Merak Gren

59 views. Nobody else have anything else to add? Cheers D

Thanks for the comments. Yes. Pulp game. I want to Run Masks of Nyarlathotep and want to give it a more Indiana Jones feel to it. Insanity is not going to be the theme of the game, but I wanted sonething to encourage Cthulhu Mythos skill.

Right. I'm not entirely happy with the current Sanity Mechanic and its death spiral. I appreciate that to a third party, an unhinged mind will slip into madness more and more, unless cared for. They will see the at first few signs of madness and then see a quick deterioration as the madness takes over. However, the way I see it, its not a true madness. In fact the person is actually seeing the truth and removing the veil of ignorance. To an ignorant mind, he might be considered 'mad' but he's not really. To reflect this I propose to tweak a few things to eliminate the death spiral. 1. Roll SAN as normal when encountering a mythos creature. 2. On a failure (inc min SAN on success) SAN loss is not applied to Current Sanity, but is Shaded in starting at 1. For example Harvey losses 6 SAN. Shade in SAN points 1 to 6. 3. Next time Harvey encounters a different Mythos Creature, Roll SAN again. This time, for a loss see 2 above. For a success, either min SAN loss per 2 above or no effect. However, if the roll is within the range of the shaded numbers, ie between 1 and 6 in our example, no SAN is 'lost' or shaded in, but min SAN loss is converted to Cthulhu Mythos Skill. This represents gaining an insight. 4. As Cthulhu Mythos increases, Max SAN decreases as normal. Lather, rinse and repeat. I haven't playtested this yet, but have been thinking about it a few days. I see that pcs will generally be more resilient to SAN loss as they are using POW x 5 most of the time. This will be eroded as PCs roll low and gain Cthulhu Mythos insights. With this version, I was thinking of tying Madness to thresholds of Cthulhu Mythos skill, so at POW x1 skill points, something happens. And so on. Similar to the way Insanity is worked in Dark Heresy. Eventually the shaded part will consume all SAN points up to MAX SAN at which point, the PC is retired, considered seduced by the Cthulhu Mythos. Thoughts? Feedback? Can anyone foresee any problems with this approach? Cheers Damon

This last year I have only run a couple of BRP one off sessions. I've spent most of my time running Pendragon and started the GPC in January. Uther period was completed by end of April and we're starting Anarchy next week. I was hoping to run a Stormbringer 1-3 and BRP Jorune games at Continuum. Although the SB game faltered after my idea for the scenario was at odds with some of the established facts of the setting. I had tried to tell the story of Aubec of Malador and his death, but Loz's Cults of the YK kind of put a broadside on my idea. In the end I wasn't entirely happy with it after I ran it for my group and canned it. BRP Jorune colonial era worked quite well. I ran it twice for my group and at Continuum and got completely different results each time. I was trying to tell the story of Bomoveris after he survived the initial attacks on the colonies due to be in transit in a Shuttle. The shuttle accidentally flies through an open warp and crashes on a Skyrealm (Kolovisondra for simplicity). From there the survivors needed to get samples of Shantha DNA, regroup with other pockets of survivors and finalise the 'Plan B' virus. In the end it was a stark choice of annihilation or genocide. Both groups of players chose genocide. Triff played Bomoveris in the game and did the mad scientist thing very well. It was very open ended and since the group decided to blow up the Cashiln tunnel I provided for ease of transport, I had to come up with something else to keep the story moving. I was happy with both outcomes which pretty much followed the history we know. I have been meaning to post up the character sheets and weapon sheets, but because I used some scanned art for watermarks / illustration, I was worried about copyright. Since I wasn't sure about wording for proper credit etc its just languished. When ever I get some time to sort these out, I'll post them.

In RQ, when you criticalled with an impaling weapon you'd do Double damage (special) and Full damage (Critical). So for for a spear (1D8) you'd do 16 pts of damage. Ouch! Now that in BRP all weapons have special effects, I'd say that Crit and Special results stack, after all the result is both a Crit and a Special.

Hmmm its cheaper than attending Continuum for me. I might just be tempted.

Marcus, Thanks for the advice. I mostly use a Blackberry and cannot sign in with it. Lots of blank spaces where presumably there may be some stuff to click on. With regard to the other point. I have posted an enquiry on rpg.net regarding the author. If we can find him, we may be in luck.

Marcus, Had a look at the forum, but couldn't see how to register. Had a question I was going to post there. Have you got any plans to bring in 'When the Madcap laughs' as an adventure? It was published over 3 White Dwarf either 95-97 or 96 to 98. Not sure. Also can't remember who wrote it either. I have been scouring the internet for a copy with no luck so far. Cheers Damon

I'd say yes. If normal sized target is at Medium range (ie double standard range, so at least 100m away, not 75m) the shot is difficult and at 1/2 normal skill. If the target was then making it harder to be hit, then, the chance to hit will then be difficult and at 1/2 skill again.

Default starting age is 17+1D6. So if you start a character at (17+10) 27+1D6 you can have the Experienced Skill bonus. If you start at age, say 25, you won't get anything.

RuneQuest Land of Ninja had stats for primarily Japanese monsters. Not got my copy with me, but what kind of creatures are you thinking of?

Yes. I never imagined Alepter and Cubicle 7. Just finished reading Jennifer Morgue and looking forward to a deadtree Laundry. Love this take on Cthulhu mythos.

IMHO Role Play trumps Roll Play, and I wouldn't penalise players for missing out on dice rolls if they have role played the encounter. Obviously, this is much easier for social interaction than combat, but if they can do something that would otherwise required a roll, I would allow them a check anyway. After all, they have successfully 'used' a skill. The skills I have in mind are; Fast talk, Persuade, Psycology, Diplomancy, Intimidate, perhaps even Status or Command. They may even deserve an increase to CHA/APP for exceptional Role play and might inspire others to try and role play too. Be creative and look think what skills could have been used. Cheers Damon

I just scribble a rough diagram to let people know what the scenery is, as well as the rough positions. Long arrows will be used to indicate long movement etc. If there are hidden opponents or reinforcements let you players check if they see / hear them coming rather than announce it and placing them on the table. Sometimes enemies can sneak in and surprise them because they were not expected.

Again this is talking about massed unit combat. It would be different at a skirmish scale or as a one on one. From the OP I take it its just two riders and perhaps half a dozen of antagonists at once.

I like the Pendragon decides this. If damage roll is an odd number, the horse is hit. Simple.

I think that confusion is arising from thinking in terms of massed unit combat rather than as single units. From the example given in terms of 2 mounted PC's versus your typical NPC enemy squad, I was looking at it as mounted versus single opponent. I grant you that disciplined spear men or better still, Pikemen could break a charge, but this is more due to a tightly packed unit of set spears several ranks deep (with no dodge or parry) than to active defence and counterattack. In a duel between a horeman and a footman, it would be difficult for the footman to halt the horse (without injury to it) and engage the horseman without allowing him to move off. I haven't got books here, but I'd guess that RQ3 would be better reading than BRP in this instance.

Some very good advice here. Just to chime in, with a bugbear of mine. Keeping a watch at night. As with the Marching order thing, just roll randomly to see who will be awake at the time of the encounter.

I'm coming at this from RQ3 perspective. Normally it is not possible to both attack and defend on the same strike (or Dex) rank. By the time, the foot man could act for a second time, the horse will be long gone. Therefore it is an unfair advantage to treat the combat of mounted v foot as a normal foot v foot. The mounted has the advantage of superior position and speed.

I take issue with this point. At the moment that the mount is passing next to the target at full charge, I would allow one action possible to the footman given how quickly everything is happening. He can either choose to defend against the charge or he can try to attack himself. Not both. Not enough time is available to do both. Think of it as one Strike Rank or Dex rank. Ofcourse, if the footman is armed with a long spear, he can set it against the charge and that will be his action.

I'd go for option 2. AFAIK one of the advantages of being mounted is that footmen can't really keep you engaged. You simply ride up strike and keep moving. In some cases, they may not even have an opportunity to attack AND parry. Just one pr the other. BRP is not as rules bound as D&D. Think about what seems reasonable in any situation and go for it.

Loz, I'm sold. However, what kind of Augment? +50% as in Pendragon (+10) or as 10% of the skill as in HeroQuest?

Why? You don't need to follow canon. In my games the players are the Eternal Champion. Set in Sadric's reign nothing is preordained, other than what stories I wish to run.

Sounds similar to Pendragon then? This would be a step in the right direction. Ultimately, the Elric saga is far removed from the "Kill things and take their stuff" mentality, but my experience of Stormbringer as a game it is far too tempting to "take what you kill".

I'll probably do that budget allowing.