Chaot

I have a few things to say about it, the short of which is that I like the book very much. It'll have tohold till morning though.

It's closer than Unknown Armies or Pendragon though. I can't play Stormbringer3 adventures "out of the box" using Stormbringer5. Both are BRP though. I count it as a bonus that the systems are similar though. Please don't. Much as I love Chaosium, I really wish they would either consolidate those books or stop selling them. You're much better off picking up a used copy of the RQ3 boxed set.

I just got this for Christmas and am working my way through it right now. Really excellent work Puck! I've been vaguely interested in it for a long time now but reading it blew my expectations out of the water. I'm loving it. I does.

Yeah, I held off until the end because I couldn't justify spending the money. Things are tight. I told my wife not to get me a Christmas present in lieu of this and my conscious is happy again. This purchase puts me a good way closer to having all of the current monographs that I want.

For me it was 1 x Lords of Tarsa 1 x Devil's Gultch 1 x The Green 1 x Rise of the Dead 1 x Agents of the Crown Looking forward to the reading.

Thanks... and, order placed. Must have been remembering the protocol for a different site. I wasn't going to place the order if there was shipping involved or if it would require further follow up to take care of, for various reasons. I'm a happy cultist now.

Went to take advantage of the current sale and I'm not seeing the free shipping option for my order of over $60. I seem to remember that free shipping was a toggle that was activated when you hit that amount. Am I misremembering? Do I just select the $12 ground shipping and they take it off on their end? Did anyone who may have bought on this sale have the same problem?

MRQ Pirates has some info on blackpowder that you could steal. I have some rules for a Freeport game that I cobbled together that I could look up for you later.

How is it tied to the system mechanically? Skill roll? Just a set of spells with no mp cost? Something else? Edit: and thanks. This book is one my very short list of to-buy. I've been looking forward to it.

Oh, I've got one. In another thread you mentioned that magic points were removed. Could you give a brief description of what kind of magic system the Laundry has?

I sent a PM with some hints.

This is seriously cool. Can't find half of them but have one to add to the list. Cortex System Role Playing Game - Product Format Watermarked PDF Edit: Found nearly all of them, sixteen out of the nineteen found thus far. Very happy.

Wait, does this mean we can't have multiple Stormbringer threads if they're about different subjects? :confused:

I've the soft cover print version of these as well. They are excellent. Well worth picking up.

Just read it. Excellent.

Not too difficult, says I? This was definitely from my "more rules IS BETTER!" time period. I hope there might be something in there that someone can use.

I followed it up with this post. _____________________ >It >is very elaborate; you have considered many aspects of >reputation. Thanks! I figure that there are four main things that factor into how well a person is known; what they do, how well they do it, who they know, and good public relations/familiarity. ‘What they do’ is covered both by Deeds and Cults/Guilds, ‘how well they do it’ by Skills percentages, ‘who they know’ by Alliances/Enemies and partially Regional Skills, and ‘good public relations/familiarity’ by the Regional Skill and Alliances/Enemies. This is what I tried to emulate in the rules and, after your feedback, have revisited and made an adjustment. Hopefully it simplifies things. However, I should note that these are very loose definitions, as you can probably tell by my overlap of concepts in the mechanics. Therefore, I encourage a great deal of GM discretion when adjudicating reactions. >I'm not 100% sold on all the maths required each time >a PC meets someone. I would probably not use every >aspect of your system. After rereading my post, the narrative is a bit rambling. My purpose is to put the onus of maintaining relationships on the PC, not the GM. Actual recalculations should wait until the GM decides to let the players make their skill rolls. The PCs shouldn’t receive any benefits to Reputation until after they accomplish significant tasks (and until the beneficiaries have a chance to mull them over), which generally occurs either at the end of the adventure, or the game session break, or when the GM needs to give the Players some busy work to keep the players occupied so that he or she can recoup-regroup. So, I’m going to try to simplify and clarify. Hopefully it will seem more intuitive. Please, let me know if it is still too involved and give me some specific complaints and I will do my best to address and adapt them. Note that actual recalculations of Reputation should wait until the GM decides to let the players make their skill rolls. The PCs shouldn’t receive any benefits to Reputation until after they accomplish significant tasks (and until the recipients have a chance to mull them over), which generally occurs either at the end of the adventure, or the game session break, or when the GM needs to give the Players something to do when they need to recoup. As far as mathematics goes, I’m sticking with three concepts (last version was two concepts, one supported by previous BRP material (1/5th rule), one a homebrew (Regional percentages modifying Reputation Scores). The third concept is the 4 to 1 rule (introduced (I think) in the Unknown East supplement for Stormbringer). Why the addition? Well, I noticed that there is no measure of spell casting in the original Reputation rules. I think that we would all agree that Sorcerers in Nehwon have a bit of a reputation... So, I’ve incorporated magic into the Reputation rules. The short of it is that for every 4 MPs of spells that the Sorcerer has, they gain 1 REP point. However, I’ll get into that later. Another thing, I realized that Alliance/Enemies and Guild/Cult Skills overlap a little bit, so I’ve nixed the Guild/Cult Skills from the base Reputation score and am just using the generic Guild/Cult Skill under Alliance. Anyway, in the hope of simplification, I’m going to post my (re)organization of the aspects in the Reputation system, using Bobsk’s Character. Note that Reputation, Spells, Deeds, Alliance/Enemies, and Regions are all together. Etiquette is separate, but related. Reputation Spells Deeds Alliance/Enemies Regions rep Skill 1 % Region 1 % x Skill 2 % Region 2 % x Skill 3 % Region 3 % x etc. Etiquette Noble % Scholar % Bureaucrat % Merchant % Craftsman % Laborer % Vagrant % So for Bobsk, his Character Sheet might look like this. Reputation Spells Deeds Alliance/Enemies Regions rep Short Sword 120% 24 no spells lost famed Ruby A-Baker Profession 10% 2 Quarmall 5% 5 Bluff 80% 16 of Gar’thoom 10 A-Slayers’ Guild 15% 3 Lankhmar 45% 37 Run 60% 12 A-Issek Initiate 15% 3 Total: 82 E-Lajal Gar’thoom 50% 10 E-Culinary Guild 10% 2 So, I notice I haven’t really given Bobsk any Etiquette Skills in these examples. He’s got a background in Craftsman, so lets say he’s got 10%. Since then, he’s gone on to a bit of a more shady profession with the Slayers’, so let’s peg that at 25%. Finally, he’s done some work for the family of Lajal Gar’thoom, so let’s give him a 10% in the Noble Skill. Etiquette Noble 10% Scholar 0% Merchant 0% Craftsman 10% Laborer 0% Vagrant 25% How It All Works. So we have a Reputation total based on Alliance/Enemies, Deeds and Spells. This total is modified by the Regions Skill giving us the effective Reputation. Bobsk is in Lankhmar right now, so his effective Reputation is 37. This is pretty low, but not insignificant. There’s not a whole lot that makes his stand out from any other person yet. However, he is experienced, so he does have that going for him. So, who does know about him? Any Scholar, Merchant, or Laborer really has no reason to know anything about him. If he is interacting with a Craftsman or Noble the GM or PC makes a roll against the appropriate Etiquette. Through the course of the discussion, the given Noble or Craftsman might recall something about Bobsk. Depending on who the NPC is, they may feel more or less sympathetic. One way of looking at this is that approximately 10 out of 100 Nobles will have heard about Bobsk, whether because of the Ruby fiasco, his belonging to the Slayers’, his presence in the cult of Issek of the Jug, or his background as a Baker. His relationship with Lajal Gar’thoom is the most likely element that a Noble might know about, but it is all a decision made by the GM. Because of his involvement with the underworld, approximately 25 out of 100 Vagrants will know some information about Bobsk. Also note that in Lankhmar, Bobsk Rep is only 37. He doesn’t rate a lot of excitement with the exception of his new enemy Lajal Gar’thoom (due to the high Deed score). Right now, Bobsk does not have a wide circle of Alliances/Enemies or a great number of Deeds under his belt. Therefore, there are only a few things to be known for. Eventually, this will expand. More Thoughts on Alliance/Enemies What does a Guild or Cult Skill signify? It has been established that having the skill increases the Character’s Reputation. Why? Well, I think it is a sign of standing (good or poor, depending on whether it is an Ally or Enemy) within an organization. Both Guilds and Cults have ranks, be they Apprentice, Journeyman, Master, or Grand Master for Guilds, or Initiate, Acolyte, Priest, High Priest for Cults. For Characters to gain status in the Guild or Cult they need to have the right Skills to qualify and also perform some sort of rite of passage. This could be a spectacular theft, the creation of a masterpiece in their craft, or an inordinate devotion to their church. These have to be appropriate to the desired rank within the organization and the Characters have to be approved by the hierarchy. The Guild/Cult Skill may also be used to determine eligibility for upward movements. So, maybe an Apprentice/Initiate ranges from 01% to 40%. This doesn’t mean that the Character can’t be an Apprentice/Initiate with a score higher than 40%, it just means that if they are trying to advance, they better have a Guild/Cult score higher than 40% to qualify. This seems to indicate that this Skill denotes an understanding of how the Guild/Cult works, who is a part of it, what their goals are, etc. Since this skill lies under Alliance, I also think it can be used to petition the Guild/Cult for help. This needs to be coupled with a communication Skill like Bargain, Bribe, Fast Talk, Intimidate, Orate, etc., depending on the desired result and Character concept. A Failure means they say no. Success means yes, but with some strings attached. Critical means they get the help, no strings attached. A Special Critical means they provide more help than asked. A Fumble means that the organization is outraged by the PC’s audacity and the PC’s standing in the Guild/Cult actually decreases. Here’s another concept to keep in mind. A Guild/Cult is not a unified whole, but an organization. Therefore, while a Character can have a Guild Alliance, they may also have the Guild as an Enemy. Yes, I know it sounds like a paradox, but let me explain. Let’s say that the PC goes to the Guild with a favor. They role a Special Critical and get total backing by the Guild. The PCs go and mess the whole thing up royally, bringing shame on the Guild. Now, they have enemies inside the Guild. They get a new Enemy Guild Skill, the same skill as their Ally Guild Skill. The GM rubs his or her hands in glee as half a dozen adventure seeds spring to mind. The Player sees that evil gleam in the GM’s eyes and a resulting gleam of sweat appears on the Player’s forehead... Increasing Alliance/Enemies For a Character, Alliances are good things to have. They provide the Character avenues of action that might otherwise be closed to them. Therefore, a PC who sees the benefit in this will actively pursue Alliances. Enemies are fun to have. Drop an Enemy in front of a PC or have an NPC slight or cheat them, and they pursue the offending party with a passion that would put the furies to shame. However, while a Player may try and increase Alliances to their own advantage, eventually self preservation will kick in and they will want to minimize their Enemies. What’s a GM to do? Why, cheat of course!!! Ok, not exactly cheat. Enemies are a special case. Alliances are something that need to be worked on to create and maintain. Enemies are a result of the gameworld. They are the NPCs who are slighted, cheated or disenfranchised by the PC. They are the Enemies of the PCs Allies. They are the GM’s playground and therefore fall under the jurisdiction of the GM. An Enemy only appears on the PC’s Character Sheet when the Character becomes aware of them and involved with them. For every Alliance the PC has, that Ally is going to have a few Enemies. So every Alliance, depending on the group, may have 5-10 Enemies, or more. It is possible for the PC to get caught up in the machinations between the PC’s Ally and their Enemies. So, the more a PC Allies themselves with a group, the more potential Enemies they make. The beauty of it almost makes me weep. Note on Spells I was going to get into a big example here, but this is the short of it. Typically in a Stormbringer game, Spells have a certain amount of MP associated with them. Let’s say Bobsk has Rat Vision (or whatever the spell is), which lets him see through the eyes of rats. Say this is a 3MP spell. This gives Bobsk 1 point in Rep because for every 4 MPs (rounded up) he get’s 1 Rep point. Say he gets another spell, but it is only worth 1MP, his Rep stays at 1. Now, say Bobsk get Suppleness of Xiombarg (or whatever, my book isn’t in front of me). This spell can be cast at 1MP up to 4MP. Bobsk gets credit as a 4MP spell and his Rep goes up another point. Not too difficult.

Well holy carp. I was going through some old cds and I found a posted years ago on a yahoo group about Lankhmar. So here's the rambling post. At some point I had put it together in a more concise format. It worked pretty well when I was using it. It takes several different character aspects into account including social circles the PC moves through and where they are located in the campaign world. Also note that only a few us on the board actually played BRP, which is why some of the explanations are there. _______________ Nine months or more ago, I wrote about a possible Social Status/Reputation System. Well here it is. Some of it was inspired by GURPS. However, it has been so long since I’ve read GURPS so I’m no longer sure which parts of it were the inspired parts. Also, this system was designed with the BRP in mind. Any adaptation to a non skill based system will require a certain amount of hand waving and rewriting. Reputation could be handled by level and Etiquette and Alliances could be handled by Class or something, I guess.... but I find it an unsatisfactory substitute. This method is fairly involved. It can potentially be stripped down and run without a lot of the details, but I think that it benefits from having all aspects included. I may be wrong on this count, and am hoping that you all can set me straight on it. I think though, that it is fairly intuitive and can run quietly in the background. GM’s are encouraged to play fast and loose with these rules to account for various NPC perspectives. An additional benefit of these rules is it gives Players something to focus on other than Combat and Magic. In my opinion, this is always a good thing. As a final note, these are literally slapdash notes that I rattled off today. Though the concepts have been percolating for awhile, much of this is in a newly written form. Therefore, not a whole lot of editing went into it. Please forgive any inconsistencies, incongruent concepts, or any other faults that may lie within. I am presenting this to you a) for feedback and any suggestions that might make the system more viable, and in the hopes that some of the ideas may be beneficial to anyone running a Lankhmar campaign. (And c) to convert everyone to the BRP! Um, I didn’t just type that...) WARNING.... LONG... BRP Mechanics Summary Since this uses the BRP, I’m going to quickly summarize some of the basic system for those unfamiliar with it. There are no levels. It is a skill based system that uses percentiles to signify how proficient a Character is. When a skill is used the Character has a chance at improving it, usually at the end of the adventure. Skills are not capped at 100% but extend to infinity. (I believe Elric of the Moorcock books and the Stormbringer game has a Greatsword skill of 880%. That’s the highest skill that I recall off hand, but it’s possible that Azathoth of Lovecraft and the Cthulhu game has infinity in a few skills. This, of course, is at the high end of the scale. Most town guards have a combat skill ranging from 40%-60%. Heros have combat skills around 100%.) Skills operate on a graded scale, so every roll under the skill is a Success. Every roll under 1/5th of the skill is a Critical Success. Every roll under 1/100th of the skill is a Special Success. Every roll above the skill is either a Failure or a Fumble. In every contest there is an active and a passive skill. For example, the Sea Mingol is using her Cutlass Skill against the Merchant from Quallmar. The Merchant has the option of Parrying or Dodging. The Sea Mingol rolls her skill, the Merchant his and they compare results. Skills can modify other skills. Say a Land Mingol is defending his territory from some marauding Ghouls. He’s riding his horse and firing his bow. The PC rolls one percentage die and compares it both to his Bow Skill and his Riding Skill. The PC is not Successful unless both Skills are Successful. One more thing. Stormbringer introduced Allegiances. It’s a system that measures a Character’s devotion to a Power; Law, Chaos or the Balance. A certain amount of points in an Allegiance gives the Characters benefits. Reputation is based on this system. Ok, enough of that stuff, here’s the new stuff. The Social System There are four factors; Social Status, Reputation, Alliances/Enemies, and Regions. The following is a rough breakdown, followed by some notes and then an overview of how the factors work together. Social Status- (Skill Based) Etiquette [Noble] % Etiquette [Merchant] % Etiquette [Craftsman] % Etiquette [Laborer] % Etiquette [Vagrant] % Notes: These five Etiquette Skills inform a Character on the Social niceties of each Class, including speech patterns, appropriate dress, hygiene, and diet. To actually look the part of the given Class a Character may have to spend some time (and money) to maintain their appearance. I’m planing on instituting a monthly (or weekly or daily) monetary fee to maintain a given appearance. Not only does this Skill measure how well the Character can fit into a given ‘Class,’ it also measures how familiar the given ‘Class’ is with the Character. If a Character has a Merchant 60%, Craftsman 40%, and Noble 10% it signifies that the Character spends most of his or her time with Merchants and is well known within that circle. It also signifies that the Character also deals with Craftsmen and that they are moderately known in that circle. However, this Character rarely deals with Nobles and are therefore largely unknown to Nobles. A Thief could have a high Vagrant Skill. This Thief could also have a high Noble Skill if she concentrated on exclusively robbing Nobles. Consequently, the Thief would also be well known, and feared, by Nobles, possibly causing some trouble to the Thief when the Nobles take out a contract on her... Reputation- (Point Based) 1/5th of Highest Three Skills Guild Associations (1/5th of Highest Skill) Cult Association (1/5th of Highest Skill) Deeds (variable point value) Notes: Reputation is special because, not only is it based on a Point Based system, but it is also modified by other skills. To give Reputation perspective, the Stormbringer system uses 100 Allegiance points as a significant marker. It seems reasonable to use a Reputation of 100 to signify being famous (or infamous). Say a Character’s three highest Skills are 120%, 80% and 60%. This gives us 24, 16 and 12. These are added together for a total of 52. This is pretty impressive and will make the character well known in his or her circles. Remember though that this is the unmodified value. Regional familiarity ties into the final result. Also, when using the different ways of determining Reputation, a Skill can only be counted once. At Character Creation, the Player chooses a Background for their Character. This Background includes Skills that the Player can assign to percentage points to. The purpose of this is to give the Character some sort of History. One Fifth of the highest Skill of the Character Background is added to the Character’s Reputation score. In practice, this will probably be the fourth highest skill that a Character starts out with, as the three highest go to determining their basic Reputation score. Other factors that contribute to Reputation is a Character’s relationship to organizations. These groups give the Character access to learning skills and special abilities as well as broadening the Character’s social structure. Each Guild and Cult have skills and special abilities that they are known for. When a Character becomes a member of the Guild or Cult they are granted the opportunity to train with the group in exchange for their loyalty. Let’s say that the above Character is a guy named Bobsk. His three highest skills are Short Sword 120%, Bluff 80%, and Run 60%. Say Bobsk joins the Slayers Guild. The Slayers are known for their skill with the Short Sword, Dagger, and Garrote. They are also known for their ability to Move Silently. Bobsk trains up his Dagger skill to 32%. He’s already using his Short Sword skill to determine his Reputation, so that one doesn’t count. However, Bobsk decides that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of... uh, something else, so he decides to invest heavily in training up his Move Quietly Skill. He trains it up to 50%, surpassing his Dagger Skill. Therefore, 1/5th of Bobsk Move Quietly 50% will be added to his Reputation total, bringing it up to 62. Bobsk is also a spiritual man and has become a devotee of Issek of the Jug. Through his devotion, Bobsk has increased his Endure Torture Skill to 40%. Bobsk’s Endure Torture 40% nets him another 8 points to his Reputation, bringing it up to 70. Pretty impressive. Bobsk’s family Background is that of Baker. However, Bobsk was never muck of a Baker and his Craft [baking] is only at 40%. However, since this is the highest Background Skill that is not already accounted for, Bobsk adds another 8 to his Reputation score, bringing the total up to 78. The final aspect of a Character’s Reputation is the Character’s Deeds. Though Bobsk is originally from Quarmall, he has spent most of his life in Lankhmar. In that time, he has failed as a Baker and done some freelance work here and there. His career has been unspectacular, and while working as a hired sword, he single handedly lost the famed Ruby of Lajal Gar’thoom. Fortunately for Bobsk, it was more of a family heirloom than something of value. However, stories of his ineptitude have spread through certain circles in Lankhmar, adding 10 points to his Reputation score, bringing the total up to 88. There’s a couple of things here. First off, no press is bad press. Various NPCs will have their own opinion of the Character depending upon their own context. Reputation is only used to calculate whether someone is well known, not well liked. Therefore, good things and bad things are both totaled together. It is up to the GM to sort it all out. The second thing, Deeds are only gained through roleplaying. A Character cannot, under normal circumstances, begin with Deeds already present (unless the GM wants to include unroleplayed Deeds at Character creation). Alliances/Enemies - (Skill Based) Any significant Group that the Character helps or Hinders. Cult of the Blue Assassins 35% Village of Tradspeil 62% etc. This category is tightly tied to the Reputation category. An Alliance/Enemy is any group to which the Character belongs, has helped or has hindered. In Bosk’s case, he is an initiative of the Slayer’s Guild and the Cult of Issek of the Jug. Therefore, under Alliances he has Slayer’s Guild 15% and Issek of the Jug 15%. His family is also non guilded Bakers, so he has garnered the ire of the Culinary Guild (or whatever). However, his family wasn’t much of a threat, so he is only an Enemy [Culinary Guild] 10%. However, Bobsk has seriously angered the Lajal Gar’thoom family, netting him an Enemy [Lajal Gar’thoom Family] 50%. The purpose of this category is to note who the Character’s friends and enemies are. The GM can use this category as a way of determining NPC reactions to the Character. This also allows the Player to know who the Character can turn to for help. Region - (Skill Based) Hyborian Game Aquilonia % Zingara % Cimeria % Turan % Stygia % Shem % Stormbringer Game Agrimiliar % Vilmir % Oin and Yu % Tarkesh % Melnibone % Pan Tang % Nehwon Game The Cold Wastes % The Rime Isles % Ilthmar % Lankhmar % Quarmall % Kesh % Notes: The more time a Character spends in an area, the more they will become familiar with the area. This is important because a Character from the jungles of Kesh with a Natural World Skill will be out of their element the first time the go to the Cold Wastes. The more familiar they become with the Cold Wastes, the more useful their Natural World Skill becomes. This is an example of the situation referenced at the beginning of the article, where one skill affects another. In this instance, a Character with a Natural World 60% will be unimpeded by the Kesh 80%. However, moving to the Cold Wastes, where they have a Cold Wastes 5% will seriously limit their knowledge of nature. This limitation affects any skill that is rooted in an area. Etiquette [Noble, New York City] is different than Etiquette [Noble, Paris] is different than Etiquette [Noble, Moscow]. This skill also affects Reputation in a unique way. A Character’s Reputation skill is directly affected by the Region percentage. The Region Skill not only determines how much a Character knows about the Region, but how much the Region knows about the Character. Let’s look at Bobsk. As noted before, Bobsk originally came from Quarmall but has spend most of his time in Lankhmar. Therefore, Bosk has a Quarmall 5% and a Lankhmar 45%. Now let’s look at Bobsk’s Reputation. He currently has an unmodified Reputation score of 88. Let’s look at Bobsk’s Regional Skills. He has Lankhmar 45%. Forty five percent of 88 is 39.6, rounded up to 40. Because his Lankhmar Skill is so low, Bobsk, who you might think was on his way to fame and fortune, is only moderately well known in Lankhmar. Those who know him are probably relegated to some of the Issek Cult, some of the Slayer’s Guild, some of the Culinary Guild, and the family of Lajal Gar’thoom (particularly those associated with the Ruby). What’s more, Bobsk’s Reputation of 88 is further reduced to 4.4, rounded up to 5, in Quarmall. He is a relative unknown there. A year later, when Bobsk’s Lankhmar skill is 120%, is reputation score increases dramatically. Giving that his unmodified Reputation hasn’t increased (which is unlikely), Bobsk now has a Reputation score local to Lankhmar of 105.6 (rounded up to 106). Enough to make him quite famous. Anyway, that’s the basics of the system. Feedback is greatly appreciated! -Shea

I kinda laid low first time this thread came up, but I wonder whether we shouldn't be doing this kind of thing on this board. It didn't sit quite right with me the first time either. One could argue ethicacy of these sorts of out of print file torrents as much as one wants, I think it boils down to us having active and past authors on these boards. Being an unauthorized scans swap house probably isn't the best way to provide a friendly atmosphere for them. We've also got a mind blowing amount of great material in our downloads section. I think that part of the reason is because as RQ or BRP fans we love to tinker and push the system. Some of us also remember many lonely nights in the wilderness when it seemed the game was only kept alive via fanzines, email lists, and stuff like that. I think that definitely keys into how much fantastic material people have published on this site. It'd be nice to keep it that way by showing respect for authors by respecting their material. Nick, who tends to have a bit of an encyclopedic memory when it comes to this stuff, has already pointed out that the only authorized file about is the text one linked upthread. Edit: I wanted to add that I'm not calling you out on anything here johnny, nor even the thread itself. I'm broaching the subject because it was a concern to me when the thread came up the first time, and then again. To you johnny, I say welcome to the boards and I hope you stick around. There are some great people posting here and some great ideas flying around.

Just for clarification, you are referring to the rules from Elric!/SB5, right? They're part of my preferred BRP flavor. V is right, they occur once a round and only on a critical parry. It's also with the off hand weapon, which tends to have a lower skill. There's a definite skill level sweet spot for them. Two attacks with your opponent parrying one at a -30% can turn to a significant advantage. In my experience it runs down a bit like this. Beginning Characters Two weapon fighters get their off hand weapon at half their main weapon skill. I've always thought it implicit that when someone decides to go two weapon, a new skill is started, as there are two weapon NPCs in the book (Moonglum jumps to mind) in which the same weapon types have are used but their skill is pretty equivalent. However, I've also extended the courtesy to my players that that an off hand weapon of the same type as the main weapon has a minimum of half the main weapon's base skill. I find that when a Player's main weapon reaches a skill level where they stop seeing a huge increase in effectiveness (and when criticals become relatively easy to achieve), they start concentrating on bringing their off hand weapon skill level up. Shields work on completely separate skills, so it takes more investment at starting levels to use a shield. Benefits of a shield is that it gives you superior protection if you succeed in parrying with it and that it still does some minimal damage in a Riposte. Knock Back is a nice addition to the mix. There's a benefit in forgoing two weapons or sword and board for a single 2 handed weapon. You've got higher damage out put and only one skill to concentrate on. However, I think the real benefit to Riposte is in getting your opponent's parry or dodge down. You get two people who know how to fight together and you can devastate your opponents. The bruiser holds back his attacks as the dual wielder wades in. A quick flurry of blows and your opponent is operating at a -60% for their parry. The bruiser finishes the job quickly and you move on to your next opponent.

I tracked down those house rules I had mentioned. Real pain in the arse it was, too. They were buried in the old Chaosium Digest. You can get the whole digest in a zip file here. You'll want to take a look at chaos-digest-v15n07.txt. You should check them out if you're considering running the magic system. These house rules are a very nice addition. I wonder if Mr. Seljos would mind if we posted the rules to the download section here.

Very much looking forward to this. Congratulations.

Hi fmitchell, So, the reason I referenced the Ship Rules is because of Hull Quality, Structure Points, and Sea Worthiness. Hull Quality is equivalent to Armor. It's intrinsic to the building of the vessel and doesn't change. It has to do with the builder's skill and could easily be expanded to include the material of the construct. Structure Points are equivalent to Hit Points. They represent how much damage the core structure can withstand before becoming useless. Sea Worthiness is somewhat similar to a for of Fatigue. A ship, or a construct, needs routine maintenance to operate at desired performance levels. In Sailing on the Seas of Fate, loss of Sea Worthiness means the ship starts taking on water. For a construct it could mean that it's skills start deteriorating. Regardless, I like the way your Golems are shaping up. I took out Bronze Grimoire, as they had some rules for 'Abominations,' but there's nothing their that would add to what you already have. Edit: To the point, I do like including an upkeep option for some forms of constructs.

Yes, sorry. They're in Sailing on the Seas of Fate and White Wolf. When I have a chance I'll give a brief run down on them.

Three things jump to mind. All of them handle subtle magic but stretch out to the bigger world changing stuff at the high end. The expanded Nephilim magic system is BRP ready. It's probably ready built for your needs but it comes with some extra stuff that you might not want for your setting. Ka aspects and such. Maelstrom has a very light magic system that's easy to port over to BRP. It may actually be too light, depending on what you're aiming for. The third thought is taking a look at Unknown Armies. However, the 'ritual' in this case isn't so much formalized as it is having certain conditions giving the magic user a charge for their spells.