skarl

On the Chaosium website there is a poll that is still active regarding what genre people would like to see expanded. It appears to three of these are neck and neck. Hopefully this poll is a sign that they are planning on expanding the system. Does anyone know a Chaosium staff member? Like ENWorld to Wizards of the Coast, it would behoove them to have a liason here for official updates and notices (as well as quality and crowd control).

Oh, by all means, enjoy your summer, that's what summer is for. As I write this it is snowing outside, which is dashing our plans for the day as it was dry outside yesterday. Whenever you get a chance is fine or I can do it for my own use in OpenOffice. If I do this myself it will just be for my own use as I am not going to alter somebody else's work for display.

Would it be possible to get versions of the Middle Earth Downloads without the pictures? I like the bestiary, but would prefer a version that is more printer friendly.

DRAT! Double post.

For my fantasy campaign I have taken a lead from Val-du-Loup and use the core BRP, Cthulhu Dark Ages and the Malleus Monstorum with the Precis Intermedia Add-ons for a weird fantasy campaign.

Here is another way to handle that other than dropping prolonged: Use the first degree for all difficulties and add a ritual, which means: Quick, 3 seconds, Fast, 10 seconds, Slow, 1 minute and Prolonged, 5 minutes, then add in a variable for Rituals. I agree that the times are a bit weird considering some spells, but I don't find that one aspect of Atomik Magick/Grimoire being a problem, especially since you are encouraged to use what works for your game. Having 400 spells and a system to cast them is pretty darned handy, especially for the price.

Does the Fuzion version have a chart in which the spells can take from 3 seconds to 4 hours to cast? This would have Quick, Fast, Slow and Prolonged. For this I drop Prolonged and make Slow rituals.

As there are no restrictions from taking spells from the elemental Circles in this version of Atomik Magick I don't see why spellcasters are given much more spell flexibility than with standard spell lists. A Homing Fireball or a Lightning Phalanx spell are pretty nasty weapons in anyone's spell arsenal. I actually see this system as giving more room to breathe if you grant elemental circles as a "finesse" to typical magi. While learning your Circle a wizard grabs Lightning. Suddenly that hedge wizard that lives on the edge of town and casts mellow spells to mend armor and fix things throws a Lightning Bolt at the charging orcs and becomes a minor hero. The Elemental spells are set up neatly to not infringe upon a Druid spell list, which are covered nicely under the Sphere of Life. I am not saying that these add-ons are absolutely perfect, but they do have the ability to be versatile and lend a lot more uniqueness to wizards than most any magic system out there. Unless you are using a True20/True Sorcery type of magic system which is also versatile (but also a bit confusing and bringing in Feats and complicating a game), I believe that the Atomik add-ons give you the best bang for your spellcasting buck. I don't want to sound like an advertisement for these, but I am raving, which sounds odd anymore as there are a lot of rants (not calling your post a rant, Nightshade, I do believe that you are thinking of the Fuzion version, though).

Your hydra is very nice indeed. Can't wait to see other monsters in your bestiary.

I take the Warhammer approach, be glad I am not your GM. There would be demon bears and infernal dinosaurs in a gladitorial arena for you to sort out after a whopper like that. I remember playing RQ Deluxe ages ago and I couldn't kill one of my characters to save my life, he kept failing upwards. Different GM styles, I guess.

You folks are quite welcome. I found these spells themselves somewhat like the old Bard Games magic system from The Arcanum (which I really like) with a system that can be dropped into virtually any game as the default magic system effortlessly. The Atomik add-ons are well thought out options that make toolkit games easier to run, at least for me.

Precis Intermedia, what used to be Politically Incorrect Games sell a couple of add-ons called the Atomik Grimoire and Atomik Magick that are to be used as default magic systems and cover a lot of ground (nine spheres in 400 spells or vice-versa) that can be used for virtually any fantasy game as the magic system. There are also add-ons for other genres and if I run a BRP game outside of fantasy I would buy those too. I was so impressed with the .pdfs that I went and bought the print versions, which are nice prints by the way.

Well, that depends on who owns the copyright, but, as previously mentioned, you can copyright your take on something, which doesn't mean that you can profit from it, but it does mean that others cannot profit and should seek permission to display the work in not for profit cases. Generally an artist can only present art based on another's work without permission and can sell prints with permission, but usually they get that permission, because they don't want to get sued. However, this doesn't mean that the companies that own the copyrights are annoyed by this. The art in particular that I am talking about are the bad scans of Quinton Hoover's dragons. edit: this also comes down to respect for the illustrator; if you feel that their art is good enough to use in your product (even a free one) why not let the illustrator know and ask permission? You might be surprised at the answer.

Bingo! Sort of like the Middle Earth downloads, those are chock full of copyright issues with the pictures. I know one of the illustrators and I am sure he didn't give permission for his images to be duplicated as I believe rights to the Middle-Earth ccg reverted back after printing. I am not going to say anything and make a big issue, but I am not going to contribute to the delinquency, either.

New to this list, and I see that this thread is active on one of my Yahoogroups, world-create.

I have an extra copy of that boxed set if anyone is itching for it, the contents are in mint condition on both as we always used a friend's copy.

If you find yourself needing any more extra spot illustrations, PM me. I will donate a few pieces to a worthy cause. I am also a published illustrator.

Hello all! Another roleplayer from way back and an avid pen and paper rpger who prefers print over pdf and I heartily agree with the Lulu comment above. I am awaiting the new BRP book in the post and run Labyrinth Lord as I enjoy an older style of play over the newer incarnations of D&D, but I used to play the older BRP too and am eager to introduce a new BRP game based on an old homebrew world used for fantasy and science fiction. Best, Skarl