BMonroe

So, some folks are aware of the "Magic World" game I've been putting together for Chaosium. It's a BRP-based fantasy game, using the core of the old Elric! rules and supplements, but stripped of Moorcockisms. As the game's winding through the production cycle (I'm proofing layouts as they come across my desk), I thought I'd open the floor to questions about the game. To start with, some background: Here are the official CHaosium postings about the first two books: Magic World: Chaosium.com: News - Magic World Advanced Sorcery: Chaosium.com: News - BRP Advanced Sorcery Here are a few interviews I've done about the game: http://basicroleplaying.com/basic-roleplaying/another-magic-world-interview-2861/3/#post46733 Stormbringer! » Interview with Ben Monroe And forgive me if you see this thread pop up in different places. I'm going to post the same thing around a bit. If you have any questions, let me know!

I'm assuming for now it's falling under the general BRP forum. Perhaps when the game comes out, it'll get it's own dedicated space. That'll be up to Trifletraxor, of course.

Play anything you want. I've made anything from sword-n-board fighters, to sorcerers to foresters, etc. Indeed, I even made up a character that's an intelligent raven with spell-casting ability. The title is really just a nod to the original "Magic World" fantasy supplement which was part of the old Worlds of Wonder RPG from Chaosium.

Magic World collects all of the Sorcery spells published in official books for the old Elric! game into one place. I made the decision to move the other magic stuff (Demon summoning, Eastern Magic, Herbalism, etc.) into the "Advanced Sorcery" supplement. As SDLeary says above, Magic World is a full fantasy game. Advanced Sorcery adds a ton more options for those who want to have more magic in their games. As far as release goes, it's getting close. I've been reviewing the layout/art/etc. over the last few weeks. I'm not 100% sure when, but I'm guessing late 2012/early 2013. If it's any consolation, after Magic World, there are three supplements already written, and two nearing completion.

The Elder Scrolls series was created by Ken Rolston. Ken Rolston was the developer of RuneQuest III while at Avalon Hill for many years in the 90s. So, yeah, BRP is a good choice for him. Man, I'd love to point you toward "Magic World", but it's not out yet. Failing that, maybe you can get your hands on the old Elric! game. It's pretty much my favorite version of BRP fantasy from the Chaosium games, and formed the core of Magic World. So, if you got him started on Elric!, he'd be able to convert his game over to MW with little work when MW finally comes out.

Yes! Support OpenQuest! Its an absolutely tremendous game, and the supplements are all broadly-compatible with BRP. I've been using it to run the classic RQ stuff for about 6 months now (Pavis, Big Rubble, Borderlands) and we're having a blast with it. Great game. You need it.

Check out the quick NPC rules on p. 236 of the last draft of MW. That might help? If you want to vary the weapon damage, I'd use: Small (1d5), Medium (1d10), Large (1d10+1d5), Brutal (2d10).

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I think these three skills outghta be higher...

BTW: I've now got an initial layout of the book in PDF. The copy I have is 234 pages. There's nothing more to add to the game, so I'm pretty sure the final version should be about that page count.

You should port it over to Labyrinth Lord. I hear that's doing quite well. Wait...

Maybe sort out some 'tier' in which the PCs get HP bumps? Like for every skill you raise to 100%, get a 1-point increase in HP? Another option (that I use) is to alter the amount of starting HP. CON+(1/2 SIZ), or even straight CON+SIZ works well.

My ideal x-Q fantasy game is OpenQuest, with lots of RQ6 bolted on. Spells, monsters, the new cult/brotherhood stuff, etc.

How about guidelines for faster, more cinematic combat? I've been dropping hit points for 'mooks' in my games lately, in order to throw hordes of bad guys against my PCs. I usually just halve hit points for cannon fodder bad guys, but maybe there's a cooler way to do that?

What Nick said. I absolutely adore OpenQuest, and indeed I'm using it right now to run my pals through a bunch of classic RQ stuff (tonight, the PCs are leaving Pavis to take employment with Duke Raus!). I think you could do an absolutely marvellous game by taking the OpenQuest core, and rebuilding Classic Fantasy with it. Indeed, I think it'd get to closer to the 'original' feel of the game, as OQ is a very streamlined system at it's core. Plus, it's OGL, and there's a 'developer's kit' which contains all the open content in an editable MS Word doc. Rodney -- I'd be happy to discuss this more offline if you'd like. Drop me a line if you want. I'd also be more than happy to put you in touch with Newt Newport, the guy behind OQ. He's a great guy, and an OQ-CF mashup would be right up his alley.

I once ran an RQIII game in which an orc warlord attacked the PCs, fumbled, and knocked his own helmet off. The very next round, he fumbled again, and chopped off his own head. Greg told me a story of a house game at CHaosium in which a baboon 'bit his own head off'. Not always. Most of the HQ games I've run have been very personal adventures, not epic save the world stuff at all.

In various HQ games I've run in I've had: - One PC who's soul was sucked out by a ghost, and then dropped dead. - One who was torn to pieces by zombie babies from Purgatory. - One guy was blasted to pieces by a sonic cannon. - And a few other I can't recall right now. If you've never played the game before, please stop telling those of us who have that we don't know what we're talking about.

Because different people like different things. HQ1 was a fine game for what it did, but many people prefer HQ2, myself included. It's happened a few times in my own games. Indeed, there are different types of 'death' in HQ. By which I mean it's essentially just as easy to get killed by being murdered, as it is to face 'social death' or 'financial ruin', etc. in which a conflict goes so poorly for you, that your character is stripped of enough abilities as to make him essentially unplayable. And this is a possible outcome of any conflict. It's not just some handwaved 'when the story needs it' sort of thing. For that, there's the 'Pyrrhic Victory' rules, where you sacrifice your PC to make your companions' results extraordinarily better than they should be. As above, yes.

Well, I sure like him.

HEre's the link: Dorkland! Roundtable with Jason Durall and Ben Monroe - YouTube Starting in ten minutes or so...

By the way, this'll be at 7:00 PM PST this evening (California time). It'll also apparently be recorded to the youtubes for posterity. So, if you can't watch it live, you'll be able to capture it after the fact.

Hey all, I'm going to be doing a Google+ video roundtable Q/A with Chris Helton and Jason Durall tomorrow. Mostly we'll be talking about "Magic World", but I'm sure lots of BRP excellence will come up. Apparently there's no way to know what the link to watch the thing will be, but if you follow Chris' twitter feeds, he'll be posting the link shortly before we go live. https://twitter.com/dorkland and http://gplus.to/chrishelton

Because it's fun.

Power levels in HQ scale to the intent of the game. You decide how tough the PCs are, and use the difficulty ranges in relation to them. In HQ, the PCs are quite literally the 'center of the universe'. EG: you could have two different campaigns. One is a tough and gritty, street level gang war, and the other is a Space Opera epic. In the first game, you've got a Mob Enforcer with "Big Guns 19". In the second, you've got a giant sentient robot with "Big Guns 19". Clearly you're talking about two different scales of PCs, here, but as far as the game system is concerned, they're handled in exactly the same manner. That being said, you would get stymied in trying to use one character in the other campaign.

Clearly, "what I like" is awesome, and a well-considered, educated opinion. While "what other people like" is stupid, and just a bunch of made up gobbledygoook.

I know it's in layout and art right now. I would imagine sometime later in the year, but I doubt it'll hit the 'summer' noted on the Chaosium web site.