Kyle Aaron

"Chaosium" is just a company, which produces nothing; people produce the books. The people involved in 1980 are not the people involved in 2009, so the experiences of those in 1980 don't help the people of 2009. Absolutely. But now we're talking about a different thing. I was responding to the people bitching that Chaosium was taking ages to put things out; it's hard to produce a finished product, and that's a thing most gamers don't recognise. Now you're talking about the quality of the products once published, which we as gamers, however lazy or disorganised we may be, are certainly able to judge. If people were saying, "Chaosium has published X, and it's crap because of Y" then whether those people had produced anything themselves would be irrelevant. But people aren't saying that, they're saying, "those lazy bastards haven't produced anything, why if they gave me, some anonymous geek online with no experience, an office and a stack of cash, I could produce brilliant stuff quickly! It's easy!" This requires a large spending of cash, and taking a big risk with that money. By the time the book is ready the fad for the license material may have passed (see Starship Troopers, Jericho), or the licenser may pull the plug (see Stargate), or it may just flop (see Hercules and Xena). Depending which license you go for, it might cost $10,000 or more. Then there's the salary for the people working on it, and the marketing, and so on, which could all easily run to $50,000 for the first book, and $5,000 per book thereafter. Optimistically they make $5 a book sale in profits, so must sell 10,000 copies to break even. You offering the cash? What's that? Take a loan? The bank wants collateral, will you risk your house for this game? It's a lot simpler and less risky to come up with original material. And that takes time. You can get it done quickly but then you have to pay people for that. The 1-10c a word most rpg writers get (2c/word at Mongoose, for example) isn't really an incentive for them to give up their day job and write full-time. That's the way things go in real life, everything from your home groceries to an rpg company - you have to invest some combination of money and time. If you don't have a lot of money, well then you'll have to put in time. Which means they take ages to put their books out. Honestly, if rpg writing is so easy then you don't need to wait for them to publish stuff, do you? You can write it yourself. What's that? You have other things to do? You have to earn a living as well? Guess what, so do they. Most people involved in rpg companies don't have it as their full-time job. Basically you have a few hundred people employed at Wizards, then you have Steve Jackson, Sean Punch, Kev Sembieda, a few people at WW, and everyone is doing it part-time and out of sheer love for the hobby. There just isn't a lot of money in rpgs. And writing a complete product is a bloody difficult thing to do.

Copyright. If you can't even spell it, we can't be expected to take your opinions on it seriously. Copies were asked for on a public forum. Let's put it another way. Let's say someone was asking for a pdf of the latest BRP book, and was asking in a forum, and I was openly saying, "sure, I'll send you it". Would the site owners be concerned? Yes. It wouldn't be made any worse by their actually hosting it. It's pretty ridiculous to be openly asking for and offering scans of the covers to be sent to you, and then getting nervous only when people ask you to post them up. Don't ask me, I wasn't the one who started this thread, or who asked for scans to be sent to my email address. Those honours fall to trifletaxor, and Colin Chapman. Nor was I the one copying and distributing those files, which honour falls to Atgxtg. In any case, the cover of an rpg is not like a song in an album, which is like a chapter in the rpg. The cover of an rpg is more like the cover of an album. While its copying and distribution may be copyright violation, the history of the internet shows that companies are unlikely to take action, since it has a promotional effect on their material. You can't listen to an album's cover, all you can do is get curious about it; likewise you can't play an rpg with just the cover, you just get curious about it. Again, I don't see why it's all happy and chummy through private emails, but is suddenly a horrific sin on a forum. Either is a copyright violation, and neither is likely to be acted on. So either report this thread to a moderator as piracy, or else quit being a cocksmock and post the damn covers up already.

I think that before anyone decides to give advice to a game company they ought to write and publish for sale (not free) an rpg book. Pdf is fine. The point is to begin a project and finish it - ideas are easy, complete products hard - and have a significant number of people - not just your friends and family - willing to pay money for it. It ain't an easy thing. Not everyone can do it, though most gamers seem to think they could. Most of those commenting are like vegetarians offering recipes for steak and kidney pud. It doesn't require great qualifications or years of experience, but it does require a dedicated effort for hours each day over some months, and an ability to be able to put up with people giving you shit about it all.

Posting the cover image of a book is a copyright violation likely to be actionable now? Wow, there are about 1,207,093,675 forum members and bloggers who are going to get their arses sued heavily. Listen, you drongos: copyright is quite literally the right to make and distribute copies. Once you've scanned the cover and sent a copy to your mates, it makes it no worse if you post it to a forum or blog. You copied and distributed it! At least you can remove it from a forum or blog later, you can't remove it from your mate's hard drive. Either copy and distribute the covers, or don't. Don't quibble over whether you sent it to your mates in email or posted it on a forum.

I did a pseudo-Saxon setting for three short campaigns, and one abortive campaign; only the last used RQ rules, but there's relatively little rules-oriented stuff in the pages... "Tiwesdæg Clíewen" means "Tuesday group" - referring to the town and province of Tiwesdæg, its founder the woman warrior Tiwesdæg, and of course that the game group met on Tiwesdæg (Tuesday) - the day of the god Tiw, Saxon god of victory in battle. Tiwesdæg Clíewen, which used GURPS4e Tiwesdæg Clíewen 2, which used FATE lofgeornost, "most eager for honour - adventuring in a world where magic is magical, and monsters are monstrous." Tiwesdæg Clíewen 3 - A RuneQuest game of high adventure! Fourth Tiwesdæg, which used HarnMaster (percentile skills based on the attributes... same as BRP)

Post them up here, you bastards, don't keep them all to yourselves!

The idea is to play yourself except with a pair of balls. "But I'm just playing my character!" is the ancient excuse for all kinds of cocksmockery. It's still dodgy when that character is yourself. Someone was offering you the chance to have fun. If you'd rather not have fun, you can just stay home and then they don't have to share their cheetos with you.

Do you as GM never grant modifiers to skill rolls? Because certain bonuses can put a sub-100% skill over, and maluses can make a 100+% skill under. It would be a bit strange, if you have (say) Climb 75%, to have Climb 75% for a tree with lots of branches sticking out, and Climb 75% for a glass skyscraper. Or 110% Lockpick for a 19th century door lock and 110% Lockpick for a modern electronic safe. And so on.

The new BRP is not popular in Australia because it's not sold here. No-one can play it unless they can get a copy. I guess I better head to ebay...

If you had breadth of experience with rpgs, you wouldn't make incorrect generalisations like, "they were mostly copies of D&D" or "they were mostly hack and slash." Your generalisation does not match the actual games. The assertion, "if it's linear it's not an rpg" excludes rather a lot of games as actually played. Dragonlance, for example, was extremely linear. So when we played through all those modules, we weren't really roleplaying? Bollocks. I have some breadth of experience, but even if I didn't - well, I'm not the one making insulting generalisations about rpgs. You are. The common element to all your bad roleplaying game experiences is you. If almost every game you played was hack and slash with no roleplaying, was it the game, or was it you? Or your GM at the time, perhaps?

Bollocks. You are confusing your own lack of breadth of experience with a general lack in the gaming industry. In the first decade of roleplaying games there were published and sold for profit (ie, not homebrews with photocopier) at least 141 first edition English language rpgs (I include 1971's Chainmail, combatish precursor to D&D for completeness). A look down the following list will reveal that extraordinarily few of them in any way focused on killing things and taking their stuff. In addition, considerably fewer than "90%" of them were variations of D&D. (1971) Chainmail - (1973) Dungeons and Dragons - (1975) Tunnels and Trolls - (1975) En Garde - (1975) Empire of the Petal Throne - (1975) Boot Hill - (1975) The Complete Warlock - (1976) Uuhraah! - (1976) Bunnies and Burrows - (1976) Starfaring - (1976) Metamorphosis Alpha: Fantastic Role-Playing Game - (1976) Monsters! Monsters! - (1976) Knights of the Round Table - (1977) Bifrost - Volume 1: Faerie ed (1977) L.W.Felstead Ltd (1977) Chivalry and Sorcery - 1st ed (1977) Traveller - 1st ed by Marc Miller (1977) GDW (1977) The Fantasy Trip - Melee ed by Steve Jackson, Howard Thomson (1977) Metagaming (1977) Superhero 2044 - 1st ed by Donald Saxman (1977) Gamescience (1977) Flash Gordon and the Warriors of Mongo - 1st ed by Lin Carter, Scott Bizar (1977) FGU (1977) Dungeons and Dragons - Basic Set 1st ed ed by J. Eric Holmes (1977) (1977) Space Quest - 1st ed by Paul Hume, George Nyhen (1977) Tyr Gamemakers Ltd (1977) Star Patrol - Space Patrol ed by Michael Scott Kurtick, Rockland Russo (1977) Gamescience (1978) Adventures in Fantasy - 1st ed by Dave Arneson, Richard Snider (1978) Excalibre Games Inc. (1978) Dungeons and Dragons, Advanced - 1st ed by Gary Gygax (1978) TSR (1978) Starships and Spacemen - 1st ed by Leonard H. Kanterman (1978) FGU (1978) The Complete Warlock - 1st ed by Robert Cowan, Dave Clark, Kenneth M. Dahl, Nick Smith (1978) Balboa, Inc. (1978) Simian Combat - 1st ed by Marshall Rose, Norman Knight (1978) Avant-Garde Simulations Perspetives (1978) The Infinity System - 1st ed by Derrick Charbonnet, Terry Podgorski (1978) Threshold Games (1978) John Carter, Warlord of Mars - 1st ed by M. S. Matheny (1978) Heritage Models (1978) Legacy - 1st ed by David A. Feldt (1978) Legacy Press (1978) High Fantasy - 1st ed by Jeffrey C. Dillow (1978) Fantasy Productions Inc. (1978) Age of Chivalry - 1st ed by Marshall Rose (1978) Avant-Garde Simulations Perspectives (1978) Gamma World - 1st ed by James M. Ward, Gary Jaquet (1978) TSR (1978) Once Upon a Time in the West - 1st ed by Beck, Spencer (1978) What Price Glory?! - 1st ed by John Dankert, Jim Lauffenburger (1978) self-published (1978) RuneQuest - 1st ed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, Warren James, Greg Stafford (1978) Chaosium (1978) Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier - 1st ed by Michael Scott (1978) Heritage Models (1978) Realm of Yolmi - 1st ed by Ken Black, Marshall Rose (1978) Avant-Garde Simulations Perspectives (1979) Buccaneer - 1st ed by Carl Smith (1979) Adversary Games (1979) Heroes - 1st ed by Dave Millard (1979) Tabletop Games (1979) Mortal Combat - 1st ed by David John Morris, Steve Foster, Andrew Murdin (1979) Waynflett House Ltd (UK) (1979) Commando - 1st ed by Eric Goldberg, Greg Costikyan, John Butterfield (1979) SPI (1979) Ysgarth - 1st ed by David Nalle (1979) Ragnarok Press (1979) Villians and Vigilantes - 1st ed by Jeff Dee, Jack Herman ] (1979) Crimson Cutlass - 1st ed by George Rahm, Joseph Hilmer (1979) Better Games (1979) Gangster! - 1st ed by Nick Marinacci, Pete Petrone (1979) FGU (1980) Knights and Magic - 1st ed by Arnold Hendrick (1980) Heritage Models (1980) The Archaereon Game System - Mage ed by Wilf K. Backhaus (1980) Archaereon Games Ltd. (1980) Supergame - 1st ed by Jay Hartlove, Aimee Karklyn (1980) DAG Productions (1980) Skull and Crossbones - 1st ed by Gerald D. Seypura, Anthony LeBoutillier (1980) FGU (1980) Laserburn - 1st ed by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, Tony Ackland (1980) Tabletop Games (1980) Land of the Rising Sun - 1st ed by Lee Gold (1980) FGU (1980) Star Patrol - 1st ed (1980) (1980) Rolemaster - 1st ed by S. Coleman Charlton, Peter C. Fenlon, Kurt H. Fischer, Terry K. Amthor (1980) Iron Crown Enterprises (1980) Bushido - 1st ed by Paul Hume, Bob Charrette (1980) Tyr / Phoenix Games (1980) Basic Role-Playing - 1st ed by Greg Stafford, Lynn Willis (1980) Chaosium (1980) Castle Perilous - 1st ed by James T. Sheldon (1980) West Wind Simulations (1980) Acquitane - 1st ed by Carl Smith (1980) Adversary Games (1980) Beasts, Men, & Gods - 1st ed by Bill Underwood (1980) Imagination Unlimited Imagination Unlimited The Game Masters (1980) The Atlantean Trilogy: The Arcanum, The Lexicon, The Bestiary - 1st ed by Stephan Michael Sechi, Vernie Taylor (1980) Bard Games (1980) The Morrow Project - 1st ed by Kevin Dockery, Robert Sadler, Richard Tucholka (1980) Timeline, Inc. (1980) Melanda: Land of Mystery - 1st ed by Lee McCormick, John Corradin (1980) Wilmark Dynasty (1980) Dragonquest - 1st ed by Eric Goldberg, David James Ritchie, Edward J. Woods (1980) SPI (1980) Dallas - 1st ed by James F. Dunnigan (1980) SPI (1980) The Hammer of Thor: The Game of Norse Mythology - 1st ed by Joe Angiolillo (1980) Gameshop (1980) KABAL - 1st ed by Ernest T. Hams (1980) Kabal Gaming Systems (1980) Space Opera - 1st ed by Ed Simbalist, A. Mark Ratner, Phil McGregor (1980) FGU (1980) Odysseus - 1st ed by Marshall Rose (1980) FGU (1980) Top Secret - 1st ed by Merle M. Rasmussen (1980) TSR (1981) Fringeworthy - 1st ed by Richard Tucholka (1981) Tri-Tac Games (1981) Wizard's Realm - 1st ed by Niels Erickson, C. Polite, W.G. Murphy (1981) Mystic Swamp (1981) Star Rovers - 1st ed by Stocken, Hoffman, Hoffman, Hargrave, Huey, Lortz (1981) Archive Miniatures and Game Systems (1981) Champions - 1st ed by George MacDonald, Steve Peterson (1981) Aftermath - 1st ed by Bob Charrette, Paul Hume (1981) FGU (1981) Crimefighters - 1st ed by David "Zeb" Cook (1981) TSR (1981) Spawn of Fashan - 1st ed by Kirby Lee Davis (1981) Games of Fashan (1981) The Official Superhero Adventure Game - 1st ed by Brian Phillips (1981) self-published (1981) Weapons and Warriors - 1st ed by Robert Alan Beatty (1981) self-published (1981) Arduin Adventure - 1st ed by David A. Hargrave (1981) Grimoire Games (1981) Wild West - 1st ed by Anthony P. LeBoutillier, Gerald D. Seypura (1981) FGU (1981) Stormbringer - 1st ed by Ken St. Andre, Steve Perrin (1981) Chaosium (1981) The Mechanoid Invasion - 1st ed by Kevin Siembieda (1981) Palladium Books (1981) Spacefarers: Rules for Science Fiction Skirmish Adventures - 1st ed by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, Tony Ackland, Richard Priestly (1981) Games Workshop (1981) Call of Cthulhu - 1st ed by Sandy Petersen (1981) Chaosium (1981) Heroes of Olympus - 1st ed by B. Dennis Sustare (1981) Task Force Games (1981) Merc - 1st ed by Paul D. Baader, Walter Mark, Lawrence Sangee (1981) FGU (1981) Universe - 1st ed by John H. Butterfield (1981) SPI (1982) Taste My Steel - 1st ed by Don Johnson (1982) Phantasy Network (1982) Second Dawn - 1st ed by Art Wiederhold, George J. Herget (1982) Arrose Enterprises (1982) Simulacron I - 1st ed by Mark Manning (1982) Simulacron I (1982) Gangbusters - 1st ed by Mark Acres, Rick Krebs, Tom Moldvay (1982) TSR (1982) Starleader: Assault - 1st ed by Howard Thompson (1982) Metagaming (1982) Cassiopean Empire - 1st ed by Raymond Norton (1982) Norton Games (1982) M.I.S.S.I.O.N. - 1st ed by Ernest T. Hams (1982) Kabal Gaming Systems (1982) Dawn Patrol - 1st ed by Mike Carr et al. (1982) TSR (1982) Swordbearer - 1st ed by Arnold Hendrick, Dennis Sustare (1982) Heritage Models (1982) Supervillians - 1st ed by Rick Register, R. Vance Buck, Allen D. Eldridge (1982) Task Force Games (1982) Man, Myth, and Magic - 1st ed by Herbie Brennan (1982) Yaquinto (1982) Phase VII - 1st ed by Dennis Drew II (1982) Cheshire Games (1982) FTL:2448 - 1st ed by Richard Tucholka (1982) Tri-Tac Games (1982) Neighborhood - 1st ed (1982) Wheaton Publications (1982) Daredevils - 1st ed by Bob Charrette, Paul Hume (1982) FGU (1982) Element Masters - 1st ed by Kenneth Burridge, Robert Finkbeiner, Kevin Nelson, Brian Pettitt (1982) Escape Ventures (1982) Alma Mater - 1st ed by Steve Davis, Andrew Warden (1982) Oracle Games (1982) Space Infantry - 1st ed by Daniel Douglas Hutto, Roger Allen Esnard (1982) D&R Game Design (1982) Dragon Warriors - 1st ed by Dave Morris, Oliver Johnson (1982) Corgi Books (1982) Pirates and Plunder - 1st ed by Michael S. Matheny (1982) Yaquinto (1982) Recon - 1st ed by Joe F. Martin (1982) RPG Inc. (1982) Drakar Och Demoner - 1st ed (1982) Aventyrspel (1982) Worlds of Wonder - 1st ed by Steve Perrin, Steve Henderson, Gordon Monson, Greg Stafford, Lynn Willis (1982) Chaosium (1982) To Challenge Tomorrow - 1st ed by Dave Nalle (1982) Ragnarok Press (1982) Timeship - 1st ed by Herbie Brennan (1982) Yaquinto (1982) Field Guide to Encounters - 1st ed (1982) Judges Guild (1982) Behind Enemy Lines - 1st ed by William H. Keith, Jr., Jordan Weisman, Ross Babcock, Eric Turn, Steve Turn (1982) FASA (1982) Star Frontiers - 1st ed by "TSR Staff" (1982) TSR (1982) Starfleet Voyages - 1st ed by Michael Scott (1982) Terra Games (1982) Fantasy Wargaming - 1st ed by Bruce Galloway, Mike Hodson-Smith, Nick Lowe, Bruce Quarrie, Paul Sturman (1982) Stein and Day (1982) Inner City - 1st ed by Chris Clark (1982) Inner City (1982) Star Trek - 1st ed by Guy W. McLimore, Greg Poehlein, David Tepool (1982) FASA (1983) Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes - 1st ed by Michael A. Stackpole (1983) Blade (a division of Flying Buffalo) (1983) Timemaster - 1st ed by Mark Acres, Gali Sanchez, Garry Spiegle, Andria Hayday, Smith (1983) Pacesetter (1983) Dragons of Underearth - 1st ed by Keith Gross (1983) Metagaming (1983) Outime - 1st ed by Marc W.D. Tyrrell (1983) Valhalla Simulation Games (1983) Sword's Path: Glory - 1st ed by Barry Nakazano, David McKenzie (1983) Leading Edge (1983) Ringworld - 1st ed by Sherman Kahn, John Hewitt, Lynn Willis, Sandy Petersen, Charlie Krank, Rudy Kraft (1983) Chaosium (1983) Palladium Fantasy Role Playing Game - 1st ed by Kevin Siembieda, Erick Wujcik (1983) Palladium Books (1983) Victorian Adventure - 1st ed by Stephen Smith (1983) Kestrel Design / SKS Distribution (1983) James Bond 007 - 1st ed by Gerard Christopher Klug (1983) Victory Games (1983) Wizard's World - 1st ed by David Silvera, Douglas S. Krull (1983) Fantasy Worlds Unlimited (1983) Roleplayer - 1st ed by Matthew P. King (1983) Roleplayer Enterprises (1983) Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic - 1st ed by Richard Tucholka, Chris Belting (1983) Tri-Tac Games (1983) Witch Hunt - 1st ed by Paul D. Baader, Roger Buckelew (1983) Statcom Simulations, Inc. (1983) Lands of Adventure - 1st ed by Lee Gold (1983) FGU (1983) Other Suns - 1st ed by Niall Shapero (1983) FGU (1983) Super-Sentinels - 1st ed (1983) Judges Guild (1983) MuggerHunt - 1st ed by Kevin Dockery (1983) Firebird, Ltd. (1983) Mach: The First Colony - 1st ed by Michael Lange (1983) Alliance Publications Ltd. (1983) Droids - 1st ed by Neil Patrick Moore, Derek Stanovsky (1983) Integral Games (1983) Valley of the Pharaohs - 1st ed by Matthew Balent (1983) Palladium Books (1983) Powers and Perils - 1st ed by Richard Snider (1983) Avalon Hill (1983) Swords & Glory - Volume 1, 1st ed ed by M.A.R. Barker (1983) Gamescience (1983) Privateers and Gentlemen - 1st ed by Jon Williams (1983) FGU (1983) Espionage - 1st ed by George MacDonald, Steve Peterson (1983) Hero Games

I dunno about how games were sold, but they were never entirely played that way. Go google up "Dave Arneson" and "Blackmoor" - that's the first ever D&D game. Compared to the cliche of KIATIS, Arneson looks like some commie mutant story-gamer. This idea that rpgs were once all about hack and slash and have now evolved into some kind of thespian art form, it's just bollocks. They've always had a bit of thesp, and still have quite a bit of hack. They've just got fancier pictures.

RPGs have changed in the same way computer games have changed - there are more pretty pictures, but the gameplay is pretty much the same. And almost everyone just plays D&D. That was true in 1978, and it's true in 2008.

Again I say, "bipod". Despite the "light" in the name of the thing, it's the heaviest personal weapon any soldier is likely to ever have. There's a reason the soldiers who carry it have a pistol as backup. I'm not sure what you mean by "handle the beating". Do you mean the recoil? Being able to handle recoil is a function of practice and skill, not strength. I have seen 10 stone women handle it with ease while 18 stone men came out with huge bruises on their shoulders. The difference was simply experience with firearms, knowing how to hold them, not anticipating the recoil and flinching, and so on. It's skill. Which in BRP is measured by a % value. So characters who "can't handle the beating" are those with low skill. Their minor bruises are modelled by that low skill. Those who can handle it are those with high skills. As for the "vague weapons table", I think that any game system which puts weapons in categories is going to have this effect that the lightest or heaviest in each category don't fit very well. Unless you list every weapon in existence - which would be a bit of a pain - either you list lots and miss some out, or you make categories and get this issue of some weapons at the extremes of each category not quite fitting in. For an example of the level of detail you can go to if you want, just hop onto any rpg discussion list and talk about "45 vs 9mm". Sit back and toast virtual marshmallows on the empassioned flames that burst forth. But it does have a longer list of weapons than BRP apparently does, which answers one of your requests about a "vague weapons table." Again, as with the hit points, the issue is that every game system handles things with some degree of abstraction. The only question is what degree of abstraction you're happy with. Whatever level of abstraction you choose, you're going to get results which seem strange to you. And of course, reality has strange results, too. I knew a guy once who broke his ankle stepping off a curb - put that in a game and your players will tell you that you're cruel and it's unrealistic. But then there was a guy up in Bendigo once who drove his car down his driveway every day bumped over a rock. Every day he said, "bugger of a thing, when I get home I'll dig it up." But every day after work he was tired so he didn't. But after eight years he finally acted and dug it up - under the clay and granite it was a 22kg gold nugget. Try putting that in a game session and see what happens. That does not mean that all strange results are somehow realistic. What it does mean is that you should understand that since not even reality is believable and sensible to everyone, no game system's abstractions will be, either. What you have to do is ask yourself, "what's this game really about?" Whatever the game is supposed to be about, that's where the least abstraction should be. For example, if I'm roleplaying a romantic drama, I can get away with "highest roll wins" for a combat system; if I'm roleplaying tactical combat in a guerilla war, an equally simple system for social interactions will work, but I'll want something more detailed for combat. The BRP writers have designed a level of abstraction which is designed to suit a wide variety of campaigns. That it doesn't suit your campaign specifically isn't really a fair criticism of it. I mean, there was a guy on the GURPS forums who was going to run a campaign of being young gymnasts for his wife and daughter. GURPS doesn't have detailed rules for all that - but he didn't bitch about GURPS, because he realises it's supposed to be a universal system, covering most campaigns, not all; so he just said, "what are some house rules I could have to bring this out?"

Most firearms are not that heavy, really. Bipods Try Palladium, they published a whole book about gunz.