sladethesniper

OK, I'll agree that it seems nifty to move your opponents around, but wouldn't that simply be a codification of how many items/effects already do that (teleport, daze, stun guns, wind blast, explosions, gravity effects, throws, displace, etc.)? One fiddly bit isn't bad, it's just not worth the cash. Granted, eventually I'll probably dole out the cash (since my son loves D&D and all the munchkiny evil-ness therein, plus the 4E minis are already out...and of course he's hooked on them) for 4E, but not any time soon...maybe for his birthday next year. I am all about taking ideas from any game system and making them work for me. -STS

When looking over all the options for publishing via Chaosium, WOTC, MRQ, others et al, at what point is a product considered "original" with regard to the rules. To make a setting, almost all of that is original work done by the author, flavor text, etc. When doing up equipment, it seems that you run a good chance of making a lot of "similar" items...there are only so many swords, pole arms and armor types after all. With sci-fi, there is a bit more freedom, but a lot of will have a "derivative" feel to it. The above are givens, the fruit of our creative labors....the question I am asking is a bit more esoteric. "When using a published rules set, how much change/how many changes can that system support before it becomes something new"? Basically, you use BRP or Silhoutte or D20 and are using their rules set to create settings, campaigns, etc. but modify the rules set (house rules, options, GM fiat, etc.), at what point, in your opinion, do the new rules change the rules set to an extent to where it is something "new" and not "derivative" (if there is even a difference in your mind)? This is an opinion question only. -STS

While I do love the idea of non-lame monsters, I am a bit confused by re-imagining old monsters when that idea has been done before with pretty good results. Are you wanting to Modify Monsters for a homebrew game or make a New Game with New Monsters? Why not take Vampire:the Masquerade (or the whole WoD) and change the rules set...say each dot = 20% (or 10% depending if you want powerful vampires or Epic Bad A$$ vampires)...dump the stuff that is lame (angsty emo kidz) and keep the good stuff (clans, disciplines, backstory) and go from there. The rules were lame (unless you like handfuls of dice), but the creative work was pretty good. It would seem a lot less work doing that, than re-creating an entirely new setting. The only benefit of re-imagining Vampires is to publish it as your own. If you are going to for simply a free setting...or a home brew kit bash, just chop up other games backstories... For ghouls, use the ones Pagan Publishing did in Delta Green... For most other "classic" monsters, there are some very good ideas in Ravenloft. There is a lot of leeway to go from Goth to Emo to Splatterpunk with minor adjustments. I shall now await the flames :thumb: although I do not mean to cause offense...simply opinions...which is pretty much all I am useful for most of the time anyway. -STS

Skunkape has stated what I thought I was trying to say, although he did it in a more appropos and easily understood manner. Distilled, I think it comes down to the GM, with player input, determining what the campaign will focus on. From that information, make characters to fit that campaign instead of making a campaign to fit characters, which has happened far too many times in my experience. frogspawner's point:

Veeerrrrry Niiiice :thumb: I like that, A LOT. Thank you for a new monster tactic >:-> -STS

I agree with Trif. Getting Chaosium to "respond to stimulus" is like getting a senator to respond to a query during a non-election year. Sheesh. Looks like MRQ for me -STS

Balancing races is like balancing character creation...why? People are not equal, nor are races...a western heart surgeon is not "balanced" with a an afghan warlord, a somali pirate, a new york gang member or catholic priest...not better or worse, just not balanced. Same with species...a bear isn't balanced with duck or a dragon or a human. Again, not better or worse, just different. There shouldn't have to be some sort of enforced game balance, but instead have rules balance and setting balance, both of which are enforced by the GM. The GM sets the level/power limits of the game, sets the type of characters and has more than enough power to say "we are playing Call of Cthulhu in 1928 Boston...so your half Melnibonean, half demon, half dragon, 4th edition, 35th level monk assassin IS NOT going to play in my game." Then slap them and play with your non-twink, non-power gamer friends. Just my opinion -STS

I think that I may continue using the system as it is, and just push the character concept idea. It makes it difficult for powergamers become such since there are too many things available for them to be good at all of them. I added in Experience Points (though I may change it to Karma or Fate Points or something else, word wise) to let characters save up experience points to put into skills as needed, add to rolls, learn new skills (since I have no skills with "base chances", it lets them save up to learn a skill at say 39% instead of a mighty 01%) As for rules abusers, there really isn't a way to make a game free of loopholes and still be fun and rules light, I suspect. I admit I have abused the hell out of some games, but oddly enough, those characters never became anything to me but a collection of stats and powers. The best characters I have ever had were usually fairly low powered, standard roll characters with a really good back story and good adventures they went on. I am fairly happy with how things have gone so far. Will try to play some more tonight...we'll see. -STS

Determining the "flavor" of the game is very important when picking and choosing mods and house rules, especially for combat. In D20, the idea is that "heroes" run around killing things, taking their stuff, and learning from it which is why Base Attack Bonus goes up every level...the idea is that killing things makes you better. If that were the case, 90% of the world would be 0 level since they never kill anything, much less sentient beings... I, personally find that idea repugnant. In BRP the idea is that as you do things, you get better doing the things you are successfully accomplishing. I like that, it seems to fit reality much better. Also, in BRP, the idea is (generally) not "heroes" running around killing things...it is morally ambiguous (no alignments) characters interacting within their reality (the setting) in the manner that is most advantageous to their goals (the adventure/campaign). I find BRP to be far superior to any other system for modelling combat. What I have experienced so far is that combat sucks. After a fight you are tired, injured, weapons are dirty, equipment is broken and it generally leaves you feeling angry at your enemy for fighting you and forcing you to kill them. Reproducing that is the job of the GM. In game terms, very, very few people that have been shot do much else except sit there and bleed. With blades, much the same thing happens, although shock isn't as much of a factor, although a trained swordsman or knife fighter can do as much, if not more damage with a single thrust/hard slash than most pistol rounds. Many people think that "old" weapons (knives, swords, spears) are somehow less capable than guns...that is incorrect. Modern firearms have superior range and require less skill than archaic weapons, but an expert melee combatant can kill you just as dead as someone with a firearm...hence why people with guns try to stay far away from those with only knives Also, moving back on topic (sort of)...BRP's lack of "hit point" advancement means that unlike D20 where a character can get shot, stabbed, fireballed and still move and fight, a BRP character will avoid getting hit, placing far more importance on not getting hit and setting up opponents for the "big one" that will take them down quickly instead of whittling down their opponents several hundred hit points. When taking a group of D20 players and moving them into BRP style combat, most of them will whine and complain that their characters suck and they can't take a hit. They will then charge into combat and usually have their @$$es handed to them. Afterward, they will learn to respect combat and place it back into it's rightful place that it occupies in the real world. Combat is either the first option (attack from ambush to kill your opponents before they can react so that you stay safe) or the last option after diplomacy, appeals and reason have all failed and a conscious decision is made to engage them because (in the mind of the combatants) there is no other way to achieve their goal. Sorry to threadjack. -STS

First, I like the combat system as presented by trif. It is quick and easy and fairly realistic. The movement rates are what I use (although, once again, I am sticking to Imperial Feet. Silly world with your Metric system for easy conversions, bah!) As for combat rules in general:

That was my goal actually, to have a type of magic and use that as a skill...but the powergamers I had test it (to try and break it) certainly loved that idea. They simply bought every type of magic...I had guys that couldn't swim, but they sure could cast Elemental,Abyssal and Spirit magic, had Psionic powers...the whole bit. I modified the rules and tried again, and they still managed to abuse the rules. Finally, I went with what I have now, and the players have come back with an interesting comment...they are saying now that the character concept is the most important part of character creation... If you have a concept, then making the character is actually fairly easy, but starting from scratch...not so much... So, my tasks are to make some rules revisions (nothing major, but it is the third iteration of playtesting) and really try and find some way to press home the importance of Character Concept....since without it, players sort of flail around and pick a random selection of skills and powers which makes them very...non-viable (as far as concepts goes) as well as non-successful in play (by spreading their skills across huge streches and ending up with 5%-40%). Oh, well that is the status report of my games so far. I've got another adventure set up for this weekend, so I'll post more then. Does anyone have any idea for how to make players "get it" when it comes to character concept. It is vitally important in my game and I'm not doing a good enough job of writing "hey, this is really important"...I know that a lot of games say that concept is the most important part of character creation, but I am at a loss as to how to say "no, really...you have to have a concept first." I am really trying very hard to stay away from "classes" and "professions" (since each culture will have very different skills as they pertain to each profession and need to work on keeping the page count down). -STS

One Shadowrun novel was really good 2XS...it's where I got my name...and Into the Shadows was nice as well...it had Kid Stealth in it and anyone who makes jokes like that gets :thumb: :thumb: from me >:-> -STS

The spells were starting between 5% and 40%...and they are supposed to increase in % with each scenario that they are used successfully...but it was really hard to get any of them to succeed -STS

Looking good, though why are you hyperlinking to something on the same page...?? Still, our happy system is getting lots of love Go BRP! -STS

Just because I have nothing better to do, and am very much in a good mood, I thought I might post a bit of the third playtest up here. Character creation was slow, but that is normal for my group regardless of system, though I know now that I have to have a list of all spells by category for players to see instead of the massive combined list that I currently have. Characters are all Sheng'po, which are basically non-magical kitsune/fox people. Setting is Vhraeden, the nation of Southern Kalemia...which is feudal and the religion is heavily animist. The background is that the area has been recently infested with demonic spirits and they are causing much havoc in the area. The prefect lord is an older warrior and has three sons. The eldest is on a quest and hasn't been heard from in 14 months, the middle son was exiled 15 years ago and the youngest son has led the prefect's army to aid the Emperor in a war against a rebellious portion of the Empire. The characters are a feudal warrior that was sent by the Imperial Government to protect the aging lord since his prefect is on the border of two other nations; a priestess that was in love with the middle son and when he was exiled, she joined the priesthood; an undercover spy from a rival clan masquerading as a servant and the second son (as an NPC) in disguise. The player characters met at court and soon retired for the evening. As soon as everyone was getting ready for sleep the assassin struck. They made it into the castle and out without anyone detecting them and successfully poisoned the lord. They do determine that something is wrong when the lord has a spastic coughing fit. They rush in and determine that he was poisoned, and are able to stop it, but the Lord will still die if the antidote isn't found. The PC's have to wander out into a blizzard and retrieve some magical components to save the poisoned lord's life. Off they go. They wander for a day since none of them took Navigation and they left at night, in a blizzard >:-> They had an encounter with a spider demon that pretty much kicked their ass until the priestess killed it with her staff and the spy and warrior were pretty worthless. The NPC then makes himself known and offers to "watch the horse" since they couldn't take the horse up the mountain with them. The NPC then puts a spell of protection upon the horse and off they go up the mountain. They climb all day and then make camp. The warrior falls asleep on guard (typical soldier ) and they get attacked by a large demonic ogre. They kill it rather quickly (in about half the time as the giant spider demon, which is odd since the ogre had about 6 times the hit points), but they rolled well and the priestess used a lot of her spiritualist summoning abilities to gain a few allies in the combat so that helped a lot. They defeat the ogre and get some magical loot, since everyone likes loot Off they proceeded and fall down a mountain, well slid...for a long time, but took no damage (think a steep ski slope) and they had to start climbing again. On a ledge, they stopped for the night and discover a cave entrance and of course, go inside. The priestess and NPC make camp there, but the warrior and spy go "investigating" and awaken an ancient spirit of a disgraced warrior that had become an avatar of Nyarlathotep (a big fan of Call of Cthulhu...sue me)... They decide not to make a bargain with it, but do manage (through the use of bluff and a roll of 01% on Honor, although the warrior almost blew it by hiding behind the priestess :confused: ) to win the respect of the being...so instead of fighting them, it lets them pass unmolested to the area where the herbs they seek are located (in a caldera at the top of the mountain, where a 4 square mile "tropical paradise" is located due to geothermal activity). They go there and are attacked by feathered dinosaurs, and instead of defeating them, manage to scare them off by setting a few trees on fire. My NPC gets mauled badly and the priestess is able to save him, but uses all her Magic Points to do so...which means I need to figure out a way of magic being less "wonky"...having a healing power with 20% isn't all that useful apparently ;-( So instead of fighting the Ogre Demon Lord...I had him be asleep. At that point instead of the SPY sneaking over and getting the herbs un-noticed, the priestess has to go instead. They get the herbs, teleport back (one of the magic items given to them as loot from the Ogre, a mirror of teleportation...) and save the lord. Things I learned from this adventure...magic as a skill is nice to balace player abilities (fighters, mages, psions, clerics, technological types), but the fact that a character can spend Magic Points and then fail the roll really seems to piss players off...need to fix that. As for character creation, I need to make the list of skills and spells and powers broken down by type and alphabetized...a huge list of alphabetical spells not divided by power slows down character creation to a freaking CRAWL... Well, that's a quick rundown of this playtest. Fire at will... -STS

I'll see you there...3HBCT/1CD...heading back around December...Mosul or Baghdad....4th tour!! Too bad I'm not a D&D Character...I'd have to be like 12th level by now... :focus: When you wonder what level you are because trying to figure out your stats and skill % is too much work. When you wonder why you are working for somebody who is obviously a substandard character with poor stats and low skills... -STS

You go on vacations but you always make your first stop the local game store.... PK Games, I'm an 11A now, but I used to be an 11B1PB4...and that's not where the name actually came from...it was from a Shadowrun novel 2XS by Nigel Findley... So, if you're in Germany...172nd SIB?? -STS

Wow, good thoughts. The gang with the 200% shotgun character sounds like my group :eek: As for Worst Fantasy Novels: Bottom line: 99.9% of D&D, Star Trek, Halo, Magic: the Gathering novels...all of them just SUCK (1 exception...for D&D "Knight of the Black Rose")!!!!! Anything by Jerry Pournelle or Larry Niven...even though it is Sci-Fi, I hate it and must tell everyone that I hate it. The Wheel of Time series. I have read the first 10 pages of each book and I just can't find the interest to justify wasting the time to read one more page...it sucks. The Shannara series was....acceptable for one book...every other book is THE SAME...I read the sword of shannara, but the song and the elfstones were the same book and the moronic family of the Ohmsford's was too retarded to be taken seriously. Matthew Riley and Scarecrow was pretty good IMO...it was a good four hour read on an airplane so that was good. As for Lovecraft...his stories rock and along with Poe are IMO the two masters of American Fiction, regardless of what my Lit professors say (even though August Derleth was actually better at Lovecraftian writing that Lovecraft)! -STS

You take your "lucky dice" to Iraq and Afghanistan...and you have run a quick pick up game in an Iraqi Police Station with four other guys in between guard shifts who just happen to have their characters sheets.... -STS

Ha! :thumb: Ride on brother! Guess we could make other games like Sadr City:Postapocalypse Blues in a Dystopian Now or Iraq:The Eternal Burning Actually, I got in trouble on leave in a game shop when some college kids were talking about awesome they were at "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" and I said "Well, you can always how good you really are. There's not one, but two wars going on right now..." and I pointed at the recruiters office, across the mall walkway... I was asked to leave ;-( Ok, I'll be good...no more distasteful comments...:deadhorse: -STS

By RMS