Jae

Doesn't that free up TDM to finish off their work on Adventures in Glorantha and release it before their license expires in July next year? Or is it truly nixed by Mood Design?

The quality of TDM material is fantastic. RQ6 brought me back to role-playing after an absence of 12+ years and I am glad to hear that Loz and Pete will be sticking around in the new Chaosium. I can see the desire by Chaosium/Moon Design to pick up some quick nostalgia bucks, based upon the solid reputation of RQ2 and I am glad to see the kickstarter is doing so well. However, it does present a marketing challenge for the RQ6/7 material as there will effectively be 2 versions of the game currently in print. If handled badly, then it could spell a bleak future for the line. However, I have confidence in the team as there are some great people back in the Chaosium family and I think there maybe a genius of a marketing plan afoot. Once the old portfolio of RQ2 material has been re-printed, I suspect all new material will be in the RQ6/7 format to help drive that distinction. I also suspect that there will be a free conversion booklet from RQ2 to RQ6/7 to help convert a lot of these nostalgia gamers to the new and improved version. I am guessing the cunning plan is to sling shot the RQ2 attention towards the new version and to market the crap out of it as a serious alternative to D&D. A new Chaosium, releasing a "new" version of the highly respected Runequest 6, following the massively successful reprinting of a well loved 40 year old product, coupled with all the good will and attention that Glorantha has been generating lately ... this could all work out wonderfully for Chaosium/MD/TDM.

I'm going to use it on a new gaming group. Once they get used to it, I plan on migrating them towards RQ6, which I believe in time will also be considered a "classic" version, albeit a bit crunchier. Given the news about RQ6 becoming the new Chaosium version next year and the version for new releases, I suspect there will be a conversion guide from RQ2 to RQ6/7 coming soon to help people get up to date.

Anyone know anything about this? It isn't on the Design Mechanism website. It looks to be in Spanish, and I'm wondering if this is Mythic Mediterranean http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/166601/Mediterraneo-Mitico?src=newest

Has anyone read Tau Zero by Poul Anderson? Its been on my "to read" list for awhile and deals with a colony ship that uses constant acceleration until half way and then constant deceleration until they reach Tau Ceti. En route, they encounter problems with their engines and must continue to accelerate, pushing them further into the (relative) future and further away from humanity.

You mention some very interesting role playing opportunities and interesting questions. A scenario in which the crew are dealing with escalating engineering challenges and have now lost contact with the other ships definitely appeals to me. I would be tempted to have some form of trans-humanism in the setting to allow for body horror elements and explore which attributes in crews worked better for long voyages. I would also be tempted to have the sessions on board the ship be part of a campaign in which the characters (or their descendants) eventually arrive at their destination and have to start colonising and exploring their mysterious new (initially peaceful) world. Have you seen Pandorum? Its a great film about a crew waking up for their shift on a sleeper ship that has encountered problems during its voyage. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1188729/combined There was also a TV mini series last year called Ascension that dealt with the challenges of a generational ship that was launched in the 1960s: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3696720/combined

I totally agree that the zones of thought would be a great setting and I love your plot ideas. I think the zones are at least as interesting as Niven's Known Universe and Banks' Culture. I loved all of the politics and mystery of the powers, the blight and the challenges of navigating the zones. I just wish Vernor Vinge had spent more time exploring that universe in later books (as opposed to the Tines).

I'm pleased you are going to be involved in the future, but I have to admit to feeling sad at the idea of Runequest being married to Glorantha again. I actually like Glorantha as a settting, but I prefer a setting neutral RQ.

Thanks for the link. I'd never heard of it and agree that it would be great as a BRP setting.

I like it. Give them a head start and have some bounty hunters on their trail and you could ramp up the tension nicely.

I can only find CS vieweer for Win. Is there an option for Linux users?

As mentioned, an alternative to the BRP rules is Runequest 6. The Design Mechanism has a really excellent "Pay What you like" Runequest Essentials, which has a generous amount of the complete ruleset (more than enough to play) and is beautifully layed out. You can download it for free and try it out before you decide to donate or not, here: http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/downloads.php There is also a free intro adventure there too.

Those are all great ideas on how the community can help the games. I don't know enough about the games to introduce discussion subjects on rpg.net but I sure as heck will help bump any conversation there. Likewise for any reviews. Whilst we are on the subject of increasing awareness. There are other, low cost ways. For example, I just finished watching the D&D Acquisitions Inc. play sessions at GenCon and wished that one of the d100 games was covered in a similar fashion ie in front of an audience with reasonable production values and entertaining GM and gamers (minor celebrities optional). Cameras, editing tools and production costs are so cheap these days that I feel there is an opportunity for a company to piggy back off the 5th edition marketing machinery, copy this format (on a smaller scale and appropriate budget) and pick up some of the attention as a significant alternative. On a side note, Wil Wheaton is expanding his Tabletop Gaming channel to include roleplaying. He did a 2 episode playtest of Dragon Age RPG, GMed by the games creator that has 1.1 million views: The success of those episodes and the recent kickstarter inspired him to create the new rpg show, illustrating that there is a demand for quality p&p roleplaying coverage and exposure. It would be so great to have one of the creators (Loz, Newt, Ben?) of one of the d100 games run through an adventure on the new series. Wil Wheaton is an old school role player (30 years of p&p rpging) and will likely be sympathetic to modern d100 games. Hint, hint.

Nor is it a Pinnacle (Savage Worlds), Tabletop Enterntainment (FATE) or Hero games product, yet those were chosen. I'm just curious as to why not BRP, is all.

I'm curious why stats for BRP weren't included? Given its history with the horror genre, I would have thought BRP was an auto include. Is BRP no longer considered worthwhile enough for publishers to consider? Are sales that much lower than the others?

How scientific vs magical do you want the zombies? By magical, I mean that they defy the laws of physics and biological examples in that they don't rot, the muscular system still functions despite clear damage etc. By scientific, I mean that they still follow nature's laws and will "die" a second time once the environment, bacteria, etc have finished decomposing them. That bones cannot move without muscle tissue and that rotted or absent muscle tissue is significant to the abilities of the zombie. Btw, I had a survival campaign in mind that had "rage" zombies as well as Romero zombies, that this thread has helped re-invigorate. In the campaign, the initial trigger for the pandemic was going to be slowly revealed to the players as a parasitic infection that affected the nervous system and created Romero's. This would allow players to develop strategies and gain equipment to defeat classic, shambling zombies and keep the lethality proportional to their skills. There would be various road adventures in which the characters sought equipment, tinned food etc and dealt with other hostiles such as animals packs, human marauders, as well as zombie hordes. As the survival horror element started to dullen, I was going to have them role play the need to re-establish society and build adequate defenses and survival systems (water harvesting, food production etc.) to allow them time to explore the meta questions of how and what caused the pandemic? How many other survivors are there out there? What of the military? Potential cures etc. At some point (probably when the players felt secure in their defenses and fighting stances) I was going to introduce the rage zombies. They would run faster but would also rot faster. Only new deaths would result in rage zombies and it would be even more slowly revealed to be the unfortunate result of a military run, scientist base's attempt to create a "solution" to the Romeros.

I will probably get shouted at, but I would love to see character templates and player conversion guides that help with capturing and holding the interest of the gamer that is looking for a bit more than acquisition gaming or are tired of AC, classes, alliances etc. BRP has always been attractive to experienced gamers. However, low/medium crunch BRP games (especially from recognized publishers, games or IPs) like Magic World, have a golden opportunity to capture medium experienced gamers. But, imo they need to provide a little more in helping that medium experience player stick around by giving them something familiar yet enticingly exotic. Character templates, conversion help, optional quick start rules for noobs and ex d20 etc. would help with that. Once the players are familiar with the core of BRP's personality, then those optional rules and templates can be jettisoned, but by then ... they are hooked. I appreciate that Classic Fantasy kind of does this, but it is a monograph for the BGB, which I feel is aimed at more experienced gamers.

I'd be tempted to allow any form of training to increase skills and characteristics, if it makes sense. Of course, it would take a good deal of time, dedication and sacrifice to increase a characteristic. In real world, one can increase one's intelligence, concentration, problem solving skills etc by doing all sorts of mental puzzles and challenges. Even by the company one keeps (this works both ways and can make us dumb and ignorant as Troll shit if the group are bigoted ignoramuses). These methods train the neural pathways of the brain to be quicker and expand ones ability to think tangent-ally, akin to muscle memory. One can also improves ones health by clean living (in game by becoming a monk, focused mind/body training or following a code etc). Eating fresh organic food, reducing chemicals and other pollutants, sensible exercising etc. can affect intelligence too. This increases the amount of oxygen and other good minerals in the blood stream that feeds the brain and makes thoughts and ideas clearer. Healthy body, healthy mind kind of thing. Just my 10c

SPI's Universe had some interesting and not often seen mechanics such as rules for planet creation airc. Perhaps some of those rules need an update/reskin =) Might even be able to hook in some of the small but loyal Universe players into the BRP family. As for sci-fi settings. Space opera can be fun but imo these days it needs an interesting hook to elevate it beyond the generic golden age and galactic empire settings we have seen so many times. I'd love to see transhumanism and near future done in BRP. The ability to play any creature, machine or AI as well as the harshness and horror of the setting makes it a perfect fit for the d100 rules. Of interest, rules to help convert the distant BRP cousin of Eclipse Phase would be gravy.

Although BRP Space is quite catchy as a name, it is reminiscent of GURPS Space. This could be a good or not, depending upon the current popularity level of crunchy splat books as opposed to setting books with rules. If it were me, I would either try and include all relevant information a GM would need to run a future BRP game (the equivalent of D20 modern) and keep it setting neutral or I would incorporate an interesting setting and move away from the Space title. It would all depend upon which is more popular in the industry right now.

Hehe, your group sounds like my old gaming group. I used to use really unsubtle methods to try and get the players to stop wandering too far off point. There was a lot of fog and bridges that had been washed away by the recent storm, as I recall. We would joke about it, but if they really wanted to go off into unprepared territory, I had them agree to lower their expectations and accept some delay as I created stuff for them on the fly (aka bullshitting it). When I get back into GMing, I'm going to be using all the lazy GMing tools that have evolved over the years for generating quick encounters, npc names and descriptions etc. I also plan to involve the players more in the creative aspect and have OOC conversations with them to discuss their intentions so that I don't have to wing things so much.

Edit: I should read the title more closer before suggesting things Have you checked out Ships & Shield Walls or Blood Tide? http://www.thedesignmechanism.com/products.php#!/Ships-&-Shield-Walls-PDF-only/p/36842450/category=5186110 http://www.chaosium.com/blood-tide/ I don't have either of them, but someone here might be able to confirm if they have relevant information for you.

So, its not these rules, but others? http://www.hibbs.me.uk/snarks/sandysorcery.html http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha/sorcery.html Edit: If there isn't a central source on the web, wouldn't it be a good idea to have all of Sandy Petersen's Rules (sorcery, shaman, grimoire, rituals, saints, mystics ...) preserved in a convenient and accessible location? If it doesn't conflict with any rights or royalties, could we try and gather them and place them in the downloads section?

spam? here?

Very interesting. I am going to bookmark this and try and simulate an npc using these spells and suggestions.