dragonewt

Call me pedantic, however I derived this mind-set and approach from other sources, long before MRQ. It has been core concept in a lot of minimalistic systems, as well as a part of the approach of systems such as Interlock (eg: Mekton). Although CoC was possibly an initial leader in this area in the early days (compared to the traditionally crunchy systems of the day).

I covered that in my example in this thread. It allows for a minimised and general skill set, however, for those who like the detail or want/need an extra degree of definition in some cases, they can have it (without adding more skills or rules). In the case of perception, I like differentiating between the senses. And you also need to take into account mental comprehension, deduction, speed of thought and reaction; a character with 20/20 eyesight might still miss a detail because they have unfocused thoughts or do not process the input they receive. The way to do this would be to have a single generic perception skill, and have modifiers, similar to advantages/disadvantages of some systems. Eg: Perception: 50% (General combined capability of all senses and the ability to respond to data) - All that is needed for an uncomplicated session that is light on skills (maybe because the players like it that way, or want to focus more on story telling, etc...). Damaged ears = -20% to rolls involving hearing. Loves eating carrots = +10% to rolls involving eyesight. Cognitive dissonance and denial of spooky things = -30% to rolls involving the supernatural (maybe the result of a SAN loss). The idea is that modifiers are only added as required, while the single general "Perception" is all that is needed for most characters most of the time. This is something I am working on with some of my mechanics experimentation. One key question is the distinction between natural capability and trained skill (if there is such a difference). Also consider that the modifiers can be applied to other skills where appropriate (eg: Good eyesight aiding a visual precision oriented driving skill roll).

A general "Martial Arts" type of skill seems suitable. Many sci-fi settings had their characters able to fight with a generic style that covered all various moves (The infamous karate kick and judo throw, or the "Judo Chop!" ), but never gave a style name. If a player wants to have a "flavour" for the style used by their character, use a style name as a special effect, but treat them the same as far as mechanics are concerned. For the purists who really want a degree of differentiation, have a balanced spread of modifiers, such as "Taekwondo - Kicks +20%, Grappling -20%" vs "Judo - Kicks -40%, Grappling +20%, Locks +20%". To really cut down on the number of skills, you could combine certain specialised medical skills with fighting skills.

The Age of Shadow is currently at version 0.91, and so this might imply that it is still a work in progress. I stumbled across The Age of Shadow while looking for map tiles at Crooked Staff Productions. You might find answers to your questions via the email address (and forum) found there. Alternatively, the web site for The Age of Shadow has a forum when these mysteries might also be revealed and discussed.

You don't make friends with slaad.

How about Ducks?

I found a rule book based on OpenQuest called The Age of Shadow which might be of interest. I could not find any mention of it on BRP Central, and so I hope this is not duplicate news.

Sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads?

Don't forget; spirits of reprisal, tattle-tale divination, begrudged dragonewts and Zorak Zoran death gangs.

One could say that BRP is far from its twilight years.

You could always start in Dorastor - Land of Doom. Joking aside, there is a campaign in the Dorastor book is aimed at fairly new characters (which I find ironic, yet very feasible). The campaign notes says "for low and mid-level characters". Beyond this, there is plenty of scope for character and story progression. My view on the Balazar campaign material in Griffin Mountain is that there is enough material that you could run a an almost endless game in that area. There are many locations, an expansive wilderness (in fact two areas), plenty of plot hooks, many political and social interactions/complexities, and more in addition to the main adventure hooks (such as the "Wind Sword"). Even the small scenarios in the Points of Interest section could each grow into their own extended campaign by themselves, not to mention the three citadels, dwarfs, elves, tribes, trolls, lunars and so on. Almost endless possibilities. Remember that Griffin Mountain defined new high standards in the RPG industry at the time it was first published. Regarding meta-plots, all campaigns from any Gloranthan source material (third-age) can merge into the Hero Wars ("King of Sartar" may be of interest if you like that kind of thing). Edit: Apple Lane is the classic (if not cliche) beginners location in Startar.

Animated Treasure Chest images are located around the site. If you are logged in to the site, clicking on each of these adds a zero cost item to your cart. You have to be curious enough to search almost every possible section of their site (for a completely random example, their Privacy Policy).

RPGNow / DriveThruRPG is celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day (over next few days). There are several free items to be found. If Privacy is of interest you might find a free copy RuneQuest Pirates (usable with BRP and other D100). Q: Where do Gloranthan pirates originate from? A: SartaAARRRRR!

Remember there is also a lot of material that supplements the Pavis & Big Rubble and the Borderlands campaigns. Some of it still available in Tradetalk magazine, or in other works by Ian Thomson and friends that are available via the Chaos Society (Pavis and Big Rubble Companions), and some of Ian's work was freely (legally) down-loadable (via some dead links still listed on Soltakss' web site). Some Tradetalk links: Tentacles Tomes Series. Tradetalk site. Tradetalk Magazine. Chaos Society on Ebay.

I have the printed version of each of these four Gloranthan Classics. Highly recommended. Run, don't walk. Note: Check the indexes to make sure they do not duplicate too much of any early original RQ material you might already have.

How easy is it to run a Twilight campaign with MRQ1?

I agree with Nick. It is a good idea to capture all the distinctly unique creatures that grew out of the early D&D days that provided some of the original good fun. Keep the bull. I think a balance can be made that preserves the fun unique memories, yet removes some of the nasty side-effects. How about calling Medusa a "Gorgon", and the Bull something like "Stone Bull" or "Petrifying Bull"? Reaper Mini's "Brass Bull" also comes to mind. Here is some more food for thought: Catoblepas. Where did monster manual gorgon come from?

After reading the following article, I would stay away from playing BRP in Australia as well: Discovery of ancient sea sponge fossils could push back existence of animal life on Earth by 90 million years.

I agree with this recommendation. Medusa is the name of one of the gorgons. I find that there are plenty of cases where Gygax thought he was being clever but was really showing a degree of arrogant naivety. This is the dark side of D&D, where players were mis-educated at the same time it was implied that something (myth, knowledge, etc...) was being accurately presented. Yes, myth varies and is open to change, however the D&D gorgon/medusa name swap was an obviously deliberate and naive change. The name "gorgon" was possibly used to represent a bull-type creature, however, the gorgon/medusa representation in the original Monster Manual is an inaccurate solution. In fact I can't find any gorgon/bull references (in ancient myth), and so that connection is possibly a complete fallacy.

Classic Fantasy was a featured product at RPGNow a few days ago. Regarding Blade vs Twilight, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gu7jsgjUM0.

I assume the menu was the Om-nom-nom-nomicon.

This helps to answer the question regarding how well BRP is doing.

Waiting for the arrival of the block...

Stephenie Meyer claims another forum.

Can you use thumbs in fencing?