Marcus Bone

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

Previous comment removed...

Sorry to resurrect the dead, but did this ever come out in any type of format? I know that there were rumours of a MW Companion (in which it might appear), however I suppose that ended up on the scrap heap with the whole of MW.

I was thinking with the recent release of Chaosium's licencing standards (Fan or Small Publisher), that there might be a future these products? 

Marcus

So I've been watching a lot of different things on television of late (and I don't usually watch TV), and they've stirred together into a setting that I think would suit the Magic World mechanics. 

Five hundred years ago, the sorcerer Helica rose to power. Under his influence the Empire of Alcania rose to prominence, growing from a small city state to be the conquerors of much of the known world. But while Alcania brought with it learning, knowledge and science, it left behind compassion, loyalty and the ideals of freedom. Thousands were enslaved to do Helica's bidding, acting as his warriors in the battles against the free races and as the labour to build his monuments of power and glory.

After 200 years of rule, Helica was finally struck down, not in any battle against the dwindling free people, but rather from within, when Gratanius, his mightiest General, removed the Emperor's head from his shoulders. Driven by his own lust for power, the Empire under Gratanius was ever more blood thirsty. But Alcania now lacked a leader powerful enough to bring together such a diverse collection of bodies and minds, and soon the General himself was deposed. And so it has been for the last 300 years, with each successful ruler rising to the throne on the blood of the one before, but with each generation the size and influence shrinking.

Today the Empire is large and formidable, but thankfully more interested in political infighting, than war with the flourishing free peoples. However, in the lands that have long been abandoned by the Empire a new threat has arisen, and some whisper that it is Helica who has returned seeking his vengeance.

I see the setting as bit of a combination of the fall of the Roman Empire sprinkled in with a bit of Lord of the Rings. The Empire is very striated, in regards to class, privilege and power, and as such is so inwards focused that it can't see its own position weakening while others strengthen.Throw into this an element of dark magic and a corrupting influence spreading across the land,and I think it would make for an interesting setting.

I might flesh these out more here in the future... 

On 3/06/2017 at 0:23 PM, Mankcam said:

One of the best Shield house rules I have used over the years has been in relation to the BGB culminative -30% modifier for defensive actions.

With this house rule, small shields had one additional 'free parry' before the negative modifier kicks in; medium sized shields got two additional free parries, and large shields received three additional free parries.

This is just about perfect for filling that gap in the SB rules.

I guess the challenge is always going to be that during character creation investing skill points in shield never seems to be a worthwhile option. 

At the risk of going off topic, I've tinkered with a house-rule that modifies Initiative based on your weapons and armour (existentially you have a normal Dex for most rolls and a 'Combat Dex' which is used in battles). The idea that large shields allow more 'free' parries would, IMO, sync nicely with that (i.e. larger shields have more of a Combat Dex penalty). 

Marcus 

So not to necro this threat too much (yet), but should I claim copyright on this KS from Green Ronin

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/504269797/the-lost-citadel-post-apocalyptic-fantasy-roleplay

I do hope to produce a bit of an update for my (In the Quiet Lands) setting shortly BTW...

Marcus

On 3/23/2017 at 3:07 AM, ReignDragonSMH said:

I think CoC offers a model for this actually. Once a character starts down the road to madness, he or she is forever on that road. There is an inevitability to their path. Elric was constantly pursued by the hand of Fate. Any redux of Stormbringer should embody that idea. The characters are pawns whether they like it or not and in a longer campaign they need to rise to the occasion, manipulating the three forces to their own ends as much as possible. Yet at every step, even if they try to find some piece, Fate drops something in their path they cannot avoid.

And yes, role playing requires a social contract and games like CoC or Stormbringer require a certain acknowledgement of the parameters of the Universe. Ironically, even though widely random starting professions / lives seems unfair from a game POV, from a narrative POV it totally makes sense. As long as the game itself gives the noble and the rat cacther the same chance to be great, I think it makes the game fair.

I really like this idea. How to implement it is the challenge, especially, as I previously mentioned the BRP has no way of reinforcing play outside of the social contract (barring the Sanity rules). Does this mean a Young Kingdoms game should actually be based on the Fate system or the Apocalypse Engine? No, because then you lose the other aspect of gaming from such proscriptive mechanics - that being freedom of character.

As you say Reign, the characters need to have the illusion of free choice, but the reality is that are but puppets (played by unseen hands) of some unknowable Passion Play. This is why I like to make my adventures challenge the players beliefs and concepts of change - you don't need mechanics when your players are arguing about whether they should kill an NPC or no based on the fact he may, or may not, kill innocent people the future*.

I guess this is why I always see the Balance as a fulcrum (as I've previous raised in other topics), much like the Passions system is in Pendragon. But how to translate to a 100% system is quite a bit harder than I first imagined... 

Marcus

* - This was the premise of one adventure I once ran. 

17 hours ago, colinabrett said:

Hi Marcus,

It has been a while since I read the Elric stories but I am under the impression that the vast run of the Young Kingdoms population don't know a Balance exists. It seems they have been manipulated into choosing a side and fighting to the death. Some characters in the books do know of the Balance and pass on snippets of information as the plot demands. I don't think even Elric accepts the Balance until the Stormbringer novel. If the characters are all agents of the Balance, then a couple of things spring to mind:

Oh, I'm sure they didn't. But then you don't need to know that you are agents of the Balance; you just are. In fact, as I might have stated earlier, I really see the characters - no matter what their skill level - as 'victims' of Mistress Fate and the Balance, rather than truly their agents. 

IMHO Stormbringer's central conceit is that the characters the roles given to them - they bring order to Chaos and disrupt Law. This means even when they don't mean to they are movers and shakers in the world (or Multiverse). I personally think players should embrace this style of play. For example, in Call of Cthulhu investigators should expect to encounter the mythos and come out the other side a little less sane, and in D&D the heroes should need no encouragement to explore dungeons and fighting dragons (small ones at first obviously :P); as an extension then, in Stormbringer the characters make hard choices and change realities.

But back to your concerns, yes enacting this concept in game mechanics isn't easy, not without offering some sort off incentives (be they positive or negative). BRP derivative games don't really have mechanics that reinforce a style of play (it instead provides a game system upon which a GM hangs his narrative hooks, it does not drive play in a session).

So how to do this without adding another mechanical subsystem? I'm not sure yet, but I think it would be fun to explore the options.

Marcus

P.S. I hope no of that sounded pretentious, it wasn't meant to be - rather I've thought a lot about this subject over the years... maybe a little too much

8 hours ago, colinabrett said:

@Marcus Bone

Would you be amenable to dialling the clock back even further, to Stormbringer 3rd edition? Some things it brings to the table include: 

• The character generation dice rolls (everyone rolls 3D6 with modifiers based on nationality), minus the random nationality generation
• The Elan system, renamed as Allegiance, covers a number of Chaos, Law and Elemental Lords
• SAN rules adapted from one of the SB3 supplements (Demon Magic, I think)
• The rank-based Sorcery system might be one step too far but it's something I'm working on in the background

Also, how far into canon will you be taking this? Will you be including Dreamthieves as a profession/archetype, for instance?

I am really interested in going further but would like to know where the lines are drawn so I don't go off on a tangent.

Regards,

Colin

Hi Colin,

I'm personally not a big fan of the earlier editions, and while I do think their 'craziness' has a place, its not for me.

• I'm a big fan of point-buy systems so will be looking to utilise that as an option for Character Gen. I'd stay away from random, but will likely look to ensure minimums (I mean we are creating heroes here, right, not peasants?).
• The Allegiance System has never been a happy one for me - it never really reflected Fate or being agents of the Balance (which in my mind all characters are). I'm leaning towards a system that rewards the characters for staying close to the Balance.
• Sanity rules don't really mesh with my ideas, but some sort of madness mechanics might be something worth exploring, especially for characters leaning towards Chaos).
• I don't know about the majority of Moorcock fans but I think the later novels, while better written stories, were never as interesting or dynamic as the earlier Elric was. This older version is what I'll more focused on.

Hope that doesn't sound too pushie, but you raise a good point; is my ideas of the ideal SB the same as everyone else's? Maybe not... 

Marcus

11 hours ago, colinabrett said:

I thought Languages (Own/Other) were Communication skills? (Sorry)

You're right it should be Communications!

11 hours ago, colinabrett said:

Repair/Devise/Trap could become "Mechanisms" rather than Engineer? I've always thought all disciplines of engineering to be "large scale" endeavours, rather than small, fiddly projects (electronic engineering being an exception). In my Golden Grimoire campaign for SB3, I had a set of extra skills including Engineering, which was taught by the Priests of Law, which might add some background flavour to characters from Lawful-aligned nations.

Mechanisms might be a good name for this...

Suggested Skill List

To follow on from yesterday, this is my suggested 5.5 Skill List for non-combat skills (These are presented as Name - Change from 5th/MW - Skill Category).

• Awareness - Combines Search, Sense/Smell - Perception
• Art - Unchanged from 5th (Uf5th) - Communication
• Athletics - Combines Jump, Swim, Climb into one skill - Physical
• Bargain - Unchanged - Communication
• Evaluate - Unchanged - Knowledge
• Engineer - Combine Repair/Devise and Trap - Knowledge
• Craft - Unchanged (except where noted) - Manipulation
• Disguise - Unchanged - Communication
• Dodge - Unchanged - Physical
• Fast Talk - Unchanged - Communication
• Hide - Unchanged - Physical
• Insight - Unchanged - Perception
• Known Kingdoms - Unchanged - Knowledge
• Million Spheres - Unchanged - Special (starts at 0%)
• Move Quietly - Unchanged - Manipulation
• Natural World - Unchanged - Knowledge
• Navigate - Unchanged - Knowledge
• Oratory - Unchanged - Communication
• Other Language - Unchanged - Special (starts at 0%)
• Own Language - Unchanged - Knowledge
• Physik - Unchanged - Knowledge
• Pick Lock - Unchanged - Manipulation
• Potions - Unchanged - Knowledge
• Ride - Unchanged - Physical
• Sail - Unchanged - Physical
• Scribe - Unchanged - Knowledge
• Sleight of Hand - Removed from Craft and combine with Conceal Object - Manipulation
• Track - Unchanged - Perception
• Unknown Kingdoms - Unchanged - Special (starts at 0%)

In Skill Category Order -

• Special - Million Spheres, Other Language, Unknown Kingdoms
• Communication - Art, Bargain, Disguise, Fast Talk, Oratory
• Physical - Athletics, Dodge, Hide, Ride, Sail 
• Knowledge - Engineer, Evaluate, Natural World, Own Language, Navigate, Physik, Potions, Scribe
• Perception - Awareness, Insight, Track
• Manipulation - Craft, Move Quietly, Pick Lock, Sleight of Hand

Character Creation

It seems logical to look at Character Creation first and foremost in a revision. Below are the areas that I'm interested in revisiting (and streamlining).

• Defining Archetypes - Keep 5th's (and MW's) Cultures and Professions, or replace with more lifepath (yet to be defined) style of characters?
• Characteristic Generation - Random rolling or point allocation? Base line 2D6+6 for all 'human' characters or mixed based on Characteristic (i.e. 3D6 for STR, etc. 2D6+6 for those needing a higher base)?
• Skill Starting point -  Keep Skill Category Modifiers (as per MW), or create a new 'Aptitude' system? Allocate point as desired or provide allotments (again as per MW)? 
• Skill List - Keep 5th's skills or revise (i.e.I've always been keen on combining skills like Jump, Swim, etc. as a single Athletics skill, etc.). Look to change names of some skills to better reflect their uses ('Trap' can be incorporated into 'Repair/Devise', could 'Repair/Devise' be renamed as Engineer?)
• Allegiances - Better define what these mean and usage.

I think that covers this portion of the rules. Happy to discuss.

Marcus

Hi All,

I've recently been thinking about creating a SB 5.5 rule set (much like Pagan Publishing did way back in the 90s for Call of Cthulhu in their Unspeakable Oath zine). What do I mean by this? Well, going back to the ELRIC! and 5th edition rule sets (maybe even 4th?) and revamping the variables for a more streamline style of mechanical play (as is the trend these days; unified dice mechanics . This would likely be more around the skill names and descriptions, magical abilities and other things like that, rather than the core mechanics (i.e. what dice you roll, the names of the stats, etc.). 

Am I barking up the wrong tree on this? Or something worth doing as an exercise on this forum even?

Marcus

8 hours ago, Chaot said:

I actually don't think there was ever a pdf made and distributed for Corum.  It was produced right before that really took off.

Me neither. I'll be honest and say that I do have PDFs of every english SB/Elric product officially released, but these are for my own personal use only (and involved the 'deaths' of a number of physical, and might I say expensive, books).  Unfortunately I don't think any of the existing books will ever see the light of day again, but that being said most can still be found for a manageable price on ebay.

Marcus

22 hours ago, Hexelis said:

I wanted to print on demand the Chaos Cults and Gods of Law pdf's from stormbringerrpg.com. Is that allowed? I'm having trouble uploading to lulu, it tells me the fonts need to be embeded. I'm at a loss.

The fonts should be embedded... I'll check and re-upload. There is no issue from my end in printing the documents...

Marcus 

3 hours ago, K Peterson said:

Can you merge the content into your existing Stormbringer site? Add in a MW section to reference, since it's part of the SB/Elric! family tree.

I think this is probably the best solution. It should be easy enough to do as well.

Hi All,

With the annual renewal coming up for the magicworldrpg.com site, I'm wondering whether I keep it going or not?

Any opinions?

Marcus

While news like this is always disappointing, it is good to hear that Chaosium are open to licensing etc. I agree with their philosophy - to focus on their 'knitting' and produce top notch works (both in the writing and design) for both Call of Cthulhu (which I for one love) and Runequest etc. (which isn't so appealing to me).

Marcus

On Tuesday, 3 May 2016 at 3:09 AM, Goblintrain said:

Marcus did you happen to come across Michael Syzmanski when you were looking for authors?  He wrote a few things for Stormbringer in the early '90s, including The Prisoner in Rogue Mistress, and The Floating Realm in Perils of the Young Kingdoms.  I spoke & corresponded with him a number of times back then. He was a helpful soul when i was trying to write.  Sometimes i pause & wonder how he is doing these days. 

To be honest, I've had mixed success with my contact. Some people seem keen, but can't devote the time, while many others don't reply to my requests.

It's a shame to lose all that history, but...

Any leads on Mr Syzmanski's whereabouts or contact details?

Hi All,

Just sitting here and it struck me that Magic World would be a perfect system for the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying game. I know the original 1st edition rules and MW both come from the same origins, and so they already have a lot in common. What do you think would be needed to create a conversion? IN my mind the list would start with:

• Horror/Insanity mechanics
• A more granulated character generation system.
• Toning down of magic (maybe make casting a little more dangerous?)

What else? Happy to also hear that I'm crazy on this one

Marcus

Good to see you mention the River of Heaven soundtrack. I listen to a lot of music at work or when I'm here in front of my PC, and (I'm not looking at being a 'suck-up' when I say) the RoH OST is by far the best RPG soundtrack I've ever heard. It focuses on real music, rather than just atmosphere, and that, to me at least, is why it stands out from most others.

Marcus

10 hours ago, Newt said:

A Message from Furthermost - A River of Heaven Scenario by John Ossoway.

Looking forward to this especially!

20 minutes ago, ReignDragonSMH said:

I like the new look.  This may be a silly question but are you still looking for new content? 

Definitely, I have a number of half finished things - but time is the killer for me. Oh to be a 20-something student again (rather than a 40 year old dad and IT manager :P)

Errrr... what I meant to say was, yes indeed, I'm happy to take new content for any of the iteration of the Eternal Champion RPGs.

Marcus

Hi All,

Probably encouraged by Dirk the Dice's podcast, I've finally got around to updating the Stormbringerrpg.com website*. Don't go expecting new content (except a link to the Dirk's podcast), but I've given it a whole new look and feel (using a intriguingly named Wordpress theme called 'Lovecraft')!

Marcus

* - I've sure some of the links and images are still broken, but I'll slowly fix those over time...

Thanks Rick -

I appreciate the clarification. As a fan (as part of running the http://www.stormbringerrpg.com fan site) I only knew what others had told me. Thank goodness I never release any in the interviews or rumours without clarification!

Thanks again and keep up the great work you and the team are doing with Chaosium!

Marcus