DreadDomain

Funnily enough I had the exact same thought yesterday "hey wasn't there supposed to be a new edition of Luther Arkwright". It occured to me as I was reading the Loz written Elric of Melnibone for MRQ2 and thought "man, I'd love this as a complete game for Mythras!". I know, I know the version I have is fully usable with Mythras...

Luther Arkwright, World United, After the Vampire Wars and Destined would all be helpful. WU and AtVW have only one culture (Modern) but Destined has three that would work (Urban, Rural, Archaic). For LA, you could use Computer Age Level development plus an appropriate social type. They all have suitable careers and skills just remove the weird ones (like Home Parallel) or skills that are too sci-fi (astrogation). For Backgrounds, LA, AtVW and the Training or General backgrounds from Destined could all be used. Just adapt weird stuff. Or for fun, roll once and read the results on all 4 tables and have your player choose 1. For equipment, I would use Tools of the Trade in Destined, LA also has a good section, although again, there is more weird to ignore. To stick only with one, Destined is the most easily adapted I believe.

Understood, we are in agreement then. 🙂 I had the exact same thought as I was replying. I used "Aimed Blow" because it's how it's called (no pun intended) in RQG.

Love it. Each pieces is very different but all are evocative in their own style.

What penalty do you have in mind for the called shot? This is tricky because if the penalty is too low, every attack might become called shots by default and if it's too high, it might just because too difficult to succeed at the maneuver (you need a special on a penalised skill). Personally, I would go for both. You can proactively declare a called shot (use Aimed Blow) or if you strike a special, you can choose the extra damage - or - choose the location - or - close - or - disengage - or - ...

Thanks, that was the idea. Although we loved RQ3, we were not fond of the 12-second MR with the rigid 2 of 1 attack, 1 dodge, 1 parry. Ripostes, multiple defenses and allowing other effects on special results made combat more fluid, tactical and unpredictable. I forgot to add that on fumbles, we replaced the fumble results where someone would hit themselves with a riposte for the opponent instead (I will edit my post above). Some goals of some other house rules were to remove steps and constraints. Stunning and Subduing is an example of that. You roll at half skill, then roll damage and then use the damage versus location HP on the resistance table. We thought the last step was superfluous since the damage results section already tells us how many damage you need to inflict in the head to render someone unconscious. We just removed that last step and it played quicker. Another example is Disarm where you roll your skill, then you roll for damage, then you roll on the resistance table. We did not clue in on this at the time, otherwise we would probably have removed one step (rolling damage) and replace the last step by a STR versus STR contest. I think it is similar in Stormbringer. Half-skill is already a huge penalty but it might be a gamble you need to take against heavily armored opponent. We found that moving the aimed blow to SR 12 was only a penalty some of the time anyway. If you were fast and would act first, it was a big penalty. If you were slow and would have acted last anyway, then it was no penalty at all. I hope so too!

Not sure if you are thinking of "specific" ideas but back in our RQ3 days we used: Aimed Blow at half skill to choose the hit location. It happened on your SR (not on SR 12) - modified from RQ3 Aimed Blow 2 For each SR delay, hit location roll could be adjusted by ±1 - from RQ2. To be honest, the one above worked better as it was less prone to "playing" the SR system. Other maneuvers and tactics we used (cracking up my RQ3 book to jog my memory): Intentional Knockback - as per RQ3 Bracing against Knockback - as per RQ3 Stunning and Subduing: We did not roll on the resistance table and simply compared damage with the head HP. As per Aimed blow it was at half skill on your SR - modified from RQ3. Set versus Charge - as per RQ3 Close Combat: We tried many things, but I think we ended up using the normal RQ3 rules (moving in and retreating), plus using the Disengage rules but to close in instead (or opening up the range again) plus allowing to close in (or step out) on a special or better attack or defense - modified from RQ3. Disarm - as per RQ3. Nowadays, I would porobably use an opposed roll instead of rolling damage and then opposing STR on the resistance table. Attacking on the Run - as per RQ3 Opportunity Melee - as per RQ3 Disengaging from Melee - We also allowed disengaging on a special or better attack or defense - modified from RQ3. Other house rules we used: Giving a Riposte to your opponent on a Fumble: We replaced the fumble results where you hit yourself with instead allowing a riposte to your opponent. No more decapitating oneself on a fumble! Multiple parries/dodges at -20% - from Stormbringer Ripostes - Immediate free attack after a special or better defense - modified from Stormbringer Slashing and Crushing special/critical results - from RQ2 Edited to add: Some options above can be selected on a "special or better" results. These were exclusive. As an example, on a special attack, the player could choose special damage - or - closing - or - disengaging, etc... Edited to add: These were rules used in our RQ3 games way back when. Some have become RAW in RQG, others would still be applicable.

I finally decided against participating to the kickstarter and bought the pdf of the core game in French instead. I browsed the system quickly and it looks solid. Of course I'd prefer it to be BRP based but what I saw made sense. The books looks good with a combination of new line art and color art and recycled art from previous editions. The content is quite heavily based on the work done by Loz on the Elric of Melnibone sourcebook (which is a good thing). I'll see when the kickstarter of the English version of the game comes if I jump on it or not. Still sad to have to accept the a new BRP Stormbringer is most probably off the table now.

Thanks for the insight Jason. Can you share at this point how Mythic Iceland compares rulewise with the previous edition? Does it lean more towards RQG? CoC7? Does it use Stike Ranks? Skill categories? The resistance table? Any system innovation worth mentioning? How does rune magic work? Cheers!

Wow, very nice cover. What do I do? Pay 10 euro for the English starter in PDF or 21 euro for the French core rules in PDF? Decisions...

The intention behind the rule is highly speculative on my part! I would not be able to judge of the success or failure since, while I read about the issue, I have never experienced any check chasing players in any BRP games I have ever played.

From a mechanical perspective, I always thought the intention was to circumvent the habit that some players had to try to roll everything and anything in the hope to get a check. With the bonus checks, it is now less of an issue (although, you are right, it is done in a way to encourage skills that are connected with your position, occupation and community)

One option here is that experience checks* are against individual weapons and formal training at the cult/guild/brotherhood/academy goes against the whole combat style. * by the way, I prefer checks assigned on usage (like RQ) rather than a number of checks given by the GM (like Mythras) plus bonus checks to be distributed (like both RQG and Mytrhas).

That's cool. Action points, special effects, and to a lesser degree, hit locations have been debated by many over the years. Funnily enough, even combat styles don't do it for everyone. I hear you. Hopefully Rivers of London and Lords of the Middle Sea will fill some of your cravings.

Sorry, I don't understand the question. Of course, you prefer Magic World over Mythras and it is totally fine. I was simply replying because your previous post lead me to believe you thought Mythras used strike ranks à la RuneQuest. What RuneQuest 6 called "Strike Rank" and Mythras now call "Initiative" works pretty much like Magic World "DEX Rank".

I looked into this rule in MRQ2 and it's pretty much what it does. Hit Points equals the average of CON plus SIZ, no surprise, and major wounds are inflicted if damage done is over HP/2. When it happens, you roll on a Major Wounds table. Basically, it's Stormbringer style damage in Mythras.

We used that house rules back in our RQ3 days (without the dodge/parry limitation). I would suggest also allowing the RAW Aimed Blow at ½ skill but without delaying to SR 12. It gives you two different strategies. Bidding your time hoping for an opening (the house rule) or using raw skill (well at half skill) to aim at a difficult position (aka, not necessarily exposed) on your SR.

Another option is the GURPS ways. Damage is not multiplied depending on hit locations but major wounds have different threshold depends on location; HP/3 for limbs, HP/2 for the rest.

Hi Nemesis716, The information mainly comes from the RuneQuest - Glorantha Bestiary - Hardcover - Chaosium Inc. that has been published a while back (last year?). It has basic character creation information for the major elder races. For future supplement you can read plans/rumours in this thread. No timeline is given but it gives you an idea of what is planned. Cults of Glorantha, which Chaosium is actively working on, will include a lot of information on dozens of cults including non-human cults. Other books such as Trollpack, Elfpack are also in the pipeline (but probably not soon). Finally, you can find non-canon information about various cultures and races in the Jonstown Compendium (Duckpack, Children of Hykim, etc)

It's both a good and a bad news. It does not leave much hope for a BRP Stormbringer revival...

Yes, this is exactly what I mean. Given the special effects are balanced for localized hit points and no general hit points, I don't know how well it works with general hit points and no localized hit points. I guess I need to go have a look at M-Space to see how it is done. EDIT: Ok, M-Space simplified combat uses the average of CON and SIZ, as you would expect from a BRP game, and have various effects depending on the severity of the wound inflicted (minor, serious, major, etc). It makes the combat less lethal (and they clearly spell it out as such). Again, very similar to what BRP does.

Mythras never used strike ranks and even when its direct predecessors (MRQ1/2, RQ6) used "strike rank" as a term in a nod to RQ1/2/3, it has only always been an initiative system not unlike DEX ranks in BRP (except that it is based on the average of DEX and INT). Mythras doesn't use weapon SR but weapon length, like Magic World does. As for hit locations, one could use general hit points as it is done in M-Space. I have not tried it so I don't know how well it works.

Thanks! Looking forward to RoL and see have you have adapted CoC for it.

Interesting interview. With the grouos that I have been we have mainly be theater of the mind but have switched to minis on several occasion when we thought the combat warranted it (mainly when we needed to defend against hordes). Funnily enough, my most memorable minis combats were with GURPS. When it comes to the breadth of possibilities, from "let's roll attack, defense and damage only" (note 1) to full blown using maneuvers, reach, extra-effort, steps and moves, tactical maps and all (note 2), I still believe GURPS has the best system out there. Note 1: For those believing GURPS can only be complex, combat including damage, healing and recovery, takes only 5 pages in Basic Set: Characters. Note 2: Basic Set: Campaigns adds a ton of options, including tactical, map combat, and Martial Arts brings even more. One rule that always strike as super fun is the extra effort maneuvers you can take in combat. Yes, you can push yourself and yes sometimes it feels you have to push yourself if you want to survive but it comes to a point where exhaustion gets to you and you feel the urgency of finishing things up because the end is near. One memorable minis combat, where the characters were defending a temple against a horde of beastmen started from a solid defensive position to slowly and then quickly gettin the defenses overrun to pockets of small, gritty engagements. The fight ended not a moment too soon and all the characters were on the brink of collapse (some had) yes because of wounds but even more so but they had to spend all their fatigue to make it through. One game that impresses me when it comes to theater of the mind, simple combat and interesting choices, is none other than Call of Cthulhu 7E. The way opposed rolls, the maneuvers and major wounds work make it both simple and interesting.

As other have said, Book of Knights is a simplified set of 4e and is not a 4.1 edition. I was not meant to replace, update or improve on 4e. Personally, I would not really bother with it if you don't have it, and would get 4 or 5.2 instead. If you have it and nothing else, sure it's usable even if some areas of the rules are not represented.