Dredj

I was just made aware of this program: Gametable

I haven't tried it yet. I just thought I'd pass along the link, however.

There's lots of stuff on John Dee in English:

Amazon.com: john dee: Books

It's not a game supplement, but it ties into what you're looking for: Amazon.com: Ceremonial Magic & The Power of Evocation: A System of Personal Power (9781561841974): Joseph C. Lisiewski, Christopher S. Hyatt, S. Jason Black: Books

http://www.amazon.com/Summoning-Spirits-Evocation-Llewellyns-Practical/dp/1567183816/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252629035&sr=8-2 This one may not be as good as the one above, as the one above follows the grimoires of the period you're interested in to the letter.

Thank you very much, I will do that.

@ Dredj & Trippy Hippy:

Star signs are an important part of the character generation of the Harnmas-

ter RPG system, and there they work rather well.

For me they would probably be somewhat less useful, because the intention

of their use is to make characters more different, and I am looking for a way

to make them more similar in a small area of personality and behaviour (what

"defines" a knight of the order).

To do that with star signs, a majority of the characters (and other knights of

the order) would have to have the same star sign, and this would make this a

bit implausible for me.

What I was trying to get at when I was drunkenly typing last night was that there needs to be at least one trait that runs through the entire order, personality-wise, that allows the knights to do their job as well as get along with each other. But you're already onto that.

I think it was a study by Michel Gauquelin in the 1960s that provided a statistical link between star signs and various types of profession.

Personally, I think the Jonathon Tweet idea of having star signs (eg Capricorn, Leo, etc) as archetypal personality types is a very easy way of representing this aspect in a RPG. Everybody gets them, and they are very easy to play. You could also check on the way astrology is organised into character types in Nephilim, I guess.

If you want more detail, the the 16PF inspired Personality Traits can be used also, although I personally think that Allegiance is a bit different to personality, as such.

If I understand my history, star signs and such played a very big role in the medieval mind. You might have something here. Do you have any links?

I don't have either of the games/rules you are talking about. However, in the real world, you will find that certain professions do attract certain personality types; and psychologists will confirm this. As an example, most employees that work at any casino, and stay working there, are gamblers themselves. I worked at a casino once. I was the odd-man-out as I wasn't a gambler and I absolutely hated working there. So I obviously did not stay.

What I'm saying is whatever system you use, just assume the individual knights have deep psychological reasons for being there. Otherwise they won't be staying around for very long. Just make clear what the rules of conduct are for the characters and that should be enough, I would think.

Wow, did you just whip that map up? What program did you use?

Same question from me as well.

There's no time like the present!

Anyway, this sounds like a cool setting. Please keep us updated with any new developments.

I would very strongly suggest checking out the Flashing Blades material from the link I posted above. And the system isn't that far removed from BRP. You could tell they used BRP for a basis for their own system. So the High Seas supplement might be of particular interest. All of the Flashing Blades supplements and core book are a plethora of historical knowledge--if I remember right. Somebody did their homework!

Plus you can edit any of those adventures for use in your campaign, as they all tie into the same time period.

Here's the link: http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=99

And all the Flashing Blades stuff, altogether, only costs $17.20 USD, if I calculated right.

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_2095.html This is a review of the game and supplements. The reviewer must not have played any BRP games at the time of the review.

Maybe the whole reason there are women in the order is that too many of the men have been killed or gone over to another order so they need to replenish their ranks with women. Also, since they are moving onto the island and there's too many heretics, the knights might want women to swell their ranks and help to "out breed" the locals. Of course the women they want would have to follow the beliefs the knights adhere to.

Also, the order might want women from merchant families who will do trade with the island (and the women could be bored with their maiden or nun lives). The knights could also hire themselves out for protecting merchants as payment for the trade.

These might be long term goals. But it seems the issue boils down to: how do we attract women to the island and make it safe for them and local trade?

I just re-read your post, Rust. I guess I jumped the gun. But if you do turn it into a setting (and I think it would be a very interesting one), then I hope the material I pointed you above to will be of some use.

This might be better and less expensive for solo play: Mythic Game Master Emulator

In fact, I know it is. And you can play infinite soloquests with it.

However, I'm sure the RuneQuest SoloQuest is fun as well

Privateers and Pirates - FJ Gaming | RPGNow.com

Ship of the Line - FJ Gaming | RPGNow.com

You can also test out your setting before committing it to BRP by using this: En Garde!

And this free download might have something of interest in it: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=58424

This anime series is set in the era, and supposedly has real-life rapier fighting techniques: Amazon.com: Le Chevalier d'Eon: Complete Box Set: Movies & TV

It's even loosely based on the exploits of a real-life transvestite spy Charles d’Eon de Beaumont. I don't know if that's a selling point or not, for anyone. But I'm interested in the series for it's rapier fighting and zombie gargoyles! (I wanted to do a zombies vs. swashbucklers setting, but I'm constantly told that rapiers aren't efficient zombie fighting weapons:( ) Plus the period setting is supposed to be accurate--when you look past the fantastical stuff.

A game that has a great deal of historical background information with a system that's not too very dissimilar from BRP: http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=99

A history of fencing: Fencing History

I'm all up for the setting. For some reason, I can't seem to get enough of swashbuckling.

Here's a magazine that I've recently found out about that might offer some help: The Official Site of Renaissance Magazine The site has several links that might help out the setting.

And here's a site that has a lot of info. as well: The Tome though it seems to concern itself more with a medieval setting.

Rapiers

Just buy Mythic stuff Mythic Game Master Emulator

and you and your players should be able to have fun with high fantasy and BRP whenever they decide they want to play high fantasy.

If you want a different setting, try this:

Steampunk Musha - Precis Intermedia | RPGNow.com

I think I have to side with Gianni Vacca on everything he said. I took a number of creative writing courses, and I think the only book worth buying for anyone who wants to write a novel that sells is Immediate Fiction: Amazon.com: Immediate Fiction: A Complete Writing Course: Jerry Cleaver: Books regardless of what any literary fiction writer says!

Literary fiction, as taught in creative writing classes only serves one purpose: to write in a style that can convey a whole story in 12 pages or less so the teacher and class doesn't have to spend too much time reading a single story. And I love how teachers like to say or imply that it's genre-less. The reality is that literary fiction may actually be the most rigid of all the literary genres (SF, fantasy, etc.). And is really quite "by the numbers" as well, no matter what some egoistic and "original" literary writers think.

If you really want to get right down to the nitty gritty, literary writing is nothing more that memoir writing about fictional characters--usually following the exact same rules. And memoir writing is considered a genre!

Personally, I like my reading to be over-the-top and excessive with little or no regard to political correctness. Also, I like just about anything that makes the action the central focus.

I think character development is overrated. If the character starts doing something different that makes sense in the situation, then I consider it character development. I don't need a bunch of paragraphs telling me that it is. I can also discern what a character is feeling by what's going on and a sentence, and not much else. I read mostly for the sense of adventure and action, and whatever other strong emotion or mood is appropriate to the genre. "Good" writing bogs down emotion and makes it bland. "Good" writing, to me, is the ability to convey the proper mood and emotions in as succinct a way as possible. However, there are exceptions...

I read the Hobbit and liked it. Then I tried to read the rest of Tolkien's books, and found them to be ridiculously boring. I mean he beats most full-length novels Stephen King writes in regards to boredom.

Well, at a first glance the evolutionary explanations given in the text make absolutely no sense (it is free moving animals that evolve into sextile species, not the opposite, ever), and no creature with such a rudimentary nerve system could actually walk efficiently like a mammal, even on four legs - it could only go on arthropod legs. But the creatures are fun and the explanations are well done.

I merely posted it for the fact that people might want something to stat up for an alien world. And the pictures are cool and would make great printouts to show the players.

Any ETA on when Interplanetary might be published, if you don't mind me asking?

Some images for the gallery have just appeared. Looks like Gravequest will have some rather spectacular art.

SGL.

The artwork is really great! I can't wait to buy this product:thumb: