Chaot

3 hours ago, Mankcam said:

At other times, especially non-combat, I use a heavy narrative focus, even if there are occasionally skill rolls required. I agree that narrative focus is the whole point of roleplaying otherwise we might as well be playing an MMO, but combat can be the part of the game that allow simulationists rules to shine. But only for importanty combat scenes, otherwise I tend to use Mook rules to gloss over general action scenes.

Going way back to my early gaming and D&D, as a player it was a goal of mine to keep the GM in the narrative frame of mind.  Experience taught me that when the dice came out characters started dying.

Pertinent to the thread, my more recent thoughts about GMing involve the connection between improvisation and how an arch of a story can come from it.  This includes minimizing things that work against these goals.  Like you, I use look rules to avoid bogging down play in unimportant combat.  If the PCs are trying to accomplish something using a skill roll and it's not in the heat of danger and they have a skill that shows they are at least familiar with how to do it I just give them a skill check and say they succeeded, no roll involved.

Regarding the last section of Wick's article, that's partly where I went astray while trying to merge the madness meter with Ravenloft.  It was there because I wanted it to be there but wasn't optimized to be important in play and to help tell the story.

You are correct sir.  I did not.

I would have to dig up some written notebooks to tell you my sordid tale of Madness Meters, Traits and my flirtations with other implementations.  The details are lost in failed sanity rolls and fever dreams.  I did drop the Traits.  They just weren't connecting.  I tried some other options including the Rage, Fear and Noble passions from Unknown Armies as well as looser passions that acted more like character aspects.  Those were Relations, Conviction and Description, or 'who would you fight for?', 'what would you fight for?', and 'how do you see yourself?'.

I don't remember exactly how it all tied together mechanically but while I wouldn't call it a failure I certainly wouldn't call it a success either.  I'll see if I can dig some more specifics up.  In the meantime, here's a jpg of the most recent BRP Ravenloft sheet!

1 hour ago, Simlasa said:

So. for those in the know, what sort of feel is ATVW going for? What might be its 'Appendix N'?

I'm interested in this question too.  ATVW has kinda flown under my radar until this thread.

At my current writing speed it should be ready by 2025.

18 minutes ago, soltakss said:

I see all D100 systems as variants of RuneQuest anyway, so happily buy things from all of them.

Which is funny because I see all D00 systems as aspects of BRP.  BRP is a description of a type of game.  I also happily buy things from all of them.

On January 1, 2016 at 6:32 PM, tooley1chris said:

Been thinking about my next project, and while I've still a short list of stuff I'd like to do, I've been thinking about a Darksun campaign setting for MW. 

Any interest?

 

Edit: I dunno. I suppose this would just be MW with Psychic powers from BGB and a slightly different magic system drawing on defiling magic. Probably not worthy of a whole project...

It depends on how far you go.  I've been brainstorming on and off for a Dark Sun game for longer than is healthy.  Thing is I love half of the setting and loath the other half.  There are also tons of tiny things you can look at through rules systems.  For example.

Preserving/Defiling

Mages on Athas power there spell by the very life force around them, channeling it through the earth, changing it in their bodies and unleashing it to alter the very fabric of reality around them.  Therefore, mages do not draw upon their own reserve of mp.  The mage instead relies on her Constitution score to determine how much energy she can safely channel.  For every mp she channels above her Constitution score she get a Defiling point.  As time passes the residue of magical energies within her body pass and she can again begin to channel magic.

Spells are learned as individual skills and a mage must roll against the skill each time they wish to cast a spell.  A preserver will rely on spell components and rituals to boost their skill %.  If casting a Fireball spell the preserver could use something like ash from a fire to boost the spell by 5%.  She might use an open flame like a torch to boost her skill by 10%.  A bonfire or a container of combustable material might boost it by 15%.  A burning house or some rare ingredient related to fire might give a full 20% bonus.

Defilers often use short cuts, channeling more energy from the earth at a reckless pace to power their spells.  A defiler is allowed to flip flop a spell roll.  If she rolls a 73 she can change it to a 37.  Every time a defiler defiles she gains an additional Defiling point.  These points expand the amount of energy the defiler can channel.  If a defiler has a Constitution of 10 and Defiling 15 the defiler can channel 25 points before incurring another Defiling point.  However, if at any time the defiler flip flops their roll they gain another defiling point.  A mage can choose to defile after they make their roll if they see their roll would succeed with defiling.  Defiling is seductive and dangerous.

How dangerous?  When a defiler reaches Defiling 10 they develop an obsession and a physical trait.  For each additional 10 they gain another trait and obsession.  The reason why people avoid defilers is because they are obsessive, reckless and all around dangerous.  They often act in selfish ways that put them into direct danger.

2 hours ago, tooley1chris said:

Have the layout completed. Fixed a few more errors. I've been in Copy/Paste HELL transferring the conversions to the new format. Since no one commented on preference  (a couple posts up), I'm working in larger, color pics for a more modern appearance. Still time to get custom pics in if anyone is interested. This is gonna be a damn big book.

Kinda feeling alone here on the Magic World thread....

 

Thought there was more time.  Would have contributed some sketches.  Chris, do the critters get the full translation treatment?  I'm hoping to use some of your translations as is when I start running Monster World.

i myself have been somewhat quiet on the forums as I'm kinda having a year from hell.  Gaming has been far back on the back burner.  Really hoping for a turn around sometime soon.

I think powers need to be looked at in a broader way as well.  Something like the focus skills in Gods of Law or the ridiculously powerful skills some mythos creatures have.  Dr. Manhattan would have a SubAtomic Particle Control skill and a Non Linear Perception of Time skill.  Spidey would have a Spidey Sense skill, a Climb Walls Skill, a Webslinger skill, etc.  The trick is finding an elegant subsystem to keep it light and tie it together.

Writing up a BRP Supers system has long been on my wish list of things to do.

Classic Fantasy tackled archetypes brilliantly.  It provides a character framework while not becoming rigid.

maybe I've been lucky or maybe it's some fluke of the BRP rules that I usually run but I haven't experienced PCs blending together.  The PCs in my games have all seemed to have found their own approaches to the challenges before them.  They feel like very different characters disputed sometimes having similar skill levels.  It may be because most difficult challenges my players run into are either social, cultural or environmental.  Combat is often over quickly (and is sometimes better avoided).

i don't know, both approaches seem fine to me.  Using rules that provide a standardized character difference or going without something like that are valid options.

I have break coming up where I feelI need to work in a years decompression in a week and a half.  I will probably do some scribbling.  No idea if it's going to be worth using but I'll send what I come up with.

Probably want to look somewhere more accomplished for a cover though.

17 hours ago, Archivist said:

Mook rules sound great.

Are the Mook rules from BRP Core?

I know there's a Pulp BRP Suppliment. Is that useful?

Minion rules were published in the Gods of Law monograph, currently available free on stormbringerrpg.com and then developed further in the book Dragon Lines.

Do you have a handy list of creatures that appear?

You could also take a page from Pendragon.  Honorable/Dishonorable.

On November 19, 2015 at 11:45:12 AM, tooley1chris said:

Markus hasn't added 1/4th of the material I've sent him. He must be pretty busy. 

Gonna be awhile before I post another file. Its a bear redoing the Manual of Monsters. ..

Cool.  At some point I want to send something as well.  Probably my Monster World stuff polished up.  No place near ready for the light of day right now though.

6 hours ago, Sunwolfe said:

I know he had many more ideas for the area than were published. Who knows what might come from it? Maybe an idea I can pursue .

Looking forward to your report.  The Fey is something that I was most interested in expanding in my own game.  It would be nice to hear about the direction it was intended to go as my own personal inclination is to develop material that would compliment or at least consider what was originally conceived.

Left to my own devices my fey would (hopefully) end up as a mixture of Hellboy and Froud.   

43 minutes ago, Mankcam said:

Actually I feel that Chaosium putting MagicWorld on the back burner also kinda liberates it in some ways, leaving it for the fans to tweak to their hearts content, like we used to do with the rpgs back in the 80s (my teens).

Bring on the BRP OSR I say! 

I agree, like, a thousand percent.  I just wish we had gotten the books that had been in development.

On November 13, 2015 at 3:19:14 PM, tgmoore said:

I just bought a hard copy of MagicWorld. I really like the rules. I am coming from primarily a D&D background, all editions. But I fear I have hitched my gaming cart to a dinosaur. 

Yup.  If it's any consolation the Magic World rules are nearly identical to the Elric! rules, which I've been using since the late 90's (and others have been using longer than me).  It's a pretty hearty dinosaur.

Mass Hypnosis (1 MP, line of sight, 1d00 affected)

When both of Demogorgon's heads are focused on a group of enemies he can briefly hypnotize them.  For 1 round those effected will do whatever Demogorgon says.  Those under hypnosis will not do anything self destructive.  After the first round anyone effected by the hypnosis has a POW x5% chance to break out of it.  The hypnosis naturally wears off after 6 rounds.

If the target has a POW of 16 or greater they get a POW x5% roll to not be affected by Mass Hypnosis.  The GM rolls a d00 to see how many targets Demogorgon can affect.

Beguile (1 MP, 2 foot radius)

Demogorgon's left head has the power to beguile anyone within 2 feet.  Any intelligent creature will view Demogorgon as a trusted friend for Demogorgon's POW in turns.  A beguiled individual will not act against their beliefs or morals, nor will they act in a manner that will hurt themselves.  The will believe and obey any communication that is reasonable.  Any target receives a Luck roll to avoid Demogorgon's eyes.

Questionable Sanity (1 MP, 2 foot radius)

Demogorgon's right head causes temporary insanity in victims who meet it's gaze.  Those who fail to make a Luck roll to avoid Demogorgon's eyes fall victim to fear and doubt for six rounds.  The target is paralyzed with doubt and is unable to act unless they succeed in an Idea roll.  The target is allowed a POW x5% roll each round to break the ensorcellment.  This effect lasts for Demogorgon's POW in turns.

____________________

 Thought I'd add something like this since it's spelled out in Demogorgon's write up.  It's pretty powerful in keeping people from attacking Mr. Demogorgon.  It's also useful in rallying brief mobs to Monsieur D's side.  These seemed to be free actions for Demogorgon.  I gave them a cost of 1 mp.  You can obviously adjust any of it as you see fit.

Just chiming in to say that I would also use the Allegiance tally system for specific cults.

One way to do this and have it work a little different than the three primes is to make a cult's Allegiance more 'static.'  The three primes are built by continuously acting in a certain manner.  A cultish Allegiance might be built up from specific religious or magical rituals.  Your witch might harvest the moon every month, spending a full night in worship.  As long as she continues performing her ritual every month she maintains 5 points of Allegiance.  She needs to have enough rituals and practices to maintain 20 Allegiance points to be considered 'aligned' with the power/deity.  When she breaks with the tradition or violates the taboo she looses those points and is no longer aligned.

Your website mentions a beta test document.  Is that something I can get my hands on now that I've backed the project?  I've started the BRP Ravenloft thread over at RPGNet back up and I'm seriously considering jumping from Magic World over to Revolution for it.

Right, just wanted to make sure.

Quick question about stretch goals.  Does Undercover Revolutionary include pdfs of unlocked stretch goals?

Sorry I am spamming the thread, but it you haven't read them go check out Green's Gods of Law and Gods of Chaos over at Stormbringerrpg.com.  Also read Watt's Old Hrolmar.  All three are fantastic.

Then go over to the YKAdventures wiki and read the Bakshaan and Rignorium stuff.  Fun things to grab there.  There were some locations written up too that are interesting.  By memory it was the groaning arch, the blood altar, and some sort of holy grove but a quick google search did not bring them up.  Maybe someone here can jump in with a link.  They were from the old Chaosium Digest.

There's a great Actual Play thread at RPGnet by Shannon Appelcline called Stormbringer: Warriors for Balance.

I started writing up Ravenloft as a procrastination outlet.  I remembered from my long past AD&D days that Ravenloft was heavy handed and railroady, but who doesn't like stating up Dracula and Frankenstein, right?  I'm happy I dipped back into it because I really grew to like a lot of the Ravenloft setting.

One thing that I think is easily taken from Ravenloft is the NPCs.  They've got good bones and there's plenty of room to riff on themes.  Another thing it does well is personalize the different countries in Ravenloft.  Of course, it does this by the typical 'take a culture and strip it' method, which can be a little grating.

Someday I'm going to have a big weekend marathon roleplaying session and finish the Fall of the House of Shadowbourne story arc I had going...  ...actually, maybe it's because it's halloween but I have a sudden itching to jump back into Ravenloft...

Yeah for the YK.  I dug out an old file if you're interested.  Posted it here in the downloads.  It's a short breakdown of the countries in the YK.  I think I drew on different sources for it, but it's been a while.  It may just be content taken from Elric! and arranged conveniently for player consumption.

If my Monster World game eventually gets off the ground I'll throw some stuff up there.