Sheelba

Thanks for chipping in everybody. I just had The Magic Book when I started this post and have subsequently picked up an old copy of the RG3 box set. The more I think the more I prefer RQ3 in almost every area, strike ranks instead of DEX ranks and INT ranks, all three magics (spirit, divine and sorcery), basically everything. The only thing I prefer about BRP is the character generation which is very similar to the current CoC rules which I am using for my 1920's game. I can simply use the Student or Wizard professions and tell them to use personal skill points for the sorcery skill. Or I will simply invent a new profession. After all, the formula is simple enough. The rest will be pretty pure RQ3 although I will look more closely at world stuff (falling, disease and the like) to see what I prefer. You all promoted me to reflect on what I want by making suggestions or querying what I was thinking or wanted. So you have helped considerably. Much appreciated.

I don't, at least not for the majority of the time. I intend having cultists as protagonists and part of the allure will be access to magic which doesn't require the kind of study which RQ3 sorcery demanded (or devotion to a God who deals in a contractual manner, or even the need to be part of a community in anyway). So this might fit in here, I'll have a look. But the current BRP rules appear so simple (from the point of the user) that I can't imagine needing to simplify further (although to be fair I haven't been able to read them in detail as they are so far from what I want I just give up every time I try so I'll likely just use CoC magic for cultists who don't have the magic systems the PCs have access to). And if my players can't understand a magic system then well and good, there is mystery in magic. I looked at this some time ago and again it isn't what I want. I'm just going to be using RQ3 rules and deal with anything which doesn't smoothly fit into current BRP, I suppose. As with the others I very much appreciate the time you took to try and help me. It is nice to be reminded of the options and the more people suggest the more I find myself thinking through what I want and coalescing my thoughts. Thank you.

What I am really looking for is a sorcery system very much like the RQ3 system but integrated into the current iteration of BRP. I simply don't like the version in the BRP at all and while that doesn't reduce my high regard for BRP having started with CoC back in the '80's I was hoping someone had written it. But it doesn't really matter part of the point of BRP is that you can easily take out something like the magic system and replace it with another. That said, I will having a look at Enlightened Magic. Even if it only provides some flavour I think it would be useful, and it looks like it could add considerably more. Thank you for your suggestions.

Or maybe 12th of April 1204. Some of the reasons why the 9th century is a good choice for a campaign. I want to avoid a situation where there is vast amount of divine magic as this would inevitably become central to any war effort. If there is a priest in every village which can use it's divine magic again and again then why wouldn't they? Of course there will be ideological reasons and political not to mention practical. But I'm wary of letting there be an institutional structure which guarantees the presence of powerful magic. The Orthodox Church was inextricably bound into the Byzantine state and if it could have welded magic capable of influencing the functioning of the state as opposed to wielding theological and economic power then I imagine things would play out differently. But I can't begin to predict what that would look like. So it will be a face possessing magic but at a higher level. So yes, most "priests" from a technical game point of view will be bishops, concentrating the bulk of divine magic in the hands of a select few who already have a great deal of power and influence. However, local priests will still use their divine magic to help their flock. They will simply have access to less. They will also have a little more spirit magic than the average so will be more likely to use that. And every so often there will be a local priest who is also a technical priest and have a surprising amount of clout. These people might go on the become saints themselves... Too many good ideas and suggestions for me to address individually. Thank you for your input. I'll be chasing up a good number of them.

Nozbat, Thank you for taking the time to write your post. And thank you for pointing out that BRP rules for sorcery might be updated soon after the long awaited sorcery update for RQG. I will keep an eye out for that. On the whole I very much agree. RQ already has its equivalent to fireball, it’s called “I order my bound 5 cubic metre fire elemental to engulf the troll”. It is available to the three different types of magician. I don’t want sorcery to be flashy like that. Sorcery on the whole should indeed be hours, days, weeks, months or even years in the making, for the big scary stuff. I imagine my players would spend quite some time investing points of POW into their bindings and protective items before they got round to risking a big elemental - and even more so for demons (even for the relatively weak demons from the 1980’s Imagine magazines I have). What you have to go through to become Paulus the Cappadocian Necromancer with his army of animated skeletons with bound demons and elementals galore, bent on nothing less than opening the Way for his demon lord is unimaginable. Decades of preparation even with subordinates doing a lot of the work, I would think. My PC’s will never invest this time and effort into being super-sorcerers. And if they did, good on them. (Of course they would all go insane before achieving this). And your tale of Læches was very cool. All the same, I would like to use something akin to the RQ3 sorcery rules for a lower magic feel and balance. The game setting will be late 9th Century in the Byzantine Empire (near what was once the Kingdom of Cappadocia but not involving Paulus the Necromancer), so like yours an alternative history campaign. I want priests to adhere to the RQ3 rule of having to have 10 full points of POW invested in divine magic to be eligible for investment, making them rare. If you are not a priest then points of divine magic are lost when you use the spells. The official religion will be Orthodox and there will be foreigners (like Rus or even Siberians and Step-People) worshiping the Old Gods or practicing Shamanism. Small amounts of spirit magic will be common: the farmer who can blow a charm onto their throbbing thumb (heal 1); the Rus who whispers a plea to his ancestral spirits to make his axe sharp and his skin thick (bladeshape 1, protection 1); the tailor singing a mending spell to speed up their repair work while trying to make it go under the local priest’s radar. There will be local worshippers of the Old Gods as well, Zeus, Isis, Mithras will all receive prayers from soldiers and travellers who need help more than they need to conform to orthodoxy. Sorcerers will immerse themselves in old sciences and philosophies. They might not have intended to walk that path when they started but who can ignore the truth? So casting a divine spell will be very costly unless you are a priest, which will signify high level. You wouldn’t want to mark yourself as a super powerful caster anyway (e.g. making a difference on a battlefield which people might hear about) in case you become the target of assassins. I would like sorcery to be a nice alternative. I want skills like multi-spell and range to remain skills like they were. This will almost certainly require the use of ceremony to increase the casting time of some spells. I would also like a few that are useful in battle. The damage reduction you stayed up half the night casting at a level to be worthwhile is the sorcery which will save you (and I would think of as being medium length casting), but having something like drain or palsy to hinder your foes on the battlefield would be fun too. I like the idea of dragging my bleeding comrade to the side and frantically doing first aid to keep them alive. Later I can kneel by their side humming the ancient words and making passes over their wounds forming the sign of XXXXXXXXXX for an hour or two (because I only have 8% on the spell and need to do an hour’s ceremony to have a reasonable chance of success), bidding their flesh to knit and their blood to flow (treat wounds 2 with an extended duration). I think this is more fun the “I cast heal 3 and stop the bleeding” in the melee. Naturally, the penalty for sorcery will be death if you are caught. I think the RQG rules dropped multi-spell and made intensity, range and duration automatic if you have the free int (although I cannot be bothered looking that up). I would rather keep them as skills which would absorb some of the PC’s skill points on creation. At the end of my apprenticeship I have a good theoretical knowledge (decent skills), but poor practical ability (low spell %’s). I think this will demand the player allocate resources to abilities to off-set their gain in power. So while I agree to a large measure that sorcery is the path to great power which takes a huge amount of time and resources I also think sorcery would have a place in my campaign as something the PCs can use in a less direct manner than the other two forms. [Edited for grammar]

I'm curious to know if there is anything newer than the messy "The Magic Book" which uses the sorcery rules of Intensity, Multispell, Range and Duration. I just bought the new BRP rules and I'm very disappointed to find they aren't there (I know, I should have written this post before buying). The Magic Book has references to tables which aren't in the book and could do with a re-write. The newer RQG sorcery rules (which I also own) are simpler and appear tweaked to make them less attractive to PC's, at least to my mind. I think this is appropriate for the setting. However, I bought BRP because I had expected sorcery rules which are similar to the RQ3 rules, which are is my favourite magic system. Having various editions of CoC and RQG I simply wouldn't have bothered spending the money for BRP if I had known it was going to have the magic system it has. I can make do with The Magic Book rules but I am hoping there is a product which feels more finished out there. I'm not willing to spend more money, on say, the Advanced Sorcery book, without knowing what I am buying, hence this post. I know some people found the whole RQ3 sorcery rules as overly-complicated so I assume there is not much of a market for them, but if anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate hearing them. Cheers.

Please let us know if anything is put on Kickstarter or the like.

Hi there, Only the link to BRP and a couple of others in the first post work for me. The rest are 404 page not found. Are any of the items linked to in the first post available somewhere else. I don't know what might be going on as regards licensing to the like, so maybe these things just aren't available for some reason. If so, I'm not trying to get round anything like that. I can see a few DrivethruRPG links which I've glanced at. What I would really like is some scenarios set in a Byzantium-like setting. Is there anywhere I can buy such things? I saw something about 9th century Iceland which looks interesting, but I'd prefer a fantasy version of 9th century Mediterranean setting.

Hmm, steal the High Priest of Eurmal's holy mask? How could you suggest such a thing Godlearner? I would never do anything like that! Making the acquisition of such items part of the adventure as opposed to merely a visit to the shop is definitely the way forward. That's a comprehensive list to start off with Richard S. At first I wanted to avoid simple things which could be found all around. But seeing your suggestion of a sheaf of wheat I have come round to the idea of making very different things appropriate. A still fresh ear of life-giving corn wouldn't hold it's value for long. But while it does it would be great. And maybe Life magic is harder when there is nothing growing! Now, how can I acquire a human skull for my wizardry? I definitely like the way your players think, David. Your suggestions were almost disturbingly exact! I can see your party putting together their at-times macabre collection as they play. Without a doubt there is a character sheet with "bronze sword shaped amulet made from the sword of a defeated opponent, filled with their ashes, over inscribed with a death rune" written on it somewhere out there. Creepy. I like it Thanks for the input. Keep it coming! Just three responses but each simulating in their own way. If you have something to add please do!

Hello all. I am wondering how people are making use of the components rule for sorcery in RQG. An object made of gold might be a component for a fire rune spell and give +10%. An object made of gold inscribed with a fire rune spell (eg Finger of Fire) would be a magical component and give +20%, right? This seems quite simple. For spells without elemental runes it seems a bit tricky. I thought that an old needle used to sew shrouds, or embalmers tools might be used as components for the death rune. Others seem even trickier. Would you allow a crystal binding a spirit to be a component for the spirit rune? It seems fair to me. But what about, say, the truth rune? Simply having a item carved with the rune, or, an image of Lhankor Mhy seems a little too easy. Likewise, simply using vegetable matter would not, to my mind, be good enough of the plant rune. These are my musings. Does anyone else have ideas? Or do you disagree with mine? If so, why? I'd like to hear thoughts about this as I think it could be quite flavoursome.