MrJealousy

... it makes some odd gaffs--such as the date the Civil War ends...

A typo, my apologies...

... using redskins constantly...

Yup I've been reamed for that a few times as well. My single biggest regret and mistake.

... doesn't really try hard to base the magic ... on any single authentic source...

Well there are hundreds of tribes and thousands of gods, spirits and other monsters. I just wanted to get the flavour across. Sorry but that one is on purpose for this book.

...I was also floored at the confusion between wicca (a modern phenomenon) and witchcraft...

Actually you're only the second person to mention that. In Aces High they are there as an option, use them or ignore them. I notice you didn't mention the Satanists or the description of Mormons or Priests or religion in general, all of which I take massive liberties with. I don't really know much about old witchcraft in America and didn't really consider it 'core' enough to spend months researching. If you're after witches read Byrons book, its much more detailed than my single page. All I was trying to do was make the possibility available.

All things considered, I think you've spotted the things I would have done differently if I'd known what the hell I was doing It was written with more enthusiasm than considered thought and I am working on a second mono to support it, which should also address exactly some of the criticisms you have brought up here.

Thanks for the frank words. I do honestly appreciate them.

I like the giants in Glorantha, and have used them in my Gloranthan campaign where they simply do not stop growing!

I think gloranthan giants grow (something like) 1 metre every 5 years, that makes your 50ft tall giant about 16 and a half metres tall and about 80 years old! While I appreciate that giants are naturally contrary I think you have to agree that a 50ft pensioner is not going to cause a bunch of determined adventurers too much trouble...

... Early Bulletproof Vest ...

Was American Civil War era, 1860's, don't know about this other new fangled stuff though!

Wow, in 30 + years of roleplaying I don't think I've ever come across anyone that has taken a vendetta outside of a game. Seems to me that Vincent is deliberately trying to cause trouble, or he is just acting very immature.

Approximately how old is he?

We've had people play evil guys in a group of good guys, and on occasion they have been found out with the inevitable consequences. But I think my group is quite mature in outlook, so there wouldn't be any obvious evilness on the part of their character, and if they were caught I believe it would be more of a 'fair cop guv' rather than 'I will get you with my next character'.

There has to be a certain amount of flexibility, or compromise in players characters or you'd never get a decent mix of alignments and characters. So evil characters do turn up in our good parties from time to time, but the player knows the risks. I've done it, its fun literally getting away with murder.

Would I have allowed Vincent to take his vendetta into my game? No. I probably wouldn't invite him into any of my games.

But then I frequently run harsh games and punish the players on a regular basis, before giving them a carrot and moving on. I wouldn't expect any of my players to hold a grudge because of that.

Sadly, can't see Elfquest ever getting renewed.

Thank the gods! That is sooo last millenium... and I have it, even ran a session... oh... about 20 years ago... maybe more...

But this, for me at least, highlights the problem Chaosium faces. Elfquest, Thieves World, Ringworld, Stormbringer, Glorantha, this is all old stuff. I mean it was written when the original inspiration for them was available as current material. And the problem with Glorantha, and I really love this as a place to role play, is that it can require a huge amount of research to pluck some of the gems from the background. I still run RQ for my players, partly because I like the cohesion that the mythology has, partly because I love the game mechanics, partly because all together its ridiculous, outrageous and genius. Partly because I have spent sooo much time learning some of its secrets.

[*]Dune

The Dune series seems just perfect for BRP. I would like to see only the stuff by Frank Herbert converted, not any of that cheap crap from the wannabe hack Brian Herbert.

Now Dune! Thats a nice choice, I'd go there, but you cant exclude his sons material. While I agree that Brian's not as good (or even, no-where near as good) as his old man, he has added to the mythology and it would at least have to be included. No matter how much it makes your teeth ache.

I like conan too, but its been done done done, there are movies, books computer games and rpgs about this already. I want something new and equally genius.

Ok, so going out on a limb, and I don't know if I've offered this before (this is a very long thread now)... but my suggestion for a possible contender for a world I'd like to visit would be David Brins Uplift books... I like sci fi, intrigue, animals and weird aliens, so these books tick all my boxes

...(despite the Ducks!)...

How rude! One of my favourite characters in RQ was a Duck

Maybe its more of a text stutter or speech impediment 'pur popular'... they are just too excited!

You could try to track down Runquest Plunder, its for (original) RQ2 but can translate to any BRP/RQ system quite easily. In my experience RQ magic items stretch from mundane to outrageous, there never seemed to be a limit to what was possible.

Having said that, more often than not magic weapons can quite easily just be a weapon/item with a spell engraved into it. This means that the character doesn't need to know the spell if they are carrying the weapon/item with the spell in it. Usual combinations would be something like a sword with a bladesharp, or a cup with a detect poison. The character still has to expend the magic points, but at least they don't have to spend their INT on the spell points.

Soltakss website is always a good source of typical RQ lunacy.

Grabbed the PDF from Chaosium

Welcome to my place in the desert!

Bowie Knife

Oops, another glaring omision (there are a couple). I'd like to do a little research before commiting to anything. But I guess I'd be looking at giving it something like a cross between short sword and knife stats. BS% 20, Dmg 1d6, HP 20, STR/DEX 5/4, ENC 0.7. Not sure how much they weigh, but that looks about right? Call it an unofficial ammendment

Anyway, great job and many thanks!

Thank you! It's always great when I get some positive feed back.

I think cheat sheets are a great idea. However, because of the many options available in the BRP book everybodies cheat sheet will look different.

As an example, referring to your example, I don't use DEX ranks, I use Strike Ranks, which is a completely different mechanic for combat.

Not saying its impossible, just that its going to be a lot of work to capture all of the possibilities.

I can state categorically that the next Aces High book will not contain aliens... I'm hoping a BRP sci fi will cover that. I can also say that I am at the stage where I am considering preparing a proposal for a second Aces High book for Dustin. Bit more work to do first though.

I'm in Geek Heaven;D

"...is it demons?"

Judging by the title I'd have to say no, but, not off topic at all! And I've already told my girlfriend that we're going to see it

Howdy yerself,

'Power Points of Magic' in the redskin occupation/magic is saying that that occupation has that many points of magic spells. So, if our shaman has the maximum 6 Power Points of Magic he could have Dark 3, Light 2 and Seal 1. Or any combination of available magic powers to the value of 6.

This is a starting value, what you would get if the shaman was a character at the beginning of an adventure. An older, more experienced shaman might have access to more magic powers.

Shamen do also get the option of the short (fairly useless) list at the top of page 91 as well as the group rituals and totem powers.

Most of the interesting/useful Magic is restricted to the individual totems. The theory is that it is trying to describe a place of waning magic where all of the useful magics have been snapped up by the totems, who don't like to share...

Is that clear?

What we really need is a supplement...

...and a moon on a stick;D My next contribution will tick some of those boxes.

... if there ever was a chance to update the firearms list...

Consider it updated...

We finally got the game started and it seems like a success. Everyone had tons of fun!

Excellent!

But I did notice some errors in the weapon lists...

My research powers are not renowned for their great accuracy...

• LeMat Pistol - Had a 9 shot cylinder and not a 6 shot cylinder. Not counting the "grapeshot" barrel.
  
• Sharps Rifle should have ammo 1 and not 8.
  
• Spencer Breech had an ammo capacity of 7 and not 9.
  
• The Volcanic Carbine had a capacity between 20-30 shots depending on the barrel lenght, not 15. I went for the 25 shot version in the book since it seemed to be the standard one.
  

I have been working on a revised and updated firearms list and already spotted and corrected the Le Mat and the Spencer Breech.

Think i may have confused number of shots possible in a minute with the Sharps Thats a terrible cock up though...

I hadn't realised how badly the Volcanic carbines ammo capacity was off, thats a great call. Thanks for that!

I've now discovered that the Volcanic Pistol can hold 6 or 10 shots depending on barrel length too.

Ok, not so bad after all.

Thanks for the info. Are you running the AH game? Hope this didn't annoy you too much

Nebraska and Kansas 1851 This site is a good resource for old maps, they also let you export huge sized copies of all the maps they have for free. Looks like an interesting place to visit...

... Aces High are so far my favourite Monograph ...

Thankee for the kind words pard!

... We created characters last week and plan on running the first adventure this weekend. I takes place in Lawrence of Kansas Territory 1856 where the players are thrown into a slavery vs. anti-slavery conflict before I send them on towards more "weird" adventures.

Excellent! I usually pitch my scenarios after the civil war, but the original idea was to allow games to be run at any time between the last ice age and 1900! Sounds like you have an interesting idea, let me know how it goes.

...Aces High available in print no longer?...

The way I understand it is that the Monographs have a short print run and are then replenished when they are sold out. I noticed the Aces High hardcopy disapear last year, and then come back. I assume when they next do a batch of printing it will become available again.

For me, I take this as a good sign. It means the hardcopy has sold out!

I guess the only thing to do is get a couple of the American readers here to give it a go. They can probably buy a Taser from WalMart. All in the name of research... to turn myth into fact Oh, and don't forget to video it and post it here!

From what I can see the Move scores are about 1/5 to 1/2 of what it should be in BRP.

Oh, I'm afraid its no where near that simple! Old RQ assumed a human could move 30 meters in a combat round, or 3 meters per strike rank, and human MOV was recorded as '3'. In BRP humans have a MOV of '10' and can move 10 meters in a combat round at a walk, a run could be as much as 50 meters in a combat round. But the AVERAGE movement speed is assumed to be 30, or 3 meters per strike rank.

So, I believe, after all that, the result is, they are about the same... just expressed differently... so times RQ MOV by 3 then divide by 10 to get BRP MOV?

May your pistols shoot straight...

Rod, you do have a screw loose. But... how do you feel about... bunnies?

My estimeed colleague has quite clearly dropped a d6, there are Definately no chickens! Turkeys, however are a different issue...

Well I obviously agree with that statement;D But the AH book mainly deals with Native myth, so no actual Cthulhu, but there is a wendigo... actually there's a couple... or maybe more...