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One thing I'm wondering about is how would this work for games set in a different time of place? Are there going to be guidelines to help GMs create family background for other cultures and dates? For instance, what if smebody runs a Praxian or Lunar campaign? The concept worked in Pendragon because the campaign is Arthurian Britain. But if it is going to be applied to RQ, then are we going to have a "set" campaign timeline like in Pendragon? In the past things were rather freeform. Yes, there was a story and timeline, but it wasn't really pushed with RQ, while in Pendragon, it dominates the campaign. Oh, and where the concept broke down in Pendragon was when PCs wrote up characters from other cultures. In Pendragon, if someone was French or Saxon, the whole family background stuff was not really usable. That wasn't too big a deal in Pendragon, but considering how mand skills and passions it affect in RQ, it could put "foreign" PCs at a big disadvantage.

Yeah, Paul did a small version in one of JG's magazines, and then years later did some books whick expanded the whole lifepath thing.

LOL! I used to use the RQ3 rules as my core system for a Young Kingdoms campaign. The RQ3 rules closer to Stormbringer than Elric! was. Found combat in Elric! to be boring, and at times, confusing (just when does a parrying weapon take damage? The rules contradict themselves). And I hated attributes in Elric! Mostly useless. But then I loath the stripped down rulesets used for Elric! and CoC.

Different experiences. None of the groups I gamed with allowed player to pick occupations (we did allow players to pick up a new occupation at the cost of 1 years exp. per the rules), age, or the point build method for attributes. We did play Elric! which allowed (actually recommended) starting combat skills at 100%+. It wasn't much fun.

Yes, but to get 48% in previous experience by the occupation tables required that a player roll one of the warrior/soldier/noble/hunter backgrounds (less than 10% for most cultures, about 15% for barbarians) and get the maximum number of years in the profession (a 1/36 chance). Not exactly "always". Nor was a +12% manipulation bonus "common", let alone a 17 STR. Not in RQ3. In D&D it was, but not RQ3. All in all the example character given was the exception. Something like a 1/20000 chance.

+10 per SIZ/STR is nice, since it would mean that each 2 points of SIZ Class would be worth and extra d6 to db. Something like this might be useful down the road: SIZ (10 point) Mass(s) 1 32-34 kg 2 34-37 kg 3 37-40 kg 4 40-42 kg 5 42-45 kg 6 45-49 kg 7 49-52 kg 8 52-56 kg 9 56-60 kg 10 60-64 kg 11 64-69 kg 12 69-74 kg 13 74-79 kg 14 79-85 kg 15 85-91 kg 16 91-97 kg 17 97-104 kg 18 104-112 kg 19 112-120 kg 20 120-128 kg 21 128-138 kg 22 138-147 kg 23 147-158 kg 24 158-169 kg 25 169-182 kg 26 182-195 kg 27 195-209 kg 28 209-224 kg 29 224-240 kg 30 240-257 kg 31 257-275 kg 32 275-295 kg 33 295-316 kg 34 316-339 kg 35 339-363 kg 36 363-389 kg 37 389-417 kg 38 417-447 kg 39 447-479 kg 40 479-513 kg 41 513-550 kg 42 550-590 kg 43 590-632 kg 44 632-678 kg 45 678-726 kg 46 726-778 kg 47 778-834 kg 48 834-894 kg 49 894-958 kg 50 0.96-1.03 mt 51 1.03-1.1 mt 52 1.1-1.18 mt 53 1.18-1.26 mt 54 1.26-1.36 mt 55 1.36-1.45 mt 56 1.45-1.56 mt 57 1.56-1.67 mt 58 1.67-1.79 mt 59 1.79-1.92 mt 60 1.92-2.05 mt 61 2.05-2.2 mt 62 2.2-2.36 mt 63 2.36-2.53 mt 64 2.53-2.71 mt 65 2.71-2.9 mt 66 2.9-3.11 mt 67 3.11-3.34 mt 68 3.34-3.58 mt 69 3.58-3.83 mt 70 3.83-4.11 mt 71 4.11-4.4 mt 72 4.4-4.72 mt 73 4.72-5.06 mt 74 5.06-5.42 mt 75 5.42-5.81 mt 76 5.81-6.23 mt 77 6.23-6.67 mt 78 6.67-7.15 mt 79 7.15-7.67 mt 80 7.67-8.22 mt 81 8.22-8.81 mt 82 8.81-9.44 mt 83 9.44-10.11 mt 84 10.11-10.84 mt 85 10.84-11.62 mt 86 11.62-12.45 mt 87 12.45-13.35 mt 88 13.35-14.3 mt 89 14.3-15.33 mt 90 15.33-16.43 mt 91 16.43-17.61 mt 92 17.61-18.88 mt 93 18.88-20.23 mt 94 20.23-21.68 mt 95 21.68-23.24 mt 96 23.24-24.91 mt 97 24.91-26.69 mt 98 26.69-28.61 mt 99 28.61-30.66 mt 100 30.66-32.86 mt 101 32.86-35.22 mt 102 35.22-37.75 mt 103 37.75-40.46 mt 104 40.46-43.36 mt 105 43.36-46.48 mt 106 46.48-49.81 mt 107 49.81-53.39 mt 108 53.39-57.22 mt 109 57.22-61.33 mt 110 61.33-65.73 mt 111 65.73-70.44 mt 112 70.44-75.5 mt 113 75.5-80.92 mt 114 80.92-86.73 mt 115 86.73-92.95 mt 116 92.95-99.62 mt 117 99.62-106.77 mt 118 106.77-114.44 mt 119 114.44-122.65 mt 120 122.65-131.45 mt 121 131.45-140.89 mt 122 140.89-151 mt 123 151-161.84 mt 124 161.84-173.45 mt 125 173.45-185.9 mt 126 185.9-199.25 mt 127 199.25-213.55 mt 128 213.55-228.87 mt 129 228.87-245.3 mt 130 245.3-262.91 mt 131 262.91-281.78 mt 132 281.78-302 mt 133 302-323.68 mt 134 323.68-346.91 mt 135 346.91-371.81 mt 136 371.81-398.49 mt 137 398.49-427.09 mt 138 427.09-457.75 mt 139 457.75-490.6 mt 140 490.6-525.82 mt 141 525.82-563.55 mt 142 563.55-604 mt 143 604-647.35 mt 144 647.35-693.82 mt 145 693.82-743.61 mt 146 743.61-796.99 mt 147 796.99-854.19 mt 148 854.19-915.5 mt 149 915.5-981.21 mt 150 981.21-1051.63 mt 151 1051.63-1127.11 mt 152 1127.11-1208.01 mt 153 1208.01-1294.71 mt 154 1294.71-1387.63 mt 155 1387.63-1487.23 mt 156 1487.23-1593.97 mt 157 1593.97-1708.38 mt 158 1708.38-1830.99 mt 159 1830.99-1962.41 mt 160 1962.41-2103.26 mt 161 2103.26-2254.22 mt 162 2254.22-2416.01 mt 163 2416.01-2589.42 mt 164 2589.42-2775.27 mt 165 2775.27-2974.46 mt 166 2974.46-3187.95 mt 167 3187.95-3416.76 mt 168 3416.76-3661.99 mt 169 3661.99-3924.82 mt 170 3924.82-4206.52 mt 171 4206.52-4508.44 mt 172 4508.44-4832.02 mt 173 4832.02-5178.84 mt 174 5178.84-5550.54 mt 175 5550.54-5948.92 mt 176 5948.92-6375.89 mt 177 6375.89-6833.51 mt 178 6833.51-7323.98 mt 179 7323.98-7849.65 mt 180 7849.65-8413.04 mt

One thing I could do up, if you'd like, would be a SIZ table where SIZ increases by 10 points per doubling of mass instead of 8. That would make conversion into SIZ Class and Mecha scale much easier. With some slight tweaking of the old SIZ formula the values for the human SIZ range would be about the same. Something along the lines of: SIZ (BRP) Mass(s) SIZ (10 point) Mass(s) 8 48-52 kg 8 52-56 kg 9 52-57 kg 9 56-60 kg 10 57-62 kg 10 60-64 kg 11 62-68 kg 11 64-69 kg 12 68-74 kg 12 69-74 kg 13 74-81 kg 13 74-79 kg 14 81-88 kg 14 79-85 kg 15 88-96 kg 15 85-91 kg 16 96-104 kg 16 91-97 kg 17 104-114 kg 17 97-104 kg 18 114-124 kg 18 104-112 kg

So by "twice as big" you mean twice the mass. Okay. By compatibility, do you mean with previous editions of D100 RPGS like BRP and RQ3, or with some other RPG? I'm not familiar with Revolution. The reason why I I ask is that the old Superworld RPG boxed set used a doubling SIZ progression that would be more compatible with what you are doing than the table in BRP/CoC. The Superworld SIZ table is also the basis for the SIZ table used in RQ3, CoC, and BRP, but without the errors that crept into the latter editions. What might help is that in Superworld (and RQ3, BRP)each doubling of mass is equal to +8 SIZ. So you could easily convert any SIZ to a SIZ class by dividing by 8. Possibly. It depends on the setting. A superhero setting would need to., as might a fantasy world where a hero could get his STR magically boosted. A modern or high tech setting might also need to, since with gears, servos and things like exoskeletons a person or vehicle might be more powerful than a troll or elephant. For example, and only for example (I don't want to tick off the ASPCA), let's say you attach chains to a Ferrari and a Elephant and have them do a tug of war. Realistically, STR probably wouldn't vary from SIZ by all that much. Maybe +/-4 points or so. Probably anything more than, say 1 SIZ class difference would be too much to overcome. BTW, not sure if you want this but, going with the square-cube law and a doubling mass, each SIZ Class would be about 26% taller/wider/longer than the previous class. I could table that up with mass to see how it would look. That would also help to solve the fine granulity issue if you think you needed it, since the math would work for fractional SIZ classes.

Okay, here are some inquiries. 1) Is SIZ class based on height, volume, or mass? 2) What is the progression? Is is linear, or some sort of formulaic progression. I hope the progression isn't strictly linerar, as that makes it much harder to handle really big stuff. For instance, a Showa-era Gojira would be around SIZ 2204 in BRP/CoC! As opposed to a much more user friendly SIZ 156 in Superworld. 3) if a human is SIZ class 3, what sort of SIZ class would a BRP SIZ Class 3 Mech be? 4) If STR is relative to mass, how does that work in game terms. Do you add/multiply/modify the STR by SIZ class to get the value that gets compared. I.e. A STR 20 SIZ 3 human goes up against a STR 10, SIZ 6 troll and so it is 60 vs. 60? Oh, and just in case it helps, I know a little about how the physics end of things work out for real world vehicles and got a LOT of real world vehicle data that I could submit to help out if you'd like. For instance, I know that the relationship between power and speed is is cubic (that means you need 8 times the power to go twice as fast), which would mean +24 POW in BRP terms. The relationship between thrust and speed is square (so you need four times the thrust (i.e. STR) to go twice as fast), which means +16 STR in BRP terms. Which makes it very easy to bypass doing roots and power equations using the old SIZ table.

Is there some sort of preview/overview available so we can discuss how stats and such work? For instance has the scale for STR, SIZ, etc. been worked out yt? I've got a few ideas that might be helpful for vehicles, mecha and monster stats, but it kinda depends on knowing what approach has been worked out. For example, I've got a few ideas on stat progression that might help in handling mecha.

Yes, the "not being worth it bit" was intentional, and designed to discourage someone with a 90% skill from doing it. The -20% for +1 thing was really for the guy with, say, a 120% skill. As the variant doesn't have the normal success levels, the -20% per +1 EFFECT is essentially giving characters a way to buy up their result with high skill, similar to how crit and special chances go up with skills over 100% in BRP. What the guy with the 90% skill would be better off doing is to increase his difficulty for the +5 EFFECT. It's risky, since it cuts his success chance in half, down to 45%, but if he succeeds his effect score will be in the 5-9 range.

Well the RQ3 example if off. Back then there was a cap on how high your could raise a skill with previous experience. Will you like it when all the NPC warriors you run into have it? It seems a little too quick and easy. Oh, and the "here's a secret" bit is wrong. You could never create such experienced characters in RQ3, because skills with a check box couldn't be increased beyond 75% through previous experience.

The problem with that, is that percentile dice is not logarithmic in play. So what happens is that an expert with a 100% skill can still loose to someone with a 50%, one in four times. Or against a novice with a 25% skill, one in 8 times. That probably not fair to the expert. With a skill cap, you kinda need extended contests to make things fair for higher skill scores. Or, something like my aforementioned EFFECT die.

I have a BRP variant in the works that kinda works that way. The way it works is that The tens digit on your roll is considered the EFFECT value, and is used to see how well you did. For example, if you rolled a 64, and it was under or equal to your skill rating, your EFFECT would be 6, which would translate into 6 points of damage, or 6 meters of distance climbed, or 6 maneuver points to turn a jet during a dogfight, and so on. One feature the variant has is that you can sacrifice 20 points of skill/ability for a +1 to your EFFECT, which is basically what you wanted. It also had the option of raising or lowering the difficult, which halves or doubles the skill chance, but with a corresponding +5/-5 to the EFFECT. I used a halving/doubling method there to give someone with a low skill the option of trying something risky to have some chance of beating someone who is much better than him.

Aha! That makes more sense than what I was thinking. Reminds me somewhat of Phoenix Command.

Back in the old day, pretty much each RPG that Chaosium produced had it's own magic system. Since each magic system was tailored to the setting they were all somewhat incompatible with each other. The BGB compiled several of those systems into one document. And, as has been noted by the author and players, the various systems are not entirely compatible with each other. That's not to say they they won't work mechanically with one another, but that they are not all equal in power or versatility. The magic system in the early editions of Stormbringer was not quite as flexible as the one used from Elric! onward, but significantly more powerful. Basically you built demons based on the sum of your attributes, and it was fairly easy for a sorcerer to wind up with a sword that had a +4D6 damage or more. The end result of which was that those with demon weapons and armor in Stormbringer had an overwhelming advantage over those who didn't.

Interesting idea, but I suggest a 10:1 ratio for damage to skill, partly to keep it easier to do in your head, partly because a high damage buff can be devastating, and partly because "bypassing" plate with a punch at just -40% is too cheap. Maybe instead of reducing values, a player could get sort of rating that determines how many "buffs" they get to use. These buffs could be spent to modify die rolls, and could either be in the form of X buffs per round, or as a sort of fatigue pool that is used up. But I suspect the idea diverges too far from the RQ2 core concept. .

Actually, that's pretty much what August Derleth did to the setting. He assigned the Mythos being into pantheons, and has some of them be more pro-human. Now, yes, many of the fanbase dislike this "alteration" (if it is an alteration is debatable). As far a playing in it goes. I doubt anybody would actually want to play in a Lovecraftian universe without such. Not much point to it. Humanity is doomed, and there is not much the players can do about it. It more or less waiting for something to actually take notice of us and wipe us out. The RPG tends to take the approach that the PCs can prevent (or at least forestall) this, but only if they succeed in the adventures. Now one thing that is at odds with his though is that, in Lovecraft's Mythos stories, things tend to work out in a way that preserves humanity's survival. Individuals can go mad and die off, but the species goes on. For example, Yog Soggoth is prevented from destroying the world as we know it by a dog.

One concern I have is that if skills = STATx5%, max out at 100%, and STATS are rolled on 4D6-4, does that mean that somebody with a 20 in a STAT will start off at 100% in all the skills based on that stat?

Just to point it all out, in case someone hasn't caught on yet, these tables are going to get more and more convoluted because most of the games on the list had more than one influence on the table. For example, RQ3 isn't just a derivative of RQ2, but one of RQ2, Stormbringer, and Superworld (which was itself a derivative of WoW). It was Stormbringer that first broke away from the 5% increments for skills and category modifiers, The SIZ table used in RQ3 originated in Superworld. Generally, anything written by Steve Perrin would benefit from just about any of his rule-sets that preceded it. Since Steve wrote virtually all of Chaosium's game systems (with help), and laid the foundation for the few Chaosium games he didn't quite (i.e. Call of Chtulhu and Pendragon), the tables will probably end up looking like a mess of tangled vines rather than branching out like a tree. For instance the concept of Major Wounds in Pendragon, were probably inspired by the major wound rules in Stormbringer. And that's just the in house stuff. If we include games that used the same basic game system but didn't come from Chaosium (for example, FGU's Privateers & Gentlemen) we'll have more criss-crossing lines that most major airlines!

I was thinking about something along those lines awhile back. I figured beings like Mothra might explain why us humans are still around and kicking despite all the Mythos nasties with designs on Earth. I even did some write-ups. But, in order to make it all work out right in game terms. I had to use a somewhat modified SIZ scale. Rather than going with the offical SIZ table from BRP/CoC (which is screwed up in several ways, anyway) I went with the SIZ progression from Superworld. It's the same in the SIZ 8-88 range that is used in over 99% of characters and creatures in the RPG, but continues the doubling progression (+8 SIZ = x2 mass) beyond SIZ 88. That way I could fit the massive Kaiju (Showa era Godzilla tips the scales at 20,000 tons, which would be SIZ 2204 in standard BRP) in BRP and get fairly playable stats (the aforementioned Showa era Godzilla would be a more playable SIZ 157 or so, with a somewhat higher STR score). The adjusted SIZ scale also helped as far as getting the Kaiju to interact with each other, damage bonuses,and with armor scores. For example, Godzilla can body slam King Ghidorah (30.000 tons for Showa era Ghidorah, or SIZ 3306 in standard BRP or SIZ 161 in Superworld ), so Godzilla should be strong enough to lift Ghidorah. With the way the resistance table works, Godzilla would need a STR within 10 of KIng Ghidorah's SIZ to do so. STR 160 fits SIZ 157 much better than STR 3306 fits SIZ 2204, and gives us a lot more wiggle room for statting up the other Kaiju. Mortha can lift Godzilla so she should have a STR not much lower than Godizlla's SIZ. With standard BRP that means at least 2200. But in Superworld that would be more like 150. And any "errors" are mitigated with the doubling scale. The difference between 3300 and 2200 is massive in terms of damage bonus. But the difference between 160 and 150 is only a difference of one or two D6. Since armor values in RQ/BRP were tied to a creature's damage bonus, the lower dbs also mean we can get by with lower armor values. The lower scale also makes it easier for other characters to combat and interact with Kaiju. A SIZ 160ish Godzilla with around a 20D6 db, and 80 armor is still (barely) susceptible to tank and missile fire. Oh, and the whole problem with scale is even more important with the later era films where the monsters get bigger and heavier. If a 20,000 ton Godzilla "breaks" the game system, a 50,000 ton one, or worse the current 90,000 ton one is unusable. But with the doubling scale SIZ 167 and 174 are quite playable and can ever be mixed in the the smaller Showa era kaiju.

Vile. Forgive me, I'm sleep deprived. Just where on that website can you purchase the RPG?

LOL! Hard for someone not to fall for that. I head of Monsters!!Monsters!! but never played it. I did, however get to play Creature Feature, for Chill. In it you play a "traditional" horror movie monster. You have to pick a victim and stalk them and terrorize them in a way consistent with your type of monster, earning experience according to how well you do so.

Yeah those kiddie series were bad. The next time you talk to someone about Godzilla (or Gojira) just mention the word "Godzooky" and see the look on the other person's face. But kidding aside, a Kaiju campaign really isn't all that different from a high level D&D game. the major characters are really only vulnerable to other major characters or an army of mooks. It's just that with kaiju, it really is an actual army. It also has some advantages over some other monster campaign, including Dragon PCs in that the players are already somewhat familar with the genre and characters, and kinda got an idea as to what they should be doing. And, come of think of it, there are a few takes on the Dragon PC campaign, too. I could see them being like Dickson Dragon (Dragon & the George), Melniboean Dragons (Elric saga), or maybe even the residents of an alien world that get's explored/colonized/invaded by humans. And a high tech setting. with humans in some sort of mecha, gives them a way to stand against the PC dragons.

For someone new to the system try this: 1) Never throw an opponent against the PCs who has a better skill rating, more armor, or does more damage than they do. 2) Never outnumber the PCs. I think that really just about all a new GM needs to do until he gets more familiar with the game and can experiment a little. And then the thing to do is experiment in small stages until you get a good idea of the cause and effect relationship of the game.