Puck

Thanks. Part of my fears are that I personally find long text, without pictures and images kind of hard to read for enjoyment, especially when there is such a vast array of good source material already on the market. I am a little skitterish about the Steel and Gunstones stuff because a wrote it such a long time ago and I am sure it is probably treading over well worn ground. Most of it is simply bits of western civilization and world history mashed together. What really made me drag it up is that I was aching for an outside fantasy world to possibly interact with or act as a backdrop for the Green. Particularly with the human element. Anyway, I will keep posting stuff and I hope some can enjoy it or use it to generate ideas for their own worlds. Thanks

Cool. I tend to second guess myself a lot. I was afraid that I may have been accomplishing nothing but cluttering up someone else's forum with this stuff. I will continue to post as I dig through the old files. Thanks.

I am not familiar with the Australian legends but I must look into it it sounds pretty cool. I love the ideas of "power spots" to gain runes or spells. They could be anything that fit the setting: temples, icons, trees, crop rings,totem poles etc. and as you say the ready made quests add a lot to the role-playing experience. I did not really read the title of the thread before I jumped in and was actually thinking of Runes as possibly different from those of Glorantha and could work in BRP with more generic game settings. I am afraid to go into to many details hear as I may commit the faux pas of getting to far off the topic of Runes in Old RQ. This sounds interesting???

A Few to add to the List. Movie music: The Mission, 1492 Conquest of Paradise, 300, Troy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Last of the Mohecans, Black Hawk Down, Robin Hood, Stargate, The Hulk (This soundtrack is much better than you would think), Braveheart, Rob Roy, Henry V. Starship Troopers Robocop, Dune, Classical: Hanson’s: Lament for Beowulf, Holst: The Planets There is free music almost made for this here: Inquisition: Daemonhunt Music - FileFront.com It was composed for the Inquisition mod for the game Dawn of War.

I have been thinking a lot about a similar type of runic magic for BRP. What I am messing with right now is: 1.Runes are mystic symbols/writing representing and element/idea/concept giving individuals power in the form of spells (not chunks of bark that appear where people die). 2. Characters must attune or bond themselves to a particular rune. The process requires a teacher and costs the user 1pt. of power. Characters can attune themselves to more than one rune. 3. The character can then learn spells related to the particular rune. Spells must be learned separately but are all cast under the same skill. Skill begins at casters Int. Each Rune realm would have a number of spells, perhaps 4-10 (I am guessing here) that could be cast with the same runic skill. 4. Different Guilds, Cults, Societies could claim mastery over one or more runes. Some Societies may have different spells than others even though they may use the same rune (They use the rune differently). I have not worked out whether Magic or Sorcery spells would work best for the base as this rune system is a bit of a bastardization of both. I have played around with this a little with Wealding (tree rune) magic and Totemist (animal rune) magic over in the Shared-world corner, but there I still used the sorcery system and made it very simple. It seems like with BRP a lot could be done with this with very little work.

I have been goofing around with character creation, professions and stuff. BRP 0 has a list of skills for each profession and the player chooses from them. This is pretty easy to write up, but I do not know if it is the best way to go. Would it be better to add something like backgrounds and professions a-la MRQ. I was never particularly satisfied with RQ III. (I personally liked the old traveler method both as a player and a GM. It was alway the most fun and seemed to make great characters:). I may do this as an option later). I would be happy for suggestions from more experienced gamers. I have been fooling around with a MRQ-type skill set for the Nifarite: Background: Nefarite: Climb +20%, Listen +10%, Harness +15%, Spot +10%, Stealth +10% . Pick any two +10% Spear, Axe, Bow, Sword, Staff, Shield, Dagger, Dodge. Any two of the following +10% Knowledge(Green Lore, Plant Lore, or Animal lore), Literacy (Nefarite) Any one +15% Craft (Woodworking, Leather, Resin) Professions: Trader: Many Nifara take to trading up and down the bough roads with various inhabitants of the forests and rivers. Nifara usually trade animal and tree products in return for metal implements tools and weapons. Appraise+20%, Bargain+20%, Knowledge (Animal or Plant) +10, Language(Other) +20%, Lore(Green)+10%, Literacy (Nifarite) +10%, , Spot +10%, Staff +10%. Pick one: Fast Talk, Insight, or Persuade +20%. Hunter: Climb+10%, Jump+10%, Knowledge(Animal)+20%, Devise (Trap/ Harness) +20%. Pick Two 2 +15% Listen, Spot, Tracking, Knowledge (Green). Pick one Hide+20%, Stealth+20%. Bow+10%, Spear+10%. Speaker/Healer/Craft worker: Primary Skill: First Aid +30%, Craft (Wood, Leather or Potion) +30%, or Language(Other) +30%. Pick any Three that are not Primary Skills +20%: Appraise, First Aid, Knowledge (Plant, Animal, Green), Language (other), Literacy. Staff +10%. Pick any Three +10% Listen, Animal Handling, Insight, Persuade, Craft (Wood, Leather or Potion) Spellcasting. Foragers/Gleaners/Gatherers: These Nifarites travel the the boughs and foragings. They often visit certain far flung groves to sap and search for valuable plant and tree products Axe+15%, Climb+15%, Harness +15%, Lore(Plant)+25%. Pick one: Bow or Dagger +10% Pick Four +10% First Aid, Lore(Green), Hide, Jump, Spot, Appraise, Language (other). Languages and literacy always seem to pose a particular problem in RQ based games for me. I like the idea of character's knowing more that one language, especially in worlds were many cultures are converging and among more learned classes like spell casters or merchants. Knowing more than one language, and especially literacy, always seems like a point sink though and eats up other skill possibilities.

Is Steel and Gunstones worth continuing? Is anyone finding this interesting or worth reading at all, should I continue posting stuff or should I just scrap it?

The Gateway Bestiary I have is an old RQ II suppliment. It wouldn't be bad if you want to transfer a couple of rules over (shouldn't be to hard). In the Celtic part it includes Barguests, Brollachans, Fachans, Kelpies, Nuckelavees, Redcaps, Stoorworms, Water-leapers and Voughs. A lot of these have been reprinted in other places though. Can prove to be a handy book but I think it tends to be a little expensive on E-bay.

Thanks, I really need to work out a few more things like the variety and extent of influence of outside cultures on the Green; the rivermen and coastal cities in particular. I always write up certain stuff, particularly on maps, and then think of something later that doesn't really fit. I believe that writing the Gazetteer will be a lot of fun though.

I like that term a lot. Familiar and just different enough. I may use that later. I think for now though I Will just keep the thing called Steel and Gunstones because that is what is familiar and I have already posted that. The setting was really not ever finished and I do not know if it really ever can be but it might fire up some intrest among people and hopefully generate a few Ideas. It would be great to put together a truely collective work. I will try to post more a little at a time. I love to hear your input though.

I put up a little more detailed draft for a map of the Green in the Gallery.

Mmmm, interesting. I think I read that a while back. Was that the one where Sharp is in India and trying to capture a mountain fortress? I do not recall what the firelocks were. Where they Matchlocks? The guns that were available in the game were matchlocks and wheel-locks. Matchlocks were big and clumsy to use, not much good to adventurers and wheel-locks were very expensive and relatively rare. Steel and Firelocks....does not seem have the ring to it that I was looking for, but that has always been the problem. I never was able to find anything that seemed quite right. Back in the day, after the players got through with their comments and jibes, they started calling it Steel and Gunstones and it stuck.

A long while ago while I was GMing RQ III, I began writing out a game world. Eventually I wrote a whole new game system to go with it and was hoping some day to publish it. Well, it has been collecting dust for the better part of 15 years. While looking for some ideas for the Green I began to dig stuff up and realized I had more of the writings for the game world left then I thought I did. Some of it is pretty bad, kind of out of fashion and cliché, other parts are fragmentary and since I re-wrote it a lot I believe that there is stuff that doesn't really made sense or mesh very well with other parts. Non-the-less I think that there may be stuff that may be kind of fun for others to read and possibly even inspire a few ideas. It may possibly work as gated world or a anchor point for other parts of the shared world. I am afraid though, that world itself and particularly the history and philosophy behind magic and races is a little too all encompassing to be adopted into the shared world. As is I think it would intrude on other peoples ideas. I thought I would put little bits of it up on the wiki as I glean through them. I am afraid I have a bad habit of stealing other people's names and ideas without realizing it and will need to make some minor edits before I post them. (The worst of which is calling gunpowder "dragonsdung" which I borrowed from the Fantasy Trip and then forgot I had done so. Much to my surprise, when I flipped through my old copy of said game I realized my error). The game was going to be called Steel and Gunstones (Kind of corny I know). Everybody used to ask me about the use of the word "gunstones".....Well, I wanted guns to seem foreign and slightly weird. I got the word from Shakespeare's Henry V and thought it had a nice ring to it.

Excellent! I was beginning to wonder if the shared world project had been abandoned and no one told me about it. I am looking forward to more details on Portal.

Time to give another more in depth gander at fate points and powers. Man, this book is just pregnant with possibilities.

Between this thread and the adding mrq thread I was churning up some ideas. They may be unpalatable to some but are only in the proto stage. Without the Divine magic siphoning off Pow points, characters may build them up pretty quickly. The only two permanent magic point bleeders I recall are staffs and familiars and that only one point a piece. What about buying these powers, feats, heroic abilities with permanent Pow points? Much like super Powers. I think that is what Jason is saying here: To explain this may be a stretch for some, but the idea is that a fighter type would spend much of his concentration, reflection, practice time, etc. on certain combat moves. If that was the case I was trying to think of other appropriate non-flashy powers that could be bought that would fit a fantasy setting and would particularly benefit non-magic users other than simply increasing skills. What about buying a weapon specialty that would increase the special hit (impale, crush, slash) with that particular weapon 1% per permanent Pow invested. or Buying the ability to aim well with a weapon. May change the die roll on the hit location die by one point per Pow Sacrifice. or A defense specialist that may subtract 10 from the 30% penalty on subsequent parries. For three points they may parry twice per round with no penalty. All three of these would require a cap of say 5 points to prevent things getting out of hand, but they may work….. I think. Any other possibilities?

Yes, I think so but the more recent covers are terrible; They look like books for two year olds. The old covers were much, much better. I only read the Earthsea trilogy(very good) and the Left Hand of Darkness. Are there any others that are particularly good or should be read?

That's Lloyd Alexander. I remember people reading those books back in the day when everyone was starting to role play. My students still really enjoy those books today. Great stuff. I cannot remember what happens in them very well. I may have to re-read those.

Cool. Definitely going to use those.

Thanks. That is about how I thought it would happen. The cool thing is that it keeps the whole thing simple and organized while adding the weapon reach.

I cannot see any problems at all, it may work even better. :thumb: The reason it seems a little strange is that most systems I have ever played with had movement before attack. I am kind of trying to think what would happen if in your example Roman had to close on the guard from a distance rather than coming upon them from around a corner. That is more typical of the kind of combats I run across in role-playing. I imagine guard one would get an extra shot off as Roman closed to close combat range. Then both guards would get an attack in round 2. One question am curious about is how far a character could move in one strike rank. BRP has characters moving 30 meters per combat turn and 5 meters for free if they attack. I am not really trying to be nit-picky, but I really like your system and I know this kind of thing will come up with players (I often use chits and a grid map for role-playing where movement becomes important).

I have found this kind of thing is great for making new cults/societies/disciplines in the new BRP. They work similar to feats or heroic abilities in other games only seem much more elegant and natural, particularly if they are cult or philosophy specific.

Riposte rules??! Sounds very interesting ????

Looks good to me. I always have to actually try these things a few times for real before I am really sure how they play out, but it looks simple and playable and yet allows for longer weapons splitting attacks and such. Is movement considered a non-combat action? If so, it seems strange that movement falls after the combat actions. Maybe just because so many games have movement phases before combat.

What a brilliant concept and nicely carried out as well. Not only is it cool, but it will not seem as embarassing to carry around in public as some other role playing stuff.