sladethesniper

10 hours ago, Mugen said:

@sladethesnipernote I mentionned Mage:the Awakening and not Mage:the Ascension as my favorite. Awakening is a mix between Ascension and Ars Magica. It has 10 Arcana (Entropy was split into Fate and Death) and no Verb+Noun, but makes a mechanical distinction between "rotes" spells that a Mage learned and improvisational magic, whereas in Ascension rotes were just examples of how Spheres can be used.

Improvisational magic is still possible, but it costs Mana and requires a Gnosis (=Arete) roll, whereas spells require a standard Attribute+Skill roll.

I also mentioned the 13 practices, which are not very different from the difficulty chart from @rsanford's post above.

 

https://philgamer.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/mage-the-awakening-101-arcana-basics-the-13-practices/

 

I have both MtA and the other MtA (LOL). I prefer the OG MtA lore, but the second MtA mechanics. I should have been more specific in which MtA I was refering to.

-STS

How did I not see that thread before??

-STS

People mentioning AM and Mage... which is funny since I've played both for decades.

They were actually my starting point. While I love the "feel" of them, especially Mage, IN GAME they are so clunky and take up so much time (in my experience) that it slows down the game even more than the big list of D&D spells. As a player with magic, it is great... but as a GM waiting around for the player to decide something, or being another player at the table waiting for the wizard to do something, it really sucks.

The thing is, I don't dislike "vancian magic" (even tho D&D doesn't really emulate Vancian magic... more like loading magical bullets) and spell lists. Nor do I dislike Mage and their spheres. I dislike the amount of time that is spent fiddling around with it during the game while everyone else is sort of left waiting for something to do. That is the problem I am wanting to "solve."

While I think that spell cards (similar to how 4E D&D did it) is actually a great idea, it doesn't feel "magical." It feels the same as tossing a grenade. Cool, it goes boom, now you have 6 grenades left, and a smoke grenade and a thermite grenade. Magic spells just become ammo, which is what D&D mechanically is, a resource management game.

BRP is a much better game system, but I think there is a space somewhere between Mage Spheres (faster) and D&D Spells (more flexibility). That led me to the Psychic Powers in Delta Green Countdown, and thinking something could be done using that model of skills as powers.

-STS 

39 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Now that could port over to BRP and use one skill for magic, but I think breaking down into subcategories of some sort helps, both in keeping mages from being all powerful, and in helping to categorize effects and allow for magical specializations.  Using your skill analogy, the sciences are broken up into different skills (chemestry, biology, physics) and different vehicles and weapons tend to require different skills, so differentiating between, say fire magic and plant magic, would seem to make some sense. 

I definitely agree with having various types of magic such as moon magic, dream magic, flower magic, fairy magic, tree magic, animal magic, food magic, air magic, fire magic, etc. I should have made that more clear.

I agree that having a long list of spells makes gaming easier, but seems to be so antithetical to the concept of "magic" as something wonderous, special, unexplained, etc.

While it does make some sense that there should be guidelines for magic, why are the same issues not brought up with regards to technology using gunpowder (Calcium nitrate mixed with other high potassium materials to create potassium nitrate, or saltpetre mix that with 15% charcoal and 10% sulfur) and now you have jumpstarted weapons tech massively so that now wizards aren't the only ones with good ranged damage. I mean chemistry 50% (or alchemy 50%) should be able to get you gunpowder, mix that with engineering 30% and now you can use mills and water sluices to make the process more automated.

Same thing for making a blast furnace. Metallurgy 50% should be able to understand and create a blast furnace and now you are able to create face hardened steel which provides protection unrivalled until the late 18th century at least.

If the GM says "no" for some magic, figure out what it takes to make that a yes and go from there. You can say "no" to players without being a confrontational GM, in the same way that a GM should never be told what will happen in a game because X spell on Y page said so. It often feels like magic becomes a way for players to try and control the narrative. Skills become a way to make something maybe happen, magic becomes the way something will happen.

I don't know... this is something that I think I'll try the next time I GM something.

-STS

Instead of having "spells" which have definite and measurable effects achieved with regularity and specific ingredients...

What if there was just various flavors of magic as a skill and it was up to the GM and player to literally make it up as they go.

It could work the exact way every other skill works. So in the same what that a character uses "physics" or "chemistry" to do things, they would also use "dream magic" to do things. The limits of it are thus "fuzzy" and the methods are suitably "made up" just like with every other skill. It feels weird to have a list of spells, but not a list of airplanes that can be piloted with the "pilot" skill or a list of cars that can be driven with the "drive" skill, or a list of chemicals that can be made with the "Chemistry" skill.

I don't know if I am making sense, but I really don't like having "magic" being used in the exact same manner as a technological item when I think it should be a skill that can be used imaginatively instead of as a tool that always works.

I would say that there could be various types of "magic" such as found in Mythras, and the various abilities, tricks, spells given would be examples of what could be done with them.

-STS

On 2/29/2024 at 4:36 PM, Nick Brooke said:

BRP is a massive pick-and-mix buffet you can use to roll your own RPG.

I think this is how BRP should be marketed or described.... roll your own RPG! Then have a ton of setting books that go with your new RPG.

-STS

On 1/9/2024 at 10:41 AM, g33k said:

It's entirely-similar, IMO, to how a "Physicist" may understand a nuclear reaction better than than an "Engineer," but an "Engineer" has a much better grasp of a nuclear reactor !

Having done this a few times already, what I have found works is:

Use the damage ratings out of Palladium. Converting TO BRP or FROM BRP is just a chore that doesn't need to be done at all.

For Character Classes... use ALL of the stuff in the Rifts book as is for the classes special abilities. Every +1 to something just change it to a +5%

When it comes to all skills for the class, what I do is say that the character gets 10 skills of choice to spend their Education points on, and they can dump their Intelligence points skills on whatever they want. Don't use "base skill %" from either Rifts or BRP.

Since Rifts characters are a bit more competent than standard RPG characters, you can just use any skill percentages the class gives, so if you choose X skill at 25%, but the OCC gives a +10% bonus, just add that 10% to the 25% so the character starts with a 35%.

Finally, create a skill of "Toughness" that you can dump skill points into that will take the place of SDC and count as extra damage the PC can take to make up for the dangerousness of Rifts weapons.

For skills that increase by "level" like the Hand to Hand skills you can add in those bonuses every 6% the skill increases, so that a HtH Basic at 36% is the same as a Level 6 HtH Basic in Palladium, and gets all of those bonuses. This makes hitting a target quite easy, which is the case in Rifts, since beyond about 3rd level, you can only really miss on natural 1's anyway and the game becomes focused on parry/dodge/roll with impact/etc.

Using the HtH skills and Robot combat stuff does keep the flavor of the setting, but it severely slows down BRP combat, which is one of the draws of BRP in the first place.

-STS

I am not a fan of the rentier class. 

Eventually, the project will see the light of day... perhaps as a "research" paper for my PhD? Colleges don't hold PhD's hostage like my Master's program holds my thesis hostage? 

-STS

I agree with you.

But, the whole point was to have a sort of "who would win" wargame with Roy Batty leading a team of Replicants against the Xenos on Anchorpoint station, or what if Conan was in Diablo? I've already gone the way of my own setting and I love it, but this was deliberately to mix and match settings like how Heroclix, Legendary, or Heroscape did (but with actual realistic stats and not gameified balanced stats).

Who doesn't want to see the Armored Titan get wrecked by a Gundam?

I'm still going to do it so I can have Bolos in Battletech, just not going to put it anywhere. It will remain a passion project, just a private one.

-STS

Here is the list I'm working with:

3 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

This is not legal advice. In general, using someone's Intellectual Property without a specific license/permission isn't going to be allowed on this site. It does not matter if your efforts are "for free" or not intended as commercial use. Fair use, in general, is meant for reviews, critiques, and parody. Fair use isn't broad. For example, using someone else's IP in a free game is not fair use. In the end, you are potentially denying the IP holder of current or future revenue.

We remove certain materials from this site because we do not want to potentially be liable for someone's misuse or unauthorized use of someone else's IP.

I 100% understand and agree with you. 

This isn't criticism, just an obsevation. Lets say I make a sci-fi universe with all the stuff I love using rules I love (BRP) and put it all together in a big sprawling timeline so that players can insert themselves in whatever era appeals to them. Then, I can make a wargame allowing for bigger battles in that same setting (like how Battletech and Mechwarrior work together).

How long before it is called derivative, uninspired, unoriginal, a bloated mess, a fantasy heartbreaker, or too scattered. Then the wargame is called out for being strange because it isn't focused on a singular time period, or balanced for tournament play, or not even a game.

So, make a game about a liscensed IP (Blade Runner, Alien, Altered Carbon, Dune, etc.) that cost a LOT of money then load it up with beautiful artwork and the fully developed setting created over decades (whether some parts make sense or not), toss in an OK game engine probably with funny dice and then sell it for... $50.00 USD so I have to learn a whole new system and buy some dumb dice. Or, make something like it, but not the same.... and try and sell that. Or, make the thing I actually want, but it just sits in my computer forever. 

nvm, just bitching since I wasted a lot of time. 

-STS

2 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

Now there I might be able to help you. In the US, most photos of military gear, and vehicles taken by government agencies are considered to be in the public domain. Apparently years ago it was decided that as all this stuff was paid for with taxpayer money, the taxpayers owned the gear, and so if was considered wrong to charge people for photos of stuff that they owned.  

It doesn't apply to all photos, but generally speaking you can usually find a PD image of US military gear without much trouble.

 

For instance, the USMC have released this  photo of the ULCV  https://www.marcorsyscom.marines.mil/Photos/igphoto/2003237282/ into the public domain, although they do ask that you credit the photographer. 

 

The M-232 Combat Buggy is used by the Colonial Marines (of Aliens) for fast attack and was described twice and shown once in a Dark Horse comic. It then made it's way onto the Aliens wiki and the Colonial Marines Operations Manual for the Aliens RPG.

It isn't a real thing.

-STS

I've heard of this Company of the Dragon before... I should probably check it out.

I have found that less is often more in RPGs, so having a game that emphasizes that will be quite nice.

-STS

Nah, I am not BRP-ing Alien... I'm not even making it as an RPG. It is a wargame that uses a percentile roll under mechanic for skills.

There is no physical wargame for the Aliens universe, or one for the 3 Musketeers, or 300 specifically. 

Making ugly books with walls of text was fine in 1981, and trolling around the internet for bad public domain scans isn't how I want to spend my days. 

No art, ugly art, cheap art or AI art that people want to lose their mind over? Hmmm... I could look for the 1 picture of the M-232 combat buggy used by the USCMC then wonder if it is owned by Dark Horse or is it Marvel, or Disney? Maybe that thing belongs to Fox? What about each type of Predator armor since there are a few of them... or just not even bother and save myself the headache and say adios muchachos to 577 pages of text.

You know, people really will go out of their way to stop things they can't control...

How much IP infringement is ^^^ that?

-STS

Since I used movie pics and reprsentative art taken from the internet, they were taken down. I asked about fair use and the whole purpose being to drive interest in the original works and them being free, but have received no answer.

Until I do receive clarification, I'll just put them up on my itch.io page only and let people know that I put up another one over there. 

Aliens vs Predator vs USCMC is just about ready... finishing off the UPP and 3WE units... and if you know what those are, then you are the type of fan I'm aiming for!

-STS

OK, just made another one for the movie "300" about the Battle of Thermopylae.

Same deal as before. The next one is going to be Aliens vs Predator vs USCMC and a lot bigger than the previous two combined.

Happy Gaming.

-STS

OK, so I just made one for the 3 Musketeers and uploaded it in the GM tools area. I am currently working on about 100 of these things for free. I made them so they are pretty self explanatory for the NPC write-up for D100 games, and the bottom part with the icon is for use with the wargame, Strife (also uploaded here).

Any feedback is welcome.

-STS

Ah, yes...

So the top part is the NPC write-up example for BRP/D100 games.

The bottom half with the green icon is the write up as a unit for my wargame Strife. I put them together so as to have all the NPC stuff I need in one place (for both my D100 game/BRP based RPG Platinum and my wargame, the aforementioned Strife).

The Offense and Defense is a fixed value as the wargame uses a d100 Combat Results Table (CRT) modified by terrain, weather, etc. 

-STS

1 hour ago, g33k said:

Absolutely!  A very-commonly-adopted GM practice.

I do something similar, but not quite so brief -- usually 3-5  skills.  I only define skills I expect to be "relevant," so only combat-skills for the NPCs setting up the ambush (after they first fire from cover, I don't expect the PC's to engage in "social skills") but only social-skills at the swanky party where the PC's need to find their Contact.

Also sometimes known as "Skill as Profession" or "Profession as Skill" (n.b. it effectively becomes a character class, defined as the skill).

But the "Charlies Angels," in-narrative, are supposed to be protagonists, so I wouldn't use that as an example.
 

There are 12 different Charlie's Angels... how different (skill wise) are they. The 1970's are police trained private investigators, the 2000s were unarmed bodyguards mostly, and the 2020 group were like Mission Impossible spies. Charlie Townsend certainly upped his recruiting game over the past 60 years.

-STS

What is everyone's opinion on a single skill NPC, such as Viking 45%, so that skill is basically a composite of all the skills that a viking should have without gettting into crazy detail. Naval tactics? Sure, for a longboat, 45%. Archery? Sure 45%. Axe 45%, Shield 45%, etc. etc. 

That would allow much more simple NPC writeups of Gangster 22% or Politician 61%.

For any other, outstanding or strange skills you can still use them so that our Politician 61% also has art(painting) 44% and guitar 81%, but those are skills that are outside of their primary skill set.

OK or stupid? I ask because I am about to embark on making several hundred NPCs (they will be posted here) but I just don't want to make a list of 10+ skills for every single Charlie's Angel, MK fighter or every single Transformer.

-STS 

3 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

It looks good but I can't figure out the penetration formula. They have an Apilas (720mm) at 60C, and Armbrust (300mm) at 55C, but a LAW 80 (600mm) at 100C.

So either they are using difffernt penetration data or they got some wonky formula.

That would be Twilight 2013? Yeah, probably the best small arms system of 2K. 

 

My guess is different data. 

Yes on the TW2013.

-STS

56 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

I take it you mean for vehicles and heavy weapons, right? 

I've got some stuff for it, but I not sure what the method they used to get the penetration values, or I might reverse engineer it for some of stuff I can't get data for. 😊.

 

The heavy weapons (anti-armor) specifically. The small arms were pretty bad back in the day, but the 3E stuff was OK.

-STS

3 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

a couple thousand vehicles for BRP

Whoa... that is impressive.

I don't think I have near that amount... maybe a couple hundred tops. Query, have you played Twilight 2000? There was a lot of good data in there.

-STS

The bank vault was kinda iffy since I wanted him to disassemble the door, or give a manufacturer or something beyond "1500 pound bank vault door."

And, while I completely agree about test cases, and I use them as well, sometimes GM fiat has to play a role. I mean if you used relativistic lead projectiles, that might make it.

I'm not pleased with my calcs which is why I keep working on them after 20 years, but as I get more real world info, I tweak things.

-STS

Going to dig through this data and see how my calcs hold up.

-STS