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Pete Nash

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Everything posted by Pete Nash

  1. The majority will indeed be background and setting. The established magic systems of BRP or MRQ could not encapsulate the (sometimes wild) imagination's of the various members of the design team. Thus a completely new rules system was developed to emphasize the uniqueness and individual flavour of Gwenthian magic. The only significant MRQ element of the magic rules which would need adjustment, are the replacing of resistance rolls from MRQ's Resilience/Persistence skills to BRP's characteristic challenges. Which is so simple, it could be done on the fly. Other than character generation, the rest of the book will hopefully be '% based system' neutral. Gwenthia will use the MRQ rules as a base, but the book will (as currently conceived) be an independent publication. I'm sure the members of the design team will be happy to hear that.:happy: But this is blatant thread jacking. :focus: Its a sad fact of life but small publishing companies often don't have the manpower to answer individual fan emails (of which there can be a huge amount), or get crushed under a wave of work at the wrong time, or even simply forget the deal they negotiated the night before whilst recovering from a post-convention party. What has been experienced with Chaosium, has also been experienced with Mongoose and other RPG companies too. However, Mongoose has alleviated this problem to a large degree by hosting their own development and review forums, to which the authors of each line occasionally reply, and certainly take note of. In a way, BRP Central is fulfilling the same task for Chaosium - both advertising the company's new products, and giving their authors a chance to interact with the players. If the Chaosium staff posted an occasional comment or update on this forum (if they are not already doing so), then of course that would go a long way to improving the perceived poor communication of the company. However, I can honestly say from personal experience that once communication has been established, I have never had any problems obtaining a swift reply from them. Like in everyday life, its finding the right initial contact which is tricky... Oh, and the stars being in the correct alignment too!
  2. It was a great shame, since all of our original work was written for BRP rulesets. The game system changeover caused an awful lot of re-writing - at least at my end. Gaining Chaosium support might have placed the project on the fast-track, and we could have had a tangible book published by now. To be fair to Chaosium, they have a lot on their plate right now. I've received the impression that as well as the not-inconsiderable work being done on the core BRP book, there's a large number of supplements in the pipeline too... and once those manuscripts come rolling in, they will be up to their eyes in editing, publication and distribution. The good news is that Gwenthia is still being developed with an eye to publishing a full campaign setting. Although technically written for MRQ, it will be easy to use with any d100 rules. The magic system is a new, stand alone development, and can be ported to BRP with a minimum of effort. I am currently working on Gwenthian Religions in parallel with my continuing commitment to BRP Rome. Once Religions have been completed, there's a little work to do with new creatures and ecology, and after that its just editing, stitching and formatting. And my wife wonder's why all my spare time is eaten up sitting in front of the computer, typing... :ohwell: Now that is definitely a setting that should see proper publication!
  3. That sums up the entire difficulty of writing historical source-books. You need to pack in facts and details so that the GM can portray the atmosphere and culture correctly. Since it's impossible to comprehensively cover every aspect of an ancient culture, you must try to concentrate on those specific areas which will be fun to roleplay. Bringing it to life is the hardest part. In the fantasy or Sci-fi genre it is easier to instill a sense of wonder, and hook the reader. Doing the same thing with a historical setting is very difficult, requiring the author to find the most intriguing and exotic aspects of that period. This is why I'm including so many quotes from the Roman and Greek author's of the time... Their own words can do far more than I to fascinate or amuse the potential purchaser. How can you beat something like “and they [the rebellious legionaries] killed a centurion, Lucilius, to whom, with soldiers' humour, they had given the name "Bring another," because when he had broken one vine-stick on a man's back, he would call in a loud voice for another and another.” Tacitus - Annals Or... “I must not omit here, in reference to painting, a celebrated story that is told about Lepidus. During the Triumvirate, when he was entertained by the magistrates of a certain place, he had lodgings given him in a house that was wholly surrounded with trees. The next day, he complained to them in a threatening tone, that he had been unable to sleep for the singing of the birds there. Accordingly, they had a dragon painted, on pieces of parchment of the greatest length that could possibly be obtained, and surrounded the grove with it; a thing that so terrified the birds, it is said, that they became silent at once; and hence it was that it first became known how this object could be attained.” Pliny the Elder - Naturalis Historia Or... “Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men’s behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!” Anonymous Graffiti :eek: I hope so too! It'll be a book full of history... but hopefully entertaining and campaign inspiring history!
  4. I don't know about Jason's, but my old Pax Romana is available here... http://basicroleplaying.net/files/Pax%20Romana.pdf Please remember that it was only designed to be a handout for character generation, and was set in Imperial Rome (rather than pre-Imperial as BRP Rome will be). Forgive the artwork and layout too... it was my first attempt and I had to trawl the web for images!
  5. I highly recommend these books too. I especially liked the way the author handled the Gold of Tolosa escapade. Excellent campaign material, and a slightly more accessible introduction into the politics of the period without having to dive straight into classics such as Livy or Plutarch. For those who prefer the mystery genre over historical epics, I can also suggest Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series and John Maddox Robert's SPQR series. Both of which are very enjoyable, and illuminate life during the late Republic. Hmm. I'd better stop reading this forum and push on with the current chapter then!
  6. Not in any detail I'm afraid. The book is focused on roleplaying the Roman side of things. There is both a magic system and stats for Roman mythological creatures. African forest elephants are even included too! But you'll forgive me if I leave out the damage capabilities of burning pigs...
  7. Yes, from the perspective of what they bring to Roman society, culture, magic, religion and mythology. But there are no discrete sections specifically focused on the Etruscans themselves, save for an overview of the Etruscan kings of Rome. Page count, and the fact that most of what we know about the Etruscans only comes from archaeological finds or Roman literary sources anyway, makes it difficult to give them space of their own. Sorry!
  8. In order of questioning... 1) It was supposed to be up to 128 pages. Unfortunately, I'm sure It'll end up much bigger and the editorial axe will have to be taken to it. 2) I don't know. But if the book survives editing, and proves to be a popular seller, then I'm sure Chaosium would be happy to entertain further supplements. 3) None as yet, see 2. Unfortunately there is no 'official' artwork, since I haven't actually finished writing the manuscript yet! I have a stack of Roman mosaic photos if that's any help?
  9. Well, it originally started off as a player's handout called Pax Romana written for an adventure set in Nero's Rome. I'd designed (what I considered then) a comprehensive booklet for Roman character generation, seeded with little snippets of cultural info. The scenario actually took some real historical events of the time, and wove in a lovecraftian horror plot. The players had a blast, especially looking up the history and finding out that everything was based on reality. Anyway, a friend decided that the handout was so good that he sent it to Lynn at Chaosium. Lynn liked what he read and asked if I'd be willing to expand it into a fully fledged supplement. Of course I foolishly said yes... Inspired by the first HBO ROME series which was just being broadcast over here in Sweden, we agreed that it should be a historical campaign setting covering the period of Rome's beginning in 753 BC to the end of the Republic in 27ish BC (and none of that Cthulhu mythos neither!)... a period of Rome's history previously not covered by RPG's, and full of exciting possibilities due to its early mythology, and later political chaos. Thus I started work and soon realised what I thought I knew about Roman history... culture, society, law, etc was all based on Imperial Rome. Thus followed many, many months of reading and research... which led to a dramatic increase in the size of my library and DVD collection. So what is the state of BRP Rome now? My current draft covers the following roughly defined subjects... (I can't and won't give a fully defined list, since I want to leave a large number of surprises in the final book ) Character Generation - professions, income, price lists etc. Society - social classes, family, virtues, politics, law, education, death, etc. Culture - leisure (from bathing to sports), art, fashion, food and drink, etc. The City of Rome - foundations of, different buildings (from bridges to forums to villas), crime, disasters (conflagrations to plagues), etc. The Games - religious festivals, chariot racing, ludi, animal stats, etc. The Legions - evolution of the army from the monarchy to the late republic, enemies of Rome, legion punishments, decorations, rewards, ovations and triumphs, etc. Religion - gods and spirits, the priesthood, festivals and their dates, superstition, sacrifices, human sacrifices etc. Magic & Mythology - divination, curses, divine blessings, Roman mythological creatures, etc. Historical Timeline - An attempt to condense 700 years of vibrant events into a handful of pages <sigh!> Scenarios - Several dozen interwoven plot seeds with a pre-generated dramatis personae, to replace the traditional - and usually tedious - linear scenario. Appendices - Roman name lists, minor deity lists, vulgar latin - or how to swear with proper foulness, the laws of the twelve tablets, etc. Throughout the entire manuscript are inserted quotes from dozens of Republican (and some Augustan) authors which illuminate Roman life of that era in the voices of those alive at the time. They are not only interesting or even comic in their own right, but will hopefully inspire the reader to locate an English translation of the original text and read the entire thing properly! As of today, I am over two thirds of the way through the project in terms of chapters done. Fortunately most of the detailed historical stuff is written, and I'm currently working on Religions. Its been a bit slow, but although it is destined to be a roleplaying supplement, I also want the facts contained within to be as reliable as possible. Soon I'll just be left with the purely game mechanic and scenario chapters, which will be churned out far faster... Hmm, perhaps churned isn't the right word...
  10. Opps. That serve me right for editing the last message in the list and then spending two hours writing the damn thing...
  11. Well if I remember correctly, the immunes technically came after the end of the Republic. I think the first references to them are from the Augustan period. What I've written for the Military chapter is a general overview of the enemies (and their armaments) faced by early Rome, interspersed with descriptions of the gradual change in organisation of the legions and their equipment. I have a clear depiction of the various ranks as the army evolved. Also included are sections on military discipline and the types of decorations or rewards someone in the army could earn, depending on their rank and the feats of bravery achieved... Most of what's included is designed to support the role-playing, rather than the wargaming aspect... Its further illustrated with evocative primary references from the Roman and Greek authors of the time. My biggest problem is that there's far too much information about the legions! I could easily fill an entire supplement on how precisely Roman camps are built, the exchange of passwords during the night watch, military engineering, etc, etc, etc! So I've had to be brutal and hope that all the primary references I've included will tantalize the readers enough so that they become hooked and do the next level of research for themselves! After all, I have to squeeze an overview of the rest of pre-Imperial Rome into the book too! I am always interested in gathering more information. Please send. But I fear I'll probably be unable to shoehorn anything extra into the current draft. :ohwell:
  12. I suppose since I'm the author of the forthcoming BRP Rome book, I should pipe up and mention that work is still continuing on the manuscript, but I hope to have it finished early next year. It should be noted too, that the supplement will be covering the somewhat more exotic Monarchy and Republican periods... So you can set adventures at the same time as the HBO series if you wish. The tactic was initially designed for use against the Germanic tribes, and was then used successfully against the Gauls. The legions would press in tightly against the barbarians, preventing them space to effectively use their one handed spears or longer slashing swords; whereas the Romans could still thrust... Something those (un)fortunate enough to have been caught in the crushing press of an SCA battlefield will fully understand!
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