Thalaba

Downloads: A new file has been added by Thalaba: Thalaba's Fantasy Character Sheet Jumping on the character sheet bandwagon, I've decided to upload the sheet we use in my Bronze Age Fantasy Campaign. We play using a hybrid of RQ3 and BRP rules, and this sheet reflects its RQ3 origins, but with a modified skills list. I'm adding it to all the other character sheets available for two reasons: 1. It's in excel and it it does almost all the math and figuring for you. All of my current players are new to RQ/BRP and this sheets makes character creation a SNAP because it removes the need to calculate the damage bonus, skill category modifiers, fatigue, etc. 2. It has a lot of white space which makes it easy to read. I've altered the sheet slightly for this uploading, in that I've removed all reference to my specific campaign and changed the font to Arial (both of which make it generally more useful and readable). When I use the sheet I change the font for each culture to give it a little more flavour - I would encourage you to do the same. Here are some notes on how to make it work for you when starting a new character: 1. The character sheet has 3 pages, but only the first 2 are for printing. The last page is a worksheet. 2. The sheet assumes the RQ3 method of character creation, whereby each chosen career has a set of skills given a number from 1 to 5 which is then multiplied by age to get starting skill amounts. For the beginning character, these numbers (1 to 5) should be entered into the appropriate place on the worksheet in column 'C' (column 'E' for parries). All the base skills will be automatically caluculated. 3. On the first page, enter the STATS, NAME, CULTURE, etc manually. Character age and sex have dropdown menus, so make sure these are selected, too. 4. You will see that all skills have two columns - the actual skill to the left (that you roll on during play) and the base skill to the right (before any modifiers) that you can use for skill checks. Skills that can increase through experience have a tiny check-box beside them Skills that are affected by encumbrance have a tiny 'E' beside them to remind you of the fact. 5. On the second page, there is a section for spells. This is currently set up for Spirit Magic, but could be easily modified. The casting chance is here and MP are repeated here. Everything else is entered manually. 6. The weapons section has drop-down menus for the weapons. I designed this so that beginning characters would have a choice of various local and exotic weapons. The weapons section on the worksheet (page 3) has a wider selection of weapons that the character's may chose from. Other than to select a weapon from the drop-down menu on page 2, this table should never be altered. If you want to alter any weapon information, do it in the worksheet. 7. The equipment section has four categories of equipment. The first two categories are for weapons, armour, and anything the PCs keep on themselves at ALL times. The equipment in these two categories will factor into encumbrance. The second two categories are for other items. In our game, we assume that all packs are dropped during combat, which is why these second two boxes don't count towards encumbrance. You can easily change this, however, if it isn't to your taste. 8. The beginning character sheet is complete once you enter your State, Name, Culture, etc on page 1, your magic, equipment and weapon drop-downs on page 2, and your base skill modifiers on page 3. This is much faster than doing it manually. You can also quickly see the effects of changing stats around. 9. When you get skill increases (which you invariably will) the best place to enter them is on the worksheet. When in increase a skill from it's base, simply enter the value of the new skill in column E (or F for parries) on the worksheet. All other calculations are taken care of. 10. Regarding the weapons list: If you change the weapons available, you must change the stats on the worksheet, not on Page 2. If you change the name of a weapon, you must also change the name of that weapon in the listing to the right of the weapons table on the worksheet. The drop-down menus on Page 2 will only work if both lists on the worksheet correspond. 11. I'm not perfect and this sheet probably isn't either. I'll start a thread on the forum announcing it. If you find an error please let me know. If you know a way to improve it, please let me know. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. Best of luck with it! Thalaba

I would very much like to see that. Thanks. Thalaba

Back in the day I played a sorcerer only a few times, myself, and never really got to explore the rules fully. I did play him as a combat mage who cast a lot of protection, damage boost, and palsy spells. It never occured to me that he should spend much time casting long term spells - I'm not sure why that was. I found Free Int very limiting at the time, but it was so long ago now. I also played with using illusory touch as a ranged weapon. Harshax: It's interesting that you say that Free Int is the only limit. I have heard it argued that it is TOO limiting, and this makes me wonder how much campaign style factors into it all. This 'turtling' you describe - was this due in part to the use of Ceremony to boost spell casting chances? Is this only possible if the sorcerer has access to magic point storage? If you had neither, would this still be the way sorcerers would work? Would a few more combat-oriented spells help this? Are the durations too long - leading to this effect? wbcreighton: I have done, thanks. It's not really a good match for my campaign, though. The various schools of sorcery is not the effect I'm going for, and I'm not sure I want all the minor manipulations. Does he discuss the RAW sorcery in his pre-amble? - I can't remember. For the record, I've also looked at RQ4:AIG, David Cake's version, Pete Maranci's modifications, and at least one or two other versions of sorcery. These are, in part, what alerted me to the idea that people think sorcery needs 'fixing' - because so many have tried. All these revised sorceries make assumptions about setting and play style that might not be appropriate for me, which is why I wanted to step back from those and begin the discussion at the beginning. Before I adopt a variation on sorcery (or make up my own), I want to know why I'm doing it, or even if I need to. Nick: Thanks for your input. Your last point is quite interesting and especially worth considering. What would it take to get the wizard out of the tower? What if Duration was drastically changed (which is what Sandy P. did - changing it to persistence). Suppose it was reduced so that the longest duration not requiring a POW input was only a day or two? Did sorcery only work this way because the setting provided access to intellect spirits and magic point matrices? If these (and the Ceremony skill) did not exist in the setting, would this situation still exist? As an aside, the text of the sample of play from the RQ3 deluxe box has the sorceror, Nikolos, casting 8 and 12 point spells. Do these sound very powerful to you, or normally powerful. He is portrayed (in that bit of text) as a combat mage, which is interesting. Thanks, Thalaba

Ah, Jetocetes luxocephalum. That species is not shown, it's true.

Basic Magic Sorcery is, from what I understand, pretty much just a re-print of Third Edition Runequest sorcery (maybe with some minor changes?). Now, when I hear criticisms of RQ3, the one I hear the most is that Sorcery needed fixing. I'm now at a point in my campaign where I am in a position to use it (as is, or tweaked). But before I do I'd like to hear from you - just what is wrong (mechanically speaking, of course) with RQ3/Basic Magic Sorcery? Thalaba

Brilliant! I especially like 'Jetocetes' which looks like a shark with a little jet engine tucked underneath! :thumb: Thalaba

I can share some spirit combat 'tactics' with you that I've used before - and by tactics, I'm assuming you mean GM tactics for running spirit combat, since going back and forth on the resistance table doesn't call for much in the way of mechanical tactics. For spirit combats, I usually describe them with a lot of flavour and have done all of the following and more: 1. (When fighting a ghost in a ruin) I described the ghostly figure as a transluscent old woman swooshing theough the sky and ddiving every round toward the PC's head, while the PC tried to fend off the ghost (very much like the spirits trying to take Conan's dead body in the movie). With each successful roll by the ghost or the PC, I described how the ghost was getting closer or further away. This, I think is probably the most basic form of spirit combat which everyone has done at one time or another. 2. (When a herder was trying to get a spirit magic spell) I described a scree-covered mountain slope on a heavily overcast day. There was a large, shaggy animal there, like a big-horn sheep. This animal stood about 100 yards away lower down on the slope and was looking at the PC. I asked the PC what he would do, then described the ram moving away down the slope. The PC started to chase it. Each successful roll the PC made in spirit combat, I described him getting closer to the ram. Each successful roll the spirit made, I described the PC loosing his footing on the scree, sliding down a few feet and having to regain balance, losing his ground. Ultimately, he caught the Ram and gained the spell. 3. (When a raider PC was trying to earn a spirit magic spell) I described a burning farmhouse that the PC had been searching and now needed to get out in a hurry, but a farmer was blocking the way armed with a pitchfork. With each roll of the dice, I described how the combat with the farmer was proceeding. When the player rolls his dice, I have him tell me what his tactics are and then I describe the outcome based on the dive roll. 4. (When a self-styled Casanova PC was trying to leanr a spirit spell) I described an attractive woman in a dark room behaving coyly. I had the PC describe how he would proceed to seduce the woman and, with each die roll, described the outcome. This was done more suggestively than graphically and was very amusing. So, I would say that I treat spirit combat and to a lesser extent the spirit plane very much like a dream world. Each visit could be completely different, each spirit combat completely different. It's almost all made up off the top of the head, so you have to be able to be comfortable with that sort of thing. I taylor any particular encounter with spirits as unique. Sometimes the setting or spirit encountered is reflective of the PC, sometime it is reflective of the goal the PCs are trying to attain. I think you could use almost anything for fodder in describing the spirit world in this fashion. So, say the shaman wants to visit the spirit world - the first time he does so... He's a hunter in the jungle. He sneaks through and catches glimpses of several animals. Which one will he hunt? The tiger will be one kind of spirit, the monkey another, and so on. Maybe one, the Python, will take him by surprise... and so on. Any film, book, or comic you've seen then becomes fodder for travelling in the spirit world. Try describing (in their frame of reference) how the PC is in modern New York. Don't ever tell him it's New York - just describe the city of towers, buildings of stone and glass, flashing lights everywhere, yellow chariots, people with many colours of skin and outlandish clothing, etc. Could be a lot of fun! Thalaba

As I don't speak Latin, I used a translator, too, and have no way of veryfying how good it is. The first motto should translate to "We sell many books" (with typos) but your translator may be confused by the typos which changed Libris to Libra (books to scales). The second would (hopefully) translate as "I am Mongoose", a reference to Sprange's book on how successful he is, if he doesn't say so himself. At least, those are the things I typed into the translator. I wonder, if you were to type an english phrase into the translator, then take the translated phrase and translate it back to english using the same translator, and kept repreating the process - how much would the phrase change over time and home many iterations would it have to go through before it became stable? Thalaba

Maybe "ExiGo plures Libra" (sic) or "Ego sum Mongoose" Thalaba

I'm not currently playing COC either, but I bought Secrets of Morocco and I found it pretty useful. You could certainly use it to set a non-COC game in Morocco (would make and interesting spy setting) and I've lifted some things for use in my current fantasy game. I'm also considering getting the other more exotic Secrets books - Kenya, Sudan, etc. - for myself, too. Thalaba

Harshax: You win my "Industry Guru of the Week" for your answer! I'm out of my element in this discussion compared to you guys, but I would add that WOTC has better distribution of physical product than any other RPG out there. You can buy them at every game store, on Amazon, at many comic book stores, and even at the local chain of bookstores, which (around here, anyway) doesn't sell ANY other RPG products except WOTC. As such, PDFs probably form a smaller part of their revenue stream than for any other RPG company. I doubt it will result in many new clients for BRP. I think the unpopularity of 4E would have done more to tip the balance, and I'm not sure if even that had much effect. Thalaba

While that is certainly an easy way of doing things, it doesn't factor in relative skills particularly well. For instance, if someone with a 100% skill rolls a 21 (almost a special and certainly better than 'difficult') against someone else with a 20% skill who rolls a 20 (only just barely a success), by your method the person with the lower skill would win, not taking into account that the first person made their roll by so much more. What's more, if someone with a skill of 20% were to succeed in their roll, then an opponent with a skill of 100% would have to roll a special to be able to win the contest. I'm no mathematician, but I'm pretty sure that this method de-values higher skills. Thalaba

River of Cradles for RQ3 has rules for the abuse of Hazia (a narcotic herb) if I recall. They may also be in The Borderlands for RQ2. I can look later if someone doesn't beat me to the punch. I just finished reading Ashes to Ashes, BTW. Really good stuff. It brought to mind that film Zeitgeist and its assertion that an American illuminati are controlling the US media to keep people uninformed about their machinations for global power. Thalaba

There seems to be a lot of resistance to the Resistance Table. When I hear criticisms of BRP it's usually one of the things that igets mentioned. Even old school BRPers make disparaging comments about it. But I have to admit I don't get why people don't like it. Sure, people don't like having to look up tables in play, but it isn't really a table - it's a simple mathematical formula. It's only presented in the rulebooks in table format for ease. I'm terrible at head-math, but I find it really easy to use the resistance formula. But surely so many resistance table nay-sayers can't be wrong - so what am I missing? Why are so many people down on this little mechanic? Is it just a case of "even this much math is too much in game because it destroys my pace"? Or is it statistically wonky? Or something else? Thoughts? Thalaba

What I would find more useful is a set of flashcards that the players could put up to let the GM know what their mood is, such as: "Let's cut all this role playing crap and get on with the fights." "I'm pretty drunk already so don't let me interact with the NPCs." "Is anyone going to eat that last piece of pizza, 'cause it's all I can think about right now." "Tonight, I'm reading off the number I think the dice should say." "I'm probably not coming back next session and I won't offer an explanation." "Look, I haven't actually been paying attention to what's going on, so don't ask me for my opinion." "I didn't bring my character sheet tonight so I'm just winging it." "Ok, I'm alert and this is my night to shine - bring on the plot!" It might take some of the work out of GMing! Thalaba

Hi, I just read A Boy and HIs Dog last week. Great story. I was wondering how the film would treat it, especially considering the rape scene perpetrated by the protagonist. Look forward to seeing your monograph. Does it allow telephathic dogs as sidekicks, too? Thalaba

Yes, that's right.

I do use the optional strike rank system. In this system, the round is divided into 10 strike ranks (so each strike rank is 1.2 seconds long). You count up through the strike ranks from 1 to 10, and each action takes a specific number of strike ranks to complete. A character's SIZ, DEX, and weapon choice all play a roll in when you go, as does your choice of action. So, for instance, if you were playing a character with a DEX of 16 (SR2) and SIZ of 16 (SR1) and wanted to run across the battlefield you would start moving on SR 2 and could move 3M per strike rank. You would therefore know precisely where you were during every strike rank of the combat round. If casting a 1pt spell you would go on 3. If casting a 3pt spell you would go on 5. If attacking with a 2 handed weapon you would go on 4. If you attacked with a one handed weapon, you would go on 5. With a dagger you would go on 6. The advantages of the system are that it can model a combat a little more realistically and with more detail, but it comes at the expense of simplicity and speed. Like most things, this system is slow to use at first but goes quicker when everyone is familiar with how it works. In practice, we (the GM and players) all figure out our actions before the round begins and know on which strike rank our action will take place. The GM then calls out the SRs from one up. When a player's number is called he speaks up and has his go. The only way to get an extra attack is to have a skill over 100% or to attack with two weapons (and forego a parry or dodge). But having said that, my group did experiment a long time ago when the Vikings boxed set for 3rd Ed. Runequest came out. Vikings got to add +2 to SIZ and +2 to STR. I made a character with a SIZ of 20 and a DEX of 18 (no, I did not claim they were random numbers) who wielded a Pole Axe. This allowed him to attack on SR3 (which is very early). We ruled that he could attack once on SR3, then spend 3SR changing action, and perform a second attack on SR9. This was only possible because he could perform an attack within 3SR. This was only an experiment - not entirely within the rules - more of a loophole. He was a beast in battle, attacking twice each round and doing 5D6 damage, but he died like all the rest. Probably someone closed with him stuck him with a dagger, I don't remember. Anyway, my point is that just having a high DEX doesn't give you an extra attack using Strike Ranks either. Except with missile weapons, which allow you a second attack as long as your DEX is higher than 9. Thalaba

Also check out this: Amazon.com : Self-Publish with Us Amazon seems to be offering POD with no set-up fees. I have no idea how all these services compare, but I'd like to hear what you think after researching it, given your experience.

Quite right, and thanks for pointing that out. People are fond of holding Lulu up as a solution to distribution, but I've never seen it as such. Have you looked at Cafe Press? What is your opinion of them? I'm sure I remember someone (Jason?) saying that pdf's did count toward the total number of copies. I would be surprised if they didn't. Thalaba

Yes, really! The operative word is LITTLE - the kind of thing one often sees at the back on a novel. "Byron Alexander began playing RPGs in the mid 90's. He first began playing BRP games with the Elric! game and never looked back. He has an advanced degree in aircraft maintenance, and he used to enjoy live steel re-enactions until he lost his arm. He now spends his spare time writing RPG books and perfecting his patented one-handed typing technique. He lives in Edinburgh with his three-legged dog." Hey, maybe I'm the only one, but I like to know this stuff! Also, judging by the fact that this is my 39th post, but my profile has been visited 55 times, I'm guessing other people want to know something about you, too. Thalaba

I would second (or third - I'm losing track) of what Nick said. I will not read someone's fan fiction in an RPG book. But I would love to see examples of how the rules worked couched in a little setting material ala Cormac's Saga. I would also dispense with the paragraph at the beginning of each chapter that says what's in the chapter. I've already looked at the table of contents, and scanned the headings, and deduced that a chapter called 'Magic' contains the rules on how to run magic. Here's the kind of 'fluff' I'd like to see: 1. A paragraph that summarizes what's in the book - preferably on the back cover. 2. A little something in the intro that discusses the topic on a philosophical level - kind of a 'why I chose to write this book and do it in this particular way'. 3. I would also like a little author's bio - really, I'd like to know more about you. 4. Examples of the rules that are couched within a little setting information. 5. If appropriate, I wouldn't mind a little recounting of actual campaign events. For instance, if you are writing a scenario that you actually ran (or was playtested), maybe a sidebox that says "during our own game, this is what happened at this point in the scenario:" 6. Examples of the kind of setting where thie main text material could be used, or plot hooks, etc. Again, if appropriate to the content. Thalaba

(brainstorming here) If I was to run a game with MA as an emphasis, I would probably create a variety of MA skills with setting specific names for a variety of weapons. Each would be a separate skill, trainable and researchable, but not experienceable ('scuse my word). Thus the player who wanted to learn Quaterstaff would take the Quarterstaff skill (treated like any other skill) and then take one or more of a selection of skills such as 'Leaping Grasshopper' or 'Drunken Windmill' or 'Whipping Branch'. In combat, he would roll on his skill as normal to make an attack. If he also rolled under the specific MA skill, he could add that effect (leaping grasshopper turns the attack into a kick, adding special knockback effect, Drunken Windmill allows an extra attack in that round at double fatigue cost, whipping branch adds 1D3 damage, or whatever). Alternatively, one could dispense with the quarterstaff skill and treat all three MA skills as normal skills (all of which happen to use the same weapon). This is a bit simpler, but you would have to address the experience vs. training thing in a different manner, like saying that one must alternate between experience and training, or something, if such a thing was important to you. I would also allow MA techniques for ranged weapons, like the 'Mongol Foot Bow' technique which gives extra range but requires the archer to be prone when making his shot. Now, I'm no martial arts expert, so this treatment would probably satisfy me. It might not satisfy people who are more into iMAs, but I'll let them speak for themselves. Thalaba

Would that be so bad? If no one ever knows how much there was to begin with, how would you know you were running out? And wouldn't it serve to make runes more precious? There was an oil crisis in the 70's, and then there was lots, and then we were running out again, and then there was lots. There's a thought - Runes as the oil that greased the wheels of an ancient fantasy world. Sounds like fun to me! Thalaba

My skill list is as follows: Agility Skills: Boat Climb Dodge Jump Ride (horse, camel, other) Stealth (combines Sneak and Hide) Swim Throw All weapon parries Communication Skills: Orate (essentially used for all public speaking in game such as boasting and speaking to massed troops or courtiers) Languages (*see below, combines all separate languages skills into one common skill) Persuade (used for fast talking, bargaining, etc. Anywhere one on one communication is needed. Usually used against insight) Sing Perception Skills: Insight (used to counter Persuade or for psychology type rolls) Listen Scan/Search (two skills combined into one) Sense (covers all senses that arent listen or scan/search) Track Manipulation: Conceal/Sleight (two skills rolled into one) Devise/Repair Drive (Chariot, Wagon) Play All weapon attacks Knowledge: Area Lores (various) Astronomy (used for navigation and calendar purposes) Crafts (various) Evaluate First Aid Lore (animal) Lore (herb) Lore (nature) - (covers mineralogy, climatology, meteorology, etc.) Read/Write Shiphandling Magic: Ceremony, Enchant, Summon (used sparingly in my game) Sahharia, Bakshiism, Extispicy, etc. (game specific magic skills depending on which magic system is being used by the given player) Compared to RQ3, which is where our group started, I've combined a number of similar skills (hide and sneak into stealth; sleight and conceal; search and scan; world lore and mineral lore into nature lore). RQ3 Also had a stealth category which we've eliminated - Stealth is now an Agility Skill as in BRP. *Languages is a made up skill that combines all the separate languages rolls. Every player starts with their first language. Each additional 10% in the skill grants them the ability to learn another language beyong the first. Communincation in these new languages will be automatic. When a player and an NPC do not have a common language, they roll on their Languages skill to determine how well they communicate with each other. If the languages they know are related, they may add the skills of the communicators together before they roll. I'm trying this out and so far it works quite well in our game. Hope it helps! Thalaba