Simlasa

You mean as in Dungeon World and its associated games? Do GMs ever roll?

Keeping track of relationship stats for multiple factions/individuals seems like it could pretty quickly get unwieldy. I remember Eclipse Phase having a lot of that... not sure how it worked in the long-run. I'd assume Fame would be regional... so yeah, those lizardmen wouldn't know who you were... which doesn't seem weird to me... and not much different than starting off with a neutral relationship level for them. It might be a bonus if somewhere else you were famous for killing some infamous lizardmen bandits.

I agree. I'm not a fan of rulebooks where the whims of the art director overwhelm practical use of the book. Most of my favorite games have black and white art... and relatively restrained layout. I love the cover art on Openquest, but I can't recall any particular bit of the interior art. But I also know that some folks buy based on how a game looks... see reviews that go on and on about how 'beautiful' the book is and barely mention how the rules or how it plays.

IF the skills go with it... as opposed to a 'Brave Little Tailor' type of situation (because I think it would be fun if you can drive up your Fame in a variety of ways, including fraudulent claims or accidents of fortune... if you dare). Otherwise you might have to bluff. I'm guessing it would also come with more responsibilities... if you want to maintain the reputation. Like not ignoring (or shouting at) the urchin who comes to you hoping you'll help find its mother. Your behavior will be under heightened scrutiny. Sounds fun to me.

Even within a faction you're trying to get in good graces with, who generally like you, being the rising star might put you on the shit-list of your competition (other initiates jockeying for attention). I could see having a high Fame score meaning that, in towns, the GM would roll on a random event table that had stuff like 'attracts a crowd', 'offered free stuff', 'invited to join faction x'... as well as stuff like 'overcharged for services', 'assassination attempt', and 'followed by annoying children'.

I like that idea of Fame (or Infamy) as a somewhat quantifiable element. It's not inherently positive or negative... because it invites adoration but also acrimony. Like the idea of a famous gunfighter always being accosted by 'young-uns' out to prove themselves. It could be leveraged to dominate strangers during bargaining... to gain access to people and places... but it would also make it a bit harder to go unnoticed and benefit from anonymity when it's convenient. Depending on the setting it should probably have some sort of fall-off over distance from initial deeds... but that could get complicated.

Will the paper be any thicker? I thought the B&W felt just a tad flimsy.

Yes, I'm aware of that (and I have played 7e, not just read it)... but my understanding was it originally wasn't an option. Part of the overall feeling I mentioned regarding change in tone. I felt the authors were aiming at something a bit more 'fun! furious! and fast!' than the CoC I preferred. I'd have been fine with a mention of 'pushing' as a GM's optional technique... but as written... it's something I can see Players expecting to always be available. In that way it feels, to me, just a tad more 'meta' and gimmicky... which is also how I feel about the new chase mini-game. Really, it's all down to matters of taste. 7e isn't mine, and that's fine.

I'd be curious how this is meant to work in M-Space as well. I know how I'd do it in generic BRP (using the Big Gold Book)... but Mythras is something of a different creature.

Before I'd ever heard of H.H. Holmes I based a CoC adventure on an old radio play I'd heard 'Murder Castle'... which, I found out later, was based on Holmes. I kept the basic setup, except the proprietor was a bit of a mad scientist and was stealing money from his victims to fund his experiments (ala From Beyond)... and feeding their corpses to his wife and child, who weren't human. The airless room was a particularly deadly trap... probably too deadly.

Yeah, I'm staying with 5.5/6 myself. None of the changes in 7e are huge... but most feel unnecessary to me (stat changes) or stuff we were already doing that didn't need to be codefied (pushed rolls). The thing that puts me off most is more in the tone... I feel like the game has been subtly pushed to be more action-adventure oriented. I don't think 'Luck' belongs in a horror game either. Fine for 'Pulp Cthulhu' though. Anyway, I vote with my dollars, so I'm staying away.

Could just be the artist... I haven't read the game. Maybe they're really interesting and 'alien'... or maybe the rabbit-people like carrots and the bear-people like long naps and honey... dunno. I'm just not so fond of them as alien species in scifi settings (or are they all uplifts?). I liked Jorune though, and that has a lot of uplifted (but not cute) critter-people. I mind them a lot less in fantasy though... there's a tradition, such as with Wind In The Willows. When I was a kid I was a big fan of those weirdo Circle of Light books: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/the-completely-bonkers-world-of-niel-hancocks-circle-of-light/

It's not so much the anthropomorphic nature of the aliens in that drawing that puts me off... Classic Traveller and, as pointed out, Runequest have their share of critter-people. It's the cuteness. Like... Vargr, Aslan, Dragonewts, Baboons, they're not cute... even Ducks aren't THAT cute. Still, it shouldn't be much bother to just re-skin them into the usual collection of insect-men and sentient thistle pods.

I've never actually seen a copy of Other Suns. It tends to sell for a bit more than I'm willing to spend. It's also got a reputation for being overly complex and something of a 'furry' game... though I think 'anthropomorphics', ala Albedo, might be more accurate.

This is news to me. Are they a good read?

I wasn't claiming Future World was the best thing since sliced bread... or that it's something I'm currently using. I was just tossing it in as one BRP approach to scifi. For me it had a 'cheap and charming' appeal... minimalist... that I could hang some really wild ideas on. As I recall most travel between worlds was done with 'gates'... an idea which I liked and that's still a feature of my homebrew setting. It might have been a way to get out of providing spaceship rules... but that never occurred to me till now.

I guess I see that as freeing things up for me to do what I want with it... rather than having a bunch of setting stuff I feel I need to adhere to. Like others have mentioned, I really liked Classic Traveller, for similar reasons. There was really no setting at all, outside of the equipment list and some implications in character generation. I never used the later OTU setting stuff. Words Beyond is another not-Chaosium BRP derived scifi game. Early-mid 90s I'm guessing (without bothering to go look it up). I think it was originally intended for Chaosium but the author ended up self-publishing (?). Chaosium sold copies of it for while. It's kind of Traveller-esque... drawing on similar influences. Just one rulebook, but has a setting, aliens, ships. Nothing too wild or weird, but seems quite playable.

Oh yeah... why not... a person can dream. (got my copy in a box... somewhere... need to go on a hunt for that).

There's also the old Future World part of the World of Wonder box. ...and Worlds Beyond, if you can find a copy. Luther Arkwright: Roleplaying Across the Parallels for Mythras is also a pretty great scifi setting and resource.

Yeah, I liked both Fractured Hopes and Swords of Cydoria. Hopes is pretty wild... more fantasy than scifi. Cydoria is 'planetary romance'... kind of like the lamentedly never-to-be Interplanetary was aiming for. There is more out there for Cydoria but the author has moved to a different system.

I'm kinda in a similar boat as the Robsbot. It's not like my copies of the BGB and Magic World are going to turn into mice at midnight... but it's fun to anticipate new stuff coming out for games you enjoy. I suppose that's the lot for fans of any game that isn't top of the charts (whichever/wherever those charts might be). Then again, I wouldn't want to have to dig through the vast quantities of shovelware some 'new hotness' games generate. In general it means you're going to have to put in a bit more work... convert stuff or write up your own. It's not like 'official' or 'professional' products won't require some tweaks anyway. Openquest, and Renaissance in particular, ARE pretty great... Mythras-lite as I've seen others put it. I'll look to Renaissance when I pick up my old Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign again this summer. But I'm not really clear how strong the future for those systems are either. Also, be sure to check out some of the good hard work Tooley1chris has put in on Magic World stuff in the downloads area... such as his HUGE collection of traditional RPG monsters.

Hopefully, if they're 'newbies' they won't arrive with too many D&D habits... though modern video games tend to push some of the same. Our Pathfinder GM had a guy stomp out of a game when he was told that his dead PC didn't get a 'do over' (as in restarting from a 'saved game' state, I guess). The kids I've introduced to the game have been pretty good at taking my descriptions and warnings at face value... they assume a bear/tiger/dinosaur is really dangerous... they avoid obvious traps/ambushes... and, surprisingly, didn't attack random strangers they'd meet along the road. One kid kind of tested me, to see if his PC could actually die, if I'd let him get himself killed... picked a dumb fight and lost... and after that he was suitably cautious. BRP was really easy for them to learn and get going... I just asked them what sort of character they wanted and then we made it. Without much concern for 'balance' or being persnickety about how well it fit the particular setting.

I like mixing it up, depending on setting. In one homebrew setting I've made it a cultural friction where certain groups insist that ALL spirits must be 'bound' for safety while others generally disavow that practice and bargain with them instead. Bound spirits can be resentful... whereas those who are bargained with MIGHT become dependable allies... or they might be playing their summoners for fools. Either way, I try to keep as much of it in the realm of RP as I can, giving each spirit its own persona/goals/quirks.

I liked that monograph as well... and had renewed interest in running a campaign with it after watching the recent series Penny Dreadful. It's also a bit reminiscent of 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'... which I think was the main inspiration for AotC. It would be great if it could be expanded/enhanced into a fuller setting ala Dark Streets.

Oh! Are there mass combat rules as well? We play bouts of Dux Britanniarum so I've already got some figures... if they're the sort of rules that use figures. And as others have said, the cover art on these is very nice.