Goblintrain

You will find the strength to do it, my friend. Just take the time to collect your senses.

Marcus did you happen to come across Michael Syzmanski when you were looking for authors? He wrote a few things for Stormbringer in the early '90s, including The Prisoner in Rogue Mistress, and The Floating Realm in Perils of the Young Kingdoms. I spoke & corresponded with him a number of times back then. He was a helpful soul when i was trying to write. Sometimes i pause & wonder how he is doing these days.

Chris, here are just a couple of things you might toy with in arriving at numbers. First, i see no constraint for confining such beings to a mortal HP = CON+SIZ/2 formula. Immensely powerful beings like Greater Gods may have HP equal to their combined Attributes. Period. But for Uniques like Demogorgon, Orcus etc a HP formula of CON+SIZ or even CON+SIZ+POW (or other primary attribute) would be well withing imagining. For STR, Demogorgon does not need to be strong by the standards of his peers, but i certainly wouldn't put his STR attribute less than half his SIZ. I would probably use his rival Prince, Orcus as a measuring gauge. Orcus is notoriously strong, like 24 in AD&D terms (+12 dam, +6 hit), or as strong as a Storm Giant. This gives you a good range to work. In Magic World terms, i don't know where a Storm Giant ranks strength wise, but you have already worked through that in your Monster book compilations. My thought is that Orcus would have a combined STR+SIZ in the 73-88 range, & at least a 4d6 damage bonus. Demogorgon on the other hand is not as physically invested as Orcus, but is still going to have a combined STR+ SIZ in the 57-72 range, which is where you have placed him. Personally i would probably place Demogorgon at 30 or 35 SIZ tops, and 20 or 25 STR. In AD&D terms, Demogorgon probably would have an Intelligence of 19-20, but keep in mind the Attribute curve of 3-18 in AD&D was a tighter fixture than it is in MW, so his INT can be however high you can effectively reflect in his associated abilities. INT & POW are both probably about where they should be, though i think you could get away with as low as 24 INT if you wanted. I think you are within a very reasonable construct of Demogorgon here, not too much different than how i would present him. Beings like this are forgiving in how they are presented, because the specific numbers change from incarnation to incarnation & encounter to encounter, depending on the context of the situation. Creatures like Demogorgon are never truly vanquished, and so that cosmic quirk gives you a lot of license in packaging them up for prime time! The most important thing i wish to emphasize is what i said first. Don't feel bound by following the humanoid strictures for determining a Uniques derived attributes. It does not have to follow the same rules for HP, Damage bonus, Magic Points etc as mortals. Similar mechanic options are already in place for heroic adventurers, & so why wouldn't Uniques access such mechanic advantage even more easily?

Well, Mr Tooley, on a practical level i think we should first consider the game format. While i always try to encourage real life, warm bodied interaction together in the same room at a physical table, the reality for many if not most of us will be settling for playing on a virtual table. So while the arts & crafts crowd can print up pdf's to assemble a physical "screen" -wow that sounds fun! But, those of us playing on line need a fast, efficient way to reference information easily. Character Creation Screen: this is crucial because most of the people joining the games will not be coming with the particulars of how to create a character, and since it involves a good investment of time, you need your critical info on hand so that you do not lose them at this stage. I will never play Role Master again because if for no other reason, it took 8 hours just to fill out the character sheet, and then the campaign sucked anyway to boot! Part of what made the old Stormbringer so charming was that the charts made it very easy to put together a quirky character quickly. Magic Reference Screen: this is what i described earlier. Quick reference for spells & perhaps a one line description stressing the most important details about the magic, like exclusions, exceptions etc. Combat Screen: this is just simple weapons & armor chart, &... something else i can't remember right now. Art!: don't you miss it? Sometimes i wan't to print out the old AD&D DM screen art & paste them onto new backings just to enjoy that old artwork again. Somehow, i see a small document like this as a great opportunity to throw in a few inspiring pictures that bring us back to those glossy eyed moments that turned us into RPGers way back in the day! Even when peeps are tabbing through pdfs, i think a few well placed pictures are an important part of that ritual. For one thing, they help the player remember where they saw a particular piece of info because they associate it with the memory of that picture.

Lol, i wonder if any of the Stormbringer material i sent to Chaosium back in the 90's is right. And yes, if it is in there, it was nothing worth publishing!

First, thank you for bringing this to my attention! I keep hearing that France has a very devoted following to our beloved game world. Unfortunately, i don't read French! Right off the top, i find the artwork questionable -but let me qualify that statement first! It is kind of confusing having the old Elric + Stormbringer boxed edition picture on a game called Mournblade. And why specifically is it even called Mournblade? Is this a special point in the lore in this interpretation? Licensing or marketing conflict? The Pan Tangian sorceress -nice picture, but to me it does not capture a Pan Tangian at all. However, these days any decent art in a rpg book is a huge plus, so please understand my criticism is a soft one! We are starving for art, and so regardless of what criticism i may say with my tongue or type on screen, I take whatever RPG art i can get and say Thank You! Could you share anything about the nuances of it's world lore? The mention of a French Young Kingdoms game brings my memories back to the summer of '98 when i had a very interesting internet exchange with an enthusiastic Frenchman who had been working on Dharzi material for a good while. In spite the language barrier, he seemed as genuinely as excited as i was to make contact with a fellow Moorcock fan with such an irrational degree of interest in such an obscure point of Young Kingdom world lore. Said Frenchman sent me a lengthy monograph but i'm sure a few of you remember how translator programs back then worked, and it is unlikely i grasped 20% of the document. What i did understand contained some beautifully surreal imagery, & conflict of epic proportion. My apparent doom to play the part of Captain Obvious meant that I never had the insight to just hire some one to translate his French to English for me, since i was working at school, and living on campus at the time! ;0 I would be very surprised to find it still among my belongings after so many years & so many moves!