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

No still does not make sense

"Critical attack versus special parry

partially deflected or dodged and achieves a

success. Attacker strikes defender and rolls damage

normally. Defender’s armor value subtracted from

damage. Parrying weapon or shield takes 2 points of

damage.*"

Nothing in that states that any damage is reduced it is the quality of success that is reduced. Damaged inflicted to Parrying weapons is a fixed amout and has nothing to do with the weapon used. These rules seem to come from Elric "/ SB 5. But the Damage rolled v's Weapon Hp'ss is only applied on Attacks and Parries with same result e.g. Successful attack v's successful Parry.

This is the Elric rule.

"DAMAGE FROM PARRIES Weapons and shields can also be damaged. Weapons are built to withstand hammerings, and weapons and shields normally parry without damage. However, if the rolled damage from a very strong blow exceeds a weapon's hit points by at least one hit point, the weapon then breaks. If yet more points of damage were done by the blow, these would pass on to the target. Shields behave the same way but are stronger, breaking when their hit points reach zero, not when their hit points are first exceeded. >Exception: the attack and parry matrix notes two instances when a weapon (but not a shield) loses hit points without first having itsown hit points exceeded."

How would you implement the rule as written? Attack rolls critical and defernder rolls success. Attackers rolls normal damage and compares it to the defending weapon's hit points - 4. If the damage is greater the weapon is broken and the difference is applied to the target.

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 give it to you for free.

One option is Total Hit Points - having PCs' HP equal to the total of SIZ+CON, rather than their average. Minor NPCs have "normal" HPs, but heroes and major NPCs have the higher totals.

There are also rules for a fate point style mechanic which can be used to alter dice rolls, serve as ersatz armor, and other nifty tweaks to help ensure PC survival.

These are both optional systems.

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

Is there any progress on this thus far?

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

Weapon breakage rules seemed to be mostly Stormbringer / Elric rules with some RQ 3 stiched on . The * note at the bottom of the Attack and Defense matrix does not make sense. It talks about the remainder of damage that gets past a broken weapon / shield gets applied to the attacker. But the enteries marked with * state that no damage is rolled.

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.

Is the Opposed skill text on page 173 supposed to be in the main text as it duplicates the optional rule on page174? Also it does not really gel with the results listed under skills such as stealth on page 81.

I'll reread this section later.

Ian

My comp copy is in my hands !!!

-V

That is, gotos in computer programming are old because they are wrong, not wrong because they are old.

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

Dooh!

Forgot about one of the classics.

I've always been a Jorune fan, though haven't been able to run it successfully, ever.

Plus, artist Miles Teves gets bonus points for making it from the pen-and-paper industry to Hollywood, and having a goddess for a wife.

I forgive you

And, yeah, major props to Miles for his successes - daaaaayummmm !

-V

Aside from it being BRP and a fantasy setting, nothing really. Just from my reading of the forums here it seemed like "the" fantasy game for BRP and even though my group is currently going insane with CoC, I'd like to run a fantasy game in the near future. I have no interest in D&D and the d20 stuff now that I have converted to BRP, so I am really just looking for a solid fantasy game to run using the BRP system. The Glorantha setting sounds interesting, but I don't know enough about it to say that I am actually drawn to it. If there are other BRP fantasy games out there I'd be just as eager to look them over as well. Especially if it doesn't require me having to hunt them down on ebay.

I appreciate everyone's input and help. Thanks for helping me make heads or tails of RQ. I think with what's been said, I have a little more direction on how to pursue it now, but will keep reading this thread in case something else pops up. Thanks again everyone! :thumb:

Hound

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

I think you're right. Considering that Jason seems to have based BRP mostly on pre-RQ3 stuff (Worlds of Wonder, Strombringer, CoC), I suspect RQ3 fans will probably just as many conversion problems.

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

I've just recently gotten into BRP via CoC and I love it. Wish I would have gotten into this system long ago. I've been looking through past threads here and doing a little research elsewhere about RuneQuest but there is just so much out there it's a little overwhelming.

I am interested in introducing RQ to my group later so right now I'm on a fact finding mission and my first question is, just where in the hell does one start? What book would you recommend to a first time RQ user? What's the difference between RQ and MRQ? I've seen so much out there online that I'm not sure where to dig in at. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hound

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

Similarly, I can't seem to find any reference to penalties for not having the required STR/DEX for a particular weapon. So is a character with less than the stated stats simply unable to wield that type of weapon?

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

-V

Amazon does that automatically.

I expect that Chaosium's going to get the books shipped out this week, and they'll be distributed throughout Amazon's warehousing system next week, shipped to customers soon after.

It's possible you'll see books from amazon.com shipping before the first week in July, but my bet is that they'll begin hitting people's mailboxes shortly after the 4th of July weekend.

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

I have no experience with the James Bond rpg. It's actually a percentile system? I would really like to see a James Bond-style rpg for BRP, too. But, like I said, I would like to do hardcore, "real life" type of spy playing, also.

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

Then there's video games like Syphon Filter that the rpg could be based upon. There's a lot of action in that game. Of course a really good spy rpg would allow for Bond villains and the like:)

Spies and spec ops can always do assassinations or kidnappings, or just trying to find contact(s) in enemy territory; which could be quite tricky. And remember, the characters must get out of the area just as they had to get into the area to do the assassination, etc. The rpg could be made around S.W.A.T. and spec op tactics.

Investigative action looking for the enemy spy or just finding the enemy or information to steal could make for good role playing. So could just trying to get access to the building you must set up the surveillance equipment in.

And sometimes to call an airstrike, or set a bomb, a person has to get very close to the enemy.

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

I would love to see a BRP (or hell, non d20) spy-based game.

It's one of the saddest things to me about Chaosium losing the Eternal Champion license... I wish they'd found the time to do a Jerry Cornelius game.

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

Even just a first run is still good and probably it would of been better to have left it at that as the whole D20 market became incredibly flooded, but that's the risk's one takes. As to the reviews, who cares what some jaded critic thinks. I don't . And no matter how good BRP is, someone is bound to write something negative about it ( like in the Dragon).

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