Ars Mysteriorum

I say a thread is spiffy, perhaps supplemented by e-mail.

I recommend starting by running a search for any posts that have the specific word: "monkey." That's where I'd start.

You take care of yourself, man.

I was going to design racial traits, and then use a career system (a skill package a la CoC) to represent the different roles the races play. For each race there will be a few recommended career options, but I like the idea of anything goes with Talislanta. It's so big, so really anything's likely in that world. Obviously, some races (the Thrall, the Kang, etc.) have martial arts options. I'll probably think about whether I want to keep that simple with the Martial Arts skill, or design the different martial arts with different maneuvers. I'll be pondering that for a bit. I'd be happy to collaborate and bounce ideas off of each other!

Also known as every Xambrian player's dream-mount. A broody character wants for a broody mount. On another note, winged aht-ra! Seriously, what's funnier than a flying, reptilian camel?

Ah, you've reminded me of my old post about converting talislanta to BRP. I think I've figured out a fine way to do so! Thanks for that!

For me, BRP is coming right on time. Especially with threedeesix's work coming up. I've had a bout of nostalgia, where I miss the feel of how we played AD&D 2e, with more DM judgment, and less book referencing. BRP allows for that. A lot. So, for me, as a person, I'm happy this is coming out to be my replacement for D&D.

I like Battles & Beers the best.... just sayin'.

Castles & Crusades is hardly the only Ampersand game out there seeking nostalgia.

Here's some ideas... Brain Farts Ahoy! Bastions & Beasts Castles & Chimaerae Caves & Cockatrices Cellars & Centaurs Crypts & Creatures Darkness & Demons Fanes & Fiends Gaols & Giants Graveyards & Ghouls Hamlets & Harpies Lairs & Lords Mansions & Magicians Mausoleums & Mummies Mines & Manticores Palaces & Perils Ruins & Rogues Temples & Titans Tombs & Trolls Tunnels & Tarasques Villages & Vampires

Playing a game using BRP0 with your significant other and having it lead up to sex would be naughty and sexy, but not cool... ...because it would be too busy being %&$#ING AWESOME!!!!

Are you answering my post? And what book are you putting back on the shelf?

I think Jason was referring to a total RPG, as in system and setting. I'm a fan of Talislanta, a well-known "tool-box" RPG, but even then, the manifold roles of each character type are well packaged in the cultural descriptions as well as the archetype descriptions. I think it benefits a player and the GM to have these three questions (or some other variant of these questions increasing readability and understanding of the setting and the characters' possible place in it) answered to ease players into the setting. Gone are the days when the bulk of RPG players sculpted their own settings. In a mass market culture, I think people want neatly packaged products, delectable in their own right. I find very few are willing to cobble their own setting (or system) any longer. And marketing to that very few just isn't deemed "good business." That said: I think the BRP core is going to serve as a fine stepping stone for those very few to lend their ideas and breathe new life into this system. Provided the settings are solid, simple, and innovative, this could be a sort of mini-renaissance for Chaosium's wonderful system, especially with their monographs. I look forward to more creative input from players.

Hmm... the topic must have been moved, because your link goes to something Babylon 5 related.

So, when I read an RPG, I never just plow straight through. I read it a skimming at a time, gleaning small bits of information, mulling over them to see what questions arise in my mind, and then skimming again to find the answers and, consequentially, new questions. I actually recommend to any RPG writers that books are skim-friendly (lots of bold headings for changes in topic and important info). So, this comes after the first skim. OK. There's some passion for the ideas here, that much definitely comes across. However, to be very frank, the fiction is not enjoyable to read. That's OK, usually game fiction isn't known to be the draw for RPG's. But then it goes on for pages. I recommend you keep it short. No more than a page or maybe two. I know Shadowrun had five or six pages, but those were five or six mediocre pages I read once or twice and never read again. Then we get to the setting. That first paragraph tells me a lot of "Vhraeden is" statements, but it wasn't until the last one that I got the idea of what the hell Vhraeden was. From there on, the prose is convoluted and straight-up difficult to read. There's a lot of redundancy between chapters and even paragraphs, where the same information is given. This is fine when the information is logically relevent and briefly referenced... but some of it is hard repetition. This compels me to skip paragraphs without my eyes finding material worth slowing down for. So, I skip to the next chapter, and the next. I find that the prose becomes very dry and so laced with in-game terms that I have no idea what the hell's being talked about. Even on a skim, I usually get an idea of what's going on. It's clear that you have a strong handle on the information, and that's commendable, but it's not communicated very well to a person who's very casually reading it for the first time. What I see is a lovingly, enthusiastically written homebrew that is a wonderful reference for friends familiar with the ideas and perhaps newcomers who are going to spend time with your group (who probably also have a handle on the setting). I'm sure it's really fun and cool to hear about in person, but in writing... it's a little over-and-under-whelming. If you wish to go forward with making this something to be published, I would recommend heavy and rigorous editing, cutting material to the utmost basics of the setting to gently introduce us to the ideas of the settings, and providing the rest of the setting in later, more refined supplements. But before any of that comes, this is my last comment, and perhaps the most painful to hear. I don't see anything new and gripping that says "play the hell out of me." I see a convoluted and unnecessarily detailed Shadowrun with new terms, new geography, and slightly different focus, but not much else. Shadowrun attained its impressive lexicon of odd bits of information over years of development, allowing fans to become familiar with the new information in new editions over the decades. This is a far less organized grouping of information of a similar mass and volume, but without the quality of years of development. I'm sorry if this is a little harsh, but this is my honest opinion.

Aiki, why so harsh this time? This seems a bit uncharacteristic of you...

Let's look at the trend. There's been a dramatic shortening in the sequence of releases... I say three days after release. No, six. And rest on the seventh day. We'll make it biblical.

I'm down for this. This looks AWESOME. Then again, I'm a Warhammer fan, which is similar in tone

Yup. I grew up with AD&D 2nd Ed. There was actually roleplaying there. A lot of roleplaying. I never read the 3rd ed. stuff... only 3.5, which was more in-line with 4th edition (though 4th seems MUCH more extreme in the direction it's taking). I played 3.5 a few times with the group I played with as a child... it was no longer roleplaying. We depended on dice for almost every interaction and the plot was wafer thin. The adventure called for constant combat to make us ignore the lack of plot (where in the past the games and rules always bowed down to the plot... kind of... we were kids!). Hmmm... I think the D&D roleplayer would make the same argument of me, but I prefer old-school roleplaying... as in really getting INTO your roles, y'know? That's kind of rambling. Anyways, I thought 3.5 quashed roleplaying as it was, but 4th seems to be going out of its way to show, "No... THIS is how you quash roleplaying!"

I'd just like to add my voice to the chorus of people who don't think D&D is an RPG. I'd classify it more as a tactical/strategy game with social mechanics. When I say "social mechanics," I'm referring to skills like "Bluff" and "Diplomacy," not players interacting under the guise of a persona. Also, I think the use of props that can potentially enhance the idea that the character is NOT the player (having a miniature represent the character rather than the player himself), this further distances the connection between the player and playing the role of his character. For me, the system is so intensely gamist as to render the attention to mechanics as paramount rather than actually playing a role in the sense of taking on a persona. That said, I like D&D for what it does: offer a strategy/tactical fantasy game of epic power levels. I like to attempt to play a character, but most people I play with have been turned off by such concepts. I've even had a player respond, "Oh... you do it THAT way... that's all right." As in, he didn't want to act out a role in his roleplaying game. Very, very odd. I digress. We can scale this argument so far as to say everything is an RPG, or to say that only BRP games are RPG's. Neither is "right," neither is "wrong." I will state simply, *I* don't consider D&D as an RPG as it's designed. To me, it seems to work less under the assumption that players will be acting out the role and playing the persona. Just my opinion.

When you download a character generator onto your work computer because the clatter of dice is too loud to get away with... ... but you still keep your dice on you.

I'd want to look at threedeesix's work first, but I'm game.

Agreed Cruel, once this game is available, I'm buying it.

Woo hoo! Someone else with a sarcastic sense of humor! Nice to meet you too! With less than a month to the release of the book, your timing couldn't be better. If you get a sec, check out the utilities under downloads. I've created a CoC quick reference sheet that's fairly useful, in my opinion.

Wow, you know... I think it would be cool if someone sticky'd a place for people to do introductions! Wait a minute...