GURPS Voodoo Review
A Monthly Publication of the CompuServe Role Playing Games Forum
Issue 60 (Volume 5, Number 12)
GURPS Voodoo
by C.J. Carella
Published by Steve Jackson Games
Review by Ursus (Chuck Bennett) [74670.432@compuserve.com]
GURPS Voodoo is subtitled "The Shadow War." These two elements of the book's title illustrate the two major elements of the book itself. First, as the title suggests, GURPS Voodoo presents a new magic system, emphasizing rituals and interaction with the spirit world. The Ritual Magic system is not presented alone, however, but is woven into the intricate and colorful tapestry of the world of The Shadow War. This campaign setting presents a conspiracy-riddled world in which societies of Initiates, who can communicate with spirits and use magic, secretly pull the strings that control the rest of humanity. Of course, each Initiate group has its own views and goals, resulting in competition and outright warfare as each group seeks to implement its goals.
The Ritual Magic system is not just limited to the practice of Voodoo, which the author defines to include the rituals of Voudoun, Santeria, Obeah, and Macumbe. In the Shadow War setting, the same system of Ritual Magic is used for all magic users, whether they be Voodoo practitioners, European-tradition magicians, Native American shamans, or Dark Cultists. This magic system does not include flashy effects such as fireballs and lightning bolts, but instead relies on the application of will to influence the probability of events, and on communication with various types of spirits. The Ritual Magic system differs from the GURPS Basic magic system not only in its more mystical flavor, but also in game mechanics.
Unlike the Basic magic system, Ritual Magic does not involve the application of mana or fatigue points to achieve specific, fairly reliable results. Ritual Magic does not require the Magical Aptitude (Magery) advantage, and does not require that "spells" be learned as skills before they can be used. Instead, magical effects are rooted in the Ritual Magic skill, and in Initiate powers (see below). The Ritual Magic skill represents familiarity with the rituals and lore of a particular magical tradition, and must be specialized when it is learned as Ritual Magic (Voodoo), Ritual Magic (Witchcraft), etc. To perform magic in the Ritual Magic system, all that is really necessary is the Ritual Magic skill. The different spells and rituals can all be performed with default skill from this one basic skill. Specialization is encouraged, however, by the availability of Path skills. Paths may at first appear similar to the Colleges of magic employed in the Basic magic system, as general areas of knowledge such as the Path of Health, Path of Luck, and Path of Protection. Path skills, however, enable the use of all rituals included within that Path, at improved defaults as the skill of the Path itself is improved. Taken together with the ability to also learn specific rituals as skills, this system gives tremendous flexibility in the creation of a magic using character.
For example, Demetrius Jones is a practitioner of Voodoo who serves as the "healing man" for his housing project neighborhood. He has Ritual Magic (Voodoo)-17, Path of Health-17, and Succor-16. If he wants to perform the Succor ritual to heal a wound, his skill is 16, his actual learned level with that skill. If he wants to perform the Vitality ritual, which is part of the Path of Health but which he has not learned as an individual skill, his skill is 14, because Vitality defaults to Path of Health minus 3. If he wants to visit the Dreamworld using the Dreamwalk ritual, but has not learned either that ritual or the Path of Dreams, his skill is 11, because each Path defaults to Ritual Magic skill minus 6, and the Dreamwalk ritual defaults to the Path of Dreams with no penalty.
Each of these game mechanics - Ritual Magic, Paths, and individual rituals - are related not only be defaults but also by limits on learning. No Path can be learned to a higher level than the Ritual Magic skill, and no individual ritual can be learned to a higher level than the appropriate Path. The Paths and rituals are ways of specializing within the character's knowledge of Ritual Magic, not alternatives to that knowledge.
The mystical feeling of the Ritual Magic system derives not only from the organization of its skills and the available rituals presented, but also from the elements required to perform rituals and the system of modifiers based on what elements are used. The basic elements are Time, Consecrated Ground, and Material Components. Additional modifiers include area of effect, duration of effect, and number of targets. The element of Time means that this system does not lend itself to instant spells for combat and defense, nor to spur of the moment spell-casting in the midst of an adventure. Most rituals take from 10 minutes to an hour to perform, although more complex rituals may take days. Performing a ritual in a shorter amount of time results in a negative modifier to skill when determining if the ritual is a success. The element of Consecrated Ground also reduces the usefulness of this system for ad hoc spell-casting, as any rituals not performed in a temple or other consecrated place suffer a -5 penalty to skill. The basic consecration is simple to perform, but takes time that may not be available in the middle of an adventure. Especially holy (or unholy) places give greater modifiers to skill. The third basic element, Material Components, allows for a lot of variation among the different magical traditions, and also allows a character performing a ritual to have a lot of influence on its success or failure by the amount of preparation put into it. Material Component modifiers include symbolic representations of the target of the ritual, such as hair, nail clippings, and photographs of the target. (I was disappointed that the list presented did not include the traditional "voodoo doll" to represent the target, but this could easily be added by the GM.) Other Material Components include spiritual symbols (tools of the practitioner's magical tradition, such as crucifixes, knives, crystals, or calabash gourds) and sacrifices (the effectiveness of the sacrifice depends on the spirit whose help is being sought; only the darkest entities will respond favorably to human sacrifice). Any of the ritual elements can be omitted in an emergency, but the penalties to skill are pretty severe.
As I said earlier, Ritual Magic does not require the Magical Aptitude advantage. However, GURPS Voodoo does present a new advantage that is not only very important to the Shadow War setting, but also to the Ritual Magic system itself. This advantage is Initiation, and like Magical Aptitude it can be purchased at different levels. Like Magical Aptitude, increased levels of Initiation improve a character's chances of success with magic, but the Initiation advantage also gives a character a lot more. Even at low levels of Initiation, Initiates are much better at Ritual Magic than are ordinary folks who have only the Ritual Magic skill. Also, even low level Initiates gain abilities to sense and interact with spirits, with the power of these abilities improving at higher levels of Initiation. Higher level Initiates have access to higher powers, including abilities that duplicate some ritual effects but are purchased as advantages rather than as skills. Higher level Initiates are also able to omit some of the elements of rituals that they perform without incurring the associated penalties, much as wizards with high levels of skill in a spell may decrease the energy cost and casting time of spells in the Basic magic system.
Initiation is not all fun, games, and power, though; in the GURPS Voodoo book, the Initiation advantage can also get a character enmeshed in a conflict they might prefer not to even know about. I'm referring, of course, to The Shadow War.
The setting of The Shadow War is the contemporary world that we all know, but in this world the unexplained evils, terrors, and disasters of the world are explained - it is all part of a conflict between secret conspiracies of Initiates competing for power. In GURPS terms, The Shadow War is a Secret Magic campaign - most people have no idea that magic is real, and that is exactly the way those in power want it to stay.
The book provides a detailed explanation of the secret history leading up to the present day. In Europe, those who could work magic stayed underground, forming factions known as Lodges to hold the reins of power in the Church and the various royal houses. When Europeans came to the New World of the Americas, the powerful wizards of the Lodges defeated the native Initiates in mystical battle even as their higher tech armies defeated the natives in combat. The philosophy of the Lodges included a definite racist element, and while each Lodge sought to advance itself, they all worked together to advance the power of Europeans over the other races they encountered. As disease and mistreatment reduced the number of natives available to labor for the Europeans, they brought in slaves from Africa - and those slaves brought with them their own Initiates and mystical traditions. These African traditions, influenced by observation of the Lodges and of Native American shamanistic magic, eventually became the family of traditions known collectively as Voodoo.
This is the foundation of The Shadow War, the struggle between the various factions of Lodges and Voodoo. In the present day, the Lodges still control much of the governmental and institutional power, while the Voodoo societies work primarily on a grass-roots level in the Caribbean islands and in poor neighborhoods with high concentrations of black and Hispanic residents. The setting concentrates on conflict between the haves and have-nots, between the oppressors and the oppressed, but allows enough variety so that it is not all black and white (no pun intended). Not all Lodge members are racist overlords, and not all Voodoo practitioners are good and kind neighborhood protectors. The variety of factions is due not only to the variety of human beings who make up the Initiate members of these groups, with their individual beliefs and consciences, but also due to the varying influence of a third element in The Shadow War - the Corruptors.
The Corruptors are not human. They are ancient spiritual entities of extreme evil, whose origins are unknown and who sustain themselves on the suffering of human beings. These Corruptors have powers to influence ordinary humans, and can offer advanced powers to Initiates. Like many dark entities of myth, they often exert their influence by convincing those they target that some action is good and proper, and then twisting matters to their own ends. Many participants in The Shadow War do not even believe in the Corruptors, but it is apparent that they have been at work for centuries, seducing the Lodges with promises of power and influencing them toward their philosophy of racism and elitism. The Voodoo societies are not immune from Corruptor influence, either - many of the darker popular images of Voodoo are also true, images of human sacrifice and necromancy. These are the legacy of the Corruptors.
GURPS Voodoo provides plenty of background for The Shadow War, including details about the various factions involved, listings of different types of spirits and their powers, and rules for In-Betweeners - monsters who are neither wholly material nor wholly spirit, but a mixture of both. Because this is GURPS, suggestions are given for a number of variant campaigns within the Shadow War setting, and guidelines are provided for using this book with other GURPS books. The "power level" of the campaign can be adjusted to allow for characters who are normal people accidentally stumbling into The Shadow War, for characters who are powerful and active participants in the conflict, or for characters with such high levels of Initiation that they are the actual Secret Masters of the world.
I loved this book on first reading, and I still think that it is a major contribution to the GURPS game system. The Ritual Magic system can be lifted out and adapted to other types of campaigns, adding a mystical touch to magic that the more technical rules of Basic magic do not provide. GMs wishing to use the Ritual Magic skill system in a classic fantasy world may need to add some additional Paths and rituals, but the basic mechanics can be adapted easily. The Shadow War setting is a fascinating and complex game world, and it, too, can be readily tweaked to produce the kind of campaign the GM and players want.
Does this book have any flaws? Of course it does. The illustrations are mostly well done, but a couple of them appear in more than one place in the book, and many of the others are very similar to each other. There are multiple drawings of Skin-Changers ripping their own faces off to reveal the monster underneath, of drive-by shootings, and of people with dreadlocks just kind of standing around doing nothing. Some of these lend flavor, but some of the space could have been better used for more text. The material is well-written, but some of it is poorly organized. The new skills, advantages, and disadvantages intended for spirits and In-Betweeners appear in completely separate sections of the book from the new skills, advantages, and disadvantages intended for Initiates. Some sections of similar material are repeated in different parts of the book, so that if you are looking for a particular tidbit about the Tontons Makouts, you may have difficulty remembering if it is in the introductory section on Corruptors at the front of the book, or in the section on In-Betweeners near the middle, or in the chapter with the history of the Caribbean near the back. Suggestions for integrating GURPS Voodoo with other GURPS books appear in sidebars in the Caribbean background chapter, and also in the Campaigns chapter. Even after repeated readings in preparation for this review, I have trouble finding specific items in the book.
On the whole, I rate GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War at 4 stars. It would have been a 4.5, near perfection, except for the organizational problems noted above.
The CROSSROADS GAZETTE is copyright © 1996 by The Ghoul [71150,2105]. Individual articles are copyright © 1996 by their authors. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to download for personal use only.
This article is copyright © 1996 by Charles Bennett.
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