Tywyll

Page 92 explicitly states that only POW vs POW tests, not power points vs power points, count for POW gain rolls.

Do you mean rough draft submission or final submission? I just about finished the bulk of the text today... wow, did I just say that? Yeah, there are a couple of small editing details and a blob of text I need to insert, but I'd say the rough draft will be finished tomorrow. I'll do some editing on it and then submit it to Dustin maybe after the weekend? Then, assuming they are good with it, it'll be dependent on my artists and how long the layout takes. That kind of thing is hard for me to judge, but I'd say maybe by the end of April? Hopefully! Matthew Skipper

I'll admit I'm reading it off my PC and not a paper copy, so I may easily have missed it somewhere, but I couldn't find any of that stuff. So POW increases at the same rate (theoretically) as regular Skills (i.e. a single check)? What about other attributes?

Was looking through F&S again recently. While reading the Sorcery section I realized I couldn't find a couple of things: 1) MP-how many does a character have? 2) MP-how quickly do they get MP back? 3) POW gain-how do character roll to increase POW? Cheers!

Fair enough, my mistake.

Yeah, it kind of felt like there wasn't a real reason behind the decisions, but more artifacts left behind from earlier systems. I can certainly see the argument that Wizardry, which is meant for high fantasy, should play different than CoC style magic (not that that is in BRP), but I'd only buy that if it were a conscious choice and I'm not sure that, with how some spells work one way and others work another, that it was such a choice. That's interesting and I'll address that in my Monograph.

Ok, so I was looking through the Power systems in BRP. First off, its important to note that in BRP you need to win a contested POW vs POW test to get a chance to improve your POW, not any kind of power point test like in RQ3. Wizardry- Change-PvP Control-PvP Diminish-PvP Enhance-PvP Lift-PvP (or SIZ) Teleport-PvP Psionics- Cryokinesis-ppvC Emotion Control-ppvI Empathy-PvP Levitation-PvP Mind Blast-ppvpp Mind Control-ppvpp Pyrokinesis-ppvC Telekinesis-ppvSIZ Telepathy-ppvpp Sorcery- Curse of Sorcery-PvP Fury-ppvpp Muddle-ppvpp Pox-ppvpp Summon Demon-PvP Unbreakable Bonds-STRvpp Super- Diminish/Enhance Characteristic-ppvpp Drain-ppvpp So... what gives? Why do some powers work one way and other another? I realize that some of this may be artifacts of the system, but I'm trying to figure out what is a flaw and what is a feature you know? As written, its /really/ hard for a Sorcerer to get POW, unless they have one specific spell (Summoning and binding demons doesn't count because you lose POW for doing that). Wizardry seems to have the easiest time of it, and in fact, seems to be written most with the new rules about POW gain firmly in mind at writting. Does anyone know why the systems are so dramatically different, even amongst themselves? It seems strange that Psychics can only potentially increase their POW if they are Empthic or Levitate the unwilling... but not by Mind Blasting. Ditto for Sorcerers Muddling a target not providing a potential check, but cursing them with an animal feature might.

My monograph, at least, will include all the old spells. This is, after all, marketed not just at the old fans, but those who might have bought the shiny BRP book without owning anything Runequest. For them, those spells won't be prosaic or duplicated. Not to mention that some of them will have clearer rules and optional effects as well. If the 'Big Book 'o Magic' gets green lit, I imagine it will cover much of the same ground as well, but as Steve said could then be THE one and only source on all BRP magic everywhere. Which I think would be pretty awesome.

That's exactly what I would like to do! I'm hoping that they will be interested in something similar because I agree, it would be nice to have all the old material updated and shiny for players to buy along with their BRP book. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Whoops, forgot to respond to the most important part... YAY!

It will be the next Monograph I do for them (I've already got some of it written but its taken a back seat to the Battle magic book). However, I have already approached Dustin about the possibility of doing a single large (published) book containing all the old magic systems in it. He says that they will be considering this and watching the Battle magic mono 'closely'. So no promises or anything, but it might end up getting a full treatment. I'm happy just doing the monos to be honest, but would love a 'proper' published book as well.

I don't think it is a 'no-no' to produce game materials like that for yourself (or even for us... please share!). It's pretty much 'fair-use' and it isn't like you'd be selling them. Somehow I doubt Chaosium would pull a Palladium on you for doing that (and I'm pretty sure I've seen stuff that does more or less what you are suggesting in the downloads already.

Do you mean mine? Well, I've updated Battle Magic to BRP. The monograph is almost finished. It currently stands at 71 pages, but will probably lose some of that in the course of editing and lay out. The manuscript will probably be finished in the next week or so, then editing and layout will happen next. I have three artists providing artwork, but I'm looking for more. It contains updated rules for all the original Battle/Spirit Magic spells and over 20 new spells. A full update of the Ritual magic rules, including a plethora of new Enchantments and Ceremonies. There are stats for entities waiting to be summoned and bound, from general level, to powerful, to Lord level beings. Also there is a host of magic items demonstrating the uses of the enchantment rules. A smattering of premade NPCs at different power levels demonstrate what characters at different campaign levels might look like. In addition to all this old and new material are campaign options contained throughout the system, allowing gamemasters to tailor Battle magic to their campaigns. Now it can be used to represent everything from Gloranthan spirit magic, to divine spells, to even more typical wizardry (including direct damage magic). After this book, I'm slated to write up Divine Magic (which will obviously tie quite closely to this book as well). Matthew

So, SPQR? Is it complete? Is it still active? Does anyone have it? What does buying it add to BRP? the website is dramatically out of date. I know this has been raised before, but I thought I'd hit it again in case there were any more current updates.

Personally? Because as a power its so frigging expensive (as in, I can't figure out why Unarmed Combat costs as much as it does). And defense... is that supposed to be 1% per level or 5%? The big issue I have with using either of those as written is that the super system is its own beast, and unless you are using it exclusively (which I'm not) it doesn't play well with others. I can't really figure out a way to tie it to normal skill percentages or other elements of play... because spending 20 POW to increase it a level just isn't an option in the game I run.

I started with BRP as written on cat bonuses, but they quickly became too fiddly for my tastes, especially with POW being a factored attribute. So I switched to RQ4's system of +1% per point over 10, typically only two attributes figuring into any category, and dropping POW from any category. I can kind of understand its inclusion, but I think POW gets enough play that it doesn't need to get an added helping of influencing skills as well. But ultimately, yes, I hate how little variation there is in human level strength modifiers. I'll grant that with the smaller number of hit points, you don't need a huge range, but frankly, I think you need some for human scale. Maybe when you get to a +4 bonus you can then switch to the +d6 normal system because at that point you are dealing with things like bears and horses and even bigger things.

Ok, I'm almost finished with my Magic Monograph. This book is a pure crunch, optional magic system monograph. That being said, I have considered throwing in some fluff text (like at chapter headings and such) to give examples of the system at work. But then on the other hand, because I'm trying to make the system as accessible to any setting a gm could want, how relevant would fluff text be? Would people bother to read it at all, or would it just be wasted space in the way of the stuff that people actually bought the book for? What do people think? do you read the fluff text? Do you care? Is it something you just skip over it and get to the mechanics?

Personally I use the flat bonus, ala RQ4 ((Str+Siz-25)/5=DB). Though to be fair, I'm thinking of removing SIZ from the equation, though if I do that, i haven't figured out how I'll figure it. I dislike the randomness of the multiple d6 approach, finding it a bit lacking in veracity. I also strongly dislike the lack of PC attribute significance (to be fair, this has always been one of my complaints about BRP in its various incarnations, especially in the versions that don't use category bonuses). there is little difference between a barely above average strength character and an extremely strong character in the d4/d6 system.

Hey Rod, I think that consistancy is a good thing and like you say, for mundane weapons and critters is probably a laudable goal. I would probably hesitate to try and bring things like Alchemy or Elementals into any sort of universal consistency. I say that simply because such things are going to vary so much from setting to setting (like the non-real world Alchemy example for the Green). Elementals in the Young Kingdoms aren't the same as those in Glorantha, for example. But otherwise, yeah, I think trying to get a mundane consensus would be a very good idea!

Ah, see, I think this is where my confusion stems... but I can see your logic. I'm basing my idea around the errated version of the ritual which was 1 POW for d3 armor. But if it were still set at d6, I can see your point. No, I didn't expect it to be, but coming from someone who has played the game to it's extremes, I'm curious if you've encountered elements that I, who have not, don't see.

No they don't, but they are comparable. I mean, armor doesn't change its value from HL to non-HL. So why would one system charge 3.5 for 1 while the other charges 1 for 1? Why is total Hit Points worth a different value? Is this a gut decision, or is there a deeper reasoning behind it that I'm not seeing?

But that guy who blows his 20 levels of Divine magic goes back to being a wuss in 15 minutes, and will take 20 days to recover. The armor is there forever (so flying away from said target or escaping in whatever fashion to come back later and deal with them seems fairly sensible). Granted, this can be countered by good tactics, but still... shooting the bolt like that seems quite wasteful unless you know this is a final battle no one can escape from. So if it were hit locations you'd require 7 POW for 2 AP (avg of d3), but without, you'd require 1 for 1? Any reason why the discrepancy?

Well... don't keep us waiting, what were the stats he gave her? :confused:

Seriously? I know you ran high powered games, but I have to disagree that the Coders weren't meant to be powerful. Heck, the module (at least as I read it) assumes that the PCs will do everything they can to avoid direct conflict with the Coders and their overwhelming force. But wouldn't you say that 3-4 pts of armor all over that never goes away, doesn't take a round to activate and doesn't need to be regained in a temple pretty darn potent? How would you handle it in a system without Hit Locations? Seems like a reasonable idea. Sorry to be unclear... no I think Strangers is a great module, I think the Coders (I couldn't remember their names) are sickeningly powerful (versus most characters in most campaigns... especially starting ones).

Going back to RQ3 again... I know there is an 'Armoring Enchantment' that can be used to add armor points to a character's locations, or to objects. Now, if it's added to an object, that is also a piece of armor, does that make it protect better? It seems like a really gross way (even if you did have to do it per location) of making magic armor. But I don't recall seeing any NPCs from the old modules who went that route, including the disgusting Strangers in Prax. So anyone know if it could be used that way?