Jump to content

K Peterson

Member
  • Posts

    319
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

Posts posted by K Peterson

  1. BRP Essentials sounds encouraging, though I hope it doesn't share the same mechanical changes to BRP that are found in CoC7e. That would kill my interest in any of the products that it supports, and spell the end of my interest in Chaosium as a publisher. Which would be a bummer.

    But, on the positive side, I'd have more spare cash to throw at Arc Dream, and what products they release to support the new Delta Green... or at Cakebread & Walton... or other publishers that use a BRP core closer to my preference.

    • Like 1
  2. Thanks SDLeary!

    Does Renaissance use hit locations?

     

    Hit locations only in the sense of major wounds being applied to certain body parts. Not HP per hit location like RuneQuest.

    Dark Streets/Renaissance uses a major wound table, like Elric!/Stormbringer 5th. Not as many table entries, but with 2 degrees of damage inflicted. (A 'serious' wound in the case of more than 1/2 HP damage received but HP remains above 0, and a 'grave' wound in the case that HP drop to 0 or lower). The location hit is determined by the 'units' die roll on d100 (the ones-digit).

    • Like 1
  3. Here are a few I'll summarize:

    Occupations play a more significant role in defining a starting agent's skill levels. They're kind of like a template that provide flat skill values (typically ranging between 30-60) based on the areas of proficiency that an occupation should have. There are still free skill points to spend (in blocks of 20) but they're more used to customize the character or potentially boost some skills to a mastery level. Some occupations will start with a larger group of skills than other occupations, but those occupations will typically have fewer Bonds. (These occupations are more demanding in terms of time or involvement which leads to fewer developed and maintained personal relationships).

    Bonds are a mechanic that I think are fairly similar to Trail of Cthulhu's Pillars of Sanity. They're people in your life that you can lean on to help you get through stress and mental issues (basically resist outbreaks of insanity). They're a finite resource, though - the more you leverage them the more your relationship with them strains (the bond rating drops). Eventually Bonds can be broken, per se, leading to damaged relationships and a smaller support base for your agent to deal with crises. Bonds can be strengthened during a downtime phase (like between missions/adventures), raising their 'level' back up. (But that is a counterpoint to other activities you can perform during downtime, like training skills or studying Mythos tomes).

    There are a lot of Unknown Armies-isms that have been incorporated. UA's crit/fumble system, getting hardened to violence/helplessness. A standard BRP framework is maintained, so these are just minor additions.

    Combat is fleshed out to some degree, but still maintains some abstraction (which I like). Heavy weapons (including SMGs, assault rifles, grenades, etc.) have a Kill Rating - and Kill area-of-affect - the former being a percentage value. Percentile dice are rolled for damage with these types of weapons, and if the result falls under the Kill Rating, the target will die. (Except in situations where cover, visibility, or extensive armor is involved). If it's above the Kill Rating then the damage is equal to the total of the value on each dice - so, basically a 2d10 roll. 

    I'll steal the vast majority of these rules for my CoC campaigns. I'm still a little up-in-the-air about UA-style crits/fumbles but I might still use them.

     

    • Like 2
  4. I'm usually late to these kinds of 'parties', but over the past month I've been getting more familiar with Arc Dream Publishing's Delta Green playtest docs. Last October, I downloaded the docs but never participated in their playtest and just stashed the files on OneDrive to be ignored. I dug them up recently and have been giving them more of a read-through. And tracked down more current versions that have incorporated changes.

    I've got to admit: the changes they present to the CoC/BRP/d100 core are more exciting to me than others I've seen from a number of publishers over the past few years. They outshine the bloated and wayward mess that I've seen from CoC7e. I've actually taken them and started drafting up homebrew rules docs of my own as substitutions for how I run CoC in the 20s, 30s, and present day.

    I'm anxiously awaiting ACP's DG Kickstarter. More than any KS I've contributed to over the past few years. I really hope it turns out to be a solid product.

    • Like 2
  5. In autumn 2015, Alephtar Games will crowdfund and launch its own d100-based roleplaying game.

    Interesting. Is it based off your Parpuzio system that was advertised here a few years back?

    The provisional name for the system is RevolutionD100 – but it might change during the beta test phase.

    Sounds like a placeholder name. IMO, a change would be an improvement.

    What will be in the game?

    The system sound rather like Legend-lite. Is that a mischaracterization?

    I hope your crowdfunding goes well. Personally, I own a crapton of d100 systems, so I'm not that excited to grab yet another multi-purpose one. Once your SRD is released I'll likely browse it for mechanics I can bolt on to my current favorite d100 implementations.

  6. This is something very, very minor, but I thought I'd mention it because it looks a little weird.

    A profile 'location' displays such that the word 'Location' and what's defined squishes together. In the case of my profile, it displays "LocationSeattle". No space, no punctuation.

  7. When I do rules hybridization I usually take from newer d100 sources (Renaissance, OpenQuest, etc.) and integrate them towards a simpler BRP framework. I tend to run a more abstract form of BRP (along the lines of CoC 3rd/5th/6th and Elric!) so just grab a few rules pieces that I consider 'advancements' and include them.

  8. When are we likely to hear an update from Chaosium on this? There has been very little since the GenCon announcement, and it would be nice to have some focus for our speculation.

    I'm sorry to be snide but perhaps when they have the opportunity to share an update? GenCon was just last weekend, and I'm sure that Chaosium has their hands full getting back to business, and getting the CoC7e Kickstarter-situation resolved. That ship, likely, has to be righted first before they can address other game lines. 

    We're fortunate that Chaosium is as communicative as they are now. We, at least, have a clue of what's going on. Their former administration sucked at this - we probably wouldn't be hearing anything at all, and they definitely wouldn't be more responsive. 

    • Like 4
  9. So, to summarize. I've been a fan and customer since the early, early days. My Cthulhu is gone, my Runequest is gone, and now the entire BRP collection of “other” games has been packed away.

    I guess we're done, Chaosium. You no longer have anything to offer me. It's over, and it's a damned shame. But since I decided to stop buying Dungeons and Dragons products altogether in 1989, I suppose I'll survive this too.

    I can sympathize with this general sentiment, and understand how frustrating it can be to be "fired as a fan". It sucks. But it's prevalent throughout the decades of gaming history - no better example exists than with the changes that have come with the various editions of D&D. I think it happens to all of us as we get older and keep gaming.

    But, as others have stated, regardless of whether a game line has been "killed off", no one is going to come into your home and take your Rpgs away from you. And as long as you have other gamers to play with these Rpgs will never really be "gone". Keep playing them; find players who enjoy playing them; and continue talking about them. There's no need to "stay current" if you don't want to. Break out Stormbringer 1st, or CoC1-6e, or Thieves' World and play them. Get some enjoyment out of them. If Chaosium doesn't want your money, f*ck 'em. :)

    I feel similarly: I have no interest in CoC7 and find RQ6 a little too complex for my tastes. But I have a metric-crapton of CoC material for 3e-6e - more than I could play the rest of my lifetime, probably. And I have plenty of editions of RQ. And I've got a bunch of Elric! rpg material. I don't really need Chaosium anymore, and my gaming or outlook won't suffer for it.

    • Like 3
  10. Something I noticed:

    Some of the 'rank' symbols don't display properly, depending on the browser used. Well, at least for me. Here's a couple examples:

    Chrome
    Capture_zpskbhlnslh.png

    Internet Explorer 11
    Capture1_zpsdrc3smhk.png

    Firefox doesn't show the 'dots' in the rank.

  11.  

    More importantly, did you cast your vote for DM? :)

     

    I did my part and voted for DM in all of the #1 categories that I found - good luck to you guys. Gave some runner-up votes to Cakebread & Walton, and Alephtar, as well.

  12. First I've heard of it. I don't keep tabs on Mongoose Pub these days, so I might not had ever heard of it. (And there was an earlier edition? MB 2.0 currently?).

     

    Looks interesting, and I could be tempted to pick it up. But, I'd really need to read a couple of reviews before I broke out the credit card.

×
×
  • Create New...