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Yeah, something like that, although I think I might just mess with the db die. Full db is d6, Special d4, Hard d3, Success d2. I think I still want to up the "soak" values for weapons and armor from Amber though. Yeah, and it doesn't always work out all that great. For instance, in game Bears and Lions have great dbs, and, that's to bell curves and minimum rolls, are pretty much guaranteed to kill/incapacitate a man every time. Yet in the real world unarmored people do survive such attacks. Scaling the db helps with that. ooh, good point. IMO Martial Arts doubling shouldn't really apply with weapons. I find it hard to believe that master swordsmen do know how to use their blades effectively. Frankly, I don't buy it with unarmed attacks either. A 1D3+1D4 punch is a bit overboad. Fortunatly I don't have to cross that bridge yet. Not sure If I follow you here. Do you mean special shot as in special success (1/5th chance) or that they make a call shot that automatically becomes a mahjor wound, targets a body part, or bypasses armor? Yeah. After looking them over I think they could work nice for this. especially since I expect the PC Amberites to have high POW scores. I'd also expect that this is some form of shadow manipulation, and that Pattern probably helps, so I might gie the PCs a discount on this. Maybe only 2:1 for damage reduction instead of 3:1?

Well for starters they are not stat'ed like Amber royalty, they are stat'ed like the normal inhabitants of Amber. The royals are ranked. The same thing that happens every other time someone raises an army of creatures with Amber Rank stats. There is obviously a lot of stuff out there that has stats comparable to an Amberite. Just look at those Cat stats I posted earlier. There is really no reason why someone couldn't go shadow walking to a place where they could raise an army or dragons or some such. In the Amber diceless RPG any player character could easily build a species with Amber Vitality (2 points), Amber Stamina (2 points), Combat Mastery (4 Points) for a total of 8 points, and either use a Quantity Multiplier, or just go out in Shadow and find someplace where they can recruit as many as they want for free. So that Pandora's box is already open. Frankly, I'd be more concerned about someone decided to walk to "the Shadow where Corwin got the gunpowder that works in Amber". Technically, the way shadow walking is described, just about any Amberite could take one of Corwin's bullets and go off to find where the primer and propellant came from. That shouldn't be all that hard to backtrack, although I suspect Benedict has already worked most of it out and has made some sort of preparations. Their STR isn't a problem, their Amberite heritage is. If they are walking around with ultra high stats then it it going to be impossible for them to be taken as normal people. Worse still, if the players wind up with all stats at 18 or so, they are going to suspect something is going on. Uh, why? From an in game perspective it doesn't make much sense. Better. That seems like something Oberon could do and might make sense if he wanted to keep the MCGuffin out of the hands of his children. In fact, the effect could even be stronger the more pure the bloodline is, so that Elder Amberites would be even weaker here (Oberon, being Oberon had an "out" of some sort). I like it. The only problem with it is that I was planning on nerfing (maybe I should call it Shadow Nerf?) any Chaos nasties that the PCs encounter early on the same way I did the PCs. I suppose I could have the effect tied to Chaos, and Amberites, being from Chaos are also affected. Yeah, that would work out better. The stronger the ties to Chaos the greater the "Nerf effect". So creatures of Chaos get hit with the full "curse". Those with weaker blood ties (Elder Amberites, and then the PCs) get a partial curse. Pattern probably helps too. Yeah, that would work out much, much better. Now I can throw some really nasty Chaos beasties at them and see how they react whenthey turn out to be a paper tigers. -Thanks!

Corwin and Random can lift and carry a car; Corwin can cut through a 2 inch thick sapling with one stroke; Corwin can throw an overstuffed chair 30 feet with enough force to break someone's back; Benedict can cut through a 3 inch thich sapling with one blow and take down effortless do the same over and over. Plus there is the scale presented in the Amber Diceless RPG.Amber Rank is supposed to be better than the best human, which means it needs to be higher than 18 or 21 depending on what variation of BRP I use and what the human max is. I don't know any humans, Batman included who can regrow eyes or fight for 26 hours. Besides Superman has a STR score much higher than 30 (I got him pegged at around 200 for post-crisis and 400 for pre crisis, but that's using Superworld) A 21 is more Chaos Rank than Amber Rank. But I could probably shift Amber Rank down to 25-26 or so. Sure. And I'm very much inclined to start the PCs off at Chaos Rank (say +8 to their stats), since all the "next generation" Amberites (Martin, Merlin) seem to be at that level. Oh, and keep in mind that when I start the game the PCs will all have normal 3-18 stats, since they will be on a shadow designed to make them the norm. The idea being that they won't know or suspect that they are any more powerful than a normal person until they go somewhere else. Not based on the books. Corwin is pretty much a given at at least +3D6. And even at +2D6 would seriously affect how all the fights go in the books. I find it hard to believe that every time Corwin, Eric or someone else gets hit in the books the attacker gets a bad damage roll. The problem, IMO is that db is completely separate from success level (other than the fact that you have to hit) in the game, but not in real swordfighting or in the novels. It's not that big a deal for normal characters but it becomes one when the db gets up there. What I'd like to do is scale the db with the success level so that a character needs a good hit to get his full db, and that nicks and scratches are still possible. Yeah, I think you're right. It will help the PCs soak hits better, although it does eliminate the possibility of losing a arm like Benedict. But I do think fixed armor is a must, or at least some sort of dice curve. Variable armor is one of the things that made SB such a meat grinder. I'm going to check the Fate Point rules in the BGB. They might give me the "out" I'm looking for.

Yes it is. But that's not the way RQ has traditionally done it, or, apparently, how RQG does it now. IMO, I think they should have just added the padding into the AP and ENC values, With the average SIZ being 13 and most human characters getting a +1D4 db, I think they could have used the extra point or two of padding. In my experience nobody ever wanted to pass up on the padding anyway. It's cheap, and light. If ENC is a problem, then characters were always better off going with a lighter armor over the padding than to go without the padding. Armor is rather inexpensive in RQ2/RQG anyway. And I don't think RQG characters will feel the same sort of money crunch that starting RQ2 characters did. Starting characters don't take loans from the Guilds anymore, do they?

Yup. It's pretty much grab it before it goes away. Especially if the license is for something that is popular in another format, such as a film, TV series or book. In fact, that's kinda the point of this thread, right? I think that depends on how well the game sells and how happy Greg Stafford is with it, plus a host of other factors that most of aren't even aware of. I don't expect Greg to pull it, but then I didn't expect the Avalon Hill deal in the 80s, or that Chaosium to split into multiple companies, with their games going off to different parties back in the 90s, or that Mongoose would get in last decade. All I really know is that I don't really know. I'm not worried about i, just pointing out that RQG is a licensed game.

Leather could be worn under other armors in RQ2, and most pieces did have some encumbrance, typically 1 ENC per 2 items, and you just stacked it with the outer armor. The logic being that, realistically, you want padding under the armor to absorb impact and prevent chafing. Linen Armor (linothroax) is usually considered to be stiff and hard ( and real world ones were often lined with metal) and it wasn't wearable under other armors in RQ2 (but you could wear 2 point leather under it for armor that provides good protection, is lightweight, low cost, and quiet). I think SDLeary is right, and having the liniothrax be wearable under other armor is a cut & paste artifact error from early editions of RQ2. I believe it's in my RQ2 book, but it's definitely not in the Classic Edition.

Yeah, that's why practically even licensed RPG has gone belly up. I don't think that's a bad thing. Often what people thing is best for game play actually isn't. I guess we will find out in a couple years, since RQG is a licensed setting.

Yes, and one of the good things about it is that, unlike with a standard initiative system archers with readied missile weapons can shoot opponents 30 feet away before they can close the distance and attack in melee.

Hmm, let me see. Average Amberite is around CON 30, and SIZ 13 to 16. I suspect that Amberites, being more "real" probably weight a bit more than shadow folk. I've been going through Guns of Avalon to try and figure out just how much weight Corwin puts on after his escape. So that 43-46 hit points, for a major wound of 22-23. Pretty good in RQ/BRP terms. But with a Sword doing 1D8+1+2D6 (average 12.5). Even a successful parry won't stop most blows. Thanks, but I think I'm back at the wheelwright's! I'm just thinking of how to handle the Corwin vs. Eric and Crowin vs. Benedict fights. By RAW, Eric probably takes serious damage from Corwin's "nicks" and Benedict probably slices up Corwin even with some parries. And it is mostly a low armor setting. Maybe if I just used one of the variant db scales from a related D100 RPG, with a more balanced progression? Something like +d4/d6/d8/d10 instead of +d4/d6/2d6/3d6. I could (and probably should) up the AP/Hit Points of parrying weapons, too. Greyswandir almost certainly can block more than 10 points, and that would help. And a sword made on Amber is probably more real/tougher than one made on some shadow-although the latter might get more real over time in proximity to an Amberite. Thanks again. I'll dig through my D100 stuff and see what options exist. The old 1 AP per die of db might make sense for an Amberite, but it's not enough to solve the problem.

Okay, I got a bit of a problem and would love to hear of some possible solutions. My problem is that, since Amberites have high STR scores (Amber level STR is about STR 30 AFAIK) they will also have corresponding high damage bonuses (+2D6 for a STR 30, SIZ 13 PC), which is going to take most of the tension and drama out of swordfights. Instead of an attack nicking an opponent, it will probably end up lopping off a body part. Yes, Amberites have a high CON, but the extra Hit points aren't enough to offset the extra damage. And it gets worse with Elder Amberites. What I think I need to do is scale back the damage bonus a bit, and possibly limit by the success level somehow, so that someone doesn't get decapitated by a 1 point hit that gets backed up by a high db. Currently, I'm thinking of adding in a marginal success level (over 1/2 success chance, i.e. if someone has Sword 80%, then Crit 0-4, Special 5-16, Sucess 17-40, Marginal Success 41-80) and not allowing db on marginal hits. I couldalso reduce the damage die for a weapon and combine the db in the weapon damage. Something along the lines of a Sword doing 1D4 on a marginal success, 2D4 on a success, 4D4 on an impale, and 8D4 (or 4D4 maxed or some such) for a critical. A high damage bonus could shift the damage die from a d4 to a d6 or a d8 and so on. This way, even someone like Corwin (probably around +3d6 db) might have a d12 (2d6) damage die, and on a bad roll and only do a point or two of damage, instead of virtually automatically taking out a hit location or causing a major wound (1D8+1+3D6 is a minimum of 5 points, and an average of 16) . Anybody got any other ideas of how to handle this in a D100 based game?

That is the thing with RQG. It pretty much doesn't do things like RQ, but takes a PC centric view. Same with the new rounding mechanic. IMO, both do more harm than good. To me it reads like we have multiple authors coming at this from multiple viewpoints, and, I suspect, most of those viewpoints are non-RQish. You mean like a D&D saving throw? Oh, and it should be the GM rolling for poison, not the PC victim. To me, it seems a lot more sensible to just do it the way RQ had been doing it for 35 years. It seems like all the problems that people are having with RQG are because the authors changed things that then conflicted with text elsewhere in the rules that was written before (probably long long before) the changes.

Yes it does. It's just one more example of how RQG isn't all that backwards compatible. It is now. It wasn't arbitrary before. The side that initiated things and was trying to change something was the active side. As far as the % going up over 100%, who knows? I get the impression that whoever wrote it probably thought that it did make a difference. Personally, if I already was putting in an another opposed roll mechanic, like the did with Spirit Combat, I'd have used that mechanic for all opposed rolls instead of having multiple game mechanics for doing the same thing. But then all those ties would probably mess that up (although take a point of damage, roll again next round could actually work out better for poison).

And that is the exact opposite of how the RQ2 rules work. So much for backwards compatibility with RQ2.

No, the poison is the active factor and CON is the resisting factor. The character is trying to resist the poison. So it should be POT vs. CON on the resistance table. The following is from the posion rules from RQ2, but since RQG is compatible with RQ2 it should be the same: If the poison successfully overcomes the CON of the victim, the victim takes as many points CON damage as the poison has potency. This damage cannot be healed by ordinary Healing spells. The effects heal naturally at a rate of 1 point of damage per game week. If the character resists the poison, he takes as damage to his CON ½ of the poison’s potency and, if survives the fight, heals at the usual rate for poison, 1 point per game week. Again, a Healing spell will not heal this damage

I think it's a matter of opinion and preference. To those who prefer simplicity going by DEX "works better." To those who like to factor in other factors such as character reach, weapon length, distance moved, range and such, Strike Ranks "work better."

Pretty much all formation fighting is a good way to get yourself killed, unless you actually have a formation! Realistically the advantages come from having a group of people doing it so you get overlapping coverage from shields and multiple ranks of pikemen. I'd let someone use the RQ2/RQ3 rules for 2H Spear and Shield if they wanted.

That does make a lot more sense. Coming in from Springfield, for instance, could be around 100 miles, and could easily require stopping for the night in the 1920s.

There was an Amber RPG at one time. It was diceless and relied on comparing attribute values and (heavily) on GM interpretation of other factors. My reason for going with BRP has to do with my player, who like to roll dice and fight things, and who wouldn't readily adapt to diceless gaming and roleplaying all the fights. Possibly. But my players don't always know what they like. I'm kinda hoping to make this multi-layered so that players can take things as they like. At least to some extent. I'm hoping to put some clues that things aren't all that they seem. Those who want to investigate such things, will probably find out a bit more of what's going on, maybe pick up some minor Trumps for some locations, and maybe even walk one of the Patterns that exist on Abalus. Those who have no interest in mysteries and just want to play some sort of warrior, fighting bad guys and killing monsters can go that route. Hopefully, there will be enough to keep them all happy. Then later on, once things start to escalate, the players can opt to pick up info from each other, or continue to focus of some aspects. It should still make sense though, since the way BRP works you've only got so much time and resources to devote to learning things. So if you choose to study something new, it's taking time away from something else. It also means I've got to put a lot into the initial setting to make things interesting, and so the first few mundane adventures will get them enthused about the game before I start bringing in the off shadow stuff. That should pay double dividends, too, since the better I can detail the setting the more out of place the off shadow stuff will seem. Hopefully, I can really weird them out when the tiger sized Siamese cats show up and start talking. Yeah. And in some ways it's payback for never reading any of the books in all these years. Naturally, I'm going to be nice about things and not put them up against something they can't deal with, but they won't know that. Thanks. I'll probably need lots of it.

Thanks. I'm never quite sure when I do something like this if it will interest others or if I'm just rambling on about something that no one else cares about. One thing I'd like to do is give the PCs a pool of points that they could use to customize their characters a little. Maybe up a Characteristic a point or two, boost or skill a little, get a quality item or weapon, a pet or mount. Whatever. The idea being that such points would be a clue as to what players want their characters to be good at, and thus things that I could give a bigger boost to once they are away from Abalus, and get their full abilities.

Back in the old RQ2 days a weaker spell that was in effect did indeed block a more powerful, better spell. Check out RuneMasters for some nasty tricks you can pull off (like casting Bladesharp 1 on an opponent's weapon to prevent them from casting something better on it, such as Fireblade, or putting Countermagic on a foe to mess up Heal spells. ). So I would suspect that the same would hold true for RQ2 compatible RQG, unless they specifically state otherwise.

Oh, and if anybody in still interested in how this is coming along: The PCs will be wards at Abalus Manor, and Elizabethan style manor house that overlooks a port city on the sea. The PC will have been raised here since they survived a shipwreck that occurred when they were children (or infants), when their parents went off to fight in some great war. The PCs were raised by some family retainers, and taught the things that young gentlemen and/or ladies would be expected to know. Horsemanship, Fencing, Courtesy, Sailing, etc. I plan to flesh out some of the retainers, who know a bit more than they have revealed to the PCs, as they have been instructed to conceal the PCs Amberite heritage in or to protect them from enemies and relatives. I am seriously considering using Ganelon as one of the PCs Guardians. I was thinking that Oberlon is the one who spirited the children away, and lied to Corwin about Ganelon death in order to discourage Crowin from ever seeking him out and possibly stumbling upon Abalus. This also gives me the option of "pulling a Roger" and have Ganelon be Oberon in disguise. Abalus (google it) is an island and a shadow of Amber, so it will mirror several aspect of Amber. The idea will be that wen the PCs finally get to Amber, it will all seem eerily familiar-even their rooms in the castle will be in the same place as at Abalus Manor. There will even be a copy (or two) of the Pattern at Abalus. Ablasus is a prosperous trading port, and the PCs will have a small ship of their own, the Pathfinder (sorry, too good a pun), which was one of the ships that they supposedly arrived her on. The ship can travel though shadow (a double pun) and can even fly, although the PCs are unaware of either of those powers. I'm thinking that the PCs were brought here by Oberon, along with a powerful item that Oberon used to try and repair the Pattern. The item was brought back to this shadow after Oberon's "death" in a manner similar to how the Jewel of Judgment was brought to Corwin. The item has a strong stabilizing effect on shadow and helps to make the area around it more "real" in an Amber sense. It's also blocks most of the "powers" , much like how the Pattern does near Amber, and what is strengthening the barrier that is keeping others from getting into the shadow. The item is powerful, dangerous, and wanted quite badly by some people from the Courts of Chaos, who sent their minions off to find it during the Patternfall War. When some of these minions finally get to Abalus that will be the catalyst that starts the PCs towards a larger Universe (Amberverse?). Oh, and since I don't want the PCs to find out everything all at once, and to keep the elder Amberites from spilling the beans, the item is going to be (or wind up) on the Pathfinder, so that when the PCs finally set off on the Pathfinder, pursued by Chaos creatures, it will keep them isolated. The item will have been brought here by Oberon's bloodbird after he attempted (successfully) to repair the Pattern. The bird willhang around the manor house (and the PCs) and will be called Greyhawk. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the insight, Jason. I was thinking of Magic World as a base, and using multiple parries and the riposte option to better reflect the sword fights we see in the books, and Stormbringer Demons to handle the creatures of Chaos. I might want hit locations and fixed armor values though to make things a bit more forgiving. Variable armor is very deadly. I was thinking of adding in another success level at 1/2 success chance and reducing the damage for marginal hits (maybe no db?) to better reflect why Corwin and Eric didn't do serious damage to each other in their duel, despite their weapons and about a +3D6 db. I was thinking of breaking up powers too-there was something in the core book or Shadow Knight, that did just that. I got to find it. What I'd like to do is figure out some sort of fatigue mechanic. Nothing as complex as RQ3, but something along that lines so I can use Fatigue to power Pattern use and such instead of Magic Points. In the books manipulation shadow makes Corwin tired, and a Fatigue score based off on STR and CON would fit in with that idea. That would also fit in better with how the Amber RPG stresses Endurance for doing things. Fiona might be better at it, but Corwin can probably last longer. I'd love to use a fatigue point track like in RQ3, but don't want the -1% per point in the red and such that goes along with it. Maybe something like a Penalty die (or my die switching variant where you read the worse of the % dice as the tens) for tired characters might work. Say 1 die for going into negatives then another die for each multiple of Fatigue. Maybe I could just replace Fatigue with Stamina rolls, but then I'd need to factor in for Stamina scores over 100%. Probably just reduce the multiplier.

Yup, especially if they don't know the route. You can often end up going in circles around the place you want to get to. Yeah, it's still a legit issue in the larger communities, too. I live in Worcester (the second largest city in the state) and there are some dead zones around town, depending on your carrier.

Yeah. I think one of the best approaches might be to either print the PDF of get the book and then put the pages in a binder, nad swap out the stuff with corrections. Basically the HARN approach.

Another alternative would be to hunt down a new print copy. Amazon and a few other sites still have some hardcopies of Magic World, available. You'd still have to deal with some corrections, but it's a possibility.