DreadDomain

Good point. The potential of incapacitating is probably enough for slashing as a special. Unfortunately, the Q&A muddies the water but the section you point to clearly and strongly implies that "engaged" and "engaged in melee" is one and the same. Agreed, RQ3 manages MOV a lot better than RQG does. There are a few things that RQG changes that I like much better than RQ3. Movement is not one of them.

That would be consistent with RQ3.

Agreed, I am confident this is how it is intended to work. By the way, I'd be happy to allow a character to rush in with their full MOV as a charge, increasing their damage modifier by one step but having to succeed at half skill.

I will disagree with David Scott here. I believe the intent of the MOV SR is to determine when one can join (or act in relation to) an engaged party. In your example, if I understand correctly, neither are intitially engaged and are about to engage one another. At the moment of engagement, how much they had to travel to engage is irrelevant (aka do not worry about MOV SR). What is relevant at the moment of engagement is reach (SIZ SR and Weapon SR) and quickness (DEX SR). Larry, with his longspear (and MSR6) would strike before Stevie (MSR 7). In the next round, if Quack the Quick (MSR 5) wants to act in relation to Larry and Stevie, whether he moves or not will matter. If he rushes in (for 12m) to engage, he would then act after both Larry (MSR 6) and Stevie (MSR 7) at MSR 9 (5+4): he arrived late in the round. The third round, the three of them are engaged. Quack acts on 5, Larry on 6 and Stevie on 7.

I kid you not, just a few days before the OP, I had Nameless Horrors in my hand in a FLGS, ready to buy it. I've put it back on the shelf thinking "if I buy this, Chasoium will announce it will update it to the current excellent, full color, hardcover glory". Prophetic!

Quite tangential but I believe the BGB special effects are probably the better balanced (with bleeding not doubling damage and with crushing increasing the damage modifier instead of doubling it). To this day, I am still amazed how good the BGB is...

Oh, and I realised you were planning to answer this.

Unless of course the system would be used as an engine to power a new Stormbringer rpg with all the great production value Chaosium is now known for. Imagine that!

In the "it doesn't change anything" category except my suspension of disbelief. Melee rounds last for an undetermined amount of time. It makes the "one attack per turn" more believable and feels less restrictive. In the general category Damage bonus table with more granularity up to STR+SIZ=40, then follow table as is. Base Skill Values change for Dodge (20) and Jump (30) More sensible Additional experience - increments of 10 years don't make any sense. Add a Hard success result at half the skills. This is mainly for opposed rolls but also for flavor (a Hard is better than a Regular but not really a special) and some maneuvers (Aimed Blow requires a Hard roll) Opposed Rolls – When a tie does not make sense, on a same level of success, whoever rolled higher, wins. If still tied, higher skill wins. Otherwise, re-roll. Note that by adding a hard success level, it doesn't happen as often. In the "combat maneuvers" category Aimed Blow at half skill to choose the hit location. It happens on your SR (not on SR 12) Intentional Knockback - as per RQ3 Bracing against Knockback - as per RQ3 Stunning and Subduing: No roll on the resistance table. Simply compare damage with the head HP. As per Aimed blow it is at half skill on your SR Set versus Charge - as per RQ3 Close Combat: Moving in and retreating (as per RQ3), 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. Disarm - Uses 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 - Can disengage on a special or better attack or defense Ripostes - Immediate free attack after a special or better defense - modified from Stormbringer Fumbles Table - Replace results between 87 and 98 to “Opponent immediately gets a free attack against you, which you can defend against”. I find it more fun (and less silly) than "you hit yourself with your own weapon" Crushing Damage – On a special, a crushing attack also inflict a special Knockback (p.224). The target is automatically knocked back 1d3 meters. On a crushing critical, the target is knocked down on a failed DEX x5 roll. Ignore the two exceptions in the Attack vs Parry Matrix ("Failed Attack vs Fumbled Defense" and "Critical Attack vs Special Parry"). Some options above can be selected on a "special or better" results. These were exclusive. As an example, on a special attack, the player can choose special damage - or - closing - or - disengaging, etc... I am tempted by: Weapon skills by weapon categories instead of individual weapons Ignore the rules around skills over 100%. You roll the skill you have, you don't reduce your opponent. I am still not convinced that the complexity of this rule brings a lot to the game. I am even surprised it made it to the Starter Set Introduce the Luck mechanics from CoC where your reservoir is actually your highest Rune (so yes, using it reduces your chances to cast rune spells. Introduce the push rolls from CoC Drop the Attack/defense matrix altogether and use the much simpler RQ3 mechanic.

Actually, I forgot to add: Graphic design Chaosium is really good at this and it is surprising how a good layout and graphic design enhance a book.

Pretty much what others have said so far and only focusing on what stand out from previous RQ editions: How runes link magic, personality traits and overall emulation of your god Passions and augments (although it is in RQ6) Sacred time rules The art and art direction More generally, it is Glorantha and it is BRP.

The link is actually direct. Each skill (compétence) has a list of relevant expertise (prédilections) associated to it.

[Sorry, quoting you from another thread] I had the same reaction regarding playing agents but after reading the game (but not playing it), this emphasis is more theoretical rather than enforced. It feels like it is only a way to explain why characters will start with the beginning of an allegiance (not unlike Elric! and Stormbringer). The text is heavily based on EoM 2e by Loz (a good thing), including cults, and demons (to the point where alphabetical entries in some tables retained the English order and not the translated sequence). The game looks quite nice (again, I have not played it) but I do hope the translation will take care of a few things. First, when it comes to explaining rules, I find it quite unnecessarily verbose. Second, while the book looks generally good, the graphic design and the art is a bit all over the place. Not that it's not good but it feels slightly disjointed with a collection of recycled art and okay-ish new line art. Third, I find the character write-ups slightly annoying having "prédilections" (expertise?), which are linked to skills, listed separately. I feel it would be easier to read if they were combined; Persuasion 5 (Charm), instead of two separate entries. I am not sure if the latest iteration of the CYD, Hawkmoon has made some refinements that would be incorporated in the english edition of Mournblade.

Quite possibly given some of the authors involved. I had given up on Mongoose by that time so maybe I missed out on some good books. I know that EoM 2e (for MRQII) was actually quite good and thorough and like I said above, and as you point out with cults, pacts and runes, I would absolutely plunder for an Elric/Stormbringer game. Clearly le Département des Sombres Projets translated a lot of the text from EoM2e for Mournblade.

I haven't looked at MeWe but I like the write-ups you have included. Have you modified character creation somehow? Additional professions? Plusses and minuses depending on origin (Cimmerian, Argossean...)? Are you using CoC magic as is (except perhaps renaming spells as necessary)?

Personally, I do not find it surprising. Below I quote myself from a few months ago stating how I'd use repurposed Luck and Sanity in non CoC games.

I remember this was raised before but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere. I suspect it is a question for @sirlarkins. The quickstart states for dexterity and appeal: Quote Dexterity (DEX): Dexterity (DEX): measures a character’s agility and nimbleness. DEX keeps a character upright or on their horse when faced with the possibility of Knockdown, and determines the character’s natural aptitude with many physical Skills. Appeal (APP): Appeal (APP): measures the character’s natural charm, presence, and physical attractiveness. APP also sets the default value for many social Skills. Can I ask which skills they refer too and how they determines and set their defaults? I find this intriguing in a positive way.

Thanks for the review, I thought it was pretty good (it helps that I happen to agree to most, maybe even all, your points.

You are correct. For some reasons I tend to forget whatever was published for MRQ1

Hey, where is that blog?! Which reminds me I still need to get Cthulhu Invictus. But yes, I have not done it but I can totally see it working extremely well for a Conan game. Luck, talents, push dice, extra hit points, how forgiving damage is unless you have a major wound. Even sanity that can be reworked as a setback/doom counter. It all fits well. I think most of what I just mentioned would also fit well in a Stormbringer game (with perhaps the mechanics of luck tacked on allegiance). I'm interested! I'm interested!

Me neither but since I was replying to this... ... it led me to believe the "why" was explained on page 243. Having said, I agree with your interpretation of the why.

Although I haven't tried it, I can see it works well for fight in RoL. They are never really the focus in the novels so having them de-emphasized is probably not a bad thing. What I am most surprised about is the that social interactions were also de-emphasized (no CHA/APP characteristics and only one skill - Social). There are lots of interactions of various forms in RoL and the stories seem to be driven by them. I would have assumed (and preferred) to have more focus on it with Charisma and skills like Persuade and Fast-Talk and Intimidate and Charm. I might be missing it but in the section it explains how Luck is used when it relates to demi-monde but not really "why" Luck was chosen.

I certainly agree with you but the announcement clearly states that Monolith will develop the next RPG themselves. A version of Mythras or Stormbringer would be fantastic for Conan but I don't think TDM is big enough for this and Chaosium doesn't seem to have the bandwidth to take anything more. I suspect it would take @Jason D completely away from RQ.

That is essentially it. Impairment can be caused by mental stress (the player makes a POW roll to try to avoid it) and what considers "mental stress" is pretty much up to the GM (or even the player). Conversely, someone who is bloodied is automatically impairment (no roll).

Actually, even if optional in CoC, I believe CoC's secret sauce is composed of Sanity/Mythos, Luck, push rolls and crit/extreme/hard/success/fail/fumble, RoL does not use Sanity/Mythos or extreme successes but retains the rest. To some degree, the way combat works in CoC only drives "CoC type" stories, as it is simple enough that it is not the focus of a game session and yet textured enough to enable interesting choices and results in dramatic outcome. RoL essentially retains the same system with the twist that it does not use Hit Points! Not sure how it works at the table, but I suspect it makes combat quicker and characters being "one-shot'd" more often. As a side note Dodge does not trump Fighting in an opposed roll (on same success level, fighting wins). Aside from the fact you have a limited number of "Fighting Back" maneuvers in a fight (1 or 2), there is no reason to use Dodge over Fighting Back in a fight. Not sure how I feel about this as it seems to remove options. I am not quite there yet but looking forward to it. It seems to work like in CoC with some tweaks. As an example, you can try your luck using an expert skill that you do not have by spending 10 Luck and rolling a Hard Characteristic roll instead. If you succeed, you can spend another 10 Luck and retain the skill (at "Hard Characteristics"%)! Agreed! Yes, congrats!