Simlasa

I love 'Sorcerer'... it's a remake of 'Wages Of Fear' but I think 'Sorceror' is the better. Interesting ideas could come out of that setting... that last refuge of desperate men... kind of like a prison but with out the cells or guards. Has anyone ever based a game on 'Escape From New York'? I think I remember an old Cyberpunk supplement that was similar... and GW's Necromunda setting has some of that flavor.

I must be thinking wrong... because real world spycraft always seemed dull to me... mostly seems to be wiretapping and surveillance... avoiding combat at all costs until it's time for obliteration. To trigger my imagination it has to float into less plausible/possible realms... like the Jason Bourne novels or Our Man Flint or James Bond... fancy globe-hopping guys who get up close and personal with the colorful villains... rather than just calling in an airstrike from a couple miles away. Like, tracking down Osama Bin Laden isn't the sort of thing I'd want to game... it seems tedious... he's not very interesting compared to Dr. No or Goldfinger. He doesn't have a big secret base in a volcano or under the sea... most likely he's hiding under an outhouse somewhere. His mooks don't have steel fangs or razor-sharp bowlers or interesting double-entendre names. You probably never get close enough to trade witty barbs with him... just locate him and point out which rathole to send the missile at.

That kind of parallels my own wishes for a game version of The Airtight Garage (which starred Jerry Cornelius... until Moorcock later regretted giving up Cornelius for the world to use)... and a Luther Arkwright, who seems an obvious literary relative of Jerry Cornelius. I don't have much interest in 'straight' spy gaming... but throw in some multiversal conspiracies and talking dinosaurs and I'd be there.

I've got the original box set... Masks of Nyarlathotep... and the Terror Australis book that came later... What else am I missing? Sounds like the PDF has new bits.

I've pulled out my old urban fantasy setting and have been shoring up the weak spots. Also considering writing up a BRP guide to Lin Carter's 'Green Star' series... as a setting idea for Interplanetary.

This reminds me of something I heard on Howard Stern once... They had on a group of models (of course) who they asked various 'common knowledge' questions... names of presidents, basic history, a bit of geography... VERY easy questions. The models couldn't answer them... they looked like idiots. Then they asked them questions about wine, Italian sports cars, shoes... stuff I had no clue about. The models had no problem with these questions. The point being that knowledge is a function of culture and culture is a function of lifestyle... who you hang out with and what they care about. A farmer is going to know all sorts of stuff about the local land, the soil, the weather, the animals... a city-dweller is going to think the farmer is ignorant because he doesn't know anything about politics, opera, or gangsters. They might have the same edu score but they don't know (or care) about the same stuff. Maybe there needs to be some sort of qualifier next to the rating... or something that ties it to social standing. As it is it's pretty vague what it's supposed to be measuring.

Thanks for putting up those photos Fergo... it looks pretty chunky. I've had a lot more trouble with hardback gaming books falling apart than with softcover ones... any of the old hardcovers from Games Workshop are good examples of bad quality. Unless it's going to be good and sturdy, like a school textbook, I'd just as soon have softcover.

How sturdy is it? Does the binding seem like it will hold out against common usage?

It seems like most of the RW animals we consider 'smart' also have groups/cultures... like chimps/gorillas/dolphins/whales... they have 'laws' and hierarchies and punishments. Does that count as a 'culture'? Is it something they are educated about after they are born? I've heard people say that animals that have never been around people are not instinctively afraid of them... if that's true it implies some sort of 'learning'... to be afraid of something. If you had a dog that could do a lot of tricks would he be considered to have a higher 'education' than a wild dog? Circus/rodeo animals vs. animals in the woods?

Maybe it should be related to their intellect rating... being smart enough to learn something implies that they must know something... even if it's just a good understanding of the countryside or maybe the ways of man. Maybe have limited understanding of local common languages... or how to outsmart traps... or how to imitate the sounds/tracks of other creatures. Education/Intellect wouldn't necessarily mean they can recite Shakespeare, but they'd probably have a good pragmatic understanding of their environment and how to use it for their own interests. Any sort of were-creature might need it... though I'd put them on some continuum between absolute feral (raised by wolves)... to the sophisticated urban shape-changer. Most of the dragons I've put into games also had shape changing abilities... being able to pass among men with certain limitations (maybe only at night, or only once a year, or only for a limited time).

I'm really looking forward to Jason's planetary romance game... if that's handled right I think it could really take off 'cause it mixes together a lot of elements that seem 'popular' to me. It's a genre that doesn't seem to see much attention but should be instantly recognizeable to anyone. I can see all sorts of reasons for pulpy 'lost civilization' type adventures... lots of 'dungeon crawls'... lots of flamboyant sword fights and dueling blaster weapons... but it could get really wierd and scary as well. I think it has a better chance of standing out on store shelves than another run-of-the-mill Eurocentric Tolkienesque fantasy setting.

I've been playing with some new guys the past couple weeks (Earthdawn with the GM's homespun system)... and last night some out-game conversation brought up 4e. They cross-talked about new rules I had no clue about... dropped references to Palladium and Boot Hill... So then I said, "So am I odd man out at the table as the only one excited about the new BRP book coming out?" Silence... "What's BRP?" So I had to say 'Call Of Cthulhu' and 'Runequest' before I got even vague recognition... one guy seemed to remember the book was coming. Still... it was a mighty cold reception... I might as well have said, "Howsabout that new Sailor Moon RPG?!!!" Made me feel kinda lonely...

I don't care for the suggestions about changing the way you read the dice rolls or calculate criticals/specials... I've seen people suggest that sort of thing before but it feels to me like it puts emphasis on the 'game' of rolling the dice. Just a personal preference (I hate 'stupid dice tricks... like the 'cherries' in Unknown Armies), since rolling for 'doubles' is no more 'gamey' than trying to roll low... except that rolling low is an overall mechanical theme that, used consistently, makes the rules just that tad bit easier to learn/teach and then fade into the background. I do kind of like the 'Effects Values' idea... at least for some circumstances it's useful to be able to have a measurement of relative success... though it seems to me that the game as it is provides that pretty well already.

I've always wanted to get a hold of the Metabaron's game... I liked the comics and the gamebooks look cool. The Metabarons are related to the Incal stories, illustrated by Moebius... written by Jodorowsky... there might be some crossover with the Airtight Garage but I don't know of any. I think the Incal/Metabarons setting is pretty concrete/rational... whereas the Garage is a pretty wacky place... kind of like a science fiction version of Alice In Wonderland.

Elfquest was splatterpunk? I need to dig those rules out and have another look! Seems like a lot of the feeling of that genre would be up to the descriptive/storytelling powers of the GM... and maybe not telling players what the HP measure of damage is, just the effects... "You've got blood in your eyes."

Yar... I just went looking and found the same. Oh well... Maybe that leaves it open as a potential BRP setting...

If you want to play that kind of 'Pulp', why not just play Spirit Of The Century? Good news about that Luther Arkwright game... I think... that review didn't think much of it... though it is percentile based. He also mentions that Hogshead is supposedly coming out with a new Arkwright game called 'Zero Zero' (a reference to the 'center' of Arkwright's multiverse). Thanks for that link.

Has anyone ever written up an RPG based on Moebius's 'Airtight Garage' setting? I don't know what kind of audience that has... how many people remember it... and it's not really a particularly rational setting... a lot of infrastructure would have to be filled in... but in my mind it's a good fit for BRP. That and the Luther Arkwright comics would be my first two choices for licensed settings.

Gah! HOBO!... ack, ack, ack ack... Just saying...

Badcat,much as I value many of your posts, and share some of your views... I'm thinking that if you're as cranky in real life as you are on here... well... THAT might have more to do with your difficulties finding a game group than what system you are using. In the end it's just a game and not really worthy of a rise in blood pressure.

'Splatterpunk'? You mean graphically violent horror like Poppy Z Brite/David Schow/Jack Ketchum? So for that you'd want a combat system with really descriptive damage? What else?

Even World Of Warcraft (what 4e seems to be emulating... kind of) doesn't tie all your skills to 'levels'... if you want to raise your mining/herbalism/engineering/etc... you have to mine/herbalize/engineer/etc. Somehow RosenMcStern's vitriol toward Mr. Jackson and his games makes me suspect some past romantic liaison that went badly... or something.

We loved The Fantasy Trip back in the day... played a ton of Melee and Wizard. I don't think I've ever heard anyone speak ill of it till now...

COH is my favorite MMO... but it always frustrated me that the format put restrictions on fleshing out some of the really interesting elements of the game... the various factions and settings. I'm not a big fan of superhero comics but COH really got under my skin with parts of it's backstory and the various ongoing developments. Thanks a bunch for writing this up!

Good luck over there... stay safe.