Rurik

Since RPGs tend to build upon their predecessors, it would be difficult (if not impossible) for most RPG companies to exist if companies could copyright RPG game mechanics.

Think about it. As much as we like the old CHaosium products, they built upon earily RPGs, such as D&D. Things like rolling up 3D6 for attributes, hits points, weapon damage dice and other all were orginaled in D&D. Even the typical RPG dice (d4, D8, D10, D12, D20 and yes D100), were first created for D&D.

As I recall the dice predate RPG's - they were in production as teacher accessories for math classes.

Of course, provided you take care that neither the skills nor the spells have

names that are used only by one other game.

So Sneak and Climb can only be used in one game as skill names? :shocked:

It is tricky indeed. The wording of the description of the Sneak Skill in a game is protected as IP, but I don't think you can (or should be able to) say that because one game has a sneak skill no other games can.

Hey! Shouldn't d100Rules be on the Home page, under Works In Progress, with an estimated publication date and all? :confused:

This is a fansite for Chaosiums BRP. Savage North for OpenQuest isn't being pushed on the main page, only official BRP products.

From what I remember of the monograph terms you can't reprint anything in the Monograph. I imagine you could support the monograph on the web with additional material. It has been a while since I read the terms but I don't think you can do anything with the contents of the monograph without their blessing.

Fortunately I think Chaosium laid off their Black Ops none such department back in the 90's for budget reasons, so you are probably safe supporting it on the web. Now if you were to try to sell a Big Book of the Green through a different publisher without their blessing that may be a different story, and they may have to summon and bind some Mi-Go to visit you in the night...

Aww, c'mon guys, don't discourage them. I don't know what would make BRP more popular but this board could use some more good old flaming wars for sure. I was just thinking about creating a poll to see who is winning this one. >:->

I guess I can live with the Sky Mountain. My wanting to avoid it is probably just 'wanton'.

Mind you, things like that can have odd effects, that puncture the fantasy unexpectedly. Frex, there'd be no sun-'dials' - they'd be straight. A mate of mine had two suns: nice touch. The moon, though, had a fixed 28-day cycle, corresponding to the 28-day months: neat, except the day-of-the-month supposedly gave the fraction of fullness (in 28ths). Eventually, we twigged that meant it 'pinged' back from full to new in one day! Most amusing, and I liked it, but after toying with ideas about silver-plant-growths and crazy cosmologies, he cracked and reverted to a standard lunar cycle. Shame.

The principle remains, though - will the next contribution bring something over-arching and, to me, unacceptable?

It is exactly those little details that can make the world distinctive though - it isn't always easy being different in the crowded fantasy market. They key is to be unique, but so alien or hard to learn that the setting is not accessible.

Yes, the sun dial would not exist. Navigation would be very different. One of the key differences is that shadows would not move. The shady side of a tree or building would be always shady - it would never get any sun. The sides of mounjtain ranges facing away from the Sky Mountain would be in perpetual shadow.

With real world science this would create some big problems, but hey, this is fantasy. I'm thinking the earth itself is a source of warmth (or earth god/goddess) in addition to the sun. Or maybe not, maybe cold darklands closer to the sky mountain (but in perpetual shade) are not a bad thing.

That's the ideal attitude to have when contributing, of course.

But potential contributors may be put off by the 'absolutes' (like me, by the Sun-Mountain thing). And who knows what other wacky absolutes might come along? Politeness and a natural desire to get contributions might well prevent the SharedWorld Committee from saying "No!" - and then we're stuck with it.

(Like Thieves' World - I recall some rubbish story said all Mages had to hide a "secret", or lose their power. Lame and stupid. But it became canon.)

As I've been out of touch, what is the D100Rules?

Some coming ruleset by a guy who some say is a Beetle but I really think he's just a Troll. Goes by the name of Trifletraxor or something like that.

Details here.

Also, don't forget to vote for the trollkin to die in the poll in my sig!

Well, there was that rough draft that I sent you to look over two years ago. Did you ever read it?

I did, but it was a while ago. I'll look it up again, as I recall it had some pretty solid ideas.

I have my own houserules for MRQ1 that I am pretty happy with and could easily put together.

I still prefer to be able to point someone to an established ruleset they can get freely or at least cheaply. While I prefer my houseruled MRQ to by the book MRQ (duh - they're my rules) I was perfectly happy running PBP games with the MRQ SRD.

Anything I put forward into the Sky Mountain Shared World I put forward with the full knowledge that it is no longer entirely 'mine' and is now subject to the collective project. I think such an attitude is essential to the success of such a project. If Portal gets destroyed by Laser Brained Charnjibbers then so be it (which mind you is not so far off from the original plot line for the city I had before I out out there for Sky Mountain - the city was after all almost destroyed when the Akershule opened a gate that let through hordes of yet undescribed demons and the gate still remains, held shut by centuries old spells of the now dead Akershule - I wonder if how long the spells will hold up?).

The whole reason for the gates was so that some people could contribute without really giving up control of their worlds or conforming to the absolutes of Sky Mountain (tech level, flat world, the sun lives on top of a big mountain). So contributors can partake in the shared setting of Sky Mountain, similar to the collective development of Gwenthia, while others could link their own setting to Sky Mountain by a gate (and maintain control of their setting).

I think that for they Sky Mountain portion there should be consistency in things like geography for the purpose of 'published' material. Things like maps are an essential part of a fantasy setting, and one of the original goals was to make a freely available and accessible setting for BRP. If everyone who posts something to Shared World contradicts other contributors the 'accessible' bit is pretty much shot.

The ultimate goal is to have a usable setting, with regional supplements, scenarios, maps and such freely available. Now if Frogspawner wants to unleash Charnjibbers with Lasers on it, or Dragonewt wants to turn most of the world into a giant dragon, so be it. I think it is normal for GM's to personalize setting material they buy (or download). But I don't think it is good for a contributor to wantonly contradict what has been released for the setting previously.

It remains fully compatible. There will be a revised RQ Empires which will take into account some of the changes to the core rules, but the essentials will be unchanged. I'll also be extending its content to include more character options. No plans at the moment to do the same with G,F&C, but that doesn't mean there won't be a revision.

Will there be errata in some cases like Empires to bring original copies in line with MRQ2 updated copies?

If the changes you describe for Empires are as minimal as they sound an errata for it should be simple enough. It doesn't sound like they warrant buying a whole new copy but also purchasers of the the original book shouldn't be locked out of the updates.

I'm noy suggesting this for all reprints - obviously the changes for the Cults Books and the Glorantha Book/Players Guide sound too extensive for simple errata, and the new books will warrant a new purchase. But for books that get minor updates errata will be nice - especially for those of us who bought most of the originals and are facing re-buying a fair amount of material.

Matt Sprange has made it clear that all licensed RQ supplements will have to stop sales in one year (this does NOT include OpenQuest). Don't you think this will make some more quality third party materials available?

While not quite kicking in your door in the middle of the night, burning all your hard drives and re-formatting all your printed inventory, that is still bit depressing. I wonder why they had such a change of heart.

So will there be a BRP Version of Stupor Mundi forthcoming?

Gadzooks Rurik!

Just put Hit Locations back in OQ, its not hard to do.

Either that or I'll do the donkey work and put them back in as an optional rule, which I'll post on them on the OpenQuest Companion.

Sure OpenQuest is designed with how I like to play D100 these days in mind. This does mean a few of old RQs sacred cows (Hit Locations, Tick Skill advancement, golf bags of indivdual weapons) gots slaughtered along the way, but I also made it easy enough to put those sacred cows back in the game if you miss them.

I could put them back in, yes. But then I am really just using another heavily houseruled system. Don't get me wrong - I love house rules. I make lots.

But I really would like a system to use off the shelf. I have played a houseruled MRQ that I prefer to 'off the shelf' MRQ but I also have played MRQ almost completely by the book (the revised players update/deluxe version) and it honestly plays well enough.

It was great being able to tell someone they could just download the SRD (especially DirkD's DeluxeSRD). I was really hoping (and expecting honestly) that MRQ2 would fix a lot of the problems of MRQ1 and have an SRD. I'm pretty bummed there is not one.

With there being no MRQ SRD I don't really have a BRP based open system with Hit Locations to turn to. I could put my own together based on the MRQ SRD/OpenQuest (and may still) but do we really need another d100 variant?

D100Rules sounds promising, but it also sounds a ways off.

While I liked reactions I am not all too sad to see them go. Being a long time RQ fan I am not scared of bookeeping (ahh, Sapienza Squad Sheet how I miss thee now...).

MRQ1 was supposed to have 'streamlined' combat, and did a couple things to speed up combat, but keeping track of actions/reactions ate up any gains made.

Is there a general limit regarding the level of technology that is available?

The reason I ask is that one area (neigbourhood or via portal) that is high tech will dramatically influence low tech areas.

Is it bronze age, middle ages, or other?

The fate of my charnjibbers (with lasers attached to their heads) hangs in the balance.

I was envisioning an early Iron Age general level of tech.

The portals/gates are a means of connecting other worlds to the Sky Mountain world so that some participants could connect their own worlds without having to be limited by the shared world itself. As such I think gates should be very limited in use - not open dorways to other worlds. Much power would be needed to move a few people through aportal to another world (say maybe a typical RPG party sized group) - but not moving whole armies through. That would definately destroy the balance.

Indeed in Portal there are gate cults to some of the ancient gates in the city - group who worship one gate, some of which can manipulate them even - though with great effort and not always with a safe understanding of what they are doing.

I'll be working on Shareworld during the summer. Could you tell me a bit more about how you visualize the people around the Portal. I'm especially thinking about culture and religion. What world-equivalent would it be?

SGL.

I've pictured the tribes in the land around Portal kind of like mounted Vikings. A horse people but not nomadic as say Mongols or Tartars. They are primarily mounted melee fighters, not horse archers. I wanted there to be melting pot of cultures at Portal though, so there is plenty of room for variation. Perhaps more nomadic types east of the River Jule and the more settled tribes described above east of the river.

The mountains north of Portal (the headwaters for the River Jule) are inhabited by a fierce mountain folk. In an earlier thread the thought of having Shared World be 'human only' was brought up, and I had some thoughts on creating human cultures that represented classic fantasy races. I had come up with rugged mountain men that live in cave complexes. Food in such a habitat is scarce, and one of their primary food sources is cannibalism. They live in dark caves and have good night vision, and raid neighboring people at night for food and slaves. To outsiders they are as fierce and frightening as Orcs or Goblins would be. These could be (but do not need to be) the folk north of Portal.

South of Portal is the coast, and some islands, where their is a maritime culture. Corsair like at first thought (and I haven't given them much more than that).

The people of Portal itself are an urbanised mix of the surrounding cultures (the ones that united to help the Akershule drive the demon armies back through the gates and then turned on and destroyed the Akershule). The City itself has a city cult that is also a hero cult to Thakyr Ryn (the barbarian leader who unified the tribes and took the city). Native cults of the surrounding cultures are allowed (in the outer city)- so long as they don't cause any trouble.

That is a nutshell of what I had envisioned for Portal it's immediate surroundings.

That's sad. Maybe we could get SharedWorld up-and-running again, and generate some product for 'The Collective'...?

I'm game for that. I've never abandoned it, I was just away from gaming for a few months but have some Shared World stuff on the back burner. This time of year is always very busy for me but I plan to get cooking again soon on a few projects and starting up some games.

I think I'll go make one of the semi-annual posts in the Shared World Forum now.

Damn - Frogspawner praising Mongoose - I thought this wasn't supposed to happen until December 2012.

Ask Trif about his expectations for MRQ 1.

If Trif had been happy with MRQ1 we may not have this board today...

For those so inclined Realms of Cthulhu is a licensed Call of Cthulhu game using the Savage Worlds rules - a system built for pulp. Worth a look for those who can't wait for the stars to be right for Pulp Cthulhu.

SDLeary and myself drank everything all to prevent everyone else from stealing it and getting out of hand.

It seems to have worked as most people were pretty well behaved while you were gone.

You are welcome,

Rurik

Oh yeah - and welcome back!

OpenQuest is a great system, but I am a Hit Location and Weapon AP kind of guy (though I'm softening on the weapon AP).

I am all in favor of streamlining RQ, but I gotta have my locations. MRQ1 claimed to streamline RQ, and actually succeeded in some areas but failed miserably in other areas.

There is nothing to prevent someone for creating supplements or rules based on the original MRQ SRD. Mongoose claims the stat blocks will be the mostly the same between the versions. Still it is very disapointing that the new 'fixed' rules will not be open.

Maybe D100Rules will fit the bill for me.

Mongoose understands this relationship - that is why the MRQ SRD exists. After all, once they started as a small d101 Games using WotC's SRD.

From the Mongoose Board:

No.

I will now officially eat crow.

Anyone know any good recipes?

Yup, rock lizard. That is what I always figured (RQ2 and Drules).

Not a California Rock Lizard - a Glorantha Rock Lizard.

And Atgxtg go vote man! You know it is going to die someday!

But I don't think that fact - that BRP is a simple, logical, quick and elegant system comes through in reading the big book of BRP. A smaller, more focused book, maybe even genre specific, without optional rules, would be much better for growing the popularity of the system.

But it is not, IMHO, the best vehicle for introducing new players to the system.

Does the free quick-start guide not provide this? I haven't read it. Or does there need to be a 'players edition' of BRP somewhere in between?

The quick start guide is excellent as a quick start guide but it is not really the same thing as a concise, focused, complete rule system. Also, some of the scenarios provided with it reference rules not in the quick start (auto fire comes to mind).

If it included say a more complete weapon /armor table from one genre (say fantasy) and one lite (but complete) power system it would be pretty close though.

Somebody mentioned D101games/Drules - ironically, don't these free and very similar rulesets dilute BRP's potential customer base? Would BRP be more popular if they didn't exist? (NOTE: I'm not faulting them in any way, just speculating here).

I don't really think so. I think the interoperability helps the BRP family as a whole. OpenQuest is based on the MRQ SRD. I just saw a thread on RPG net where someone was interested in the Mongoose Eternal Champion line but didn't like hit locations. So buy the Mongoose books and use OpenQuest - problem solved. The conversion is easy (OQ being a derivitve of MRQ), and Mongoose gets business it might not have had if OpenQuest did not exist while OpenQuest gets business from someone who might have never heard of d101 Games without having been exposed to Mongoose EC first.

Mongoose understands this relationship - that is why the MRQ SRD exists. After all, once they started as a small d101 Games using WotC's SRD.

Geting more back to the original topic if BRP is not the best way to bring in new gamers it definately has a place. Once people are introduced, converted, indoctrinated and assimiliated into the BRP wholeness they will want the big book of everything. But first they must be converted and brought into the fold. We need a slimmer, sexier, shinier bauble to catch their attention first.

Loz is listed as the author on all web sites that have it listed. And Loz has credited Pete Nash with much of the rules input and development as well in past posts.