Jump to content

vagabond

Member
  • Posts

    551
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by vagabond

  1. Very cool - and useful. Some ideas fit my view on how to do Isho and dyshas in Jorune
  2. Back on the attack ... some WEG d6 Star Wars gaming with my gf and kids has inspired me to dig out my notes ...
  3. I hope so, though I just crushed my finger tip ... 8 weeks with a splint on my writing hand. Plenty of typos too.
  4. Hi all, I am back. Trying to pick up where I left off, and recall everything I had going on. Pulling all of my notes together. Hope to get back on the horse so the speak ... Cheers!
  5. I think Ben is right. Sometimes, a setting requires enough modifications and optional rules to make it work, doing it as a sourcebook is not optimal. Other times, this kind of wrenching is not required, and a supplement is sufficient. Not having the flexibility to handle both cases is short sighted and can pigeonhole/hamstring the development and publishing of material.
  6. I actually had a similar idea some time back. Drop Balance, and only use Law and Chaos. To achieve Balance, Law and Chaos must be kept in check, and moving too far in one direction or the other moves you into Agent/Champion. I also had an idea for Redemption - moving back towards the Balance should a character become an Agent/Champion (a la Rackhir). Basically pulling from Pendragon's Passions/Traits, various Allegiance rules from Elric!/SB5, and elsewhere. I also tapped into some corruption/madness stuff to add to the power gained from becoming an Agent/Champion.
  7. Well, considering Elric and Conan met semi-officially in Marvel Comic's Conan (a story actually written by Mike himself), there is precedence to do an EC/Conan crossover. Which, of course, can be extended to add some Cthulhu Mythos as well ... Muuhaahaahaahaahaahaa !
  8. I've always played the old school Stormbringer way - INT+POW >= 32. That way you could have very studious wizards who spend countless hours pouring over tomes, but need to be very careful lest they lose too much POW and thus the ability to cast/summon becomes more and more difficult. Or, you can have characters with raw, unbridled power and ability, but lack the knowledge to grasp the nuances and truly arcane arts. Or, you have the god-like Melniboneans, who have the INT and the POW, and are the source of nightmarish fairy tales and can level whole armies/fleets. But, that's me ...
  9. The old Elric!/Stormbringer 5th RPG had two supplements that allowed you to create your own spells to some degree. Basically, you pulled in various powers, and the rules told you how expensive in MP (and possibly other costs) the spell would be. Unknown East and Corum. IIRC, Advanced Sorcery will have the rules from Unknown East in it. Ian
  10. OK, in 4th edition, this is a summary of CV and POW: The Chaos Value (CV) of a demon is derived from the total of the summoner's stats (STR, CON, SIZ, INT, POW, DEX, and CHA). This total, minus the demon's POW, is the CV. The CV is used to purchase the demons powers/abilities. All of the powers/abilities have a listed cost in CV. Sorcerors are only allowed to assign a percentage of the CV, the GM assigns the balance. The demon must at least have INT, POW, CON and SIZ, with POW pre-determined as below. The demon's POW is a base 3d8. For every 1d8 less, the demon has 20% less CV and the sorceror gets a 25% bonus to summon. For every 1d8 more, the demon has 20% more CV and the sorceror gets a 25% penalty to summon. This is all from section 5.6.1. Section 5.7 states how the stats are assigned, and 5.7.1 has the powers and their costs. 5.6.5 has a good example of how it all works.
  11. I think you are really starting to overcomplicate a very simple system. Multiple rolls to determine success - probably not a good idea. The whole decimal concept is just weird, and produces effects very different from RAW. Again, I would try playing it as is for a while before tinkering. Ian
  12. Stick with 1) and you'll be fine Also, understand that in many cases, when dealing with Lovecraftian or gods/demigods, etc. , often times the source material states that what you are dealing with is not the actual true being itself, but an avatar of the being, a representation of it. So, while the "earthly" stats and skills may be related to the human/normal scale, in reality, the being encompasses much more. SIZ can be compared with humans assuming similar physiology (i.e. bipedal, simlar to human proportions). However, for some animals and creatures based on animal like (or totally alien) physiologies, this comparison does not work (same with inanimate objects like vehicles, walls, buildings, etc.) The comparisons will work in a pinch, or for a quick look, but they break down at the extremes. The Big Gold Book has two distinct tables for SIZ, one for human/humanoid, and one for a more generic comparison. Ian
  13. To get into this a bit more - think of it this way. The way BRP based games have been designed and implemented, the knowledge you have when attemtping to do something is front-loaded - you have pretty much all of the knowledge of what it takes to succeed in front of you. Your skill rating is your target number under normal challenges. When something is sufficiently more difficult (or easier), since there is no other target value than your skill level, the skill level is modified. In the end, whether you modify your skill level, or some arbitrary target number, the same effect is garnered - your skill is made less effective by the difficulty. So, it really doesn't matter what you change. In BRP, the skill is modified since that is the only thing that can be. And this is what bugs me about percentages and an artifical limit of 100%. It's just math. 12 is 120% of 10. 20 is 200% of 10. Percentages describe relationships between values. Just because you define one value as the one you are comparing things to, does not mean you cannot have something greater. Same thing with fractions. 100% is 1. Surely you can have 1 1/2 (or 3/2) of something. You are not constrained/limited to a single value of 1. Percenatges are the same, they can exceed 100% if that is what the relationship dictates. Further, you really need to read the books more closely. The skill levels are succinctly defined in the BGB as to what they mean. It is the level of compentency on a human scale. Demigods, superheroes, etc. go beyond that scale. Read the Skills chapter again with all of this in mind. And, 100% has never meant, in BRP at least, that you always succeed. Again, the Skills chapter states this. There is always a chance for failure unless the task is so easy, a roll is not necessary. And, in all reality, what you are asking for about skill and crit level rising independently is pretty much what is happening. While your skill level can increase beyond 100%, a roll of "00" is always a failure, so it "stops at 99". However, as the skill level continues to increase, so does the crit level. Ian
  14. Seriously, just try playing it. As you get more comfortable and familiar with the rules and how things work, I suspect your concerns will go away. The system has been in use, in one form or another, since 1978. With only minor tweaks and additions. It's worked well for many people for over 35 years. I think you will surprise yourself. Ian
  15. The GM modifies based on various factors. Some are additive, some are multiplicative. Your skill level is set at whatever rating it is. To make things easier to deal with, instead of applying the penalty after the roll, it is easier to apply it before, so that you know exactly what you need. So, if the task is difficult, the GM may apply a 1/2x, meaning your skill is effectively halved due to the difficulty. Much nicer than rolling and doubling the result after to determine whether or not you succeed. It is based on a percentile roll (i.e. most things are in terms of percentages), but it is not limited to 100% percent. With the use of criticals (say 1/10 is a crit), a skill of 100 crits on a 10 or less, but a skill of 120 crits on a 12 or less. So, going over 100 allows a greater chance of scoring a critical success. Also, some rules allow you to split your attacks if you have more than 100 in a skill, i.e someone with 120 in longsword can attack twice at 60. In RQ6, you use your skill over 100 as a penalty to your opponent (i.e. if you have 120 in longsword, you roll as if you have 100, but your opponent gets a -20 penalty). You could, if you wanted. But, for simplicity, and use of criticals/specials, it is much easier to roll less than your rating, and 1/20 or 1/10 or whatever to get special/critical hit. Knowing your skill rating is 70, it is much simpler to know you need to roll a 70 or less, or score a 7 or less for a critical if using the 1/10 rule. Your way introduces extra complication of 100 - 70 to get "roll a 30 or better", and 100 - (70/10) to get "roll a 93 or better to get a critical". Ian
  16. As others have said, I would make the skill relevant to the style, not the bow itself. Then, one could assign modifiers and characteristics to particular bow types which can be applied to the skill - i.e. some bows have a better range, or are easier to draw based on design, or are more suited to mounted combat. Also, using incompatible skill (style) and bow could levy penalty. Ian
  17. As I replied in your post over at RPGnet: I and others here were involved in the proofreading and clarification of rules when Jason compiled/wrote the BGB, as well as Magic World with Ben. So, while I cannot say specifically that I used the BGB, I used the rules that provided the source/inspiration to run games set in Moorcock's Multiverse (using Elric!/Stormbringer and others), Call of Cthulhu, adventures in Athas (TSR's Dark Sun), and I am working on a port of Skyrealms of Jorune over to BRP. I am also fiddling with a John Carter of Mars/Barsoom write up, have played some Star Wars and Traveller BRP hacks, and others. Ian
  18. Skyrealms of Jorune had a very nice combat system that did not use HP but tracked cumulative wounds and severity, as well as their effect on subsequent actions. In my efforts to port Jorune to BRP, I am also able to reverse engineer things somewhat. When I get the combat chapter done, there will be an addendum that brings back Jorune's HP-less combat as an option. It should be fairly easy to apply it to any BRP based game. Ian
  19. When was this version published? I can look up the specifics of C.V. for you, as well as how initial POW is determined. Ian
  20. If it helps any - In the original Stormbringer 1 - 4 editions, where Attack and Parry skills were separate, and skills were capped at 100% (without magic), Elric had 90% in attack and parry without the aid of Stormbringer, and was considered one of the best swordsmen in the world. In Elric!/Stormbringer 5th, which is the basis for Magic World, and skills can rise above 100%, he is given an attack of 150% without Stormbringer. Again, he is considered the first or second best in the world. Ian
  21. As mentioned already, SIZ is not height, it is actually more closely related to mass. Also, DEX is not speed, but rather, it represents balance, agility, and reflexes. Absolute speed would be a combination of STR and DEX. Also, as Loz mentions, re-read the Athletics section, especially the part where it says "For every full 25% a character has in Athletics, he can add an extra metre to his base Movement when sprinting, or half that when running over longer distances." No roll necessary (and Athletics is based on STR+DEX). Ian
  22. It is indeed very flexible. I am going to use it in the Skyrealms of Jorune port to enhance/flesh out the Drennship system for PCs trying to become "citizens" of Ardoth in the setting, as well as develop other "allegiances" for other city-states/countries/cultures. I have also been fleshing out the Allegiance implementation for Stormbringer/Elric!, pulling in bits from Mongoose Elric 2. Ian
  23. Technically, 3rd edition is the GW hardcover. 4th is the Whelan cover, and that was quite a coup for Magic World's Ben Monroe (John B. Monroe in the 4th edition credits). Ben was able to get permission to use the Whelan piece, and he was the one who tweaked the demon summoning/creation rules (if you look closely, they are based on the Superworld Power system). I love Stormbringer, and pretty much own a copy of everything - I have the thick 1st edition revised boxed set, all the original 1st/2nd edition supplements and scenarios, the 3rd edition GW hardcover, 4th edition and all supplements, Elric! and all supplements, and 5th edition. Ian
  24. AD&D alsu used the (in)famous THAC0. So, take the THAC0, adjust for AC10 (assume average man, no armor) to get your new To Hit, multiply by 5%, and that would be the appropriate Attack skill. For defensive mods, use comparable armor (or if the creature has natural armor, again, find a comparable BRP armor, and use that as Natural Armor), assign a Parry skill (can be equal to Attack or not, your choice), and then adjust if the creature has an AC that is better than what the natural armor/armor, if any, would suggest. Ian
×
×
  • Create New...