soltakss

Hawkmoon is SciFi, in that it is set in the far future and has high technology. No space-faring in that, though. Legends at the End of the Universe is also SciFi, as it is set in the very far future and has ultra-high-technology. However, the SciFi elements are pretty much magical in all but name. A lot of Moorcock's works have time travel of various kinds. They would, in theory, be regarded as SciFi, I suppose. However, Moorcock is well and truly a Fantasy writer.

Using Dodge rather than Defense would work OK without any real problems. RQ2 combat is basically the same as RQ3/BRP combat, some things might have changed slightly, but it is still Attack, Parry, roll damage, roll hit location and see how much gets through. High skills are not problematic, or weren't in our RQ2 campaign. In fact, Defense counters high skills very nicely, so it might be worth keeping it. A Rune Lord with 150% attack fighting someone with 65% Defense is at 85%, for example. Using Dodge removes that skill reduction. I liked RQ2 Anti-Parry, so someone attaching at 150% reduces parries by 50%, making skills count.

Not just dragons, basically any very large/strong monster has had its damage bonus reduced. It takes away the fun of rolling handfuls of D6s as damage, but doe make even gross creatures beatable.

Damage Bonuses in MRQ2/Legend/RQ6 work differently to those in BRP/RQ2/RQ3. The incremental steps are smaller, which means that creatures with higher STR/SIZ don't do extreme amounts of damage. It also tops out at a certain point, meaning that the tables cease to make a lot of sense. One rationale is that, beyond a certain STR/SIZ it doesn't matter as they all do the same incredible amount of damage. Also, weapon sizes make a big difference in RQ6, so having an Enormous weapon has a big effect in combat.

Traditionally, shields, clubs and spears. Maybe nets, if they were tied on. An Animal Lore (olden RQ skills), or its equivalent, roll should be enough to work out if it is a beast or just a dull human. Of course, if it chews on chaparral bushes or craps inside the tent, then you might have a good idea. One of the things about herd men, especially in Glorantha, is that they can be awakened as Allied Spirits, or can be given INT to act as familiars. They would still have their herd man diet, but would be intelligent and can speak. They can be a lot harder to spot and can make excellent spies. Herd Men can also be used in a Planet of the Apes setting, as the dumbed-down humans.

The trouble is, Daleks are not robots. They are very small, weak, genetically engineered creatures who sit in a robotic suit. That means, their SIZ, STR and CON should be very low (1D6), but their Mecha should be very tough indeed. Also, a hit on the Mecha should only affect the dalek itself if it is a hit location containing a dalek. In my opinion, of course.

Does anyone remember the Special Weapons Dalek? It made me laugh at the time. As if Daleks needed to be more deadly. makes sense, though, when they meet something that is really hard to kill.

Skills and Idea Rolls really help. Playing a highly intelligent character is difficult, as the PC will have ideas and brainwaves that the player might not. Use Idea rolls as well as relevant skills to work things out. Playing less intelligent characters is also a struggle, as the player will have brilliant ideas that the PC might not. Again, use Idea rolls and skills to determine whether the PC would know something or would have a brainwave.

What I would probably do is to convert the levels into a pool of points, then spend those points on spells, skills and so on. That way, you could build a more powerful character that more accurately reflects the D20 power level. No, I wouldn't do that. BRP skills have a basic chance for a reason - if you don't have the skill then you have the basic chance of succeeding. If you use the skill categories and their bonuses then you often get a good chance of a skill anyway. I would, however, look at the character classes and see which BRP skills they should have. In fact, I'd use a template for each class, in the same way as Professions get a template, but with special abilities included.

Yes, extra mass means more momentum, which means that the impulse on impact (Change in momentum) is higher. How much higher and what that means in terms of BRP game mechanics is always tricky to work out. My degree is in Pure Maths, so I don't mind formulae at all. I tried doing something similar in the past, working out the Terminal Velocity and how many D6s that related to, but couldn't get a consistent answer. It was frustrating, to say the least. It is easier to make up the answer with nothing to back it up. Spreadsheets are the key! No point working things out in your head, well my head anyway! You can try out the calculation using varying mass, distance and velocity that way. So much easier. Yes, I agree. Stick it into a table or simple formula and it is usable by everyone.

It evolved a bit, so originally was pulled by a horse along a river. Then it was used for coastal trade, then for carrying bulk products between Flanders/Low Country and England. As such, it was a sea-going vessel and needed a larger crew. you are going to need captain. helmsman and mate regardless, then you need riggers (one for each mast, maybe even 2 per mast), a cook, maybe a cabin boy and before you know it you are up to 15 people. The early ones, which were pulled along a river, could get away with 1-2 crew, as they are essentially a barge.

In a roleplayuing game, you don't really need to consider different terminal velocities and drag coefficients, as most falls are short enough for them not to take effect. I'd simply have a maximum damage to the distance fallen representing the maximum velocity achievable. But, I do like formulae and it is always interesting to see how they can be applied to games, so please don't stop.

Mecha rules would probably work for Space Ships. The same thing applies to any military unit, no matter which genre. How do you deal with PCs on a battleship, on a pirate ship, in an army? They have the same issues as crew on a space ship. Do you need everyone to be involved in a spaceship battle? Unless you are a gunner, pilot, commander or engineer then you probably won't have a part to play. What if the life support system is hit? Then the different technicians come into play. The Sewage Disposal Technician Second Class comes into his own when the sewage pipes are cracked and can cause bacterial infection of the whole crew. Finding roles for each of the PCs to play is not an issue for BRP. The same thing would apply to a Traveller game, for example. Sure, BRP has a strong history of playable aliens, no matter that the aliens have been fantasy races. It is no big jump to playing people from a different planet.

http://renaissancekingdoms.wikia.com/wiki/Ship says that a Hulk has 4 crew, but that seems too low. They also give a Cog 4-6 crew, so their figures are suspect. I'd use the same as a small Cog, sp 15 officers and sailors. After all, they were used for transporting between England and Flanders/Low Country, so they were sea-going and should have am appropriate crew.

Well, yes and no. High Status often comes with wealth, but there are exceptions. The Noble family who have been ruined and just have their titles. The youngest son of a youngest son of a high ranking noble, he has the Status, he has the Title, but he has no wealth. The merchant who has made it rich but came from the sewers - he has a high credit rating but not a high Status. In Merrie England, I used Status (Wealth) or something similar as a Wealth score and Status (Social) as the social standing. It makes things a lot easier to manage.

Many Chinese dragons could assume human form, I think, often appearing as mandarins or sages. I would give them a specific character trait that outweighs all others. So, one could be wise, cheerful, cheeky, angry, lustful, greedy, devious or whatever. Over the course of a conversation, that trait would manifest itself in some way. Although hyper-intelligent, they would be easy tricked by taking advantage of that particular character trait. Also, give them certain traits of appearance, so they wear clothes of a certain colour or style, wear they hair in a certain way, use particular weapons and so on. Maybe there are different tribes of dragons that have different styles. Finally, each dragon should have something about them that doesn't transform quite right. One might have long fingernails, sibilant speech, slightly coloured skin, hidden scales, cast a draconic shadow/reflection or whatever.

BRP gives most animals 3D6 CON, which seems fair enough. Animals with small SIZ have proportionally small HPs. So, a cat with SIZ 1 but CON 18 would have 10 HPs, so 3HPs per leg, if locations were used. However, I'd just give it 10 HPs all over, as a sword is unlikely to just hit a single hit location. A SIZ 1 cat with average HPs has 6HPs, easily killable with a single blow. I don't really see a problem with the stats as they are.

In RQ, we have killed several dragons in the past. Of course, it depends on the dragon and the strength of the party, but someone who is magicked up can fairly easily kill a normal dragon (Critical in the head doing over 30 points of damage tends to do the trick). Don't forget that a big, strong human with a greatsword could do 22 points of damage without magic, add in Truesword and Bladesharp and you easily get above 30. The trick is getting into a position where the dragon cannot breathe on you, dropping on its head, attacking from behind/above and getting lucky, because as soon as it is engaged it will move into a better position.

Actually, it's only really flavour. If you prefer to have Torture as a Craft, Art or Lore then knock yourself out. It makes a slight difference to the starting skill, but that's about it.

Sorry, real life has interfered with things - January is just about my busiest and most expensive month. I will get back to people fairly soon.

Just because something is produced for Legend, it doesn't mean that Mongoose produce it. Anyone can publish a Legend Compatible book that can be used with Legend, without any input at all from Mongoose. The Genie has well and truly been let out of the bottle.

Coc is a very simple, fast-moving game, so I would allow pretty much whatever things a grappler wants to do. Basically, make a Grapple roll to grab hold, then a Grapple roll every turn, with the hold automatically broken on a fumble. A successful Grapple roll allows someone to be thrown, choked, Chinese-burned or whatever. If two people are wrestling, then each makes a Grapple roll and if one succeeds and gets a better roll then that person gets the option of doing something. The above rules are great and suit RQ/BRP, but are far too complex for CoC, in my opinion.

Monsters of Legend had stats for Size/Reach for all its monsters. A dragon has: Type Size Reach Damage AP/HP Range Bite E/L Claw E/VL Tail H/VL E=Enormous H=Heavy L=Long VL=Very Long I would recommend Monsters of Legend as a PDF - quite cheap and full of useful monsters.

Character generation in BRP shouldn't take more than 15 minutes, as long as you have decided what you want to be. The hardest part is to decide which Background/Profession you want and which spells to take. As long as everything else is available in tables, it is very easy to do. Even using hit locations is a lookup on a table and writing them down. The 7 point wishlist is satisfied completely by BRP, so these are good things to want.

I didn't know that Loz purloined ideas!