS and find it a wonderful system for my style of game.

I've been busily converting my oldest and longest running game over, and it's something of a kitchen sink setting.

I'll be posting the conversions here as I finish them.