RosenMcStern

1. lack of monsters

Buy the Creatures monograph. Download the MRQ Monsters SRD for free (it's in the MRQ Luxury SRD on this site). Here you go.

2. shields are almost useless as written

This issue is real. You may want to use the MRQ2 rules for shields when the rules become available. They are easy to adapt and very realistic.

3. confusion about how to incorporate weapon base into skills, especially during character creation

This has been discussed above. It is a small nuisance but it exists, in fact. It should not be exaggerated, though. If you give 5% more than due to a character at creation time, it is not a disaster.

3a. how to handle similair skills

The point here is that you have to decide. The rules clearly state so. The advice is to make skills very broad and give a common base value at the start of a campaign: for example "Energy rifles are all in the same category and start at 20%, while energy pistols start at 10%".

It could be useful to have a weapon class table as an errata. Maybe on the wiki? Classic Fantasy is not enough, as it will not include firearms.

4. modifications based on difficulty (this can be done on the fly by saying "subtract 20 from your pick lock skill for this lock", but this is not addressed in the rule book, other than difficult (1/2) or easy (2x).

Easy and Difficult are a better way to handle modifiers for a D100. Learn to use them instead of add/subtract values, and you will have a better game. You can use the concept of "challenge" or task difficulty in BRP, but it is faster and easier if you don't. The GM is relieved of the burden of determining "how difficult" it is to do something, he just has to decide if it _is_ difficult. KISS.

5. Stats have little effect on skills.

This is a feature of the system, not a limit. In GURPS, especially 3e, stats are more important than skills. In BRP they are not. Use the suggested alternate method of adding the category modifier instead of the intelligence modifier when rolling for experience gain, and you will see stats becoming important: a character with high stats will see his skills skyrocket beyond 100% very easily, one with low stats will improve very slowly once his skills approach 90%.

I am only giving my opinion on the shortfalls of the system that might be turning prospective GMs off.

It depends on what the GMs are looking for. I still think that a good setting would do the magic more than addressing the shield issues.

Galileo and Leonardo vs. the Inquisition would be very interesting as well - though in that setting science would be unequivocally the 'good' side.

Why? Do you suppose that the Inquisition is necessarily evil? Then you should not play Deus Vult

I'd actually always wanted to base a game on Magical Realism (based on the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the like) focusing on the decline of magic and the rise of science. Probably not a setting with broad appeal though.

It's the basic idea behind some Steampunk worlds, like the one described in the Arcanum Computer RPG. It is just that all Steampunk worlds are based on Victorian Era Britain. But other settings might fit the basic assumption. Like Renaissance Italy, for instance. Think of Galileo and Leonardo vs. the Inquisition, for instance.

Here it is:

Basic Egitto (Soft Cover) | RPG Version | BoardGameGeek

We have talked about re-printing it, but it is not in the "priority" list.

By the way, do not forget to look at IndianaKen's column about historical gaming on rpg.net. This month he wrote about prehistory.

Uhm, it looks like I am the only one interested in the area I voted.

However, there is an interesting setting that has been left over: Ancient Egypt. And it happens to have an out-of-print BRP setting that is just begging to be translated and reprinted.

Awww. Mark promised that he would put Mythic Russia on lulu soon. I hope he does it, so that you everyone who hasn't got a copy yet can get one. It is worth having. Meanwhile, I see that someone has already taken advantage of the discount and ordered his Merrie England. Do not forget that you can also order Birchbark Chronicles on lulu, and spend the entire holidays reading Soltakss' background materials. What else can you wish, for Christmas?

There is another sale at lulu.com. If you uset he HOHOHO code at checkout, you get a 20% discount. Time to visit Alephtar Games - Lulu.com and grab your Merrie England, BRP Rome and Stupor Mundi hard copies! I have not checked if it works for Uncounted Worlds (I am afraid it does not), but it works for OpenQuest and Mythic Russia, too.

There is another sale at lulu.com. If you use he HOHOHO code at checkout, you get a 20% discount. Time to visit Alephtar Games - Lulu.com and grab your Merrie England, BRP Rome and Stupor Mundi hard copies! I have not checked if it works for Uncounted Worlds (I am afraid it does not), but it works for OpenQuest and Mythic Russia, too.

Mongoose may have had an agreement that allowed

publishers to use the MRQ STL and say their product is compatible with

RUneQuest, but since Mongoose is pulling the MRQ STL, legally you cannot claim

compatibility with RuneQuest unless you get permission from Greg Stafford

and/or Mongoose.

You can claim to have used the OGL as base, which is the same.

So, if the country in question follows US copyright

law with respect to rules, translations would be legal.

US laws are in effect in the US, not abroad.

The point is not that the OGL would not stand. I think that if the OGL was brought to court it would be stated, after a painstaking debate, that it covers the rights to translation.

The problem is that the owners of translation rights have clearly stated that they would object (i.e. sue). And no one wants any suit here: it is simply not worth the effort.

Similiary, I think that if I continued to sell Stupor Mundi or Merrie England with the RQ logo, a court would find it appropriate, as Mongoose stated that it would only withdraw the right to use the logo to protect the RQ trademark from disreputable publications. However, it would be stupid for us to seek an argument with Mongoose, so we will transition to BRP. I will not transition to OpenQuest because I know that using it could cause a litigation if I wanted to translate the materials. Which does not mean that I think I would lose the suit, just that I do not want any litigation.

Exactly. The above explanation was confirmed to me - in public - by the company that holds the rights to the Traveller Italian translation. They would simply not allow anyone to publish any Traveller OGL materials in Italian.

Suppose I want to make an OpenQuest game. All ok in English. But if I want to translate it into Lithuanian, and someone has purchased the license for the Lithuanian translation of RuneQuest from Mongoose, then this someone could - and would - have something to object.

The OGL grants you the right to use the English text. The license may not apply to other languages.

Theoretically nothing! Matt Sprange has already stated that this is the case.

The only caveat is you cannot say it is compatible or designed for RuneQuest.

Mongoose is pulling the MRQ license as well as leaving OGL.

You can still say it is compatible with RuneQuest. The only think you cannot do is use the RQ logo.

OpenQuest is still explicitly based on the RuneQuest OGL and is still legal. And it will stay in its place for long, I guess

Homebrew based on the OGL is still doable. I did not choose to go that way with some products, as I did not choose to go OpenQuest, for possible translation issues.

I failed my Mind Read roll

You assume that the knights are the heroes in the game. This is not necessarily true (and it is certainly not true in the Baltic epic that inspired the game). When I make a historical setting, I usually choose one where Good and Evil are equally distributed on both sides of the conflict.

Our plans should be obvious at this point. I have clearly considered OpenQuest as an alternative, but there are good reasons why Alepthar Games should go another way. The same reasons might not apply to others, though, so I expect an increase in OpenQuest supplements and spin-offs in the next few months. An homebrew system could be a nice idea, but it would have the same issues as using OpenQuest, for us. So I was left with only one option.

The future of the Merrie England series is truly dependent on Simon's decision. But we have already discussed this our the initial ideas seem to converge, at the moment. In any case, I have two good ideas for non-d100 games on my desktop, one of which is currently being developed. So losing the benefits of a supported MRQ OGL, although it hurts our plans in the short terms, is not so terrible.

Nothing is more educational than the famous "Sample of Play" contained in the RQ3 boxed set. It features one of the adventures of RQ3 Vikings played by the Chaosium crew of the time. Greg (acting as the GM) is clearly Greg Stafford, while Charlie (playing Nikolos the Sorcerer) is most likely Charlie Krank. I always wondered if Steve (playing Signy Freyasdotter) is actually Steve Perrin. Nevertheless, the transcript is a recommended read!

As always when Germans were involved, it is even more complicated.

The Livonian Knights had both German and Danish members. When their order

suffered a devastating defeat in 1236 against the Lithuanians, the remnants

of the order became a part of the Teutonic Order by Papal order in 1237, but

both branches of the Teutonic Order continued their different traditions after

the unification.

Exactly. As you can see, the knight on the cover has the peculiar coat of arms of the Livonian Order (red cross over a red sword). Even after the incorporation, the Livonian Branch of the Teutonic Knights continued to wear the red insignia.

Needless to say, the game includes all of the above details as playable scenarios.

How easy is it to use Merrie England with BRP? (I don't own MRQ, and so don't know its similarities/differences vis-a-vis BRP.)

All of our MRQ medieval supplements are easy to play with BRP, too. Where it says "Persistence test" make a Luck roll, where it says "Resilience test" make a Stamina roll, etc. - you get the picture. As Rurik wisely suggested, download the Luxury SRD for the spell descriptions, as the games are balanced for the Divine and Sorcery spells of RQ, not the Magic and Sorcery of BRP.

In fact, Alexandre Nevski is not about a Crusade (It should not be because told from the russian POV), but the teutonic knights where present in Prussia and Baltic states because of the Baltic Crusades , that lead to the creation of a monastic state of the teutonic knights. The Peipus lake battle (described in the movie), is between teutonic and Livonian (ie Balt) knights coming from this state and a russian army.

Hmmmm, not exact. The Livonian Knights were not from Livonia, but from Germany, like the Teutons. Balts took part in the battle, but as auxiliaries. There is much more in that battle than the movie tells.

And watching Eisenstein's movie (as well as Tarkovskij's Andrei Roublev) is highly recommended, indeed!

Moving reply to http://basicroleplaying.com/forum/basic-roleplaying/1708-crusaders-amber-coast.html thread. This is supposed to be a "BRP/MRQ License" thread.

Okay, we have hijacked the "Third party license" thread a little bit by talking about the Northern Crusades. If someone wishes to talk about the subject, let us do this here and not there.

Here is the official announcement: Crusaders of the Amber Coast. Another beautiful piece of artwork by Tiziano Baracchi.

Review here: Stupor Mundi - D100 Reviews

Free scenario here: BRP Central - Downloads - Hounds of Adranos

Of course you can play it with BRP. I suggest you download at least the BRP Central - Downloads - RuneQuest SRD Luxury edition in order to have the spell description for the magic included in the scenarios.

Merrie England has less adventure content, but more background, including a really improved magic system and lots of bits about medieval society, alchemy, demonology and all the stuff that all self-respecting medieval RPG must contain.

Technically, they can be sold in their current incarnation only until Nov/Dec 2010. What will happen to Merie England is Simon's decision, although we have already planned something. What will happen to Stupor Mundi, you can guess.

There is a very logical explanation for it not being in the upcoming section (yet) despite the fact it has been in playtest for a long time. Can't you imagine it? I just got the definitive ok for it by Dustin, I will send the blurb to Trif tomorrow, along with the cover.