Joseph Paul

Are we using different definitions for 'multi-genre'? :confused: My definition would be: The playing of different genres, one genre at a time. I seem to be reading some posts as defining it as: The playing of different genres, all at the same time. Is it just me? Joseph Paul

I think you are right but it is the guy writing the rebuttal i.e. supporting CoC, that points out the combat system problems. Even as fans we should not be blind to things that don't work right in our games. Joseph Paul

Actually ST 18 is a circus strongman. ST 20 is still human but Olympic class athlete. So the two systems are not that far apart in conception. How they play may be another thing all together. Compare what they can do in each system to test the conversion. Joseph Paul

But it comes in handy when you want to know what SIZ the Sun is. 768 SIZ by the way. Move that. I included the info to show that they weren't pulling it out of their ...hats. And that formula does not work for things smaller than SIZ 20. I was wondering if anybody knew one that did? Knowing the elegant formulas that underlay BRP is kind of neat for me. Which is why I find the firearm info so jarring. I have read here: http://www.hyperbear.com/cthulhu/cthulhu-writing-essay-baugh.html that BTRC did not include firearm info for CoC in Guns!Guns!Guns! because the numbers didn't jive well enough to do so. Joseph Paul

Bolded for clarity. These three statements (and I am assuming that you meant '(n)ever a consideration' in the second one) are what led me to believe that the goal was not to produce a toolkit. It was very confusing especially the part about not competing with GURPS and HERO. How is BRP not generic at this time? After all it is BRP and not RQ, CoC, SB, SW, EQ, RW etc. I don't think there is anything wrong with that, I am just confused how BRP could be seen as not competing with the others for share in the generic toolkit games market. Hope that helps. Joseph Paul

I kinda thought that the powers were pretty good advantages. The GURPS advantages like Toughness, Acute (Sense), and Rapid Healing mirror powers in SW. Buy them in low quantities for a low power game. There are several advantages that would make sense as increased skills or packages of skills. Things like Rank, Patron, Clerical Investment are the harder ones that a GM would have to fudge but it wouldn't take much. But the powers are included in the new BRP and I am presuming that the handicaps will be too. <looks to Jason for confirmation> So it will be relevant again. Joseph Paul

I suspect that Simlasa is right. Even the RQIII rules would only be a fraction of this. What I don't get is the assertion by Jason that neither he nor Chaosium wanted this to be a "toolkit" for referees. What else is it with all of those optional rules and power systems?:confused: If it does miss being a toolkit (what would have to be missing for that to happen?) why not go all the way and make it one? As has been pointed out here it is hard to break BRP adding stuff to it so I don't see where the harm would be in including such things if they are not already there. Joseph Paul

Racial maximums for some of the BRP games was highest roll plus the # of dice rolled I believe, which would take a 3d6 human to 21. That makes a 2d6+6 trait top out at 20 then. For SIZ you could consult some of the different weight to SIZ charts that were part of different BRP games. Jason has written that there is a SIZ chart included in the new one. Weight in GURPS does not seem to come into play all that much but there is a table for rolling it. You may need to wing SIZ for the spear carriers and NPCs though. In Superworld weight over SIZ 20 is found by wt(kilos)=2^(SIZ/8)*25. This does not work below SIZ 20, does anyone know what was used for that? Anyone want to take a stab at rearanging that formula so that you can input SIZ and it will spit out mass? Joseph Paul

Well what I meant when I asked about what was trendy was for others to present their thoughts on current trends as I certainly appear to be behind on those. I would like to see just what the trendy game mechanics are because I agree with what you wrote right after that: ... if by 'duplicate most any system mechanic' you mean that BRP can arrive at the same result. I really don't see any point in throwing on trendy mechanics for the things that BRP already does well (for those things that it doesn't address or does not do well...that is what companion books are for.) Knowing what the point of an exploding dice mechanic is allows the grognard crowd to explain why it is clunky and why BRP accomplishes task resolution better. So far the only thing I have seen out of that mechanic is a great way to obfuscate just what your chances of succeding are. Mind you I am not saying that BRP needs to adopt a trendy mechanic but that BRP proponents need to know how to present the game in the best light possible. Well exposure helps so run those demo games! My thought is to get to know the arguments for trendy mechanics and have something better to counter with than 'hey it is a different style of play'. Also remember 'what is old is new again'. The clean, functional systems of BRP may be the next trendy thing. But you may want to consider giving that cover a plain brown wrapper so that you don't scare off the 'moderns'. Joseph Paul

Hmm. I wonder how many of those 'trendy mechanics' BRP actually does have and people just don't know it? Ads and disads were an integral part of Superworld for instance. Point buy system? Superworld. What else is trendy? Apparently I am behind the times because names like Exalted, L5R, Wushu, etc don't mean anything to me. Examining what is being sought by the market may lead to a better understanding of how to present BRP to those 'hip' gamers without having to actually change the game. Joseph Paul

In another thread the subject of what skill percentages mean came up. I would like to invite people to discuss their views on the subject in this thread. Feel free to quote rules from different BRP games to support your view. I can break out a couple of different thoughts on the matter. Case 1) the PC can try anything. If they have zero points in the skill they can still roll for an automatic success on a 01. In fact this is how you can get a starting score in a 00 skill in CoC 5e. Variations are to allow rolls versus a skill category bonus (usually derived from stats) or to roll against some iteration of a multiple (.5 to 5 times) of a stat. Case 2) Zero is zero and you can't try it. Held to by some GMs. I am with the camp that wants to know what 10% Surgery means. Is the guy just really bad at it or less than fully trained? Is he board certified at 10% (shudder) or does that take 40%? There seems to be a watershed in there somewhere. At 00 the character has no knoweldge of the skill that would let them practice it. At 1% they do and can call themselves a surgeon who can apparently take care of all routine surgery tasks without a roll. I believe in RQII there were skill percentage requirements for being part of different units (militia, regulars, cavalry etc) so the percentages meant something. What does the skill allow the character to do or know about the subject, current theory, others in the field etc? Again CoC 5e gives an example of pegging a great amount of knowledge that is actually outside of the skill to it. So you get the oportunity to know who the leaders are in the field, to have contacts in the field, etc. Other games break such things up into discrete skills or advantages. What bothers me about that is that the benefits are not well defined and are subject to both players and GM being inconsistent about there application. Thoughts? Joseph Paul

Jason- Further questions if you don't mind. What were the goals you had in mind when revising and updating the rules? Just to get them to work together? Make them model certain types of play better? Reality testing them? Other? Joseph Paul BTW saw your post on RPGNet of the addition to the family. Congratulations! You will get to sleep again someday.

Badcat- You are right we have been over that and yes I do think that GURPS currently has a lead on the multi-genre, detailed combat, crunchy systems. If I can't get the resolution that I want for my games then BRP is no good for me. Of course I won't know that until I have purchased my copy. What I would like to see is the GURPS attention to detail and Chaosium's elegance with rules. I am encouraged to hear that the rules have actually been extensively "revised and expanded" and not just cut and pasted. Perhaps Jason could convince the Chaosium staff to authorize some pre-publication sneak peeks? Joseph Paul

Jason- Thank you for you kind consideration in addressing this forum. You are a brave, brave man. What market is BRP aimed at? Do you expect to compete head-to-head with GURPS and HERO? BRP seems to have always been weak on gearhead stuff like rules for making things, vehicles, new weapons, as well as breaking , burning, and breaching obstacles. Has this been addressed in the core book? If not are there plans to do so? BRP seemed content to operate within a strictly game sense i.e. an abstracted SIZ instead of mass and volume in English or metric measures. Has the system been tied into the real world any better? Was it planned for the powers to balance against one another so that one does not dominate? Will the optional rules bring BRP up to the level of other multi-genre games in terms of tactical options and finesse? What parts of it are you not content with as a designer? Thanks Joseph Paul

Unless the pollster is trained in how to frame the questions I am afraid that an accurate response is the only one you won't get. With that in mind I would advise that we just enjoy things for a while, let Rurik have his fun, jump in or ignore as we please, and wait for Triff to post a poll. That will be the important one. BTW what does atgxtg stand for anyway? Joseph Paul

GURPS settings- There are a lot of them and some are pretty well done. Is it worthwhile for Chaosium -or any one else- to write a setting that GURPS has already covered? I am thinking especially of historical or historical+fantasy settings (Mythic anything). What has SJGames missed in the way of settings? Where are the setting write ups deficient? Lack of pre-gen characters/NPCs? Maps? Adventure hooks if not outright adventures? Too limited on the history? Too limited on the setting's fantasy elements? Is BRP different enough that settings dedicated to it's mechanics would be better than converting GURPS settings? Would a write up on converting GURPS to BRP be a welcome thing? Stats, skills and especially all of those advantages/disadvantages? Joseph Paul

Oh no! I never got to play RQ enough for that. The recipe was done on the fly as it were. Hmmm... does that bring me afoul of anyones IP as it was derivitive or am I covered under parody or humor exemptions?:confused: Joseph Paul

How big a print run do they intend to do for this game? Maybe a second printing can have a better cover? Like others here I would prefer to see the multi-genre application played up in a more recognizable way. Joseph Paul

Trollkin Pie Start with 1/2 dz trollkin. Gut and debone saving heart,lungs, and liver, then chop coarsely. Reserve intestines for fried lip smackers (cf). Brown trollkin parts in hot grease. Cool. Prepare dough, roll out and line 30 liter pan with it. Mix trollkin with a dz ostrich eggs, and slug cheese. Season with herbs, ground Aldryami are recommended. Transfer to pie shell, cover, bake. Serves 6 Joseph Paul

Shall we start a "second guess" thread? Joseph Paul

Entertain me. Joseph Paul

Badcat - I think that is unrealistic. There needs to be a rule for specials but I can't see making variants in how the special success is defined. What it does yes (impale, slash, crush etc) but not how it is defined. If there are a lot of variants on things as basic as how specials are rolled wouldn't that affect how any scenarios are played out? I mean in one system I can bet on specialing one in five shots that I make. In another only half as many. That would change how I would fight. Joseph Paul

I'm with Simlassa on this one, JP

Well how is that not enough? You could look at it as a Pendragon style time line. One or two adventures a year, a rest and refit time, and then new adventures. This staggers things out enough for the PCs to invest their wealth, get married, start a new generation and become embroiled in Icelandic politics. There should be plenty of material for traveling. Trading with Norway, going to Greenland, Vinland, fetching brides/ more family etc. Having to secure something as a dowery item. It is held by someone else or is in some remote location. Fantasy Iceland? Heroquest with the Aesir! Deal with the conversion to Christianity! Are there not other creatures besides trolls in the mythology? Interact with them. Get off the Island! You can't stand it any more. You need to get off this rock and go see the Big City-Hedeby! Now to get a boat... Play politics. There should be some interesting interaction with the Norwegian Crown. You might actually have to go there. In a fantasy campaign you may need to deal with a native popluation of humans (or an undead native population!). Placating all of the spirits in the land- heck just finding out about all of them could be interesting. Joseph Paul Go fishing or hunting narwhales and walrus.

Trifletraxor- If Mr. Ziviani's work only covers Iceland there may be quite a bit of room for Norwegian/Swedish/Danish settings and adventures. There was a product put out by Columbia Games, Lionheart, on England in the time of Richard the Lionheart. Very detailed wtih a chronology, essays on what life was like and the political situations. All in all a great primer for a campaign in that time period. I think that people would be interested in seeing such for BRP. My thoughts on this: Include stats for major and minor historical characters. Includes things from the legends and folktales. Discuss how magic is thought to work in a particular time period. Maps! Chronologies/lineages. Essays on the culture and daily living. With this the GM can set up what he wants to do with the setting. Go very historical, low magic, high magic, or trick it out as a fantasy option. For instance a nitty gritty Roman setting, an option with limited magic (and no one is sure that it actually works!), an option with major magicians aiding or countering the Pax Romana, or one in which it was the Elves that ambushed the legions in the Teutoburgerwald. Give adventures, maybe a half dozen large multi session ones, some smaller one shots, and lots of adventure hooks. The idea being that I would certainly want to get a lot of value out of a particular setting. Crossing over into other settings could be interesting also. This could be done with just adventure hooks that require PCs to travel to distant lands- Beowulf anyone? Another thought is to produce campaign packs for historical cultures and produce supplements to cover what happens when those cultures clash. For instance an Anglo-Saxon setting and a Viking setting are interesting by themselves but a supplement that covers the Viking invasions and the Danelaw would be really neat also. Just a thought. Joseph Paul