Marcus Bone

Hi All, I thought I'd raise an aspect of the Stormbringer/Elric! game system that I've always struggled with, and have secretly wished would better reflect what I think is a core aspect of roleplaying in the Young Kingdoms - the Allegiance rules. I don't know about you, but I've never been happy with the way they've been presented in any edition of the game, and even my own attempt at sorting them out (over at Stormbringer! » 20sided Conversion) leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Now that might all sound a bit odd, but let me explain why I think this way (about the Allegiance rules as a whole, not my ill thought-out attempt ). You see, I have always thought that the struggle characters should face in Stormbringer is how to balance their support for the three powers - Law, Chaos and the Balance - and how this in turn influences their opinions and actions. To me these three things should be a driver for all events in the setting, and should lead characters into making hard decisions. Ideally I see them working something like the 'passions' from Pendragon, where opposite forces work against each other to form a characters outlook on the world. However, with three elements this is a little harder, and I can't see a way in which you could align all three. The other thing is that, IMO, these influences should not dictate the character's actions. In the Young Kingdoms the most chaotic character should still be able to act in the name of law, if the circumstances benefits them, and vice versa. I also believe that dedication to one of these powers should provide benefits to a character, especially when one acts in their name. However doing this in a way that doesn't seem contrived looks difficult. So is it just me, or do others have the same difficulties with these mechanics? Why oh why couldn't this be as simple and yet meaningful as say Call of Cthulhu's Sanity system, or the Insanity/Chaos rules from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying! Marcus P.S. Just writing this post as put a few mental notes in order, and I might post my thoughts here is anyone is interested...

Thanks everyone, It is cool to hear the ways people run games so differently using the same system! The next trick is trying to find players with whom to run SB adventures! Marcus

I've been thinking about what makes up my version of Stormbringer at the table; in otherwords the aspects and themes that I focus on during play. Interestingly, the more I thought about it the more I realised that I also modify the game mechanically to best reflect my version of SB! Theme wise I am a big fan of morality plays, where the characters have to make a decision based on what they think is the best solution. I think this comes from my memories, some recent, some faded of the sort of decisions Elric himself had to make, and in the gaming sphere from Loz's Ghosts in the Machines adventure from the Rogue Mistress campaign. My greatest success in this was an adventure in which the characters had to determine whether or not to kill an NPC who they knew would, in the future, kill a number of people, despite the fact that he had no current intention in doing so. Suffice to say most of the concluding session consisted of me simply sitting back and watching the players argue their points in front of the very man whose life they held in their hands... Mechanically, I'm not a big fan of the overload of demons and magic seen in the later SB releases. I think they have their place in the game, but I usually minimise them (i.e. in my Lost Heroes* campaign, the group encountered only one bad guy with a demon blade, and only one real demon). Everything else I run as written, although I often allow my players to allocate points to their stats and generally limit magic to one caster per group. As for setting, I have a weak spot for Menii, although I've run a number of campaigns - both short and long - as well as numerous one-offs in other locations. Timewise I set all my games in the first year of Elric's reign, as noted in the core rulebook, and I usually relegate the powers of Pan Tang and Melnibone to the background (i.e. way above the interests of the characters). That said I have had one campaign, in which I was a player, that ended at the fall of the Dreaming City, which was excellent, as while our fates were never detailed, we were key in ensuring Elric returned with a vengence to his homeland. Probably the most interesting aspect of all the games I've run, is that for the most part I still default to the ELRIC! ruleset, rather the 5th edition SB book. I don't know why this is... maybe because I own multiple copies of ELRIC! and only only one, rather mint copy of SB? I will add, that while I've played and run plenty of Stormbringer games over the last decade, I was late to the whole party - The only Moorcock I'd read before 2000 was the Kane of Mars series as a young teen. My hey-day was in the mid 2000s when I was running multiple games (oh and doing the layout for those couple of SB Monographs), and playing in that epic campaign I mentioned earlier. In recent years, with a move half way across the country, I've only had the briefest chances to run SB... much to my disappointment. Well, I garbled on there for a while, but what I want to know is - how do you run Stormbringer? What rules? What changes? What adventures or campaigns? Hell, anything... Marcus * - One day I might write this up...

I have a big old Stormbringer campaign that I've thought would be good for MW. Just change a few locations, add a bit of flavour and *pow* would be done. That said, it would be be more dark fatasy than high fantasy, and might not be a good product to produce in a line looking move away from its Elric roots. And on top of that my real concern at the moment, with Chaosium flushed with the Kickstarter success from the Call of Cthulhu Horror on the Orient Express supplement, is that MW will be low priority for the next year or so... There is a lot of talented and (even better) reliable* RPG authors on these forums, perhaps we are the ones to hammer a project like a Griffin Mountain through, and more over take MW in a direction we'd like to see it go? Of course, there's no money in it Marcus * - I exclude myself from this, if not both catagories.

Hey! I'm happy to pretty them up myself... will PM you the location of them before I put them live! Marcus

Hi Chaot, any chance of me popping those up on Stormbringerrpg.com? Cheers! Marcus

Hi Ian! Sorry I thought I'd already replied! Yes, I'd be happy for the intro, and it'd definitely be great to hear from Liam as what lead up to the publication of Corum! Cheers! Marcus

Hi All, As you are likely aware, I've been running a series of interviews over the past few years (on the www.stormbringerpg.com site) with a number of old Stormbringer hands. I've always found it interesting and insightful having these chats and posting the interviews, and long may they continued. However, my list of contacts is getting a bit short and therefore I'm coming to ask the community if you know of any one who was previously involved in the production of the Chaosium editins of Stormbringer or Elric! and would be interested in sharing there thoughts and memories. If you know of anyone or are yourself someone who fits this bill, please feel free to contact me over at stormbringerrpg@gmail.com and we can talk more. Thanks in advance! Marcus

Any updates to River of Heaven... I'm brimming with ideas and can't wait for this to be released! Binder

While I'd love to - as I'm based in New Zealand - it's a bit far to travel! Of course, if you're rich enough, I'd happily host you here! I guess I'll just have to wait for to its official release : Marcus

Damn... I just want to give you my money (in return for the book of course)! Marcus

I said it before and I'll say it again - I'm very, very excited by this book. Who does one have to - kill/bribe/tickle (select one) - to get involved in this project (playtesting?) Cheers! Marcus

I have to say that this is definitely a setting that I want to see more about... Marcus

Hey! I've just released an update at http://www.stormbringerrpg.com/. Of most interest will be the reworked Old Hrolmar Monograph (written by Richard Watts and published as Chaosium's last Stormbringer monograph back in 2006) and other supporting documents for the setting.I've also posted the second session of an old actual play of Calisander, Richard's adventure set in the aforementioned Old Hrolmar. Cheers! Marcus

Hey Chaot! Would you mind if I upload those to Stormbringerrpg.com? I'm always on the lookout for good SB support material! Beyond that, it's great to see some more discussion on my favourite fantasy RPG! Marcus

Another small update on the site - this time an interview with Jason Durall.

Hi All, One of the projects I'm looking to kick off over the new year is to create a wiki of all things SB. As part of this I want to create (in part or full) the missing Atlases of the Young Kingdoms. I have settled on Wikkawiki, and would like to create a custom theme for it. I know a bit of .css and .php but I'm not expert (more of a play and test the results sort of guy), and was wondering anyone on this forum would a) be interested in helping out or have the right skills to bounce changes off? Feel free to PM or email me is you are interested. Marcus

First, congrats on moving on to a new job. It must be a great role to give an actual full-time job in the RPG industry! The best of luck! (oh, although I'm wondering whether I should approach Mat to see if he's looking for a replacement Jokes!) Second, hopefully this might allow us to tap into your great archive of Elric creation for stormbringerrpg! Cheers, Marcus P.S. For those of you who are unaware, see here - http://blog.mongoosepublishing.co.uk/

Hey Ian, I've pretty much got everything Richard Watts ever wrote for Elric/SB on one of my HDDs at home (we talk every know and then). One person I have followed up with is Mark Morrison. We have discussed getting some of his SB material up online, but he's a busy man. I do have my eye on something special from him, however. He did, however, put me onto Malcolm of the Herald of Doom fame! I've talked with Loz a few times about his older material, but I think he's recycling most of it back into his work with Mongoose (which is great as it gives some continuity to the games). Shannon, however I haven't thought about. I'll attempt to track him down. Marcus

Hi Damon, You can use a range of logins (I just tested this with my twitter and my Yahoo accounts!). You just have to click the 'Sign In' option on the top right of the forum. This allows you to register through your preferred app (i.e. from Facebook through Open ID, etc.) Not unless someone comes to me (and they have the copyright). I know Stormbringer! is only a fan site, but I really want to ensure I jump on a few toes as possible... Sorry, Marcus

Another quick update - I have also installed a simple Forum on the site. It's a test to see if it is worth while, and it's there for site related news (i.e. I've started a thread with the SB RPG Books I still need to complete my collection). Marcus

Updated the site (http://www.stormbringerrpg.com) with Michael Baumann & Matthew Hartley's excellent adventures - The Sands of Time and Shadows of the Past! As always comments are welcome! Binder (Marcus)

Thanks, I try hard - I actually wish I started the site a couple of years earlier, when I could have got more of Mark Morrison's stuff! As for the WBM, I don't know. They have a pretty impressive server array, and you can get some results from back in 2002 and earlier! If I could find who ran Terhali's Realm, I'd ask to save their reviews on SB! Marcus

I'm guessing you are saying other than www.stormbringerrpg.com? No, not that are readily available. I know the wayback machine has archives of the old Terhali's Realm website - but it is hit & miss finding info via this - (see http://web.archive.org/web/20060424061315/www.geocities.com/Area51/Capsule/7909/) Other than that no, nothing I know of... Marcus

Hi Mike, I was hoping you'd be here, or that someone would know you on this forum! As you might (or might not) know, I run Stormbringer! (www.stormbringerrpg.com) a website dedicated to Stormbringer 5th edition (and just about everything else RPG related to the Eternal Champion). Anyway, recently I was reading yours and Matthew's 'Shadows of the Past' and 'Sands of Time' adventures, and was thinking that as they don't seem to be available up on the Chaosium site anymore, they'd have a prefect home at Stormbringer! If you think this would interest you, I'm happy to talk more (either here, or PM me your email address). Thanks, and look forward to talking further! Marcus