Merak Gren

While watching The Empire Strikes Back last weekend, I began to think about using the Pendragon Traits and Passions in a BRP conversion. I don't know if this has been done before, but will be happy for links. I had several thoughts on how it could work, but didn't get it to gel. I now appeal to your collectiive wisdom for ideas on how to finish off my thoughts. Here we go. We all know that Fear, Anger, Hate etc lead to the Dark side of the force. So I thought, no. SW game to date incorporate this into the game. What if, the more your developed these traits, the stronger you became in the Dark Side. What if each emotion, provided different Dark Side powers. For example Force Lightning could be linked to Fear, Force Choke could be linked to Hate etc. Similarly, the Light side powers could be linked to patience, kindness, justice or whatever the Jedi values are. I am not much of a SW junky, and therefore do not know much of Force philosophy. Some help here would be good. Also, I fell foul of the corrupting effect of the Dark Side. How to model this? Now we all know that the Dark Side is easier and quicker path to power, but the Light side is stronger. How could this be modelled? I am really stuck and frustrated with this. Stuck, because of work and family commitments (just had a little baby girl to keep my 20month old son company) and frustrated, as I feel I am at the verge of a great discovery, and can't get going. Please Obi Wan/ BRP Central. You're my only hope.

To put some perspective on this, these are my opinions on the benefit of two weapons. This is based on my exposure to Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido, some Kendo sparring, some Niten Ichi Ryu kenjutsu and some Katori Shinto Ryu kenjutsu. I have also read several books on kenjutsu and Japanese martial arts including The Book of Five Rings. Miyamoto Musashi developed his Niten Ichi Ryu two sword technique from desperation. That is, when outnumbered and in a situation where death was likely, it made no sense to die with a sheathed weapon. Therefore, two swords make a lot of sense when outnumbered. 1. For one thing, it allows you to cover a wider arc for both defense and offence. It is harder for your enemies to attack your non weapon side. It allows you to strike equally to the left and right without sacrificing your guard. 2. Parrying is much easier when using two sword by crossing them. 3. You can strike while you parry and your opponent will be unable to parry as his weapon is entangled with your other one. 4. Feinting is easier with two weapons. There is none of the common misconceptions about 'gaining' an additional attack as in D&D. It could be easy to convert some of the above into house rules. However it pretty much feels like 'normal' combat.

Just to let you know. Steve Perrin posted an announcement on www.rpg.net Tabletop roleplaying forum asking for subscriber of his SPQR rules to contact him. I don't know the full story, but I think that computer trouble destroyed some of his subscribers email addresses. Ta.

Thankyou both for the clarification. Bugger! Another book to go on my wish list. The thing that annoys me about Mongoose, is how thin their books are, and how many more you need to buy to get core stuff. The only Mongoose book I bought that I think was good value was my Deluxe hardcover. Until my front cover came off. I agree the old SB made demons too common, but I grew to get used to it. I treated the creation of the armour or weapons as a separate thing to demon summoning.

I may be missing your point, but there are two cases I always interpreted as demon armour. 1. At start of Singing Citadel, Elric's ship is attacked by Pan Tangians. Elric fights the captain who is a member of the Thecracy and is described as wearing 'sorcerously treated armour' and 'magic treated armour'. I never inteerpreted as a battle magic spell, as it implies a permancy about the magic. 2. In Stormbringer, Jagreen Lern's 'scarlet flaming armour' and shield. When I dealt with bound demons, armour and weapons were not sentient as such, but provided the abilities to the inanimate objects. Thus imbuing mundane objects with sorcerous powers.

Just for a moment there, I visualised a Chaosium licence for Jorune under BRP written by you. Now that would be something. I'll be happy with the PDF. Cheers.

That would be great. I've got 2nd and 3rd editions and the problem I had when trying to run it was that the learning curve for my players was too steep. They had to learn the system, the setting and the jargon. It was a step too far for some. BRP's ability to sit in the bacground would be a definite plus for Jorune. If you could make this official, that could be a tremendous boost for BRP and Jorune. Its been out of print long enough. Do you know if Chessex still have the rights, or anyone else? Failing that, I too would be interested in a pdf download when available. .

Rather shamelessly, the IOM contingent booked 50% of two BRP Sharpe sessions. We had a lot of fun and was one of the highligts for me at Continuum. I've met Triff and Wolverine. Shame I couldn't meet Aikighost and the A-State game, but it clashed with Sharpe. Looking forward to 2010 and hope to run some games of my own. That should be enough lead time to design a 4 hour scenario with some pregens. I've been doing campaign play for so long, I don't know where to start.

Hmm I'm undecided on the issue. I thought I was lucky with my MRQ books so far, but when I opened my MRQ Deluxe RQ at Continuum, I found that the front cover had come loose from its binding. All it took was a bit of travel in my book bag. I haven't even used the book! However, my copy of Dara Happa Stirs is alreay showing signs that the plastic coating on the cover is comming off at the edges. Its a problem common to my HeroQuest book too. I'll need to invest into some sticky back plastic sheets to protect the book.

Not own all the books, but a fair share of them. Stormbringer 1,3,4 & 5 (plus Elric) Hawkmoon CoC 4,5 & 6 (and Dark Ages) Nephilim RuneQuest 2, 3 (inc GW edition) Pendragon 4 & 5 I was missing the SuperHero and Scifi element (which is very difficult to find). However, having all the rules in one place is the best thing about it. All my old books can rest in peace, while I flick through the BRP book. I recommend BRP without reservations.

Can't remember who wrote this (maybe Terry Pratchett) or even if it is using the same words, but "From an arrows point of view, chainmail is just a collection of holes"

I received my copy yesterday (10 July). I ordered direct from Chaosium on Friday 27 June so all in all only took 13 days (9 business days) to arrive. That was with free shipping too, which I thought would add a month. Ofcourse, ahem, I had to spend $125 in other books to get free shipping, and my wife kindly understood. So got escape from innsmouth, end time, Liber ka, cthulhu rising pdf, yellow sign dice bag, ravenor saga and fate of fools. Not a bad lot for £65 odd quid from halfway accross the world. So now I have the ARC 115, 1st ed and the PDF. Just waiting for the hardback now. Also I have to say, that as much as I liked the cover design when it was annouined, I now prefer the simpler ARC one with the dragon. Ho hum

The main deterrant for someone attempting to close in with an opponent wielding a long weapon, is of course, being hit! The game that remains nameless includes this fear, in its 'Attacks of Opportunity' rule although they never got it working properly. However, from experience (as poor as that is) the only ways I could close against an opponent, are on the back of a parry deflecting his weapon, locking weapons together or moving in whilst he initiates a swing and attempt stop his attack by attacking him first or getting in the way of his arm movements. This is were two weapon combat really gives an advantage. As fun guy pointed out, a draw is no good, This would only work momentrarily as each combatant would then seek to return to a safe distance, or you'd end up grappling. On the other hand, if the long weapon user's movement is restricted in some way, like in a defensive wall, entrenched etc, then, pity him. In game terms, inorder to close an opposed dodge roll to simulate footwork. If long weapon user wins he maintains distance, either by moving himself, or forcing shorty back. If shorty wins, he's closed and can enjoy the benefits. Next round long will want to initiate movement. The opposed dodge roll will replace the defense of the combatant initiating the closing. If unsuccessful, Long will have the advantage. There is always a risk to trying to get too close.

The rules as written are not very clear. From my experiences in Iaido and Kendo, distance and footwork are very important. Tae sabaki (sp?) - body movement can determine whether the next attack can hit or miss you by a fraction of an inch. One of my favourite tricks, is to lull my opponent to strike and quickly step in with a tsuki to the face as they raise their weapon. By the way, I am only a beginner and so where most of my sparring partners. When matched against a competent fighter, you realise how little skill you have. Judging the right distance and when to move is a combination of training, experience, awareness, skill and luck in different proportions. Dodging does not exist in my experience. However, it is the most appropriate skill to use for this. Therefore in a typical contest, the more experienced and fluid combatant will be able to control the distances than the less skilled or club footed combatant. However applying this to any rpg is difficult because the attributes used in game are not realistic enough. My house rule to manage the situation with common sense is simple. 1. Statement of intent to say a closing attempt will be made. 2. Use opposed Dodge rolls to resolve the closing attempt at the DEX rank of the combatant attempting to close.

I have been toying around with the idea to introduce SAN to my RQ game in Prax. Based on the fact that Chaos is the antithesis to life on Glorantha, any gross manifestation of pure chaos will affect the mental state of a normal viewer. At the moment, as the rules stand, a chaos opponent is just like any other opponent (albeit more dangerous) and anyone can fight them. Under my vision, it takes a special kind of person to stand up and hold their ground against chaos. Storm Bull's are one of them, and they already have a reputation for being mad (or stupid) for doing so. I want the spell 'Face Chaos' to be the tool that allows them to stand and fight when all about them flee in terror.

That reminds me. I was reading RQ Vikings last night and saw the special rules for worship without Godi. The spirit possession of the agent of the god bit. Beserkergang divine spell at will! However often they wish. Blimey. Invulnerable to edged and piercing weapons and acts as beserk. If that doesn't open up a shield wall nothing will.

Or even Oswald Bastable.

Mark me up for Gods of Law too. I managed to find Gods of Chaos in a flgs in Manchester. I never did see any of the others.

Just taking a slight tangent, but still on topic. I feel that magic attack is very expensive when compared to range combat. For example a competent caster with POW 16 can only cast one spell per round at 3pp for 1D6 damage. He will only be able to do a total of 5D6 damage over 5 rounds. Compare that to an archer DEX16 with a quiver of say 20 arrows. Using Strike Ranks, he could shoot 3 arrows per round at D8+1 (or thereabouts). Even with a dismal skill of say 33% (1 hit per round) he will be able to shoot 20 arrows in 7 rounds and cause 7D8+7 damage. Why is there such a need to penalise magic by making it so expensive?

Using Doubles to indicate criticals. Aren't you raising the critacal threshold from 5% to 10%? How would you simulate 5%. Only count doubles up to 50%? Thus 00, 11, 22, 33 and 44. What would you do with doubles over this?

Inspired by HeroQuest, I toying with the idea of mixing RQII with superpowers. I like the idea of the abilities being switched on at will. This would be for Rune Levels and would be as the result of Mastery over a Rune or a gift from the god. Thus Orlanthi could fly, Yelm and Zorak Zorani would have Fire powers etc. Not really sure how it would work out, or whether I need to super the antagonists too. I have a lot of thinking to do.

For me 100% represents competent skill. For example I would expect a black belt in martial arts to be 100% as this demonstrates that he can perform the basics well. That is, every action is performed without variation. This is more so in the traditional martial arts such as Kyudo and Iaido where precision is very important. Then a Second Dan may be in the 100 to 200 range, Third Dan may be in the 200 to 300 range etc.

Hmmm... Back on topic. Has anyone considered / tried using the HQ mechanic for skills over 100%? Each 100 gives you a mastery which can be used to bump up success levels. So some one with say 150% attack, coulld roll a 43 and the result is upgraded from a normal success to a special success. Any thoughts / comments.

My apologies. I'm posting from a Blackberry device and I lost data services yesterday immediately after making the post. I am back to 'normal' this morning.

I have taken RQ:AIG with me on a conference to read while travelling etc. Wow! *What can I say, I'm very impressed. *This is the best RQ Glorantha game ever written. *It's a damn shame it never saw the light of day. It had a strong feeling of RQ2 which I love, with some of the sophistication of RQ3. * It has put some things into perspective for me. *Some of the things I thought were new for BRP are in there (like slashing weapons bleeding on specials), and things I liked about MoRQ like the fatigue classes, are in AIG too. * I like the chargen section, a bit confusing at first, but an improvement to RQ3, which is very bitty, and with no built in way to scale up. * This will seriously compete for my attention when BRP arrives for any 3rd Age Gloarantha *goodness. *There may be a need for some houseruling, but I like the way, it seems designed to work with RQ3 supplements, I guess that some of the changes, like fixed damage from STR + SIZ bonus, are compatible / interchangeable with the random rolled bonus. Just a couple of questions. *Is there a character sheet out there for it? *I haven't got the time to do one from scratch. Any Character conversion notes, and anything else from the appendices? Thanks a lot.