MrJealousy

I quite like a bit of statistical analysis now and then and those stats look quite interesting.

For human NPCs in Aces High i wrote an excel spreadsheet that generates random stats, works out the points values and tells me whether they were Normal or Heroic. But even using random stats and hand picking the results still produces some very odd outcomes.

Noteably, a group of zombies (where I didn't check the results at all) almost all of them sprang up with high STR or SIZ (or both) makes them a bit formidable.

I prefer this random method though. I means I don't get to say 'right I need an NPC fighter, so thats a high STR, CON, and SIZ'. I just look for the set of stats that suggest a competent fighter type, discarding those that wouldn't last 5 minutes. But for townsfolk (like the zombies above) I just accept what the formula spits out. Still produces some weird results though...

I think what your statistics show is what stats are most important for that particular setting... that and I'm fairly certain that none of them were goat herders...

... initial points are 250 ...

So thats a Normal level game. You can add points into your Occupation skills up to 75% and the any others up to 50%.

You're never going to be a Gandalf at Normal level but its a start

Thats really excellent. I'm impressed, and a little bit jealous. When I run Aces High most of the time the scenarios have been largely unconnected, they're a sequence of unrelated incidents. Same characters (mostly) but essentially no long term thread holding it all together.

I like the idea of progression through time too. My only fear with that in a historical setting is that you run the risk of running out of time and ending up in modern days!

But it does sound like you have a really interesting game going.

You've played the Black Book too! That was the Proto-Aces High scenario and thats a big loose end you have dangling there.

I'm really very interested in hearing how your game progresses.

Are you going to incorporate the western scenarios from Blood and Badges?

As far as I see the difference between firearms and bows is in the preparation of the second and any following shots. Looking at 'Preparing a Weapon' on page 201 might suggest that the second shot from a bow costs 3 extra Strike Ranks.

'...means that the item in hand is dropped and another is withdrawn from a readily accessible location like a sheath or holster.' That sentence sounds to me like pulling an arrow from a quiver is an extra action.

Where a standard pistol has 6 bullets already lined up pre-prepared and doesn't require the extra action to reload the weapon.

Excellent! Sounds like fun.

Water creatures are supported somewhat by thier boyancy, and can be larger than land creatures. The same would hold true for low gravity planets.

I like this idea, water and low grav critters have a noticeably larger SIZ than their STR...

Murder mysteries should work! Is the idea to give them the breather then really freak them out?

Uh oh, good question!

I think I would start by assuming that STR and SIZ are (approximately) the same dice roll. Having a quick look back at old RQ stats Dinosaurs seems to agree (give or take a bit in some circumstances), giants fit exactly.

CON seems to be mostly unrelated to SIZ and STR, other than the fact that it is lower...

What does BRP suggest?

That SIZ and STR is (mildly) related (in the Brontosaur) but CON not so much.

Looking at the Giant Squid on p.339 doesn't help, his CON is tiny compared to STR and SIZ.

Looking at the BRP Giant on p.344 I would say that CON is approximately 20%-30% lower than STR or SIZ.

That 20%-30% seems to work for the Bronto as well (give or take a bit).

So, no help at all then :-)

Still a good question though. I usually make it up!

...others who know real weapons combat say it's unrealistic to have separate attack/parry skills - it's all one.

I'm no expert but I have done a bit of Kendo and Fencing. Both of those styles teach you how to attack and parry with the weapon.

If you learnt the skills short sword and tower shield, you could attack and parry with either but the emphasis is going to be attacking with the sword and parrying with the shield. However if you dropped you sword (fumble!) you could still attack and parry with the shield or go all out defense if your shield attack is particularly low (which it probably will be because its your defense weapon not the attacking one).

Simplification be damned! It just don't make no sense

I find a lot of the sword/shield problems go away if you have seperate sword atack/ parry and shield attack/parry skills.

I would consider using it from both directions.

The GM makes the res roll if the effects of the poison wont be immediately noticed, eg. somebody slipped a halucinogen into the players drink.

The Player makes the roll if the effects are obvious, eg. just been bitten by a snake.

In some circumstances it can be important to know which is passive or active, but a lot of the time it doesn't really matter. So long as the right person rolls against the right number to resist.

Ok, how about...

Join with me in (retrospectively) celebrating July 5th when all of Britishdom joined in a collective sigh, having finally gotten rid of those pesky Americans.

What was it Oscar Wilde said... something like 'the only country to go from barbarism to decadence without going through civilisation'...

Join with me in celebrating 4th of July, American Independence day, when in 1776 we threw off the shackles of British oppression and rode off into the sunset of a new dawn.

I'm going to ignore the non-linear SIZ issue for the moment...

and suggest that the problem seems to be that SIZ is linked to height and weight. So how about using SIZ to define height and CON to define weight. Makes more sense when thinking about locomotives and dirigibles.

Its the way I've always tended to think of it in the past (whatever the rulebook says). A character with SIZ 18 and CON 6 is tall and skinny, reverse those stats and he is short and fat.

It all sounds jolly exciting! Have you done it yet?

...you would need different rules for vehicles that conform to something like the physics that we know and for vehicles that are "space opera" or "super science" so that you can just have them do anything convenient or cool.

Couldn't this idea be taken up with vehicle modifications?

So you could have car, car with turbo charger, car with super charger, car with superturbo charger

Just like you would have space ship, space ship with FTL drive, space ship with wormhole portal generator, or space ship with antigravity.

You don't need different rules you need different gadgets. A standard space space ship (modern day, shuttle like) is the default template with all of its pitfalls and limitations, but you add to it an AntiGravity Conbobulator so you can do outrageous high G turns. The description of the AGC supplies the extra physics bending rules as a modular addon to the vehicle.

Just like a turbo charger would say something like '...increases overall top speed by 10%...'

I have been meaning to ask about the ranges of the weapons in the Aces High book. Have noticed many of them are much higher than the ones in the BRP Book. ... most of the rifles in Aces High you can divide the ranges by 4 to get them more in line with the BRP Book. Now thinking about it maybe the ranges are maximum ranges and you just forgot to modify them to the BRP ranges (x1/x2/x4).

Actually thats spot on. I only worried about the maximum possible ranges based on any reference I could find. Don't think anyone has said anything about that before. Any further updates might include updated ranges... or I will at the very least check the stats.

From an otherwise excellent module

Thanks!

ENC values for the equipment are on the wanted list. A slightly larger equipment table are also on the wishlist and that is maybe something that can be included in a future book.

Yeah, I agree. But I wanted to keep the space down for equipment. I decided not to include ENC for clothes and mundane items to help keep the book keeping down. I didn't think that people would be carting around several sets of clothing, a weeks worth of horse feed, trail rations for a month, a microscope, telescope, embossed bible etc etc and decided that I would have to trust gms to look after this detail, if they wanted too.

Once again though, I might include ENC in future possibilities...

... use the weight from my GURPS High Tech book and halve the weight to get the ENC values...

Sounds and looks good to me.

...everything else in Aces High have been working perfectly. We even have one of the players that play a Caplatas (Evil Voodoo priest). I did allow it since he rolled Voodoo Parents on the extraordinary abilities table.

Wow, thats brave! But also kind of what was intended. Thats excellent!

Aces High is still one of my favourite Monographs for BRP and can be perfect with some polishing!

Thank you very much for some interesting insights into AH. I'm glad you like it and I promise to do better in the future.

I've got to admit to not seeing these 'flaws' at all. The whole system is flexible enough to skip round the knurly bits.

Vehicle creation rules seems like it would fit perfectly into a specialised mono, but if i did it i'd probably just translate Car Wars.

Likewise planet creation would be Traveller.

Never had a problem with shields, but then I have always assumed seperate attack and parry skills for all weapons and shields, works for me.

I like the different base skills for weapons. I think it makes sense, some weapons are easier to use than others.

I don't dislike the damage either. but then when I wrote Aces High I was very guilty of thinking 'i like this weapon it will do this damage' without any logic in some places. I'm working on an updated weapons list but in that I break weapon damages down into 1d4,1d4+1,1d4+2,1d6,1d6+1,1d6+2,1d8... etc based on caliber, barrel length and... stuff. Gives me excellent granularity and allows me to differentiate between very similar weapons.

I've not looked too deeply into the SIZ issue, and I have to say it doesn't bother me greatly.

ENC - Only ever really used it to limit the amount of stuff that players carry but with Fatigue I made it quite important for Aces High.

I like the system, no I LOVE the system. I know it quite well and feel confident in ignoring bits or making other bits up on the fly but then I have been playing one or other iteration of this system for 26 years!

BRP has less flaws than many other systems that I have played and I really like the flow of the game play.

I find combat quick and deadly in whatever period you decide to play in, whether you use Dex Ranks or Strike Ranks.

I like the resistance tables - they make opposed rolls simple to visualise.

I like the skill stat modifiers.

...

I like it alright! Stop dissing my favourite system

We are just at the end of our third Aces High adventure which happens to be scenario from the Aces High book. I am a bit curious about a couple of things in the adventure since they can have a big impact on how the finale plays out. So any clarifications will be helpful.

Drat, looks like i've made errors on both those pages!

On p. 56 I'd be inclined to drop the 'cannot be hurt by mundane weapons'. That ability should have been reserved for powerful spirits and dieties. Probably me being a bit too power mad... didn't use that when I play tested the scenario...

On p.105 I'd ditch the Bite and Buffet in the same round, they don't have the Dex Srs to get away with it anyway. Leaving two claw attacks or a bite or a buffet.

All in all, I think thats pretty poor. Especially considering that is supposed to be the example scenario and I can't even get the abilities of the primary weird critter right! Oh well, something else to go in the edit...

Apart from that, how has your game played? Was it fun? Did it work? What did you get up to?

I prefer serious, brooding art to the jokey variety. But I guess it's more about who wants to draw for Chaosium and what they pay (no idea), and, is the artist reliable and quick. So long as the art doesn't interfere with my enjoyment of the reading, I'm not greatly worried by it.

Still its not like the bad old days of Dobyski!

Just got my hard cover BRP today.

Feels nice and solid! But does still contain errors, Flame Spell is still called Fire in the description, Ride is still a Communication skill rather than Physical and Defense is still 5% rather than the recommended 1%.

Always room for improvement I guess Still, I'm happy with it.

Good question, and as far as I can figure, almost impossible to work out exactly!

Mostly because Speed Rate is an 'abstract value' which doesn't seem to translate across vehicles in a simple formula.

It might be some kind of bell curve...

Taking examples from the book...

Horses have a Move of 12 but a Speed Rate of 2

My guestimate says Horses walk at just over 2mph with a gallop (x5 Move) being about 11mph. Which seems a little slow. Unless my maths is terrible, which is possible...

But that would make a Modern Sedan with a Speed Rate of 12, Move 72, at 67mph (with the x5 Move for running!) which also seems a little slow, but possible...

Which twisted confusions makes a Speed Rate approximately equal to Move 6, or 5.6(ish) mph (at x5 Move for running) 1.12 mph(walking).

So much for clarity

Just did a search on the forum and found this http://basicroleplaying.com/showthread.php/1962-Vehicles-and-Chases?highlight=speed

As far as I understand it, Wakboth is the child of Malia (disease), Thed (rape) and Ragnaglar(one of Orlanths brothers). They became known as the Unholy Trio and after Humakt killed them 'they went to the outermost reaches of the lands of the dead'. Where they did some naughty things, one of which was to create Wakboth the Lord of Chaos.Then there was a lot of fighting, Wakboth destroyed the center of the world! and 'Wakbth and his army dispersed, each pursuing whatever destruction or corruption it wished. In this way the whole world was polluted, and slowly became dead and lifeless.'

I think there's also an encounter with Wakboth and the Lightbringers, of which Yelm is one. So I'd guess that Yelm doesn't like Wakboth very much...

There's also a bit in there about 'the facade of the Red Goddess' and Wakboth being revealed as the God of the Ultimate End, which is quite interesting...

That comes from King of Sartar by Greg Stafford.

I don't see anything in there about Kajabor though, is that a new RQ thing, which is surely a work of Wakboth

Sorry for sounding so harsh...

No problems! And i would love to do a revision, but I don't know how that works for the monographs. The thought is there, and the original AH doc has had a couple of edits since Chaosium started printing it. I guess it shouldn't be too difficult... I might bring it up with Dustin, if he isn't too busy.

...we're all natives to New Mexico and Arizona, and we all are archaeology/anthropology buffs with an almost OCD interest in all things Native American and historical for the region. That makes for a really tough crowd, I'll admit.

Oh, you are REALLY gonna hate my next one then.... Maybe I'll send a copy to you for proof reading...