Sorloc

Thanks! :thumb:

I would do a giant's club as an area effect attack, actually. But the point is absolutely correct. Dodge is superior in many ways, especially the fact that with a successful parry, you can still take damage if the damage points exceed the AP of your parrying weapon and your armor. With a successful dodge, you avoid all of it.

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ENCumbrance heavily affects Dodge skill, so you'll only usually see dodging from a character wearing no armor (like a renaissance duellist, or Wild West gunslinger).

I don't know anyone who has... I'd almost be willing to bet that no one has (not even sure about the playtesters). I bought it, but it didn't seem like it would work any better than Villains & Vigilantes or Marvel SuperHeroes, both of which I played too many years ago to think about. DC Heroes and Champions are the only ones that I've played more than once. It seems that you can have a game that allows you to play normals, or a game that allows you to play supers, but not both. HERO system (4th ed - I know nothing about 5th) can almost do it. It's close enough that you can make it work. I, too have been wondering what I would get if I purchased the Superworld game for sale on the Chaosium site...

So... what do you have to say about this: Apple - Trailers - Watchmen

My copies of RQ3 say that Martial Arts is not a skill that can be increased through experience; only by research and/or training, and that's the way I have always done it. You'd get a check on whatever attack you succeeded with, but you don't get better at Shaolin through hitting things, you get better at Shaolin by meditation and clean living

Hm, I wonder what % of the books belong to posters here?...

RuneQuest 2 & 3 Pavis & Big Rubble by a wide margin. Sun County would be a close second...

I've been asked this before, and the answer is simple. 2x the AP in the location, +2x the HP in the location. This is based upon the RQ3 damage that indicates that double damage in a location has destroyed or penetrated that location. Logically, you'll hit the armor on the way out, also. An average unarmored human would be worth 8AP at best, 5AP at worst. @ material: perhaps other materials should be rated in terms of a % of steel, rather that a flat mod.

I think that Champions does very well meshing vehicles, constructs, and armor suits and such by not altering the system to accomodate them, but rather defining them in existing system terms. I think that this would work in BRP also. Speed = Move rate Carry Capacity = STR Fuel Range = FP Armor = well, AP. But vehicles would have a different hit location chart based upon what type of vehicle it is. One of the locations would be Crew Compartment or something else more descriptive. The vehicle would have generic hit locations of, instead of head, chest, limbs, etc, of Engines, Crew Compartment, Movement Control (Tires, wings, etc.) Weapons might be assumed damaged if located in a location that loses all its armor or treated as part of the armor (remember weapons have AP also).

So, I'm the only one here to play Rolemaster and SpaceMaster? Wow. NickMiddleton and I are alone in the enjoyment of Ars Magica... Played more than once: Ars Magica Boot Hill Bushido Champions Chivalry & Sorcery Cyberpunk 2020 DC Heroes D&D 3.5 GURPS Mage Mercenaries Spies & Private Eyes Recon Rolemaster RuneQuest Shadowrun Spacemaster Star Frontiers Stormbringer Werewolf Wild West

I've quoted and cut and et cetera, but I've given up on that. Those who are following the thread can figure it out. I still maintain that most system-type restrictions on spellcasters are only in place to maintain 'play balance'. Several posters have expressed that this is sometimes, if not always, necessary, for (it seems) one or two reasons: 1) Spellcasters may be rare in the setting. 2) Non-spellcasters may feel impotent. My answer to #1: Yeah, so? PCs in ANY game probably should not be considered to be a statistically correct cross-section of society. Those type of people get a job, get married, have kids, and die peacefully in their beds. PCs are NOT those people. If spellcasters are rare in the world, then (1) restrict magic to NPCs, or (2) accept the fact that there will be a statistically improbable number of spellcasters in the group. This doesn't mean that there's a spellcaster behind every bush, it just means that 'birds of a feather flock together,' and you're more likely to see several travelling together than see a lone one. Perhaps you want to say that people are mistrustful of magic - fine, but that's not a system mechanic issue; it's a roleplaying issue. Perhaps you want to say that magic is very difficult or dangerous. Fine, but you better know WHY. If it's because it has a taint of evil, then again, that's a RP issue or a add-on mechanic issue. If it's just to restrict players from choosing spellcasters, then just go ahead and outlaw it for PCs and be done with it. My answer to #2: (apologies - I think I may ruffle some feathers here, but I'm not trying to attack anyone, and if you give it a moment to think about it, you might agree I have a point) Any non-spellcaster who feels like they can't have fun playing in a group where one character has more power / ability might be suffering from a lack of focus. It's not a competition between characters, it's a 'role-playing' game. If you're trying to 'win' the game, you're not thinking in the right direction (IMHO). It's not what you have, it's what you do with it. As others have said, it's the GM's responsibility to see to it that all characters have their chance to shine. I don't see it being the system's responsibility to limit certain abilities so that the job is easier. Granted, this does require a good GM, and good players (or a majority of them). If the GM does their job, though, there will be opportunity for the non-spellcaster to shine, and feel they are contributing. It's the same as in most fantasy games, the player who doesn't choose to be an elf, and instead chooses a human, is severely hampered compared to his pointy-eared companions, unable to see in the dark, having to sleep, and other assorted benefits of elfdom. You CHOOSE to play what you choose to play. Not having fun? Choose something else to play. A very good correlation in BRP is the Stormbringer races. With one Melnibonean in the group, you're looking at the same problem. You simply can't compare mundanes and supernatural beings - that's why they have the prefix 'super'; means above average. They're NOT the same, you can't equalize them - and you shouldn't. Just play the character, not the charace's stats - the way to truly 'win' the game is to have fun, and it just might be possible to have a goal that doesn't involve dealing more or as much damage / round as the next character.

And I want exactly the opposite. I have always cast my vote with the systems that don't create some arbitrary 'balancing' factor against spellcasters, such as Ars Magica and RuneQuest. The same would go for psionicists and supers as well. Those who have powers (magic, telepathy, mutant abilities, etc.) are simply superior to Mundanes. Creating an artificial system to handicap those characters (higher skill costs, restricted equipment, having to wear a pointy hat) is simply asinine. There is never any good reasoning behind it besides "we have to do this so that the player who chooses to play a fighter won't feel bad because the mage has more powers." Tough. Shouldn't play a straight fighter then. I never saw any problems with magic vs nonmagic in RuneQuest, wether I was playing a sorcerer, a priest, or just a guy with a few battle magic spells. You do what you do. If you don't like playing that character, then play a different one, not take power away from someone else. As for armor, all armor restrictions are simply artificial attempts to handicap a spellcaster. You can justify it any way you want, but that's still all it is. Same goes for Supers, but you don't lend any credence to the player who is playing a normal and is complaining that the mutants have too much power - they shouldn't be able to use certain equipment, like airplanes or armor, because they have superpowers. Why listen to the same argument when it concerns spellcasters / telepaths? In a point-based system, the point is moot - you get what you pay for. In most other systems, you must pay DP or XP for both the spells and the ability to cast them, and sometimes even the ability to modify and target them. Paying the DP there lessens the DP you have available for other things, like weapon skills and riding skill and such, but many systems (and GMs) aren't satistfied with that, and increase the DP costs for those skills for spellcasters as well, virtually guaranteeing that spellcasters won't ever be good at combat as well. As Denny Crane would say, "Namby-Pamby."

That's for sure... further, as far as I'm concerned, anything above 80% homogeneous is close enough for system purposes.

I liked the starship / vehicle creation rules in ICE's SpaceMaster supplements, Star Strike and Armored Assault. They became Bladestorm, then ICE lost the rights to the game, the minis, even the setting. :confused:

If I take a fixed-torso robot and put a _(weapon)_ in its hand, then secure a suit of armor to a post, such that the weapon always swings with the same force, and strikes the same exact spot, then it should do the exact same damage, yes? So, weapon damage should be fixed, based on the weapon, an (possibly variable) add for strength, then a reduction for armor in the location less a variable penalty based on movement of the target. God, I'm getting bored just describing this... ...I think I watch too much Mythbusters...

I'm sorry if this has already been answered, I have been reading, I promise, but now the conversation is right here... What about Battle Magic a.k.a. Spirit Magic type magic? And is there any corollary for Divine Magic / Holy Warriors?

Do you really think that there's some way to combine the combat systems of Rolemaster with BRP?

And you don't think that 1-19 is a rather large spread for the most bestest armor around? Maybe if the curve were not so shallow... :confused:

But the warrior isn't exploiting the weakness; fate is. A defender will know where his weak spots are, and try to cover them. An attacker tries to get past that defense into the weak spot. How to tell if he succeeds? Your skill roll. How to tell if he hit a weak spot? Your damage roll. How to tell if you really exploited the chink in the armor? Did you crit? So actually, yes, RQ DOES offer the ability to target weak spots in the armor. It actually assumes that that is what you are doing, because why wouldn't you? You don't get a 50/50 shot at hitting a weakness in the armor, you get a 5% chance. Really, anyone who weakens armor is someone who is revealing that they don't use encumbrance rules. It's already there; no need to reinvent the wheel. Yes, it does tend to devolve into a contest of who gets a crit first, or who gets exhausted first, but isn't that what a combat wearing armor really is? A test of endurance? If your dagger could penetrate a breastplate, the armorer would make thicker breastplate - and not just in places - ALL OVER! That's kind of the point of armor, Right?

Keep going with that thought, then make the damage and damage types weapon-specific (slashing versus piercing versus crushing, etc), and you'll have RoleMaster. In RM, the better your attack roll, the better the result. No roll of 65 on a 66% attack then roll max damage, nor is there a "Woo! I special impale! Double damage of... <roll> 1. Crap." Chivalry & Sorcery has an interesting method involving a flat base damage for each weapon, then you modify that with defense and attack rolls. Thus, with no defense, a broadsword will always do at least 6 damage, a knife will always do at least 4, etc. Your strength and weapon quality and roll and stuff can increase it, certain armors can reduce it, but a lot of the randomness is gone.

"Wicked" was a good read, and it gave a really interesting look at the cultures and peoples of Oz, along with some interesting social aspects.

I love James Clavell's novels... In Shogun, his most famous (probably because it became a miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune (1980 - go rent it it's most excellent - better yet, read the book - best of all, do both, it's worth it,)) The arrival of John Blackthorne, an Englishman, in Japan in 1600, caused immense confusion when the Japanese learned that this European was enemy to the other Europeans, and because the Portugese and Spanish, who were the only Europeans they had encountered at that point, were *Catholic* Christians, while Blackthorne was *Protestant* Christian, a distinction none of the Japanese could be made to understand.

I love religion for setting purposes... Nothing is better at needlessly creating conflict than religion. As stated in the rules for Illuminati, 'all fanatic organizations are opposed to each other'. I mentioned it elsewhere in this forum, but I have a continent with several dwarven nations that constantly try to annihilate each other due to different interpretations of the same religion's dogma - much like the protestant reformation. From outside the religion, they all seem the same, but they're fanatically opposed to each other over trivial details. See, if Country A is going to attack Country B, we want to know why. If it's about land, OK. If it's about gaining access to a seaport, OK. If it's ancient enmities, OK. If it's about one country is richer, OK. All of these can be resolved through either bloodshed or diplomacy. If it's a religious issue, however, there is only one solution - destroy ALL the heretics, hunt down the infidels and burn them all. There can be no diplomacy, no peace, no compromise, no understanding. Obvious examples include Jerusalem, but also the pervading self-inflicted ignorance in the USA regarding all non-christian religions, especially Muslim. Most people know next to nothing about the religion, and desire to know even less. And this in a supposedly highly educated world leading country. PLEASE NOTE: I am not taking a position either for or against ANY religion, and absolutely will not get involved in any such discussion. I realize the danger in even skirting this issue, and only do so to illustrate that with this subject, fanaticism is rampant and cannot be suppressed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations