TEXT: An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS
  ®
  STEVE JACKSON GAMES
  Stock #37-1651
  Version 1.0 – November 2008
  ®
  Written by PHIL MASTERS
  Edited by NIKOLA VRTIS
  Illustrated by PAUL DALY, RAMÓN PÉREZ, 
  DOUG SHULER, and DAN SMITH
  Age of Gold
  TM
  
   INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
  About GURPS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
  Useful GURPS Supplements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
  About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
  1. THE SETTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
  BACKGROUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
  Magic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
  MAGICAL WORLD HISTORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
  Ancient Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
  China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
  India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
  The Victorian Age. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
  The Great Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
  THE STATE OF THE WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
  Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
  The Americas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
  Occult Nazis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
  Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
  Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
  Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
  Shambhala. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
  Shanghai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
  The Black Dragon Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  2. THE MAGIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  PATH/BOOK MAGIC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  Widespread Traditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
  Conversion Between Traditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
  Known Diabolism Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
  ALCHEMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
  Laboratory Alchemy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
  Magical “Herbalism” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
  Weird Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
  Personal Transformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  MAGICAL “SUPERS” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  The Alchemically Transformed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
  Ancient Artifacts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
  Game Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  SPIRIT-ASSISTED SPELL MAGIC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  “Cooperative” Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  Spells Granted and Cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  DEMONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
  True Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
  3. CHARACTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  STARTING POINTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  Basic Conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  “Leader and Assistants” Teams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  CHARACTER TRAITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  Perks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
  Disadvantages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
  Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
  Martial Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
  Wildcard Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
  EXAMPLE ADVERSARIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
  The Secret Pharaoh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
  Madame Jasmine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
  The Jungle Madness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
  4. CAMPAIGNS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
  POWER LEVEL AND ENEMIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
  Pulp Adventurers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
  Mystery Men. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  GAME THEMES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
  Crime Fighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
  Espionage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  Exotic Places. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  Arcane Archaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  INFINITE WORLDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
  Exotic Mana and Impure Alchemy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
  “The Futuremen” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
  History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  FURTHER READING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
  CONTENTS
  2
  CONTENTS
  Playtesters: Frederick Brackin, C. Lee Davis, Emily Smirle
  GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid, Thaumatology, Age of Gold, e23, and the names 
  of all  products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. 
  GURPS Thaumatology: Age of Gold is copyright © 2008 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Some art © 2008 JupiterImages Corporation. All rights reserved.
  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this material via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, 
  and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage 
  the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
  GURPS System Design ❚ STEVE JACKSON
  GURPS Line Editor ❚ SEAN PUNCH
  e23 Manager ❚ STEVEN MARSH
  Page Design ❚ PHIL REED and
  JUSTIN DE WITT
  Managing Editor ❚ PHILIP REED
  Art Director ❚ WILL SCHOONOVER
  Production Artist ❚ NIKOLA VRTIS
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  Director of Sales ❚ ROSS JEPSON
  Errata Coordinator ❚ FADE MANLEY
  GURPS FAQ Maintainer ❚ –––––––
  VICKY “MOLOKH” KOLENKO
  It is the spirit and not the form
  of law that keeps justice alive.
  – Earl Warren
  
  INTRODUCTION
  3
  It was when he saw two winged demons come howling down
  Fifth Avenue that Professor Blake realized that the Secret
  Kingdom was deadly serious about its threats.
  He had received a series of demands, first subtle, then increas-
  ingly sinister, from that clandestine organization, but he had
  laughed at all of them. He was a man who still doubted all those
  claims that he had heard about magic – even though some of
  them came from respectable scholars these days – and the so-
  called Secret Pharaoh seemed to him a joke in very poor taste.
  But on the night before his great discoveries were due to be
  unveiled to the public, he left the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  just in time to hear the screaming start, and what he saw swoop-
  ing toward him banished his doubts completely.
  Blake had served in the Great War, and he had spent most of
  the 15 years since it ended on expeditions to remote areas of
  Egypt; he was used to danger. He instantly turned on his heel and
  fled, without the hesitation that would have killed other men. But
  he could hear great wings behind him. At any moment, he
  expected to feel barbed claws in his flesh. Someone stepped out
  into his path, and he veered around the person, shouting at him
  to flee. But the other man stood his ground, hefting something in
  both hands . . .
  Professor Blake heard a dull thud behind him – and the lead-
  ing demon’s cry was cut short. Blake risked a glance backward,
  and then he spun around in astonishment. He was just in time
  to see the second demon struck square in the ribs with a great
  two-handed mace. The creature lurched to the ground, but it was
  still fighting, and it leaped for its opponent’s throat. Its claws
  found no purchase, and a second mace-blow finished the fight.
  The demon vanished like a bad dream, leaving only a foul stench.
  The newcomer turned to Professor Blake, who recognized a
  description from stories in the press. “Doc Mudra!” he exclaimed.
  The masked mystery man nodded. “Professor Blake?” he
  inquired, and Blake nodded in turn. “I’m pleased that I found
  you in time. The Secret Pharaoh evidently believes that you dis-
  covered a new form of the Philosopher’s Stone in Karnak last
  year, and this won’t be his last attempt to get hold of it.”
  Age of Gold is a GURPS game setting that showcases many
  of the options and rules in GURPS Thaumatology. Specifi-
  cally, it is a world based on the 1930s of our own history – but
  it’s a version of that past era in which magic of several kinds
  works and is being exploited with increasing enthusiasm by
  those few gifted folk who can get it to function or who’ve been
  imbued with supernatural power by destiny or blind chance.
  The 1930s correspond to the latter part of the “pulp era” and
  the very early days of the “Golden Age” of superhero comics,
  and that’s very relevant here. Age of Gold is an age of pulp
  magic and arcane superheroics. Adventurers in this setting may
  be two-fisted pulp-style heroes – battling evil masterminds with
  grit, skill, and scholarship – or masked “mystery men” –
  alchemically transformed into something more than human.
  Most of the background will be familiar to anyone who knows
  the history of our own world in the era, but foreground charac-
  ters and plots should be wildly dramatic and melodramatic.
  Magic, it seems, does this to those who encounter it. Some of
  this magic is ritualistic or alchemical and stylish, while some 
  of it is focused and powerful; the rules from Thaumatology
  allow it to be represented in all its diversity.
  Steve Jackson Games is committed to full support of
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  Austin, TX 78760. Please include a self-addressed, stamped
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  Cthulhu, and many more top games – and other Steve
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  Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but we
  do our best to fix our errors. Up-to-date errata sheets for all
  GURPS releases, including this book, are available on our
  website – see below.
  Internet.
  Visit us on the World Wide Web at
  www.sjgames.com for errata, updates, Q&A, and much
  more. To discuss GURPS with SJ Games staff and fellow
  gamers, come to our forums at forums.sjgames.com. The
  web page for GURPS Thaumatology: Age of Gold is at
  www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/ageofgold.
  Bibliographies. Many of our books have extensive bibli-
  ographies, and we’re putting them online – with links to let
  you buy the books that interest you! Go to the book’s web
  page and look for the “Bibliography” link.
  Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the
  GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that
  begin with B refer to that book, not this one.
  About GURPS
   INTRODUCTION
  
  Why “Age of Gold”? What better name for a setting that not
  only draws on the Golden Age of comics, but features
  alchemists seeking to transform lead into precious metal?
  USEFUL GURPS
  SUPPLEMENTS
  This supplement is linked to GURPS Thaumatology;
  games will need that in addition to the Basic Set. Some GMs
  and players may find GURPS Magic worth referencing,
  although “spell-based” wizardry and the sort of alchemy that
  produces handy potions are only small parts of the setting.
  They can easily enough be downplayed, ignored altogether, or
  restricted to those spells described in the GURPS Basic Set.
  Likewise, GURPS Powers and GURPS Supers may be useful
  when designing and playing high-powered “mystery men,” but
  they aren’t mandatory.
  In addition, other GURPS books may help, although they’re
  strictly optional. GURPS High-Tech includes information on
  the sort of TL6 equipment that adventurers may well want,
  including especially a range of firearms. GURPS Martial Arts
  may be useful for Age of Gold campaigns featuring lots of
  melee combat (see p. 31). GURPS Infinite Worlds could pro-
  vide a wider context for all this (see p. 43).
  Some e23 GURPS products contain highly rele-
  vant information. GURPS Martial Arts: Fairbairn
  Close Combat Systems describes fighting styles
  that developed in the 1930s and that were used in
  Shanghai in particular (see p. 13); it also discusses
  their creator (himself something of a real-life pulp
  hero figure). The two volumes of GURPS High-
  Tech: Pulp Guns provide many more options for
  adventurer firepower (or for their opponents’
  weaponry). Meanwhile, GURPS Lands Out of
  Time could be useful for a “lost world” setting and
  its monsters. Visit the e23 site often to discover
  more handy material.
  There are also a number of older Third Edition
  books that may be relevant. Some of these are still
  available in paper form, and some can be obtained
  as PDFs from e23. They definitely include GURPS
  Cliffhangers, which contains extensive information
  on the world in the 1930s, and more on the pulp
  mode of adventure. GURPS WWII and its accompa-
  nying line of books mostly cover the next decade, of
  course, but they provide quite a bit on the 1930s by way of con-
  text – and World War II is where the world is headed in Age of
  Gold, unless things diverge radically from our history. GURPS
  WWII: Weird War II is especially useful for its coverage of the
  lead-up to the war from a weird history/conspiracy theory
  point of view. Furthermore, some of the equipment and mili-
  tary information in these books may be significant. Lastly,
  GURPS China and GURPS Egypt can offer cultural context
  for some Age of Gold games, GURPS Places of Mystery can
  exist as a source of stylish scenario locations, and the GURPS
  Magic Items series might suggest a few interesting artifacts for
  mystery men to employ.
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  Phil Masters, the author of this book and GURPS
  Thaumatology, is also the author or co-author of such GURPS
  products as Places of Mystery, Atlantis, Dragons, and
  Banestorm, along with the Discworld Roleplaying Game and
  the Hellboy Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game. He likewise
  edited some recent pulp-era-related products for the line. In his
  hilltop lair far across the ocean, he plots further arcane contor-
  tions in the universe of roleplaying games, even as you read
  these words.
  INTRODUCTION
  4
  We are living in what the Greeks called the right time for a
  “metamorphosis of the gods,” i.e., of the fundamental principles
  and symbols. This peculiarity of our time, which is certainly not
  of our conscious choosing, is the expression of the unconscious
  man within us who is changing.
  – Carl Jung
  
  THE SETTING
  5
  The 1930s are a time of instability and widespread public
  uncertainty. Since the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the world
  plunged into the Great Depression – a period of economic
  decline and mass unemployment. With the democratic capital-
  ist system seemingly in crisis, rival political systems – totalitar-
  ian mass movements such as Fascism, Nazism, and Soviet
  Communism – appear to offer powerful alternatives.
  Meanwhile, new scientific and medical ideas such as
  Einsteinian relativity and Freudian psychology shake the very
  foundations of human belief, while astronomers discover just
  how huge the universe really is.
  This much echoes our own history. In the world of Age of
  Gold, though, another, older challenge to conventional think-
  ing is also on the rise: the power of the supernatural.
  MAGIC
  Magic, it seems, has existed throughout history, and many
  of the usual suspects (Merlin, Michael Scot, John Dee, Faust,
  Cagliostro, etc.) were probably genuine wizards – but magic
  was often unreliable, and wizards tended to be autodidactic
  loners, so its effects on history were limited at best. Events
  transpired much as in our past, and indeed, many sensible
  pundits could and did deny the very existence of magic.
  However, the Victorian age, with its global European-domi-
  nated empires and increasing ease of travel, saw a lot of com-
  munication between different magical traditions, each with
  small fragments of useful knowledge and power. This lead to
  scholarly cross-fertilization, while the growth of scientific
  archaeology brought important ancient material to the atten-
  tion of intellectuals. This process peaked with the discovery of
  a sample of the Philosopher’s Stone in an Egyptian New
  Kingdom tomb by noted archaeologist Flinders Petrie in 1919.
  With the key to alchemy, the most scientific of the magical
  arts, now available, broad-minded scientists began to probe
  the truth behind the old wives’ tales and superstitions. Marie
  Curie investigated the relationship between the elements in the
  light of alchemical theory, and Albert Einstein theorized about
  the nature of alchemical forces. Unfortunately, despite the best
  efforts of such geniuses, magic still keeps many of its secrets,
  driving investigators crazy with its elusiveness – but a few
  researchers have achieved useful results, mostly by not trying
  too hard to work out why magic works, but just using it; the
  fusion of alchemy and modern science sometimes produces
  especially dramatic effects. In game terms, the results of
  applied alchemy, as it were, tend to take the form of seriously
  weird, pulpy “superscience,” which sometimes only works for
  the crazy genius who invented it.
  Vultures were circling high in the cloudless African sky. But
  when a shadow fell on them from even higher, they scattered
  nervously. The pride of lions far below would take its time about
  its kill, after all.
  Aboard the amazing helix-plane, its inventor and pilot
  adjusted the controls and turned to his passenger. “So, monsieur
  le commandant – this is the land where you served in the past
  unpleasantness, n’est-pas?”
  Major George Gregory, late of the British Army, nodded briefly.
  “I had a colonial posting out here in ’14,” he confirmed, “and they
  kept me here while we chased that old fox Lettow-Vorbeck for
  next four years.”
  “So this is a place with many ghosts for you . . . ah, I am sorry,
  my friend – that was a jest of a poor sort.”
  “No offense taken, old chap. Yes, this is a land with a lot of
  ghosts, going a very long way back. But they aren’t as unhappy as
  the ones you’d find in Flanders.”
  “I can comprehend that, I think. How does India compare,
  though? Or China?”
  Gregory frowned and gazed out of the helix-plane’s windscreen.
  “Every nation’s ghosts are a little different, in my experience . . .”
  But before he could explain further, his eyes widened. “Look out!”
  he barked. Pierre de Rocheford understood his comrade’s super-
  human awareness too well to question the warning. He cut
  power to one rotor, and the helix-plane slipped sharply down and
  sideways – just in time to avoid the claws of a great winged mon-
  ster that had appeared seemingly from nowhere.
  “Sacrebleu!” exclaimed the Frenchman.
  “Just so,” murmured Gregory, as he swiftly extracted his hunt-
  ing rifle from its traveling case. “Now, hold this thing steady a
  moment, old chap. It looks like we’ll have a little shooting today!”
  Age of Gold is a world-wide game setting – and with 20th-
  century transport technology and the adventurous pulp ethos
  both very much to the fore, PCs should know that they have a
  whole world to play with. Nonetheless, mystery, drama, and
  deadly threats fill this world. Not everything is known as yet,
  and some of the unknown regions of the planet are stuffed full
  of strangeness and deathtraps. Supernatural power exists and
  can very definitely be used for evil as much as for good.
  Meanwhile, even in the most “civilized” corners of the known
  world, utterly mundane evils are emerging that threaten to
  drag the planet down into darkness.
  BACKGROUND
  CHAPTER ONE
  THE SETTING
  
  But alchemy – which in this setting is defined broadly as the
  science of magical transformations – is just one branch of
  magic and not even the most common. Perhaps the most wide-
  spread form, which can work for a lot of people without spe-
  cial gifts or insights, involves ritual procedures – usually
  lengthy processes with a lot of chanting, gesturing, and special
  ingredients, leading to subtle but useful effects. Because ritual
  magic takes so long, and sometimes (though not always)
  involves multiple participants, such magicians often form 
  subtle conspiratorial groups or build cults of personality. They
  then either hire people with or learn mundane skills to back up
  their supernatural power.
  The world also contains a surprisingly large number of
  magical artifacts and devices, apparently created by past magi-
  cians who may have used now-lost arts. Many of these items
  are powerful and versatile enough to make their current wield-
  ers quite formidable. Furthermore,
  there exist potent spiritual beings of at
  best uncertain temperament, some of
  whom are willing to lend power to
  compliant mortals.
  In fact, because all these forms of
  magic take complex variant forms, it
  sometimes seems that anything is pos-
  sible with magic. That’s not quite true,
  but the limits are certainly vague.
  Mana Levels
  As spell-based magic isn’t the norm
  in this setting, “mana levels” don’t
  have as much significance as in some
  campaigns, but broadly, for practical
  purposes, most or all of the Earth in
  Age of Gold can be classed as normal
  to high mana; magical procedures can
  be conducted by anyone, but people with Magery often have an
  advantage. Most magical artifacts and devices can be used by
  anyone who knows how they’re designed to function, and any-
  body can perform alchemical lab work. Only mages can reli-
  ably perform Path/Book rituals, although non-mages can study
  this type of magic and attempt to cast it at -5; see p. 126 of
  Thaumatology. Spirit-assisted magic permits non-mages to
  cast spells, as discussed on p. 91 of Thaumatology.
  There may be some small areas with differing mana levels,
  or even aspected or variant mana (see pp. 58-60 of
  Thaumatology), at the GM’s option – small magical “hot spots”
  or “dead zones,” either general or “aspected” in some way.
  Wizards might fight for control of small high-mana “places of
  power,” while larger ones might be the location of “lost cities
  of sorcery.” Cunning adepts might exploit low or no-mana
  zones to hide themselves from supernatural detection or
  assault. Magic in the setting is certainly strange and unpre-
  dictable, but such variations should be kept as rare plot devices
  or points of interest, and not cheapened by overuse.
  Some evidence actually indicates that general mana levels
  have risen in recent years – that the Age of Gold was initiated,
  not by a few archaeological discoveries, but by a shift in the
  paranormal dynamics of the whole world that restored things
  to a state unknown since ancient times. However, as thauma-
  tologists aren’t used to thinking in terms of mana levels, they
  haven’t really addressed this idea yet. In any case, it’s hard to
  say what might have triggered such a huge change, and how 
  it might relate to the known academic discoveries of the last
  couple of decades. Perhaps some archaeologist or treasure
  hunter opened a sealed tomb and exposed a particularly potent
  and volatile form of the Philosopher’s Stone to the atmosphere,
  or unknowingly released a trapped horde of magical spirits.
  Perhaps it was something to do with the confused state of the
  collective unconscious in the modern age. This would imply
  that Petrie didn’t find any more of the Philosopher’s Stone than
  many other searchers of the last couple of thousand years; he
  just chanced across some after an environment developed in
  which it could work properly.
  The Philosopher’s Stone
  The single most significant magical phenomenon in Age of
  Gold is the substance or object known as the Philosopher’s
  Stone, which countless alchemists throughout his-
  tory have sought to create or “accomplish”
  through processes of research and purification. In
  its pure form, this can allegedly catalyze the trans-
  formation of other metals into gold. It may also
  grant human immortality in some way. However,
  the details are unclear, if only because the truly
  pure form has rarely been achieved. The pure form
  may, according to some modern theories, even rep-
  resent some kind of unattainable perfection. The
  Philosopher’s Stone appears to equate to what
  Chinese alchemists call “nine-crucible cinnabar”
  or “drinkable gold,” a potion of immortality.
  What is notable in Age of Gold, however, is
  that imperfect or impure forms of the
  Philosopher’s Stone have been fairly frequently
  produced. These actually produce lesser but still
  impressive results, including temporary elemental
  transmutations. They also impart dramatically
  flawed immortality or other superhuman powers to
  anyone who consumes them. Tiny quantities of these “imper-
  fect perfections” are often important in the production of
  alchemical elixirs. They may have been employed in the man-
  ufacture of many magical artifacts in the past. Certainly, such
  artifacts often grant superhuman powers to their users. The
  forms that the impure Philosopher’s Stones take are as varied
  as the effects they produce; they may be liquid or solid, metal-
  lic, crystalline, or seemingly organic, sweet-scented or toxic.
  So far as broad-minded scientists can determined from the
  few samples they’ve managed to obtain in the face of determined
  competition from alchemists and wizards, the “Philosopher’s
  Stone” is more a state of matter than a substance as such. Matter
  in the “Philosopher’s Stone” state acts as a matrix that can hold
  and store paranormal forces, perhaps as a sort of “standing
  wave.” This is one property that all “Stones” have in common.
  Research continues to determine whether the different forms
  that the “Stone” takes all include microcrystalline particles with
  the appropriate structure, or all in fact be completely different 
  in their chemical composition and form. What is known is that
  these substances can have enormously powerful transforma-
  tional effects on other substances, living beings, and intelligent
  minds in the vicinity – which of course makes research much
  more difficult. Some researchers also think that matter can only
  become the Stone if a nearby living mind is exerting trained
  willpower to that end, guiding the all-important psychic forces
  into the part-formed matrix – which would explain the huge dif-
  ficulty in reproducing important results.
  THE SETTING
  6
  John Dee
  
  THE SETTING
  7
  Most of this setting’s history mirrors our own, at least until
  the 1920s or so; when in doubt, GMs can treat anything in an
  ordinary history book about the 1920s and 1930s as just as true
  here, too – although any references to the supernatural are more
  likely (though not certain!) to be literally correct. However, a few
  historical topics do merit some special attention.
  ANCIENT EGYPT
  Although supernatural phenomena had been known since
  prehistoric times, Old Kingdom Egypt appears to have been
  the first civilization to produce any kind of “science of magic,”
  largely independent of the influence of self-interested spirits.
  In particular, Egypt was the birthplace of alchemy and the
  location of the first attempts to purify the Philosopher’s Stone.
  It’s not clear whether the Egyptians were really better at magic
  and alchemy than other cultures, or whether they just spent
  longer trying, but over many centuries, they certainly produced
  a lot of evidence. Furthermore, their habit of storing much of
  it in tombs and pyramids means that quite a lot has survived
  to the modern era. It’s also unclear quite what the gods of that
  society really were, but at the very least, some of them seem to
  have been powerful spirits – and some of them are still around.
  The various regional cults of Early Dynastic Egypt were
  apparently in touch with these beings, but formal magic is tra-
  ditionally supposed to have been invented by the Third
  Dynasty genius Imhotep, who also invented the pyramid,
  which can focus supernatural energies and preserve and con-
  tain unstable magical materials. The Fourth Dynasty pharaoh
  Cheops suppressed many spirit-cults while building the biggest
  pyramid of all, and his reign may have represented the pinna-
  cle of early Egyptian magical insight. After that, Egyptian
  power (of all kinds) waxed and waned repeatedly. Many secrets
  were lost or forgotten, for significant periods if not forever.
  Sometimes, magical devices or weapons were buried along-
  side their royal owners. On other occasions, royal tombs were
  fitted with magical traps. In still others, what seemed to be
  tombs were actually “containment facilities” for items that
  were seen as better lost. Egyptian archaeology can be uniquely
  exciting and tricky in Age of Gold.
  The Decline
  Eventually, too many supernatural secrets were lost – or
  spread to the rest of the world – for Egypt to preserve its domi-
  nant position in its region through magic, and the nation grew
  too weak to survive otherwise. In the sixth century B.C., the
  newer Persian Empire conquered Egypt, although the subju-
  gated country remained rebellious for many years thereafter,
  and it was sometimes more or less independent, often in
  alliance with Greece. In the fourth century B.C., Persia fell to
  Alexander the Great, who was welcomed in Egypt as a liberator.
  After Alexander’s death, the country was ruled by the Ptolemaic
  dynasty, descended from one of Alexander’s generals.
  The Ptolemies tried to restore Egypt’s magical power, estab-
  lishing a great library in the new city of Alexandria as a center
  of learning. However, too much had been forgotten. The last of
  the dynasty, Queen Cleopatra, attempted to use a combination
  of political cleverness, feminine wiles, and great magical ritu-
  als to preserve independence from Rome and restore Egyptian
  power, but she ultimately failed: Egypt became a province of
  the Roman Empire.
  However, Egypt has been seen as the source of magical
  power ever since. In particular, along with their alchemical lore,
  the Egyptians are thought to have known many crucial words
  and “true names” that can augment rituals and other workings.
  Even if they don’t find mystical devices or Philosopher’s Stone
  samples, magical researchers can sometimes learn a lot from
  ancient Egyptian scrolls and inscriptions. Some Age of Gold
  occultists claim that the science of magic truly returned to the
  world in the early 19th century, when Champollion decoded the
  ancient hieroglyphic script using the Rosetta Stone; the world
  merely took a century or so to notice.
  CHINA
  Egypt has at least one rival claimant to the title of birth-
  place of magical science, though, and that is ancient China.
  The roots of this civilization vanish into prehistory and myth,
  but it’s clear that ancient China saw a great deal of ritualistic
  spirit magic, conducted by shamans, or Wu, who originally
  wielded great social power. However, with the rise of the Chou
  dynasty, around 1000 B.C., the new rulers crushed the old reli-
  gion in order to establish their own dominance. The Wu were
  driven underground, becoming oracles, freelance wizards, and
  leaders of local cults and secret societies; this remains the gen-
  eral situation in Age of Gold. The Chou and their successors
  wanted to be seen as cultured, and they encouraged philoso-
  phers and thinker. Hence, China produced a profusion of
  schools of thought, including not only the orderly ideals of
  Confucianism but also the more spontaneous, anti-authoritar-
  ian Taoism. The latter – a mixture of philosophy, religion, and
  mysticism – was heavily entangled with the traditions of
  Chinese magic. Thus, most Chinese magicians and alchemists
  are scholars of Taoism, if not full-time Taoists.
  China was only truly united under Ch’in Shih-Huang-Ti, in
  221 B.C.. The First Emperor was a formidable ruler, but he
  became obsessed with the quest for immortality, which his
  alchemists failed to provide – perhaps because he had
  oppressed the Taoists so heavy-handedly. Distracted by this
  desire, Ch’in Shih-Huang-Ti left his empire weakened, and his
  dynasty was rapidly replaced after his death, which may have
  been caused by a failed immortality potion.
  This set a pattern for much of Chinese history: Many
  emperors would be killed by treatments that were supposed to
  allow them to live forever. Magic thus remained on the fringes,
  in the hands of eccentric Taoists and secret shamans. The most
  respectable scholars, who might have turned magic into a sci-
  ence and recorded the details in writing, were at odds with the
  people who actually knew how to get it to work. In Age of Gold,
  however, Chinese magic is enjoying a resurgence, albeit still
  largely in remote areas and in the underworld. The rise of
  European power, complete with technologies that can threaten
  even Chinese imperial power, has led to disruption and social
  fragmentation – and wizards and Wu are taking advantage of
  the situation.
  MAGICAL WORLD HISTORY
  
  Chinese magical ideas have been influential throughout
  much of eastern Asia, although they often take on a particular
  local “flavor.” Nations who take a pride in their unique cul-
  tures, such as Japan and Korea, often insist that their own tra-
  ditions were entirely local developments. They even suggest
  that they originated ideas that then spread to China and
  beyond – in magic as in much else.
  INDIA
  The third great, ancient Old World civilization with a vast
  mystical tradition is of course India, which has even more of a
  hazy and uncertain past to modern eyes. Its history can be
  traced back to the Bronze Age, but its melange of empires, cul-
  tures, religions, and philosophies seems to make anything pos-
  sible and nothing certain. Age of Gold occultists say that every
  known form of magic, mysticism, and alchemy is represented
  somewhere in Indian tradition, along with hints of many
  unknown forms and styles.
  It is wrong to make broad statements about the nature of
  “Indian magic.” However, one common feature of the subcon-
  tinent’s traditions is an emphasis on the power of words that is
  at least as strong as that in Egypt – with a particular focus on
  the importance of correct pronunciation when using ritual
  incantations, “mantras,” and verbal charms. Other styles of
  Indian magic emphasize meditation and spiritual insight,
  while still others concentrate on the use of mudras – “spiritual
  gestures.” All this makes it difficult to master magic from texts;
  anyone who wants to learn Indian magic must find a guru, an
  expert teacher. Hence, in Age of Gold, Indian ports see a steady
  procession of Western “seekers after truth” arriving in search
  of magical instruction.
  THE VICTORIAN AGE
  As has already been noted, the 19th-century “Age of Empires”
  had the unexpected side effect of bringing long-separated magi-
  cal traditions into contact, enabling scholars to integrate them
  and extract whatever worked. It also brought magical artifacts
  and other discoveries back to Europe. Britain, having the
  largest empire, received the most, but other nations weren’t far
  behind. In addition, the period saw the first developments of
  new sciences that appear to open the door to the possibility of
  “paranormal” phenomena, while the worst aspects of the
  Industrial Revolution produced a psychological reaction, a
  backward-looking romanticism that welcomed “spiritual”
  ideas. Europeans had gained access to Indian mystical texts
  thanks to the study of Sanskrit in the previous century; with
  the decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphics, Western occultists had
  two important points of reference. Then, the Opium Wars gave
  some of researchers – especially some amoral plunderers – a
  chance to get hold of a third set of texts.
  However, the supernatural didn’t become quite as flagrant in
  that period as it is in the 1930s. Its appearances were largely lim-
  ited to “ghost stories” set in the dark shadows of the world, and
  to hints of functional magic among those devotees who pursued
  the subject most diligently. Part of the problem was that the
  secret of the Philosopher’s Stone had been lost, and part of it was
  simply that a lot of groundwork was needed to get such things
  working again. It took the boom in scientific archaeology, late in
  the period and at the start of the 20th century, to provide a com-
  plete set of tools and a lot of solid evidence.
  Then, of course, the Great War came along and distracted
  everyone from what still seemed a rather abstract topic.
  THE GREAT DEPRESSION
  In the wake of the World War I, the world looked for new
  possibilities, sometimes with a cautious sense of optimism,
  more often with an air of desperation. The universe seemed a
  darker place in the aftermath of that great slaughter, and early
  news of strange discoveries in Egypt didn’t seem especially reas-
  suring. The “Roaring Twenties” meant Prohibition and gang-
  sters in America, communists in Russia, and signs of decline
  among the European empires; evidence that magic might actu-
  ally work just sounded like more trouble. The Wall Street Crash
  of 1929 merely confirmed many people’s worst suspicions.
  Indeed, the first sign that some people were finally taking
  all this talk of “the paranormal” seriously was that they tried to
  blame the Crash on master villains and evil secret societies.
  The Secret Pharaoh (pp. 32-35) in particular had already
  gained enough of a reputation for his (perfectly genuine) desire
  to bring down the governments of the world; the idea of him
  engineering such a disaster seemed perfectly reasonable. This
  wasn’t a very popular theory – at least as many people blamed
  “the communists,” and professional economists and financiers
  were equally disdainful of both ideas. However, there was no
  denying that some master criminals were happy enough to
  take advantage of the world economic situation, buying up
  whole companies cheap to use as fronts, recruiting the dispos-
  sessed and disaffected as foot soldiers, or just reveling in the
  public mood as they spread anarchy.
  Fortunately, they met opposition. Newspaper readers and
  newsreel watchers had long been thrilling to stories of bold
  explorers and adventurers such as Richard E. Byrd, Charles
  Lindbergh, and Roy Chapman Andrews. Now, the category
  expanded to include freelance crime fighters and some urban
  vigilantes. There were at least hints that some of these people
  had uncanny abilities somewhere beyond the human norm,
  and that explorers were bringing back some very strange dis-
  coveries. These hints simply made the news much more fasci-
  nating at a time when many folk found most of it depressing.
  THE SETTING
  8
  
  THE SETTING
  9
  Given that the world in Age of Gold is much like that of our
  own 1930s, sources such as GURPS Cliffhangers and GURPS
  WWII can provide a much more comprehensive and generally
  applicable outline than there is room for here. The following is
  a brief summary of the state of affairs in the setting, focusing
  on those elements that differ from our own history.
  EUROPE
  Doubly battered, first by war and then by economic
  depression, Europe suffers from deep uncertainties. It is the
  testing ground where radical political systems such as
  Communism and Fascism are instituted and confront both
  each other and democracy; it is the heartland for great
  empires in decline. However, it is equally a continent of con-
  siderable industrial power and wealth, and of great cultural
  richness and diversity. Local and visiting adventurers can
  always find plenty to do here.
  Europe is also an epicenter of magical activity. It has its
  own magical traditions and has an extensive academic and
  intellectual system. European scholars can wander European-
  run empires, acquiring ideas and artifacts, while researchers
  freely exchange ideas through long-established academic net-
  works, leading to profitable (and, in the magical world, some-
  times dangerous) cross-fertilization.
  The United Kingdom
  At the center of history’s greatest empire, and having
  avoided combat on its own soil in the World War I, Britain is
  in a better position than many European nations – but it has
  its problems. The cost of fighting the Great War left the coun-
  try deep in debt, an aging industrial base isn’t doing as much
  to restore prosperity as might be hoped, and political power
  keeps shifting hands. Nor has the recent loss of Ireland done
  much for British confidence. Still, the British didn’t get where
  they are today by letting a few problems keep them down.
  Thanks to its empire; the countless artifacts and ideas
  brought home by soldiers, administrators, and explorers; and
  a substantial tradition of archeology and sometimes whimsical
  scholarship, Britain is something of a center of magical activ-
  ity. In the great British Museum and the attached library, in the
  private collections of aristocratic amateurs and the libraries of
  ancient universities, scholars tease out ages-old secrets, while
  crazy would-be mages found strange cults and fraternities to
  promote their own power. In 1936, the new King Edward VIII
  abdicates the throne in order to marry the woman he loves; it’s
  a sign of how things are going in the Age of Gold world that a
  few people suggest that he has been magically controlled by
  someone to do this, although that theory is mostly treated as a
  joke in very poor taste.
  The archetypal British hero in this period is a tough, sol-
  dierly, middle-to-upper-class sort, moderately shrewd but no
  intellectual, happy to punch out any foreigners, radicals, or
  other dubious sorts who seem to be threatening the Empire.
  (In Age of Gold, heroes throughout the world often veer strik-
  ingly close to local archetypes, thanks perhaps to the magical
  power of symbolism.) However, there’s a fair amount of varia-
  tion possible and visible. Even the stereotyped “clubland
  heroes” often have a less-posh ally or two. One of them might
  be a former batman or sergeant from their military days, now
  employed as a manservant. Another might be a more academic
  friend or acquaintance giving advice, which can be essential
  when dealing with magical problems. Other stereotypes exist,
  such as the thoughtful amateur detective, the bluff Scotland
  Yard copper, and the daredevil gentleman thief.
  In Age of Gold, the country has also produced some com-
  pletely “atypical” heroes and adventuring groups, from the
  enigmatic working-class alchemically transformed speedster
  who fights crime in the cities of northern England, to the
  Glasgow-based circle of radical left-wing ritual magicians with
  an eclectic self-taught style, to the three different mysterious
  swordsmen who all claim to wield Excalibur.
  Russia
  Russia took a severe battering in the World War I, leading to
  revolution and the collapse of its old imperial government. In the
  ensuing chaos, the “Bolshevik” Communist Party seized power
  and defeated an ill-coordinated military counterstrike by its
  opponents. By 1922, it established itself as the first of the great
  totalitarian powers of the era – leaving anti-Bolshevik “White
  Russian” exiles scattered across the globe, plotting, making
  deals, or drinking to forget, and numerous capitalist and impe-
  rialist governments running scared of communist plots and vio-
  lent revolutionaries. In 1924, the triumphant revolutionary
  leader Lenin died, to be replaced by the lethally paranoid Josef
  Stalin. While Western idealist sympathizers watch Stalin’s
  “reforms” through rose-tinted lenses, those policies actually kill
  millions through malice or ideological incompetence.
  THE STATE OF THE WORLD
  The Gold Standard
  Meanwhile, economics has been further confused and dis-
  rupted by the total collapse of the long-standing “gold stan-
  dard” – the principle that currencies should be backed by the
  nation’s holdings of gold bullion. In fact, this had been widely
  abandoned during the World War I by nations that needed
  more flexibility in order to pay for the war, but attempts to
  restore it subsequently were few and abortive, as supplies of
  the metal seemed to have become erratic and unpredictable.
  It’s an open secret, at least among those people broad-minded
  enough to admit the existence and proven effectiveness of
  magic, that certain alchemists are manufacturing gold, of vari-
  able but sometimes adequate reliability, destroying the metal’s
  precious status. Some free-thinking economists declare bluntly
  that this is a good thing: The gold standard was an unsustain-
  able straightjacket on economic policy, which would have had
  to be abandoned anyway. Others disagree, and mutter that,
  whatever the cause, the result is a terrible mess. Alchemy is a
  very dirty word in some political circles.
  
  Stalin’s Soviet Union is a formidable power by sheer weight
  of numbers, with the largest army on Earth. However, Stalin
  regards the officer corps with deep suspicion, periodically
  purging it of anyone he suspects of threatening his status, leav-
  ing the army ill-led. Russia generally replaces subtlety or judg-
  ment with raw numbers and dictatorial ruthlessness – but
  those are powerful enough.
  The Communist Party is officially dedicated to principles
  of scientific materialism, and it rejects all talk of magic as
  “bourgeois obfuscation” and “archaic superstition formulated
  to maintain the proletariat in a state of ignorance and subju-
  gation.” Hence, the rulers of Russia don’t pursue magical
  power as such. Traditional supernatural phenomena within
  the Soviet Union are likely to be independent forces, often
  related to dark and dangerous figures out of local folklore (see
  GURPS Russia). They are generally just as much of a threat
  to blundering commissars and willfully blind officials as to
  everyone else. However, the Communist belief in “science”
  verges on blind faith, which provides huge scope for one type
  of actually supernatural activity: “superscience,” of the mad-
  dest and most dangerous sort.
  A crazy Russian weird scientist who can find a senior
  Party official prepared to protect and support him can often
  acquire considerable resources, especially if he can present
  his theories in terms of “dialectical materialism” in opposi-
  tion to “bourgeois convention.” Such scientists rarely have to
  worry about any sort of ethical constraints. They may also be
  able to divert Communist spy rings elsewhere in the world to
  acquiring them any secrets or resources they may feel they
  need. Of course, if they carry on for too long without deliver-
  ing something useful, they may be sacrificed in an attempt to
  save their sponsor’s hide from even more powerful officials,
  or just punished brutally for their failure. These threats
  merely make them increasingly obsessive and willing to cut
  procedural and ethical corners as time goes by.
  Russian weird science appears to be especially advanced
  in biology and “materialist psychic research.” Researchers
  may come up with “metapsychic manifestation machines”
  (which summon demons at the push of a button) or “organic
  macro-munitions” (semi-controllable giant mutant animals),
  and then be sent to field-test them in ideological conflicts
  around the world.
  Germany
  In Age of Gold as in our 1930s, the Nazi Party rules
  Germany from 1933 onward. Battered first by severe repara-
  tions demands in the wake of the World War I, and then by the
  Great Depression, Germany has polarized and fragmented.
  The Nazis exploited the social near-collapse, playing politics
  skillfully enough to grab control from a position of minority
  support. With the levers of power in their hands, the Nazis
  develop their rabble-rousing style into a whole system of prop-
  aganda and enforced conformity, even murdering those of
  their own supporters who seem to threaten the
  leadership. They also bring their demented
  racist attitudes ever more to the fore.
  See GURPS WWII: Iron Cross for more on
  pre-war Germany and its weird and deadly
  internal politics, and GURPS WWII: Weird
  War II for ideas on how to use this material in
  a high-weirdness game of occult conspiracy.
  THE AMERICAS
  As the location of the world’s greatest grow-
  ing nation and also of some of its most trou-
  bled states, the New World is fully as diverse
  as the Old. It escaped the devastation of the
  Great War, but parts of it have plenty of blood
  in their own history.
  The New World lacks the complex magical
  history of the Old. Although various pre-
  Columbian civilizations had access to forms
  of ritual magic, they never seem to have mas-
  tered much in the way of alchemy. However,
  colonists from the Old World have brought
  all their traditions with them, and these
  bustling new societies have often merged
  diverse ideas and followed them up with
  more enthusiasm than caution, leading to
  whole new magical styles and methodologies.
  European-style Satanists attempt to summon
  bloody-handed Aztec gods, Voodoo priests
  merge invocations of African loa with prayers
  to Catholic saints, and eccentric Boston aca-
  demics seek the “lost secrets of Lemuria and
  Mu” under the intellectual influence of exiled
  Russian visionaries.
  THE SETTING
  10
  Occult Nazis
  As in our history, the Nazis in this setting propound more or less mys-
  tical theories that make some leading figures in the Party very interested
  in sources of supernatural power. However, they aren’t quite as formida-
  ble a force in the supernatural world as some readers may expect.
  There are several reasons for this. Primarily, it turns out that the spe-
  cific magical traditions that they find so fascinating don’t actually work
  very well. Their biggest single problem is their tendency to reject any
  source of knowledge with a Jewish author and to focus on a narrow
  range of ill-documented and often imaginary northern European magi-
  cal ideas. In addition, the leadership periodically purges certain weirder
  elements from the Party, finding them politically embarrassing or sus-
  pecting them (rightly or wrongly) of being a threat to the leaders them-
  selves. The would-be magicians might be safer if they could demonstrate
  actual, useful power – but mostly, they can’t.
  Nonetheless, there are a few effective ritual magicians, at least on the
  fringes of the Nazi Party. More dangerously, quite a few more mystically
  inclined Nazis have developed an intense interest in magical artifacts,
  which they see as a relatively reliable shortcut to power, without the
  messy complications of ritual theory with all its “non-Aryan” inclusions.
  Hence, the type of Nazi antagonist that heroes will most likely to be
  encountered away from Germany is a determined, obsessive, and well-
  resourced adventurer-archaeologist, backed by a squad or two of fanati-
  cal stormtroopers. Such an opponent is unlikely to have powers of his
  own, unless he’s actually located and acquired some functional artifact –
  but fanaticism and mundane firepower could make him a deadly foe
  nonetheless.
  PCs should also be very worried by the prospect of Nazi occultists
  ever getting spells to work. Potentially, they could become true masters
  of “Mass Magic” (see GURPS Thaumatology, p. 51).
  
  The United States of America
  The Great Depression notwithstanding, the United States is
  now clearly the world’s leading national power. Spanning the
  continent with a network of railroads, rich in natural resources
  and human ingenuity, proud of its democracy (if sometimes
  suspicious of foreign ways of thinking), the United States sees
  itself as forging a path to the future.
  But current troubles do sometimes give its more thoughtful
  citizens pause. U.S. free enterprise had done very well, but the
  system somehow managed to fall in the Wall Street Crash, and
  it’s taking a while to scramble out again. As the 1930s progress,
  drought and poor management (and perhaps a little miscast
  magic) transform vast areas of farmland into the Dust Bowl,
  leaving countless farmers impoverished and homeless. The
  great social experiment of the Prohibition has proven less than
  completely successful, creating an environment in which
  organized crime can thrive; it seems that America’s cities are
  swarming with gangsters. Prohibition falls in 1933, but by then,
  the gangsters have acquired outlaw glamour; ground down by
  the Depression, many ordinary people feel a sneaking admira-
  tion for those gun-toting criminals who at least go out fighting.
  These dynamic but troubled times throw up a variety of
  other heroes, too, even disregarding the possibility of magic.
  Crime-busting G-men, hard-bitten private eyes, fearless
  reporters, daredevil “barnstormer” pilots, and war veterans
  who’ve become wandering soldiers of fortune all fit the mood
  of the era. For a more cerebral style of play, they can be joined
  by thoughtful New England professors or resourceful
  Edisonian inventors.
  Meanwhile, this being the Age of Gold, wealthy and ener-
  getic archaeologists and museums have imported a large num-
  ber of ancient artifacts from digs all around the world, a
  proportion of which have turned out to be magical. Can-do,
  try-anything inventors and scientists probe the far edges of sci-
  ence, where they sometimes intersect with the paranormal.
  There are good reasons why the United States is the world’s
  epicenter of super-powered “mystery man” activity!
  South and Central America
  Widely seen by denizens of Europe and the United States as
  a vast region of trackless jungle and backward peasants, the
  more southerly parts of the Americas are in fact diverse and
  socially complex. In the 1930s, they are also often troubled,
  with revolutions, coups, and dictatorships all too often exacer-
  bated by interference from foreign governments and multina-
  tional companies. More than one promising democracy slips
  into military dictatorship in the 1930s, and South America wit-
  nesses at least one major international conflict in the period –
  the Chaco War of 1932-1935, between Bolivia and Paraguay.
  Meanwhile, the Great Depression mauls the export-based econ-
  omy of Argentina, the United States withdraws its troops from
  bases in Nicaragua in 1933 but continues to take an interest in
  the violent local politics, and the Communist International
  foments revolution along the length of the Andes.
  Occult investigations in this region mostly concentrate on
  searches for Mayan ruins in the jungles of Central America and
  lost Inca cities in the mountains of Peru. Unfortunately, such
  quests rarely find useful artifacts, and they all too often lead to
  encounters with dark spirits or deranged undead. Nonetheless,
  enough hints spring up about truly ancient arcane lore in
  incompletely translated texts and inscriptions to keep opti-
  mistic treasure hunters coming back.
  Alchemical researchers occasionally look for new ingredi-
  ents in the Amazon rain forest, either interrogating or fighting
  with the local tribes. There are also the occasional stories of
  revolutionary cultists hiding in the jungles and using strange
  and sinister rituals – but that often seems to be propaganda
  used by ruthless rulers to alienate their opponents from sup-
  port among the peasantry. For that matter, the rulers them-
  selves aren’t always averse to calling on dark powers. In other
  places again, especially where Voodoo is a popular religion, all
  sides may quite openly look for a little supernatural assistance.
  AFRICA
  In the 1930s, the ancient ancestral homeland of humanity is
  largely under the sway of various colonial powers – although
  parts of the interior still remain only lightly explored, making
  them interesting for the purposes of Age of Gold games. The
  Muslim nations of the northern coasts are an established part
  of the Mediterranean cultural world, albeit currently often
  under the thumb of one European power or another. South of
  the Sahara and away from the handful of colonial cities, things
  can get much stranger for Western visitors. While well-armed
  safaris or more-than-human mystery men should have rela-
  tively little difficulty with ordinary wildlife or the occasional
  pulp-style hostile native tribe, either can display enough cun-
  ning and knowledge of the local terrain to give visitors an
  unpleasant shock. Meanwhile, scheming masterminds seeking
  to build private empires around gold or diamond mines deep in
  the interior, dedicated local revolutionaries who see all
  unknown foreigners as hated colonial oppressors, and the occa-
  sional outburst of local paranormal weirdness can all make vis-
  its the “Dark Continent” both necessary and seriously risky.
  One possibility in Age of Gold is that the recent resurgence
  of magic in the world is more than just a combination of lucky
  archaeology and scholarly synthesis. It may actually be the vis-
  ible sign of a disruption in the “fabric of reality,” a relaxation in
  the rules of rationality itself. The disruption may have been trig-
  gered by mass human confusion at the rapidity of change in the
  world in recent decades (and not least the trauma of the World
  War I), perhaps caused by some external force. See p. B534 for
  some ideas as to what all this could involve. In that case, Africa
  is a good location for signs of this “reality quake.” For example,
  “lost cities” suddenly discovered in the heart of the jungle may
  actually be gigantic reality shards, fallen into this world from
  very different histories, while monstrous creatures may appear
  through temporary nexus portals from other times or realities.
  Egypt
  As one of the ancient sources of magical learning (see p. 7),
  Egypt is important in Age of Gold games. It’s also important to
  the British Empire, as it controls the Suez Canal, a crucial part
  of the main sea route from Europe to India. Egypt is a British
  protectorate until 1936, when a new king signs a treaty under
  which British troops are withdrawn from the country, except
  for those guarding the Canal. Egyptian nationalists resent
  British domination enough that anyone offering a credible
  chance to get rid of these foreigners could probably acquire a
  useful following.
  THE SETTING
  11
  
  Cairo, on the banks of the Nile, is the capital of Egypt. In the
  1930s, it is a bubbling stew of modernity and ancient traditions,
  government power and revolutionary intrigue, Muslim faith
  and criminal enterprise. It is also close to Giza, where the Great
  Pyramid and the Sphinx are located, and in Age of Gold, magi-
  cal researchers, occult schemers, and the odd enterprising char-
  latan add extra ingredients to the mix. Other ancient remains lie
  much further up the Nile, in the Valley of the Kings and beyond.
  (See GURPS Egypt and GURPS Places of Mystery for details.)
  However, some foreign visitors never get beyond the great port-
  city of Alexandria, a multinational melting-pot with its own
  share of ages-old artifacts and buried secrets.
  AUSTRALIA
  The world’s biggest island – or smallest continent, depend-
  ing how you classify things – starts the 1930s as a Dominion of
  the British Empire, but in 1931, it becomes a function-
  ally independent nation within the Commonwealth –
  although it hasn’t fully claimed that status as yet. (In
  our history, it did so in 1942.) Australia may be huge,
  but its population is relatively small, mostly dwelling
  in a handful of cities in more fertile coastal regions.
  Much of the vast “outback” is near desert, scattered
  with small sheep-farming communities or still occu-
  pied by nomadic Aborigines.
  Many Australians see themselves as rugged, inde-
  pendent-minded frontier types – natural pulp-hero
  material. However, the strange outback wilderness
  may be a source of something weirder. Magical
  adepts who’ve traveled there report that the local
  “magical field” is somehow distorted, giving workings
  all sorts of unpredictable side effects, often related to
  space and time. At the very least, there may be a lot
  of zones of aspected, wild, or twisted mana (see
  GURPS Thaumatology, pp. 58-60) – or this may all
  involve something even stranger. Occasional reports of
  strange supernatural creatures have also emerged. These
  beings may be related to the odd mana zones, but it’s hard to
  determine the truth of the stories, given the strangeness of
  Australia’s natural wildlife and the Australian love of exaggera-
  tion and tall tales.
  A few Aboriginal wizards are said to have a useful compre-
  hension of some aspects of all this. Visiting scholars sometimes
  approach them for advice, but the lack of shared technical
  vocabulary makes things difficult. It also seems that the tricki-
  ness of magic in the area may make local mages very cautious
  and subtle.
  The low-tech Aborigines produce very few significant mag-
  ical artifacts. They have no tradition of scientific alchemy,
  although they may have some interesting herbal lore.
  ASIA
  In the 1930s, Earth’s largest continent, home to some of its
  most ancient and complex civilizations, is rapidly becoming a
  cockpit of conflict. For the last couple of centuries, European
  powers have been jockeying for control of different regions,
  although Britain currently has a firm grip on the great prize of
  India, seemingly threatened more by independence move-
  ments than by foreign rivals. Meanwhile, Russia spent much of
  the previous century seeking ways to expand southward in
  order to claim a share of India’s resources and a port on the
  Indian Ocean; this danger faded during the Great War and the
  ensuing Russian Civil War, but now, the Communist regime
  may be looking south again.
  First, though, they have to consolidate their grip on Central
  Asia. During the Civil War, this region was infested with rene-
  gade armies, some of them lead by legendarily insane warlords
  who were certainly superstitious enough to recruit any magi-
  cal aid they could find. In Age of Gold, some of these individ-
  uals may return as bloody-handed conquering masterminds
  with strange resources. The Russians are also meddling in the
  Chinese civil wars (see below), in order to solidify their south-
  ern borders. Meanwhile, those eastern Asian powers who’ve
  avoided coming under Western control are trying to establish
  and reinforce their own positions, and European explorers are
  looking to fill in the last blanks on the maps of Asia – and
  sometimes suffering lethal surprises in the process.
  Civil War China
  In this game world, China is the region that diverges most
  spectacularly from its situation in our world’s history. As in our
  past, it is suffering from a civil war, but in Age of Gold, there
  are even more factions involved than in our 1930s.
  The series of conflicts began when the Ch’ing dynasty fell in
  1911. China initially came under the control of a number of
  warlords. There was a central government, controlled by the
  Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) Party, but its hold on the north
  of the country was weak at best. While the World War I kept
  the European powers distracted, Japan made a play for local
  control. The KMT fragmented, and the country was divided for
  a while between north and south. In the 1920s, radicals
  founded the Communist Party of China, which grew through
  the decade to become a major faction. The Russians hedged
  their bets, supporting both the KMT and the Communists, and
  for a while, the two groups allied to try to reunite the country.
  However, there were any number of local warlords and
  breakaway groups with their own ideas on all this, and in a
  world where magic was returning, quite a few of them had
  some command of supernatural power. Magical factions
  range all over. At one end, solitary sorcerers simply wanted to
  avoid disturbances and ensure themselves adequate mun-
  dane resources while they pursued a quest for immortality. 
  THE SETTING
  12
  Shambhala
  Tibetan Buddhist legend tells of Shambhala, an Earthly Para-
  dise that may be hidden somewhere in the Himalayas. In our his-
  tory, the legend became the basis of stories of “Shangri-La”; in
  Age of Gold, some scholars have come to suspect that Shamb-
  hala may really exist. It is said to be the home of the “Nine
  Unknown Sages” (enlightened mystic masters) and to oppose the
  plots of another secret Asian city, Agartha.
  Whether Shambhala is good and Agartha is evil, or vice versa,
  seems to depend who you ask – and the true motives and objec-
  tives of the Nine Unknown Sages are, well, unknown. Cautious
  heroes may prefer to reserve judgment, at least until they figure
  out who is allied with the Black Dragon Society (p. 14), and how
  some people define “paradise.”
  
  At the other end, full-scale local armies, descended from Ch’ing
  period militias, found a way to use magical advisers to enhance
  their intelligence and logistics, multiplying their strategic
  power considerably. Some groups espoused strange mystical
  doctrines, backed with demonstrable magical power, ensuring
  that their followers would often be motivated to the point of
  fanaticism, and making their objectives hard for outsiders to
  grasp.
  Hence, the country was far from fully unified by 1926,
  when the KMT launched the “Northern Expedition,” an
  attempt to suppress the power of the warlords. In our history,
  this was moderately successful, but it left quite a few warlords
  active with functioning armies. In the Age of Gold world, it
  was less effective, especially against small-scale magically
  enhanced factions. Then, in 1927, relations between the KMT
  and the Communists broke down, and the KMT launched 
  an attack, massacring a number of Communists in Shanghai
  and elsewhere. The Communists retaliated with a series of
  uprisings; although these were largely unsuccessful, the
  Communist Party survived, withdrawing into areas where it
  could find support.
  This started 10 years of civil war, with the Communists
  and left and right wing elements of the KMT as the main fac-
  tions, and numerous warlords and local leaders also playing
  a part. By now, the dominant right-wing KMT faction was
  under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, while the
  Communists eventually came to be dominated by Mao
  Zedong. (In our history, these two would remain key figures
  in China for decades.) The KMT-Communist conflict is even-
  tually suspended in 1937, when enough leaders on all sides
  decide that the Japanese, who have continued to occupy
  Chinese territory and to meddle in Chinese affairs, are the
  greater threat. In Age of Gold, local sorcerer-lords mostly stay
  out of this fight, though some join the alliance against Japan;
  others prove to be well under the thumb of Japan’s formida-
  ble Black Dragon Society (p. 14).
  Adventurers will find plenty to do in China at any date, from
  straight-out gunfights to multi-sided espionage to high magical
  weirdness. This is the obvious location for scenarios resem-
  bling conventional fantasy RPG sessions, albeit with more
  firearms. While ostentatious superhumans are quite rare here,
  there are plenty of ritual magicians, most using the well-devel-
  oped local style of sorcery (see pp. 17-18), and some operating
  quite openly. Chinese alchemists mostly focus obsessively on
  the quest for immortality, sometimes quite successfully,
  although their potions may have minor flaws or side effects,
  such as failing to prevent the visible appearance of aging.
  Although they rarely produce alchemically transformed indi-
  viduals with powers such as strength or energy control, there
  is no shortage of ageless (but sometimes hideous) sorcerers
  and masterminds.
  India
  India is widely seen as the jewel in the crown of the British
  Empire – although some Indians are working to change that.
  An incredibly diverse land, it has hundreds of languages and
  thousands of gods. Although the British viceroy in New Delhi
  is firmly in control for now, much of the country is divided into
  states nominally under the rule of local princes, some of them
  fabulously wealthy. 
  THE SETTING
  13
  Lying on the central eastern coast of China, on the
  mouth of the great Yangtze river, the city of Shanghai is
  many Westerners’ gateway to the country. At the start of
  the 1930s, it is divided into two sections, one Chinese-
  governed, and the other made up of the International Set-
  tlement and the adjacent French Concession, under the
  control of various European powers plus Japan, thanks to
  treaties imposed on China after military defeats. The Chi-
  nese city is crowded and poor; the international section,
  being the focus of foreign trade with China, is wealthy
  enough to import new urban technologies (such as electric-
  ity and trams) soon after they first appear. Most of its
  inhabitants are Chinese, but they are barred from some
  public spaces in the city.
  Nonetheless, Shanghai has plenty of wealthy Chinese
  inhabitants as well as wealthy foreigners. Like many inter-
  national ports, it’s a place where any vice may be indulged.
  Crime is often controlled by Chinese triads and secret soci-
  eties such as the “Green Gang.” (The Green Gang was orig-
  inally founded by a Shaolin kung fu master but which has
  become corrupt, lending its muscle to political factions
  and breaking Communist-inspired strikes with extreme
  violence.) The tough, British-run, multinational Shanghai
  Municipal Police endeavor to keep the international city
  under control, despite corruption in its ranks resulting
  from the sheer profitability of crimes such as opium smug-
  gling and illegal gambling. Needless to say, some factions
  dabble in magic.
  The situation changes in 1937, when Japan takes over
  Shanghai after defeating a Chinese army. Although the
  international sections preserve legal independence, the
  Japanese are increasingly clearly in control, and much of
  the city’s industry is damaged or moves elsewhere.
  Shanghai is a natural adventure venue, and certainly
  somewhere that PCs might visit, to buy guns, negotiate
  with factions, or just have fun. Any amount of occult activ-
  ity may take place under the noses of the arrogant foreign
  powers – and less oblivious foreigners, from European
  scholars to Black Dragon occult spies (see p. 14), may take
  an informed interest. A campaign based around the Shang-
  hai Municipal Police can include enough pulp-style action
  for anybody, with characters of a dozen nationalities, gang
  warfare, political subversion, advanced martial arts, and
  prototypical SWAT team tactics. In Age of Gold, the SMP
  will also need advice on occult matters.
  See GURPS Martial Arts: Fairbairn Close Combat
  Systems for details and ideas.
  Shanghai
  
  Still, many Europeans in India hardly ever meet a native,
  except as a servant. This means that those occultist visitors
  who arrive with the explicit intention of talking to natives and
  exploring the subtleties of Indian culture (see p. 8) are some-
  times treated as disreputable by the governing class – they’re
  seen as letting the side down. However, a long tradition of
  “Orientalist” scholarship exists among more broad-minded
  Europeans in India, so researchers aren’t regarded as com-
  pletely mad. Even so, as Indian activists become increasingly
  hostile to British rule, and short-tempered administrators or
  military officers sometimes respond with increasingly brutal
  repression, the position of those who seek to move between the
  two cultures can become tricky.
  India is also a land of geographical diversity, especially in
  this period when the name covers what will later be called
  Pakistan and Bangladesh in our world. It ranges from the jun-
  gles of the south to the Himalayas in the north and the arid
  plains of the Northwest Frontier. India also can be used as a
  venue for supernaturally themed pulp adventures, including
  any number of temples of doom and resurgent thuggee cults,
  as well as attempts by Nazi occult researchers to infiltrate the
  Himalayas, or efforts by mad scientist Theosophists to “sal-
  vage ancient Lemurian devices” from the treasure vaults of
  maharajahs.
  Japan
  Since being opened to the outside world in 1853, Japan 
  has made a determined attempt to modernize and match the
  technological advantages of the West while retaining a distinc-
  tive national culture. This is paralleled by an increasingly
  aggressive foreign policy, backed up by increasingly sophisti-
  cated weapons. Yet even in the World War I, Japanese troops
  were noted for their restraint.
  However, during the Great Depression, Japan’s economy
  suffers badly, while Japan feels that it is being treated unfairly
  on the international stage. This gives the ever more radical mil-
  itary the excuse they need to seize effective control; democratic
  politicians are bullied into silence or assassinated. The war in
  China is merely the first step in a program of Japanese expan-
  sion, pursuing both natural resources and national pride.
  Western adventurers might find cause to visit Japan, but
  they will have difficulty operating there. In GURPS terms,
  Japan has its own unique Cultural Familiarity at this time,
  which few outsiders may possess – and Japanese government
  agencies view foreigners with suspicion. With a nationalist
  leadership inculcating the population with a twisted form of
  the traditional bushido code and fanatical emperor-worship,
  Japan is becoming a serious threat.
  Japan doesn’t appear to have any high-powered mystery
  men of its own. However, persistent rumors in the occult
  underworld suggest that the Japanese government controls a
  number of ancient and powerful magical weapons, presum-
  ably stockpiled against emergencies or future grand plans.
  Furthermore, the Black Dragon Society (see the boxed text)
  aggressively pursues both artifacts and magical lore. There are
  almost certainly a number of very capable magicians in the
  country, many of them happy to work with the government.
  THE SETTING
  14
  The Black Dragon Society is a Japanese secret society –
  not very secret, in truth – dedicated to the creation of a
  Japanese-dominated Asian power. It was founded in 1901,
  although it’s descended from older ultra-nationalist soci-
  eties. Its stated objective then was to drive Russia out of
  eastern Asia. The perceived threat from Russia has since
  waxed and waned, and in Age of Gold, the Society’s real
  goals have expanded vastly. It acts openly as a political
  pressure group and spreads overt propaganda. It more or
  less admits its heavy involvement in espionage and assassi-
  nation throughout Asia. Its supernatural operations are
  kept more secret, although informed observers have some
  idea of its capabilities. Although it tries to preserve a facade
  of respectability in Japanese society, it often uses the most
  “efficient” methods to acquire resources or recruits. In
  many places, it functions as an organized crime group,
  albeit an unusually disciplined and politicized one. Most
  members are willing to use anything that works, magical or
  mundane, legal or not.
  The Black Dragons are probably the most dangerous
  arcane conspiracy in this setting, by some way. With con-
  nections extending to the highest levels of the militaristic
  Japanese government as well as through the Asian under-
  world, and considerable skill in espionage, martial arts,
  and propaganda, its mundane resources are formidable
  enough. When it throws in magic, it seems capable of
  almost anything. However, PCs working their way up an
  Asian conspiracy and expecting a traditional silk-robed
  “Yellow Peril” mastermind at the top may be wrong-footed
  by the Black Dragons’ combination of samurai cool, mili-
  taristic efficiency, and sophisticated modern intelligence-
  gathering and propaganda skills.
  The society is perfectly willing to make alliances with
  other factions, anywhere in the world. Some of these are
  blatantly pragmatic, enemy-of-my-enemy arrangements,
  trading assistance and information with any group that
  might annoy an enemy or rival of Japan. Others, within
  Asia, are linked to its “pan-Asian” ideology. In negotiations
  with such contacts, the Black Dragons are careful not to
  emphasize that the united Asia that they seek would have
  Japan very firmly in charge.
  They have links with obscure Buddhist sects, some of
  which espouse distinctly unorthodox, even sinister beliefs.
  By trading information, the Black Dragons have accumu-
  lated a formidable knowledge of ritual magic.
  Still, a few of their allies may be manipulating the Drag-
  ons right back. Their agents are known to be operating as
  far afield as Ethiopia, Turkey, and Morocco, and some of
  them are looking out for magical artifacts; the group may
  have a few powerful “mystery men” of its own.
  The Black Dragon Society
  
  Doc Mudra and the Uncanny Four were too late!
  With a roar from its powerful V8 engine, the big sedan sped
  out of the airfield hangar and off into the night. With a howl of
  defiance, Redmond, the mad alchemist, hurled one of his flasks
  of strange chemicals out of the departing car’s window. It burst
  as it struck the ground, and the two nearest biplanes instantly
  caught fire! Worse, the flames began to spread at unnatural
  speed, threatening everything else in the building!
  “The fuel tanks!” cried Tsai Wu Tsi – and the rest of the heroic
  group saw instantly what she meant. If the alchemical flames
  reached the tankers standing close by, they would explode like
  gigantic bombs. Immediately, Doc Mudra performed the arcane
  gestures that made his skin stronger than steel; he might be able
  to survive the fire, and he might be able to move the tankers away
  before disaster could ensue . . .
  Then . . . the fire simply stopped in its path. With gasps of sur-
  prise, the heroes looked around – and saw one of their own num-
  ber, Irina Fedorevna, standing with hands outstretched,
  murmuring strange invocations. With another gesture, the enig-
  matic White Russian exile quenched the blaze entirely.
  “Good work, Irina” said the Doc. “We may need your powers
  again, now that Redmond has his Purified Phlogiston.”
  “I hope not,” replied the Russian. “I had to ask the Ice Spirit
  for considerable aid to control so much fire, and such assistance
  comes with a great cost.”
  “Then best to find Master Redmond swiftly,” murmured Tsai
  Wu Tsi, “before he can distill more of his fire potions. Fortunately,
  there are certain rituals which may determine his present loca-
  tion and course. Should those be performed?”
  Doc Mudra nodded assent. “No time to lose,” he said,
  “Redmond has vowed to destroy Boston tonight!”
  Magic, of several of the types described in GURPS
  Thaumatology, definitely exists in Age of Gold and appears to
  be somewhat susceptible to logical analysis – but it is still fun-
  damentally mysterious, as of the 1930s. Even the most opti-
  mistic rationalists admit that the “science of magic” is still in
  its infancy, with much groundwork still needed before anyone
  can make progress with theory. Furthermore, there is consid-
  erable evidence that more types of magical operation are pos-
  sible, and indeed have existed in the past, than are currently in
  use. The problem with this is that some of the “lost arts” left
  artifacts or phenomena behind; fitting these into logical frame-
  works based on currently known traditions can be a problem.
  Several advantages and skills are central to magic-working
  in this setting; see pp. 27-31.
  THE MAGIC
  15
  CHAPTER TWO
  THE MAGIC
  Path/Book magic (see Chapter 5 of GURPS Thaumatology),
  always using the “Energy Accumulating” model, is important
  in the Age of Gold setting. It doesn’t generally involve working
  with sentient spirits, although some rituals may summon such
  beings or call on them for aid. There are several traditions of
  Path/Book magic, each based on a distinct mandatory specialty
  of Ritual Magic skill. There are no defaults between different
  specialties of the skill in this setting (although the GM may
  relax this rule if he creates two new traditions that are closely
  historically related), and the Extended Rule of 20 (GURPS
  Thaumatology, p. 125) applies.
  The usual time for each stage in a ritual is five minutes. The
  GM can modify the latter in really exceptional circumstances,
  such as workings in very special locations, but this should be
  very rare; mostly, workings simply follow the standard rules for
  ritual space.
  Significant Characteristics
  See GURPS Thaumatology, pp. 123-124, for more on the
  following concepts.
  Magery Advantage: Use the rules for “Limited Non-Mage
  Ceremonies” (i.e., non-mages are at -5 to all ritual rolls), with
  and “Magery Adds to Rituals.” However, “fractional” Magery 0
  is not available.
  Path/Book Adept Advantage: No known wizard in Age of
  Gold has this advantage, and it is certainly prohibited to PCs.
  Some occultists believe that a few great figures had this sort of
  ability in ancient times. If so, either no one has attained a suf-
  ficient level of magical insight in the debased modern age, or
  the magical “environment” is too unfriendly these days. The
  irreducible need for time, effort, and preparation when per-
  forming their workings drives many magicians to search for
  shortcuts and artifacts.
  PATH/BOOK MAGIC
  Using words to describe magic is like
  using a screwdriver to cut roast beef.
  – Tom Robbins
  
  Talents: Aside from Magery, no Talents give any bonuses to
  Path/Book workings.
  Use of Symbol Drawing: In this setting, the Symbol Drawing
  skill does not give a bonus to ritual workings, nor is it
  absolutely required for any normal ritual. However, it is often
  useful when preparing ritual spaces (see below). It can also
  help with preparing some material or symbolic components,
  creating items suitable for enchantment, and so on. The GM
  can require a roll against the skill in the course of any suffi-
  ciently complex procedure where it feels appropriate, though
  normal failures on the skill usually only mean a delay of a few
  minutes and another try.
  Elements
  See GURPS Thaumatology, pp. 128-129, for more on the
  following:
  Ritual Space: Path/Book magic requires ritual space as per
  the standard rules; in this setting, that usually means an area
  that has been attuned to the correct magical forces and
  cleansed of “interference effects,” rather than favored by any
  particular spirits. A space prepared for or attuned to magic of
  one Path/Book tradition counts as unprepared for any other
  tradition, although it doesn’t generate any special penalties.
  Hastily preparing a space may involve a roll against Symbol
  Drawing or Thaumatology rather than Ritual Magic skill, with
  GM permission. Properly preparing a space always dictates
  Symbol Drawing skill at 12+, although no skill roll is required
  – the time taken allows for plenty of repeated attempts and
  double-checking.
  Unfortunately for magicians, very few spaces have been
  (correctly) used by any tradition or stylist group for more than
  a couple of years. One or two cliques and secret societies claim
  to have ritual spaces that have enough of a history to give +1
  or +2 bonuses or even more; this may or may not be true.
  Choosing the Moment: Different traditions attach different
  levels of significance to date or time of day; see the individual
  tradition notes.
  Material and Symbolic Components: Almost any working
  with this sort of magic absolutely requires some kind of 
  symbolic representation of the target, although this can be as
  minimal as a common name, a simple sketch, or a moderately
  detailed verbal description. If the magician can physically
  touch the target, saying “this person” or “this thing” is enough.
  Better representations can give bonuses to effective skill using
  the rules for Sympathy (GURPS Thaumatology, p. 243-5), at
  the GM’s option. A description of the target in a suitably mag-
  ical language, written with a successful Symbol Drawing roll,
  may be very suitable as a symbolic representation – again,
  GM’s preference.
  In addition, every tradition requires that a caster carry a
  number of standard magical symbols, tools, etc.; these cost
  around $20-$50 and weigh 1-2 lbs. They can be acquired in any
  large town with a community with the right cultural back-
  ground. Most magicians have lots of spares lying around their
  sanctums. Using improvised replacements (made in 1d+2
  hours, using the GM’s choice of craft skill) gives a -2 penalty to
  workings; attempting magic without any such general symbols
  means a -5. Sacrifices and Acolytes help with some traditions,
  but not with others; see the specific notes.
  Multiple Simultaneous Effects
  Path/Book magicians in this setting have enough difficulty
  getting the occasional amulet or fetish to work; mass-produc-
  ing such things is quite beyond them. Apparently, this
  “stretches their magic too thin.” Although they don’t have to
  concentrate to maintain magical effects placed on objects or
  people, each such effect currently active gives them -2 to skill
  for new workings – twice the penalty suggested on p. 132 of
  GURPS Thaumatology. Furthermore, they can’t just turn an
  amulet, curse, blessing, etc., off once they’ve worked it – they’ve
  got to wait for it to be triggered or to expire. This creates a def-
  inite disincentive to casual creation of amulets and the like!
  WIDESPREAD TRADITIONS
  The following are the most common Path/Book traditions
  in Age of Gold. There may be others, but if so, they are rare
  enough to surprise even expert occultists; characters may need
  an Unusual Background to learn them.
  THE MAGIC
  16
  All Path/Book magic in this setting apparently shares
  some basic principles, but the details vary enormously –
  witness the different views of the energy gathered. Hence,
  transferring ideas or techniques between traditions should
  be extremely difficult, though not quite impossible. Such a
  project may imply converting a whole Path or Book to use
  the techniques and “attuned energy” of the other tradition,
  which would be a major research project in itself. It would
  also involve performing more study to determine how each
  individual ritual fits in the new framework. Obviously, the
  magicians would have to include experts in each tradition
  (with appropriate Ritual Magic specialties at 18+) and
  advanced students of Thaumatology and Occultism (skills
  at 15+). Some of the people involved would have to know
  something useful about both traditions.
  In practice, very few magicians study more than one area
  of magical study, even casually. Most groups of magicians
  are snobbish about their tradition at best, downright fanati-
  cal, even religious on the subject at worst. The idea of learn-
  ing so much as a ritual from “outsiders” may not even occur
  to them. Even the broadest-minded tend to be intensely
  aware of the risks, to the point of paranoia – misjudged
  magic is indeed prone to explosions, both literal and
  metaphorical. There have been perhaps three or four suc-
  cessful cross-tradition research projects of some kind in liv-
  ing memory, and none on the scale of a full Path adaptation.
  Conversion Between Traditions
  
  Ritual Witchcraft
  This is a relatively “low end” variety of Path-based magic. It
  can be treated as a single tradition, although the modern ver-
  sion combines techniques from many parts of the world,
  thanks to the diligent efforts of practitioners over the last cou-
  ple of centuries. It mostly draws on Western ritual traditions.
  It encompasses rural witchcraft, a bit of Caribbean Voudoun,
  a bit of “Christian Thaumaturgy,” and fragments of the less
  subtle forms of Jewish Qabalistic practice. It doesn’t grant
  access to quite as many effects as some traditions, but its has
  one big advantage: It treats all energy as non-aspected. The
  required skill to use it is Ritual Magic (Witchcraft); very few
  practitioners have this at better than IQ+1 – developing it fur-
  ther necessitate a 10-point Unusual Background in some parts
  of the world. Critical failures while working this type of magic
  normally dictates rolls on the Celtic Table
  (GURPS
  Thaumatology, p. 256), although the GM can use something
  different at whim.
  Choosing the Moment
  Ritual witches have a number of favored dates and times
  for certain categories of working, all of them traditional magi-
  cal dates (see GURPS Thaumatology, p. 246). Should a magi-
  cian time a ritual to match one of these, the GM should decide
  if it is appropriate to earn a +1 to +3 bonus (or sufficiently
  inappropriate to take a -1 to -3 penalty). For example, fertility
  workings on Imbolc, darker magics on Walpurgisnacht or
  Samhain, love spells on Beltane, marriage blessings on
  Lughnasadh, or magical gift-giving on Yule are all acceptable,
  while curses and similar unbalancing magics take penalties on
  Ostara or Mabon.
  Sacrifices and Acolytes
  Sacrifices of food, tobacco, etc., can give a +1 bonus at the
  GM’s option – mostly when performing very Voudoun-flavored
  rituals. Self-sacrifice works as on p. 246 of GURPS
  Thaumatology, requiring a two-minute additional ritual that
  induces exhaustion and anemia. It can give up to +2 to effec-
  tive skill (costing 40% of HP). Other sacrifices don’t help.
  Acolytes can give a bonus, up to +2 (for six assistants), pro-
  vided that they are completely cooperative and know some-
  thing about the nature and intent of the ritual, but they are
  never required.
  Available Paths
  This tradition offers a handful of fairly subtle paths, but it
  can still be quite powerful, given a little ingenuity. (Page num-
  bers refer to sections in GURPS Thaumatology.)
  • The Path of Health (pp. 148-151)
  • The Path of Luck (pp. 152-155)
  • The Path of Nature (pp. 155-157)
  • The Path of Protection (pp. 157-159)
  Invocationism
  This is the primary tradition of ritual magic practiced in
  eastern Asia in general and China in particular, drawing heav-
  ily on local philosophies. It is a highly formalized Path-based
  tradition that treats energy as strongly aspected. The required
  skill to use it is Ritual Magic (Invocationist), and the tradition
  recognizes five aspects of magical energy: Fire, Wood, Earth,
  Metal, and Water. Critical failures normally require rolls on the
  Oriental Table (GURPS Thaumatology, p. 259).
  Choosing the Moment
  Invocationism has a complex if underdeveloped body of
  underlying theory, which suggests that date or time of day may
  occasionally have some effect on a working. However, this isn’t
  usually a major concern for Invocationist magicians. Someone
  looking for every possible advantage for a specific ritual might
  attempt Ritual Magic and Astronomy (Observational) skill
  rolls; if both are successful, the caster determines that the best
  available time will come in 1d-1 weeks plus 1d days and will
  grant a bonus of 1d-2 (minimum +1).
  Sacrifices and Acolytes
  This is a very academic tradition, with no significant reli-
  gious overtones. Sacrificing several hundred dollars’ worth of
  carefully chosen and prepared ingredients (not usually living
  things) may give a +1 bonus, at the GM’s option – a Ritual
  Magic roll at -2 will determine what would help – but few
  magicians bother. Self-sacrifices or Acolytes never give any
  bonuses.
  Appropriate Energy Aspects
  The GM must decide which aspect of energy is appropriate
  for any given working depending on its primary effect. For
  some rituals, this is easy – Command the Waves will always use
  Water energy (as in fact will many “weather” effects, such as
  Calm the Winds or Inexorable Breeze), while Firecalm will use
  Fire, as will violent acts of elemental destruction such as
  Thunderbolt. For others, much depends on the intent of the
  ritual: Wood is required for effects that create anything new,
  for anything strongly visual, and for emotional sensitivity. Fire
  is necessary for those that cause something or someone to
  grow or strengthen, for speech, and for intellectual creativity.
  Earth is used for physical stabilizing or immobilizing effects,
  for the sense of taste, and for clarity of thought. Metal is suit-
  able for contraction or reduction, for strength of will, or for
  odors. Water is best for long-term preservation, for mental sta-
  bility, and for hearing.
  Example: Aura Reading uses Wood energy as it converts
  emotional information into visual effects, although magicians
  employing many other Path of Knowledge rituals must choose
  what sense they will receive information through and rely on
  the appropriate type of energy. (They possibly suffer confusing
  “overtones” if they make do with incorrectly aspected energy.
  Unfortunately, that doesn’t usually provide a devious way to
  receive useful multi-sensory results!) Doom, a “cutting” exer-
  cise of raw will, depends on Metal energy. Protection rituals
  require either Earth (for robust short-term barriers) or Water
  (for long-term preservation). Astral Projection, which strength-
  ens the mind to work outside the body, necessitates Fire. Lay
  to Rest is a Water-related long-term preservative effect.
  GMs will often have to be rather arbitrary in their rulings as
  to what energy is needed, but then, magic can be a very arbi-
  trary thing.
  Available Paths
  This tradition offers a relatively limited set of paths, but
  with a variety of effects, from the subtle to the dramatic. (Page
  numbers refer to sections in GURPS Thaumatology.)
  THE MAGIC
  17
  
  • The Path of the Elements (pp. 143-144)
  • The Path of Knowledge (pp. 151-152)
  • The Path of Luck (pp. 152-155)
  • The Path of Protection (pp. 157-159)
  • The Path of Spirit (pp. 159-162)
  Diabolism
  The third major tradition of ritual magic in this setting is
  far and away the least respectable, although it may not be quite
  as evil as its name suggests. Diabolism is Book-based magic
  leaning heavily on the conjuration of very dubious spirits. In
  the 20th century, some dedicated and (at best!) amoral schol-
  ars have integrated a range of “left-hand path” magical tradi-
  tions and hammered out a reasonably effective system – at
  unknowable cost to themselves.
  The required skill to use with this tradition is Ritual Magic
  (Diabolism), and the system treats magical energy as having
  three aspects; see below. Critical failures with rituals normally
  require rolls on the Reality-Warping Table, but GMs can use the
  Diabolic/Horrific Table any time they feel that things should
  turn nasty (GURPS Thaumatology, pp. 258-259).
  Choosing the Moment
  Diabolists find that a few dates and times are auspicious or
  inauspicious for their work. May Eve (April 30) and Halloween
  (October 31) give +2 bonuses to all rituals after nightfall. Good
  Friday, Easter Sunday, the Summer Solstice, and Christmas
  Day all give -3 all day and the following night. GMs may add
  other dates, probably with only +1 or -1 effects, to taste.
  Sacrifices and Acolytes
  Diabolistic rituals are predictably prone to include sacri-
  fices, many of them messy, unpleasant, or illegal, although
  they aren’t actually mandatory. (Some occultists say that any
  diabolist has already sacrificed more than enough.) Mere food
  and drink or cash are ineffective; the tradition demands an ele-
  ment of transgression, although this can just mean burning
  valuable and beautiful artworks. Self-sacrifice works as on
  p. 246 of GURPS Thaumatology, too, in the form of self-
  inflicted wounds with edged weapons. It has no upper limit
  apart from the obvious problem of the harm done to the magi-
  cian. Lastly, Acolytes can give up to +3 (for 12 assistants), pro-
  vided that they are cooperative and committed to the business,
  but they are never required.
  Appropriate Energy Aspects
  The energy aspects known to this tradition are the Power of
  Mastery, relating to spirits that grant power over human soci-
  ety; the Power of Force, relating to elementals and raw energy;
  and the Power of Conjuration, relating to direct dealings with
  powerful, fully sapient spirits and demons. The aspect required
  by any ritual is determined by the book from which it comes.
  THE MAGIC
  18
  Known Diabolism Books
  Each of these books includes a number of rituals drawn from the Path system as defined in GURPS Thaumatology;
  the relevant page there is listed in each case.
  The Hierarch
  Energy Required: Conjuration.
  Ritual
  Page
  Bind
  p. 160
  Empower
  p. 160
  Fetish
  p. 161
  Summon
  p. 162
  The Lineaments 
  of Purity
  Energy Required: Mastery.
  Ritual
  Page
  Impotence
  p. 164
  Liar’s Charm
  p. 141
  Loyal Item
  p. 154
  Lust
  p. 141
  Scry
  p. 152
  Spirit Slave
  p. 162
  Virility
  p. 164
  The Razor’s Edge
  Energy Required: Force.
  Ritual
  Page
  Doom
  p. 152
  Evil Eye
  p. 149
  Ghost Shirt
  p. 158
  Malaise
  p. 149
  Weapon Blessing
  p. 155
  Weatherworking
  p. 156
  The Record of 
  the Embassy
  Energy Required: Conjuration.
  Ritual
  Page
  Banish
  p. 160
  Command the Bodies 
  of the Dead
  p. 163
  Curse Mirror
  p. 157
  Curse Sanctum
  p. 157
  Exorcise
  p. 161
  Spirit Trap
  p. 162
  Ward
  p. 158
  The Seventh Text 
  of Misdirection
  Energy Required: Mastery.
  Ritual
  Page
  Guise
  p. 140
  Hallucination
  p. 140
  Hand of Glory
  p. 141
  Veil
  p. 152
  The Way of 
  Perfect Conquest
  Energy Required: Mastery.
  Ritual
  Page
  Chaperone
  p. 152
  Command Beast
  p. 155
  Sterility
  p. 150
  Suggestion
  p. 141
  Warrior’s Blessing
  p. 150
  
  In this setting, alchemy is very much the “science of magic”
  – or, to be more precise, the science of magical transformations,
  in every sense. This includes but is not restricted to the trans-
  formation of mundane substances, correctly mixed and
  treated, to produce magical effects, which themselves often
  involve further transformations. It centers on the search for
  the true Philosopher’s Stone (in the form of “drinkable gold”
  for alchemists with a Chinese background); even the recipes
  for very minor, seemingly unrelated elixirs often require a
  small quantity of some impure form of the Stone.
  In general, it is recommended that alchemy should be kept
  as a background feature of Age of Gold campaigns – mostly the
  concern of NPCs. To start with, it is very much a laboratory sci-
  ence, mostly involving long hours of nitpicking experimenta-
  tion in pursuit of rather abstract results – none of which is
  terribly appropriate to high-action pulp-adventure gaming.
  Furthermore, alchemy can’t do very much as of Age of Gold
  1930s; even if countless great secrets were understood and
  results achieved in the past (which is much debated by
  occultists), that lore has been largely lost. Even where recipes
  for useful repeatable results are known for certain, they tend to
  demand very expensive ingredients, often including the elusive
  Philosopher’s Stone – which is frankly too valuable to use as an
  adventurers’ weapon, when it’s available at all. Some PCs may
  have Alchemy skill, but that will mostly serve to help recognize
  alchemical phenomena, perform the odd analysis, or just act
  as character color.
  Nonetheless, alchemy is important as part of the setting
  background, and can produce some interesting plot effects.
  LABORATORY ALCHEMY
  As alchemy is mostly a crazy sort of off-stage magical sci-
  ence, the creation of potions and research into subjects such as
  the Philosopher’s Stone is mostly the concern of wild-eyed
  eccentrics, aging scholars, and the occasional secret society
  with long-term plans. These people may commission expedi-
  tions in search of ancient texts or rare ingredients, and they
  may issue trusted employees with a potion or two if there
  seems to be a very specific need, but they aren’t really in
  the business of “field alchemy.”
  These alchemical scientists are more likely to work
  from well-secured and carefully equipped home bases.
  For the important parts of these, use the rules for labo-
  ratories from p. 102 of GURPS Thaumatology or p. 211
  of GURPS Magic, but treat the local TL as being 3 for
  this purpose (see p. 31 for the reason); hence, an “excel-
  lent” lab would give no more benefit than one that’s
  merely “professional grade,” so that category can be
  ignored. Nonetheless, many alchemists have much big-
  ger laboratories than the “excellent” standard, either so
  that they can accommodate assistants, or because they
  have to store large quantities of ingredients.
  Most such laboratories have a distinctly archaic,
  stone-and-oak-panels aesthetic, although there may be
  some modern glassware and Bunsen burners lying
  around. Alchemists may be quite dementedly old-
  fashioned, but they can usually appreciate convenience.
  The Philosopher’s Stone
  In Age of Gold, the Philosopher’s Stone is a slightly more
  varied and unpredictable thing than the version discussed in
  GURPS Magic; gamers who require details should use the fol-
  lowing rules instead.
  Creating a Stone is a task necessitating 52 weeks, an
  alchemical laboratory, and a roll against Alchemy-10. This can
  be treated as a Hard technique, but characters can only buy it
  up from default if they have Unusual Background (Insightful
  Alchemist) (see p. 28). It also requires ingredients worth at
  least $10,000. Treat this as making an elixir according to the
  rules in GURPS Magic, including the option to create multiple
  doses by using extra ingredients and taking -1 to skill per extra
  dose.
  Make the skill roll at the end of the year; a critical failure
  gets a roll on the same table as for elixirs, and a normal failure
  wastes all the ingredients. On a normal success, if the charac-
  ter didn’t have Unusual Background (Insightful Alchemist)
  before, he gains it; otherwise, he gets one bonus character
  point that must be applied to the technique. He also creates
  some kind of Philosopher’s Stone – but this is only somewhat
  similar to the “perfect” Stone on a critical success. Even then,
  it might not grant perfect immortality or transform any other
  metal to gold. In fact, the nature of the stone created is entirely
  up to the GM; its effects can include one or more of the follow-
  ing – usually two or three options, but sometimes more, espe-
  cially after a critical success.
  1. Provide perfect protection against either aging, disease,
  or poison while worn next to the skin.
  2. If consumed, make a person 10 years younger and elimi-
  nate all diseases from their body. Alternatively or additionally,
  at the GM’s option, it removes any and all physical disadvan-
  tages, reverses the effects of past diseases, and so on.
  3. Transform 10 lbs. of any metal to the same weight of gold
  on contact, permanently. The Stone then crumbles to dust and
  vanishes.
  4. Transform 1 lb. of any metal to the same weight of gold
  on contact, but only for 2d¥4 hours, once per day.
  THE MAGIC
  19
  Magical “Herbalism”
  Generally, in Age of Gold, “alchemy” means use of the
  GURPS Alchemy skill as such. Some beneficial magical
  results might be achieved using herbal ingredients and
  ancient herbal lore, but these are rare at best and generally
  come within the ambit of Alchemy skill. Hence, GMs are free
  to simply prohibit the Herb Lore skill.
  On the other hand, there may be the occasional traditional
  rural herb-wife or witch-doctor with a few interesting tricks to
  hand. GMs who want to include such characters can allow
  them to learn Herb Lore, usually at TL4 or below (whatever
  their own general TL), and use it for one or two potions or
  elixirs. It should be subject to all the restrictions discussed on
  pp. 104-105 of GURPS Thaumatology, however.
  ALCHEMY
  
  5. Act as a useful ingredient for the manufacture of up to 10
  doses of any lesser elixir from one category (Combat Abilities,
  Hostile Elixirs, etc.). For elixirs that are possible without some
  of the Stone, halve the cost of other required ingredients and
  the time taken and give +8 to the skill roll. The Stone may also
  make it possible to create some elixirs that the GM rules are
  otherwise impossible.
  6. Imbue a character with magical abilities. This can be as
  “minor” as 50-100 points in attributes and secondary charac-
  teristics, or as spectacular as a full set of super-powers. The
  Stone must be consumed for this, or it vanishes or crumbles
  away after imparting the powers. The powers are usually per-
  manent, but they may have strange conditions.
  Other effects are perfectly possible! Creating a
  Philosopher’s Stone hands the GM the chance to throw in
  a big, juicy plot device, up to and including the appear-
  ance of a new mystery man. The GM should be properly
  grateful for this, and not abuse all that effort; the Stone
  is never useless to its maker. A day or so of testing and an
  unmodified Alchemy roll can determine what any Stone
  will do – although the details will be unclear with power-
  granting Stones.
  A sample of the Philosopher’s Stone always sells for at
  least $20,000 on the secretive international occult mar-
  ket, even if its powers appear minor; there are always
  eccentrics and collectors. A stone that looks likely to
  grant useful super-powers can go for millions, even in
  1930s money. Of course, there are also fakes around.
  Known Elixirs
  GMs who want alchemists to be handy item makers
  rather than just crazy academic lab rats can permit them
  to create elixirs as in Chapter 28 of GURPS Magic.
  However, as mentioned above, there are very few reliable
  recipes around. The nearest thing to a formulary for any
  given elixir may be a sheaf of notes and inscription rub-
  bings, in two or three dead languages, which seem to be
  contradictory when translated . . .
  Characters with Unusual Background (Insightful
  Alchemist) may attempt Endurance, Healing, Health,
  Magic Resistance, Universal Antidote, or Wisdom elixirs,
  and they can improve the relevant techniques from
  default. Apart from this, being able to attempt any given
  single elixir and to raise the relevant technique requires
  Unusual Background (Elixir Knowledge) (see p. 28).
  Even given all of this, the GM is free to prohibit any
  or most elixirs, in order to preserve the campaign flavor.
  Some elixirs even may require a quantity of the
  Philosopher’s Stone as an ingredient – especially for pow-
  erful medical effects such as Resurrection or Youth.
  Thanks to such difficulties, elixir prices are always as for
  rare magic campaigns, and they will often be even higher.
  Paut
  Paut (see GURPS Thaumatology, p. 52) exists in this
  setting as a relatively well-understood form of “lesser
  stone” that may stand as a substitute for the Philoso -
  pher’s Stone in some potion recipes, at the GM’s option,
  as well as having its other listed benefits. However, the
  recipe is something of a secret; an alchemist needs
  Unusual Background (Paut Knowledge) (see p. 28) to
  know how to make it. The cost of ingredients is $300 per
  dose, and the finished potion costs $1,000 per one-ounce
  dose. Locating such an NPC alchemist, or any other
   vendor, should be an adventure in itself. Most paut is
  used as material by well-financed researchers.
  THE MAGIC
  20
  Weird Science
  In the world of Age of Gold, Weird Science – a set of prac-
  tices that definitely require the skill of that name (p. B228) –
  is basically the place where technology meets alchemy. Some
  weird scientists are aware that their research has moved
  beyond the limits of conventional science and started to
  incorporate supernatural elements. Others are militant mate-
  rialists, who insist that there’s no such thing as the supernat-
  ural and that they are simply exploring previously obscure
  areas of physics even as they contact spirits or transform lead
  to gold. Still others don’t really care about the question, sim-
  ply using “It’s science!” as a catch-phrase and muttering
  about how people laughed at them at university.
  In game terms, the main application for the Weird Science
  skill is justifying possession of the Gadgeteer advantage (usu-
  ally at the 25-point level) and perhaps Unusual Background
  (Invention) (see p. B477) or some Gizmos. (However, if the GM
  wants the occasional really strange 50-point Gadgeteer, that’s
  fine – though he’ll probably have a long list of mental disadvan-
  tages, and his gadgets may well only work for himself.)
  All Weird Science creations are at least TL6^, and the
  character may be allowed to take a level or two of High TL
  and build gadgets and conduct research at TL(6+1)^ or
  TL(6+2)^. GMs can decide what’s possible at these divergent
  tech levels, but they should think in terms of 1930s science
  fiction with a definite weird twist – medical “serums” and
  “infusions” with a quasi-alchemical aspect, “lightning pistols”
  throwing electrical bolts with something like the power of a
  TL8 gun but a lower rate of fire, giant airships filled with
  “aetheric vapors,” vertical take-off aircraft akin to helicopters
  (“the amazing helix-plane!”), and so on.
  At a more prosaic level, the Weird Science skill can be
  used to analyze supernatural phenomena, giving some useful
  clues as to how to deal with them while putting a 1930s pseu-
  doscience gloss on the discussion. References to “orgone
  energy,” “etheric resonance,” or “electro-spiritual science” are
  almost mandatory.
  A few weird scientists have actually learned some Alchemy
  skill as such in addition to more conventional sciences, and
  they can even create the occasional elixir. These individuals
  have the advantage over other alchemists in that they can
  employ modern scientific thinking. They may even be able to
  learn Alchemy at an effective TL higher than 3, the notes on
  p. 31 notwithstanding, and gain the benefit of bonuses for
  excellent-grade high-TL laboratories. Their disadvantage is
  that they are generally self-taught, don’t get along with true
  alchemists, and can’t understand old-fashioned alchemical
  terminology very well – so they don’t tend to be very good at
  the skill, rarely having more than one or two points in it.
  
  PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION
  Note that, legends notwithstanding, physical immortality is
  simply one form or aspect of the virtue of the Philosopher’s
  Stone – and other benefits are more likely. “Internalizing” the
  Stone in some form (which can mean something more than
  just swallowing it!) can have all manner of effects, generally
  beneficial.
  It’s also possible for alchemy or related supernatural forces
  to transform people without the Stone being directly involved;
  see p. 22. Idealistic alchemists say that their objective is
  always to transcend “base humanity” in some way, but it must
  be said that the results are sometimes a very strange sort of
  transcendence. Fanatical alchemists and magicians, who
  spend their lives exposed to arcane forces, sometimes trans-
  form into something distinctly other than human, if the mer-
  cury fumes don’t get to them first.
  Some alchemists, along with some other mystics, pursue per-
  sonal transformation without seeking to use the Philosopher’s
  Stone as a catalyst. The GM should mainly treat this as a plot
  device, but broadly speaking, someone with Alchemy and
  Meditation both at 15+, who spends some days every week in
  study and research, may be allowed to spend character points on
  exotic or supernatural character advantages, or on mundane
  mental or physical advantages that the GM wouldn’t normally
  allow to be purchased after character creation.
  THE MAGIC
  21
  With the almost explosive spread of magic in the last few
  years, a number of especially powerful exponents have adopted
  flashy costumed personas, often with masks or concealed iden-
  tities. The press has been quick to notice and latch on to this;
  it makes for great stories, especially when two or more masked
  supermen engage in public combat. In other words, this setting
  is in the process of becoming a world of superheroes.
  These “mystery men,” great heroes and terrifying master-
  minds of the Age of Gold – the true superhumans – are all the
  product and wielders of magic, in one form or another. This is
  wild magic, too, not cautious, indirect rituals (although some
  mystery men are also competent ritual practitioners). Their
  power can derive from years of study, careful use of arcane dis-
  cipline, or the benevolent gift of a powerful item – or from
  blind chance or accident. Nor are the results always especially
  pleasant.
  “Superheroes” or “Mystery Men”?
  Note that the word “superhero” itself isn’t really in keeping
  with this period; in our world, it appeared with the comic-book
  advent of Superman in 1938. Still, GMs and players may
  choose to talk about “supers” as a famil-
  iar term and even let “superhero” creep
  into character speech without great
  harm to the atmosphere of the game.
  Nonetheless, a more appropriate term
  is “mystery men” – the mysteries in ques-
  tion arising from the fact that these indi-
  viduals often go masked and sometimes
  demonstrate amazing abilities that con-
  ventional science is hard pressed to
  explain. That’s what the press usually
  calls them, even if there doesn’t seem to
  be much mystery in a particular case. In
  the academic-occult world, where the
  truth behind these mysteries is slightly
  better understood, they are often referred
  to by such terms as “men of gold,” indi-
  cating their apparent superiority to the
  mundane world, and the idea that they
  have been alchemically transformed just
  as alchemists dream of transforming
  lead to gold.
  There are slightly more “heroic” – that is, high-minded and
  adventurous – mystery men than there are masked-and-cos-
  tumed villains, but this is balanced by the number of wealthy,
  influential, or amazingly subtle master villains lurking in the
  shadows. Most of these aren’t downright superhuman,
  although some are competent ritual magicians, and few wear
  masks or especially flashy costumes. They may have odd nick-
  names, but they don’t often bother with the fancy “codenames”
  so often used by the mystery men. Still, they can make formi-
  dable antagonists for the most powerful masked heroes.
  Appearances
  The costumes worn by most mystery men aren’t much like
  the skintight garb favored by “supers” in our world’s comics.
  The tendency is much more toward vaguely military-style but
  highly colored gear, including bulky tunics, baggy riding pants,
  and knee-length boots – with the occasional safari suit, “magi-
  cian’s robes,” or trenchcoat-and-fedora ensemble for variety.
  Most “mystery women” wear something fairly modest, includ-
  ing a knee-length or longer skirt, although there are some truly
  outrageous exceptions.
  What only a few people understand is
  that the fancy costumes, like the code-
  names, aren’t just a matter of vanity or
  show. A supernaturally transformed human
  actually comes to exemplify the specific
  arcane forces and resonances that enhance
  him; his whole being becomes a focus. In
  short, the symbolic name and costume are a
  small but important part of the magic that
  empowers the superhuman being. Very few
  of the mystery men themselves understand
  this; they simply feel that it’s only reason-
  able to put on a bit of a show, perhaps to
  help preserve a secret identity that protects
  their loved ones, or to intimidate evildoers.
  A very few scholars suspect that, in the long
  term, a transformed individual may become
  something less as well as more than human
  – a walking manifestation of some arcane
  force, his personality burnt away in the heat
  of arcane power – but it seems impossible to
  convince the possible victims of this danger.
  MAGICAL “SUPERS”
  
  THE ALCHEMICALLY
  TRANSFORMED
  As described above, magical-alchemical forces occasionally
  transform ordinary humans into something different and per-
  haps more. While these people vary vastly, they include some
  of the most startling mystery men of the Age.
  However, not all great magical personal transformations
  result from alchemy as such. Indeed, in some cases, people
  may not realize at first that they’ve been in contact with the
  supernatural. Accidental or uncontrolled transformations gen-
  erally involve a combination of the presence of supernatural
  phenomena or energies, plus an extremely intense personal
  experience of some kind. It appears that radical, life-changing
  experiences can unlock the deeper capabilities of the human
  mind, allowing it to absorb and transmute any surrounding
  supernatural energies into personal power. 
  In a few cases, this transformation is reflected in physical
  changes to the individual’s body; in others, the intense experi-
  ence may be of the unpleasant sort that leaves very visible scars
  or mutilations. Hence, while most mystery men look human,
  and will probably check out as such to TL6 medical tests, a few
  are distinctly otherwise.
  Unfortunately, while some magicians, occultists, and weird
  scientists understand a little about this principle, and some
  mystics have had a clue on the subject for millennia, no one has
  ever managed to really control these transformational
  processes, let alone make them reliably repeatable. The nearest
  thing would be certain systems of spiritual and mystical train-
  ing, which expose the subject to magical forces (in the form of
  rituals, strange procedures performed by the teacher, alchemi-
  cal drugs, or whatever) while imposing a rigorous mental and
  physical training regime. This can be cumulatively stressful
  enough while hopefully teaching the student’s mind to handle
  any new powers he acquires. But even these procedures will
  only transform perhaps one carefully chosen student in a hun-
  dred, maybe one in a thousand; the “failures” may end up as
  competent ritual magicians or martial artists, as twisted figures
  who likely spend the rest of their lives pursuing further “enlight-
  enment,” or just as “normals” with a few strange skills. In Age
  of Gold, completely accidental transformations have come to
  outnumber the trained super-mystics by a large margin.
  Transformation Through Death
  In very rare cases, it seems, humans can be magically or
  alchemically transformed by the most intense experience of all
  – that of dying. As ever, this works best in the presence of
  intense magical forces, sometimes meaning significant quanti-
  ties of a Philosopher’s Stone, but those forces may actually be
  obscure or subtle. Unfortunately, the transformation hardly
  ever involves a return to actual life. Thus, the setting includes
  a number of undead beings of various sorts – mummies, zom-
  bies, ghouls, ghosts, and so on – kept active by magical power.
  The list definitely includes vampires and similar creatures
  from various cultural backgrounds, who vary considerably in
  their exact powers and strengths, often matching peculiar local
  beliefs quite closely. One thing that they (and other undead)
  can never do as easily or reliably as stories may claim, though,
  is create others of their own kind. The experience of being
  killed by a vampire is certainly intense, and by definition takes
  place in the presence of a considerable magical force, but it’s
  no more certain to achieve this result than any other attempt
  at deliberate personal transformation. Efforts by the “parent”
  vampire to reinforce the effect by, say, feeding the victim the
  parent’s own blood, sometimes work, but not always. Some
  vampires promise vampiric immortality to human prospective
  minions; they’re lying.
  Not all undead are evil, but most are unpleasant at best. In
  many cases, the transformation experience seems to drive the
  victim insane, with violent psychosis being especially common.
  Popular beliefs about the undead may be part of the problem ;
  someone who has been raised to think the worst of “undead
  monsters” may almost feel obliged to adopt the role upon
  becoming one, or he may take it as an excuse to act on his worst
  impulses. A raging thirst for blood or spinal fluid may not help,
  and undead tend to be excluded from human society for under-
  standable reasons. Loneliness and anger can drive them to seek
  revenge or relief of their angst in destruction. Some, though,
  preserve a moral sense – although this may merely mean that
  they seek to avenge their own deaths, or to punish “evildoers” in
  general. A few heroic “mystery men” are in fact undead; the pub-
  lic at large doesn’t suspect it about most of them.
  ANCIENT ARTIFACTS
  Another source of supernatural powers that appears quite
  often in this setting is the use of magical devices – typically,
  extranormal artifacts created by great magicians or supernat-
  ural beings in past ages, using techniques seemingly lost today.
  These powers can vary widely, including swords that provide
  modest advantages in combat; belts or amulets that boost one
  or two attributes to the limits of human potential; and major
  artifacts that grant vast magical powers through the aid of
  associated spirits. (In game terms, such items may have been
  created by almost any of the methods discussed in Chapter 4
  of GURPS Thaumatology, but the exact methods are largely
  irrelevant.) Some such artifacts show up in archaeological
  digs; a few are family heirlooms or otherwise passed down
  through many generations of users.
  Many have missions, gesa, or curses associated with them,
  perhaps set to strike the first person to touch them, or anyone
  who uses them. Those that are “supervised” by powerful spir-
  its are generally supposed to be used for some purpose that the
  spirit enforces. Hence, many users are driven toward some
  goal or behavior pattern, including heroism, defense of some
  nation or group, or megalomaniacal world conquest.
  Obviously, mystery men who depend on such devices are
  rather more vulnerable to loss of their powers than many oth-
  ers – although it can be quite hard to take anything away from
  a determined superhuman! Those items that are lost may be
  found and used by other people; a few “mystery men” are actu-
  ally holders of some artifact-based title that changes hands
  almost weekly.
  A few artifacts actually induce personal transformations on
  contact in the right situation, producing a character who does
  not depend on the artifact for his power from then on. If he
  continues to hold onto the item subsequently, for sentimental
  reasons or as a simple weapon, opponents may think that it’s
  worth taking the trouble to steal it – and suffer an unpleasant
  surprise as a result. Generally, such artifacts lose their power
  after transforming one person, although they might regain it
  after a generation, say, or a century – or when the last person
  so transformed dies.
  THE MAGIC
  22
  
  There’s only one way to get “spell magic” in the GURPS sense
  in Age of Gold, and that’s in the form of spirit-assisted magic; see
  p. 90-94 of GURPS Thaumatology. Even though this sort of
  magic does work, there’s not actually much of it around, and of
  course it all comes with a heavy price. Nonetheless this
  approach can represent a shortcut to lots of power.
  “COOPERATIVE” SPIRITS
  Unfortunately, powerful and cooperative spirits are not only
  relatively rare, they’re prone to demand especially stringent
  prices for their aid. They aren’t all diabolical or otherwise evil,
  but no spirit finds it very convenient to provide spells to impor-
  tunate mortals, and those who do demand significant payment
  in return. There may well be some “nice” spirits out there, but
  most of them would rather find ways to assist mortals that don’t
  involve becoming entangled with human needs, affairs, and
  destinies. PCs may use this sort of magic, with explicit GM per-
  mission, but players should understand that it’s troublesome.
  Whenever the subject arises, the GM should decide the
  nature and focus of the spirit that will be assisting the mortal.
  This determines both the sort of price it charges and the type
  of magic it provides. A player whose character starts play with
  such magic can decide the general nature of its source, but
  even there, the GM determines specific details. These beings
  have agendas and strong personalities that come out in the sort
  of magic they grant. Demons want to make trouble and thus
  offer destructive spells. Nature spirits can grant power over
  narrow aspects of the natural world in return for diligent
  efforts to protect their domain. Spirits linked to emo-
  tional states grant control over that emotion in
  exchange for its being promoted by magical or
  mundane means, and so on.
  Contacting such spirits is mostly a matter of
  luck, secret knowledge, and being in the right
  place at the right time; it’s not something that a
  PC can easily arrange. Someone seeking to gain
  spirit-assisted spells in the course of play will need to
  conduct a lot of research, possibly travel long distances, and
  negotiate carefully. The attempt will be an adventure in itself,
  with no guarantee of success.
  SPELLS GRANTED AND CAST
  In Age of Gold, any spells that a spirit-assisted caster
  acquires must be learned through the Easy Spell Access option
  (GURPS Thaumatology, p. 91), at reduced (Easy or Average)
  difficulty. However, the “Completely Free Spells” option is not
  available; spirits can’t (or won’t) work that closely with mor-
  tals, and don’t tend to have that large a repertoire of spells.
  Despite this caution, perhaps there are a few spirits around
  with that much power, and a few mortals with the ability to
  talk a great spirit into providing unlimited spell-based assis-
  tance. Obviously, this could make the character frighteningly
  powerful; it should generally be limited to formidable NPCs, if
  it happens at all. Any spirit willing to grant that much aid
  should demand more in return than most PCs would be will-
  ing to give. If the GM needs game mechanics, require a 50-
  point Unusual Background and a very large Duty disadvantage.
  The GM has complete control over the spells available from
  any given spirit. Not only should these match its character and
  general capabilities, there should be a certain amount of
  whimsy in the mix. Remember also that the spirit providing
  the spells should logically be able to cast them itself; if it’s likely
  to appear in play “in person,” those spells will be among its
  capabilities. (Also, it should have them at the highest skill of
  any of the humans to whom it grants them – no human
  should be able to learn a spell to a higher level than that of
  the aiding spirit.) The simplest approach is to list a
  small set of colleges that the spirit can provide.
  However, some spells may have other spells out
  of their own college as prerequisites, and some
  may be highly unsuitable for a particular spirit
  despite lying within an apparently appropriate
  college. Taking the time to make up a specific list
  can be worth the effort.
  GAME MECHANICS
  Age of Gold “mystery men” possess definite superhuman
  powers, and they don’t generally have to use spells or rituals to
  control them. Hence, they should be defined using the rules for
  advantages and powers. Chapter 7 of GURPS Thaumatology
  goes into detail on this subject; GURPS Powers and GURPS
  Supers provide further ideas.
  Obviously, many characters have full-scale powers in
  GURPS terms, but this isn’t mandatory; enhanced attributes
  and perhaps one or two advantages can be more than enough.
  Even some artifacts can grant powers, with both power and
  gadget limitations. In Age of Gold games, all powers have
  Magical as their source; the modifier for this is -10%, made up
  of -5% for “special countermeasures” and -5% for “channeled
  energy,” exactly as discussed on p. 202 of GURPS Thaumatol-
  ogy and p. 27 of GURPS Powers, and equivalent to the Mana
  Sensitive limitation (p. B34). Most personal magical abilities
  take this modifier, even if they aren’t defined as part of a
  power as such.
  Optionally, GMs who want to run “magic vs. fists” games,
  probably set in Age of Gold Asia, can also allow Chi powers, as
  described on p. 26 of Powers. However, in this setting, even
  those should verge on magic and might take the Magical mod-
  ifier in addition to or instead of the Chi modifier. Some indi-
  vidual powers may also include modifiers associated with
  other sources, such as Elemental, Nature, or Spirit. “Magic”
  encompasses a broad range of phenomena in this setting.
  Note that, although mystery men are capable of a wide
  range of feats and effects, they can’t usually buy Super-
  Strength, that is, ST with the Super-Effort enhancement, as
  discussed on pp. 24-25 of GURPS Supers. Although their
  strength may well be at or some way beyond normal human
  capacities, they are one notch closer to realism and can’t match
  the feats of all-out four-color “supers.”
  THE MAGIC
  23
  SPIRIT-ASSISTED SPELL MAGIC
  
  Lastly, spell casting works as described in GURPS
  Thaumatology, including the minimum casting time of two
  seconds for any spell, and the requirement to only work spells
  for purposes of which the spirit approves. All failures rolled
  when casting spirit-assisted spells in this setting require a roll
  on a critical failure table (usually the Spirit-Oriented Magic
  Table, GURPS Thaumatology, p. 260, or the Diabolic/Horrific
  Table, p. 258, for demon-assisted castings). The GM may
  choose to treat any critical failure on the spell-casting roll as
  producing the effects of an 18 on the critical failure table.
  THE MAGIC
  24
  Creatures that can with justice be labeled “demons” cer-
  tainly exist in the Age of Gold setting. Most of them are every
  bit as dangerous as the tag implies. However, while conven-
  tional churchmen and other religious believers have no doubt
  as to their nature and origins, other observers have noted some
  oddities and peculiarities in their powers, natures, and behav-
  ior. Some scientists are determined to find a rational explana-
  tion for the whole phenomenon.
  The best guess, suggested by a number of radical psycholo-
  gists, is that these are “physical manifestations of the id,” crea-
  tures of raw magical energy, given shape and personality by
  human belief – perhaps even denizens of the “collective uncon-
  scious.” This would explain why they seemingly tend to take
  forms dictated by local beliefs – which in turn explains why, to
  some eyes, they may end up looking faintly (and deceptively)
  silly. Western demons often appear with scarlet skins, short
  horns, and pitchforks; Far Eastern and Indian manifestations
  tend to be more stylish, but even those include the likes of
  Japanese kappa with beaked faces and water-filled depressions
  on their heads, and Indian rakshasas with excessive numbers of
  heads and arms.
  However, all demons are genuinely very dangerous; if the
  scientific idea is correct, they manifest all the darkest socio-
  pathic tendencies of the id, with no superego to restrain them.
  They glory in destruction and corruption, and they love using
  humans as pawns. They tend to be instinctively cunning rather
  than really bright, but only the least of them are actually stu-
  pid. Human “demonists” who rely on spirit-assisted magic
  granted by powerful demons always pay for the mistake.
  Some demons seem to have access to extradimensional
  “sub-realms” or “pocket hells,” where they take physical form;
  moving between these and Earth requires either Jumper or
  appropriate magic. It’s not clear whether demons actually want
  human souls as such, and whether they can set up binding con-
  tracts with that as the price. Some say that they do, but some
  modern occultists suspect that this is clever use of symbolism
  to bind gullible humans to their wills. What is clear is that
  demons desire violence, pain, and destruction, and revel in
  wielding physical power. Those with access to extradimen-
  sional “sub-realms” sometimes take slaves or drag prisoners
  back there physically. Many also enjoy drinking the blood of
  mortals or have other unpleasant habits.
  Although demons don’t have to eat to survive as humans do,
  they can nevertheless eat, and many seem to have a strong
  taste for specific substances such as blood or raw flesh. They
  may suffer some loss of powers if forced to go without such
  things for long enough (a limitation on their abilities). They
  might even lose physical cohesion if deprived for a very long
  time (a low-level Dependency). Some may actually feed on
  human emotions such as hate or misery.
  Demons are at the most garish and four-color end of the
  scale of opposition, even for Age of Gold campaigns. They are
  best suited as opponents for flashy and explicitly supernatural
  mystery men. GMs who prefer to keep things subtle can avoid
  including them in campaigns, or keep them as enigmatic off-
  stage threats – something that power-crazed magicians have to
  be prevented from summoning – while keeping their visible vil-
  lains entirely human, with human motives and vices.
  Theories Regarding Other Spirits
  Other spirits exist who seem to share some of the attributes
  of demons without being as overtly evil. Some, indeed, can be
  quite helpful, at least to people who share their goals. If they
  are manifestations of the human subconscious, these come
  from its more complex and subtle areas; some scholars even
  believe that some of them are shaped by the minds of non-
  human animals. However, they are rarely entirely safe to deal
  with, and their goals tend to be less comprehensible than those
  of straightforwardly evil demons. If and when they grant spirit-
  assisted spells, they offer odd mixtures of effects and abilities,
  and they set seemingly arbitrary conditions on their use.
  Petty Demon
  This is a fairly minor demon – a suitable opponent for a
  mystery man or a small group of normal-human heroes. It’s
  sneaky and strong, but it’s not especially bright. It’s enough of
  a coward to be driven away for good by a beating.
  Unfortunately, its ability to shift to an intangible spirit form
  makes it hard to pin down or finish off completely, and it may
  be smart enough to use this to pull off sneak attacks. Its pre-
  cise appearance is up to the GM; a lot of demons of seemingly
  different types actually have similar abilities.
  A demon like this may be summoned and bound by a magi-
  cian, and it will aid a mortal relatively willingly in exchange for
  some kind of payment – blood is almost always acceptable. It
  prefers to drive a hard bargain. However, it lacks the power
  and flexibility to provide “assisted magic” spells.
  It will act grudging and threatening if somehow compelled
  to serve, but it actually quite likes this situation. Anyone who
  seeks the aid of a demon is probably either evil or deeply stu-
  pid, which means that whatever he does will suit a demon’s
  tastes and desires eventually, if not straight away.
  DEMONS
  Demons may be physical
  manifestations of the id, given
  shape and personality by belief.
  
  ST 16; DX 11; IQ 9; HT 12.
  Damage 1d+1/2d+2; BL 51 lbs.; HP 16; Will 11; Per 11; FP 50.
  Basic Speed 5.75; Basic Move 5; Dodge 8; Parry 9 (Brawling).
  SM 0; 250 lbs.
  Advantages/Disadvantages: Appearance (Monstrous); Atten-
  tive; Bad Temper (9); Berserk (9); Bully (9); Callous; Claws
  (Sharp); Clueless; Damage Resistance 5; Discriminatory
  Smell; Dread (Sacred Ground); Frightens Animals; Night
  Vision 5; Sadism (6); Spirit*; Teeth (Sharp); Temperature
  Tolerance 30; Vulnerable to True Faith, spirit-binding
  magic, etc.
  Skills: Brawling-12; Spear-11; Stealth-13.
  * As per Spirit racial template, but Insubstantiality has Can
  Carry Objects Up to No Encumbrance, rather than Affect
  Substantial.
  Arch-Demon
  This is a powerful “demon lord” – a formidable opponent
  for a group of mystery men, or the ultimate behind-the-scenes
  mastermind for a whole campaign’s worth of battles with dark-
  ness and corruption. It’s dangerous in a fight, but it prefers to
  manipulate, tempt, and corrupt humans from the shadows,
  and then let them do any serious fighting that’s necessary.
  An arch-demon may rule a “pocket hell” with a whole army
  of petty demons as enforcers and yes-men; it will almost cer-
  tainly have access to vast material resources if it needs them.
  It looks blatantly demonic and non-human, but its facade is
  more bizarre than disgusting and may be quite stylish. Many
  such demons have the Shapeshifting ability or spells with the
  same effect, and they often adopt the appearance of handsome,
  suave human men (or sometimes glamorous, alluring women).
  Some can sprout wings at will and use them to fly while sub-
  stantial. Most can speak many human languages fluently; they
  may actually have universal “mind speech” abilities and merely
  appear to be speaking.
  Like the petty demon, this creature can vanish (probably in
  a puff of brimstone-reeking smoke) at whim, which makes it
  immensely hard to defeat, because it’s smart enough to per-
  form tactical withdrawals and return at inconvenient
  moments. However, it’s vulnerable to spirit-binding and spirit-
  destroying magic. It may also be induced to abandon its
  schemes in some area by sufficiently determined, persistent,
  and effective opposition that eliminates enough of the basis of
  its schemes. Some stories claim that, even if such demons are
  “destroyed,” they are really just sent back to Hell for a few
  decades or centuries – something debated by modern
  occultists.
  This sort of demon may be summoned by magic, and it is
  sometimes said to come when invited, even without actual
  spells or rituals. This could be treated as a form of Warp with
  vastly enhanced range and some peculiar limitations – but
  mostly, it’s a matter of game special effects. The demon may
  also be able to grant “assisted magic” spells from its own reper-
  toire, which would be a complex ability to detail in character
  terms, especially given its ability to supervise uses of the magic
  – but again, that’s mostly a plot device. PCs aren’t expected to
  be demons, or to display high-end demonic abilities, after all.
  However, a demon should be able to fully cast any spell that it
  grants, to the same skill level as any human it aids.
  ST 13; DX 14; IQ 13; HT 13.
  Damage 1d/2d-1; BL 34 lbs.; HP 18; Will 13; Per 13; FP 75.
  Basic Speed 6.75; Basic Move 6; Dodge 10; Parry 11 (Spear).
  SM 0; 160 lbs.
  Advantages/Disadvantages: Bad Temper (9); Bully (12); Cal-
  lous; Claws (Sharp); Combat Reflexes; Cowardice (15);
  Damage Resistance 5; Dark Vision; Dread (Sacred Ground);
  Frightens Animals; Indomitable; Magery 2; Magic Resist-
  ance 3 (Improved); Rapid Healing; Sadism (12); Selfish
  (12); Spirit*; Temperature Tolerance 30; Vulnerable to True
  Faith, spirit-binding magic, etc.
  Skills: Accounting-14; Acting-13; Alchemy-10; Carousing-13;
  Fast-Talk-13; Gambling-12; Intimidation-13; Mental
  Strength-16; Merchant-13; Observation-13; Politics-16;
  Savoir-Faire (High Society)-14; Spear-14; Stealth-14; Thau-
  matology-12.
  Spells: A typical minimum set of spells† would be Clumsiness-
  15; Counterspell-14; Create Fire-15; Deflect Energy-14;
  Detect Magic-18; Dispel Magic-16; Fireball-15; Hinder-15;
  Ignite Fire-15; Itch-14; Purify Air-14; Shape Fire-14; Spasm-
  15; and Stench-15.
  * As per Spirit racial template, but Insubstantiality has Can
  Carry Objects up to Medium Encumbrance, rather than Affect
  Substantial and Usually On.
  † Much longer spell lists and higher skill levels with any
  spell are perfectly possible! However, demons are highly
  unlikely to know any spell that helps people directly, preferring
  raw destructive effects. Some accounts suggest that they are
  completely unable to perform any sort of creative act or to
  actually control the minds of human beings in any way.
  THE MAGIC
  25
  True Faith
  The True Faith advantage (p. B94) is available to
  characters in Age of Gold, including PCs, but it should
  be rare; this is mostly an age of science and wonder,
  not religious devotion. It can repel demons, which
  after all, if modern theories are correct, are themselves
  creatures of belief, in their way; apparently, a suffi-
  ciently strong conscious individual mind can match
  and overcome the collective power of many subcon-
  scious beliefs. Or perhaps it’s simply that the beliefs
  that shape demons include the firm belief that True
  Faith should work against them. Many of them cer-
  tainly avoid religious symbols and holy ground, even
  when these aren’t being wielded by a believer; combin-
  ing the faith and the symbol can be lethal for them.
  Thus, the power of faith resides in the believer, not
  in the belief; characters of almost any religious back-
  ground may possess the advantage. If they’re actually
  channeling real divine power, it appears that the divin-
  ity is prepared to accept and honor many different
  forms of worship. Most characters with True Faith in
  this setting behave in a very conventionally devout way
  for their particular religion, although some may be a
  little eccentric by mainstream standards.
  
  “So, what brought you to Shanghai, Mr. Williams?” inquired
  Jerome Chatford, as the two men shared a companionable drink
  in a small bar.
  “With respect, old son – look at the dates.” Williams contem-
  plated his empty glass intently and then signaled for yet another
  whisky. “Who’d want to have to live with a dam’ fool idea like
  Prohibition, if they had a choice?”
  Chatford smiled thinly. “Just so. But Prohibition is over now.”
  “I suppose so. But I have friends here now, and work.
  Nobody back home wants to see my face again. In this city, peo-
  ple appreciate . . .”
  The explanation went uncompleted. A third man had joined the
  conversation, a well-dressed Chinese man with a bland expression.
  “Mr. Williams?” he inquired, his English accent perfect. “Chiai Tiao
  sends her regards.” As Williams stared in shock, the man drew a
  slender-bladed, evil-looking knife from a hidden sheathe.
  But the knife never struck. With startling strength, Chatford
  swept Williams off his stool and safely clear of the assassin. The
  man turned his attention to Chatford, but before he could move,
  the American threw a straight right with sledgehammer force,
  ending the contest in one blow.
  “Lord!” exclaimed Williams from the floor, as Chatford spun
  the stunned assassin around and frisked him for further
  weapons. “But Chiai Tiao . . . I thought she . . .”
  “Local gang boss, isn’t she?” Chatford asked in a light tone.
  “No offense, sport, but I’m not sure about your taste in friends.”
  “I thought that we were on reasonable terms. I sold her some
  Tibetan herbs only last month, after all. And she’s not usually this
  crude,” muttered Williams, and Chatford frowned.
  “That so? Do you know, I wonder if someone might be telling
  untruths. Trying to make trouble.” Chatford pulled the assassin’s
  silk tie from his neck and used it to bind the man’s hands. “You
  know, we should hand this fellow over to those excellent
  Municipal Police – but first, I think, there’s some friends of mine
  might like to talk to him.”
  “Anyone I should know?” asked Williams, rising to his feet.
  “Not for now,” said Chatford, smilingly quietly as he placed
  the cost of the drinks on the bar in front of the gaping bartender.
  “We all have our little secrets, don’t you know, for better or worse.
  But you might do well to tell my friends about those Tibetan
  herbs, eventually. Just now, though, you get yourself home – and
  take care on the way. I think that this fellow has to go see a
  Doctor.”
  The Age of Gold setting is intended as one for heroic PCs,
  whether gritty pulp-style adventurers or magically empowered
  “mystery men,” and play should primarily be fast-moving and
  action-oriented. Character design, and the features appearing
  on character sheets, should reflect this.
  CHARACTERS
  26
  CHAPTER THREE
  CHARACTERS
  Age of Gold campaigns operate at one of two distinct levels,
  each with their own stylistic details and flavors. Pulp Adventurer
  games should feature “ordinary human” (if competent) PCs,
  built on 150-250 points; magical abilities may be banned alto-
  gether for PCs, or limited to Ritual Magic and a couple of Paths
  or Books or minor advantages such as Channeling or Medium.
  By contrast, Mystery Man games are about superhuman PCs,
  built on 300-500 points or even more (though remember, these
  aren’t quite four-color heroes in the modern style), with magical
  abilities very much expected – indeed, non-magical PCs might
  actually be banned, as they’re likely to be too frail in combat
  while potentially possessing game-distorting levels of skill.
  Weird costumes and secret identities are unusual at the Pulp
  Adventurer level but commonplace among mystery men.
  BASIC CONDITIONS
  The setting should be treated as standard TL6, with average
  starting wealth set at $10,000. Note that these are abstract
  “GURPS dollars”; if you want to use historical U.S. dollars,
  divide GURPS values by 11 in the 1920s, 14 in the 1930s.
  Hence, for example, average starting wealth in period money
  would be about 900 U.S. dollars in the 1920s, or 700 U.S. dol-
  lars in the 1930s.
  Available Cultural Familiarities include Western (which
  covers Europe, most of North and South America, Australia,
  and most European colonies), Russian (the culture of the
  U.S.S.R., based on the old “Orthodox” pattern mutated
  through a few years of Communist rule), East Asian (covering
  China and many of its neighbors), Indian, and Japanese.
  Languages are much as in our present day. Military Rank is
  available for characters who are currently in the armed forces,
  although GMs may prefer that the PCs be independent opera-
  tors. Much the same goes for Police Rank. Additionally, given
  how recent the World War I was, Courtesy Rank based on
  Military Rank is quite common among adventurers.
  Status covers the usual range from -2 to 8, although the
  extremes are rare or unknown in some places. Nowhere actu-
  ally rates as a real classless meritocracy (p. B28), but the GM
  may rule that citizens of democracies with no remnant formal
  aristocracy, such as the United States, can’t buy more than, say,
  three levels of Status directly.
  STARTING POINTS
  
  PCs in Age of Gold can have a wide range of capabilities,
  though most of the more exotic options should have a blatant
  or subtle magical aspect.
  ADVANTAGES
  Pulp Adventurer-level heroes are limited to mundane men-
  tal, physical, or social advantages; mystery men are defined by
  one or more exotic or supernatural features. Of course, there
  can always be exceptions in both categories.
  Note that GURPS Powers has a number of new modifiers for
  existing advantages, as well as several new advantages that can
  be helpful when depicting magical “supers” (especially Control,
  Create, and Illusion). GURPS Supers also has some useful addi-
  tions in this line, although note that Super-Strength is not gen-
  erally available in Age of Gold games (see p. 21 for why).
  Channeling, Medium
  see p. B41 and p. B68
  There are enough spirits active in Age of Gold that these
  advantages are quite useful, and both are available to non-
  “super” characters. Some adventurers may also have Detect
  (Spirits or Spiritual Phenomena, either of which rates as
  Occasional) or See Invisible (Spirit Invisibility).
  Extra Attack
  see p. B53-54
  Pulp heroes are fond of coming in with both guns blazing,
  so one level of Extra Attack is appropriate. Mystery men, who
  tackle whole gangs of thugs single-handedly, may look to pur-
  chase even more.
  CHARACTERS
  27
  CHARACTER TRAITS
  Every valuable human being must be a radical and a
  rebel, for what he must aim at is to make things better
  than they are.
  – Niels Bohr
  “LEADER AND
  ASSISTANTS” TEAMS
  One possibility that maintains the pulp style well is for a PC
  group to consist of one Mystery Man-level character as the
  leader, and a group of assistants created at Pulp Adventurer
  level. Such a group is traditionally a tightly knit fellowship,
  probably known by the name of their leader, who provides
  them with a cause to follow or a philosophy. To keep things
  interesting for the players of the assistants, the characters
  should each be competent in at least one area in which the
  leader has no particular ability. (This is unlike the typical
  pulps, in which leaders were often omnicompetent, with assis-
  tants to serve only as extra hands and comic relief.) For exam-
  ple, the leader might be a night-stalking crime fighter and
  master of stealthy combat, with assistants who provide under-
  world contacts, legal advice, medical aid, driving and piloting
  skills, and so on. The leader is usually rich enough to furnish a
  base of operations, although he might instead have a wealthy
  faithful follower who provides the group with resources and a
  home (and probably also high society contacts).
  GMs should only run “Leader and Assistants” campaigns if
  they’re confident that the other players won’t get jealous of the
  leader PC’s superior abilities and inevitable tendency to take a
  bit of extra spotlight time. Players should realize that leaders
  tend to be paragons, and hence maybe slightly dull, whereas
  followers can be more flawed and hence more amusing to play.
  It’s also worth noting that followers have more scope to
  develop in unexpected and dramatic directions, whereas lead-
  ers may be a bit more static. The GM can even give followers a
  few additional bonus character points to reinforce this effect
  However, unless the group decides to change its dynamics, the
  followers should not be allowed to approach the leader’s per-
  sonal ability level in his key skills or advantages. The compan-
  ions might, instead, surpass him in other areas.
  A further possibility is a “Leader and Assistants” group with
  an NPC leader. All the PCs are built on the same point total,
  with no cause for jealousy, but none of them can match the
  superhuman figure who leads them. This requires some fine
  judgment, as the point is not for the GM’s godlike pet to have
  all the fun. Rather, the leader should act as a channel for GM
  suggestions to the PCs and a living weapon of last resort, while
  the PCs enable him to do his job properly and occasionally res-
  cue him from the consequences of his natural but excessive
  self-confidence. The leader’s serious fights should mostly take
  place off stage, or be skimmed over with a quick description
  rather than being played out in detail. In any “Leader and
  Assistants” game, there may be a temptation to play the leader
  as a bit dim and too-direct when compared to his brains-over-
  brawn sidekicks; with an NPC leader, this potentially comic
  treatment can be played to the hilt without insulting a player.
  
  Gadgeteer, Gizmos, High TL
  see p. B56-58 and p. B23
  See p. 20, and note that “High TL” usually means TL(6+1)
  or TL(6+2), probably with some superscience.
  Magery
  see pp. B66-67
  While anyone can in theory get some kind of magic to work
  in Age of Gold, Magery is an enormous advantage to most peo-
  ple involved in practical magic-crafting. The ability to sense
  magical energies and objects helps determine whether a tech-
  nique or idea is working or not – and so levels of Magery cer-
  tainly add to the Thaumatology skill, as per the Basic Set – and
  pretty well all magical activities in the setting involve a certain
  amount of experiment and analysis. Alchemists in a laboratory
  can afford to take the time to assess their results with instru-
  ments and material tests, but anyone “in the field” needs to
  eyeball things, at which point, the lack of actual magical sensi-
  tivity can be downright dangerous.
  There is just one form of Magery in this setting, which can
  be used for any magical task that calls for the advantage,
  although in practice very few mages have any competence in
  more than one field. In fact, the obsessive focus and deep-
  seated assumptions involved in mastering one type of magic
  can make it very hard to learn another. The proportion of the
  world’s population with functional Magery is unclear, but most
  guesses put the numbers in the 1-10% range. If the higher esti-
  mates are correct, the vast majority of cases are strictly Magery
  0. Magery 1-2 isn’t too rare, and Magery 3 is certainly known,
  but Magery 4+ is truly exceptional and requires an Unusual
  Background – see Arch-Mage, below.
  Magery cannot be gained or increased in play except
  through Unrealized Potential, p. 29.
  Limited Magery (GURPS Thaumatology, pp. 20-27) is rare;
  GMs who permit PCs to include it should make sure that any
  limitations taken relate to the type of magic that the character
  will perform or encounter, and that they’ll actually be limiting
  in play. Magery may also act as a power Talent (see GURPS
  Powers) for any magical power, at the GM’s discretion.
  Mystic Symbols: Some magicians find that a personal “mys-
  tic symbol” – an item such as an ankh, an ivory tablet marked
  with mystical inscriptions, a special ring, a staff, or a wand –
  helps a little with their Path/Book magic. This will always be a
  single, specific item, which will never work for anyone except
  the original owner; it can be represented by buying one level of
  Magery with gadget limitations. A few more powerful or versa-
  tile “mystic symbol” items exist, capable of being used by any
  magician (or at least any magician from a specific tradition),
  but these should always be treated much like ancient artifacts
  (see p. 22), being beyond the power of magical craftsmanship
  to create at this date.
  Magic Resistance
  see p. B67
  The same advantage grants resistance to all forms of magic
  in this setting.
  Mana Damper, Mana Enhancer
  see p. B67-68
  These advantages are currently unknown in this setting,
  where the concept of “mana” has limited meaning (see p. 6).
  True Faith
  see p. B94
  See p. 25 on the nature of this advantage in this setting.
  Unusual Background
  see p. B96
  The following Unusual Backgrounds are available in this
  setting.
  Arch-Mage (30 points): You can purchase Magery to level 4
  or higher. This is rare, and GMs should demand an interesting
  backstory for any character with this much potential.
  Elixir Knowledge (5 points): This is only available if the GM
  chooses to allow alchemist characters who can manufacture a
  range of elixirs; see p. 20. If you have Alchemy skill, you can
  attempt to create one specific elixir (determined when you
  acquire the Unusual Background), and buy the relevant tech-
  nique up from default.
  Insightful Alchemist (15 points): You have a special compre-
  hension of the nature and secrets of alchemy, and you can buy
  the technique for creating the Philosopher’s Stone up from
  default. Also, if the GM chooses to allow alchemist characters
  who can manufacture a range of elixirs, you can attempt to
  create Endurance, Healing, Health, Magic Resistance,
  Universal Antidote, or Wisdom elixirs, and buy the relevant
  techniques up from default. See pp. 19-20 regarding the cre-
  ation of the Philosopher’s Stone.
  Paut Knowledge (5 or 10 points): If you have Alchemy skill,
  you can attempt to create Paut, and buy the relevant technique
  up from default; see p. 20. This Unusual Background costs 5
  points if you also have Unusual Background (Insightful
  Alchemist); otherwise, it costs 10 points.
  CHARACTERS
  28
  
  PERKS
  Several of the perks listed on pp. 30-31 of GURPS Supers
  and in Power-Ups 2: Perks are appropriate for Age of Gold
  mystery men; others are somewhat “out of period.” Cloaked,
  Masked, and Nonprotective Clothing fit quite well, for example,
  but Skintight doesn’t – mystery men tend to favor somewhat
  bulkier garb – while Supersuit would require some justification
  – a friendly chemist with High TL or Invention might be able
  to design such a costume, for example.
  The following perks may well appear in Age of Gold cam-
  paigns. The first two relate to training in special schools of
  magic or combat; they may be associated with Unusual
  Backgrounds, Duties, interesting origin stories, and suchlike.
  (Perks marked with † require specialization.)
  Magical School Familiarity†
  You have studied at a specific formal school of magic,
  alchemy, or arcane arts, and you are a recognized student or
  graduate of that school. The perk gives these benefits:
  • You understand the arcane principles that undergird the
  school’s magic, and you know at least the outlines of most of
  its teachings. You have +1 (or better, at the GM’s option) to
  skills such as Occultism or Thaumatology when using them to
  recognize or analyze magic performed by someone else using
  the school’s teachings. Also, you can always rely special coun-
  termeasures or defensive measures against that magic, and
  you don’t suffer any sort of familiarity penalty, even if you don’t
  know how to use the ritual, elixir, etc., you’re trying to defeat.
  • You can acquire the school’s special rituals, techniques,
  etc., by spending earned points in play, without restriction.
  • You’re acquainted with the school’s culture. When dealing
  with another wizard who has the same perk, neither of you
  ever suffers -3 for any lack of Cultural Familiarity when mak-
  ing Savoir-Faire rolls, Teaching rolls to pass along the school’s
  methods, or similar activities.
  • You probably have the equivalent of a 1-point Claim to
  Hospitality (p. B41) with an academy, guild, or master mage.
  This mostly means that you have somewhere to stay while
  studying.
  This perk first appeared in GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks. It
  has been modified here to fit the Age of Gold setting.
  Style Familiarity†
  You’ve been trained in one particular formal martial arts
  style; for the full ramifications, see GURPS Martial Arts
  (p. 49) where this perk first appeared. In brief, it has the fol-
  lowing benefits:
  • You can acquire the style’s combat perks, learn its cine-
  matic skills (provided that you also have Trained by a Master
  or Weapon Master), improve its techniques whenever you have
  the points, and in some cases buy “optional traits” that are gen-
  erally off-limits to PCs.
  • You’re familiar with the style’s culture and never suffer the
  -3 for lack of Cultural Familiarity when using such skills as
  Games, Savoir-Faire (Dojo), or Teaching to interact with co-
  stylists.
  • You probably have the equivalent of a 1-point Claim to
  Hospitality (p. B41) with a school or an instructor, giving you
  somewhere to stay while studying.
  • If your opponent has studied one or more styles and you
  have Style Familiarity with them all, you may reduce the
  defense penalty from his feints and Deceptive Attacks by -1.
  You’re aware of his style’s tricks and tactics!
  Unrealized Potential
  You don’t start play with Magery, but you might find the gift
  within yourself later. This perk can only be taken at character
  creation, and it acts as a 1- point “deposit” toward Magery 0,
  which you can purchase later with bonus character points or
  training. You can take the perk multiple times to have the
  potential for further levels of Magery; for example, if you start
  by taking the perk three times, you can eventually develop
  Magery 2 (Magery 0 plus two further levels).
  DISADVANTAGES
  Adventurers in Age of Gold are in general colorful people
  but also, by nature, very capable. Hence, PCs should have
  enough disadvantages to make them distinctive, but not so
  many as to cripple them. Their opponents, on the other hand,
  tend to be powerful but eccentric at the minimum, and often
  downright crazy; almost any level of disadvantages can be
  acceptable for a master villain or evil mystery man.
  Alcoholism
  see p. B122-123
  While actual Alcoholism isn’t really common among real
  heroes of the age, and Prohibition has made it (somewhat)
  harder to sustain in recent times, the 1930s are a period when
  tough guys are more or less expected to have a steady rela-
  tionship with the liquor bottle, and some may tip over into a
  real drinking problem. Most PCs travel widely enough that it’s
  only a -15 point disadvantage for them, but someone solidly
  based in a “dry” city could take it at -20 points.
  Bloodlust
  see p. B125
  It’s not a truly heroic attitude, but some heroes are former
  soldiers who switch too easily into pragmatic battlefield ruth-
  lessness, and some crime fighters really want the scum of the
  underworld taken out of action permanently.
  CHARACTERS
  29
  Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking
  our potential.
  – Winston Churchill
  
  Code of Honor
  see p. B127
  Most heroes of the Age of Gold are honorable after their
  fashion, and quite a few villains at least pretend to be, perhaps
  obeying the Pirate’s Code. Professional codes are quite com-
  mon among some “heroic” occupations such as private eye,
  mercenary, or freelance pilot, and not a few heroes consider
  the Gentleman’s Code is still entirely valid – although “duels”
  triggered by this may have to consist of semi-formal boxing
  bouts, to avoid legal complications. The Soldier’s Code only
  really works for serving troops, but some ex-military charac-
  ters will apply such of it as they can to their less formal circum-
  stances, giving them an effective -5 point Code.
  GURPS Supers adds Code of Honor (Comics Code); this
  isn’t really recognized in the 1930s, but a mystery man who
  lives and operates as a paragon of fairness and justice (perhaps
  even subtly drawing mystical power from the symbolism)
  might actually adopt these principles – and become known as
  a veritable Boy Scout.
  Compulsive Behavior
  see p. B128-129
  The importance of symbolism to “men of gold” can also
  mean that they are driven toward various compulsions, per-
  haps without quite realizing it themselves. For heroes, this
  may mean Generosity or Vowing. For villains, Gambling fits
  the daredevil rogue whose innate magic warps probability,
  Generosity may reflect a need to be seen as a Robin Hood fig-
  ure, and Compulsive Rhetoric – detailed in GURPS Supers –
  makes for a theatrical sort of all-round megalomaniac.
  Delusions
  see p. B130
  In an age of great changes – with largely unexplained magic
  for extra complications – some people snatch at some very
  strange explanations of how the world seems to work. Even
  tough-minded adventurers can suffer from some strange
  Delusions.
  Flashbacks
  see p. B136
  Many mystery men have traumatic origin stories, while
  more conventional adventurers may have been through the
  hell of the World War I trenches – and yet Flashbacks are rela-
  tively rare. It’s just not a convention of the era.
  Honesty
  see p. B138-139
  This isn’t unknown among heroic types in Age of Gold, but
  most tend to a “justice before law” philosophy.
  Intolerance
  see p. B140
  This being the 1930s, some kinds of Intolerance are, well,
  tolerated more than they might be today. Some adventurers and
  mystery men, however, are exceptionally willing to take people
  as they find them, whatever their nationality or ethnicity – 
  they certainly tend to be well traveled, and travel does broaden
  some minds. Indeed, some adventuring groups are notably
  multi-national.
  Pacifism
  see p. B148
  While some ordinary adventurers and many mystery men
  are quite ethical, few are really any sort of pacifist. Most
  believe that force should be met with force, and that violence
  does solve many problems – and some dispense .45 caliber
  “justice” with quite terrifying enthusiasm. (Ultra-careful, no-
  killing ethics are found more in post-WWII “Comics Code”
  heroes.) More restrained heroes who worry about innocent
  bystanders may have Cannot Harm Innocents, but Self-Defense
  Only is limited to a few “Boy Scout” types. Cannot Kill would
  generally be regarded as freakish and unsustainable (although
  a token reluctance to resort to lethal force is respected, even
  admired by some). Total Nonviolence is strictly for saints and
  holy men. Reluctant Killer is really a mental state for realistic
  non-combatants – and few Age of Gold adventurers fit in that
  category!
  Secret Identity
  see p. B153
  Some mystery men live up to the term, finding it convenient
  to maintain a Secret Identity, but many others are quite open
  about their activities, even if they wear peculiar costumes. Of
  course, this means that the openly operating ones with non-
  adventuring friends or family may have problems (best repre-
  sented by Dependents, in GURPS terms).
  SKILLS
  High levels and breadth of skill are the mark of most ordi-
  nary adventurers, and they are not unknown among mystery
  men, who are often alchemically transformed into “more per-
  fect” beings – and one possible symbol of human perfection is
  definitely omnicompetence.
  Remember that some technologies (e.g. hovercraft, helicop-
  ters, scuba gear, radar) haven’t been invented yet, and so the
  skills to operate them don’t exist. Counterparts of some of
  these things may exist in TL(6+1) laboratories; whether their
  inventors have learned to use them at above default level is
  another matter.
  Alchemy
  see pp. B174-175 and 
  GURPS Thaumatology, pp. 100-107
  In this setting, Alchemy skill is handled slightly differently
  to its treatment in the Basic Set.
  Firstly, there are several different alchemical traditions,
  each of which is treated as a mandatory specialty of Alchemy
  skill. However, all of them are quite closely related; the differ-
  ences are matters of jargon and known recipes, not fundamen-
  tal disagreements. The specialties and defaults are as follows:
  Alchemy (Ancient Western), Alchemy (European), and
  Alchemy (Arabian) default to each other at -2; Alchemy
  (Chinese) and Alchemy (Indian) default to each other at -2; all
  other cross-defaults between these schools are at -3.
  CHARACTERS
  30
  
  Secondly, Alchemy is not usually classed as a technological
  skill in this setting, in the sense that it isn’t qualified by TL.
  Alchemists are very traditionalistic, using equipment and basic
  techniques dating back to the early days of alchemical
  research. If it becomes necessary to assign a TL for some pur-
  pose, including Chemistry skill default levels, assume that all
  Alchemy is conducted at TL3. The nearest thing to “high-tech
  alchemy” in Age of Gold is Weird Science – but that usually
  uses different skills.
  All of those specialties represent general training in alchem-
  ical theory and practice, including the ability to follow stan-
  dard procedures, perform common tests, and recognize
  terminology and equipment. Any alchemist can also attempt to
  create some form of the Philosopher’s Stone, but to become
  good at that particular technique requires special insights and
  experiences, represented by Unusual Background (Insightful
  Alchemist). Elixir creation may also be possible, with restric-
  tions. See pp. 19-21 for details of all of this.
  Current Affairs
  see p. B186-187
  This has an extra specialty available in Age of Gold: Occult,
  covering the latest news about research into thaumatology, the
  activities of occult archaeologists and known paranormal mys-
  tery men, and so on.
  Exorcism
  see p. B193
  This skill is available in Age of Gold, but training is gener-
  ally only given to specialist priests, who may be found in most
  of the world’s major religions. It works fine (probably for much
  the same reasons as True Faith – see p. 25), but only on
  demons and other spirits who are possessing a human against
  the human’s will. Non-demonic spirits can generally go where
  they choose, and they certainly can’t be driven away from
  places where they specifically belong.
  Hazardous Materials
  see p. B199
  In theory, a Magical specialty might exist for this skill in Age
  of Gold. In practice, approaches to this subject tend to be very
  ad hoc and improvisational.
  Herb Lore
  see p. B199
  This may appear in Age of Gold campaigns; see p. 19.
  History
  see p. B200
  History (Magical, for a specific era) is a valid specialty in
  this setting, although few universities teach such things yet.
  Occultism and Thaumatology
  see p. B212 and p. B225
  Most students of magical theory in this setting are still
  known as “occultists”; the word “thaumatology” isn’t in wide-
  spread use. However, for game purposes, this supplement uses
  words as they are defined in the GURPS skill system:
  “Occultism” is the study of the history and folklore of the
  supernatural, while “Thaumatology” is the scientific study of
  how magic actually works. 
  CHARACTERS
  31
  Martial Arts
  Many characters in the pulps and early Golden Age
  comics were excellent hand-to-hand fighters, and
  some received advanced training in various fighting
  styles. However, this period predates modern pop cul-
  ture’s love of high-kicking Asian kung fu action. Hence,
  GURPS Martial Arts can be a useful adjunct to Age of
  Gold campaigns, which can certainly see their share of
  fist fights, but it shouldn’t be regarded as essential. PCs
  shouldn’t be designed around mastery of exotic, cine-
  matic martial arts techniques. GMs have the right to
  veto any style from that book as out of keeping with
  the feel of the specific campaign, and the advantages
  Trained by a Master and Weapon Master should be
  rare at best and very possibly prohibited altogether.
  Nevertheless, quite a number of styles are appro-
  priate, and some heroes may be sophisticated “scien-
  tific” fighters. Even ruggedly mundane pulp-style
  adventurers may be expert boxers (see pp. 152-153 of
  Martial Arts). Old-fashioned or time-lost European
  heroes may carry slender blades (perhaps in the form
  of sword sticks) and study their use intensively; any
  Fencing style (pp. 156-159 of Martial Arts) can work
  here, but the Italian or Transitional French Schools
  may fit best for cinematic swashbucklers, or French
  Smallsword for someone who uses a smaller blade
  with deadly precision. Really advanced students of
  modern Sport Fencing might also be effective.
  By the 1930s, descriptions and demonstrations of a
  few Asian combat arts – primarily Jujutsu – had
  reached Europe and the United States. Furthermore,
  the idea had spread that not only were some of these
  experts impressive technical fighters, they maybe knew
  a few rather uncanny tricks. Indeed, some non-Asian
  fictional heroes learned useful arts in time spent “out
  East.” If nothing else, Asian fighters were seen as
  clever and subtle, capable of high levels of Stealth skill;
  this could go as far as Invisibility Art. For details of one
  of the first real-world European combat experts to
  encounter and master Asian fighting styles, and the
  practical style that he in turn developed and taught, see
  GURPS Martial Arts: Fairbairn Close Combat Sys-
  tems. It would be entirely possible to run a full-on
  “stylistic crossover” campaign, probably set in China
  and featuring local heroes and villains using the many
  “kung fu” styles detailed in Chapter 5 of Martial Arts
  in full cinematic mode, alongside magic-wielders and
  more down-to-earth visiting Westerner heroes. Also, it
  would be quite in character for elite agents of the Black
  Dragon Society (p. 14) to display expertise in tradi-
  tional Japanese styles, especially Kenjutsu, perhaps
  strictly at the realistic level, perhaps with cinematic
  abilities in a few cases.
  
  An Age of Gold “occultist” will usually have at least a few
  points in the former. He may be a purely descriptive scholar,
  with no knowledge of Thaumatology; someone who is attempt-
  ing to integrate observations with theory, with similar levels in
  both skills; or a very academic theoretician, with a higher level
  in Thaumatology. But, this being early days for Thaumatology,
  nobody can have more than a few points in the skill – usually
  no more than 2, maybe 4 for a really obsessive researcher who’s
  been working on this subject for years. Such scholars may also
  study Alchemy and even Weird Science.
  Ritual Magic
  see p. B218
  See Path/Book Magic, pp. 15-18.
  Savoir-Faire
  see p. B218
  A very few schools of Asian ritual magic in Age of Gold
  operate at a similar level of formality to martial arts acade-
  mies. In these places, Savoir-Faire (Dojo) is a useful skill.
  Symbol Drawing
  see p. B224
  This is of some use to Path/Book magicians; see p. 16.
  Weird Science
  see p. B228
  This borders on magic and alchemy in this setting; see p. 20.
  WILDCARD SKILLS
  Wildcard skills definitely fit the pulp/cinematic style of Age
  of Gold games, although GMs may restrict them to superhu-
  man mystery men – ordinary adventurers are more mortal in
  their limitations. As a compromise, any such adventurer might
  be allowed use of one wildcard skill, representing his area of
  deep and wide-ranging competence, the product of extraordi-
  nary aptitude or obsessive focus.
  GURPS Supers has a selection of new wildcard skills on
  pp. 36-37, most of which can be used in Age of Gold cam-
  paigns. However, Magic! is not permitted, as magic in this set-
  ting doesn’t work like that, and magical abilities should be
  defined in more detail on character sheets.
  CHARACTERS
  32
  The following are examples of the sorts of major antago-
  nists adventurers in Age of Gold may have to deal with.
  THE SECRET PHARAOH
  As the single most notorious master villain in the Western
  world, the Secret Pharaoh is widely regarded as a threat to civ-
  ilization. That actually fits how he likes to see himself; he feels
  fully entitled to rule the world, or at least a good portion of it,
  and he would happily destroy anything that makes this harder.
  He has tangled with countless adventurers and mystery men,
  who certainly see him as a menace. However, some of them
  have noticed that the reality of the Secret Pharaoh somehow
  doesn’t seem to match the public image.
  The fact is, he isn’t personally the most powerful or compe-
  tent being on Earth, though he’d never admit it. Some might
  even call him rather second-string – were it not for the fact that
  he’s virtually impossible to kill. Furthermore, he has a large
  and more capable supporting organization. He can’t take the
  credit for this, but no one is telling him so.
  History
  The Pharaoh Aybtep-Het ruled Egypt some time late in the
  Old Kingdom period, and he ruled with a bronze fist. (Iron
  hadn’t been invented yet.) He’d inherited a strong nation and a
  competent court, but unfortunately, he wasn’t terribly inter-
  ested in governing well. He was a classic petty tyrant, scowling
  and shouting at underlings to get anything done and not 
  concerning himself with details – except in one regard. He very
  much wanted to become immortal, and he knew that some
  wizards were supposed to have found a way to accomplish this.
  Not many wizards liked working for him, but some wanted
  to get close to power or failed to run away from his soldiers
  quickly enough. Many of them suffered the penalty for failure,
  but eventually, one managed to produce an almost pure sam-
  ple of the Philosopher’s Stone. However, when word spread
  through the court that the ruler might actually never die, his
  heirs and ministers were thrown into a panic. A palace revolt
  was hastily arranged, with one of the Pharaoh’s sons taking
  over the throne; Aybtep-Het himself was run through with a
  bronze sword and buried in an unmarked tomb, and his name
  was wiped from all inscriptions and dynastic records.
  But the plotters had almost been too late. Aybtep-Het had
  prepared a potion of immortality, using the Stone and his own
  fragments of alchemical knowledge, and drank it as the rebels
  stormed his throne room. The alchemical concoction was
  imperfect, though it did preserve him in a state between life
  and death. It might eventually have healed him, but being
  sealed inside an airless sarcophagus was too hostile to life.
  He remained for thousands of years in this state, until an
  archaeological expedition from Europe discovered the tomb in
  1925, opened the sarcophagus, and took the “mummy” inside
  back to Cairo for examination. Now at last the elixir could
  complete its task, restoring the Pharaoh to life (of a sort) with
  a few superhuman powers as a bonus. Bursting out of the
  museum where he had been held one night, the Pharaoh
  caused a little carnage on the back streets of the city, blasting
  EXAMPLE ADVERSARIES
  Clothes help –  but magic
  makes the man (or monster)!
  
  some minor thugs who tried to attack him and one or two peo-
  ple who failed to show him enough respect – until finally,
  somebody seemed to recognize his nature.
  It took him a while to learn some modern languages and a
  little about the state of the world from his new acolytes.
  Eventually, the Pharaoh realized that a lot needed to be done if
  he was to reclaim his rightful position. So he set to work,
  building a loyal court with some competent ministers and
  accumulating the resources he would need. Unfortunately, dis-
  respectful wizards and barbarian warriors soon started to
  oppose him, and the Secret Pharaoh (as the press named him,
  despite his poor capacity for actual secrecy) suffered the first
  of a series of setbacks. Fortunately, he discovered, these
  weren’t too severe, as the power of the Philosopher’s Stone con-
  tinued to flow through him, making him virtually impossible
  to destroy.
  The Secret Pharaoh has thus fallen into the career of mas-
  termind-villain, wandering the world in pursuit of power and
  resources, but often returning to Egypt. His knowledge of lost
  secrets gives him a certain amount of power and the ability to
  recruit some amoral, power-hungry ritual magicians. It’s also
  lead him to raid a number of museums and private collections
  in pursuit of possible artifacts or magical texts. Lesser
  minions work for him for the money, because a
  supernatural mastermind ought to make quite a pow-
  erful gang boss, or because they’re gullible enough to
  believe his rants.
  Powers
  As many people guess from his appearance, the
  Secret Pharaoh isn’t really human these days. His
  gaunt and shriveled visage and tendency to return
  from destruction leads some observers to guess that
  he’s undead, but that isn’t quite true either. Rather, he
  teeters on the edge of life, sustained by the raw power
  of the Philosopher’s Stone, as well as paut, which
  flows through his veins in place of blood. (If certain
  powerful wizards ever worked that out, he’d be in serious dan-
  ger of being hunted down to be drained of that eternally
  replenished liquid wealth.) He doesn’t care, though; the power
  of the Stone gives him physical strength and great resilience
  and actually exists independent of his physical form, reassem-
  bling him even if he is blasted to pieces.
  Thus, he has Unkillable 3 with the Magical limitation. If he’s
  reduced to -10¥HP, he’s rendered into dusty fragments. A kind
  of “essential vapor” containing the essence of the Philosopher’s
  Stone escapes; his body then regenerates from that. However,
  this wouldn’t work in a no-mana zone and could be slowed
  arbitrarily in low mana (at the GM’s whim) It might be possi-
  ble for his followers to locate, collect, and move enough frag-
  ments of his remains to restart the process somewhere with
  more mana, but that would take some organizing. In principle,
  a combination of physical and magical enclosures could trap
  the vapor and so stop the process; determined heroes might
  consider this worth trying.
  Additionally, by channeling raw magical energy through his
  body, he can levitate (albeit slowly) and hurl bolts of “black
  lightning.” By amplifying the power of the Stone to draw
  energy from his surroundings, he can generate fields of dark-
  ness or sap life energies from an opponent with a touch. (These
  are collectively classed as a personal Arcane Force power, the
  Talent for which likewise adds to his Innate Attack skill.) He
  also now possesses a “sixth sense” for the supernatural. He
  isn’t any sort of trained magician, though; he relies on minions
  for more subtle effects. Fortunately for him, his unique knowl-
  edge of ancient Egypt gives him something with which to
  repay sorcerous servants who may not be very interested in
  money or mundane power.
  Personality and Tactics
  To state the obvious, the Secret Pharaoh is a raging egoma-
  niac who honestly believes that he ought to rule the world,
  and that the immortality (which he obtained largely through
  others’ efforts) proves that he’s a superior being. He has some
  difficulty coping with modern ideas such as high technology
  or democracy, although he now can deal with anything up to
  about medieval developments without too much trouble.
  Mostly, though, his attitude is that he has people to deal with
  such things for him. The idea that those people might have
  their own agendas never crosses his mind. His only real
  respect is for fellow monarchs, although he’s learned a certain
  amount of grudging caution around powerful wizards and
  mystery men.
  Despite his limitations, he isn’t a complete idiot. He recog-
  nizes the basic practicalities of his situation, and he has
  learned enough to get by in modern society. Raw determina-
  tion, obstinacy, a willingness to hit hard, and a slightly weird
  but focused approached to problems can accomplish quite a
  lot. Fortunately, too, his followers have mastered the art of
  talking him out of grossly impractical schemes.
  Faced with the threat of personal combat, he orders his fol-
  lowers to deal with the problem, then rails at his opponents for
  their insolence. If necessary, he uses his powers to facilitate his
  escape – although he’s not above employing his offensive abil-
  ities to teach a few lessons as he goes. In the last resort, he
  prefers destruction to capture, however, because he can always
  come back later from destruction; imprisonment would be
  both undignified and inconvenient. He doesn’t have much
  interest in weapons, but he often has a mace and shield as part
  of his regalia, and he does know how to use them.
  The Secret Pharaoh
  657 points
  Aybtep-Het is wizened and dry to the point of mummifica-
  tion, with a permanent glare in his eyes. Some would say that
  he looks every one of his 4,000+ years.
  CHARACTERS
  33
  
  ST 15 [50]; DX 12 [40]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 15 [50].
  Damage 1d+1/2d+1; BL 45 lbs.; HP 15 [0]; Will 16 [20]; Per 11
  [-5]; FP 15 [0].
  Basic Speed 7.00 [5]; Basic Move 7 [0]; Dodge 10; Block 9
  (Shield); Parry 9 (Axe/Mace).
  6’1”; 150 lbs.
  Social Background
  TL: 3 [-15].
  CF: Ancient Egypt (Native) [0]; Western [1].
  Languages:
  Ancient Egyptian (Native) [0]; Arabic
  (Broken/None) [1]; English (Native/Literate) [5]; French
  (Broken) [2].
  Advantages
  Affliction 3 (HT-2; Armor Divisor (2), +50%; Attribute
  Penalty, ST -4, +20%; Magical, -10%; Melee Attack, Reach C,
  -30%) [39]; Arcane Force Talent 2 [10]; Burning Attack 2d
  (Affects Insubstantial, +20%; Magical, -10%; Surge, +20%)
  [13]; Charisma 1 [5]; Damage Resistance 8 [40]; Detect (Super-
  natural Phenomena) [20]; Doesn’t Eat or Drink [10]; Flight
  (Magical, -10%) [36]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Immunity to
  Metabolic Hazards [30]; Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No
  Vitals) [10]; Less Sleep 3 [6]; Night Vision 8 [8]; Obscure 7
  (Vision) (Area Effect ¥1, +50%; Extended (Infravision), +20%;
  Magical, -10%; Ranged, +50%) [30]; Pressure Support 1 [5];
  Regeneration (Regular) [25]; Reputation +2 (As a good payer;
  To professional villain minions; 10 or less) [1]; Status 4* [10];
  Temperature Tolerance 8 [8]; Unaging [15]; Unkillable 3 (Mag-
  ical, -10%) [135]; Wealth (Multimillionaire 1) [75].
  Disadvantages
  Appearance (Hideous) [-16]; Bad Temper (15) [-5]; Callous
  [-5]; Compulsive Behavior (Rhetoric) (9) [-7]; Dependency
  (Mana; Very Common; Constant) [-25]; Megalomania [-10];
  Overconfidence (15) [-2]; Reduced Air Move -8 [-16];
  Reputation -3 (A terrifying criminal mastermind; Ordinary
  people in the advanced world) [-7]; Supernatural Feature
  (Pallor) [-10]; Unnatural Features 3 (Desiccated Flesh) [-3].
  Quirks: Obsession (Preserving his Immortality); Proud;
  Sexless; Stubborn about never giving up an objective; Will
  always keep his word to monarchs and national rulers. [-5]
  Skills
  Alchemy (Ancient Western) (VH) IQ-3 [1]-9; Animal
  Handling (Equines) (A) IQ-1 [1]-11; Axe/Mace (A) DX [2]-12;
  Bow (A) DX-1 [1]-11; Hidden Lore (Secrets of Old Kingdom
  Egypt) (A) IQ+2 [8]-14; Innate Attack (Beam) (E) DX+2
  [1]-14†; Intimidation (A) Will+1 [1]-17‡; Mental Strength (E)
  Will+2 [4]-18; Politics (A) IQ-1 [1]-11; Religious Ritual (Ancient
  Egyptian) (H) IQ [4]-12; Savoir-Faire (High Society) (E) IQ
  [1]-12; Shield (Shield) (E) DX [1]-12; Shortsword (A) DX-1
  [1]-11; Stealth (A) DX-1 [1]-11; Strategy (Land) (H) IQ-2 [1]-10;
  Teamster (Equines) (A) IQ [2]-12; Theology (Ancient Egyptian)
  (H) IQ-2 [1]-10; Thrown Weapon (Spear) (E) DX [1]-12.
  * Includes +2 from Wealth.
  † Includes +2 from Talent.
  ‡ Includes +2 from Appearance.
  Note: The Pharaoh’s Status reflects a combination of his
  imperious style and the implications of his wealth – which is
  considerable, albeit in slightly strange forms sometimes.
  The Handmaidens
  Whenever the Secret Pharaoh is encountered in one of his
  home bases, he’s likely to be seated on a throne, with a couple
  of handmaidens lounging at his feet, pouring him libations
  and generally looking decorative in a scantily clad, stylistically
  appropriate sort of way. Many of his opponents ignore these
  two altogether. That’s their mistake.
  The pair are always the same two women, known only as
  “Mary” and “Adele.” Obviously, they weren’t always villain-lair
  furniture. In fact, they used to be not-very-successful nightclub
  singers.
  The women first met in New York some years ago, where
  they formed an immediate mutual enmity – despite which,
  they somehow always ended up in the same crummy clubs,
  working for the same sleazy bosses for the same lousy money.
  Over time, while they never actually came to like each other,
  they were each forced to accept that they had more in common
  between them than they had with anyone else. They started
  rooming together and working as a double act. They were
  never a huge success, but they always hoped against hope for
  better. Footloose and cynical, they moved from city to city,
  leaving a trail of men who’d confirmed their cynicism and
  employers who’d gone bust owing them money.
  The trip to Cairo was a bit of a long shot for them, involv-
  ing a job offer through an agent who assured them that the
  clubs there were always looking for smart new talent from the
  States. They worked their way over on the ocean liners, only to
  discover that the situation was much the same as always.
  Then, one night, their luck turned right around.
  They were out drinking off their anger at yet another conniv-
  ing tight-fisted club boss when they saw a crazy guy in rags
  being threatened by a pair of local heavies. A well-developed
  understanding of male vanity told the women that this guy
  thought of himself as more than a beggar, and that he was get-
  ting angry with the thugs, less because they’d pulled a knife on
  him than because they weren’t bowing and scraping. Still, the
  women were just backing off – no sense in getting caught up in
  a back-alley stabbing – when the crazy guy zapped one of the
  thugs with black lightning and smacked the other right across
  the alley.
  CHARACTERS
  34
  They say the Pharaohs built the pyramids.
  Do you think one Pharaoh dropped one bead of sweat?
  We built the pyramids for the Pharaohs and we’re building for them yet.
  – Anna Louise Strong
  
  Well, this was interesting as well as scary. The women were
  frozen to the spot for a second, in which time, the crazy spot-
  ted them and came toward them. So they did the obvious and
  hit the deck and groveled.
  At first, all they wanted to do was not get killed. But funnily
  enough, despite the fact that he didn’t speak any language they
  knew, it soon became clear that the crazy was as easy to
  manipulate as most old guys who just wanted people to crawl
  a bit – and frankly, he was less of a pest to them than most. (It
  seems that not everything about him still works after all this
  time.) In fact, once they’d got to know him, they began to see
  some potential in the situation. After all, the old guy needed
  some help getting the hang of the world, and he had some big
  ideas for the future; he was going to need sidekicks. Why not
  get in on the ground floor?
  And so it was that the “Secret Kingdom” was founded. The
  Pharaoh’s attitude is that these two had the honor to be his first
  courtiers in this new era, and the sense to treat him with due
  respect, so he can treat them with regal courtesy. Being the
  first, they’ve been around as his court has developed, but that’s
  incidental. Actually, they’ve done most of the organizing –
  learning how as they went along, but they’ve been quick stud-
  ies – and so they know best how this thing works.
  “Mary” is a blond, born in Texas. She has something of a
  gift for accents when she remembers (treat her as having
  Mimicry-13, specializing in matching English-language
  accents but not emulating anyone in particular), but when she
  doesn’t, her tones wander seemingly at random between her
  home state and New York. She is marginally the less jaded and
  cynical of the pair. She may still be somewhat susceptible to
  romantic overtures from good-looking men, but it can be dan-
  gerous for anyone to try and exploit this, as the flip side is that
  she becomes quite violently upset if and when she ever feels
  betrayed (again). Thanks to her rural upbringing, she has Guns
  (Pistol)-13 and Riding (Horse)-11.
  “Adele” has dark hair and affects a chilly demeanor and a
  slight French accent. While she does speak (and write) fluent
  French, she actually originates from Wales. She isn’t quite the
  flint-hearted sociopath she tries to suggest; really, she just
  wants to make enough money to live in comfort for the rest of
  her life. Even though she’ll cut a lot of corners on the way, her
  tactics tend to be as subtle and nonviolent as possible.
  Although the Secret Pharaoh and his “Kingdom” have com-
  mitted any amount of mayhem over the years, the
  Handmaidens have both avoided directly suggesting any overly
  brutal tactics. They both preserve some very dubious tatters of
  conscience, and would probably be able to erect fairly plausible
  defenses if they were ever brought before a court.
  The Handmaidens are personally similar, so the following
  can serve for both of them:
  ST 8; DX 12; IQ 13; HT 11.
  Damage 1d-3/1d-2; BL 13 lbs.; HP 8; Will 13; Per 13; FP 11.
  Basic Speed 5.75; Basic Move 5; Dodge 8; Parry 9 (Brawling).
  5’6”; 105 lbs.
  Advantages/Disadvantages: Appearance (Attractive); Cow-
  ardice (15); Greed (15); Luck; Run in High Heels (perk).
  Skills: Acting-13, Administration-12, Brawling-12, Carousing-
  13, Current Affairs (Popular Culture)-14, Dancing-12,
  Detect Lies-12, Fast-Talk-13, Filch-11, Makeup-13, Sex
  Appeal-13, Singing-11, Stealth-12, Streetwise-13.
  The Secret Kingdom
  The Secret Pharaoh’s organization consists of a mixture of
  petty crooks, raving fanatics, and low-level ritual magicians,
  held together by the low improvisational cunning of the
  Handmaidens. It is in fact run, appropriately enough, as a kind
  of pyramid scam. The Handmaidens and a few trusted
  arrangers, “speaking for the Pharaoh,” offer job opportunities,
  information, and resources to plausible followers, who in turn
  are left to run their own branches of the organization as they
  see fit, provided that they return a profit or whatever else it was
  that they were recruited to achieve. They’re kept in line by
  some vague rhetoric about building an empire for their arcane
  master where that seems to work, by plain bribes and threats
  otherwise. When neither is effective, other branches of the
  “Kingdom” may be assigned to apply some discipline, or the
  Handmaidens may convince the Pharaoh to deal with the
  problem personally. Obviously, this is a rather unreliable strat-
  egy. Several sub-groups have quietly split off and gone their
  own way, or remained nominally part of the organization
  while pursuing their own agendas. Regardless, the Pharaoh
  rarely notices, and the Handmaidens don’t really care so long
  as their own savings continue to rise.
  Individual members of the organization mostly tend to be
  low-level thugs with average attributes – maybe ST 11 and IQ
  9 – and relevant combat skills at around 10. However, some are
  better than this, and those who come to the attention of the
  Handmaidens may be marked down for better positions and
  more resources for their jobs. However, those who look really
  smart tend to be kept well away from the Pharaoh; they might
  annoy him or, worse, realize what’s going on and get ideas
  above their station.
  An exception to the rule of keeping smart operators out of
  the way of the leader lies in the handling of ritual magicians.
  Everyone understands that the Kingdom’s use of magic is one
  of its important edges, and magicians tend to sign up because
  they can learn something that only the Pharaoh can teach. This
  is unfortunate, but some magicians, for all their book-smarts,
  are quite unworldly; the others just have to be brought into the
  scam to some extent. Still, the Handmaidens are nervous
  about this part of the operation, and they spend a lot of effort
  monitoring the smarter-looking magicians. On occasion,
  they’ve resorted to mixtures of unsubtle sex appeal, veiled
  threats, and promises of long-term advantage to keep a magi-
  cian on side. The one or two who seriously worship both the
  Pharaoh and the ancient Egyptian gods are noted as total
  flakes, and kept somewhere quiet. Unfortunately, the
  Handmaidens may not understand the very real danger of a
  determined magician actually contacting a “god” – that is, a
  spirit with enough power to make the label look valid.
  MADAME JASMINE
  Madame Jasmine is a secretive force in the criminal, polit-
  ical, and occult underworlds of Age of Gold China. Always pur-
  suing her own goals, accumulating as few debts as possible
  while spinning webs of chaos and control that span the nation,
  she can serve as friend or foe to adventurers – or to anyone
  else. The truth about herself is something she surrounds with
  misdirection and disguise.
  CHARACTERS
  35
  
  History
  The woman now known as Madame Jasmine was born the
  daughter of a minor local official in Ch’ing dynasty China. She
  seemed destined for marriage to some male of her own class –
  a prospect that she grew to dread during her later childhood,
  given her free-spirited intelligence and solitary nature.
  However, everything changed on the day when her family
  was attacked by bandits while traveling. She somehow
  escaped, scrambling away in the confusion, and fled into the
  hills in blind panic. Collapsing lost and hungry, a Taoist hermit
  rescued her. He recognized her intelligence and magical poten-
  tial while nursing her back to health, and he trained her a lit-
  tle in the arcane arts on a whim.
  From then on, the girl cast her old life aside. Even if any of
  her family had survived the bandits, she didn’t care; she had
  something else to concern her. She persuaded her first teacher
  to tell her where she might learn more. She set out on a wan-
  dering pilgrimage that occupied the next 10 years of her life.
  She had some dangerous moments at first, but by luck and
  effort, she mastered those skills that could keep her alive when
  magic wouldn’t serve. She grew quick, quiet, and a competent
  con artist. She even spent a little time in a martial arts school,
  but magic was her first concern.
  She never committed herself to any spiritual path or ideol-
  ogy. She might claim that she is a true Taoist, still seeking her
  own way, but the fact is that she only really cares what works
  for her.
  When she thought that she knew enough, she set to work
  using her magic to accumulate resources, eventually settling
  down in a remote rural manor house to pursue her studies.
  Her neighbors were bemused at first, but after she had demon-
  strated her opinion of banditry, those peasants who mostly
  wanted a quiet life decided that they rather liked her.
  But the world wouldn’t leave her alone. China was collaps-
  ing into civil war, and any part of the land that lay outside any
  faction’s control sooner or later became the subject of some-
  one’s greed. Madame Jasmine – as the girl now called herself –
  laid claim to a couple of neighboring villages, offering protec-
  tion in exchange for guaranteed food supplies and the services
  of some domestic staff, but she was shrewd enough to see that
  her pocket realm wouldn’t remain untouched for long. So she
  studied the problem, and then she slipped away from her
  home for a few days at a time.
  Chaos soon erupted in the three nearest warlords’ head-
  quarters. Men died; rumors of war and of coup plots spread;
  military supply trains and pay chests vanished in the night.
  Each of the three accused the other and became bogged down
  in fighting. None of them could find the time to lay claim to a
  certain rural manor or its villages.
  Madame Jasmine smiled. That would serve – for a while.
  But sooner or later, one of the three would win that struggle,
  and even if he then died – well, eventually, one of the greater
  powers of the land would sweep over everything. It was very
  troublesome. Furthermore, she now had need of certain
  arcane texts that her library lacked, and of supplies of certain
  rare minerals and herbs. So she donned innocuous garb, took
  some adventurous village lads as grooms, escorts, and token
  guards; brought along two of their sisters as servants; and set
  out for the cities of the coast. She would have to play a compli-
  cated game, perhaps, but she had yet to meet a warlord or a
  politician who she couldn’t outsmart or manipulate.
  Powers
  Madame Jasmine is a competent ritual magician, trained in
  every aspect of the Invocationist school (pp. 17-18). She isn’t
  quite as good as she thinks, but she’s generally good enough.
  She’s noted in occult circles for her ability to deal with spirits.
  She also possesses a range of mundane skills, which she is
  happy to employ; it seems to her like a waste to use magic on
  most of her opponents.
  Personality and Tactics
  The strange thing is that Madame Jasmine really just wants
  to be left alone. She longs to settle down with a good library and
  some competent domestic staff, and ignore the world. She’s a
  clever solipsist, who really doesn’t see why she should pay atten-
  tion to all those people who are less intelligent than herself. But
  life has taught her that the world won’t leave her alone if she
  ignores it, so she adopts a policy of preemptive strikes.
  Having started down that path, she’s built an impressive
  network of spies, informers, and temporary allies in half a
  dozen major cities. For a loner, she runs quite an organization
  – several organizations, in fact, some of them under false
  names and identities. She even has a reputation as a crime
  boss or spy-mistress in some quarters, which she doesn’t
  bother to discourage; it distracts and misleads her opponents.
  However, she never employs or commissions bandits, a class of
  criminal that she despises. Still, adventurers who first hear of
  her this way will probably expect an imposing and power-hun-
  gry dragon lady; if and when they ever encounter Madame
  Jasmine in person, they may well be disconcerted by this cool,
  quiet, scholarly, unassuming woman. Mind you, she’s every bit
  as deadly and ruthless as the false image suggests. She can
  even fight hand to hand, unarmed or with short butterfly
  swords, although she knows that a quick knife-thrust – or a lit-
  tle poison in someone’s food – is less risky for her.
  CHARACTERS
  36
  
  Not that she’ll necessarily turn out to be the PCs’ enemy.
  Madame Jasmine despises greedy warlords and hates bandits
  with what passes as a passion for her. She would even quite
  approve of the idea of reuniting China and ending the current
  civil war – in principle. The trouble is, anyone who might be
  able to accomplish this would also probably threaten her inde-
  pendence, so she’ll sabotage their efforts, just to be safe.
  All this means that Madame Jasmine is trapped in a life that
  is almost the polar opposite of what she’d like, having to deal
  with people and sow chaos when she really prefers calm soli-
  tude. This tells her that the world is hateful and it’s other peo-
  ple’s fault; in her own eyes, she’s pursuing the least
  troublesome response to this fact.
  One problem that is currently getting worse for her is the
  Black Dragon Society. They’ve recognized her as a local power,
  and they’ve approached her with the offer of an alliance. She
  immediately guessed that they’d only want to exploit her, and
  that the entanglement would make the inconveniences in her
  life worse – but they aren’t taking no for an answer. So far,
  they’re remaining diplomatic and she’s remaining polite in
  reply, but either side might become tired of this game at any
  point – or Madame Jasmine might decide that it was safest to
  say yes. Adventurers could become involved in this matter, as
  pawns of either side or as third parties trying to prevent a dan-
  gerous alliance from forming.
  Madame Jasmine
  353 points
  In any of her identities, Madame Jasmine appears as a well-
  dressed but essentially unremarkable Chinese woman. She is
  aged about 37.
  ST 8 [-20]; DX 12 [40]; IQ 14 [80]; HT 11 [10].
  Damage 1d-3/1d-2; BL 13 lbs.; HP 8 [0]; Will 14 [0]; Per 14 [0];
  FP 11 [0].
  Basic Speed 6.00 [5]; Basic Move 6 [0]; Dodge 9; Parry 9
  (Shortsword).
  5’3”; 115 lbs.
  Social Background
  TL: 6 [0].
  CF: East Asian (Native) [0]; Western [1].
  Languages: Mandarin (Native) [0]; Cantonese (Native) [6];
  English (Accented) [4]; Russian (Broken) [2].
  Advantages
  Alternate Identity (Illegal; Chiai Tiao, Shanghai Gang
  Leader) [15]; Alternate Identity (Illegal; Pao Pang, Hong Kong
  Fortune Teller) [15]; Ambidexterity [5]; Contact (Underworld
  Herbalist; Poisons/TL6-15; 12 or less; Usually Reliable) [8];
  Contact Group (Streets/Political Underworld; Skill-12; 12 or
  less; Somewhat Reliable) [10]; Independent Income 5 (Rents)
  [5]; Indomitable [15]; Magery 3 [35]; Reputation +2 (As a capa-
  ble underworld operator in her Chiai Tiao identity; In the
  Shanghai and environs underworld) [5]; Spirit Empathy [10];
  Status 1* [0]; Wealth (Very Wealthy) [30].
  Perks: Style Familiarity (Wing Chun). [1]
  Disadvantages
  Callous [-5]; Enemy (The Black Dragon Society; Watcher; 9
  or less) [-7]; Loner (15) [-2]; Overconfidence (15) [-2];
  Reputation -2 (As a shady character; To law-abiding folk
  throughout China; 7 or less) [-1].
  Quirks: Curious about magic; Hates and despises bandits.
  [-2]
  Skills
  Acting (A) IQ+1 [4]-15; Administration (A) IQ-1 [1]-13;
  Alchemy (Chinese) (VH) IQ-2 [2]-12; Area Knowledge (Beijing)
  (E) IQ [1]-14; Area Knowledge (China) (E) IQ [1]-14; Area
  Knowledge (Hong Kong) (E) IQ [1]-14; Area Knowledge
  (Shanghai) (E) IQ [1]-14; Area Knowledge (Vicinity of Home
  Manor) (E) IQ [1]-14; Astronomy/TL4 (Observational) (A) IQ-1
  [1]-13; Breath Control (H) HT-1 [2]-10; Current Affairs/TL6
  (Occult) (E) IQ [1]-14; Current Affairs/TL6 (South China) (E) IQ
  [1]-14; Fast-Talk (A) IQ [2]-14; Filch (A) DX [2]-12; First
  Aid/TL5 (Human) (E) IQ [1]-14; Fortune-Telling (I Ching) (A)
  IQ [2]-14; Hiking (A) HT-1 [1]-10; Housekeeping (E) IQ [1]-14;
  Interrogation (A) IQ-1 [1]-13; Karate (H) DX-2 [1]-10; Knife (E)
  DX [1]-12; Meditation (H) Will-2 [1]-12; Observation (A) Per-1
  [1]-13; Occultism (A) IQ+1 [4]-15; Panhandling (E) IQ [1]-14;
  Philosophy (Taoist) (H) IQ-1 [2]-13; Politics (A) IQ-1 [1]-13;
  Psychology (Human) (H) IQ-2 [1]-12; Riding (Horse) (A) DX-1
  [1]-11; Ritual Magic (Invocationist) (VH) IQ [8]-14; Savoir-Faire
  (Dojo) (E) IQ [1]-14; Savoir-Faire (High Society) (E) IQ [1]-14;
  Shortsword (A) DX [2]-12; Sleight of Hand (H) DX-2 [1]-10;
  Smuggling (A) IQ-1 [1]-13; Staff (A) DX [2]-12; Stealth (A) DX
  [2]-12; Streetwise (A) IQ-1 [1]-13; Survival (Woodlands) (A) Per-
  1 [1]-13; Symbol Drawing (Invocationist) (H) IQ-2 [1]-12;
  Thaumatology (VH) IQ [1]-14†; Wrestling (A) DX-1 [1]-11.
  Magical Paths
  The Elements-13 [4]; Knowledge-14 [8]; Luck-12 [2];
  Protection-14 [8]; Spirit-13 [4].
  * Includes +1 from Wealth.
  † Includes +3 from Magery.
  THE JUNGLE MADNESS
  Sometimes, an opponent is simply a wild creature – but in
  Age of Gold, that doesn’t mean that it can’t also wield complex
  magic or have a strange history. Explorers and planters who
  advance into the jungles of Central America encounter unex-
  pected threats. Terrified whispers speak of the Jungle Madness.
  History
  Atototl the Bargainer was born into a merchant clan in an
  ancient city-states of pre-Columbian Central America. Led
  astray by a dangerous lust for power, she formed an alliance
  with the Lord of the Vines, a powerful but utterly inhuman for-
  est spirit. This gave her access to spirit-assisted magic, which
  she used all too freely, so that she eventually became a human
  minion of the spirit. Even her humanity eventually faded, and
  she became purely the agent of the Lord of Vines on Earth.
  For years, she – it – was a terror to the civilization that gave
  her birth. But she probably didn’t cause its collapse, or even
  contribute much to it; that was just the usual blind forces of
  history, war, climate, and social instability. When urban culture
  vanished from that land, the being that had once been Atototl
  became little more than a myth, and an occasional menace to
  the tribal peoples who wandered the forest. In fact, the being
  spent much of the time in a dreamless torpor.
  CHARACTERS
  37
  
  But today, civilization – or at least, urban humanity – is
  once more intruding into the jungle that this being sees as her
  own. The Lord of the Vines has all but retreated from this
  plane of existence, fading with the centuries as even spirits do,
  but the creature who is now known only as the Jungle Madness
  continues as its one point of contact with material reality,
  through which its remaining power flows.
  Both the spirit and its minion remember its great concern:
  to protect the deep woods from anything that might disturb
  their wild, timeless existence. Both thus have once more
  awakened.
  The jungle is seen by the human newcomers as something
  to be conquered. They want to clear it back, to fell trees for tim-
  ber, plant crops, even build towns. They have powers and
  resources of their own, of course, but the Jungle Madness has
  not only power, but cunning, and the remorseless determina-
  tion of the wilderness itself.
  Powers
  The Jungle Madness is a terribly stealthy, feral creature of
  the jungle, with spirit-granted animalistic and plant-like fea-
  tures. However, it used to be a human and an intelligent one at
  that; it’s capable of frightening cunning and some adaptability.
  Moreover, it receives a range of spirit-assisted spells from the
  Earth, Knowledge, Meta-Spell, Plant, and Water colleges, and
  it has been given the ability to use them well enough.
  Personality and Tactics
  Atototl the Bargainer no longer exists; the Jungle Madness
  has long since reached the “vessel for the spirit” stage. Indeed
  mental disintegration has been followed by physical enhance-
  ments. Its purpose is to keep the natural world, and specifically
  the jungle, wild and untainted by civilization. The Lord of the
  Vines tolerates humanity, but only in small, Stone Age groups.
  Fortunately, it is not only relatively weak these days, it is effec-
  tively limited to a small area. Destruction of the forest would
  reduce that area, which makes it fight even harder. The Jungle
  Madness might like to extend the jungle, but it lacks any capac-
  ity for the necessary planning, and the Lord of the Vines is
  almost literally out of touch with reality. Neither is really capa-
  ble of negotiation.
  However, the Jungle Madness is by no means a mindless
  berserker. It is really quite expert in the tactics of ambush and
  harassment, and it can apply magic to the purpose quite ingen-
  iously. GMs should note the combination of advantages, skills,
  and spells on this character sheet and be ready to use them to
  the full! It has little understanding of modern technology, but
  it has learned to recognize firearms, and it knows that it should
  avoid being shot. It prefers to engage hand to hand only to fin-
  ish off single, weakened, ideally unarmed victims, if at all.
  The Jungle Madness
  297 points
  The Jungle Madness is a barely human figure of indetermi-
  nate age, naked and hairless, with greenish, leathery, veg-
  etable-like skin.
  ST 11 [10]; DX 13 [60]; IQ 9 [-20]; HT 15 [50].
  Damage 1d-1/1d+1; BL 24 lbs.; HP 16 [10]; Will 15 [30]; Per 13
  [20]; FP 15 [0].
  Basic Speed 7.00 [0]; Basic Move 9 [10]; Dodge 11; Parry 10
  (Wrestling).
  5’6”; 105 lbs.
  Social Background
  TL: 0 [-30].
  CF: Ancient Mesoamerican (Native) [0].
  Languages: Proto-Mayan (Accented/Semi-Literate) [-3].
  Advantages
  Claws (Blunt Claws) [3]; Clinging (Specific, Wood, -40%)
  [12]; Combat Reflexes [15]; Damage Resistance 3 (Tough Skin,
  -40%) [9]; Detect (Spirits) [10]; Fit [5]; Magery 3 (Pact, Fanati-
  cism, -15%) [31]; Metabolism Control 4 [20]; Night Vision 5
  [5]; Outdoorsman 3 [30]; Perfect Balance [15]; Plant Empathy
  [5]; Reduced Consumption 2 [4]; Slippery 2 [4]; Temperature
  Tolerance 2 [2]; Ultrahearing [5]; Unaging [15].
  Disadvantages
  Addiction (Spiritual Energies; Cheap; Highly addictive;
  Legal) [-5]; Berserk (12) [-10]; Bestial [-10]; Callous [-5];
  Extreme Fanaticism (Protection of the Jungle) [-15]; Innumer-
  ate [-5]; Loner (6) [-10]; Paranoia [-10]; Reputation -3 (Terror
  in the night; Jungle dwellers; 10 or less) [-3]; Sense of Duty
  (Plants, and the Lord of the Vines) [-10]; Ugly Appearance [-8];
  Unnatural Features 2 (Green Skin) [-2]; Wealth (Dead Broke)
  [-25].
  Quirks: Careful; May be momentarily distracted by polished
  gold. [-2]
  Skills
  Area Knowledge (The Jungle) (E) IQ+5 [16]-14; Brawling
  (E) DX+1 [2]-14; Camouflage (E) IQ+7 [8]-16*; Garrote (E) DX
  [1]-13; Gesture (E) IQ+3 [8]-12; Innate Attack (Beam) (E) DX
  [1]-13; Naturalist (Earth) (H) IQ+2 [2]-11†; Navigation/TL0
  (Land) (A) IQ+2 [1]-11†; Occultism (A) IQ+1 [4]-10; Stealth (A)
  DX [2]-13; Survival (Jungle) (A) Per+3 [2]-16†; Tactics (H) IQ
  [4]-9; Throwing (A) DX-1 [1]-12; Tracking (A) Per+3 [2]-16†;
  Wrestling (A) DX-1 [1]-12.
  Spells‡
  Animate Plant-12 [1]; Bless Plants-12 [1]; Blossom-12 [1];
  Body of Slime-12 [1]; Counterspell-12 [1]; Create Earth-12 [1];
  Create Spring-12 [1]; Create Water-12 [1]; Destroy Water-12
  [1]; Detect Magic-12 [1]; Dispel Magic-12 [1]; Dry Spring-12
  [1]; Earth to Stone-12 [1]; Earth Vision-12 [1]; False Tracks-12
  [1]; Fog-12 [1]; Heal Plant-12 [1]; Hide Path-12 [1]; Identify
  Plant-12 [1]; Plant Form-12 [1]; Plant Growth-12 [1]; Plant
  Vision-12 [1]; Pollen Cloud-12 [1]; Purify Water-12 [1]; Rain of
  Nuts-12 [1]; Rejuvenate Plant-12 [1]; Sand Jet-12 [1]; Seek
  Earth-12 [1]; Seek Plant-12 [1]; Seek Water-12 [1]; Shape
  Earth-12 [1]; Shape Plant-12 [1]; Shape Water-12 [1]; Tangle
  Growth-12 [1]; Walk Through Plants-12 [1].
  * Defaults from Survival; Includes +3 from Outdoorsman.
  † Includes +3 from Outdoorsman.
  ‡ All spells are learned for spirit-assisted casting only and
  hence are treated as Easy skills; all levels include +3 for
  Magery.
  CHARACTERS
  38
  
  Doc Mudra was setting out to storm the enemy’s headquarters
  – alone!
  This hadn’t been his plan. But as it approached the Caribbean
  island, the amazing helix-plane was forced down by an unnatu-
  ral storm. Now, the Uncanny Four were battling a small army of
  fanatical minions and sorcerers. The Doc yearned to fight along-
  side them, but they all knew that Miranda Chatford was a pris-
  oner of the Secret Kingdom, and rescuing her was the first
  priority.
  She’d stumbled across the Secret Pharaoh’s scheme to steal an
  entire nation while seeking to disprove strange rumors that had
  emerged from the Central American rain forests. The Uncanny
  Four foiled the Pharaoh’s first move – an attempt to forge a pact
  with the Jungle Madness itself – but by then, Miranda was cap-
  tured. Tsai Wu Tsi magically located her, but the Secret Kingdom
  had been waiting for them!
  The Doc used his powers of levitation to avoid the traps and
  ambushes set around the one path to the great mansion atop the
  island’s storm-lashed cliffs, and his mighty strength to smash
  through the locked doors. But when he was met by a hail of bul-
  lets and bolts of black lightning, and he heard the crazed taunts
  of a man 4,000 years dead, he knew that he was facing the fight
  of his life!
  A variety of campaign styles and formats are possible in the
  Age of Gold setting, from light to dark, two-fisted to mystical,
  fantastical to historical. Most scenarios and adventures should
  involve magic and the supernatural. (It’s perfectly possible to run
  games that don’t, but in that case, the campaign might just as
  well be a standard Cliffhangers or historical 1930s game.) The
  variety of magical systems provided by GURPS Thaumatology
  means that this provides a wide range of possibilities.
  CAMPAIGNS
  39
  A large factor in defining the style of an Age of Gold game
  is the power level of the PCs – pulp adventurers or mystery
  men (see pp. 26-27). This in turn tends to determine the type of
  antagonists that they face.
  PULP ADVENTURERS
  Pulp adventurers can deal with a range of problems, includ-
  ing mundane crime and espionage, but the high-stakes, super-
  natural-oriented style implied by the setting means that they
  should often end up fighting colorful opponents in interesting
  places. “Leader and Assistants” groups (p. 27) will mostly oper-
  ate at this level, but with the occasional monstrously powerful
  opponent, mind-warping puzzle, or “impregnable” villain
  fortress to challenge the leader. Adventures often have a notch
  more magical strangeness to reflect the leader’s magical
  nature.
  Opponents
  Beyond the ordinary gangsters, spies, hoodlums, and the
  random mob of cultists with, quite likely, lower skills but more
  determination than ordinary crooks, lie the “boss villains” of
  many a classic pulp plot: the evil masterminds – master spies,
  gang bosses, cult leaders, and the like. An evil mastermind may
  well wield supernatural powers, but this isn’t mandatory; a
  combination of intelligence and good organization can make
  quite enough trouble for any heroic band. Still, in Age of Gold,
  all but the most cautious or arrogant villain will at the very
  least hire in some arcane support. The Secret Pharaoh (pp. 32-
  35) and Madame Jasmine (pp. 35-37) can both act as master-
  minds.
  While an established criminal leader will certainly have a
  good number of goons on his payroll, a competent small-
  timer, or a potential schemer on the make, can still provide an
  interesting challenge. (Imagine the story of The Maltese
  Falcon, except with the falcon as a magical artifact, and the
  Fat Man numbering a medium and a ritual magician among
  his minions.)
  Equally, the balance of forces in the mastermind’s organiza-
  tion can vary. Traditionally, it consists of a lot of mediocre
  goons, perhaps a competent (if not necessarily perfectly trust-
  worthy) lieutenant or two, and maybe a tough bodyguard or
  enforcer to provide heavy-duty muscle – and, in Age of Gold,
  probably one or two of those hired magicians. However, a
  secret magical conspiracy, say, might have a fair number of
  fairly competent magicians one level down from the master-
  mind, plus a few trainees and bodyguards, and only as many
  low-grade hirelings or dupes as the various magical circles
  need to handle routine matters. Alternatively, a loose society of
  quasi-religious conspirators might have a lot of “cells” whose
  members have negligible combat ability, but some wealth and
  social influence – and the ability to summon or conjure tough
  magical “enforcers” (zombies, petty demons, etc.); in that case,
  the mastermind would be mostly an ideologue, coordinator,
  and “keeper of the lore.”
  POWER LEVEL AND ENEMIES
  CHAPTER FOUR
  CAMPAIGNS
  
  A substantial mastermind-led organization should provide
  sufficient challenge for many sessions of play, but players will
  hope to bring it down eventually. This isn’t guaranteed to work
  perfectly, though. While the organization itself may be
  destroyed, sometimes with the help of official law enforce-
  ment, many scheming villains are notoriously prone to escap-
  ing and rebuilding from scratch – the Secret Pharaoh, for one,
  is very hard to defeat in person, and even harder for Pulp
  Adventurer-level opponents to subdue permanently – and some
  organizations are just too big and diverse. No PC group is likely
  to destroy, say, the entire Mafia, although an ambitious local
  capo might take the role of mastermind in a campaign and be
  defeated in the end. Organizations with some national govern-
  ment’s tacit backing, such as the Black Dragon Society (p. 14),
  are also difficult to eliminate permanently; any survivors
  always have a safe haven from which to rebuild.
  An alternative class of plot and opponent comes closer to
  horror than crime-busting. An Age of Gold campaign can fea-
  ture any number of supernatural monsters, including such tra-
  ditional types as vampires, zombies, and ghosts, along with
  one-off menaces such as the Jungle Madness (pp. 37-38). In
  that case, the standard plot involves the PCs learning about the
  problem, either from contacts or employers or by a direct
  encounter, studying and analyzing it, and then applying violent
  countermeasures. While “kill the monster of the week” games
  can become repetitive, the monsters can vary quite a bit, and
  there’s always scope for interesting interactions within the PC
  group and in their relationships with bystanders, victims, local
  law enforcers, and the occasional rival magic-savvy group with
  their own agenda.
  At Home
  Many pulp hero groups will have a “home base” area, where
  they may well have a local Reputation and where many plots
  will arise for their attention. This will generally be a city, but the
  principle can easily extend to a whole state or even a nation. A
  group might act as private investigators or troubleshooters, tak-
  ing paid work from people who understand that they know one
  set of streets especially well, or they might be freelance crime
  fighters, sworn to defend their home town. Equally, they might
  be state or government agents – perhaps a “special problems”
  force within the Secret Service – with appropriate jurisdiction
  and assignments. Or they may simply be free agents who pur-
  sue whatever problems come to their attention, but who natu-
  rally hear most about matters close to home.
  A focus on “home area” plots has many advantages, not least
  that characters can easily buy plausible Allies and Contacts
  along with Area Knowledge or Current Affairs skills in the
  expectation that they’ll be useful. The GM can have a detailed
  map of the area, probably drawn from historical sources (an old
  guidebook or map, a social or regional history book, or what-
  ever), and can create a cast of recurring NPCs. There’s a lot of
  satisfaction in a feeling of “this is our place, these are our peo-
  ple, and we keep them safe.” Nonetheless, the tight focus may
  feel repetitive after a while, and the idea that one city suffers all
  this variety of problems can seem increasingly implausible. In
  that case, the GM can shift the focus, at least temporarily, or
  give the PCs a reason to wander further afield.
  Globetrotting
  The opposite of a “home base” campaign is one where the
  adventurers wander the whole game world, dealing with some
  class of problems wherever they happen to arise. If they have a
  home base at all, it’s just somewhere to relax and store their
  spare stuff.
  It’s just as possible for a game to involve lots of travel with-
  out the heroes being rootless nomads. Magical defenders can
  deal with monsters when they show up on the defenders’ home
  turf, then track some of them home to finish the fight, while
  hired guns can take jobs both down the road from HQ and on
  other side of the world, if that’s how the calls come. But the
  pulp era does mark the first time that adventurers could plau-
  sibly reach any part of the planet within days rather than
  weeks or months, if the need arose and funds were available,
  and writers took advantage of this to depict truly world-span-
  ning heroes. Thus, a full-on globetrotting campaign is an
  entirely reasonable idea. The advantages are obvious: cultural
  diversity, interesting scenery, and magical or political oppo-
  nents of a huge range of types. The drawbacks may include a
  lack of focus and the fact that the PCs will need a wide range
  of languages and Cultural Familiarities to work properly – but
  really, that’s what globetrotting adventures are about.
  MYSTERY MEN
  A “mystery men” Age of Gold campaign is definitely a
  superhero game – but it should also have at least a slight edge
  of high weirdness. Remember that all of these superhuman
  characters are empowered by magic, which isn’t fully under-
  stood, and the transformations they experience are supposed
  to make them different – hopefully better, but definitely other.
  Even the most straightforward super-strong tough guy who
  thinks that he’s fighting for mom and apple pie has the power
  of alchemy flowing through his veins, and may actually be
  changing into an archetype. The “men of gold” can resist or
  ignore these changes, but anyone who really understands
  what’s happened to them knows that they’re on a path to an
  unknown destination. Many of their opponents will be even
  stranger than they are, and as the campaign continues, the
  weirdness factor should mount up.
  Nor should the heroes find it easy to remain grounded.
  They may insist that they’re just regular guys who’ve picked up
  a trick or two, but ordinary humans will always look on them
  as something very special and a little scary. Remember, the set-
  ting has no history of costumed crime fighters; it doesn’t even
  have a tradition of superhero comic books. The men of gold
  are inventing things as they go along. Likewise, governments
  and other organizations are trying to develop appropriate and
  effective responses to the phenomenon. This may be a more
  naïve age in some senses, so that few people assume that gov-
  ernments are served by sinister Men in Black, or that the mili-
  tary is developing secret super-weapons – but it’s nonetheless a
  world in which J. Edgar Hoover, Josef Stalin, and the Black
  Dragon Society all wield great power. The Men in Black and
  the super-weapon projects may be out there, all the more sin-
  ister for being less widely believed in.
  CAMPAIGNS
  40
  Adventures often exhibit magical
  strangeness.
  
  Nonetheless, those mysteries and strangenesses aren’t
  entirely dark or relentlessly horrible. Magic is a thing of won-
  der that can be used just as easily for good as for evil. It does-
  n’t always remain in the shadows; it can generates light shows
  in broad daylight. The monsters can be comprehended and
  fought by sane, brave heroes; killing an evil vampire with a
  magical fireball is an unambiguously good idea. (Are there any
  less-evil vampires? That’s up to the GM. The setting assumes
  that such creatures mostly live up to the stereotypes, but some
  things in Age of Gold do turn out to be a bit less straightfor-
  ward than the myths would suggest.) This is not a world of
  Lovecraftian existential terror.
  Mystery men usually work alone, but may form groups for
  a range of reasons – as an ad hoc response to a single huge
  threat, to exchange information about their strange situation,
  because they share an origin story, or because they’ve all been
  recruited by the government. See GURPS Supers for discus-
  sion of teams and the reasons for their existence, and then
  apply a 1930s/magical twist.
  Antagonists and Venues
  In a sense, higher-power games are simpler to run than Pulp
  Adventurer-level campaigns; there’s less to decide about geo-
  graphic scope or opponent power levels. A mystery man may
  be based in a single city, but he’s likely to travel the world, and
  worthy opponents have to be on his own level. This level of
  power can’t and shouldn’t be confined to one place, and the
  only serious opponents for mystery men are their equals.
  Still, different campaigns – or at least different long-term
  plots – can have different focuses and flavors. Heroes can fight
  monsters, or deal with more subtly human evils. Super-powers
  alone may not be enough to handle subtle conspiracies with
  influence in every corner of a society. It’s useful to be able to
  smack down the odd summoned demon or deal with the ulti-
  mate other-than-human mastermind in the final confrontation,
  but beating up any number of cultists or goons just gets a mys-
  tery man on the Wanted posters if the conspiracy already runs
  the government. Indeed, for interesting games, the opposition
  may have to be a little more complex and subtle; for a team of
  ordinary humans, defeating a werewolf is an accomplishment,
  but for a team of mystery men, even a pack of bestial were-
  wolves is just a disorganized fight scene. A group of villainous
  magicians who are turning congressmen into blank-eyed slaves,
  on the other hand, makes for a plot.
  As mystery men often represent archetypes or symbols, so
  can their opponents. Figures may manifest pure evil or individ-
  ual vices (greed, lust, anger, or whatever), or be the champions
  of foreign nations or political movements (“negotiators” of the
  Black Dragon Society, a product of successful Nazi arcane
  research, or horrors of Socialist Biological Science emerging
  from secret research stations in the depths of Siberia). Villains
  can also be more complex and troubling symbols – manifesta-
  tions of raw capitalist amorality or symbols of the PCs’ own
  nations who treat all other nationalities with xenophobic con-
  tempt, or superhumans who espouse “Social Darwinism” and
  regard all less powerful humans with casual contempt. For
  that matter, “heroes” with a pitiless, absolute concept of moral-
  ity could tip over into vigilante extremism, especially if their
  morality is based on some minority religious code or peculiar
  philosophy.
  The venues for these confrontations can range across the
  globe. Some will take place in the major cities of the heroes’
  homeland, of course, in the way of superhero battles – a game
  is likely to involve its share of attempts at bank robbery, polit-
  ical assassination, and so on – but mystery men should rarely
  be loath to pursue their opponents back to their lairs, or to
  oppose subversion, piracy, or organized injustice wherever
  they may be found. Games can also feature a full set of really
  exotic locations, such as “lost cities” in the depths of unex-
  plored jungles or mountain ranges, undersea kingdoms, and
  extradimensional realms occupied by nonhuman spirits. Space
  and time travel are likely to be rarer, but in a magic-saturated
  universe with nigh-four color tendencies, nothing can be quite
  impossible. Finding ways to transport adventurers to such
  places should be tricky – some parties will have powers or
  high-tech vehicles that can resolve that problem, but others
  may have more difficulty. For GMS who really want to take
  their groups elsewhere or elsewhen the odd magical portal,
  captured weird science vehicle or assist from a friendly NPC
  answers the need.
  CAMPAIGNS
  41
  There are certainly a number of different themes that are
  appropriate for Age of Gold game plots. The pulp/Golden Age
  comics basis for the setting raises a number of strong possibil-
  ities. A single campaign can encompass several of these, and
  games definitely shouldn’t be straightjacketed.
  CRIME FIGHTING
  The default occupation for an Age of Gold hero is fighting
  “evil” by conventional definitions and in its standard forms –
  robbery, assault, murder, extortion, and the like. Cops or 
  G-men deal with such things as their day job, private eyes can
  be hired when a victim somehow feels that official law enforce-
  ment isn’t doing enough, masked vigilantes prowl the night-
  time streets on the lookout for evildoers, and anyone can just
  happen to be passing or can be asked for help by a friend or
  relation. Some scenarios and campaigns are fairly straightfor-
  ward and combat-oriented – see criminals, fight criminals –
  but others can involve some amount of detective work and
  puzzle-solving, possibly up to the level of detail that merits
  extensive use by the GM of GURPS Mysteries as a reference.
  To use terminology of GURPS Mysteries, “pulp-style” mys-
  teries will usually be more “hard-boiled” or “thriller” than
  “cozy” in style, but mystery scenarios could quite easily be set
  in, say, the polite upper levels of society or in some quiet rural
  community. It involves a mixture of “cozy mystery” polite
  investigation and odd, ghost-story-like incursions of the
  supernatural.
  The pulps and Golden Age comics generally took a pretty
  straightforward line on crime: It was wrong; the people respon-
  sible rarely displayed much in the way of redeeming features;
  and they deserved whatever they got from the heroes. 
  GAME THEMES
  
  However, even those sources occasionally allowed that ordi-
  nary people could become desperate or could be weak or mis-
  led; the Great Depression was certainly a time of widespread
  hardship. One of the things that made extralegal vigilantes
  look so appealing to readers was that the “heroes” could some-
  times deal with the sort of wrongdoers who could evade justice
  by invoking the letter of the law – amoral corporate executives
  and slum landlords, crime bosses with too many layers of insu-
  lation between themselves and the dark deeds that they sanc-
  tioned, and so on. Likewise, from a modern point of view, the
  law of the time had some divergences from true justice, at least
  as it was actually enforced; members of the “wrong” race or sex
  should be forgiven some cynicism on the subject. Hence,
  heroes with only very slightly anachronistic attitudes might
  often work at a tangent to the cops and judges of the time.
  Even those who followed the letter of 1930s morality could
  end up breaking the letter of the law. Vigilantism often steps
  over one line or another, especially when the vigilante has to
  adapt for his lack of official powers. Similarly, pulp-era private
  detectives were forever finding themselves at odds with the
  cops, who didn’t much like the freelance competition. Magic
  complicates things further: The law rarely allows for it, the
  cops don’t have to like it, and any mention of the subject is
  likely to make any eventual court case much more compli-
  cated. GMs setting up a law enforcement campaign will have
  to decide and agree with the players whether the PCs are going
  to be working mostly or partly within the letter of the law, and
  how well they are likely to get on with ordinary cops and pros-
  ecutors – which can of course involve them being friendly with
  some and hated by others. GURPS Cops may be a useful ref-
  erence for “law enforcement” campaigns, although it mostly
  focuses on the present day.
  ESPIONAGE
  Alternatively, play can focus more on international interac-
  tions while still remaining subtle and shadowy. This mostly
  takes the form of espionage or counter-espionage. The latter
  can mean something akin to a crime-fighting campaign, with
  higher stakes and more exotic opponents. Indeed, any crime
  fighter can occasionally run into a foreign spy or subversive,
  complicating things a little as compared to ordinary crime sto-
  ries, but not really changing the nature of the game. However,
  full-time counter-espionage specialists need additional skills
  and knowledge, and sometimes a more subtle touch; they may
  also run into rather more capable and determined opposition.
  Adventurers who are themselves spies or covert operators,
  working in hostile or neutral territory, make the situation even
  more challenging. Full-time spying is a tricky, subtle business,
  often long on moral ambiguity; it can also be quite hard to play
  out convincingly in an RPG, as both the players and GM will
  need a clear grasp of the intricacies of the topic. (The GURPS
  Third Edition supplements GURPS Espionage and GURPS
  Covert Ops may help here.) Magic may be immensely useful to
  spies, allowing them to bypass many conventional counter-
  measures – but in Age of Gold, some opponents may be confi-
  dently expected to employ some unconventional, formidable,
  magical countermeasures! Furthermore, as the significance of
  magic and weird science for this and other purposes becomes
  increasingly obvious, every covert organization on Earth will
  move into the field. A deadly global secret war has begun brew-
  ing, involving powerful national intelligence services, secret
  groups such as the Black Dragon Society (p. 14), and smaller
  but still dangerous factions such as the Secret Kingdom
  (p. 35). Magical espionage campaigns can thus be complex and
  deadly. The size of what’s at stake and the according level of
  danger and violence mean that some subtler mystery men are
  being sucked into all this alongside the more conventional
  operators, and they are finding that mere magical power
  doesn’t always give them a great advantage.
  EXOTIC PLACES
  In the traditions of the pulps and high-magic adventure,
  some plots can be travelogues above almost anything else.
  With important events and complex political power-plays tak-
  ing place everywhere from the wilds of Outer Mongolia to the
  nightclubs of Berlin, from the teeming back alleys of Shanghai
  to the Mayan ruins of Yucatan – and with magic and conven-
  tional research locating lost cities in Central Africa, cursed
  tombs in Egypt, colonies of colonies in Scottish lochs, hidden
  lamaseries in the Himalayas, and “Atlantean” secrets in the
  ocean depths – adventurers can be forgiven for spending much
  of their time admiring the scenery.
  Obviously, this aspect of Age of Gold style mostly serves as
  an 
  overlay 
  on 
  conventional 
  action-adventure 
  plots.
  Nonetheless, it’s something that GMs should consider in its
  own right. Lush physical descriptions and wide cultural diver-
  sity should be the norm. Some of this will remain in the back-
  ground of the actual plot, but parts will have distinct
  game-mechanical effects. For example, social interactions with
  important contacts may be subject to frequent Cultural
  Familiarity penalties, while simply getting from point A to
  point B as quickly as possible may require two or three vehicle
  skills (perhaps at varying tech levels) and assorted Survival
  skill rolls. More exotic locations yet may be completely incom-
  prehensible without use of skills such as History or
  Archaeology. While Age of Gold games are primarily about
  pulp-style action and adventure, players should recognize that
  more cerebral skills have very definite uses.
  ARCANE ARCHAEOLOGY
  Lastly, don’t forget that all this exoticism relates to one of
  the central themes of the game world: the presence and resur-
  gence of magic. Even adventurers who never leave their home
  towns may find themselves digging into the mysteries of
  ancient history and the enigmas of the supernatural. Many
  plots can revolve around competition for magical secrets or
  attempts to determine the nature and vulnerabilities of some
  supernatural monster. This can lead to archaeological adven-
  tures in a conventional sense – digging up buried artifacts in
  some wilderness site or beneath the foundations of a long-
  inhabited city – or it can entail similar antiquarian work in
  musty libraries and museums. It can also involve questioning
  living sources: seemingly ageless Tibetan lamas, eccentric
  scholars, crazy visionary seers, and the more talkative sort of
  inhuman creature.
  The action-adventure part of an archaeology-oriented game
  can involve lethal competition from rival researchers in service
  to ruthless, selfish factions, in best Indiana Jones style. There’s
  also the occasional misunderstanding with ordinary armed
  locals along the way. Battles with supernatural guardians
  might occur in the more active sorts of site.
  CAMPAIGNS
  42
  
  On occasion, research missions may come to resemble
  shamanic vision quests. Alchemists and mystery men espe-
  cially may come to see the search for knowledge as being as
  much spiritual as intellectual, with guardians assigned to chal-
  lenge and test rather than merely to kill interlopers (though the
  harsher sort of spiritual journey isn’t always exactly safe, for
  the quester’s life or sanity), and success leading to wisdom,
  with power as “merely” a side effect.
  In short, arcane archaeological adventures can involve just
  as much wonder and strangeness as any globetrotting “tourist”
  campaign, just as much two-fisted adventure as any crime-
  busting game, and just as much mystery and subtlety as any
  espionage plot. The heroes should find themselves probing the
  lost secrets of ancient cultures – and quite likely fighting the
  wildest monsters out of their mythologies. This should cer-
  tainly ramp up the strangeness level in a Pulp Adventurer-level
  campaign, while mystery men may find themselves adopting
  downright mythic roles for themselves, as the new era of magic
  transforms them into its own legends.
  CAMPAIGNS
  43
  The world of Age of Gold can be fitted into the greater
  Infinite Worlds setting described in the Basic Set and GURPS
  Infinite Worlds as follows
  The peculiar parallel timeline known to Infinity as
  Mandrake-1 lies on Quantum 4. It’s obviously an exotic and
  worrying world, although Infinity knows of worse. The pres-
  ence of functioning magic is always a concern, and although
  Mandrake-1 doesn’t seem to have metaphysical theories that
  could lead to parachronic gate creation, the sheer diversity and
  varied scope of magical activities on the timeline doesn’t rule
  much out. One Infinity operation is monitoring local work on
  quantum mechanics; if anyone comes up with a “Many Worlds”
  interpretation, and then lets the thaumatologists know, things
  could turn very messy. Fortunately, eccentric scientists on the
  timeline tend to get distracted by alchemy or related weird sci-
  ences, which is retarding development in quantum and nuclear
  physics. Some Infinity scientists think that this is a very good
  thing, and they are lobbying for any Manhattan Project on
  Mandrake-1 to be sabotaged if and when it is instituted. Their
  guess is that a nuclear explosion here could generate a far worse
  Hellstorm than on any of the Merlin lines.
  Certainly, Mandrake-1 displays signs of severe parachronic
  fragility. Its history appears to be somewhat confused at the
  detail level, especially with regard to the paranormal. Infinity
  believes that it may have suffered one or more reality quakes in
  the past, and that many of the powerful magic items known to
  exist here may be reality shards. In fact, some of the lost cities
  and such periodically discovered by local explorers may also be
  giant shards. (I-Cops assigned to the timeline dread the day
  that they’re told to investigate that.) All those exotic “ancient
  relics” are also likely to prove very interesting to Reich-5’s
  Raven Division, should they ever gain access. Given that they’d
  get on just fine with elements of the timeline’s own Nazi Party,
  containing such incursions would be a very high priority. It
  might be the sort of mission that would involve tricky alliances
  with local adventurers and heroes.
  Infinity’s Sheldrake Section and the Duncorne Foundation
  are predictably fascinated by Mandrake-1’s combination of
  parachronic fragility, diverse magical methodologies, and
  attempts to integrate magic and science. I-Cops are frequently
  assigned to babysit or monitor legitimate Sheldrake or
  Duncorne missions to the timeline, and Infinity almost takes it
  for granted that periodic illicit visits take place on somebody’s
  dollar. Time Tours lobbied frenziedly until a few tourist trips
  were permitted, and they definitely want more. Infinity insists
  on guides who’ll come down hard on rule-breaking and who’ll
  know when to pull a party out early.
  EXOTIC MANA
  AND IMPURE ALCHEMY
  As Sheldrake analysts point out, Mandrake-1 apparently
  has “exotically aspected” mana; the spell systems familiar from
  a number of other magical timelines are rare or largely
  unknown here, whereas other forms of magic work just fine. At
  some point, someone will want to take a trustworthy spell-user
  (if that’s not an oxymoron) through and see how well he gets
  on. The main thing delaying this experiment is Infinity’s
  rational nervousness about playing with forces it really doesn’t
  understand.
  One other peculiarity of the timeline is the widespread
  presence of useful but impure forms of the Philosopher’s
  Stone. This substance – well, a substance of that name – is
  known on a few magical timelines, especially several of the
  Azoth lines, but in most cases, it has to be “perfect” to be use-
  ful, and it often has only a few specific (if powerful) arcane
  properties. Homeline researchers give themselves headaches
  trying to integrate the prevalent alchemical theories from
  many different timelines, in all their obscure and contradic-
  tory glory, and to determine if they’re all really talking about
  the same thing.
  “THE FUTUREMEN”
  As further option, assume that the I-Cops haven’t been
  able to avoid notice in their operations on Mandrake-1 . . .
  But no one locally actually knows what they are. Their
  extratemporal origins fortuitously make them highly resist-
  ant to informational magics, and they’ve managed to sustain
  the policy of never leaving a man behind. So they’ve ended up
  being seen by the citizens of Mandrake-1 as yet another
  strange faction, dubbed “the Futuremen” by the local press
  for their high-tech gear.
  They’re generally thought of as a mysterious wildcard con-
  spiracy, vaguely on the side of good but prone to strange and
  amoral actions, such as stealing archaeological discoveries or
  making certain people disappear, permanently. Some people
  think that they’re time travelers, although local SF fans reckon
  that proper futuristic gear would mean Art Deco blasters and
  personal force fields, not undersized handguns and skimpy
  bullet-proof vests. Most natives assume that they work for
  some unusually benevolent and technology-oriented – but of
  course crazy – mastermind.
  INFINITE WORLDS
  
  Apart from the various GURPS supplements discussed on
  p. 4 and elsewhere in this book, many other sources can be
  useful when setting up Age of Gold games.
  HISTORY
  Taking the history of our own real world as the baseline
  for this setting means that any good history of the period may
  be helpful – and there’s plenty about the 1930s available
  online. (Some of it may be a bit unreliable, but no matter –
  the Age of Gold may have all sorts of petty divergences, espe-
  cially where it’s cool.) The Encyclopedia Britannica is always
  useful, for a start.
  In addition, the two volumes of Suppressed Transmission,
  by Kenneth Hite (Steve Jackson Games, 2000) are absolutely
  invaluable as a source of information on weird, conspiratorial,
  and occult history for game purposes. They were frequently
  referenced in the creation of this setting.
  FICTION
  Pulp-era adventure tales have occasionally been reprinted
  in recent years, and while not many of these deal much with
  magic, it might be worth dipping a few of them to get a feel for
  the pulp style. Some of the available series titles include the
  famous Doc Savage, by Kenneth Robeson, and The Shadow, by
  Lester Dent and Walter Gibson, both of which have been
  republished in recent years by Nostalgia Ventures. Likewise, a
  number of Golden Age comic stories (especially from DC
  Comics) have been reprinted in (often rather expensive) book
  collections; some of the stories involve typically powerful
  supernatural superheroes. See, for example, DC’s Golden Age
  Spectre Archives and Golden Age Doctor Fate: Archives.
  Among modern comics, Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and some
  of its spin-off titles (published by Dark Horse) are noted 
  for combining (mostly horrific) supernatural themes with
  pulp-style action. Although most stories are set in the modern
  period and/or involve “Cthulhoid” monstrosities (see below for
  why this is a problem), some look back to the 1930s or 1940s,
  and many involve a more traditional view of the supernatural.
  GAMES
  A number of RPGs have been set in the pulp 1930s, with
  various types of magical or paranormal activity present, and
  they might be mined for ideas for use in Age of Gold games.
  The best known is Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu; see also, for
  example, Trail of Cthulhu from Pelgrane Press, Spirit of the
  Century from Evil Hate Productions, or Hollow Earth
  Expedition from Exile Game Studios.
  Note, however, that many of these draw on the work of
  H.P. Lovecraft for their primary inspiration. Lovecraft was a
  wonderful writer who is rightly popular with gamers, but his
  “Cthulhu Mythos” is a dark, modernist take on the supernat-
  ural, whereas GURPS Thaumatology: The Age of Gold
  draws on older or more flamboyant conceptions of magic –
  the kind of thing that fits with the four-color comic book aes-
  thetic. There are horrific aspects to this setting, certainly, but
  contact with the supernatural doesn’t automatically drive
  normal humans mad (a little crazy, perhaps, but not gibber-
  ing mad), magic can safely be used for good, and traditional
  magical creatures are more common than uncaring tentacled
  monstrosities.
  That said, Ken Hite’s Adventures Into Darkness, by Kenneth
  Hite (published in PDF form by Ronin Arts, 2008), which
  merges specifically Lovecraftian horror with the Golden Age
  superheroes of the Nedor Comics stable, is absolutely recom-
  mended as a source of ideas and atmosphere.
  FURTHER READING
  44
  FURTHER
  READING
  No one can flatter himself that he is immune to the
  spirit of his own epoch, or even that he possesses a full
  understanding of it.
  – Carl Jung
  
  Aborigines of Australia, 12.
  Advantages, 27-28.
  Adventure themes, 41.
  Adversaries, example, 32-38.
  Africa, 11.
  Agartha, 12.
  Alchemy, 5-7, 11, 13, 19-21; skill,
  30-31; transformation by, 22.
  Alcoholism disadvantage, 29.
  Americas, 10.
  Appearances of mystery men, 21.
  Arcane archaeology theme, 
  42-43.
  Arch-demon, 25.
  Archetypes, 9, 11, 13.
  Arch-Mage Unusual Background,
  28.
  Artifacts, 5-6; powers and, 22.
  Asia, 12-14.
  Atototl the Bargainer, 37-38.
  Australia, 12.
  Aybtep-Het, see Secret Pharaoh.
  Background of setting, 5-14.
  Basic character conditions, 26.
  Black Dragon Society, 12-14, 31,
  36, 37, 40, 41, 42.
  Bloodlust disadvantage, 29.
  Books for diabolism, 18.
  British Empire, 8, 9, 12-14.
  Cairo, 12.
  Campaigns, 9-43.
  Central America, 11.
  Channeling advantage, 27.
  Character traits, 27.
  Chiai Tiao, 37.
  Chi modifier, 23.
  China, 7-8, 12-13.
  Cloaked perk, 29.
  Code of Honor disadvantage, 30.
  Comics Code Code of Honor, 30.
  Communist Party, China, 13;
  Russian, 9-10.
  Compulsive Behavior
  disadvantage, 30.
  Conversion between magic
  traditions, 16.
  Costumes of mystery men, 21.
  Courtesy Rank advantage, 26.
  Crime fighting theme, 41-42.
  Cultural Familiarities, 26.
  Current Affairs skills, 31.
  Delusions disadvantage, 30.
  Demons, 24-25.
  Diabolism, 18.
  Disadvantages, 29-30.
  Duncorne Foundation, 43.
  Egypt, 7, 11-12.
  Elements, 16.
  Elixir Knowledge Unusual
  Background, 20, 28.
  Elixirs, 20.
  Espionage theme, 42.
  Europe, 8-10.
  Exorcism skill, 31.
  Exotic places theme, 42.
  Extra Attack advantage, 27.
  Flashbacks disadvantage, 30.
  Futuremen, 43.
  Gadgeteer advantage, 20, 28.
  Gentleman’s Code Code of
  Honor, 30.
  Germany, 10.
  Gizmos advantage, 20, 28.
  Gold standard, 9.
  Great Depression, 8-9.
  Green Gang, 12.
  GURPS, 4, 14, 19, 23, 26, 30;
  Basic Set, 4, 28, 30, 43;
  China, 4; Cliffhangers, 4, 9,
  39; Cops, 42; Covert Ops, 42;
  Egypt, 4, 12; Espionage, 42;
  High-Tech, 4; High-Tech:
  Pulp Guns, 4; Infinite
  Worlds, 4, 43; Lands Out 
  of Time, 4; Magic Items,
  4; Magic, 4, 19, 20; Martial
  Arts, 4, 29, 31; Martial Arts:
  Fairbairn Close Combat
  Systems, 4, 13, 31; Mysteries,
  41; Places of Mystery, 4, 
  12; Powers, 4, 23, 27, 28, 
  33, 36, 38; Power-Ups 2:
  Perks, 29; Russia, 10;
  Supers, 4, 23, 27, 29, 30, 32,
  41; Thaumatology, 3, 4, 6,
  10, 12, 15-20, 22-25, 28-32,
  39, 44; WWII, 4, 9; WWII:
  Iron Cross, 10; WWII: 
  Weird War II, 4, 10.
  Handmaidens of the Secret
  Pharaoh, 34-35.
  Hazardous Materials skill, 31.
  Herb Lore skill, 31.
  Hierarch (book), 18.
  High TL advantage, 28.
  History of the world, 7-14.
  History skill, 31.
  Home base, 40.
  Honesty disadvantage, 30.
  I-Cops, 43.
  India, 8, 13.
  Infinite Worlds campaigns, 43.
  Infinity Unlimited, 43.
  Insightful Alchemist Unusual
  Background, 19, 20, 28.
  Intolerance disadvantage, 30.
  Invocationism, 17-18.
  Invention Unusual Background,
  20.
  Japan, 14.
  Jungle Madness, 37-40.
  Kuomintang (KMT) Party, 12-13.
  Laboratories, 19, 20.
  Laboratory alchemy, 6, 19-20.
  “Leader and assistants” teams,
  27.
  Limited Magery advantage, 28.
  Lineaments of Purity (book), 18.
  Madame Jasmine, 35-37, 39.
  Magery advantage, 15, 28, 29.
  Magical devices and artifacts, 
  5-6.
  Magical herbalism, 19.
  Magical modifier, 23.
  Magical School Familiarity perk,
  29.
  Magical supers, 21-23.
  Magic in setting, 5-6.
  Magic Resistance advantage, 28.
  Mana Damper advantage, 28.
  Mana Enhancer advantage, 28.
  Mana levels, 6.
  Mandrake-1, 43.
  Martial Arts skill, 31.
  Masked perk, 29.
  Material components, 16.
  Materialist psychic research, 10.
  Medium advantage, 27.
  Military Rank advantage, 26.
  Mudras, 8.
  Multiple simultaneous magical
  effects, 16.
  Mystery men, adventures, 40-42;
  power level, 26, 27, 40-41;
  term, 21.
  Mystic Symbols limitation, 28.
  Nazis, 10.
  Nine Unknown Sages, 12.
  Nonprotective Clothing perk, 29.
  Occult Current Affairs specialty,
  31.
  Occultism skill, 31.
  Pacifism disadvantage, 30.
  Pao Pang, 37.
  Path/Book Adept advantage, 15.
  Path/Book magic, 15-.18
  Paut Knowledge Unusual
  Background, 20, 28.
  Paut, 20, 28.
  Perks, 29.
  Petrie, Flinders, 5, 6.
  Petty demon, 24-25.
  Philosopher’s Stone, 5-8, 19-22,
  28, 31, 43; effects of, 19-20;
  transformations by, 20-22; 
  see also Secret Pharaoh.
  Pirate’s Code Code of Honor, 30.
  Police Rank advantage, 26.
  Power level, enemies and, 39;
  starting points and, 26-27.
  Pulp Adventurer power level, 26,
  27, 39-40; adventures, 39-40.
  Raven Division, 43.
  Razor’s Edge (book), 18.
  Reality quake, 11.
  Record of the Embassy (book), 18.
  Reich-5, 43.
  Ritual Magic skill, 16, 32.
  Ritual space, 16.
  Ritual-time length, 15.
  Ritual-time significance, 16.
  Ritual witchcraft, 17.
  Russia, 9-10.
  Savoir-Faire skill, 32.
  Secret Identity disadvantage, 30.
  Secret Kingdom, 35.
  Secret Pharaoh, 8, 32-35, 39, 40.
  Seventh Text of Misdirection
  (book), 18.
  Shambhala, 12.
  Shanghai, 13.
  Shanghai Municipal Police
  (SMP), 13.
  Shangri-La, 12.
  Sheldrake Section, 43.
  Skills, 30-32.
  Skintight perk, 29.
  Soldier’s Code Code of Honor,
  30.
  South America, 11.
  Spells from spirits, 23-24.
  Spirit-assisted spell magic, 6, 7,
  23-24.
  Starting points at creation, 26,
  27.
  State of the world, 9-14.
  Status trait, 26.
  Style Familiarity perk, 29.
  Superheroes (term), 21.
  Supernatural powers, 22-23.
  Supersuit perk, 29.
  Symbol Drawing skill, 16, 32.
  Symbolic components, 16.
  Talents and magic workings, 16.
  Tech level of setting, 20, 28, 31.
  Thaumatology skill, 31.
  Theories regarding other spirits,
  24.
  Time Tours, 43.
  Transformations, 6; by
  Philosopher’s Stone, 20-22;
  means of, 22.
  True Faith advantage, 25, 28.
  Undead characters, 22.
  United Kingdom, 8, 9, 12-14.
  United States of America, 11.
  Unrealized Potential perk, 28, 29.
  Unusual Background advantage,
  17, 20, 28.
  Useful GURPS supplements, 4.
  Victorian age, 8.
  Way of Perfect Conquest (book),
  18.
  Wealth, starting, 26.
  Weird science, in Russia, 10;
  skill, 20, 32.
  Wildcard skills, 32.
  Wu, 7.
  INDEX
  45
  INDEX
  
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/GURPS [multi]/4th edition/GURPS 4e - Thaumatology - Age of Gold.pdf