Marcus Bone

Another contributor passes on... very sad but also a time of celebration of his work (I remember watching his Real Ghostbuster episode on Collect Call of Cthulhu when I was knee high to a grasshopper)...

Nice idea... I'd be up for supporting that... maybe its a way to revive my old MW fansite?

Thanks Rick! Appreciate the insight...

Hi Rick, Looking at the various data points I know of (none being very scientific, sorry). I'd say the number is in the dozens - say up to 50 dedicated fans in its present sent form... twice that many curious bystanders. I'd be interest to know MW sale numbers over its lifetime myself... couldn't be too high I suspect. As for the main setting (Southern Reach), I do think a number of fans have a bit of a bad taste in their mouths over the discontinuation of the line - nothing personal against Chaosium as it makes sense commercial and practically (you and the team have done fantastically to revive the company and raise the level of professionalism) - but the community was very 'dedicated' to the structure that was in place back then! Thanks, also for the clarification re: the Licenses, your explanation of the Commercial version definitely makes it more appealing... Marcus

Totally agree! It's a hard line to row.

Having investigated an MW licence and then done the sums on estimated sales vs cost and effort, it doesn't quite work out (remembering that this ain't going to be a full time gig, and you're restricted in profit)... Might be better to go do an OpenQuest route... or a different open system (for example Savage Worlds with its much larger fan base). That does sound very negative, but I do appreciate what Chaosium is doing with the Fan/Commercial licences, it's just that for a game with a limited foundation as MW I can't see it really working as yet. I'm sure someone, sometime will take the leap and grab a licence (hell, it might even be me), but until then... Marcus

Hey! I would say it best suits a slow burn, wilderness style stories. Lots of travel, discoveries and lost ruins to explore. I treat it as almost a post-apocalyptic setting, where the adventurers are visitors to locations untouched by mortals in decades or more. OpenQuest works well as it is simple, easy to teach and learn, and is pretty brutal in combat. I've only ever run one-shot stories (with a couple of reoccurring characters). Can't add to the comparisons to MERP or TOR unfortunately, as I've not played either. Cheers!

Funnily enough I was just thinking about it. The fantastic (and I can't state that loud enough) SlipDrive: River of Heaven soundtrack just passed through my playlist (its on Spotify BTW) and it got me thinking about finishing up the scenario. Typically, its just needing a good edit and tidy up - the bit I hate the most with writing! Maybe the Christmas break will see me with enough time to get it done? Marcus

I think this is a good way to go, Newt. I say that as I find its the little things that always block my mental efforts to get things completed (that and a fear of failure :P). I say - get the Companion out and then on to bigger and better things Marcus

Damn yes... I should get this done! Sorry new contract role has had me working long hours and not much free brain space for gaming Will attempt to throw the last bits together in the next week...

I've plastered everywhere else, so why not here - 😀 Hi All! It was my pleasure to recently interview John R. White, the last author to have material officially published during Mongoose Publishing's, intense, but short lived, foray in the worlds of the Eternal Champion. You can read more over at http://www.stormbringerrpg.com/?p=2270 Marcus

Just a note, I have contact Michael directly as to why I made the statement I did, and this is now happily cleared up. As a big MW and Chaosium fan in general, I like the direction that Michael and the rest of the team are going with all their lines (even the new RQ looks really cool and I'm not a RQ fan :P)

I would note that I stated on something like this - right here on this forum - but even getting people to agree on a skill list was nigh impossible

Me three... the biggest shame is that despite what Chaosium have previous stated, they aren't interested in licensees of the mechanics... Marcus

Totally understand... no harm intended and I fully support everthing d101 😀 Marcus

All this RoH Talk has got my creative juices flowing... so I'm a few days away from a first draft of my own fan adventure...

Cheers Newt! Good to hear that RoH is to get more love... I look forward to the companion when it comes out... All good things take time

Thanks Conrad!

Hi Newt! Just wondering if you could give us an update on the state of the Companion? I wasn't in a position at the time of the KS to be involved at the higher level pledges... and so I was wondering its current status? No harm and no foul, just a curious mind who is about to prep a RoH adventure to play with friends Marcus

Hi Oni, Thought I'd throw a few comments up... - After now playing 7th edition, I've discovered that it actually slows games down (not too much), especially in regards to the Difficulty level... I prefer a simple flat 'roll under' number that BRP traditionally uses, as what happen now is that the Keepers (or 7th Ed scenarios) are always looking to have the characters roll 'Hard' or 'Extreme' rolls. BRP type characters are already pushing it to roll under on skills that they only invested a few points in.... - Bonus and Penalty Dice really screw up success/failure chances... again for little benefit. If you have a hit skill already it adds little and if you have a low skill (say default 10%) then all you're getting is another 1 in 10 chance to succeed. - I find it funny, in a weird way that they added the Difficulty and Bonus Dice mechanics, but removed the Resistance table (which was a prefect generic tool) as being too difficult to use. That might sound all too negative, but on the whole I've enjoyed the 7th ed games I've played in... plenty that I do like... Marcus

My thoughts exactly - and talking to others I get the feeling they think the same - the age of a NEW Stormbringer is over, the IP isn't worth anything beyond aging fans etc. That's not to say there isn't a place for a game, but maybe more as a play set for another existing system (Stormbringer Fiasco anyone?)... One thing I found also (as you will find searching through the older posts on this board), there is no such thing as a united vision for EC gaming - Hey I couldn't even get people to agree on the skill list Marcus

Just as an aside, in the one big campaign of Stormbringer I've been involved in, the characters all ended up dying in the Sacking of the Dreaming City... a fitting end for a group of not so nice warriors of the Balance.

While my preference is for a BRP derivative for Stormbringer... if some one writes a conversion, I'm more than happy to host it on my SB site! Marcus

Not at the moment. With SB having no English licensee everything is in limbo in regards to the the old titles. I do note that if you've previously purchased PDFs through Drivethru etc. they still exist in your library however, which is nice (although I know this doesn't help you, Pittel). Marcus

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