RosenMcStern

Yeah, hardcover Call of Cthulhu! Leather bound, perhaps. Just do not ask about the origin of leather...

...now rules on all things under Heaven. Including PDFs sold on DriveThruRPG.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?cPath=4693&products_id=87926

The dead tree version is on its way to the shops, and, hopefully, your libraries. We will accept orders for the PDF+book combo very soon. Chaosium should have it available in a few days, too.

We hope you will appreciate this humble addition to your BRP library.

Ho-hum...

In fact, a lot of rules in Parpuzio are designed exactly to avoid that kind of approach, that is certainly better than being able to use just one skill for each task, but is not the best way to model those kinds of situations IMO. Remember, the complimentary skill rule in BRP contains a lot of maths (Skill1% + (Skill2 / 5)%): many players are gonna find it confusing. Moreover, when you use traits and passions on a roll, then you are usually doing something really significant for your character (I have "Hate Lunars" 90% and I am 50m from an unaware Sor-eel). In this case, I really much prefer to alter the success level (à la HeroQuest) rather than improve the chance of success.

There are some cases when you can use a trait as an augment in Parpuzio, but this kind of situations have not been explored thoroughly in the current version. In that case, the rule is simple: you apply two traits, that is you use the skill base at +60%. This is simpler and more effective than both the BRP and the HQ augment rule.

However, the approach I wish to encourage is that of using Motivations to gain Fate Points (and I am also going to simplify this part of the rules so that gaining FP is easier). I suggest you read the example I made with Samwise and Friggo, and how Samwise uses his Loyalty to Friggo to gain a Fate Point that he immediately uses to save his life. This mechanics encourages roleplaying much more than the "I add this Augment to my roll" that is used in HeroQuest.

As for cooperative usage of skills, this rule is already present and is much more structured than is described in Sarah's article - that is, the "according to the GM judgement" part is less relevant. Basically, you do not use your skills as a complement, but you provide extra bonuses to an extended contest by helping the rolling character do what he is doing. This is a very structured and codified procedure, and enchances narration, because adding a Bonus token to the bonus pool is an Action like rolling a skill, so you have to declare it during your statement of intent and, in a social contest, also roleplay it.

A new OGL game, heavily based on d100 and inspired by various incarnations of BRP, is now available. It is based on the OGL version of Mongoose RuneQuest 1, with some bits of the D20 OGL thrown in, but it is rather different from its ancestors, retaining less than 25% of them.

The main purpose of this system is to allow Alephtar Games to publish books that include the complete rules used. However, we chose to make it OGL and to make the playtest, that will now begin, absolutely public. All suggestions from people are welcome, and if they are incorporated in the game they will remain OGL, that is, available to the public for free. Playtest has already started.

Here is the SRD. Please consider that it is still untested, which means that it could lack balance. It also lacks magic, at the moment, although we have already playtested a form of supernatural powers.

Parpuzio Game System SRD v 0.5 (name not final)

Well, RPG.net may be a little biased because it is run by a Chaosium former employee

But your analysis is correct, IMO. It is regaining ground. Maybe it will not be back in the #2 position it had among RPGs at the starto of the 80s, but it is alive and kicking. And I am proud to have been part of the process.

Because of course extensively using Glorantha as the default setting has caused crippling Gregging issues for Mongoose Runequest that have almost killed the product, such that you can hardly find it in games shops, unlike BRP which.... er... hang on a minute!

Simon, since when is Mongoose RuneQuest a non-D100 game? The facts you are pointing out are in perfect agreement with what I said

That is all I have to say on the subject. If you still don't understand OK and 'meh'.

Legion, I think that saying you do not understand to people who do not agree with you is an unpleasant way of endorsing one's opinion. It sounds dangerously similar to "If you do not agree with me you must not be so smart". Do you ever consider that your ideas could be wrong, rather than misunderstood?

Just to leave the ground of opinion and enter that of hard, verifiable fact: the percentage share of sales on DriveThruRPG is a good indicator of a product popularity. You can determine how well a product sold on DriveThru by looking at the "medals" the product has.

Hackmaster Basic has copper medal on DriveThru. Please check the status of, say, the BRP gold book, the Mongoose RuneQuest line, or the BRP supplements. Rome, for instance is Silver Medal, like MRQ and others, and it is a mere supplement. A product that has more "medals" than BRP is certainly Savage Worlds, which is its real competitor nowadays - but has different strengths and weaknesses.

Now, there is nothing wrong in you thinking that Hackmaster is better than BRP and will eventually outshadow it. But the hard evidence points towards another direction.

To be honest, I rather like my games to be at least unpopular, if not downright out-of-print. It means I have a nice, fixed database to work with without worrying abut the next Gregging ...

One of the positive effects (well, the ONLY positive effect) of Greg diverting his attention from d100 games is that BRP stuff is no longer prone to being Gregged...

Well, in fact I do not want to create overlapping sourcebooks with "friendly" publishers like Firebird or D101. You may have noticed that areas that are relevant to the Amber Coast, such as Russia and Lithuania, as well as the Mongols, are not covered in great detail in Crusaders. This is simply because they are already well detailed in Mythic Russia and Birchbark Chronicles. You only need to convert the "rulesy" bits and you can use the background as is. I think Simon has at least part of the conversion ready somewhere inside his drawers.

What I would really like to know at this point is what future awaits Mythic Russia. It uses the HeroQuest 1 rules, which are admittedly a bit bugged at high level, and I think it could really, really benefit from an upgrade to HeroQuest 2, which would also make it more "generic" and easy to adapt to non-HeroQuest play, like the Sartar books published by Moon Design. On the other hand I was very disappointed when I saw that some ideas that appeared in Mythic Russia for Hero Point usage were not included in HQ2. I still consider MR partially superior to HeroQuest 2 under that point of view, because it allows you to use Hero Points to add to the story and not just to survive unlucky rolls.

Any chance Merrie England will be this way when it is redone for BRP?

Our license (which is different from the license Cubicle Seven has for the Laundry, even if our BRP books are printed and distributed by CB7) does not allow us to do so. Chances are that we will renegotiate something sooner or later, but certainly not for Merrie England, which is about to see the light of the day again.

However, consider that we have three different "Medieval Europe" settings now, and two Chinese ones. So there are lots of parts that would end up being reprinted even between Merrie England and, say, Crusaders of the Amber Coast (erm, in fact the Magic System IS the same in the two books, as it is original and not based on the BRP canon). I do not know whether many people would be happy with this, considering also that if you play ME a lot you will probably end up buying also Crusaders when you run out of British adventures.

Another point to bear in mind is that packaging the game system into the setting is a proven model. That's exactly what Chaosium did with all their previous games.

I think this might still be the way to go, as it makes things easier for newbs. As long as you have no more than 50-60 pages of redundant materials in each game, it should be ok. They might even think of inserting a Kyger Litor cult write-up in each supplement, just to keep true to the tradition

However, the value of the Big Gold Book need not be underestimated. BRP has been at a loss if compared to GURPS for at least 20 years, and this should not have happened. This was primarily due to the lack of "Brand recognition" and of a core ruleset, upon which the different settings could be grafted as variants. Now that the core ruleset exists, publishing a standalone game that uses the same engine does not overshadow the "brand" any longer like it did with Call of Cthulhu.

I think the whole thing coulde be advertised as follows:

a) The Basic Roleplaying game engine has been around for 30+ years, providing the foundation for successful, fun to play games like Call of Cthulhu or Stormbringer

Several new standalone supplements come out every year for BRP, adding to the variety of games you can run by knowing just one simple, easy to use system

c) Whenever you want, you can take optional elements from the core rulebook to incorporate in your specific campaign without too much tinkering

d) Finally, if you want to design your own game, the core rulebook is a good starting point for any genre

Well, BRP lite already exists, and it is even free in its PDF form. So if you like Rome you can always use BRP lite with it. Furthermore, everyone has a copy of Call of Cthulhu somewhere, so everyone might want to try out a supplement by playing it with CoC and then buy into the basic book when he feels the urge of having the full range of options.

That said, the idea of packaging each game setting with its own version of the rules could be good. The Laundry does this. And you may have noticed that Alephtar is building its own system in order to do just this - packaging the system with the setting. So yes, I think it could be one of the ways to go to expand the fan base.

Unfortunately, supplements cannot be published in a "halfway" fashion, even if we know that most people on this forum will play them exactly that way. Moreover, there are many people out there who have not known BRP or MRQ for long and would be confused by contradicting bits. So it took three people to spot all the points that are not "pure BRP" and fix them. But the process is more or less over now, so the book will be available soon, with a campaign and a lot of additional contents.

Thank you for the kind words, SF. I will also listen to your advice and start selling video games

However, I think that what you said about BRP characters not progressing from normal to epic level is not true. I have played campaigns where characters started as hunters and ended their careers as demi-gods. In the old RuneQuest game the acquisition of powerful magic, which is not limited to professional wizards in that game, did the trick, but there are equivalent ways to achieve this in the BGB.

Dicenomicon, Maptool.

Thank you Daxos. I will have some feedback from playtesters soon. Any comments are welcome, and please post them on the appropriate forum.

It appears the traits must be named differently in order for the difference to be clear. Swordsman, bowman, forester, horseman, etc.

The only appropriate alternatives I see now are: Traits, Keywords, Features.

I suppose keyword is appropriate, although it clashes a bit with how it is used in HeroQuest.

But it hints at a special ability or an innate predisposition, which Traits are not - or not exclusively.

Let us go for a concrete example: the Traits for Robin Hood would be:

English, Noble, Horse, Sword, Bow, Forest, Hide, Sneak ... and some others, like Jump or so. They would probably also include Crusader and/or Bandit.

Would you call English or Crusader a Gift?

Unless I'm mistaken, this will function in a similar way to MRQII's heroic abilities, so character/professional ability is probably my preferred choice.

Erm, in fact you are mistaken. Traits make up approximately two thirds of a character's initial experience - maybe more. They are what makes a character basically competent, not what makes him excel.

Uhm, it is not exactly the concept I am looking for. Look at the definition: a Skill is what you can do, a Trait is what you are. You may have Close Combat 50%, but it is the fact that you are a Hoplite that gives you a bonus when using a spear and a shield. The key notion is that Traits can be applied to several skills: some Traits are explicitly labeled as multi-use, while others are supposed to apply to one skill only. But yesterday, during the first playtest, the players suggested "creative usage" of some traits, for instance applying their Weapon traits to Craft rolls to repair them.

(*Don't like that name though, because they're not like Pendragon (Personality) Traits. More like HW/HQ 'Keywords'? At least it's a better name than that!)

Agreed and noted. I have opened a related thread in the Parpuzio discussion forum. The forum is open, feel free to add questions and comments, input is extremely welcome.

(*Don't like that name though, because they're not like Pendragon (Personality) Traits. More like HW/HQ 'Keywords'? At least it's a better name than that!)

Frogspawner is right, as the word Trait is historically related to personality in BRP-derived games. Any suggestion for an alternate name? "Aspects" is not a solution, as it is used in Fate with a slightly different meaning.

Let us say it is rather going to replace our MRQ stuff. The Rome line will remain BRP, as well as Mecha, Celestial Empire and some of the Medieval products. It is possible that we release alternate versions of something that use this system, but this is still hypothetical.

I am, however, working on a Steampunk setting that will probably use this system.

Hello all,

A new OGL game, heavily based on d100 and inspired by various incarnations of BRP, is now available. It is based on the OGL version of Mongoose RuneQuest 1, with some bits of the D20 OGL thrown in, but it is rather different from its ancestors, retaining less than 25% of them.

The main purpose of this system is to allow Alephtar Games to publish books that include the complete rules used. However, we chose to make it OGL and to make the playtest, that will now begin, absolutely public. All suggestions from people are welcome, and if they are incorporated in the game they will remain OGL, that is, available to the public for free. I hope to start playtest soon.

Here is the SRD. Please consider that it is still untested, which means that it could lack balance. It also lacks magic, at the moment, but v02 will have it.

Parpuzio Game System

Never trust a cube (or cubicle).

It was delayed, you should have it for February.