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Maybe, but if that is so is something that could be removed as an attribute. Butm< I I doubt this to be the case though. DEX and STR are in the same boat to some extent. DEX is useful to avoid then it is knockdown, but is superseded when mounted (i.e. when at all possible) by the skill of Horsemanship. Many of the other uses for DEX in theory tend to be eliminated as a option in play due to the armor modifier. I dunno, most telling will stress that the princess is beautiful, although that might be to reinforce the "jackpot" nature of saving a princess and thus marring up. I agree. Especially if we want to do anything to make non-warrior women characters viable It is typically their highest attribute, especially if using the random method, but has no use or benefit. If using the point buy method it becomes a way to get a higher attribute elsewhere by giving APP a low value.

Yeah, but they weren't originally intended to. At first they really just covered the world we see in the Elric books, with just enough wiggle room so that a GM could touch on the concept of the multiverse from time to time.Thats why the Game was called Stormbringer (or for a time Elric!) and not the Eternal Champion or Mucltiverse RPG. Later it got expanded to cover the Hawkmoon books. In the Shattered Isle the started to make it a full Eternal Champion game, but it never really got developed past that. Plus Moorcock wrote several Elric stories after the RPG came out. Darkcyde did add in a Corum game to the mix too. If the rules tried to get across the size of the multiverse, they probably wouldn't have done such a good job on the Young Kingdoms, as there is only so much room in the book, plus there is also the fact that Moorcock doesn't explain everything, so it would be tricky to cover some stuff. Either some things wouldn't get properly answered, or the authors would eventually get crossed up by something Moorcock wrote, especially after the RPG came out. That's always a risk with licensed RPGs of ongoing settings.

And you could always make the deceased PC a Kami that could watch over the next character in some way.

Updated table to include Romance Period and later prices. Corrected an error where I had good wine = average wine. All the imported wines are good wines, probably because if someone is going to go through the trouble and expense of importing some wine, they probably want the good stuff. If for some reason that isn't the case then average wine costs half that of good wine, and so on.

Yes, but RQG does incoprate some RQ3 rules, so it wouldn't be hard for them to go back and grab this stuff too. True, but then in RQ terms that's the sort of skill you would need to pull off a high end martial arts/gun fu type of character. Unless you just want to combine those shots into one attack, maybe a burst? Possibly equal to skill/10 bullets? So a guy with handgun 60% could shoot a burst of 1d6, or shoot two targets at 1d3 each, or three at 1d2, or some combination of 6 bullets. Then you could just port that into the normal BRP system. . No problem. Nothing wrong with shooting down an idea and trying to come up with an alternate way to do something. That how things (sometimes) improve.

Well for starters RQ3's Land of the Ninja had a Iaijutsu skill that let a character reduce the SR of his attack. On a crtical success the character could attack on his DEX SR, ignoring SIZ and weapon SR modifiers. LotN Also had Ki skills, which took a magic point to use each round, and could bump attacks and parries up to critical and/or allow for additional attacks over successive strike ranks, depending on the weapon. Those rules could go a long way to a "gun fu" style of play. A character spend 1 Ki/magic point rolls against his fast draw skill and fast draw ki skill, and if he rolls good he gets his weapon out and attacks on his DEX SR (which will probably be pretty good), and then keeps attacking every additional SR. A character would need to be good to pull something like that off consistently and for a whole round, but that's kinda expected in the genre.

Yup, much like any "add-on". That is unless it's an all wives campaign, if that were possible.. So that's what two paragraphs? Its' not a hard stat to port over nor does it have very complicated rules. PKs accumulate it, it applies a modifier to courtly skills, and then they get glory from it. So not that hard to include. The reason why I suggested Generality it that it would eliminate the need to track a new stat that is going to do much of the same thing,. It would need to be expanded into some sort of favor system, but I think a wives game would need something like that.

You guess is as good as anybody's at this point. All I can say with any confidence is that it will be book, and Salisbury will have something to do with in.

Book of Sires is out, and here is probably as good a place as any to look for updates. There are a few things in the pipline, but other than the Book of Magicians, the Book of Castles and the Book of Salisbury, a Pendragon based game set in Feudal Japan, and another set in Ancient Greece, we don't what they have in store for the future.

Ringan, thanks. SO basically it +1 to Courtly skills per APP over 15.And -1 per APP below 6 (and Honor!). That should help. The only thing is now all ladies are beautiful thanks to their high APP modifier, but maybe that fits the genre. You never read about a knight slaying the dragon, rescuing the king's daughter and then discovering that the dragon was prettier. 😏 I can only think of a handful of RPGs where Appearance has a direct effect in play (a few have it contribute to something else that does). GURPS and Bond off the top of my head. I think that can be explained with three reasons: 1. Most people would like to be above judging people by their appearance so it gets downplayed in game design. 2. Most gamers seem to focus more on combat than on social interaction., and so the major RPGs tend to be the same. Or vice versa. 3. The "why can't you just roleplay it argument", Namely that some people resist game mechanics for APP because they believe players should role play APP. The problem with that is people really can't, not and do it properly. How many players are going to role play their characters getting seduced by the pretty enemy agent and turning over secrets or some such. Probably none. Yet it certainly happens. But in game terms the attentions of a attractive person have no in game rewards. This is precisely why Pendragon has traits, and why even games like D&D have saves vs. fear. Otherwise everybody would be a paragon of virtue whenever it would be in their interest to be one.When I hear #3 though, "Why can't you just roleplay combat", immediately springs to mind.

Clear where.? Show me one spot where Tolkien specifically states that they are magical? Even the quote that g33k made earlier doesn't prove that. Anymore that vampires dying from having a wooden stake driven through their hearts proves that wooden stakes are magical. And the wooden stake through the heart works of just about anybody. Now I will accept that they probably are magical, but with the way Tolkien wrote LOTR it is far from clear. No, the Barrow downs were where the Numenorians/Arnorians buried their Kings and Lords. So it was a warrior's weapon, and one of very high status. But compared to most fantasy RPGs it is. Sure, as far as fiction goes LOTR is high fantasy. But as far as most fantasy RPGs go, it is on the low end. To a group embarking of the greatest quest of the age. You seem to overlook that. In fact take a look at the situation from the typical D&D view. You got a group of high level characters (and MERP makes then high level) plus some low level hobbits (who for some reason aren't all that low level in the writeups, Sam is 9th level), heading off on a mission to literally save all the free peoples from being dominated and enslaved forever, and the best they get is some cloaks, boots, ropes, and some nice rations. Plus a vial. Again not clearly magical at all. The hobbits are able to hide with it, but is that magical or just a case of beings who are excellent at hiding combined with good camouflage, described in a particular way? Take a look at when Aragon, Legoalas and Gimli chase down the orcs. How many hors or days do they manage to keep running? Certainly beyond human endurance, yet they do so are are fit to adventure afterwards. Yet we hear of no magic that allow this. It's simply part of the heroic nature of LOTR. I'd even go so far as to say that most magic in Tolkien is supposed to be clearly identifiable as such. Sure I can. The metric of most RPGs. The initial point is that MERP has much more magic than the source material. This is common with most RPGs. No, he didn't miss it because magical rings were common, if that were the case he might never had noticed it. He failed to identify it because there wasn't an obvious way to distinguish it from some or all of the rings of power. And that because ring crafting was an obscure art, studied only a a few. And the ring is another example of my point. In D&D if a PC escaped from a monster by using the monster's ring of invisibly nobody would bat an eyelash, and the only problems that could arise would be over if the thief could keep it or if he had to put in into the part y treasure to be split up later. That the thief would lie about a magic item that he found and keep it a secret to himself would also not be much of a surprise in D&D.

Certainly. Lots of people play games a lot of ways, but low magic D&D/AD&D was atypical. It was a bit tricky too, since many monsters required weapons that were "+X or better to hit". Of course. That's not even an issue. A GM could even run a BRP LOTR game and up the magic level beyond MERP/RM or AD&D. It would be a bit tricky, and he would need to figure out a workaround for the MP requirements, but it can be done. However the original point I was trying to make is that ICE's MERP stuff is more magic rich than the original setting.

This is the RPG that has a mechanic to cover personality traits and passions, which generally are roleplayed in other RPGs. The problem is, from a gaming standpoint, it's a dump stat. APP 20 or even 25 isn't as useful as say CON 13 or SIZ 16, so PKs have a lot of incentive to take a low APP and put their points into the other stats. It really won't hurt them. And I think it would be nice if those characters who end up with a high APP due to culture, random die rolls, or character development actually get some sort of benefit for it, they way the do with the other attributes. Even from a roleplaying standpoint, APP as a stat could be dropped and instead appearance could be noted in character descriptions. Why the ladies might, I think the lords would be more interested in glory. Ladies might be too. LOL!. Where were you when they did up the Trait and Passion rules? I'm against putting something in a game that is unnecessary. As it stands now APP just determines the number of distinctive features a character has (which, btw, could be done without a APP stat) and make aging a bit more problematic as PKs can get bedridden or die from low/no APP, That's it as far as the core rules go. Even encounters with the opposite sex rely on skills traits and passions. I'm probably just as old, but again if it doesn't need a mechanic it doesn't need a stat either. Plus, there are existing game mechanics such as Flirting where APP should make a difference but doesn't I wouldn't mind you second idea either. In Pendragon SIZ is very important, CON next, STR after than, then DEX, and APP bring up the rear. I'd love to see something that makes APP, DEX and possibly STR more important. RQ and Stormbringer had skill category modifiers than made attributes such as APP and DEX much more important.

LOL! No, I'm sorry, but that's just not true. I Played AD&D and still got some old "modules" packed away. Magic was just as common and gold even more common. I doubt there is a single AD&D adventure that didn't have a magical sword in it. Character advancement was a lot slower, and the opposition used to be tougher, as encounters weren't" balanced" the same way. PC couldn't make magical items back then, so magic was much more of a pot luck thing. So a player couldn't customize their magic to better fit their character's abilities in AD&D, but DMs were also more likely to put in magical items with a particular PC in mind.

As most know, APP doesn't get used all that much in KAP. It determines distinctive features, helps to determine seating in the Book of Feats, and losing it can lead to character death on the aging table. But that it. Now sure, it supposed to mean something but as far as game mechanics go, that's it. So how can we make it a attribute worth having and putting points into? Here are some ideas, nothing set in stone, please add to the mix. Instead of the training & practice cap for all skills being 15, perhaps courtly skills could cap at APP, with improvement being 1 for 1 after that? Maybe APP 16+ could earn glory similar to a high trait? Trophy wife: Maybe having a pretty (APP 16+) wife could give a annaul glory bonus to the husband?

Yup 10 point cap. It is reasonable. Fashion skill is part of that. I think the answer would probably be an increasing cost for the next plus +1.IN all honesty APP should probably be taken out of the equation, but again it's the one place where APP means something. Yeah, from a game play standpoint sitting above the salt mostly sucks. Yes you get to sit with the bigwigs, and you get extra glory and generality, but those playing cards will generally win the geniality contest, because they will get cards that give more geniality, that what PKs can get with skill rolls. Plus the cards tend to be more interesting and fun that the standard options. A PK does have the option to downgrade their seating though.

Which is why if it is a Passion relatied to the other PK/pals we are back to sqaure one. Same thing with a Hate. If you Hate (saxons) and the Saxons are invading.... Now that I can buy into., except for... ...that, although a case could be made that with withheld blows, rest stops and "called wounds:" the exertion level is still lower. I considering testing out allow for multiple uses of a passion per battle ,but with a -5 per subsequent attempt. I think that would work out fine from a game mechanics view. Those who overdo it will eventually become disheartened or go mad.

Okay, it's not hard to do. Maybe I can add in prices for a few other things that aren't listed in Pendragon. Minor correction. Thanks.

It's a question of "why does it last all day when battle doesn't". Especially when they might be times when a K might roll something other than Amor at a Joust. Yeah, and my PKs will often bring passion up to a high level, both for glory and the greater chance of success. Plus there is the "hidden" drawback that Hzark10 mentioned that passions especially high ones, can lead a character to do something he wouldn't want to. My Pks formed a knightly order to support each other and there have been times when one PKs determination to do something has led the rest of the PKs into a spot they didn't want to be in, or forced a single PK into doing something other than what he wanted to.

Oohh, that is interesting.

Yeah, although it could be between two PKs, and maybe some sort of annual court events table (like the family events table) to see how the PKs/wifes standing is at court that year, reflecting all the intrigue and gossip. Perhaps something like a +/- modifier to court actions? Perhaps geniality earned at a feast count be spent to shift that. So a knight (or wife) who impressed the liege at a feast could shift their favor a step or so?

Could be, although I think it has a greater chance , of the " Note really. To buy a crtical the PK would have to have an APP or 29, and that's not all that common. For most people it does increase the chance of a critical but slightly. Apparently per Sirlakins, they do. Although if the high seating is a benefit or not is debatable. Not a good idea. As it stands now the number of cards drawn is depending upon the PKs glory "band" So the more glorious knights draw more cards and choose which one to play. IMO to be fair, as I mentioned above it is really the only time APP gets used for much of anything in the game. By RAW APP Is pretty much a dump stat. Now I know somebody will chime in with"No it's not, it's important for ...." but when they do I hope they can show some example in the rule where APP actually factors into anything. It's basically here and the aging table. That close what they they've got, now. The problem is that as written seating is determined sole by the APP roll. A 18 APP, 1000 new knight is more to get a good seating that a 5 APP 16000 glory hero. Now the 16K glory here will probably earn more geniality, as he will have more cards to pick from.

Yes, as Morien points out the Book of the Battle supplement tends to limit passions to one use, and lasting one Battle Round, with a handful of exceptions, like going for revenge after seeing your lord or a family member cut down. Another thing worth noting too is the for failure (and fumbles) are nasty and should make the PKs think twice before rolling a Passion. Well, that's not your fault. Up until BoB that was pretty much according to RAW. It's kinda a tough spot though because in the stories knights frequently get inspired at tournaments and it lasts fore the whole tourney, on the other hand a PK with Sword 42 doesn't even have to bother rolling the d20.

I updated the wine tables to include Roman Amphorae jars. I had some wiggle room with interesting the measurements and (eventually decided on making 1 Roman Sextarium (Pint) = 1 modern pint, and some other finagling to get the prices to work out nice, as I figured that was probably the important thing. I can still adjust it if people think another conversion might be better (like the roman congium (6 Roman pints) which I dropped.

I doubt many people have. I could see some sort of campaign where everybody was a count or something, but it would definitely be a variant. Nobles aside, the way the Feasts works, it makes being seating below someone of lower glory a big thing, yet glory itself doesn't factor into the seating. This can become something of a honor trap for a PK with a low APP who has a lot more glory that the other PKs. All my PKs went out and bought Jewelry, so all the gold and gemsmiths of the realm thank you.