History TabletopGame / GURPSThaumatologyAgeOfGold

* AntiHero: This setting predates UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode, and most heroes are some kind of anti-heroic. Deadly force is the standard, "justice before law" is a common philosophy, and some mystery men are murderous dark avengers. [[TheCape "Boy Scout"]] heroes do exist, but they're the exception.

* FunctionalMagic: It's essential to the dramatic, pulpy flavor of the setting that magic ''works''; it's not ambiguous or generally subtle, it lets you blow stuff up.

* {{Superhero}}: The tone may be more {{Pulp}}/TwoFistedTales, but some magically-empowered heroes and villains in the Age of Gold are truly superhuman in their abilities.

* TwoFistedTales: The flavor for which the book is quite explicitly aiming, with its {{Pulp}}-era setting and powerful heroes.

''GURPS Thaumatology: Age of Gold'' is a setting/worldbook supplement for ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' 4th edition by Creator/PhilMasters; the full title indicates that it is associated with the larger supplement ''TabletopGame/GURPSThaumatology'', using the extended rules for magic in ''GURPS'' from that book. The setting is an AlternateHistory version of the {{Pulp}}-era 1930s, in which magic, which existed mostly in the shadows throughout history, is newly resurgent -- and is empowering pulp-style heroes, adventurers, and master villains. The title refers to both the historical period -- at the start of the '''Gold'''en Age of comic books -- and the fact that UsefulNotes/{{Alchemy}}, a key feature of the setting, was partly about trying to manufacture gold.

''GURPS Thaumatology: Age of Gold'' is a setting/worldbook supplement for ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' 4th edition by Creator/PhilMasters; the full title indicates that it is associated with the larger supplement ''GURPS Thaumatology'', using the extended rules for magic in ''GURPS'' from that book. The setting is an AlternateHistory version of the {{Pulp}}-era 1930s, in which magic, which existed mostly in the shadows throughout history, is newly resurgent -- and is empowering pulp-style heroes, adventurers, and master villains. The title refers to both the historical period -- at the start of the '''Gold'''en Age of comic books -- and the fact that UsefulNotes/{{Alchemy}}, a key feature of the setting, was partly about trying to manufacture gold.

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Alchemical Baroque demons tend to follow local legends and popular beliefs very closely, in behavior and appearance -- which makes them extremely dangerous but sometimes also faintly ridiculous. One theory is that they are projections of the human id, which would explain why they are so heavily shaped by the popular imagination.

* SovietSuperscience: In the Soviet Union, [[FlatEarthAtheist magic is a burgeois lie]]. However, the Union's cult of science is alive and well, so those who would elsewhere be alchemists and mages instead focus on {{Magitek}}, which is politically acceptable in the socialist utopia.

[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/age_of_gold_cover_sm.jpg]]

* {{Ghostapo}}: This being the 1930s, the Nazis are a threat and a source of antagonists and evil plots -- and they very much want to use and abuse magic. However, aren't quite as formidable as they could be, because they tend to reject any and all ideas about magic which happen to have Jewish or "non-Aryan" origins. Still, Nazi archaeologists with supporting squads of stormtroopers are bad enough.

''GURPS Thaumatology: Age of Gold'' is a setting/worldbook supplement for ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' 4th edition by Creator/PhilMasters; the full title indicates that it is associated with the larger supplement ''GURPS Thaumatology'', using the extended rules for magic in ''GURPS'' from that book. The setting is an AlternateHistory version of the {{Pulp}}-era 1930s, in which magic, which existed mostly in the shadows throughout history, is newly resurgent -- and is empowering pulp-style heroes, adventurers, and master villains.

* {{Ghostapo}}: This being the 1930s, the Nazis are a threat and a source of antagonists and evil plots -- and they very much want to use and abuse magic. However, aren't quite as formidable as they could be, because they tend to reject any and all ideas about magic which happen to have Jewish or "non-Aryan" origins. Still, Nazi archaeologists wth supporting squads of stormtroopers are bad enough.

''GURPS Thaumatology: Age of Gold'' is a setting/worldbook supplement for ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' 4th edition by Creator/PhilMasters; the full title indicates that it is associated with the larger supplement ''GURPS Thaumatology'', using the extended rules for magic in ''GURPS'' from that book. The setting is an AlternativeHistory version of the {{Pulp}}-era 1930s, in which magic, which existed mostly in the shadows throughout history, is newly resurgent -- and is empowering pulp-style heroes, adventurers, and master villains.