clarence

Yes, please tell : )

Excellent work! Good start for the new Chaosium team. And wonderful to see all those classic books back in print again. So, what does it mean economically for a company to have a hugely successful kickstarter campaign?

Does anyone have a link to her statement?

Some mouth watering stuff you have there : )

I will have to check this out : )

Just to be clear: Most of the concepts in my first post are taken straight from the generic social conflict rules in BRP Space (which in turn are quite similar to the rules in RD100). It's actually only the first point that brings anything "specialized" to the table - and those are suggestions rather than rules. While I do agree to some of Paolo's points, I still wonder how to promote non-violent play. A generic system for conflict resolution is a good start, but where do we go from there? Some suggestions: - Rewarding non-violent behaviour. BRP already does this pretty well, but could be further developed. - Penalties for unnecessary violence (or all violence, if you want to). This is what I do in my new book Odd Soot. - Scenarios providing alternate non-violent solutions. - And, as I provided earlier, specific guidelines or rules for players on how to defuse violent situations. - Creating believable NPCs and rich communities to interact with. Why do NPCs have hit points but not passions/motivations/inspirations?

I would say both yes and no to most of the above. The ideas above I view not so much as a rules system, but a help for characters needing some guidance on how to start using their social skills. You can easily skip all the rules and just use the strategies as a cheat sheet for the players. How cool isn't it to talk yourself out of a deadly situation? In movies this is happening all the time. A quick witted player will do this by him-/herself, but for the rest a few cliché techniques might come in handy. And yes, a generic approach is very valuable and the RD100 rules are very good. Using them for all types of conflicts works very well. But you do have a system of plugins for situations you want to cover in a more detailed way too. Will you add a plugin for social conflicts or is various combat rules getting all the attention? If a 100 page book allocates 50 pages to combat and 2 pages to social interaction it sends a clear message to the players (including the GM) what the scenarios will be about. Do I cover all possible situations above? Probably not, but they are generic enough to spark an idea with the players and adding more is partly why I posted it here. Is social interaction complex? Yes, it is. On the other hand most players have first hand experience with it, something most does not have with physical combat. Should we avoid making guides/rules about social interaction just because it is complex? Did complexity ever stop anyone from making (not very realistic) rules about combat or mass combat? I realize looking at my first post that the rules may appear too much of a specialized sub-system. But on the other hand I believe that specifically detailing the way players can avoid violence is top priority for any game. Violence is the biggest sinker for the entire RPG culture - to grow up it really needs to be much more varied. How do we best get there?

I have been looking into a more systematic way for characters to avoid violence in scenarios for a while now. The social conflict rules in BRP Space goes a long way (or generic ones as in Revolution d100), but I wanted to give the characters some concrete tools to go from violence to diplomacy. Here's what I've got so far. All comments welcome. 1. Choose a strategy: Combine forces. With the right words the character succeeds in calming the opponents, perhaps pointing to a common goal, enemy or predicament. Threaten. The character finds a way to tell (or show) the opponent that trouble lies ahead if s/he is attacked. It can be a threat of extra-ordinary power, later punishments, the anger of the gods or maybe showcase massive support from superiors or sheer numbers. Equally effective is threatening to reveal a secret, and it can be used stealthily even in very low-key situations. Trade/Bribe. A simple bargain: Leave the characters alone and the opponent will receive some kind of bounty. Money is often used, but offers of help with a problem or providing valuable information might also work. Uncertainty. Is the opponent really sure about this violent move? Has s/he judged the consequences of the violent act carefully enough? Often combined with a threat of some kind, or a hint of other potential conflicts spawning as a consequence. Inner conflict. If the character has been in a situation to study (or in some other way gain information about) the opponent's group, a delicate hint at an unresolved group conflict may be attemted. It can be a gang member being accused of conspiring for leadership, keeping bounty for him-/herself or mixing with the enemy. 2. Choose a skill & define a conflict pool: Skills: Persuade, Bargain, Oratory, Perform, Deceit, Psychology. To show off might or aptness, another skill roll may be needed (magic roll to cast spell, weapon skill for some intimidating trick, and so on). Conflict pool: CHA, INT and/or POW (for more on my use of conflict pools, see BRP Starships in the download section). The opponent's conflict pool can be estimated from the following: 6. Weak leader, non-professionals*, outnumbered or minions. Communication skill maximum: 30% 11. Normal. Communication skill maximum: 50% 16. Strong leader, strong conviction, stronger in apparent force or numbers, or professionals*. Communication skill maximum: 75% Depending on the situation, either treat the opponent's pool as a static obstacle that must be overcome with enough successful rolls (similar to breaking down a door), or make it a dynamic conflict. In the latter case, the one with the conflict pool not reaching zero first, will decide what course to take next regarding violence. (Optional: If the winning side, regardless of which, decides to go for a violent solution after the social conflict, it will gain an advantage the first 1d6 rounds thanks to its greater self confidence. All skill rolls are at Easy (+20%). 3. Additional bonuses & penalties: The initial skill roll when a character is trying to defuse a situation can be strengthened by decisive and symbolic actions, normally +20%, but up to +50%, if ingenious ways to communicate a message is used (showing a VeryBigGun™, magic show-off, and so on). If the initial roll is failed, the fight is started as usual. The threat or offer made by the character has been deemed irrelevant, too small, laughed off, etcetera. A new diplomatic approach must be found by the character (or someone else), at the earliest in the second combat round (a fresh bonus is applicable if a new splendid way to communicate is found). Penalties can be applied for certain situations. In a very noisy or rowdy environment (crowds, bars, heavy traffic, etcetera) a penalty of -20% to -50% is used. Similar penalties can be used in other situations where speech is not easily heard, temperaments has already ran hot, the characters have stumbled into the opponent's core territory (where they feel very sure of themselves and can expect the crowd to support them) and so on. Showing off can in these situations be necessary to grab everyones attention (and to minimize penalties). * = "Professionals" are here meant as people used to violence.

While not being in a position to answer that question, I can easily imagine a process leading to such a decision. Starting out with RQ6 and tweaking it both to fit Glorantha and the smallish size of BRP Essentials, I suppose one change led to another, leading up to some serious reconsiderations, starting over again with a fresh view, etcetera. It's a quite natural part of a creative process I would say.

Here's a map of Europe, the way it looks on Eorthe in the 1930s. The major differences are: The shallows we call Dogger Bank were never flooded 8000 years ago and is an island named Doggerland. It's placement between Great Britain and Denmark makes it a nation with influences from both British and Scandinavian culture. Glimminge, the capital of Doggerland, is the home of The Philosophy Engine. Germany was never united and is split among Preussia, Bayern, Sachsen and Magdeburg. The headquarters of The Priests of Wittenberg is placed in northern Sachsen. In the 17th century, the Scandinavian countries met unexpected resistance when colonizing what we call Lapland, the shamans being the prime movers in the defense. The indigenous Skreeders have instead formed their own nation - Sapmi - built from the small splinter of people enduring the last ice age in a pocket of greenery around Atla in northernmost Norway.

This is looking very interesting! Please keep the self-promotion coming : )

I'm with Soltakss on this: Athletics seems a better fit with those skills.

Excellent advice. Thanks for taking the time to write it down.

I'm happy to hear you like it Mankcam! I just finished research on some of the early signs of Soot infection. My favorite is Fugue, or Ambulatory Automatism as it's also called, where the infected travels in a completely amnesiac state - often across continents or even entire worlds - and one day just snaps out of it...

Thank you ReignDragon! I really enjoy doing the layout and illustrations, making everything come together as a whole with the text. I think it adds a lot of personality and character to a game. Regarding military vessels, one of the initial seeds for Odd Soot was a frustration that so many sci fi games are semi-military - I think Traveller, Star Wars and perhaps Alien have influenced sci fi RPGs so much we don't even think about it anymore. (There are exceptions of course, and those games can be played without military ingredients, though it is an important ingredient). So, as I'm sticking to the plan so far, I have designed Comae Space conflicts to avoid involving military forces. The significance of the military is somewhat close to most Call of Cthulhu games. It's probably around somewhere, but not really interfering with the characters' business. There is a kind of peace-keeping force, but it's very small and doesn't have much to do besides patrolling. The legacy from the Luminarian species (now gone) have resulted in a relatively peaceful mix of species - though far from conflict free. So, no vessel write-ups planned and no military professions either so far - perhaps at a later stage. So, how is work going with Skaerune? I see you are very productive - I haven't been able to keep up with your writing.

Oh, that's beautiful : ) Very good idea to make this available to collectors.

I just finished a few more pages for Odd Soot - about the Nuveri species: "What does extreme fragility do to a life form? It turns out to depend not so much on the life form itself, but on the world surrounding it. The Nuveri are made of a material perhaps best described as paper, not unlike the mixture of wood and spittle wasps use to build their nests, only slightly sturdier. This makes them the perfect floaters - just like all life forms on Corinthi. With a gentle nature surrounding them and potential threats as fragile as themselves, fragility is not such a terrible weakness as it may first appear to be. That is, not until they visit other worlds and encounter species not shying away from everyday violence." Link: http://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/521-odd-soot-magical-scifi-in-the-1930s/ The new pages are in the middle this time.

Thank you both : ) I've been working on it for quite some time now and it's taken many iterations to reach this stage. I'm about half way through I think (at least in the sense Zadie Smith defines half way through: I'm living and breathing the book most of my waking hours at the moment…). Nuveri species up in a few days!

I've just uploaded a few more pages from Odd Soot! It's the first pages from the chapter called Major Forces, detailing The Philosophy Engine and the Colloquium. I added the file to the download section, with both chapters in one file (Major Forces is at the end). I hope you like it - all comments appreciated! Link: http://basicroleplaying.org/files/file/521-odd-soot-magical-scifi-in-the-1930s/

Thanks Sverre : ) More to come this weekend I think.

Thanks Nick! I think the Nuveri, an exceptionally fragile alien species with bodies in a paper-like material, will be next. Or perhaps the works on the fourth and fifth dimensions by Charles Howard Hinton, and its implications for the Undolding Device. I'm not sure what comes together in a good way first.

Thanks Sunwolfe! It started as a setting for BRP Space, but as things have turned out I'm aiming to make it a free-standing book. Instead of having to buy three books (BGB, BRP Space, Odd Soot), one will be enough to play. Hope to have some more to show soon!

I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it! The heroes are not automatically doomed, though they have a rough time ahead of them. "Winning a battle, but loosing the war" might be a good way to describe it. They can make a change on a small scale, but the big picture is painted in much more desperate (and dark) hues. Regarding a cure - nobody knows so far. And character desperation isn't likely to decrease when the first one in the party is infected with The Soot : )

Hi all, while waiting for the publishing formalities to get sorted out for BRP Space, I have been working on a scifi setting I'm very happy with. Last week I finished the groundwork for the book and would like to show you what I've been busy with. It's an alternate history set in the 1930s where Christianity never caught hold in the western world. As a consequence, traditional shamanistic magic has partly survived and scientific progress, untethered by religious prejudice (together with some luck), allowed humans to go into space much earlier. In the 1880s several intelligent alien lifeforms, stranded without FTL for two centuries, were encountered. But a terrible disease called The Odd Soot is assailing the interstellar community, and only a few tragic heroes are standing up to the threat. Cover plus short blurb below it. And here's a link to the introductory chapter: http://ge.tt/9acymz12 Let me know what you think; all comments welcome. More to come soon. Odd Soot Eorthe, 1932. A universe separated from our own only by a thin veil. It’s been 50 years since the first humans crossed the voids between the stars and found it teeming with alien life. The Odd Soot is spreading from planet to planet, driving humans and aliens alike into madness. After 230 years the gruesome disease is on the move again. But only a few dare see the truth. The Philosophy Engine is presenting stranger and stranger predictions and the Skreeder Shamans see signs of worrying times to come. Will the insanities of the infected once more threaten to throw entire worlds into chaos? Are the desperate actions of a few ragged individuals enough to turn the tide? Comae Space need heroes more than ever. The survival of civilization is in the hands of the characters. Cover: Depiction of an Aygaan Seeker, by xeno-anthropologist Karyn Oakley. 1929.

Looking forward to this!