RosenMcStern

Er, and the mapping? The networking?

, though like most such things, the more radical the change the more work it is.

Show me a software that does not follow this principle and I'll persuade the Nobel Foundation to create the Nobel Prize for Computer Science.

In any case, this software is definitely good. But it lacks support for playing the game, something which Fantasy Grounds and MapTools have.

Cubicle 7 store should have it in stock now. The only thing they cannot offer is the Book/PDF bundle (which they offer for the Laundry instead), as this combination is only available through the producer.

The PDF will be up before monday.

And I have fixed the language in the checkout page. Paypal needed a little "reminder".

Yes, the site is still under construction, 98% complete but under construction. The new site is now hosted at www.alephtar.com, and will replace the old www.alephtargames.com during the weekend. The products listed there are the physical books only, and you can only buy Stupor Mundi and Merrie England at present, as the two new books are still on their route t omy warehouse. Do not worry, though, PayPal is configured so that you cannot buy the two products that are out of stock. You should not see any checkout page in Italian, as I changed that setting one year ago when we ran the pre-order for Rome, but information technology is fun because it is unpredictable

For PDFs, please click on the links on the right of the website. Dragon Lines is not yet available in PDF, but will be up on DriveThru and YourGamesNow before Easter. Rome is on discount on DriveThru, by the way.

If you can wait for one more week before having Martial Arts for BRP in your greedy little hands, we will also offer book/PDF bundles.

I should be there but have not booked yet. There is no particular reason to bring books there, both new products should already have been launched when the Eternal Convention is held.

This supplement is a classic space exploration adventure which can easily be used as a starter for a full campaign in an interesting setting. Outpost 19's future is reminiscent of Larry Niven's books, with humanity sharing the known space with a handful of sentient alien species and relics of a long lost inhuman civilization scattered among the wilderness of unexplored planets. Yet the setting is also contaminated by influences from other famous science fiction sagas (guilds of mutated beings that control all space travel: have you ever heard something similar?). Even though the author did not introduce anything radically new, this mixup of classic elements is still able to provide an original future storyline full of intriguing details to explore.

The adventure itself is a scientific investigation about an unknown threat that is killing the members of an archeological dig which has unearthed yet another piece of ancient alien technology. The author managed to assemble all the details necessary to create a story rich in mystery and thrill, without providing a fixed storyline, thus leaving to the GM the task of determining what happens next. A tentative chronology of events is nevertheless provided for those who are too lazy to improvise, but this scenario is defintely well suited for those who like to have the players make the story. Plenty of optional events and complications are included for GMs who want to prolong the fun, not to mention the fact that, in the true spirit of the new BRP, alternate options are given even for the final outcome of the investigation.

Last but not least, Outpost 17 includes an alternate fatigue system, inspired by the last two iterations of the RuneQuest game. People who like a detailed depiction of the effects of exertion or adverse environmental conditions on characters, but do not want to mess with the extra bookkeeping needed to keep track of fatigue points, will certainly appreciate it.

If a flaw is to be found in this scenario, it may be the fact that cunning players will probably guess the real origin and nature of the threat early in the game. But the plethora of options described above allow a skilled GM to keep the adventure running anyway. All in all, I give this supplement a 9/10.

Does this mean physical versions of Alephtar Games books without having to pay the high US postage ?

Postage costs depend on the retailer that sells the books. I ship from Italy and Cubicle ships from the UK. Maybe the Chaos Society is more convenient for you, but they do not have all of our titles yet, only Rome and Stupor Mundi.

But the basic idea is that they are now much, much more accessible to the public. I will post another announcement when the buttons to order directly from us are online. The shipping facility is now tested in full, thanks to Chad Bowser.

And there is another surprise coming, possibly next month...

Okay, I was waiting to have physical books in my warehouse before making the announcement, but the news are already spreading on the Internet.

Thanks to our brand new partnership with Cubicle Seven, you can now find BRP Rome and Dragon Lines in the shops (at least in the US)! Yes, they are there, with their shiny covers with gladiators and cool martial artists, and people are now browsing and buying them. The age of "BRP-has-no-settings in the shops" is gone!

You can now order them from Cubicle 7 if your FLGS does not have them. I will be marketing them directly from our new web site as soon as it is up (next weekend I think), and I will offer bundles of physical books and PDF.

Last but not least, if you happen to be at Game Storm in Vancouver next weekend, Charles Green will be there and will run a game of Dragon Lines, plus a game of Nameless Streets (our new HeroQuest game), plus another not-yet-announced surprise. If you live on the West Coast, you cannot miss this opportunity.

Nice. Especially because it has been playtested, and playtested in comparison with a successful system like Savage Worlds.

Hello Conrad,

Do you know what I like about this forum? I like the fact that there is no "heavy handed" moderation, like banning people, issuing warnings, public scorning, thread deletion etc. etc. You can even piss off the moderator himself and you are safe. It feels like Heaven or the Island of Utopia, really.

However, when one individual takes advantage of the non-violent environment of BRP Central to sign in with forged identities, doing actions that would result in an immediate and permanent ban in any other Internet community, then I feel less happy about this environment. But I still love it above all other forums.

Seriously, man, is it too much if we ask that you bring your rough manners somewhere else? Do you really need a bogeyman who punishes you in order to behave in a civil way?

Thank you for your collaboration.

P.S. this is no criticism of the moderator habits here.

Our plans are to have another author write adventures for Rome. The book will not be available before 2011, though.

But our plans for Rome are not limited to this. I hope to have a new version (not dead tree though) of Veni, Vidi, Vici available soon.

Actually, Mars is very good, too. I picked it up in the Haity Charity bundle and it is certainly one supplement that makes you feel the urge to play it.

Acknowledging, and fixing, one's mistakes is more productive than not making mistakes at all. Especially because the latter is impossible.

I think the problem is that the word "Conan" is trademarked. REH's and HPL's works are public domain and you can publish them without any royalties or permission, but if you put "Conan" in the title of your game you are infringing something.

That said, if Mongoose uses the resources it wanted to use on Conan to make a new Star Wars RPG (which could be a mix of Traveller and RuneQuest), I will be much happier than with a RQ/BRP Conan.

I will add the option of buying directly from Alephtar Games next week, and disable sales on lulu. Depending on where you are, it may be more convenient, price-wise, to buy physical books from Chaosium or from us (or Cubicle 7). Maybe Trif could wait one more week, until I have sorted this out and the first books are available from Cubicle - it should be a matter of days.

You could also contact Chasoium and see what it would take to get an offical BRP liscense. That would clear all the obstacles and possibly attract some more customers to boot.

Which is a good suggestion.

Do not forget that you can also use OpenQuest as the base for your game. It is compatible with BRP and D101 supports it a lot.

Yes, you should. Not all have Google maps available when they play, and some sort of filtering is needed on the information that come from Wikipedia and the Internet in general. Some stuff is just plain wrong, and other is not so easy to find with google.

Good point, Ray. Which leaves two questions open:

a) What are the actual advantages (the selling points) of BRP over other systems? Strange to ask this question after 30 years, and that it has not been answered by one of the creators of the system, but here it is.

Once we have identified what the advantages are, how to selectively address the people who would consider them advantages?

For one-shot and tournament play, pre-gens are better.

3. Deadly animals at every corner

Is the ecology of Pandora naturally created, or has there been outside interference. Such interference could be behind the Tree network and the compatibility of the Human and Nau'vi DNA.

I have not seen the thingy yet, but please consider that an ecosystem with deadly animals at every corner is not unrealistic. Land ecosystems on Earth are not organized this way, but water ecosystems may actually have the biomass of major predators at a given time being larger than that of vegetables and herbivores. So there is no reason an alien land ecosystem should not have a deadly beast at every corner.

I am revamping the company site, as we will soon start selling books directly. Some of the domains are being re-hosted at the moment, so expect some weirdness now and then. It should work now.

Time for everyone to have a look at Charles's new work. Here is the preview.

Approximately one month before it hits the shelves.

If it is a supplement for Stupor Mundi or Merrie England, then maybe Chaosium is not the best target, as both these books are intended for MRQ. And published by us and not by Mongoose or Chaosium. There is no problem with asking Dustin, he replies very promptly and kindly. I doubt a 1-2 page supplement would be a good idea, though. What would the price be? 50 cents?

Incidentally, I had guessed you might have Waldensian ancestors. The area around Pinerolo is heavily populated by Waldensians. In fact it is the only non-Catholic area in a romance language speaking country in Europe. There is a brief treatment of Waldensians and Cathars in Stupor Mundi, but not much. Some more about the Cathars in Merrie England, and Soltakss is planning to expand his treatment of the Crusade against the Cathars for a future expansion of Merrie England, and we are currently debating how these proto-evangelical Christians could be treated in BRP terms.

Drop a line to me, along with Dustin, if you already know what to do. And even if you do not know. There is a "Contact" link on the Alephtar Games web page.

Uhm, I doubt RQ2 really beats RQ3 in adoption. There were a lot of people who refused to change edition, but AH edition was around for a very long time (10 years?), and was used as the basis for the GW edition, too. So a lot of people were exposed to RQ3, not to mention the large amount of supplements available for it - and most of them were good. What is different is that RQ2 was an actual competitor to D&D, while despite AH's desires RQ3 was not.

As for SPQR, I think Steve had very good ideas with it. I still wonder why he is not marketing SPQR more consistently via the "usual" channels. Neither Newt nor me had incredible marketing resources to start with, and you can see both d101 and Alephtar gaining momentum in the BRP community by exploiting the available retail channels.

Really nice. You had several good ideas, I think this ruleset will turn out to be rather useable.