svensson

Okay, it might be a good idea to submit all this stuff to Jeff, seeing as Gods and Goddesses is still in the production stage. There may be logic that we don't know of, but a lot could be just simple oversight.

9 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Lol.

1. Yep. And the existence of an intertribal organization fiercely loyal to its hero-leader is a huge change.

2. He's dead.

3. Basmol is in the gods and goddesses book. The men and a half are in the bestiary. Ostrich and rhino riders need to be added.

 

1. And the tensions within that organization... You can't put disparate groups like the Pol Joni, Zebra Riders, and Bison People into one group following a Hero-Khan and not have several pissing contests just under the surface.

2. I didn't know he died. Still, the story must be interesting. He wasn't a bad boss in the RQ2 game I played in.

3. The deity and the tribe are two different things. The Berzerkers have enough of a presence on the Plains to hold their own with the Minor Tribes, so there must be something to them. I haven't gotten the Bestiary yet, to I'll take your word for it on the Agimori [extra points for character generation info ]. And yes, more info on the Minor Tribes would be VERY helpful. Not everyone wants to ride with the Big 5 Tribes, man!

The Prax Book needs three things:

1. An explanation of clan politics post Liberation of Prax.

2. What happened to Raus.

3. Writeups on the Basmoli Berzerkers, the Men-And-A-Half, the Ostrich Riders, and Rhino Riders

That's it. Everything else is padding the term paper.

[This presumes that Pavis and the Rubble get their own book]

RHINOS FOR THE WIN!

[In homage to the memory of Grettir Sharpwind's beloved mount, Windbreak]

3 hours ago, trystero said:

…and, in my CoC experience, because you can carry two of them, sawn-off and loaded with slugs, and use them to apply a simple test when any sort of Thing menaces you:

Step 1. Empty all four shotgun barrels into the Thing, preferably at point-blank range.

Step 2. If it's still moving, you can't kill it; run away.

"If at first you don't succeed, run the Hell away..."

-- From the fight song of Miskatonic U [Go 'Pods!]

@Beorne A lot of games have this problem. There's so much lore and canon that it's really easy to get overwhelmed.

My suggestion is this:

Start small and work outwards. Pavis is a good spot to start a campaign. It has a large amount of lore [if that's what you want], ready-made dungeons all over the place [if that's what you want], and a wide open frontier. It's the crossroads to several different cultures, with every major race present. And it's also kind of out of the way of the major events of the near future [Argrath's assault on the Lunar Empire and the Red Moon], so you have a little wiggle room in order to tie the characters into the main epic if that's what they want to do.

As to rules-sets, I really prefer RQG because it does a good job of giving the character a history and a sense of 'place'. In my experience this grounding goes a long way in getting the player invested with his character. You know the people you want at your table and whether they'll accept a random die-roll history [as opposed to one they cook up themselves], but I've put together about 5 characters now and I rather like it myself.

Welcome to the net.

4 hours ago, colinabrett said:

Sounds like a fascinating scenario. Do keep us posted.

I did a brief Google search for "weird events in world war 1". A skim through the following lists might give you some ideas:

http://listverse.com/2017/11/04/10-bizarre-stories-from-the-great-war/

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-i/mysteries-controversies-wwi.html

One story that grabs me is the completely mundane story of the Lost Treasure Of The Tsars. What if one of the PCs is carrying a hallmarked ingot of the Tsar's gold? Lots of Conceal Object rolls and the sort of paranoia (SAN rolls) that accompanies a valuable, hidden treasure. A heavy gold bar could also be used as a murder weapon 😉

On the supernatural side, there is the Angel of Mons. In a fiction piece written by Arthur Machen, he describes phantom bowmen from the Battle of Agincourt destroying the Germans. This led to reports of more supernatural influences, aiding the Allies. There's plenty of ancient history hidden in a Mediaeval monastery. Perhaps something could be "woken".

I hope you find the above links helpful.

Regards,

Colin

 

 

Thanks Colin. Yeah, I was aware of much of this.

I've other things in mind as well. One thought that occurred to me was that the monastery was 'haunted' by a band of deserters, perhaps aided and abetted by an actual supernatural force. That's all still up in the air.

1 hour ago, 10baseT said:

It sounds like fun. I'm always leery of giving anyone any sort of magic but i do like your reasoning. One of the things i like about WW1 CoC or BRP is the different type of jobs a soldier could have. Like in your case, someone can be the pigeon handler and he has 2-3 in a little cage with him. Since they're lost, they hope that after the storm, they can let one loose and it will circle a few times, then fly to HQ. All they need to do is watch to see which way it goes... but they're sick and during the night, only 1 remains alive in the morning (make your animal handler roll). I read an AEF pamphlet on pigeon husbandry for a signalman and thought it was the greatest. Anyway, your scenario sounds fun.

Side note to the pigeon-handler thing...

When the Special Forces went into Afghanistan right after 9/11, they had to have WWII manuals on how to handle mules sent to them. The horses they could figure out, but muleskinning was an entirely lost art in the Army by then

7 hours ago, g33k said:

Technically, I think that honor goes to Tekumel.  Their fan base & grognardia kept (is still keeping) their flame alive.  It may yet blaze forth again, burning brightly.

But MARBarker had about 2 decades' head start on Ed Greenwood & Greg Stafford...

Fair point. I'm a big fan of Tekumel as well, but I'd kind of forgotten because of all the fits and starts with the IP. Like CoC, Tekumel is a heck of a lot of fun, but it's definitely a niche market

1 hour ago, alter said:

Search for No Mans Land for Call of Cthulhu, but You have to change it a little bit. 

I'll look for it. Thanks.

On 4/8/2019 at 9:57 AM, Euclid Prime said:

Thanks! I was thinking the same after reading the above comments and the description. I purchased the slipcase and the Sourcebook yesterday and have been looking over the free PDFs they sent me and I'm glad I picked up the Sourcebook too.

Welcome to the net, EP.

There are only TWO rules in RQG:

1. Maximum Game Fun. Jeff explains this handily in the RQG core rules.

2. It's YOUR Glorantha now. The minute that you sit down with your players it becomes your game, to be played the way you like it.

As you've seen, there is a whole bunch of lore and canon printed about Glorantha. As you are beginning to find out, there are a whole bunch of grognards [guilty as charged, yer honner] who just love to argue ephemerae, apocrypha, and minutiae until Yelm rises, sets and rises again. Don't let any of us tell you what Glorantha is or isn't [except fun, Glorantha IS fun]. It's your table, and we're not sitting at it.

So welcome to the oldest continually developed milieu in gaming. We're glad you're here.

Could even be completely mundane... a band of deserters, for example.

1 minute ago, g33k said:

I'd circle back with the player before proceeding -- is WWI *modern" enough?

""Modern" has specific meanings for the serious history crowd, but some ignorant fools believe that something over a century ago isn't really ... y'know... modern.  😁

Have you considered running straight-up Call of Cthulhu, since it defaults to 1920ish?  The 7e has a nifty starter box at a nice price, and IIRC a free Quickstart doc.  You could skip the actual Mythos content (making your players all nervous and jumpy about when the SAN-devouring gribblies will jump out of the dark at them -- which could be a nifty way to sneakily emulate the actual horros of war).

Magic/etc...

If you make The Fun have an occult aspect, make sure you don't turn the one/few PC with a Gift into a "Chosen One" aka Star of the Show aka McGuffin.

One idea:  you may wish to consider giving everybody some minor magic/psychic thing, as a "secret" that each of them keeps quiet about, because "everyone knows" that's just superstitious nonsense.

Well, in the RPG sense, 'modern' means 'lots of guns, no armor at all, and learn the difference between cover and concealment'

I did consider Cthulhu, but I'd pitched BRP to the young lady as 'everything to do everything in one book' so I want to keep it to that.

Yes, SAN rolls will be part of it. By 1917 nearly every adult male within 1000 miles of Paris had lost some SAN points through one cause or another, and more than a few women and children as well.

I'm very guarded about having The One in the game. If Powers are selected and they are used I plan on narrating them as part of the environment rather than 'magick-with-'k' as in FRPGs. No lightning bolts but the lightning might hit some masonry which falls on the target for the exact same damage, that sort of thing.

The trinket suggestion isn't bad. Superstition was rife and everybody had some kind of voodoo totem of one kind or another. I'll give that one serious thought.

So I've been asked to help a DnD player do a 'modern' game [she's dissatisfied with D20 Modern, no surprise], and I counter-offered a BRP game. She seemed interested enough that I'm beginning to sketch together a scenario /adventure /mini-campaign.

Here are some of my thoughts.

1. Setting:

I thought I'd run a World War One scenario in the Chemin des Dames zone of the Western Front. This is an 'interesting' area because it is roughly where the British, Canadians, and French intersect, thereby providing a variety of backgrounds. The time is Autumn 1917, when Allied fortunes are at a low ebb. America has entered the war, but all they've done is promise a great deal as yet. The few troops that are in France are still training. British and Canadian forces are still reeling from the Somme and the follow-on bloodletting of Vimy Ridge and Cambrai. The French forces are near mutiny.

I'll set the area in the fictional 'Valle'e du faucon and a ruined medieval monastery [cuz, duh...]

2. Characters:

I figured that I'd assemble a group of 4 or 6 characters, evenly divided between military and civilians. I'd do the basic generation and professional skills and then leave a generous number of skill points for the players to customize to their tastes.

All the military characters will have a 'Basic Training' based on the general practices of the armies of the day [so there won't be any one running around with submachine guns...] and then I'll have NCO packages and officer packages for those who want those roles. I'm open to the idea that one of the military players is German, having just been captured. One key point, just because I'm a historian and we can be jerks sometimes, is that the ammunition between British, French, and Germans are not interchangeable. Whatever ammo the character has at scenario start is all they'll get unless they scavenge more of the right caliber somehow.

The civilians will, of course, have a more wide ranging set of skills, but with enough base minimum ability to survive. Being an Expert [75%+] farmer is all well and good, but it won't help you in the denuded Autumn countryside near the front lines that have been scavenged and picked over in three years of static fighting. Therefore, the refugee farmer will need some Scounge, Survival, etc. type skills, just as one example. The basic idea is to have a Religious [nun, local pastor, chaplain], a refugee, and perhaps an aid worker /Red Cross /volunteer medical worker.

To show the players that the BRP system is open to all kinds of interpretation, I'll allow Psychic and Basic Magic Powers in the game, but at an 'Unusual Background' penalty of about 25% of their customization points. The idea behind this is twofold: a] I don't want Powers to overshadow clever play or skill and b] with any unusual background the practitioner ends up being not so good at more common things because they've studied their unique ability so intently.

3. Scenario /Theme:

I'm looking to allow the players to find themselves sheltering in the monastery as they are caught out in the open in a really ugly storm. The soldiers will be lost, having been separated from patrols or what-not. The civilians will be likewise be taking shelter from the storm, having been separated from a convoy. From there The Fun ensues, although I haven't precisely decided what that Fun will be just yet.

So, what do you guys think? Too much? Not enough? On-the-right-track-but-need-work?

All constructive input gratefully received.

Side note to the segue about the digression to the sidetrack....

Some folks PM'd me about my old heraldry. Here it is,

THL Iain macDhugal Cameron of Ben Liath [AnTir, 1992]

Gules, an Otter couchant to sinister guardant within a bordure Argeant

21 hours ago, Quackerjack said:

Sven, you evil scheming otter (judging by your avatar, 😃 ), I'm an old grognard myself, but given I haven't played much in the last 35 years, I guess I'm more of a rear echelon m*f*.

Do appreciate the deep lore, but also need some help on these rules. It would be a shame if 13G didn't get more recognition; it's a major addition/enhancement to Glorantha RPGs. Try out the Trickster class!

I was in the SCA for many years and my heraldry featured a river otter. A friend found Evil Otter for me and I immediately adopted it as my spirit animal I mean, just look at that face!

Anyway, about 13G... I'm fully happy that anyone is happy in the game their playing. Tabletop RP is too niche a hobby for us to piss in each other's corn flakes, after all. I haven't bought any 13th Age stuff because I have all the information on class-based systems that I'll ever need. That doesn't mean that I think it's a bad system, it's just not my thing. Sorry to hear the publisher isn't being more supportive, but if 13G needs a home then there's no reason why it can't be here.

When you're the 'bad' uncle, Easter is AWESOME

You buy up a bunch of candy on Easter Monday and feed it to the nieces and nephews three weeks later at the family picnic. And then send their screaming, sugar-spinning rumps home with your sisters.

People say 'Evil' like there's something wrong with it or something....

7 hours ago, seneschal said:

Easter is coming.  We need Bun Fu

More importantly, the Day AFTER Easter [when all the Easter candy goes on sale...] is coming

Already on pre-order at my FLGS. Sadly, they're not Bits and Mortar, but I'll live. I'm told that I'll have mine in my hot little hands by about 11th or so.

But, um, SKWWWWEEEE! 📣

BTW, @Vexthug @Atgxtg, I don't mean to poo-poo your suggestions. I appreciate the input and they're viable examinations. My nature is somewhat contrarian and I tend to poke at solutions to try and identify problems that can be resolved before a final decision is made. My wife says I can come across as an arrogant know-it-all when I don't mean to be.

12 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Well for starters RQ3's Land of the Ninja had a Iaijutsu skill that let a character reduce the SR of his attack. On a crtical success the character could attack on his DEX SR, ignoring SIZ and weapon SR modifiers. LotN Also had Ki skills, which took a magic point to use each round, and could bump attacks and parries up to critical and/or allow for  additional attacks over successive strike ranks, depending on the weapon.

Those rules could go a long way to a "gun fu" style of play. A character spend 1 Ki/magic point rolls against his fast draw skill and fast draw ki skill, and if he rolls good he gets his weapon out and attacks on his DEX SR (which will probably be pretty good), and then keeps attacking every additional SR. A character would need to be good to pull something like that off consistently and for a whole round, but that's kinda expected in the genre.

Well, Jeff has flat-out stated that much of RQ3 is not longer viable or canon. Since we're talking about house-ruling here, that's not all that big a deal but I felt it ought be mentioned in passing.

The Ki rules in RQ3 LoN always seemed a bit... clunky, I guess.. to me. For one thing, they don't even start to have an effect until skill level 100%, which precludes the vast majority of campaign play.

47 minutes ago, Vexthug said:

I'm a fan of using battle magic as feats, so adapt some of the archery boosting spells for that purpose should work.

 

Miles

I'm unaware of a Battle /Spirit magic spell that will directly reduce SR or allow multiple firing over the course of the round. The only ones that approximate, IIRC, are Coordination [Raise DEX to reduce SR] or Multimissile [to increase the number of missiles /bullets /whatever per shot in one SR].

Furthermore, BRP doesn't contain those spells in their basic magic [which could easily be corrected].

1 hour ago, Raleel said:

Nah, I think they just don’t want to run it. 

That's good to hear. While I don't play 13A, I certainly don't want them to fold.

Just now, Raleel said:

As stated further up, the publisher no longer hosts forums. 

Ive not found a good place to discuss 13A either. Rpg.net is about the best there is, and it’s sparse as well. 

Huh. Wonder why that is... most developers like having a place to Q&A their games and keep the buzz up. Publisher problems?

So, for the two or three of you that might have missed it, Chaosium has purchased John Wick Enterprises and it's products. This is the developer of the 7th Sea setting.

But I have a sick, somewhat derpy sense of humor.

In the announcement thread I said something to the effect of 'would anybody who thought Chaosium was going to produce a Keanu Reeves assassin game please raise your hand'. Yeah, I know. I'd tell you that I couldn't help it, but the fact is I really didn't even try, so....

This brought up the question of how to fix 'John Wick' /'Matrix' /'Equilibrium' style firearm martial arts into a system with strike ranks.

Well, folks, how could we do that?