Simlasa

Nope: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/108156/Panty-Explosion-Perfect

I think that's the first time I've heard THAT as a reason for shunning a game... well, Panty Explosion probably got a similar reaction, not sure. Either way, new OQ book looks quite nice (though I prefer the previous cover). Glad to hear it's on better paper too. I look forward to what follows.

That's why I mentioned that it might be a satisfying focus in a game about Japanese schoolgirls, in a setting that doesn't already have them fighting with guns/knives/magic. It still not something I find inherently interesting, but I can see it's use in certain situations that are important in-game... not for every social interaction, not as a prophylactic against GM fiat.

Excellent use of whatever social skills you were employing there... talked me right down off my ledge of concern and dismay. Thanks!

All that makes sense to me. In real life I'm not prone to haggle with shop keepers... but in an RPG I'll give it a go, and roll my PC's Bargain skill for backup. That's fine. What I don't want or need is to turn that shopping experience into a mini-game, with multiple contested rolls and special effects. Perhaps, if I were a stable boy attempting to seduce the Queen it might be interesting to add a bit more detail, give and take, but, in most games, that sort of thing is out of the ordinary. I've never found myself wishing there was a 'combat' system for it. The vast majority of the time I'm good with a solid attempt at roleplay and a skill roll. Maybe I fear that the presence of such rules will lead to people not wanting to attempt the roleplay aspect at all. Similar to some I've played with who reach for the dice and declare they're rolling for a skill before they describe their actions, before the GM even asks for a roll, because they find refuge in the mechanics. IMO RPGs are a social experience. If a person doesn't enjoy roleplaying, speaking in character, perhaps they would enjoy wargames or boardgames instead.

I guess I just get my hackles up whenever I see suggestions for adding more rules and systems... particularly when they're for something I never felt I needed more rules and systems for. I CAN see how social combat rules could be fun... but, IMO, in a different sort of game. Like, if it were a game about Japanese schoolgirls who did not engage in physical combat but everything relied upon social connections and cliques. That, lacking combat, I'd probably want some other excuse to throw dice at my PCs major concerns.

I've never understood the desire for getting that detailed regarding social situations. Those are usually the moments that shine for me regarding table-top RPGs vs. video games. Actually talking to the NPCs and PCs... vs. rolling yet more dice to resolve things. Sure, your APP and skills in Bargain or Oratory can give you a boost... but you still roleplay all that out, yes? What is the attraction of more elaborate social combat rules? Am I wrong for suspecting that it is some inherent lack of trust in the GM to fairly adjudicate the situation? That we need the dice to over rule any bad intentions? Maybe I just don't want that much 'game' in my games...

This is something I've been aiming for myself... playing lots of DCC has me wanting to drag that flavor into Magic World/Openquest. Simpler but wilder, with lots of random tables full of crazy possibilities. Borrowing flavor/scenarios/setting bits from Warhammer, Dragon Warriors, and Lamentations of the Flame Princess as well.

Just grabbed it... now I gotta read it, twist it, make it my own. Very cool.

I'm not a huge D&D fan but I do love DCC and did join in on the kickstarter... not so much for use as intended but to put it on blocks and strip for parts in other urban fantasy purposes. I do like the atmosphere of the Leiber stories, and DCC fully embraces random whimsy... a flavor a lot of modern RPGs seem to consider anathema for some reason but I'd like to make more use of. It does sound like the authors are going above and beyond to keep it authentic to the source material, so it oughtta be a good resource for Lankhmar fans.

With vague white-supremacist undertones.

Hah! I feel so much the opposite... I actually really like the name. It's wide open to a whole range of stuff... 'Magic World' hits me the same way 'Fantasy Land' did when I first saw it as a kid. No specifics, but a big spot to hang my imagination... ALL fantasy is welcome. I know some people laugh at the name for being quaint... and maybe it does appeal to for that reason, because it's not trying to be bleeding edge 'cool' or macho... it dares to be quaint, even charming. Despite being based on Stormbringer I think it's open to a lot more than just sword & sorcery. Meanwhile, 'Stormbearer' sounds like the name of some high school metal band from the 70s, IMO.

You should charge what you want for it. I got one a while back for comparatively cheap... I think around $40... but I was patient. I've noticed that anytime gaming books go out of print the Ebay entrepreneurs hop on with their copies for OUTRAGEOUS prices... the BGB book for BRP was sitting at over $1000 at one point. Did anyone buy at those prices? I don't know. What I did was to call around to games stores looking for people that still had them on their shelves. That's how I got a hardback copy for $50 from Games of Berkeley.

I said it was 'as much a visual style as anything', meaning I think the visuals are a large part of recognizing a movie as 'noir'... some of the classic noir films lack most of the elements EXCEPT for the visuals... but I certainly agree about the other qualities you mention, the moral ambiguity and tragedy. It's why I think something like The Maltese Falcon is more 'hard boiled' than 'noir'... because it's not particularly bleak or tragic... it's more of an adventure where good guys and villains are fairly well delineated, and good triumphs over evil. It would be much easier to base an RPG campaign on that than something like Double Indemnity, where two of the primary characters are cold-blooded murderers, or Asphalt Jungle where nearly all the characters are criminals. Though, now that I think of it, the traditional D&D 'murderhobo' campaign is fairly 'noir', or at least it would seem so to an outside viewer.. even if the PCs consider themselves 'heroes'. As for 'pulp'... yes, they were cheap and impermanent... but covered a wide range of genres (and not all of them were aimed at men). I'd say the common denominator is that they were generally written as cheap, throwaway entertainment. Not literature seeking after lofty themes or lasting edification. Similar to what we have on TV and in mainstream 'Hollywood' movies nowadays. Some of the better content rises to the top, but most of it is just mean to put butts in the seats and keep them there through the commercials.

Most folks know, but don't care, that 'pulp' is primarily a medium, not a genre... the name coming from the material the stories were printed on... so it's like saying 'TV' or 'Radio' or 'movies' when those things cover a wide range of genres and topics and styles. When 'gamers' say 'pulp' I take them as meaning some sort of men's adventure tale, with wild action and usually set in the first half of the 20th century. Similarly, 'noir' is as much a visual style as anything (decent overview here) so I'm not sure how well that's gonna carry over to a table-top game. When gamers say 'noir' I take them as meaning something closer to 'hard-boiled detective' (Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Mickey Spillane), especially since noir often had a bleak view of the world and the protagonists are often criminals who end up dead or imprisoned. For literary noir, James M. Cain and Cornell Woolrich are good... and for modern noir, Elmore Leonard.

When I think 'old school space opera' I think E.E. Doc Smith and Lensmen, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and Space Patrol... and that sort of game I'd be excited about... emphasis on characters and wild adventure, less about gun-porn, scientific accuracy, and arguing details of setting canon (things that always seem to plague games of Traveller I've been in). I liked the aliens in Star Frontiers but I don't remember anything else distinctive about it.

Agreed. We had some of those Q-Workshop dice for Deadlands and while they look cool up close they were a PITA to read on the table. I suppose you could ink the numbers yourself but for my money they're just not practical.

'Noir' is not pulp to me... at least not in the sense in which 'pulp' currently used among gamers. Not being fond of the CoC7e alterations I'd hope it would hew somewhat closer to the grittier end of the BGB or RQ2... and not embrace CoC7e's 'gamey-er' digressions.

I'd favor linking Perception to POW for a default level, but I do think it's a skill that can be trained. The average policeman or soldier probably has a higher Perception... artists might also. I'm not sure why you think Driving, Sailing, and Riding aren't skills... none of those seem like something a person can just jump into because they're smart or dexterous.

That sounds right, unless you're aiming for something more superheroic (BRP Exalted!).

I like that... as nature seems free of any ideologies beyond basic survival... continuing. Not that nature isn't cruel and violent and kind of lacking in any sentimentality. This is a write-up of druids that I liked a lot: http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/7-myths-everyone-believes-about-druids.html

Dance with undead? Mutual disinterest with undead? Shake hands and part as friends with undead?

I know nothing about Greyhawk but I don't know that I'd want/need hundreds of new spells... especially if they're just going to be slight permutations of existing ones. Like a bunch of unique shapeshifting spells... 'Transmutate Badger', 'Transmutate Weasel', 'Transmutate Shrew', etc. What I'd find more useful is different sorts of magic rules for capturing certain flavors... such as one to stress darker fantasy/horror and make magic a lot more unreliable/scary (not sure BRP has any quite like the sort of wild spells in Unisystem's Witchcraft or The Whispering Vault's Mortal Magic - with its awakened spells that will come back to haunt the caster.). Perhaps some system for designing spell systems?

Yeah, that might work well for something similar to DCC's 'Invoke Patron'... as well as its system of spells with random degrees of success.

There's also the Pact skill from MRQII/Legend... which establishes an ongoing bond between a devotee and a cult, but also in Mongoose Elric it's used for forming bonds with magical creatures like the Beastlords. They'll help you out but probably expect some favor in return.