Nakana

@Mjollnir Interesting mechanic. However, in my mind degrees of success are a sliding scale and not always static. 

 

If a character's skill is 87%. That means they are very proficient at that particular skill. At that level, a roll of 85 would certainly be a success (and if using your chart it would constitute an extraordinary success) however it may not necessarily represent a challenge that is proportionate to their proficiency.

 

Worse still, because of the way the system is set up, my mind interprets the lower the number = the better the success (even if it's not a special or critical). So in my example with a skill of 87% and a roll of 85, my mind looks at it as if it barely made it. Whereas a roll of 65 would represent a success that came more easily.

 

Perhaps if the success part of  your chart were reversed it would be easier for my mind to accept?

So, with a skill of 65, remove the digit (5), leaves 6, double it for a special (12), halve for a critical (03), the special is not alway exactly right, but it close enough for most purposes.

Essentially this is the same thing I'm doing, the only difference being that you're rounding the fractions down whereas I'm rounding up.

This is what Nick does by multiplying the rolled number by 5/20, but certainly derived a different way. Again, this makes sense to me once explained, but I'd probably have never come up with this method on my own.

I've just always found the various ways people's brains compute things to achieve the same result fascinating.

It's no longer available to interior inspection, I've been doing it too long... My instinct is that I MULTIPLY sufficiently low numbers to check - I know that a skill of <=100 can ONLY critical on <=5 and special on <=20, and <=60 is <=3 / <=12 for example so if I don't immediately think "that roll is..." I multiply numbers under 5 by twenty  and numbers under 20 by five to see if they fall under the skill concerned...

Ah, multiplying the rolled number by 5 or 20 makes perfect sense, and yet.. without it being pointed out my brain would probably have never thought that way! Excellent!

 

Seems like more than not. =\

From the BGB, a critical success is 5% and a special success is 20% of whatever your skill is. 

 

It's a great mechanic. It provides two levels or tiers of success and is easy to remember because it is reciprocal. It's balanced. 

 

(Your score/5=20%) and (Your score/20=5%) 

 

It's also a factor pair of 100.

 

However, I've noticed that in my head I do not divide by 5 or 20. Instead what I do, is either double or halve 10%. It just seems quicker to me (most likely because 10% is easier to derive visually because the answer is the score as written, only adjust for the decimal point.)

 

I'm just curious how many of you may follow the same method I do, or if most people simply divide by 5 and 20. 

 

 

Additionally, is there a variant of d100 out there that ignores the special success and just rules critical successes at 10% instead?

I used your awesome map for the cover of my NPC books in the downloads section. Thanks again for sharing

 

Oh that is too cool! You're welcome! (and thanks for the credit as well)

I'm of the school that zombies are slow and dumb. (Maybe a leader type here and there that are faster)

So killing zombies should be relatively easy. However, swarm tactics would prevail.

Why not have a penalty that accrues for every zombie the character is engaged with?

Or simply ignore the "or more" part and only allow one?

Thank you!

Does anyone know of a BRP based empire building game?

Or if not, any recommendations/suggestion on how to incorporate it?

Ideally I'm looking for something that could be bolted on to an existing game.

Very nice.

Thank you.

Hey Nakana, I'd like to maybe use this as a background image on the character generator I'm making to post for free here. Cool?

Of course! PM me your email and I'll send you a higher res version. Would you like it with or without labels?

So I've been on a mapmaking frenzy as of late and wondered what the Southern Reaches might look like from the skies..

*Technically trees (even large forests) would hardly be discernible at this scale so in that respect I fudged a little with the reality.

*Rights for The Southern Reaches are owned by Chaosium, created by David Ackerman and Ben Monroe.

Thanks for all the help and advice everyone!

Lot of great feedback!

I am leaning toward:

*Vampire as a condition instead of a stand-alone race. (Because being able to have vampire elfs, dwarves, orcs, etc. is more interesting than it only affecting humans.)

*Vampirism is classified as undead. Therefore no procreation in the traditional sense is possible. (The protocol for making vampires already exists, plus who has ever heard of a pregnant vampire anyway?)

As far as the half-elf thing... He'll just have to accept that he was an elf who became a vampire. =\

With weakened elf abilities, mild vampire abilities, and mild vampire weaknesses. Specifically blood thirst, and daylight. Plus, as an elf who has now been corrupted as undead, he will no longer be allowed in the "veil" as it were.

That's the way I'm leaning anyways... it could change. lol

Thanks for the reply Rod!

It is my world, my setting so I'm not locked to anything else.

It would either be an elf that became a vampire, or offspring from an elf and a vampire. Either way the stats would end up being the same, but the flavor of it would be different. Ultimately I think I'll let the player create the history of how his character came to be.

Stats-wise I'm thinking: lose a few elf benefits, gain a few vampire benefits with roughly half(mild) the vampire restrictions.

I was just curious what the community's take on this would be.

Just wondering how everyone perceives vampirism..

Do you play them as a stand-alone race?

Basically human (typical representation) that can only turn other humans?

Something more monstrous in nature?

Or do you view vampirism more as a condition? Which would mean all or at least most races can become a vampire.

(i.e., dwarf vampire, elf vampire, etc.)

I ask because soon I'll be starting up a game and a player has expressed interest in playing a half elf/half vampire.

Would that mean a character born from an elf and vampire, or an elf that was turned by a vampire?

Lots of ways this could go...

I must have completely missed the [ONE skill PER session] caveat that this rule would apply to. Here I was thinking (and it was late at night) this would apply to everything as normal. I actually really like this concept. Learn from your mistakes but with a penalty to learning so it makes it a hard lesson learned.

Like I said before, seems legit.

I would think being able to do experience checks on failed rolls in game coupled with the rules for LEA would ultimately balance out.

(Even if you fail your roll in-game you can do an experience check, but at a penalty based on your LEA.) Seems legit.

Actually.. now that I've typed that and looked at it.. don't they kind of cancel each other out?

You can learn from your mistakes... but you have a hard time learning?

edit: I guess I'm trying to figure the benefit when the rate of increase may be the same. (Aside from just the mindset of it all.)

Personally, I'd rather see some of the rules, variants and other stuff that has appeared in BRP related supplemnts but didn't make it into the BRG get collected somewhere. Stuff such as the SIZ table from the boxed Superworld; the starting skills as the sum of several attributes from the original Magic World, and ElfQuest,;perpetual Strike Ranks from Ringworld, Ki skills from RQ3's Land of the Ninja - that sort of thing. That's the stuff that we are going to lose if someone doesn't collect it.

Just curious, but if that was part of the site as well would it be enough to pass the litmus test? Would you contribute financially or content-wise? (I do not mean that to be cheeky, but sincere.)

I think that part of the reason that this is being discussed is because a consolidation of everything that is "out there" would be nice and convenient.

I think a larger part of it is (and I hope this doesn't get me burned by anyone) a lot of people love BRP/d100; some of those people may feel that more could be done, than what is being done to grow the community. So what happens (or at least what seems to me) is you get a lot of people coming up with ideas of what they would do to help grow the community. Some are good ideas, some are not/some are economically feasible, some are not, but there is a sense that the product line is struggling. [Or maybe complacent would be a better word]

Much of what is being discussed in this thread supports the point I'm trying to make.

On the flip side however, BRP may be doing a lot better than anyone realized and we just aren't aware of it because Chaosium is slow as molasses and doesn't really tell us anything. =\ (I know that Chaosium is like only 4 or 5 people and some freelancers, but I personally do not find that to be an acceptable excuse.If they hired a few more people, grew the company, and put out more products that people are asking for, then more money would start flowing in. They'd certainly get more of my money, that's for sure.)

Nope.

Exactly.

Or maybe adding it to that wiki that people talk about.

I was not aware a wiki already existed.

But really, why set up a webpage and pay for a server just to do a list of what is and what was?

That was kind of my point... However, if I were to take something like that on, it would be way more than a simple list. I was thinking more along the lines of a full resource guide to everything. Photo of book cover, publisher information, summary of what the book covered, possible links for purchasing, etc.

But ultimately, I wouldn't want the task of doing it alone and/or paying for it completely out of pocket myself. Those two questions serve as a sort of litmus test to determine if it's really worthwhile doing..

I could easily set up a site for something like that, but it would have to be community driven.

Would people want this enough to do the research and contribute to the content?

Would people want this enough to donate a few bucks to help with server costs? (Mainly just registration which is about $15 a year, I already have a server)

I agree with a lot of what Mankcam said in his last post.

I would love to see a Worlds of Wonder along the lines of what he describes.

As far as confusion.. Chaosium already did that. When I bought the BGB it kind of read like there would be additional supplements to it, and it sets itself up perfectly for strictly settings books.

When I first learned that the new Magic World was going to be released I thought it was more along the mindset of: Ok, so you have the BGB but it if you want to play a Fantasy setting, here are all the specifics to that genre in greater detail and it would provide a checklist of which options to use from the BGB. (But you would still need the BGB for the system.)

I was a little surprised when I found out that the new Magic World was a complete stand alone product with the system included. It kind of seemed counter-intuitive with what Chaosium wanted to do with BRP.

However, I really like the new Magic World and Ben did a great job with it. It just confused me as to why they included the system and set it up as a stand-alone product. I read an interview that did kind of explain it though as far as Chaosium wanting to create a new entry game to BRP and that cleared up some of my confusion.

I'd rather see a straight reissue of Worlds of Wonder, warts and all. The supposedly "cleaned up" and "improved" games lack the zest and personality of the originals.

If WoTC can do it with AD&D I don't see why Choasium couldn't do it with WoW.

Or better yet, since the BGB does exist, just release new Superworld, future world books as settings books (we already have the new magic world) but don't make them standalone products.

Simply in depth setting books that require the BGB with a list of which rule system switches to turn on.

I'm from the MS Gulf Coast and every March we have "Coast Con" which is a sci-fi/fantasy convention hosted in Biloxi, MS.

I've never actually been to the convention itself, but I have been to a few parties related to it.

I was just curious if anyone here has ever been, or heard of it, and what your take on it was? Did they have any BRP or d100 gaming? (Aside from CoC)

What did you like about it? What did you not like about it? etc.

Thanks,

Nakana

I did a GM Tool for BRP a while ago. It can be found here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/529658/BRP/NPC-Creator%20Mac.zip

or Windows:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/529658/BRP/NPC-Creator.zip

Differnet tools are included, e.g. Villain creation, Minion/Extra creation, Creature Crafter, treasure tables, dice roller, etc.

THANK YOU FOR MAKING A MAC VERSION!!!!!!!!!!

(I've found a lot of seemingly greet gaming software tools but they are only for Windows. So, thank you for thinking of the Mac community!)

Hmmm...so it does. Thanks Nakana, you can see I cut my teeth on RQ3 rather than the BPR BGB. Not sure if that makes me Seasoned or a Fogey

It makes you a Wise One, from which there is much to be learned.

I am grateful that my first exposure to BRP was the BGB however. Mentally I'm able to separate the system from the settings easier. Throughout the book, they mention "expansions upon the BRP system in the future". I'd really love to see something like that put into print. Sort of like a Vol. 2 of BRP with more rules "switches", more spells and powers, more creatures, spot rules, etc.

The Big Gold Book covers the creation of magic items to a degree. In fact, you have 4 different power types to choose from.

Sadly though, it only really covers it from the mechanical side and doesn't provide much flavor about it. However, that can be left for you to decide... which could make it even cooler.