Rourou

Indeed, Basic-Expert-Companion-Masters-Immortals (the Mentzer set). It has the nice feature that it begins really simple and as the game progresses it includes new, more detailed rules. It was also the first version for which we had a Spanish translation, and only for the Basic set : a few people whose parents traveled to the UK/US had the other sets for the higher levels and once we passed level 3 we ended up with a weird mishmash of homebrew and official rules. Then at some point RQ3 was translated and the system made more sense: no need to worry anymore about the Wizards' union expelling anyone for using a weapon different than a dagger. Besides, it hit a really sweat spot regarding hit points: the human average in RQ3 (and up to RQ6... err, nope, Mythras does not have general hit points, my bad) is 12 hit points, which looked like a freaking indestructible tank if you came from Basic D&D where first level characters could die if a goblin gave the character an aggressive glance. Now, the OQ dungeon supplement (dungeonquest?) really captures the feeling of the Basic set but without the stuff that maybe we did not like so much (rigid class system, levels, excessive hit point progression). For the nostalgic of a few aspects of the game, levels roughly correspond to +5% increases in a few skills and there is a moderate hit point progression by increasing CON (which could be increased a bit more by linking the maximum value of CON in openquest with resilience, so characters with high percentiles in resilience could have CON above 21 and thus more hit points). The only thing that one might add is some mechanics similar to classes, but less restrictive. That's why this idea of turning classes into easiness of growth in the skills that define the class.

While reading OQ Dungeons (which is wonderful and really close in spirit to good old BECMI), the tinkerer within me could not help but figure out a set of rules to include character classes in it, but of course not as straightjacketed as in BECMI. I have ended up with the following, which might prove useful to other fellow dungeonquesters (though I have not playtested any of it): 1) Each class (fighter/thief/cleric/wizard) is naturally more talented in certain areas, which translates into a faster growth in a few skills and the key characteristic of the class. The way I would implement it is: 1.a) The number of growth points required to increase a skill in which a class is talented is reduced by 1 point and is set at a minimum of 25% : hence, from 26-50% 1 growth point will be required instead of 2, 51-75% 2 instead of 3, etc. This has the effect of reducing the number of growths points for going from 25 to 100% from 60 to 40, give or take. Thus, this is not a small change in the course of a long campaign. 1.b) The characteristic on which the class is usually grounded will require 3 growth points instead of 5 for its increase. 2) Possible talents and favored characteristics for building the classes might be the following: 2.a) Fighter: STR, resilience, one of the combat skills (most usually it will be close combat for a more standard fighter built, but ranged combat for an archer type or unarmed combat for a martial artist are also possible), and two skills within the practical skill list (e.g. athletics and riding). 2.b) Thief: DEX, dodge and four skills within the practical skill list (e.g. athletics, deception, mechanisms and perception for a more classical, dungeon-crawling BECMI thief, but other choices will be possible too: deception, influence, streetwise and trade for a swindler-type, urban thief, or whatever other weird combination we want). 2.c) Cleric: POW, persistence, religion, healing and maybe influence (or culture could also make sense). 2.d) Wizard: POW or INT, persistence, cast personal magic or cast sorcery (depending on the type of wizard, though I think personal magic feels more "dungeony"), lores and languages. 2.e) Or create your own class: choose one characteristic (or choose two requiring 4 growth points each instead of the usual 5), and three talent points: individual skills in resistances, combat and magic skills will cost one point, while one point will be able to buy two skills in the knowledge and practical skill groups. The advantage here is that there is an almost unlimited set of soft classes (well, actually no, there is a limited number of them that can be calculated by making use of basic combinatorics, but I did not put the required effort to find out). You might create a first edition AD&D ranger with STR/CON, resilience, close or ranged combat, perception (for tracking) and maybe natural lore, a paladin with STR/CHA (or STR/POW), resilience, close combat, healing and influence, a bard with CHA, dodge, influence, performance, cultures and languages, etc. This idea actually derives from an untested set of homebrew rules for RQ3 : adding background options (a la Rolemaster / MERP), among which I wanted to include a special talent or interest for a given group of skills (e.g. +5% for manipulation) or for a particular skill (e.g. +10% for attack/parry with swords). Though not very important for skills below 100%, this modifier makes for a huge difference if a character is trying to improve a skill above 100% (as it increased the chances of a successful experience check by a lot). Another additions which might be useful is a pathway to immortality for characters not specialized in magic: 3) While there are ascended immortals/deities, great spirits, one with reality and transcendence, there is no immortality path for fighters and thieves: here we could include the category of legendary hero, which might include having a few of the distinctive skills of these classes at 100% + their defining characteristic at 21. But I can't figure out yet what would be an acceptable set of these skills (maybe a total of 3 of them, like the ascended immortal, or maye a bit more as they do not require spending growth points in spells). In general I would use the generic term "paragons" to denote all the previous immortal pathways, and I would also add the requirement of an immortality quest as in BECMI. That is, a possible OQ equivalent of level 36 for dungeoneers. Yet, I am not very sure myself of whether these rules would work or not, or what modifications could be made to improve these homebrew rules. Comments will be greatly appreciated.