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SIZ alone can't quite do it. It can get you in the right ballpark, but there are differences between different types of creatures. As a general rule a 50 pound monkey is going to be stronger than a 50 pound human. Generally speaking the smarter an animal is, the lower the percentage of muscle mass and the lower it's STR. The reason being that more brain power requires more brains (and those require more energy to feed) and leaves a bit less room for muscle. A couple of us were working on an RQ 3 bestiary that did much of what you are trying to do. You picked what you wanted to write up, then found a similar creature to get baseline stats from, and then scaled it up or down using the square-cube law. For instance, if I wanted to get RQ3/BRP stats for Megalodon, then I'd start with the large (Great White) shark stats in RQ 3, and then scale it up to Megalodon SIZ (assuming a average length of 17m and average mass of 59mt, that would be about SIZ 89). Since 89 is 44 points larger, and STR (and CON) scale at the 2/3 power (I can explain that if you want me to, or you can just take my word for it) then STR And CON would increase by 30 points. That would give you a pretty good start. There were a few minor details: I had something in there that would shift the bite damage a little as SIZ changed, and adjust the armor, DEX would probably drop a point or two and POW go up, but that's the basic approach. We had a few working spreadsheets and a couple of databases. If you are interested I can send you some of the stuff we used. One thing that we did was try to give each type of creature a set of modifiers for STR, CON, DEX etc. and then simply applied those to the defaults we would get from mass (SIZ). The finals numbers might need to be tweaked a bit, but overall the spreadsheet STATs were close enough that you could use them in play without any problems. In our experience we found that POW increases gradually with mass. Probably in part so that players can take down big monsters too easily with spells. DEX probably decreases a bit as SIZ increases. STR tends to drop as creatures get smarter. APP is tough, since it mostly subjective. Unless you are taking about humanoids it ends up being more a case f how we find furry animals to be cute and cuddly.

That's a sort od deliberate design flaw of most RPGs. If you survive and continue adventuring, you will improve. The only variable is how quickly you do so. Since RQ uses a skill check improvement method, and getting a check in a character's primary skills is pretty much a given, it turns into more of a probability exercise. Realistically, most people tend to cap off skills at a certain point. Either they cannot improve anymore, or they can't devote the time it takes to do so, or it becomes too hard to do so, or their rate of improvement slows down. Since there isn't much fun in that, most RPGs assume that PCs can and will continue to improve into the higher skill levels. It shouldn't have been that long of a wait, And the "clink" usisally meant a reduction in the parrying weapon. Sounds like what you want is some sort of combat advantage mechanic, where they guy who gets the "clink" gets some sort of reward for it.

I wouldn't agree. While the 40 session or so isn't too far from the mark-that depdns a bit on how lucky they are with improvement rolls and which previous experience rules were being used, if any. In our games most characters joined a cult or two prety early on and so were on thier path to rune level within the first month or so of gameplay. The tricky bit was surviving those 40 game sessions. RQ combats were a lot more dangerous than comparable D&D fights, and in 40 game sessions a PC would probable wind up on the wrong end quite a few impales and several critical hits, and fumbles. The laws or probability aren't nice to PCs on the path to rune level.

Not necessarily. There is some basis for the link. Part of what made "Seven Dirty Words" and Carlin so infamous was the shock value. People didn't expect to hear obscenities on stage, and certainly not multiple ones. Now I'd say that Carlin had a bit more "depth"/social commentary to the routine than the typical Shock Jock, but there is a basis for the link. I think the Mel Brooks to South Park link is stronger though.

Yeah, it's pretty much compatible. The Starship stuff is pretty much on it's own scale, so it could be used with just about any RPG, BRP related or not. I dunno about the vehicle design rules, I haven't seen that part of it.

Oops, my bad. Thanks for the correction.

They might be started for archery, it doesn't work that way with all weapons. It can work in archery because the arrow is pretty much the same. But even with arrows there are things that can make a difference. What type of arrow head, for instance. As far as other weapons go, 85 foot-pounds would make for a very weak pistol round (about a .25 ACP, or .22 Short). Some BB guns can fire rounds with a Muzzle energy of 150 foot pounds but I wouldn't recommend them for hunting Grizzy! In that case Go get something written by Greg Porter. He's done several RPGs with game stats based off of real world values. You can check out his website at btrc.net. I think I got a few of his freebies. I'll see if I can find something to send you. Oh, and that is exactly the approach I use for my vehicle stats and design rules, and bestiary. Basically I try to base the game stats on real world values and use formulas so that you can just plug the numbers into a spreasheet or database, and it will spit out game stats.

Strange. What happened in our games was that characters did advance quickly, but that was probably because we played a lot, typically several times a week.Once the group hit Rune Level fights against foes with Rune Level skill ratings were still fairly rare, but when they occurred the special successes would usually speed up the fights. At 100% or higher somebody is going to get an impale every five rounds or so. Often things boiled down to who was better at using their magic.

No, the official rule has always been that the first bullet in the burst is the one that impales and/or criticals. It kinda makes sense too, since it would be the shot that gets aimed and fired before the recoil sets in.

And it still can. You could aim for the Head (20) and still hit someone in the right foot (1) if you rolled two 1s on the hit location. Your just more likely to hit where you are aiming at or somewhere close to it-especially if you are aiming for a center body location such as chest or abdomen.

The thing is, the damages in the game are not based directly on energy. This has come up a few times in the past with the firearm damages. So if you did something up based on energy it would mean redoing the entire damage scale. Realistically, it's a bit more complicated since a high energy attack that covers a large area probably won't penetrate as deep and do only superficial damage. Plus, with the way living organisms, and the RQ game mechanics work, damage isn't linear. That is, while the bullet from a 5.56mm rifle might have three to four times the energy of one fired from a 9mm pistol, it isn't three to four times as lethal.

I'd be tempted to swipe from Flashing Blades too. one neat little rule that RPG had was that you always picked a location to aim for, and then rolled the hit location twice. You hit the one that was closest to where you aimed at. It was a really simple way of handling hit locations and called shots. Very realistic too. Yeah. I was working on an RPG based entirely around that concept. In fact, I tapped into it when I did some stuff for BRP SPACE. But the old Bushido RPG did something similar. Pendragon does give weapon mods as +/- a die (more or less). But with the way damage works in RQ/Pendragon an extra D6 is a damage multiplier. Remember, the damage bonus table works on the concept of +16 points of STR and/or SIZ is worth +1D6. Now since the SIZ table is based on x2 mass = +8 SIZ then what we are really doing is adding +1D6 every time we multiply the mass (or actually the force) by a factor of 4.

Yes the original intent was to revising a flagging RPG (D&D), and kill off a bunch of competing products by allowing third party companies to produce D&D products at only a modest fee. Where it went wrong was that WotC thought that once D&D locked up the market they'd maintain control over D&D, and then just kill off the OGL with 4th edition. It backfired when 4E didn't go over so well with 3E players, and Panthfinder came out and continued developing the OGL format D&D. I think MRQ went OGL because it came out before the 4E fiasco, and because Mongoose specializes in putting out a lot of product fast. They don't really care who control the development of the game as long as they can make money by producing lots of supplements. Had open MRQ took off, and a RQ equivalent of Pathfinder came out, then I suspect Mongoose would be content producing supplements for it.

We're not arguing. It all has to do with the question about the "Fate of BRP". I thought the question posted was bout the "Big Gold Book" RPG and what will happen to it in the future and if there will be any more supplements for it once the new RuneQuest comes out. Now some people say that it'a all the same, but I don;t think that what the original question was about> Obviously. there is going to be a new RQ, and we can safely assume that the original poster is aware of this. So I think he was curious as to the state of the BGB and if that product line would still be supported.

Because Lions aren't Tigers., and RQ doesn't play the same way a CoC. I should know, I'm the guy who successfully Sever Spirited Cthulhu out of an RQ/CoC crossover game! Combat in old Stormbringer played very differently than combat in RQ2. The differences in the frequency of criticals, specials (non-existent in Strombringer), hit locations as opposed to general hit points, major woulds, variable armor vs. fixed, skills over 100% vs. capped at 100%, ripostes, all make gameplay very different. It like saying Mushu Pork is the same as Barbecued Baby Back Ribs. The might both originate from the same animal, but they aren't the same dish.

I was thinking of using a modified Pendragon approach. Basically you get a damage stat based on STR and SIZ, based on using that old die progression ladder from Elric (d2/d4/d6/d8/d10, etc.). Then getting a die shift modifier for the weapon used.

If we are going to swipe from Aftermath! then we should take the Presented and Reposed Hit Location tables too. They would make a lot of sense for RQ. As far as the Aftermath approach of damage multiplier, that's basically how Pendragon works. This could be greatly simplified in RQ by having the db adjust the damage die up/down rungs on the "ladder". For example, instead of someone getting a +1d4 db, they could up a sword's damage from 1d8+1 to 1D10+1 or even 2D6+1. With the way SIZ and STR work in RQQ, this is basically a multiplier.

Yeah, it might be legal, but that doesn't make it "right". A lot of us went down this road back with MRQ came out, and we realized just how little of the BRP/RQ game mechanics are actually protected. Abd it's also how and why the various BRP/RQ variants can and do exist. I suspect that it will be a software RPG that finally gets things all hashed out, since that is where the money is, and pencil & paper RPGs will just be swept up in the ruling. I'm a bit mixed on the subject. While I don't condone ripping another RPG off, there are a lot of time when a new party puts out a really good product that is partially based on something else. Going back a few years, Judges Guild did a lot of "D&D compatible" stuff that was very good.

Yes. Exactly. No, it's more than semantics, since both terms are used as titles for RPGs. If you order RQ or BRP from a store, drivethru, etc. you are going to get two differernt (but related RPGs). That is unless you are talking about RQ3 and that BRP monograph that actually was RQ3 without the copy writable stuff.

Egg was first.

Sure, that's been Chaosium's approach since Stormbringer. Adapt the rules to the setting . About the only point of contention I have is that RQ is a game that uses the BRP engine. It isn't. Or at least in the case of RQ, RQ2, RQ3 and Strombringer it wasn't. BRP was a derivative of RuneQuest, as was Stormbringer. It was only later on, with WoW and CoC did we see RPGs built around the "BRP engine".

Back when MRQ came out it was explained to everybody that you can't copy write how you roll dice and play a game. Only the actual text and any name branding. Hence the reason why Mongoose was able to print a game called RuneQuest back then but Chaosium couldn't. And why those game system can continue to exist under different names later on when the license for the RQ brand name expires. Now while someone could challenge that (or pretty much anything else) in court the rewards are so small that by the time the matter was settled probably neither party would make any profit off of the game. WotC and D&D might be about the only RPG that might be big enough for such action to be viable, and OGL kinda eliminated any reason for somebody to bother ripping off D&D, since they can just do an OGL version and avoid any problems.

Now there certainly are other reasons why someone might change a supplement to support a different RPG, but licensing is a sufficient explanation. It is precisely why BRP Space became "SPACE". In order for it to have remained BRP Space would have required Clarance to spend a tidy sum of cash printing up enough copies to send to Chasoium (per their terms). That was the major was the reason why Clarance changed game systems. I know, I had a small hand in some of the spaceship design stuff in BRP Spaceships. He didn't switch from BRP because he preferred the rules to Mythras, but because to keep it as a BRP supplement would have required him to print up and send Chaosium a certain number of copies that they could sell. Sure someone can write an RPG that is 100% identical to another RPG, but they can't claim that it is a supplement for that game, get it promoted with that game's stuff and so on. It would have take some time effort and a few more pages to flesh out SPACE enough to be a stand alone game. It was one of the options open to Clarance at the time (and the one I was hoping for). But it was a lot easier and quickly to simple adapt the existing material to another ruleset-especially if it was one similar to BRP.

Yeah. In this case I was referring to the Big Gold Book as BRP, not the "BRP family" of RPGs, and the chances of seeing more products specifically written for that. That's what I think the original poster was referring to.

I think that is mostly due to the licensing terms. You have to be willing to make an investment if you want to make an official BRP product.