Simlasa

I've seen that mentioned in the rulebooks, but where does the name 'Byakhee' and their relation to Hastur come from? I seem to recall that the weird creatures in The Festival are considered to be Byakhee but I don't remember that name being used in that story.

My original copy is still in pretty good shape but I'd jump at the chance to get a new one in hardback with corrections and such. A PDF will also be quite useful.

There is also the OSR D&D game 'Adventurer, Conqueror, King' that gets lots of kudos for how it focuses on building up domains and running kingdoms/economies.

I really like that take on the Somnambulist. It somehow makes Cesare even creepier.

'Chaos Central' is likely to confuse some Warhammer fans. Also, I could see how the name might be off-putting... and we wouldn't want a self-fulfilling prophecy where the forums themselves become chaotic (pure superstition but I've seen such things happen with various endeavors where the name became a curse).

I sort of rankled at first at the suggestion that the name should be changed to accommodate the new guests... but I like both Worlds of Wonder and Chaos Central as being a decent compromise... and perhaps a bit more attractive to outsiders in general.

I've been hearing about this game for a while now... so I'm glad that it's getting translated. I suspect it will be a gold mine of ideas and atmosphere even if I don't end up running it RAW.

I'd been interested in WWC primarily as a WWII game for BRP... and probably ignoring the Mythos stuff. Does it seem like there's enough purely historical content to warrant a purchase? Not that I wouldn't eventually run a WWII Mythos game... but my immediate thought was more about cloak and dagger games involving the French Resistance.

Or less delicately, can we get drunk and spout off about how, "Chaosium killed the game I loved and fucked up CoC!" without fear of 'official' reprisals?

I like the Hammer movie version of this but agree after watching the series that the TV version has a lot more going on and is generally creepier. The Stone Tapes is another BBC TV product that melds modern technology with ancient horror... and has that slow build to the sinister: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtvJWKaDI9s If anyone has seen the old BBC Halloween special Ghostwatch, it's subtle/creepy as well... a bit apocalyptic if not overtly Lovecraftian but I'm sure it could be turned that way with little effort: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfy9UHAIwgQ

So you're offering to run an online game of TMP?

Naw, that makes it sound like an apology for BRP being old and busted... it ain't. I played in a game over the weekend that had every bit as much Player narrative and dramatic roleplay as any new 'indie' game could hope for. Just that we didn't rely on hardcopy rules to do so, the players brought it themselves (one of my main gripes about some newer games is their seeming belief that rules can insure 'good' roleplaying and 'good' GMing). And nothing against DnD... it plays just fine and in an equally wide variety of styles depending on who is sitting at the table.

I think you misread me... because I certainly do remember those days. My reference was to not having a similar leader in the RQ/BRP community shouting down the heretics. Of course, there was probably a lot less money involved in the non-D&D corners of the hobby. I'm hoping for a BRP OSR as well.

Unlike D&D fans I suspect BRP fans generally worry less about whatever the 'Official' Chaosium rules are. We didn't have a Gary Gygax ranting about what was/wasn't 'Official D&D' (not that I recall anyway). The mindset just seems different. We're already used to being a tiny corner of the RPG world... harder to find pickup games with strangers in stores (if that was ever something you wanted)... and we're used to having lots of options to tweak the game play to our tastes. In the bigger picture, so what if I don't care for CoC 7e and won't be buying/running it? I've still got decades of content to play with. RQ6 is great but I still want the Reaction Formula and Skill Advancement through in-game use/training... not hard to do at all. I'm not loyal to any one company or system though... I'll pull ideas from wherever I find them.

Yeah, I usually had some minis around during my early games as well... and drawing out a quick sketch to show where everyone was never seemed to be much of a distraction... but what I'm seeing in some online games is a map that is always up and people moving their figures every turn... even during non-combat situations. It's feels more like Warhammer Quest, Descent or Tomb. Not just a quick sketch of the layout either... full color with lighting effects and even sound effects sometimes. Not that it's badwrongfun... just that it seems futile to try to do something with TTRPGs that video games and boardgames are already devoted to doing better. Maybe some boardgame/RPG hybrid is the way to go though... with advanced play moving more and more away from the toys and into the players' minds.

I've noticed that boardgame effect with a lot of the online games I've been playing in. The more the usage of a grid/board come into it the more people seem to revert to depending on what they see vs. what the GM describes. I've gone on elsewhere about one Call of Cthulhu game I played it that ended up feeling like a game of Clue. My favorite online games have been the ones that eschew the visuals/toys and go with just audio and maybe player's faces on camera. I'm not sure it's so much even the influence of boardgames... maybe it's just the general expectation of great visuals in all forms of entertainment these days... video games and movies... mainstream RPG lines stressing the visual appearance of their books... and what boardgames, like those from FFG, have come to look like. Does having all these great full color illustrations on every page of a rulebook set up disappointment when you set down to the game and all you've got to look at are the images in your mind? In the old days where the look of the rulebooks was fairly basic, with B&W line art... or something like Classic Traveller that barely had any illustrations at all... and the images were coming from your imagination to begin with... there was less abrupt difference from looking at the book and actual gaming. Plus, probably more players were avid readers than nowadays... better at creative visualization. But nowadays I'm not surprised some players try to shore up the experience with more widgets and miniatures and terrain and whatnot... even though I find those things often limit the aspects of RPGs that excel over video games and boardgames.

Yes, that could/would be the start of something excellent.

What about online gaming? There's loads of that going on any day of the week... and I have seen folks comment on how hard it is to find a RQ6 game or anything BRP-related besides CoC. I'm in an ongoing RQ6 campaign online and taking part in a BRP one-shot this weekend... all through Roll20... so that seems like a valid avenue to run games and build the game's reputation.

The BRP book I most avidly hoped for... Not that it HAS to have BRP or Chaosium on the cover for me to buy it... it's Jason's project so I'm thinking he could/should shop it around... if he's still got any interest in it.

This is a HUGE aspect of modern marketing that us fans can actually help with. One of the first things I do when I hear about a game is look for a review and see if anyone is doing a show and tell on Youtube. There is a shitstorm of people online posting reviews and 'unboxings' and actual play reports of D&D and Pathfinder... but very few for BRP or Runequest. The only reason I perceive Fate and Savage Worlds as popular is how many people I see talking about them online... it's not like I'm seeing either of those advertised in newspapers or for sale at the checkout counter of our local Flying J (mmm... bacon waffles). Most of the new games I've discovered over the past decade have first come to my notice on blogs and forums... not advertising or bookshelves. We really should get out there and talk up our games a whole lot more... be the squeaky wheels.

Again I forget my sense of humor does not come across on the internet... No... I wasn't serious at all. I have no desire to sling poo at the people who have written such nice games for us.

So you're suggesting an angry letter-writing campaign? OK, let's get on that...

Yeah, there's at least that little beam of sunshine. The darkest cloud is for Magic World... it would be nice if support for that continued somehow, off the grid.

If you tweak it so the POW doesn't have to come from the caster itself then that opens the door to all sorts of nasty blood magic... which always lends magic a nice bit of horrific atmosphere, "How many children died to make that sword of yours?"

Not to mention that if you're really that allergic to charts the formula it's derived from is dead simple.