rleduc

Don't forget:

Basic Magic

BRP Adventures

Aces High

Outpost 19

Ashes to Ashes

Berlin '61

What about the spaceship that comes apart and fires rubber-tipped darts?

If I still had my micronauts this would make a great con one-shot. Everyone gets a -- what were they about 3” tall -- figure and away we go.

As a labor of love it is starting to push limits – but it will get done! Chapter 5 has two mid-length adventures and I am working on finish both of them (I have over 3,000 of 10,000 words written), Chapter 1 is being edited (a buddy of mine who is an English professor at a university in Thailand has agreed to edit it), and I have started worrying about layout and artwork (thanks again Puck) – oh, and playtesting – lots of parts, but it is coming together!

For the record, I have no idea what it will cost, but it looks like it will be around 100 pages (or somewhat more).

This is probably only related in my mind, but I put an MS Word document in the download section that has all the core professions typed out and formatted – I use it as a framework for putting together my own lists of available professions.

http://basicroleplaying.com/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=123

Which brings up a good opportunity I think, rleduc. How nice would it be to see some of the monographs get some extra support through the BRP Adventures mongraphs? Might not work in every case of course, as some would no doubt require the full monograph to really understand the adventure setting, but still....

To use a videogame analogy, we often see a demo for a game to build interest for the full game. Why not a sample adventure with some setting notes to promote a BRP monograph?

See how easy it is to volunteer others to do work?

Yeah, I already have an adventure in mind – it would be playable without Rubble and Ruin, but would introduce several elements of the setting.

If I do one it will most likely be Rubble and Ruin adventure (I am including two in the monograph which I want to get to Dustin at about the same time as the contest deadline).

Two buyers!

Err, I installed Scribus on my work laptop and my home iMac last week and have been playing with it in amongst work, running weekly games of D&D and Call of Cthulhu, writing stuff for UW and other BRP projects and general life stuff (and watching a Grand prix...) So at best I'm a few days ahead of you guys in playing with Scribus!

In my world that makes you an authority on the subject!

Nick will have a better answer – I’ve been using this software for one day now – but I think what you are asking about is found under the Page menu.

My plan is to set up a two page document – in “letter” format, and then insert more then enough pages for my monograph. The after setting up two text boxes for the columns (and linking them), save two master pages – one for the even and one for the odd pages. Then apply each master as appropriate.

If anyone had any thoughts about this, I would love to hear them.

Me again,

So my current plan is to use my own line art in the interior – it should count as neither good nor bad, and if used judiciously I think it will work fine, but there is this “Robot Parking Only” sign here at my real job that I’m thinking of photograph (plus, I take the train through the ruins of East St. Louis each day and there are some half collapsed buildings that I may try).

Any advice on using photography? What sort of resolution do I need for a small “single column wide” image?

Again, I greatly appreciate all the helpful comments I have been receiving,

Rich

Thanks to both of you -- I'll be looking into Scribus.

Thanks – that worked great.

I have “editable embedding allowed” for both!

Hello All,

Well I have a draft of four out of five chapters of Rubble and Ruin and I am starting to worry about assembling the final monograph. I have a few questions and I would love to hear any advice the folks at this forum might have to offer.

Here they are (in no particular order, and with a certain amount of rambling):

1: font ownership. Chaosium says the authors must own the fonts in their works. I am using Arial and something called “OCR A Extended” both of which shipped on my laptop when I bought it. Anyone know if I can use these fonts? How do I find out?

2: Inexpensive clip art. DriveThrouRPG has lots of inexpensive clip art – most with commercial license but I can’t seem to find any with a post apocalyptic theme – anyone know of a good source for inexpensive PA artwork?

3: Everyone loves an index – but I’m a little intimidated by the prospect of putting one together. What do people think of an index to all the tables and lists and major headings only – for example an entry for each of the beasties in the monster section, and a listing for the “robot powers” list and the “automobile chasses” table – but not much more depth then that.

Thanks,

Rich

Last time I came up with the idea two weeks before the deadline – is it legal to plan ahead for these sorts of things?

I heard people complain about that from time to time, but I generally play with very numerate people so it just never comes up in play – it is a total none issue for me.

It is out: Chaosium Inc.

!!!!!!

Here is the skill list for Rubble and Ruin -- I don't think it will help much for Glorantha.

[table]Combat|Basic|Page

Artillery *|special|52

Brawl|25%|52

Energy Weapon *|special|56

Firearm *|special|58

Grapple|25%|60

Heavy Weapon *|special|62

Martial Arts |1%|68

Melee Weapon *|special|69

Missile Weapon *|special|70

Parry *|special|70

Shield |special|78

Communication|Basic|Page

Bargain |5%|52

Command |5%|53

Dog Handling|10%|New

Disguise|1%|55

Etiquette *|5%|56

Fast Talk |5%|57

Language *|00%|66

Perform *|5%|71

Persuade|15%|71

Teach |10%|82

Manipulation|Basic|Page

Art *|5%|50

Craft *|5%|54

Demolition |1%|54

Fine Manipulation *|5%|57

Food |15%|New

Heavy Machine *|1%|62

Repair *|15% |73

Sleight of Hand |5%|78

Technology |Age - 20%|New

Mental|Basic|Page

Appraise |15%|50

Communications Technology|1%|New

Dirt Farming|25%|New

EMT |0%|New

First Aid|30%|Redefined

Gaming|Int+POW%|60

Health Care|0%|New

Knowledge *|5%|64

Literacy |Age - 20%|67

Physician |0%|New

Science *|1%|75

Strategy |1%|80

Surgery |0%|New

Technical Skill |1%|82

Trauma Medicine |0%|New

Wilderness Skill *|10% |New

Perception|Basic|Page

Insight |5%|63

Listen |25%|67

Navigate |10%|70

Research |25%|74

Sense |10%|77

Spot |25%|78

Track |10%|83

Physical|Basic|Page

Climb |40%|52

Dodge |Dex+Dex%|55

Drive *|20% |55

Hide |10%|62

Jump |25%|63

Pilot *|1% |72

Ride *|5% |75

SCUBA |5%|New

Stealth|10%|80

Swim |25%|81

Throw |25%|83

[/table]

I fully agree with frogspawner.

I know people who view skills as “universal truths” – these are the “real skills” and those aren’t. I don’t do this, instead when I start a campaign I decide if I am going to use what I call an “open” or “closed” skill set. In a closed skill set I list all the skills that I will ever require in the game, and then the players will know from the start how to focus their limited character resources. (This approach is consistent with my view that mechanics take the role that cinematograph does in movies – they both draw the attention to those details that are important to the director’s vision of the story.) If I was doing a mountain climbing game, I might have three or four different climbing skills on the skill list, but I might not have any, for example, artistry skills.

In an open skill game, I let the players freely create skills that describe their characters (freely – within reason), and then I judge each situation as it comes up regarding the applicability of the skill. For example, a 1920’s horror game, I might call for a History roll. One player whose character does not have the skill might ask if he can use Archeology. Depending on the situation, I might say “sure, but at a -15%” or what ever.

For the record, over the last couple of years I have been leaning a lot more towards closed skill games.

Around my house it’s “Jay Jay the Jet Plane”...

If anyone is interested, I will be blogging about Rubble and Ruin on my blog on this forum (just follow the “Blogs” link in the upper right corner of this message). Please feel free to visit.

Rich

I've just started thinking about the artwork -- so right now I have nothing.

Sorry.

It will be a big one.

I currently have 54 pages using an 8 point font – when I was working in 10 point it was almost 80! I’ll have to improve my layout skills before I will know for sure, but Dustin called the proposal a “monster”.

Rich

...this sounds interesting. It sounds a little bit like the Swedish roleplaying game of "Mutant - Undergangens Arvtagare", where descendants of people of today have survived many devastaing wars in a farflung future and many mutations have set in on the population. In that setting though, a sort of twisted humor is a really important part. Is there any room for that in your setting?

I put a lot of thought into what I was going to propose – I could see two ways to do the monograph. The first would be to write a generic “create-your-own-PA-world” work something like Aftermath! The other approach was to take one PA world and detail it. In my mind the world that you get in a PA setting depends heavily on the “A” part – since I wanted to include a lot of “cool” science fiction stuff that I had developed for my own games I finally settled on doing my “Dungeons and Dragons with guns” setting.

That said, R&R will have a lot of material that can be useful for a variety of PA settings – even if you trash my world and history. Most of the professions should be generic enough for any 20-years after game. Likewise the skills and specialties should be generally applicable. For example, I have a more detailed medical system which is of value in games without magical healing – R&R has skills like Trauma Medicine and Surgery.

So the short answer is, yeah I think you will find the material helpful for most PA games, and a lot of them can be run with very little modification.

It's exciting to see all these announcements! Congrats, and I love me some post-holocaust!

My impression is that this sounds like a Fallout 3 type setting. Closer to an Aftermath than Gamma World?

BTW, "rouge robots"? Nothing terrifies survivors like robots with blush on their metallic faces. Rogue robots they can deal with.

The world started life as an Aftermath! Game. The cosmetics-and-robots bit is just a product of my lysdexia (the hardest part will be trying to catch all those before it goes to print).

Hello,

I just heard from Dustin that my monograph proposal has been accepted! Below is how I described the monograph to Chaosium. I am currently hoping to get it submitted by early summer 2009.

If anyone is interested, I would welcome some volunteer play testers! Please let me know if this is something you might be interested in.

Thanks,

Rich

--------------------------------------------------

Rubble and Ruin: A Basic Role Playing setting monograph.

It is twenty years after the end of the global wars and our world lies in ruin. Once great cities are now nothing more then bombed and shattered hulks populated with bioengineered soldiers, giant rats and rouge robots. This is the world of Rubble and Ruin a setting for Basic Role Playing inspired by the classic post apocalyptic fiction of the 1970's and 80's.

Chapters:

Chapter 1: The Ruined City. This 7,000 word chapter introduces the ruined city and its denizens. It gives a short timeline and a "gazetteer" of the major components of the setting. It also introduces the concept of "prospectors"; those brave (or foolish) adventurers that enter the ruins in order to recover bits and pieces of technology to trade the enclaves.

Chapter 2: Characters. Over 13,000 words presenting six cultures, seven new races, a complete listing of all skills and specialties used in Rubble and Ruin - including 13 new skills, a complete listing of the professions available to the different cultures, plus a section on powers giving simple mechanics for biomodifications, cybernetics, nanopsionics and dozens of new failings.

Chapter 3: Spot Rules. A chapter with over 10,000 words giving expanded rules for those things of special interest in the rubble; barter, firearms, building and fighting from cars, and the prospectors best friend the common dog.

Chapter 4: A World of Rubble. A chapter with 8,000 words detailing the world from the game master's perspective. It includes some overview material as well as a bestiary, information on hostile elements of the environment, and sample gangs.

Chapter 5: Adventures. This chapter has two 5,000 word introductory adventures and four 500 word adventure seeds. The first adventure, "The Vent Fan" describes a small underground bunker that a group of prospectors discover while hunting for salvageable technology. They quickly learn that there is an underground complex surviving from the second Global War - populated with various monsters and full of valuable technology. The second adventure, "Kicks on Route 666" details an inter-gang race with lots of post-fall cars, vehicle mounted weapons and very few rules. Be sure to gather information on your competition before the race - and you might want to also sabotage their vehicles. The four adventure seeds introduce oddities that can be found in the ruin and that a game master can expand into several sessions of adventure.

Common Trade Goods: The monograph ends with over 10,000 words about equipment and other items that can be found in the ruin; everything from tools and weapons to nanites and hand-held sensors. All the gear has trade values and encumbrance as well as short descriptions wherever they are needed.