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[RetroQuest] RetroQuest


icebrand

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I normally use both DEX x 5 and Dodge, with DEX x 5 as the innate ability to re-

act and Dodge as a trained skill. Agility is used in everyday situations, for exam-

ple getting out of the way of a chariot coming down the road, Dodge in the more

complex situations which require some judgement to understand that one should

get out of the way and which way one should take.

But does the Jump skill in the BGB fill that niche? Even if we aren't whittling down everything to a bare-bones rule set, I'm starting to think we might not need all three of Agility Characteristic Roll, Dodge Skill and Jump Skill. [scratches chin in thought]

My avatar is the personal glyph of Siyaj K'ak' a.k.a. "Smoking Frog."

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But does the Jump skill in the BGB fill that niche?

It could be used that way, although I do not use its equivalent in my campaign,

Athletics*, as a defensive skill to avoid dangers.

* For my campaigns I have combined Climb, Jump, Swim and Throw into one

Athletics skill, Brawl, Grapple and Martial Arts into one Unarmed Combat Skill,

Hide and Stealth into one Stealth Skill, and Listen, Sense and Spot into one

Perception Skill. This made a little elbow room on the character sheet for the

various engineering, science and technology skills my science fiction setting

requires.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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It could be used that way, although I do not use its equivalent in my campaign,

Athletics*, as a defensive skill to avoid dangers.

* For my campaigns I have combined Climb, Jump, Swim and Throw into one

Athletics skill, Brawl, Grapple and Martial Arts into one Unarmed Combat Skill,

Hide and Stealth into one Stealth Skill, and Listen, Sense and Spot into one

Perception Skill. This made a little elbow room on the character sheet for the

various engineering, science and technology skills my science fiction setting

requires.

Sounds just like retroquest!!! (only that throw is a separate skill!)

"It seems I'm destined not to move ahead in time faster than my usual rate of one second per second"

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It could be used that way, although I do not use its equivalent in my campaign,

Athletics*, as a defensive skill to avoid dangers.

* For my campaigns I have combined Climb, Jump, Swim and Throw into one

Athletics skill, Brawl, Grapple and Martial Arts into one Unarmed Combat Skill,

Hide and Stealth into one Stealth Skill, and Listen, Sense and Spot into one

Perception Skill. This made a little elbow room on the character sheet for the

various engineering, science and technology skills my science fiction setting

requires.

I, too, agree with your choices. There are too many skills covering similar territory; poor, endangered player-characters need to use their skill points as efficiently as possible, regardless of genre.

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I would make skill modifiers simple, but not reinvent the wheel. Either an action is Standard, Easy, or Difficult, using the BRP rules as written.

For a BRP-lite system I'ld actually get rid of the mega-broad Characteristic Rolls (ie: Agility, Effort, etc) and just have Skill Categories, that then allow you to do anything you want , making liberal use of the whole Standard, Easy, Difficult thingy. The skill categories are less broad than the Characteristic Rolls, but cover every action you'ld need to make. Anything outside of these would be an Attribute vs Resistance on the RES Table instead, for things such as Strength rolls etc.

Perhaps a few Notable Skills/Traits are known, which are bought in +15% increments. These ones gain Skill Checks as per usual, but they actually gain Skill Development Points instead, which transfer into actual skill % increase at 15% increments (eg: 15%, 30%, 45%, 60%, and so forth). Keeps the maths very simple.

But I think something like this is more worthy of the title' Basic Roleplaying' than the standard system actually is - BRP certainly isn't complicated, but it's too 'crunchy' to be "Basic", I would of preffered the standard system to be called 'Chaosium System' after it's parent company, but I'm digressing.

All in all though I like what I'm seeing in RetroQuest for a brp-lite set of rules, but it needs to go 'lighter' I reckon...

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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I would make skill modifiers simple, but not reinvent the wheel. Either an action is Standard, Easy, or Difficult, using the BRP rules as written.

For a BRP-lite system I'ld actually get rid of the mega-broad Characteristic Rolls (ie: Agility, Effort, etc) and just have Skill Categories, that then allow you to do anything you want , making liberal use of the whole Standard, Easy, Difficult thingy. The skill categories are less broad than the Characteristic Rolls, but cover every action you'ld need to make. Anything outside of these would be an Attribute vs Resistance on the RES Table instead, for things such as Strength rolls etc.

Perhaps a few Notable Skills/Traits are known, which are bought in +15% increments. These ones gain Skill Checks as per usual, but they actually gain Skill Development Points instead, which transfer into actual skill % increase at 15% increments (eg: 15%, 30%, 45%, 60%, and so forth). Keeps the maths very simple.

But I think something like this is more worthy of the title' Basic Roleplaying' than the standard system actually is - BRP certainly isn't complicated, but it's too 'crunchy' to be "Basic", I would of preffered the standard system to be called 'Chaosium System' after it's parent company, but I'm digressing.

All in all though I like what I'm seeing in RetroQuest for a brp-lite set of rules, but it needs to go 'lighter' I reckon...

Yeah, we are on it :)

I didn't get the "categories" modifier, would you mind re-phrasing? In the original version we didn't have athletics (it was covered by either STR, DEX, or CON x5).

Also, we are going with +30 / -30%, since the easy and hard modifiers from brp give HUGE bonus/penalties. When proofreading is done, ill upload the new revision.

As for STATx5, it's been widely used since RQ2, and it covers "no skill" situations.

STR and SIZ are not used (since they go with the resistance table) and CON was there a few revisions ago, but got lost in the way along with fatigue rules.

Fatigue MAY come back (roll CON x5 after whatever the GM sees fit, if you fail you are at -30% cause of fatigue till you rest; major wounds automatically faitgue the char, and fatigue over fatigue means KO). <-- Ideas?

Also, i don't like acid rules AT ALL, poison rules should go away, or at least rephrased to cover poisoning... Maybe merged with disease?... Movement also needs a rewrite.

Combat seems dandy (with no modifiers save for +30/-30 atm); maybe unarmed an natural weapons should get no special hits. And that's it since theres nothing more.

Also, the animals are finished for the creatures book (so 3 or 5 more weeks and it will be ready), and im trying to convince people to use BRP's magic and sorcery as basis for wizardry and shamanism.

"It seems I'm destined not to move ahead in time faster than my usual rate of one second per second"

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Guest Vile Traveller

In the section on characteristics, you mention that no characteristic score other than INT and POW can rise above 21 (for humans). Does this mean there is no upper limit to INT or POW?

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In the section on characteristics, you mention that no characteristic score other than INT and POW can rise above 21 (for humans). Does this mean there is no upper limit to INT or POW?

21 for pow, INT and SIZ can't be trained as usual!

"It seems I'm destined not to move ahead in time faster than my usual rate of one second per second"

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Okay, sorted. Next one, First Aid can "bring characters back to life". I assume there is a time limit?

one round as usual... though that and nothing is actually the same, given that 1st aid takes one round and if you die theres no chance in hell someone is can use it in that timespan unless its the guy that killed you (and even then, if it was melee).

I would wing it as the scene or turn, but thats too much... No idea really. 1/2hp rounds?

"It seems I'm destined not to move ahead in time faster than my usual rate of one second per second"

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CON in rounds is nice and simple. Any "Casualty" fans recall how long it is before brain damage starts?

Not a fan of "Casualty" (actually, no idea what that is), but brain damage starts

almost immediately once the brain is no longer supplied with oxygen and beco-

mes serious after about two to four minutes under normal conditions. If CON in

rounds of 12 seconds is used, a CON of 12 would give about 2 1/2 minutes, an

acceptable value, although a little on the short side.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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If CON in rounds of 12 seconds is used, a CON of 12 would give about 2 1/2 minutes, an acceptable value, although a little on the short side.

Which is fine, as medical science is probably not as advanced in most RuneQuest settings, and I don't recall seeing "oxygen mask" anywhere on the equipment lists.

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Guest Vile Traveller

icebrand, is it okay if I use CON in rounds in my edit of the rules? Should be done in a day or two (didn't quite manage to finish it this weekend).

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icebrand, is it okay if I use CON in rounds in my edit of the rules? Should be done in a day or two (didn't quite manage to finish it this weekend).

By the way, while serious brain damage sets in about two to four minutes after

the brain's oxygen supply is cut off, it takes about ten minutes until the charac-

ter is dead. If there is healing magic which can heal brain damage, the character

could be brought back to normal within those ten minutes, afterwards he would

have to be resurrected.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Hrrm, does that mean that "CON in minutes" might be a better approximation?

I think First Aid could save the character within CON rounds, healing magic within

CON minutes - afterwards Detect Life would show that he is now a corpse.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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Guest Vile Traveller

- afterwards Detect Life would show that he is now a corpse.

That would help with those unfortunate 'buried alive' cases. ;)

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icebrand, is it okay if I use CON in rounds in my edit of the rules? Should be done in a day or two (didn't quite manage to finish it this weekend).

Awesome! You are approaching co-author territory lol!

I think First Aid could save the character within CON rounds, healing magic within

CON minutes - afterwards Detect Life would show that he is now a corpse.

I love it!

BTW, anyone who has contributed and wants their real name instead of a nickname listed in the credits, PM me!!!

"It seems I'm destined not to move ahead in time faster than my usual rate of one second per second"

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Guest Vile Traveller

Got a question about Strike Ranks:

For each situation, there are a variable number of Strike Ranks (SR) equal to the highest DEX score among the participants. Unless otherwise modified, SR is equal to DEX for each person in a combat situation.

By "situation", do you mean a round? I.e., does each round have a number of SR equal to the highest DEX score of the participants? Why is it not fixed, say at 12SR (as you mention 12 SR in a round earlier in the rules)?

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Got a question about Strike Ranks:

By "situation", do you mean a round? I.e., does each round have a number of SR equal to the highest DEX score of the participants? Why is it not fixed, say at 12SR (as you mention 12 SR in a round earlier in the rules)?

Strike Ranks are equal to DEX; higher dex acts first, as per BRP. If it's too much of a mess to correct leave that out and ill try to fix it.

I thought it was odd that you kept hit locations & the hit locations roll when you cut the skills list down so much.

They only work on major wounds; its actually easier and more RQ-ish to use hit locations than the major wound table!

"It seems I'm destined not to move ahead in time faster than my usual rate of one second per second"

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Guest Vile Traveller

They only work on major wounds; its actually easier and more RQ-ish to use hit locations than the major wound table!

I agree. I actually find this system of wounding quite intuitive, unlike most of the other systems I've seen.

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I think First Aid could save the character within CON rounds, healing magic within

CON minutes - afterwards Detect Life would show that he is now a corpse.

It seems to me that dead is dead. Casting healing magic on a dead person might mean an open casket funeral, but not much else.

Why not say CON minutes for everything? People have been revised after being clinically dead for a couple of minutes. Say the CON in rounds stuff for massive overkill.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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Why not say CON minutes for everything?

After CON rounds it would still be able to save (reanimate) the character with

First Aid, but the character would have suffered more or less severe brain da-

mage, and therefore would no longer be a playable character - only magic could

heal that brain damage and keep the character playable. After CON minutes the

character would be brain dead, and no medical or magical treatment short of a

resurrection could change that.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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