Thalaba

I hope you didn't try too hard.

Thanks for poating that, Charles - looks pretty interesting! Thalaba

SON OF FROGSPAWNER! But does he also speak mostly gibberish..? :eek:

I'm not a fan of kitchen sink games, generally liking more focus in my RP experience, but this new blurb really does a much better job of explaining it and selling to me, so you've got my interest now, Charles. I really like the idea of the character creation scenario. Could you possibly put up a table of contents for this book? I'd like to see what other new content is in it. Are there any other rules that can be ported to other settings? Or is this primarily a setting book? Thalaba

Is this the game with special rules for killing dwarven party members?

OK, then... I find that when I want to tinker with the rules, it usually helps to figure out exactly what I'm trying to simulate with the change, so please allow me to brainstorm, here...(if I'm overthinking this it's because I'm bored at work today;)) Does finesse represent a better chance to hit, or a better chance to target a specific location, or a better change to cause damage in general. If it's the latter, how does it cause more damage - does it cause more damage because because finesse allows the blow to penetrate armour better (i.e. doing more damage than the armour worn) or does it allow the person with finesse to bypass armour more (i.e. doing a critical). If it's the latter, maybe an alteration to the chance of a critical is more appropriate than a new damage bonus. If it's the former, then... In thinking about powering blows past armour to cause more damage, what are the factors. Strength is one, for the force of the blow. Size is one for leverage. Both of these are accounted for in the existing damage bonus. You would like to discount the advantage due to leverage and replace it with something else. Dexterity represents your ability to position yourself in a quick and easy manner. Intelligence, however, lets you position yourself in a strategic manner, and thus perhaps use a wall, the floor, or your opponent to get the leverage you lack by being short. So, what if you allowed people to sub their INT for SIZ in the damage bonus calculation? As for having some weapons that allow finesse damage bonuses and others that allow brawn bonuses - this seems like needless complexity. Are there weapons that don't cause more damage when you have more brawn? Thalaba

Wait! Can we play with your cool emoticons while you're gone?

Doesn't the concept of finesse already exist - being highly skilled? I mean, why not just give the Mouser a higher skill with the sword than Fafrd and have done? This seems like added complexity, to me, but if you really want to add the concept, I think you need to think about 'What does 'finesse' actually simulate?' that isn't already similated by having a higher skill with the weapon, or a higher manipulation bonus? In regards to size: Larger size has some significant drawbacks, too (at least it did in RQ3, which is the version I play) - armour is much heavier and more expensive for big people (which also means a greater reduction to skills like sneaking or jumping). Small people might get a bonus to hit big people and be more difficult to be hit themselves. Big people have a greater -ve contribution to their agility modifier. I know the skill modifiers are different in BRP (I can't now remember what they are). Are these negatives no longer applicable in BRP? Thalaba

In 3rd Ed. Runequest, there is a 6% chance on a fumble that you will hit the nearest friend with your melee weapon. The chance of you actually hitting them in the head and killing them is considerable smaller - I would estimate it to be about %0.02 after rolling a fumble (so about 1 in 2500). We've been playing RQ3 weekly for the last year and a half and only once has anyone (NPC, Villain, or PC) struck their nearest friend. It was in the leg and armour absorbed most of the blow. To do it twice and both times to an annoying dwarf, well... have you gone out and bought a lottery ticket yet? This might be your week!

If it makes you guys feel better, we have to pay overseas shipping rates here in Canada, too, even though no seas are crossed! On top of that, an import tax is applied to the goods by Canada Customs which I have to pay at the post office to get my package, along with a $5.00 handling fee charged by Canada Customs to assess my tax! So I pay the same mail rates you do, plus a tax, plus a fee for a product that doesn't even get delivered to my door. And what really gets me is that my copy of In Search of the Trollslayer says, in small print on the back, "Made in Canada"! I, too, save my purchases until $125 worth is in stock so I can get free shipping. This is a frustrating experience, since waiting for all the items that make up my $125 to actually be in stock at the same time can take a while, but it does shave about 25% off the bottom line. At least these days the exchange rate is improving almost daily! Thalaba

Thanks for your input - both of these sites look interesting at first glance. The RPG Geek site is certainly constructed differently - it'll take some time to get used to before I decide if I like it, but it looks promising. SFRPG is a little easier to jump into, and the name is easy enough to remember while I'm at work, bored, and looking for something to browse! Now if only there was an AHRPG (Ancient History RPG) companion site! Thalaba

Hi Guys, Can anybody recommend other RPG discussion sites worth checking out? These are the ones I've looked at: RPG.net: There are things I like about this site - the wide diversity of games that people like and the fact that the D&D discussions are relegated to a sub-forum so they don't dominate the main forums (I don't play D&D and have no interest). What I don't like about this site is, well, the forum culture seems really juvenile. A recent post that extended to over 10 pages of people making fun of a new person really put me off that site. It's getting too hard to separate the wheat from the chaff and I don't have time for it. Penandpapergames.com: I like the tone of this discussion site, but I find they've divided in into too many subforums and I have to spend a lot of time navigating it. What's more, the site is very D&D-centric - to the point where many people who post write as though D&D is the only game that people play, so I've found I don't have much interest in what people are talking about in most of the threads. What I'd like to see in an ideal discussion forum is enough people to keep the topics fresh and evolving on a constant basis and with a lot of discussion on gaming or GMing technique (systemless is good, or a variety of systems), quality reviews, industry news, and so on, but without all the self indulgent filler threads (such as 'what level is Gandalf' or 'what's your favourite colour of dragon' or 'listen to what my cool character did, then tell me what yours did'). I'd also like to see a wide variety of games covered and not a heavy focus on D&D. Ideally I'd like a forum where the people that use it value their own and other's time and don't post about innanities. Note that I consider BRP Central to be an excellent site - but I'd like to visit a few other forums, too - I just don't really know what's out there. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks, Thalaba

I was wondering if the Australian scenario was yours...:cool:

Hi Threshold, I live in Toronto and have successfully used Nearbygamers to find 2 people for our current campaign. Pen and Paper Games also has a player finder, but sadly seems to be much more D&D-centric (at least around here). Good Luck! - And welcome to the forums. Thalaba

BOWS-AAARGHHH! Good war cry! Seriously, I would love for someone (contributers?) to put up a quick summary of the scenarios. It would make the difference between me rushing out to get it or putting it on my 'free shipping waiting list'. Thalaba

Probably - with good editing that could be down to 45 to 60 minutes of good gaming, and who wants to listen to a podcast longer than that?

Me too - and I don't see that happening! Why not just put this kind of thing on your website? Thalaba

I was in the same boat about two years ago, so I created my own Bronze Age historical fantasy setting which contained a lot of ideas I've had floating around for a few years. It's been very popular with my group, in part becuase it was built on the shoulders of giants. One of those giants is The Known World, the setting for Artesia (comic and game). If you can find Artesia: Adventures in the Known World I highly recomment it as a book. The world is wonderfully detailed, consistent, and logical enough to feel historical, and yet it still feels fantastical. I occasionally hear people say that BRP should have been the system for this setting, but I don't know of any actual conversions. The setting is not nearly as well supported as Glornatha, but that's probably a good thing when you're just starting out. Personally, I find a lot of fantasy settings to be trite, so I avoid most of them. If you liked Glorantha, then I think you would like The Known World, too. Harn is also a great setting - as Jarulf says it has a very eurocentric Medieval crossed with Iron Age feeling, from what I've seen. It's very well supported on the web. Good hunting! Thalaba

I was going to suggest "Fritos and Fatbeards: BRP Retro Fantasy Gaming"

I did some anti-progession stuff in another way. I introduced a toxin that affected memory. It was administered in small doses in the wild by the flora/fauna, and the more doses one took, the greater the memory loss was. When the toxin took effect, I basically had the players deduct points from the skills they had most recently increased. They never want to go back to that swamp again! :thumb:

Hi Nick, Firstly, let me say welcome to the boards and that I am very glad to have someone from Chaosium make their presence known here! Now, let me spoil that goodwill by disagreeing with you! Just because it's 'Fantasy' and therefore 'imaginative' doesn't mean that anything goes in all fantasy. Fantasy, like all other forms of fiction, only works when it is somewhat believable. We expect our game worlds and works of fiction (and films) to have an internal logic to them - this allows us to interact with them in a reasonable manner. In fantasy we tend to remove some of the real-world logic that we already know (like physics) and replace it with a new logic (such a magic). As long as we the readers or players can suspend our disbelief in the new logic, it works. But when something too illogical is introduced, or if too many fantastic elements are introduced, our suspension of disbelief strains and eventually breaks. I'm sure we all have a different threshold for this, but at some point there will be something we don't accept - and at that point serious fantasy becomes farce, which is a different thing altogether. The best Fantasy isn't good because everything goes. It's good because it's imaginary - but seems real. Thalaba

Quick! Get out the traps before it makes a nest!

Also this old thread: http://basicroleplaying.com/forum/basic-roleplaying/150-gamers-looking-brp-groups-vice-versa.html

Woops - it was looking good to me until this. I guess that was done in the originial spirit of SimpleQuest . Thanks for the clarification, guys! Looking forward to seeing the supplements! Thalaba

Hi Newt, (or anyone else) Is OpenQuest basically a cleaned up version of the MRQ SRD, or if not, how different is it? Is is closer to MRQ or RQ2/3? Can someone explain it in point form? BTW the supplements look very promising! Thanks