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There is at least one other shop in Germany that offers BRP: Sphärenmeisters Spiele You will find BRP under Englische Rollenspiele / Cthulhu.

Hello Puck, and thank you for your interest. Most of the colonists live on Floaters, huge rafts with several decks, which are linked together to form settlements. There are also some domed habitats on the sea floor, mostly to operate the crystal mines (crystals are the main export of the colony), and there are the Faders, a kind of "sea gypsies", who live on their catamaran ships. The people need diving equipment underwater, but there are many types of submarines and submersibles, and some of the most difficult and dangerous tasks are handled by aquabots (aquatic robots) or by trained dolphins and wrillabees (the latter from the Ringworld RPG). Typical underwater weapons are gauss harpoons (where magnetism is used to accelerate a metal dart) and sonic stunners. The colony itself is a rather peaceful and perhaps even somewhat boring pla- ce (people go about aquafarming, fishing, mining - the usual drudgery), the only exceptions are the exploration of the planet and of some abandoned ru- ins of unknown origin, the encounters with the potentially intelligent "octopo- ids" of the deep sea trenches, and the diplomatic and political games with the various powers which would like to control the colony. True adventures happen offworlds: Raiders and pirates from a nearby failed interstellar state, trade missions through more or less hostile regions, a con- flict with a megacorporation which produces genetically modified slaves, and similar stuff. The focus of the campaign is the development of the colony under adverse conditions. Up to now we have played some fifty game-years, from the first landing to the independence and afterwards, and have produced about fifty pages of "canonical" material, some maps and lots of unedited notes. For the technology of the colony I used GURPS material, for roleplaying we currently use a modification of Cthulhu Rising, but of course I plan to "trans- late" the setting into the new BRP. We do have some homebrewed underwa- ter rules, based on the Ringworld RPG, but not very detailed.

The Green really is a most interesting idea. I have no doubt that in a shared science fiction universe my water world colonists would love to visit your The Green to trade for its natural treasures.

Yes, in my experience the difficult times for the GM are over once the players' characters have accepted roles and resposibilities within the setting, and be- gin to invest their own creativity in further developing and expanding the set- ting.

As far as I can remember, the Harnmaster RPG has exactly the kind of mora- lity stat you are planning to use.

In my opinion, the only real difference between a linear and a non-linear sce- nario is that in a linear scenario the GM provides the goal the characters ha- ve to achieve, while in a non-linear scenario the players have to decide what goal they want to achieve - and in both types of scenarios the GM has to provide the obstacles on the way to achieving the goal. From my experience I cannot say that a non-linear scenario is in any way mo- re difficult to prepare or handle than a linear scenario. Once the setting has been developed to a certain point, it may even be much easier to lean back and let the players make most of the decisions (through their characters), and just to react to their decisions with the instruments of the setting, than to script a linear adventure with dozens of pre-planned events and scenes.

Ah, well ... Linear = 5+9 = 14, Non-Linear = 1+0+2 = 3, so according to the most basic mathematics ...

This looks like a very interesting idea: More realistic than "flat" base chances, but less complicated than the Ringworld system. Thank you for the information !

In our current homebrew system we do use traits, but they are only a part of the character background. They help the player to define his character, and they help me as the GM to "reward" the player for staying "in character" or to "punish" him for suddenly changing his character's personality in mid- play because it seems convenient at the moment. However, there are no die rolls during the game. The player decides what his character will do or not, and the character suffers the consequences. A cha- racter who is known for his truthfulness will find diplomacy easier than a well known liar, but will suffer harsh setbacks and a loss of reputation once he got caught with his first lie.

Thank you very much for the interesting idea ! Currently I think the aliens will have three different architectural Styles: An archaic style for the oldest parts of their cities, another style for their modern buildings, and a very functional style for their technical infrastructure. The archaic style will probably look like a mixture of Gaudi and Giger, but less colorful than Gaudi's buildings (these aliens cannot perceive colors) and less threatening than Giger's artwork for the first Alien movie. The design you proposed would fit extremely well for the aliens' modern style, I think. If I did understand your description, the interior could look somewhat like the interior of one of those old baroque theaters, with rows of boxes or shelves around the interior wall, but made of a translucent glass-like material - sounds fascinating.

Currently I am searching for ideas for the architecture of an aquatic alien ra- ce, preferably some kind of bizarre organic-looking curved style without any right angles ... This reminded me of the sketch of parts of R'lyeh in the Call of Cthulhu sup- plement "Shadows of Yog-Sothoth", and perhaps one of you might have an idea where to look for similar material ? Thank you !

Yes, that is exactly why I would not appreciate a mix of fantasy and science fiction: A single powerful magician could destroy my entire SF setting within minutes, without my poor colonists even having a chance to understand what is happening to their world.

Science Fiction, human colony on a remote water world, planet with some ruins of installations of the aquatic "Builder" race, one (currently still undis- covered) Gate in one of those ruins, Gate is damaged and malfunctioning, leads to devastated and abandoned homeworld of the "Builders" - and per- haps to worlds of the shared universe ...

Pitiful memories ... well, I happen to be the unlucky GM who once forgot an entire battleship during a space combat ...

There is one Gate ("Transmitter") on Pharos IV. It is in a flooded cavern in a deep sea trench, it is damaged and prone to malfunctions, it leads to another water world - and the players have not yet discovered it. Gates are an interesting plot device, but I think they should be used sparing- ly: Difficult to find, dangerous to use, no routine affair at all.

As mentioned elsewhere, I could contribute a science fiction world (a work in progress, currently ca. fifty pages of material plus some maps), but unfor- tunately it is in German, and I would hate to have to translate it into English.

Science Fiction. My current setting needs a "translation" from a Cthulhu Ri- sing / GURPS Space / Traveller - Mix to a "real" system, and I hope BRP will be the problem's solution.

As far as I understand this rule, your sorcerer would have to see the other sorcerer casting his spell - if he is looking the other way, bad luck for him. Therefore I prefer the "Veil" spell, which protects the target even it is not aware of being the victim of a detection spell.

No PDF, unfortunately, but perhaps a few informations: There are 5 Skill Categories: - AGILITY (Root Skill Maximum STR + DEX) Skills: Melee Weapons, Archaic Ranged Weapons, Athletics, Hide, Sneak, Un- armed Combat - COMMUNICATION (RSM INT + APP) Bargain, Debate, Fast Talk, Fine Arts, Musicianship, Orate, Own Language, Perform, Psychology - KNOWLEDGE (RSM INT + EDU) all science, technical and foreign language skills - PERCEPTION (RSM POW + CON) Handgun, Heavy Weapons, Listen, Observe, Scent, Search, Track - TECHNICAL (RSM DEX + INT) alle vehicle skills, repair, weapon systems Does that help somewhat ?

Currently I am not yet sure what I will use when I "translate" my setting and system into BRP. On the one hand I like the simple CoC system with the "flat" base chances, on the other hand I find the Ringworld RPG system with its skill categories based on stats and its root and branch skills far more "realistic" and probab- ly better suited for a science fiction setting. Well, I think I will do the additional work and go for the Ringworld system ...

Why not use something like a "Veil" spell, which only counters detection spells, instead of introducing the more powerful Countermagic ?

Over the last weeks I have mentioned BRP in some RPG forums here in Germa- ny. It seems that people are quite aware of the release of a "new BRP" and many are looking forward to it. They seem to see it as an alternative to D&D ("mainly for youngsters") and GURPS ("mainly for mathematicians"). When asked what BRP would need to convince them, the usual desires are a German translation and interesting settings, with the settings far more impor- tant than the translation (over here we are used to play games in English). For example, the interest in the announced settings (Interplanetary, Rome, Vikings, etc.) is significantly higher than the interest in BRP itself. One perhaps interesting point: Most of the RPGs and settings published here over the last years were of the "Dark" kind, and people are getting tired of that fashion, and would appreciate something more adventurous and colour- ful. Any setting that does not look like a WoD-clone would probably have a good start.

Ah, I see - in this case my colonists will probably introduce annual prizes for the best (= least disgusting) sea cucumber recipes ... Thank you for the information !

Camazotz, may I ask where you live ? I had exactly the same problem with EPT, and perhaps ... at least we would be two mammals interested in playing EPT ... ?

Floating islands made of seaweed etc. still have the problem that birds and turtles need warm and mostly dry sand for their eggs ... they will probably have to wait some more years before signing on as colonists ... Sea cucumbers - thank you very much for that information, I just checked it in the Wikipedia and learned that these creatures indeed provide 90 % (!) of the entire biomass in the deep sea; obviously important enough to do a bit more research on them, and perhaps even an interesting potential natu- ral resource.