vagabond

Again, Chaosium has copies of Stormbringer 5 available. It makes for a solid slimmed down set of BRP rules geared towards fantasy. Download the Mongoose RuneQuest SRD to get stats for typical fantasy creatures/races. Again, the conversion should be fairly straightforward. The MRQ magic spells are also in it and can be ported quite easily. Or wait for a BRP fantasy setting to come out. I queried the OP (Hound of Tindalos) earlier in the thread regarding whether or not RQ is appealing as a generic fantasy setting, or for Glorantha. He responded that he is more interested in the former. So, there is no need to hunt down old copies of RQ (though, itlooks like I will be regaining the 3rd edition boxed set soon - I sent my old copy to a chap overseas gratis, and have been kicking myself for doing so. Not that I don't mind giving it to him since I am sure it saw use, but that I gave my sole copy up). -V

Make perfect sense as written. "Attacker strikes defender and rolls damage normally" - clear as day "Defender’s armor value subtracted from damage" - clear as day "Parrying weapon or shield takes 2 points of damage" - clear as day So, the attack does normal rolled damage, armor defends, and parrying weapon takes 2 HP. So, the defender takes damage roll - armor defense. Again, it is sloppy editing, but it is pretty clear. The only question would be if the parrying weapon takes 2 HP of damage, but only has one HP left, does the remaining 1 HP of damage pass on to the defender. I'd say yes, but that is the only unclear part of the rule IMHO. You are right that this is partially based upon the Elric!/Stormbringer rules, and perhaps could be rewritten a little better, but it is does make sense as is. -V

I'll also add that you can have heroic characters start out with higher attack/parry skill levels, and use the over 100% rule. Stormbringer5/Elric! did this, heroes routinely had over 100% attacks (usually 120% or more) which results in more crits (using current BRP, 06 or less) and more specials (24 or less). Compared to average mooks with maybe 70% attacks (crits on 03/04, specials on 14), heroes have a serious advantage. And there's always the optional rules for using part of your over 100% skill as a negative modifier for your opponent. You can also add in "feat" like powers - perhaps giving them out at 100% in a skill and every 25% or 50% thereafter, or every 25% or 50%. You can easily use the D&D 3.x feats as a basis, modifying each +1 to hit as a +5% attack and such for combat feats. Or check out the Mongoose RuneQuest SRD for other ideas - they're called Legendary Abilities. All of this is perfectly fine for BRP - the original RuneQuest Land of the Ninja supplement had special "feat"-like abilities called Ki Powers to simulate special martial arts abilities. -V

I've perused the code, but that's about it so far. Really, I only need to use Objective-C for the GUI. OSX can compile C++ just fine. Their might be some Windows only functions that I'd have to circumvent, but overall it looks pretty clean. As far as the spreadsheet Peter would like to use as a basis for the data so the end user can modify the data, Byakhee uses a plain text file to add in skills, backgrounds, etc. So, the end user can easily modify the data source or add their own, at least from what I can tell. The real art is the generation of the haracter sheet. Again, Byakhee takes some templates (pdf I think) and fills in the forms. There are also stock images that can be placed. Adding images is easy as most of the common formats are supported. Making the sheet modular is a design goal, and might be tricky. It would entail using different sections of the sheet, and then stitching it together, resizing some sections when others are used/not used, etc. Java or Mono are definitely "mostly" cross-platform, but I am not a big fan. For my money (and time), I would strip out the core engine and make the C++ code as portable as possible, using a Make script to catch specific platform oddities. Then, I would keep the current Windows GUI, work on a Cocoa GUI for OSX, and perhaps Qt GUI or similar for Linux/UNIX. Reworking the current code for OSX would be a nice start. If I can get that done, moving to Linux/UNIX would only entail the GUI and sheet generation. However, as I mentioned before, copious free time is not something I posses, neither is sparse free time. However, in the next few weeks I hope to have some external real life cruft get resolved, in which case more time may get freed up. -V

Actually, if you look closely, some of the asterisked entries state damage is rolled. It looks like either a global search and add was done on the chart, or someone wasn't paying too close attention. The bottom two or three asterisked entries are failed attacks or attacks that are beaten by superior parries, and thus no damage is rolled. But, the top two or three are successful attacks and lesser parries where the parrying weapon takes damage and can break. So for those entries, the asterisk is correct. The matrix makes sense over all, just a minor annoyance. I'll reread this section later. Ian

My comp copy is in my hands !!! -V

You do realize that "goto" statements are alive in well in concept? Inserting an "exit" statement in a switch or conditional statement is the same as having a "goto end". And nobody would argue the validity of doing so. -V

I forgive you And, yeah, major props to Miles for his successes - daaaaayummmm ! -V

Stormbringer5/Elric! It's very close to what the current BRP is. I believe you can still order it through Chaosium. It's also very easy to locate on eBay. Or, get the Mongoose version. Either way, if you like Moorcock's Elric, then this is a great Sword & Sorcery setting using BRP. Also, with very little work, you could get Mongoose's Slaine or Lankhmar, and use BRP. -V

Actually, the new BRP book is based upon post-RQ3. It uses the system as presented in Elric!/SB5, CoC 5.5+, and Nephilim as its core. The older stuff has been reintroduced into that core. -V

First off, what is it about RQ that intrigues you? The setting? Or the system? Are you looking for a generic BRP Fantasy game? Or is it the lure of playing in Glorantha that you find appealing? -V

Well, take a look at Skyrealms of Jorune. An artist and a writer (well, sort of) came up with it in high school. Kind of Sci-Fantasy, but frickin wonderful nonetheless. Return to Jorune -V

As far as not having minimum STR/DEX requirements for weapons: Elric!/SB5 halved your skill. SB1-4 was much much harsher. The skill defaulted to the better of 5% or your Attack/Parry bonus. Given the requisite stats for most weapons, 5% would probably be the higher. However, it gets worse. If you lack STR, you always strike last. It is assumed you are too weak to swing the weapon quickly enough. If more than one character is lacking the minimum DEX in combat, the one with the highest DEX goes first. If you lack the minimum DEX, you do half damage. The assumption is you lack the control to get a solid strike. -V

I believe so. IIRC, that's how Stormbringer handled it. -V

Here's to hoping my copy arrives before July 4th weekend (should be direct from Chaosium). 3 day weekend coupled with my mother-in-law in town to help distract the kids might equal more reading time -V

Also, remember that Superman is probably the hardest superhero to emulate. You could probably give him a more reasonable STR attribute, but then create a power called "SuperStrength" that allows the extra ability to lift and toss buses, stop train in their their tracks, etc. -V

Well, don't expect a rapid turnaround Between work, home and my own C coding rust (hmm, maybe I did something significant 10 years ago), it'll take some time. I do dabble with some other languages, scripting or otherwise, that are similar to C, and often browse source code to resolve issues, so I am not too far removed. But, as always, time is a key factor. But, I've been trying to find a good project to play with to go with my book learning of Obj-C. Something more than "Hello World" -V

I've used the Demon Magic SAN rules as a basis, though tweaked it a bit. It does a good job at allowing some immunity (face it, in Moorcock's world, no matter how many times you see certain things, immunity may not be an option). Even rules for Melniboneans being more immune due to their heritage in dealing with the things that mere humans would blanch at. But, I do use SAN in my Sorcery. -V

I've downloaded the Byakhee source code. I'll take a stab at doing some reverse engineering it and porting it over to OSX/Objective C. It'll be a good exercise in refreshing my skills. If I can get it running as is natively, I'll look into modifications for strict BRP (including options) and perhaps a Stormbringer only plug in. -V

The James Bond 007 RPG is a percentile system. The mechanics were quite novel at the time, and have held up quite well. Stats were in the 3 - 18 range, but since it was a weighted point buy system, actually purchasing a 17 or 18 meant you would have a very unbalanced character - you definitely had to sacrifice points to get a stat that high. And, it would be suicide to contemplate having two stats that high. As an example, Jaws had a STR of 18. Skills were based upon a stat or an average of two stats (most common). There are a few exceptions of averaging three stats, or averaging a stat and another skill (nice way to emulate skill trees). Skills were capped at 30. When attempting an action, you had what were called Ease Factors (EF). These could modified up or down based on situation. EFs ranged from 1/2 (hardest) to 10 (easiest). So, even the most skilled person (30) attempting a nerly impossible task (1/2) would fail 85% of the time. Most actions start out at EF 7. Then, applicable situational modifers are applied. From there, the EF Bidding starts. Basically, opponents bid down the EF to a point that one of them is willing to risk and the other isn't. In essence, they bid based upon how much of a risk they are taking to achieve their goal. The winning bid sets the EF for both, the advantage of winning being that the winner can choose to let the loser resolve his action first. That way, if the loser fails, the winner may not even need to roll. Anyway, final EF bids are modified by personal EF modifiers (equipment modifier or Hero Points for example). Then, you roll percentile dice against relevant skill X EF. The results are referenced on a chart to determine Quality Result of 1 (best) to 4 (barely succeed) or flat out fail. The EF bidding really suits Bond, as well as any other over the top cinematic action film type genre. It can easily be ported over to BRP as an optional rule, and for more gritty realistic games, it can be dispensed with. -V

Which is why I suggested that something along the lines of Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes is more appropriate. A sourcebook/game that can handle anything from Bond to Mack Bolan to Clive Cussler to Sam Spade to real life stuff. It would have optional rules tied to genre, which could be used at will in any genre if desired. If I had more free time, I would work on doing a port of the old Victory Games James Bond 007 RPG as a basis, I already have ideas for Seduction, Persuasion and Torture using the 007 rules, but adjusting to BRP. I also have ideas on how to move over the fabulous Q Manual stuff as well, the vehicle rules from the Q Manual coupled with the chase rules from the core are very well done. Fate Points used as Hero Points, Ease Factors moving into modifiers, and for the Bondish style of play, keeping the Ease Factor bidding. Since the core is already a percentile based/skill based system, it will actually port quite well. -V

I and others have asked Charlie at Chaosium whether or not the authors of the various Stormbringer monographs could post the pre-published versions online should they so desire. Alas, nobody has gotten any response. -V

Instead of just a stock spy-based game, I'd say something more akin to Flying Buffalo's Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes, complete with rules to handle noir/gumshoe/pulpy to over the top action to gritty. -V

It wasn't some jaded critic, is was a large number of players, both BRP Stormbringer fans and new blood alike. I was one of those who thought it was an absolute hack job. And, it sat on shelves for a long time, as well as got resold quite often. It was a very bad book. Chaosium didn't really do much development on it at all. They could have done far better if they really tried - they just didn't. -V

Well, if I had any spare time, I would work on it. OSX dev isn't too hard - most of the hard work is done for you. -V