Simlasa

Nice to get some notice! https://www.forbes.com/sites/robwieland/2019/10/08/use-big-government-to-fight-horrible-monsters-with-delta-green/#323fe50b4840

Will it be something that would allow super-characters being brought into regular Mythras games... creating something along the lines of Exalted? I was never a huge reader of superhero comics but I did like some of the magic/mystic heroes, like Dr. Fate and John Constantine. So something letting me bring in Mythras' magic system could be excellent.

If you're not averse to online gaming then Roll20 is another possible path to getting in on some systems that are underrepresented on local gaming tables. I've managed to find my way into groups for a number of systems I might never have gotten a chance to play otherwise. It might take some patient searching but there is a wide variety of games getting played on Roll20, even if the site doesn't directly promote/support them.

This description brings to mind the (sadly) single season show Intruders (2014)... which isn't so much like Nephilim, but does involve questions of souls and personas and the fallout on people around them.

True, but if we were to let that concern guide all our choices of what to run we'd not be playing much except D&D. Also, I don't think I'd want to play anything with the sort of person who wouldn't play because a game solely because it was 'old'. The GM of one group I'm in changes game systems a couple times a year and most all of us have been fine with his choices, because he's a good GM and it's a good group and those are the elements that matter most... and I can't see any value in having him run something he's not revved up about.

I can't think of any game I've stopped playing because the publisher didn't have it on an edition treadmill. I've never had someone refuse to play a game because of that reason either... though I suppose that person might be out there, "I will not play any game that has had less than three published editions!" Anyway, Superworld is on my short-list of games I want to run sometime soon. This time as a conversion for The Whispering Vault... and it seems like the Nephilim are something that could/should show up in After The Vampire Wars.

To me they're like the cults in Mythras... they're your contacts, your job board, your resource for various things. They'll maybe pull your fat out of the fire... depending on how big/hot that fire is. You probably share the faction with some of your family, your wife. Seems like a big deal, and very useful, to me.

I've only seen the Walking spells used to hide from something or evade it. I think I'd leave them as-is and make moving through air/earth/water something a summoned elemental could do for you... carry you somewhere through its substance, assuming there's no other body of elemental substance blocking the path.

I don't come to this forum nearly as often as I used, so I'm not cluing in on where all this friction is happening that people feel needs moderation? Is it in the Glorantha forums? I never look there. I've seen no personal attacks or name-calling... or really much disagreement about anything at all. I've got certain things I'm prickly about (CoC 7) and generally try my best to just stay away from those topics, or at least not START the disagreement. As for what other forums have wrong about them: to my eye it's mostly politics. Both RPGNet and RPGSite have taken political stances and let their posters air such grievances. RPGPub has not. RPGPub makes those other two look like a campfire full of hippies singing Kumbaya.

I think the 'perceived' weaknesses of Superworld or the BGB powers are only in light of comparing them to the supers in comics. There are plenty of other varieties of supers where they work quite nicely. Godlike generally fits the sort of tone I prefer in supers games, so I'll need to check this out. Also, if what you love about BRP is "the use across genres" then I'd think the BGB would be of good use to you, since it is aimed at being more of a toolkit for all sorts of genres and settings... but yeah, supers is only a part of that.

You think the sequel was better? I felt strongly the other way... the sequel was essentially just a redo of the first one, but with a bunch of Star Wars elements tossed in (was the Faust character really necessary to the plot? Or was he just there to be Darth Vader?). Not that the sequel wasn't entertaining, and I liked the transition of the machine people from snobby elites in the first movie to outright hostile enemies in the second one. Also, the 'ghost train' evoked the 'black ships' in 40K, and even though it was meant to be a mystery, my assumption about their cargo turned out to be correct... so I wonder if GW might have been 'inspired' by that.

I don't know Marshal Law but I have always admired the Underground RPG, which I've seen mentioned as having been heavily influenced by that comic. For me, the satire shouldn't come from the mechanics/rules... it's the system and the players who will bring it. Similar to games set in the 40K universe... which is hilariously dark comedy to some... and deadly serious to others (I fall in with the dark comedy crowd). Playing it straight will foreground how ridiculous it is. Paranoia is another darkly humorous game, but I want the rules for that to be deadly serious... not wacky. Last night I was watching the sequel to Galaxy Express 999, which featured a human resistance fighting against the Machine Empire. The machine people are pretty much supers... immortal and resistant to most kinds of damage, superior strength and reflexes... so it's another setting where the heroes are fighting against inherently superior forces, which I just about always find interesting.

So far it's been more of an inspiration than something I've actually gotten on the table. Watching A Dark Song recently brought it to mind and I could see using it in some sort of occult espionage game, covens vs. covens or somesuch... but lately all anyone wants me to do is run D&D.

I just made my way through The Boys series on... whatever it's on... and loved its dark humor... and thought it would make for an interesting RPG concept. Kind of like some older games that had the PCs fighting in a covert war between psychics and mundane humans (inspired by Scanners, I think). It would definitely fit with a more dangerous level of combat, vs. standard 4-color fare. The only question would be in regards to having renegade supers join the resistance, and how they'd work alongside regular folks... 'cause everyone would want to be the Jedi/Starlight.

I'm not a fan of CoC 7e, so... no. But I am interested in seeing what The Design Mechanism comes up with. I'm hoping it retains some of the core grittiness of Mythras, doesn't go too far in trying to emulate comics and movies... pre-written mediums where characters wear thick capes of plot-immunity and powers are fluid to the writer's needs. While I do enjoy Superworld my tastes these days run closer to the tone of Godlike/Wild Talents.

I'm another who doesn't give a hoot if the thing has art or fancy graphic doodles... "Just the facts ma'am". The important elements are your ideas and the research that inspired them... that's what I'm after.

I'm curious about this one as well.

If a djinni popped out of my coffee mug and gave me 3 wishes... well, none of them would be about RPGs... but if it gave me a few dozen wishes, somewhere in there I MIGHT wish Magic World and Core BRP to get shiny new editions with world class art (tastefully arrange so as to not clutter), and full support from nu-Chaosium for decades into the future. But minus such wishes, I would rather have any available resources (fan energy and cash) diverted toward NEW content rather than reformatting old stuff for the sake of the handful of new players it might draw in. If you want pretty pictures to inspire you, the internet is full of them... I keep folders full of images, organized by theme. Loads more stuff than can be crammed into any rulebook. I really do not need any art in my rulebooks. My favorite rulebook design of all time is Classic Traveller... clean, clear... no illustrations at all (well, maybe one). Those 3 books had no trouble at all revving up my imagination and making me want to play.

I can't say that I know anyone (except maybe collectors) who chooses what games games to play based on how they look or what they're called. Visuals might be a factor in getting you to take an initial interest... but... well, there's a reason I'm not interested in any of those PBTA games, regardless of the pretty pictures in them. RPGs seem largely marketed by word of mouth, it's not like they're present on store shelves much these days. So go talk up the games you like, let everyone know why it's great fun to play. Maybe there is some guy out there who says, "You know, that game sounds great and you're a good GM... but the rulebook is just too ugly, and the name is weird... so I'm gonna go play with a different group." Happily, I haven't met him.

Yeah, I have a couple of things I was thinking of putting up for GORE... but I'm not too clear on the legal stance of it all.

I don't know Rolemaster, though I've seen a lot of praise for it. I'm still not clear on what it is that Spell Law brings to the table? Are there random spell results ala Dungeon Crawl Classics? Or does it just offer a lot of options for spell use... so that no two caster's spells will be the same?

Our group played through the first Mothership adventure, Dead Planet, and that was fun/weird. It's pretty much a small sandbox... non-linear, but with a singular problem PCs will really need to sort out. The system was a bit BRP-ish... but with classes... and a skill tree. Combat was a bit bland, which, being a horror game, isn't the main focus anyway. I'm certainly interested in any further adventure/setting material for it, even if I might choose to use a different system instead.

Like with used bookstores, all my old favorite stores are gone now... the weedy half-lit places where you might find stuff from previous decades buried under cobwebs and dust. Most everything now is relatively clean, up-to-date, and a bit predictable... centered on card games, collectibles, Games Workshop, and D&D/Pathfinder. Still, I do find occasional surprises.... like a copy of Dark Streets and some other C&W stuff at Little Shop of Magic https://shopofmagic.com/ . I'll ask on our Vegas RPG group and see if I can get any strong recommendations. EDIT: Based on replies I got I think your best bet is Little Shop of Magic. It's been around a while and it's fairly large.

I'm not sure why I hit a mental block with it... I guess because it felt like such factions would provide much more powerful abilities than other, more mundane, guilds and gangs. I guess it's just going to take some trial and error... making mistakes... to get a feel for it.

So I was watching Game of Thrones and wandering how I'd make something like The Faceless Men in Mythras... is it a cult (they worship the Many-Faced God)? A brotherhood (an assassins guild)? and how to arrange their 'powers' of disguise and stealth... which seem almost magical. But this also got me started thinking about Earthdawn again, and its 'Disciplines'... which are sort of like guilds devoted to certain professions (soldier, archer, cavalryman...) but each teaches a variety of 'Talents'... which are magical skills related to the profession (similar to the near-magical capabilities of The Faceless Men). So Archers get powers that let them shoot arrows of flame, or arrows that will point the way to a sought person. Disciplines also encompass philosophical outlooks about life and the world... so quasi-religious in nature, but no gods. Not that I want to recreate GoT or Earthdawn... but I like the idea of having certain guilds that go above and beyond the usual and offer magic-ish professional abilities (not spells really) to dedicated members. Would such powers best be portrayed using bits of folk magic? or should they be gifts... a number of them offered at each tier of guild membership? I imagine they should cost MP to use and require some level of success on the basic skill they're built off of (such as disguise or archery). This is probably a dumb question and the answer is obvious... but I've been going around with myself about how to build such a thing... a guild that's borderline mystical cult in its powers... and not make it too OP. I also figure these factions would be harder to join and progress in... or that they'd ask a further degree of commitment somehow (ala The Faceless Men asking members to forget themselves and become 'no one').