Charles Green

Sounds interesting. Can you tell me more about this?

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I wrote that section and can give you an overview. 

The chapter is called "The Philosophical Engine & Expanded Allegiance", as there are two parts that mesh together. 

The first part, The Philosophical Engine, is a system for creating religious thought systems, cults, philosophies, and other religio-spiritual belief systems. The Engine is based on the Light/Balance/Shadow Allegiance system, but can be adapted to represent other forces. Essentially, you determine the basic nature of a belief system, and determine specific, concrete ways to express that belief system in the game. Doing so grants Allegiance points to that force. 

For examples, I use a religion followed by orks, called The Red Way. Orcs who follow The Red Way earn Allegiance to Shadow by acting according to the precepts of the Way. In contrast, the dwarven religion of Burianism grants is followers Allegiance to Balance for following its precepts. 

The second half, Expanded Allegiance, uses the character's Allegiance score. As character's Allegiance gets higher, they unlock certain benefits. Some of these are game-mechanical, like a point of person POW if you don't have enough for Sorcery, while others are mostly story-related. Like, you may attract a small cadre of followers who seek to learn your teaching, or you create a Holy Text that influences the world in subtle but extensive ways. 

Taken together, the two articles allow both players and Game Masters to craft belief systems & philosophies, and a means of having these systems interact with both the rules and the story in a meaningful way. 

I know it's not out yet, but...

The Philosopical Engine & Expanded Allegiance from the Chronicler's Companion could be adjusted to handle INT increase, as an outgrowth of service to a force or deity. Essentialy, as a character's Allegiance hits certain thresholds, they gain one of a number of benefits, which presently includes a point of POW for purposes of creating magical items.

This could be changed to allow for a one-point increase in INT without breaking anything.

Charles Green (the author of that monograph) will know better but I suspect Factured Hopes, like my own Outpost 19, was something we as individual authors wanted to do and both we AND Chaosium hoped MIGHT sell well enough to warrant adapting to a full distribution book. A few Cthulhu monographs have done this, and there was talk at one point of Classic Fantasy going the same route but I'm not aware of any original monograph BRP titles that actually have.

This is not quite true. When I pitched Fractured Hopes to Chaosium, Lynn Willis was handling the BRP line, and he wanted to do it as a full distribution book. Then he got sick, and the project fell between the cracks.

By the time I had gotten someone's attention about it, it had been in their possession for a couple of years. By the time I had pestered them enough about it, they had lost the original files, and by this point had forgotten they had planned to do it as a full distribution, and said it would only go out as a monograph.

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for one or two more players for a play-by-post superheroes game using HeroQuest 2.0 (and what bits we know about 2.1).

No HQ experience is needed, though it is certainly a plus.

Contact me here or through RPG.net and I'll let you know the details.

You know what's harder than waiting for a book to be published?

Waiting for a book to be published when you've got a chapter in it. Especially when you're paid after publication.

I'm really eager to see what people do with Expanded Allegiance, and it's been over 2 years since I wrote it. I think I've reached new levels of ancitpation.

I'd normally suggest buying it directly from Alephtar, but they don't seem to have a PDF only option on their catalog.

You can get it at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/79984/Dragon-Lines?manufacturers_id=2555

Question: You have a large number of foes with bows shooting at you at once. You are leading a non-combatant you want to protect at all costs. What style would enable you to effectively protect both of you, at least for a while, from the onslaught?

So, the thing about BRP is that it doesn't really have (as far as I know) a mechanism to protect someone else in combat from attacks directed at them. Like, defensive actions are triggered by attacks coming directly at the character in question. None of the styles support this, but there are some options that will get you close:

1. The die-rolling options for Lesser Foes (p. 61) would help mitigate the number of attacks coming at you, but this is a GM option which a player wouldn't really have any control over.

2. Air Dragon Style has a number of techniques and powers that would help keep attention away from the non-combat NPC, but not much to actively protect an NPC.

3. Ethereal Winds Style is similar, but if you can convince the GM to let you roll Parry attempts for the target, you could conceiveably spend Chi to make multiple full-percentile Parry attempts.

4. Steel-Ribboned Whirlwind Style has Techniques that involve aiding an ally in combat, which may be useful in keeping a non-combatant alive.

5. The Style Design rules could be used to make a custom Martial Art that could handle this sort of thing, usually in Techniques or through creative interpretation of powers. It sounds like a good basis for a Support Style, especially something with a strong "bodyguard" theme.

Can someone with a copy give me a basic run-down on how the minion/mook rules work in this product?

You could also go with teh idea that, in a setting with supernatural elements, PCs all start with Hardened or Failed points in the Unnatural meter, since they're going to have been exposed to weird stuff by teh time they hit adventureing age.

If you're wanting to use mutations, you can convey a lot of a character's "monkey-ness" with them. It depends on how your mutations are selected, and how many you get, but this is what I would do:

Hybrid would probably be your first mutation, with the specification of "monkey." This would cover an animal-like appearance, and, if you take the Major form, you'll have sharp nails or fangs big enough to do better damage than a human fist.

Other useful mutations might be:

1. Hands, which would cover both a prehensile tail, or the use of feet for grasping or climbing.

2. Imitation (Monkey) would cover skill bonuses to monkey-like skills, like Climb or Search (for Banana)

3. Increased Characteristics to bump up your DEX.

4. Keen Sense (Smell) is a possibility

5. Natural Armor might be good too, for thick fur.

6. Speech (Mimicry) might be fun, and I seem to recall some species of monkey do this to a limited degree.

Of these, I think Hybrid (major) and Imitation (Monkey) are your best bets, and you can tailor the character with other ones, depending on how many mutations you can select.

Yes, everything appears to be working fine now.

Hmm...

I'm still unable to log in, as of 3:45 Pacific time. Can anyone else do so?

I was surfing the forums at rpg.net, and started getting 403 Forbidden notices on the Other Games section.

While I was trying to get in touch with a moderator, all of the pages stopped loading, and now read 503 Temporaily unavailable.

However, downforeveryone suggests that the forum is still up and running.

Any ideas? Did I just get banned for something?

EDIT: Nevermind. It's appearantly down for real.

I posted this list of PCs on RPG.net, but I thought people here might like to see it too:

The group's collective purpose is as a team of adventuring archeologists associated with a player-designed university in Lashingport. They travel the world, looting stores of lore and Enchantments for personal and University use. The team is:

1. Villenzander the Wizard: I let this player use the Magic Spells power set from BRP, because he wanted to have some blasty magic, which Sorcerer doesn't really do. He's our go-to guy for knowledge checks. He's also got strong ties to the University.

2. Grimantheir: One of the sorcerers is a half-elf hunter who wants to become a member of the Wild Hunt. he specializes in tracking and killing Fey creatures. He provides wilderness support when the team is away from civilization.

3. Adalan: Wandering buddhist monk and sword-play teacher. He's looking to establish a school in Lashingport. Has ninjas tracking him for unknown purposes. His skill with the blade is astonishing, and he and Sir Zagmuz (below) provide muscle.

4. Kiara: Merchant metal- and jewelry-smith from Lashingport. Has social contacts, and can evaluate non-magical items, gemstones, and the like.

5. Sir Zagmuz: An Orc Knight working for House Drum. Current wielder of the Greatsword of St. Almus, which we're expressing as a normal sword that lets him use a Philosophy from the Philosophical Engine.

This weekend, I finished up my "pitch" game of Magic World; character creation, 4 sessions spent defending Lashingport (the big cosmopolitan trade city) from invading orc pirates and their Fey allies.

I had only meant to have a test run, since I am technically poaching another GM's group. However, once I announced that we had done what I had planned, and could transition back to the GM's game, none of the players (even the other GM) wanted to. They like their characters, the system, and the setting.

One thing I've noticed is that all of the characters are distinct, and have their own rules sub-systems they interact with. One sorcerer is building a Magician's Staff, and another is trying to decide between enchanting a suit of armour using the Demon Rules from Advanced sorcery, or creating a familiar.

They've contributed setting elements, and constantly suggest good plot hooks. And they're usually at the table, ready to play, before I am.

The group/game/GM combination seems to really work out. I feel like I can run this thing until the wheels fall off.

My Stormbringer games (and Magic World, these days) rest on three pillars:

1. Scenes of desperate violence (the 'sword' of 'sword and sorcery').

2. Magic and mysticism (the 'sorcery').

3. PC relationships to the Lords of the Higher Worlds (which usually, but not always, manifests in the use of the Allegiance rules).

When running, I go into a session with a few NPC stats, and a rough outline of what's going to happen. Once I set up the situation, I let the PCs react to it, and take hints from how the react to push the game to bring out one or more of the 3 pillars.

The specific rules system doesn't matter as much. All I need is a clear resolution mechanic, and I can get through a session. Really, Stormbringer games, for me, are a matter of approach to the session and the PCs, and less about the game itself.

Scenarios and simple setting material for the mini-setting. Maybe a short monster book tied to the setting (with adventure hooks). Maybe something more ambitious à la Griffin Mountain.

This is the sort of thing I'd like to see too. Chaosium has a history of making really excellent setting material, especially in the Stormbringer line. I'm think of Sea Kings of the Purple Towns, which was basically a whole campaign in a book. I've used it to good effect with several groups.

Check out the quick NPC rules on p. 236 of the last draft of MW. That might help?

Huh. I can't believe I hadn't noticed these yet. I'm still looking to get away from notes at all, but the quick NPC rules are a great place to start.

Thanks Ben, and everyone else who has contributed.

So I'm GMing a BRP game for the first time in a while. Its a Magic World game, with a group that, while new to me, have a lot of familiarity with the system.

At our last session, I noticed something about my GMing. I run better standing than I do sitting, and standing lets me mime some aspects of the game (attack rolls, damage taken and such), in a way that the group seems to enjoy.

However, standing means it's harder for me to refer to notes, so I don't always have NPC stats at hand. Hence my topic.

What I'd like to do is to use this thread as a brainstorming place to make up a means of running BRP games without notes, a screen, or anything other than a pair d10s. I have some ideas, and hope that I can get some of you all to contribute.

My initial thinking is:

1. Minion rules for minor combatants. Not only does this fit my play style, it also saves me effort during a game.

2. Resistance Table rolls for a lot of thing. Since the Table is easy to memorize, I can use it without reference to anything else.

What I'm lacking is a means of running more complex NPCs without a character sheet. If there were a HeroQuest-style system of Percentages for various opponents, that would be ideal. Something like "Easy 25% 1d4+1d6 damage, Standard 50% 2d6, Hard 75% 2d8" would work, I guess though I'm sure there would be edge cases where this would collapse.

What do you use to ease your GM workload? This might also be related to what you do when players take the game in a wildly unexpected direction.

I love using mook rules for BRP. It really impacts the flow of the game. Looking forward to reading this.

Huh. I wonder what the mook rules look like.

I'm presently running a Stormbringer play-by-post on RPG.net. We've only just started, and it's a good time to introduce another character. I can send you links if you're interested.

I've got a thread running on RPG.net, gauging interest in a PbP Stormbringer game, run out of that forum.

Check out the thread on RPG.net if you're interested.

I agree that it could be phrased in a clearer fashion.

A Nimble Defence is one that you can use more than once in a combat round, at full skill level, no matter how many times you've already used it.

In this instance, the power is meant to allow you to always have a comeback when attacked socially by characters, using either the Fast Talk or Etiquette skill.

I saw it as being useful if the Jeweled Courtesan is trying to do something like convince a magistrate to let you go, and both the Chief Prefect and a local Nobleman are trying to arrange a hasty imprisonment. In this instance, you'd be able to defend yourself socially against both of them, being able to come up with a witty response to whatever damning evidence they have against you.

Mainly, though, it's a color-and-flavor ability to reflect a character who is so adept at social situations that anyone trying to get the better of them can't even get an advantage by dog-piling them in a debate.

It's in no way intended to be used as a combat ability, but I can see how you might read it that way.

Pulp Cthulhu supposedly uses a similar system to describe character elements outside of skills. In that game, they're called Traits, so that might be a no-go if you're wanting to avoid confusion.