GothmogIV

Salutations, squamous ones. I seek resources related to Atomic Age Cthulhu. After a looooonnnnngggg hiatus playing CoC, me and my merry band of victims are back at it playing 7e. I find that the 1920s are a bit lackluster for us, since we've pretty much always played in that era. Any suggestions or stuff you could point me toward would be most appreciated. I have recently been watching Lovecraft Country, and while I'm not going near the race issue, the era seems fruitful. Or fruiting-body full. You get the idea. 

I'm going to go ahead and say that no one has any thoughts on this one.

I am about to run this scenario (well...in about a week). Any suggestions, ideas, or resources that I should be aware of? 

On 11/5/2020 at 5:43 AM, Lloyd Dupont said:

Well, why not, I am sharing my work in progress magic revamp document. It might give you some ideas!

I got 70 more spells planned, some of them real cool enchantment or necromantic spells.. but hey, you'll get the idea!
And it might take a while, working more actively on my Master of Orion Scifi setting booklet!

BRP-Magic2.pdf 778 kB · 0 downloads BRP-Magic2.docx 47.9 kB · 0 downloads

Thank you, Lloyd. That's very generous. I'll give it a read. 

I started playing CoC in 1983, when I was 13. We played 2nd edition, then 5th edition, for decades. After a long pause (aka 'adulthood': jobs, wives, kids, homes, work) we started playing again last night, this time using 7e, and using Roll20 as a VTT. I used "The Edge of Darkness" from the 6e rule book, and just...ran it without much adjustment. I loved creating and sharing player handouts on the VTT. That was great! 

For a long time Keeper like me, I found the change in characteristics (d100 vs. 3d8) to be jarring. I miss the resistance table. I will never, ever, under any circumstance, game master a chase (those rules are insane). But overall, I found it to be a pleasant experience. The hardest part was encouraging my players to avoid meta-game thinking, but after 35+ years of playing, I imagine it's unavoidable. 

I am also currently working on a MagicWorld (-ish) BRP game, which is still much more like 5e CoC than 7e. 

So, that all happened. 😁

Thanks for the convo, friends. It's helpful.

On the RuneQuest issue...bought the giant boxed set of two books and the GMs screen. That is, literally, the most beautifully produced game I have ever owned in my life. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. But: it's a lot to take in. Is there a simpler overview of Glorantha? I get a bit turned around with RuneQuest, Mythras, QuestWorlds, etc. What's a good resource for the world of Glorantha without so much of the rules? 

 I guess I thought I was getting a campaign, or a source book for a world. Some of what's in there is original world-building. I was just surprised that so much of the book was a repeat of the rules. I get it, though: you can have that one book and play without anything else. I'm happy to give those guys my money! It is a tremendous amount of work. 

Toxandria is a let down: 70 pages of repeating the rules I already have in Magic World and the big gold book. Hopefully the 30 pages of original world building are worth the $7.95! 

I am running this next week. Seems straight forward. To add Egyptian cultists, or not to add Egyptian cultists...that is the question.

This is all super helpful. My take away is to use BRP for the crunch and just skin the D&D stuff for maps and encounters. I usually just make shit up anyway. This will be no different. 

Thanks to all. 

I have been working with the idea that each MP expended is a point of effect, like you cast a fireball--it costs 1MP to initiate, then each MP spent is a point of damage and increased radius. So a wizard with 18 MP could blast off a fireball that does 17 HP of damage in the area of effect. Same with sleep: 1 MP to cast, 17 MP of sleepy-sleepy to go around, beginning with the wizard's target, or an area of effect. Or something. Magic is hard. 

So, here's the issue: I just finished a year-long D&D 5e campaign with my group, and we found that the players are just too powerful. They are fucking superheroes by level 5. It's silly. BUT, the campaign material itself is top-notch, it really is. The stories are good, the encounters are good, the maps are beautiful, blah blah blah. I have always, since the late 80s, preferred Chaosium's BRP system to TSR/Wizards.  I wonder if anyone has had any experience, or can suggest any resources, for skinning D&D materials for use in BRP. The hardest conversion is the magic system, but other than that...any thoughts? 

That is fackin' amazing. What a lot of work. Thanks, dude! 

Looking for blank stat blocks for NPCs and monsters. I don't mind printing them, but an online fillable PDF for something would be great. Any suggestions? 

I am busily populating the Plateau of Leng. It is...unpleasant there. 

I don't know if I can bear it. I felt this problem bruin, and now hair it is. Fur sure. 

3 hours ago, Mugen said:

To bo honest, the same could be said for almost any skill, not only spells. Why does a character that has a long fighting experience suddenly returns to square one when he has a new weapon in hands ? Of course, no-one expects that he performs as well as with a weapon he's used for years either...

My solution would be to have one broad base success chance per skill category, which increases with experience, and treat each skill as a bonus to this base chance.

That's what I was thinking as well. Have a skill like Cast or something, that begins with INT+POW, and the PC can put skill points into it during the build. 

Unbearlievable. 

Thanks, fellow travelers of the multiverse. I was thinking more like: Introduction, Game Master's Information, Location 1, Important NPCs, Scene 1. Like that. 

I am well versed in game design (rail road vs. sandbox, linear vs. non-linear). I meant the actual headings for parts of an adventure. 

Ian, dude? That flow chart is just mean. Epic, but mean.

Question about BRP: I was just reading the rules about wizards. If I am understanding the rules correctly...

A magic user has a spell with an % equal to her INT. So, if she has blast, her initial skill with blast is 18%. During her character build, she can allocate additional points to make this skill more likely to be successful. Same with other spells she initially begins with. Right?

But later in her career, she gains access to another spell (let's say flame). Her initial skill with flame is 18% (her INT). BUT, she has no additional skill points to allocate to this spell, right? 

So what is the incentive to gain and use new spells? The likelihood of using the news spell successfully is low, and therefore she is unlikely to gain skill checks to increase her spell ability by 1d6. 

This seems like a not so great way to do magic.  Thoughts?  

Interesting. I have not played a system like HeroQuest before. Side not: the incredibly pretty blonde woman from Daredevil--Deborah Wall--runs a game on Twitch called Relics&Rarities. I think (?) they use a similar, "Less-Cruch-Is-Better" kind of game, but I could be wrong. 

Friends, what is the difference between these two games? They are both set in Glorantha but use different mechanics? Is Heroquest a different system than BRP?

Greetings, hive-mind. I am curious if anyone has come across, or created, a BRP scenario outline? I do not have many BRP scenarios that I've bought, so I was wondering if anyone could point me toward a nuts and bolts adventure outline?Does Chaosium use a standard format, or is it pretty much individualized by each author? Is CoC the gold standard, or is it different for each world (Stormbringer vs. Pendragon vs. 7th Sea, etc.)? 

Thanks in advance.

GothmogIV

19 hours ago, Chaot said:

Just trying to understand. You plan on killing off the PCs in the third session?

No, no, not at all. It’s just that they tend to die much more quickly than, say, D&D. I think I came up with a good idea for a solve! Thanks to all for the input. 

Hivemind, I need some ideas. I am about to start a 7e CoC campaign with my friends. Back in the olden days, we played 2nd ed. CoC and Stormbringer. I would like to try and create a multiverse campaign that springboards off of CoC. The PCs would have different avatars, or iterations, of their characters in different worlds (like the Dreamlands, a fantasy world, a sci-fi setting, etc.). Sounds cool, right? Michael Moorcockian. 

Here is my issue: the CoC guys die really, really easy. So I have them spin up a few variations of a central character (the main avatar would be in the Dreamlands, since--in my thinking--that's the world that all others have in common) but in session three, the CoC guy gets splattered by something gooey. Now they need a new character, BUT, they already made a bunch connected to said splattered by gooey CoC guy. See what I'm saying?

Any thoughts or work arounds? I was thinking that, maybe, instead of an individual, it could be like a family or bloodline. Not sure. Ideas are most appreciated.

I would also like to say that role playing, Chaosium, and D&D5e have kept me sane during the pandemic. So that's a positive.

GothmogIV

Greetings all. New to the forums, but not to Chaosium (I bought the CoC boxed set 38 years ago!) It took me a train, a bus, and a long-ass walk to get to the store that had it, but man am I glad that I did. My friends and I played CoC and Stormbringer all through high school and college, then a few more times before jobs, lives, wives, and children caused us to fail our Resist Adulting rolls. With the current situation (Covid) we are back at it using Roll20. We started off with D&D5e, which has been fun but has its issues (overly complicated character builds, too much PC power, the Awokening). So I/we are back! I can't believe how much Chaosium has grown, and I am way excited to be playing again. I have always preferred the Chaosium BRP system to all others.  Cheers, my brothers and sisters! Ia Cthulhu!