threedeesix

Could you speak a little more on the differences mechanics-wise between clerics and wizards?

The difference is in semantics more than anything. For instance, the mage is based on BRP 'Magic'. Which is the core system originating in the original Magic World all those years ago. It was chosen as the system for Chaos & Catacombs because it most resembles the D&D magic system.

For instance, mages use spell books to record their spells, they memorize a number of those spells for 'quick casting'. But unlike D&D they don't 'forget' them after casting and can cast them all day as long as their magic points hold out.

Now, with that in mind I chose to model cleric spell casting in the same way, but taking a hint from RQ, clerics must pray for new spells and sacrifice POW to obtain them. They don't require spell books, but are limited in the number of spells they can prepare for 'quick casting' in the same way as a mage.

The other thing I loved about the Magic World spell system is that a mage can cast spells from his spell book as well, it just takes longer, something mages always do in movies and literature, but not D&D.

It's hard to summarize an entire chapter in one post, but thats the general gist of it.

Rod

Here's some ideas...

Brain Farts Ahoy!

Bastions & Beasts

Castles & Chimaerae

Caves & Cockatrices

Cellars & Centaurs

Crypts & Creatures

Darkness & Demons

Fanes & Fiends

Gaols & Giants

Graveyards & Ghouls

Hamlets & Harpies

Lairs & Lords

Mansions & Magicians

Mausoleums & Mummies

Mines & Manticores

Palaces & Perils

Ruins & Rogues

Temples & Titans

Tombs & Trolls

Tunnels & Tarasques

Villages & Vampires

All good, many notably better than others.

I'm also of the opinion that "homage" would work better than parody in this case. Parody of AD&D has already been well covered by HackMaster. Glad to hear of this change in direction!

Also, I'm glad to hear that the name has been changed to avoid confusion with Castles & Crusades. A wise choice. If you're taking suggestions for a new name, how about Dark Dungeons? Kind of a nod to Jack Chick's ridiculous anti-D&D screed pamphlet of the same name...

I have a name right now that to the best of my knowledge IS available. Rather than announce it only to have to retract it if it can't be used, I've decided to keep it my little closely guarded secret. >:->

But, with that said, I'll take any suggestions seriously as an emergency back up.

Rod

Now this sounds good. It also sounds like something I might be able to lure someone into trying (getting them away from 4e). If the Bigby spell is representative of the game as a whole consider copies sold, to me.:thumb:

Will the BRP book be necessary or will it be self-contained? Won't using the name 'Bigby', and others from D&D cause legal problems?

BRP D&D, coming up.:happy:

Thanks Badcat. Yah, the BRP book will be necessary, I'm going to have a hard time keeping this thing under 200 pages as it is.

I renamed all the Bigby spells Bigbee. Don't know it thats enough but we'll see.

Thanks for the Pony stats. I was able to finish up the equipment chapter tonight. Now back to spells.

Rod

I had not intended to post again, but if I can be of service...yes, in Stormbringer 1, barbarian ponies.

As regular horse, subtract 6 from STR and SIZ ratings.

Your too good to me Badcat.

Can anyone tell me if there is an 'official' write up for a pony in any Chaosium BRP product?

I have official stats for a riding horse and war horse but just need a pony.

If someone wouldn't mind posting the stats if the know of some official ones I would be eternally grateful. Otherwise, I'll make my own.

Rod

This sort of thing came up recently in peterb's "d20 creature conversion" thread. He's converting from 3.x too. But perhaps you, like me, are interested in converting the OLD D&D stuff... (i.e. AD&D).

As my core group of players know, my order of preference when converting to C&C is AD&D 1st edition first, if I cant find it in there, 2nd ed is a close second. I convert from 3rd ed only if the previous 2 editions don't have what I'm looking for and then only with a 'gun' to my head. Ok, the guns an exaggeration, but you get the picture.

By starting with 1st ed, we get some nice things D&D forgot through the years, for instance, in C&C, clerics and paladins still turn demons and devils as well as undead. It seems, when 2nd edition came around and TSR removed all references to demons and devils, the ability to turn them was lost, but when WOTC developed 3rd ed and added them back in to the core game, everyone forgot to give this ability back to clerics and paladins. Nice going WOTC.

Rod

Hi threedeesix, you've got a PM.

Why yes I do, how did you know?

Done.

Have you thought about adding conversions from D&D so that people can use the old D&D supplements?

I have thought about it, but with some things I didnt use conversion tables. Spells for instance. Instead, I wrote the spell to be compatable with BRP's existing spells and not exactly convert from D&D.

For example, in BRP, the spell Heal is esentually all the D&D spells rolled into one; cast it with one or two magic points, Cure Light Wounds, cast it with 3 or 4 magic points, Cure Serious Wounds, with enough magic points it can also Raise Dead.

With that in mind, here is my adaption of Bigby's 'various' Hand spells.

Bigbee’s Interposing Hand

Class: Magic-User

Range: 2 squares (3 meters); can be moved.

Duration: 10 rounds

Magic Point Cost per level: 1

A large human shaped disembodied hand forms between the caster and a chosen opponent. This hand possesses 10 STR, 10 CON, 10 SIZ, and 10 Hit Points per spell level. The caster does not have to concentrate on this effect and no matter what the caster or the opponent does, the hand remains positioned between them, automatically blocking any successful attack from that opponent, with damage coming off that of the hand. The hand remains until its hit points are reduced to zero, or its duration runs out. Any creature trying to push past the hand must compare their STR to the hands SIZ on the Resistance Table. A failed roll prevents them from advancing, while a successful roll allows them to push through at ½ their MOV.

The caster has a number of additional actions he or she may take with the hand. If moving the hand, it possesses a MOV of 10. These actions require the casters concentration and sometimes the expenditure of additional magic points as follows.

• If the caster so chooses, he may move the hand as a Miscellaneous Action. This cost no additional magic points and allows the hand to still block attacks from one opponent. The caster may designate a new opponent at anytime.

• As an Attack Action, the caster can move the hand toward an opponent and push them back a number of squares equal to the remainder of its MOV, if it can beat their STR + SIZ with its STR + SIZ on the Resistance Table. This costs the magic-user 1 additional magic point.

• As an Attack Action, the caster can move the hand toward an opponent and grapple them, this attempt is automatic and on the opponent’s next action, he or she may attempt to break free as per the grapple rules in Basic Roleplaying pg. XX. This cost the magic-user 1 additional magic point. If the caster chooses, a grappled opponent may be crushed, this will do 1D6 damage per 3 additional magic points.

• Finally, as an Attack Action, the magic-user may cause the hand to strike opponent. This attack has a 100% chance to hit (96-00 always fails as usual) scoring 1D3+db (crushing) damage and armor protects normally. This cost 3 additional magic points.

Playtesters Note: This spell is an adaptation of Bigby’s Interposing Hand, Bigby’s Forceful Hand, Bigby’s Grasping Hand, Bigby’s Clenched Fist, and Bigby’s Crushing Hand.

As you can see, this spell now includes all the effects of the Bigby spells. Monsters are a similar situation, I started bu looking at the monster in 3rd ed, as it's the only one with complete attributes, and then modified it to be compatible with existing BRP creatures. The basilisk for example is described as about the size as a large crocodile, so I then modified those characteristics to be a little better than a croc.

But with that said, I don't think it will be that hard to do your own conversions based upon the existing adaptations. I did it for a year and a half during the BRP playtest, sometimes on the fly and my players never even realized all I had behind my screen was the Monster Manual. Shhhh.

Rod

Sorry I took so long getting back to the forum, been busy.

I believe that this will certainly help with the long-term viability of the setting. A parody piece will sell a monograph; an homage can sell future supplements as you address the different parts that people miss from years gone by.

That was the deciding thought.

With this re-organization/re-envisioning, you can neatly place a BRP derivative into the line of fire for people dissatisfied with the oncoming changes to D&D. Excellent planning!

Yup, on the back of the book it's going to say, "We got your gnomes, right here".

This does, however, raise a couple of questions in my mind:

- How comprehensive will this initial release be?

I would say very comprehensive, so much in fact that I'm already looking at the possibility of having to trim some sections. I already have over 100 classic magic user spells in addition to those in BRP being written, and this isn't including those found in BRP already. I still have to finish the cleric, and druid spells after that.

- Are there tropes you're leaving out of the manuscript in hopes that there will be supplemental material to fill it? (Adventures / cultures living in underground catacombs, underwater fantasy setting, etc)

I'm going to try to make this totally self contained, though I'm using the old D&D red boxed set as a basis for what to include for this book. For now it will concentrate on the classic dungeon delve and abstract overland travel. Though there is plenty in the BRP core book to cover this if the GM wants to go into more detail. There will be random encounter tables of overland travel though. With that in mind, if it sells well I hope to come out with expansions and adventures down the road.

- Is this book going to be set on a concrete world unto itself? You could do a lot worse (from a marketing perspective) than setting a new world spinning...

This is totally beyond the scope of what I'm planning do to space limitations, but here is an excerpt on The Realm.

"The Realm: C&C assumes you are using your own setting or an established setting produced by some other company. There are a lot of fantastic settings out there, and the makers of C&C would never expect you to leave the worlds you’re already familiar with and have grown to love. With this in mind, C&C will refer to the game world in the generic form of, The Realm."

But Chapter 12: The Realm, will have some very "basic" information for players with no set game world that may be fleshed out by them. Think "Questworld" as an example.

Thanks for this book! I'll buy it for sure, and I'm thinking about how to push the concept further (or at least explore the niches it's progenitors did).

Thanks, I hope when it comes out, others will do the same.

Rod

Interplanetary I can talk all day about...

Cool, then call me.

When my daughter, who is 22 now, was only 7 or so years old, I had her create a character for SJGs Toon role playing game. We played a few adventures and she loved it. I still have her character sheet all filled out in her hand writing with her little puppy sketch.

Later on, when she was in her early teens she picked up the Sailor Moon RPG.

Your right, it would be a great idea to capture that market at an early age. Unfortunately, it really would take the big boys like WOTC/Hasbro to be able to get the exposure to do it.

Rod

This is really off-topic, but since it's about licensing and IPs...

I hope that WotC knows their market, and Hasbro theirs, but I was literally stupefied that they thought a My Little Pony RPG was cause for a joke.

I have a 16-month old daughter, and when she's a couple of years older, I fully intend on seeing if she's interested in playing some RPG-like games. I've got friends with kids and they thought that a MLP RPG would have been outstandingly cool.

How the world's largest RPG company can be owned by one of the world's largest toy manufacturers, and there be absolutely no cross-line development is beyond me.

If I were a WotC higher-up, I'd be looking at stuff like My Little Pony, Axis & Allies, HeroScape, Transformers, and GI Joe and wondering what games we could make out of those properties. Or I'd notice all of the IPs that Hasbro has the game rights to, such as The Simpsons or Disney, and see if something could be done with those.

But then, I've never figured out why WotC's never come up with a hybrid of D&D and Magic...

I have big changes happening to C&C right across the board.

The first change is that Chaos & Catacombs is now to be called something else. Why you may ask? Well Dustin at Chaosium is correctly of the opinion that it was too similar to Castles & Crusades.

I have an idea for a title that I really like but before I post it I want to make sure I can even use it.

Big change number two. Parody is gone, Homage is in. After discussing it with Dustin we came to the conclusion that it will sell better as a homage to classic dungeon delves and frankly I think that’s great. I wanted to make this change myself but wasn’t sure how to approach Dustin on it after being given the go ahead on parody. I had a lot of fun coming up with all the parody at the beginning, but now I’m at the “oh my god, how can I make this thing sound funny” and “wow, I cant think of anything funny to say about the frost giant, what am I going to do about the hill, fire, cloud, storm etc” stage.

The Creature chapter has been one long delay just because I was stuck on the humorous stuff. The creatures have been written now for a month. So when I get everything changed on chapters 1-4, I can crank out the remainder of that.

So anyway, I spent the last week rewriting chapter 1 and 2, and have just sent it out to the first group of playtesters for opinions.

Oh, and while it hurt to chop some of the humor out of it, because, frankly, I was proud of it, I did manage to keep a good chunk by using it in a different context.

For instance, in the write-up on halflings I chopped out, “If there’s a halfling in your party check you money pouch, if it’s missing check his” because that implied all halflings are crooks, its now been moved to the write up on dwarves and says, “There is an old dwarven saying that goes, “if there is a halfling in your party…” this changed the emphasis from all halflings being crooks to dwarves thinking all halflings are crooks. It changes the context and I get to keep my joke. Win win.

Well, this should be going much faster now as I can just write and not have to think of a joke for every paragraph.

Thanks for your patience and happy gaming,

Rod

By "clothes", of course, I mean my bejeweled Martian battle-harness with concealed clasp-knife.

This could be fun, I can get your picture from your blog, now if I only knew how to use photo shop. >:->

Rod

I think the main thing is in Planetary Romance/Adventure, how you get there is not important and the campaign really doesn't begin until your on the other world.

There are many other possibilities of course but that would seem to be the most common.

Rod

Nightlamp, if you read this please read your Private Messages.

Rod

What rules for training does BRP0 use? Can you train a skill or attribute in downtime?

It uses the RQ3 rules. And yes you can train skills and attributes in downtime.

Rod

Congratz Charles.

I loved what I saw so far and can't wait to see the rest.

Rod

I don't always use music but I have used...

Holst: The Planets

Star Wars when I ran my Star Wars campaign (it was a no brainer)

Conan (soundtrack)

Planet of the Apes (The theme for the forbidden zone is awesomely spooky)

Rod

Got an image for me?

SGL.

My brother is so deep in other projects right now that I don't wish to bug him. I do have a ton of Larry Elmore art (my favorite artist, no offense bro.) in a file someplace and could use one of those. I'll look tonight. Please include a disclaimer to the effect that "this art is used without permission and if the artist wishes it's removal it will be etc, etc.

Rod

I don't thinks it's about balance as much as incentive. When writing the character chapter of Chaos & Catacombs I didn't try to balance the races as much as give a reason to like them all. As a writer trying to emulate D&D I couldn't ignore all the racial abilities. So instead I gave an ability to humans that would hopefully make them as "interesting" as the other races ability wise, though no attempt at balance was made. This can be said for the professions as well as many "D&D" professions have special abilities bordering on powers.

I'm not going to get into the details as I feel that what the playtest will be for.

Rodney Leary

I "fumbled" my Perform (Writing) roll.

I would like to clarify that the fumble would have been Technical (Use Computer)

Rod

A minor setback, but almost back on track.

I had Monday off from work and spent seven hours touching up chapters 1-4 plus 6 and 11, adding a few new sections and generally getting ready to send out a couple playtest copies. At 7:30 Monday night I overwrote the whole folder with an older version and lost all seven hours of work.

I did manage to remember most of the additions and have almost got chapters 1-2 back where they were before I "fumbled" my Perform (Writing) roll.

Anyway, I just had to share my frustration.

Rod

Oh, and if you are using BRP/RQ rules for vampuires then you'll need to add to them quite a bit.

They need to have the "cannot enter a house unless invited" restriction, need a reason to have to drink blood, need more psychic/magical abilities, can't move around in sunlight/daytime, need to be damaged by sunlight and so on.

Those are all in the new BRP vampire write-up.

Rodney Leary

By the way, 3d6, check your PMs.

Done Chalot. Sorry I always forget to check that.

Rod