Nick J.

7 hours ago, MOB said:

In fact, Lindybeige, the guy who created the video above has an entertainingly eclectic Youtube channel, with lots of practical stuff about ancient and medieval warfare. Well worth a look!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pgQfOXRsp4UKrI8q0zjXQ

He's an unabashed Runequest fan too.

His "Early D&D is Rubbish" videos were pretty entertaining (and now that I think about it, his praise of Runequest got me mildly interested in checking out d100 gaming).

Can you guys take this into PMs?

1 hour ago, styopa said:

Your point is well taken, and thanks to Nick J's posted videos on the subject, I feel far more informed on the subject, thank you.  On a tangent: Curious that the dirk has no tang at all?

Going back to the minutiae of which "rapier" is represented by the RQ weapon list (the Bronze Age thing called a "rapier" by archaeologists, or the late-Medieval thing more widely recognized as a "rapier"), I'd still say firmly that the gross differential between stats between a shortsword and a rapier would strongly imply that the RQ2 "rapier" is indeed, the latter one, anachronistic as that may be.

Personally, I'd find it amusing if someone showed up at a fencing bout with one of the Bronze Age ones, insisting that "this too is a rapier, really!".  Of course, they'd likely get owned due to reach and, lacking a crossguard, nearly no ability whatsoever to parry...

You would almost certainly use a shield with a Bronze Age rapier. You "parry" with that.

On 8/19/2016 at 4:34 AM, ThornPlutonius said:

I recommend The Design Mechanism's excellent Mythras (formerly RQ6) rules as a replacement for Magic World.

When I was a d100 neophyte a couple of years ago, RQ6 was the first thing I read (got it in a Bundle of Holding deal) and it did not 'click' for me in any way shape or form. MW on the other hand was just about perfect in terms of helping grok actually running a game with it. Two years on, I think highly of Mythras/RQ6's design aesthetics, editing and nuance, but I still can't see me ever running it.

These are two very different games to me (as smiorgan mentioned above) and unless Chaosium's new RuneQuest blows my socks off I don't see any other games replacing Elric!/Stormbringer/Magic World to scratch my d100 fantasy system itch right now.

I'll just go ahead and link these videos:

And just because I love Neil Burridge's stuff and it's great to hear craftsman talk shop:

10 hours ago, tooley1chris said:

Unfortunately sometimes I DO do things half way. 

Due to the latest announcement from Chaos team, I'm gonna take a break from MW for awhile. It depresses me that there will no longer be new materials for this system. Yes, like many of you, I saw this coming but held out hope.

Still my favorite system. I'm sure I'll revisit as it sparks my creative juices.

 

http://basicroleplaying.org/topic/5070-chaosium-announces-end-of-magic-world-product-line/?_fromLogin=1#replyForm

 

I get the sentiment. Regardless thanks for all of the hard work you put into the various things you produced. You made my life imminently easier as a first time d100 GM.

On 8/17/2016 at 2:58 AM, MOB said:

Unfortunately, a MW-led recovery was not going to save Chaosium, and we had to divert our attention and resources to our core lines (Call of Cthulhu, Glorantha) to get the company back on its feet. But, as noted in the announcement, we'll keeping selling the existing MW stuff on chaosium.com and are happy to see licensed or fan MW material coming out.

(Although he wouldn't have been working on MW, last September after the Hayward warehouse was closed we teed up with Sandy for Ben to be the editor of the new "Tales of Sandy Petersen" line of books for Call of Cthulhu ("The Derelict" etc) if he was interested. However Ben said he had other non-Chaosium stuff he wanted to go on to, and so Mike Mason is now looking after that project.)

Yeah, I gathered Ben had moved on from the RPGnet thread. Anyway, I don't harbor any ill-will toward Chaosium's new management. Businesses aren't charities and you all had to do what you think is best (and I'm looking forward to the new RuneQuest).

Well I am glad that Chaosium is still going to keep selling the line via pdf even if they aren't going to support it officially. There's no such thing as a "dead game" so long as there are people still willing to play it.

As a life-long D&Der who came to d100 gaming very late (like in the last 2 or 3 years) MW was the only ruleset that immediately clicked for me (I think the first I ever read was RQ6 picked up in a Bundle of Holding).

Sure it has its rough spots (art and layout) but without it I don't think I could have ever considered warming to the idea of running RQ6/Mythras or perhaps Chaosium's new RQ4 (or whatever the hell it's going to be called), MW was the perfect game at just the right time to show me a better way to run a game. Whatever game I run in the future I'm sure I'll take parts of it with me; e.g. I suspect I'll keep the (Con+Siz)/2 HP convention and the variable Armor over hit locations, because I like it that much.

Much respect to Ben Monroe for what he was able to put together. A real pity new management couldn't figure out some way to keep him on and keep supporting MW, but that's life I guess.

As somebody who is a very late comer to Runequest, I'm glad to hear Guide to Glorantha is getting a reprint. My wallet on the other hand? ...

Go ahead and put me down for one strong "hell no" on converting to d20s.

Cheers!

Really happy to hear about the Fantasy Grounds support. My FG BRP ruleset has served in a pinch for various d100 games (Magic World mostly), but it'd be great to have a ruleset that actually takes advantage of the most recent version of Fantasy Grounds -- mostly comes down to extension support and some UI and UX improvements.

Ben Monroe had an errata document he shared from his google drive, but it looks like the link is dead now. Not sure if somebody had the forethought to download a copy and keep it safe.

The typo is corrected in the updated version of the PDF. But yes, if you have Brawl and Cestus at 101 or higher, you get 1d4+1+2d3+db

Ten or fifteen years back I was a long-time player in a friend's D&D campaign, lots of exposition, lots of "story" and lots of set-piece battles. I was always moderately amazed that so few player characters ever seemed to die. That is until one day I caught him fudging a die roll to save my character. I was absolutely crushed. Two years of gaming and good times evaporated in a matter of seconds when it dawned on me I was playing in a fixed game. I quickly moved on from shock, to depression and then to apathy and then I quit playing altogether after about three more months of trying to "get over it." -- His act of "charity" had robbed me of any sense of accomplishment and I could never trust that the game wasn't just some colossal wank fest thereafter -- with false player agency and pre-determined outcomes in service to "story." 

I'm not telling people how to have fun or run their games, but sometimes it's worth telling your players up front that you run a rigged game. A lot of people seem to OK with that kind of play experience apparently, but there are some people (like me) who want to know that their accomplishments (and failures) are their own and if they ever suss it out that you've got your finger on the scales, you might have some very disappointed gamers on your hands. 

No worries. I'm sure we'll still be going. Hit me up if/when you feel like it and hopefully I'll still have a spot open.

Cheers.

Just figured I'd throw this out here, since it seemed like the most likely place to find people interested in playing in a Magic World game.

I've been running a small group (two players and myself) in campaign for the past several months and there's definitely room for another couple of people. The game typically happens every other Sunday at 5:00 PM Pacific Time (GMT -8) and goes for about 3 hours using a virtual tabletop and google hangouts for audio.

Campaign Details: A sword & sorcery game of weird fantasy set in an alternate Earth during an antediluvian period. Key influences are R.E. Howard's Hyborian Age and Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea cycle. I borrow liberally from Morten Braten's Xoth adventures and I try to mix in a healthy dose of my own ideas and adventures. My style of refereeing is very much about laying out a liberal number of hooks and then sitting back and letting the players drive the action and letting the dice roll where they may - Not quite a pure sandbox, but closer to that end of the spectrum than a railroad. In-character roleplaying is preferred, but I'm not too worried about out-of-character chatter or digressions, so long as they aren't too distracting.

Requirements: A demo version of fantasy grounds (I own the ultimate license), a pdf copy of Magic World, a microphone and a pair of headphones (no webcam required). Other than that you don't have to be an expert role-player, all you need is a willingness to learn and be willing to show up on a fairly regular basis.

Full disclosure; I'm still pretty green at running BRP games after having been a D&D/d20 gamer for most of my gaming life the past 25+ years, but Magic World really captured my imagination about a year ago. So after shaking off some long-accumulated GM rust after a long hiatus from gaming, I'm finally comfortable enough with the rules that I don't feel too badly inflicting myself on you fine folk.

Send me a message or reply below if interested and I'll give you the connection details. Or if you're merely curious feel free to ask questions below and I'll do the best i can to answer them.

I'm pretty sure this is a topic best directed at Michael Moorcock himself. Moorcock's Miscellany might be a good place to inquire. I seem to recall MM was somewhat displeased with Chaosium over the handling of his IP, but who knows what his stance is now?

One more thing, I had almost forgotten I made a plain version of that character sheet. It's hosted here in the files section. Feel free to download and copy it to your site Marcus

<delete>

I just assumed it's a temporary software glitch ... 

Link for those interested

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcdream/delta-green-the-role-playing-game?ref=hero_thanks

As a disillusioned D&D'er eager to find something to take the place of the only game I ever really got a chance to play, it took me ages to find D100 gaming; there just wasn't much that hit my radar when I started looking around to see what else was out there. Ultimately the only reason I ever discovered it was because of a youtuber who goes by the nom de plume "Runeslinger" and his in-depth series where he talked about building a campaign from scratch using the RQ6 rules as a foundation. When RQ6 showed up in a bundle of holding I finally took the plunge for the system in pdf format and tried to dive in. Frankly I found the system difficult to digest and wrap my head around how it was meant to be played (decades of class and level gaming can come with a lot of baggage) but I knew there was something there that appealed to my sense of what I find intriguing and fun in a game. It was only when I took a chance on Magic World - and I think I only stumbled on to it by an Amazon recommendation - that d100 gaming finally clicked into place for some reason. So for me at least actual play reports and user reviews were immensely important in discovering BRP games and it had almost nothing to do with corporate marketing.

While MW is currently my game of choice (I've even managed to make 3 converts just in the past month-and-a-half. Like me, people for whom it just clicked and appreciate its simplicity and flexibility) that isn't to say I'm not keen to re-examine RQ6 or some system derived from it and give it a fair shake; after all it's a very well written book and the hardcover has a pride of place on my gaming shelf, even if I still find the idea of running a game RAW with it a little too fiddly for my taste, but perhaps a slimmed down generic system based on its principles will be just the thing to get me excited to really dig in and learn its nuances?

In the meantime I'll continue to use Magic World in my bi-weekly VTT game as well as with the group of RPG newbies who have had me run a couple of one-shots for them in a face-to-face game and if BRP essentials turns out to be something I can get people to grasp just as quickly as MW then perhaps it will be worth moving on to it when I finally get that BRP-cyberpunk game going I've got kicking around in the back of my head.

I wish the new Chaosium well and hopefully everything turns out OK.

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Bite your tongue! Russ Nicholson is a god amongst men!