Chogokin

In RPGs, mechanically I suspect that PCs with high Charisma often invest heavily in social skills, so they can take advantage of whatever benefits exist for that tactic. I would agree that few games really give enough support to social interactions. I would also add that, at least in my experience, many GMs either don't seem to want to deal with social skills, or are simply uncomfortable or unpracticed with applying the game rules to social interactions. So, the overall lesson is, don't be afraid to ask out the next unattached supermodel you see?

All good points! The subject of roleplaying and Charisma really makes me think and reevaluate. I have probably, as a GM, been too oblivious to the impact of low Charisma. Generally, as long as the players were willing to have their characters behave semi-rationally, I'd let them get away with reasonable goals to let the adventure flow. However, it might be more useful in the long run to have NPC's react with a moderate degree of distrust or hostility to low-Charisma PC's.

Well, it's a ruling on attributes which makes an assumption about the nature of the universe. In some settings, the idea that 'personal force' or 'magnetism' is essentially the same thing as personal supernatural power might be very valid. In others, it might be completely inappropriate. However, I do think it's important to make a distinction between Charisma and physical appearance. I know some iterations of the BRP rules have used Appearance rather than Charisma. Personally, I think it is better for physical appearance to be a trait distinct from a character's force of personality or willpower. That's an area of character design where BRP has generally been pretty weak. It seems like some of the more recent iterations of the rules are addressing that gap to some extent.

On the topic of POW, that reminded me of something else I was pondering. Charisma is pretty much always seen as a dump stat, even with the Mythras rules that give it a role in improving skills. I know the players I had pegged all of their characters at 8 CHA. Furthermore, in that copy of Stormbringer I've read over, the author(s) actually write something to the effect that Charisma is really the least useful attribute. So, I was thinking about dropping POW from the game and making Charisma serve as both the social attribute and the supernatural power attribute. I justify that a bit by pointing out the weird charisma of cult leaders, and the powerful force of will or personal magnetism many fictional sorcerers are described as having.

Actually I was trying to imply humorously that conventional adventuring as depicted in RPGs is a terribly antisocial and highly risky activity. Really intelligent people in the game universe would probably find successful careers that don't involve copious amounts of mayhem and destruction. On the other hand, while I certainly have seen situations with players who try to portray a character with a high INT and made some really dubious decisions, I don't generally consider that a major problem. Lots of really smart people, at least in the "book-learning" sense, can be pretty dumb about practical matters.

Hard to get good curare around these parts... habanero sauce makes an acceptable substitute, albeit with different results...

What, you mean the Caltrops of Doom? I love those dice, and look for any possible excuse to use them in games!

That sounds very well thought-out! I had honestly not considered going so far into the skills as a way of determining balance. I only recently acquired the full Mythras rules, and have been mostly working with the BRP compendium, with the end goal of doing a Sword and Planet sci fi setting. Given the vast proliferation of d100 systems in recent years, now I'm in kind of a pick-and-choose mode, where I'm looking at all the different interpretations of the system and pondering what I like best out of the bunch.

I believe that aspect of being an adventurer can't be modeled with an INT attribute.

Yes, it was pretty wild, apparently. Not exactly balanced, especially if you rolled up a Beggar of Nadsokor, but it definitely had a certain primal vigor...

Thank you very much!

Ah, thank you very much! That does help provide some context for the change in characteristics.

I appreciate the input! Yeah, I think that option 2 does present a good combination of what I would call 'ease of use' and aligning with the presumed intention of the modern SIZ and INT ranges. I have to admit that I am also drawn to the 'wildness' of the earliest incarnations of the d100 system, though. Another concern of mine is how to incorporate modifications for non-human species, but I'll save that discussion for later posts. I did want to say that M-Space is a very inspirational set of rules, and I believe I've still got a copy of BRP Starships 2.2, back before you ported things to the Mythras Imperative. The issue with the game I ran was a mismatch between the player goals and the GM goals, and I'm responding to it by trying to get out and meet new people.

Hello. I've been a member of this forum for a long time, but not at all a participant. However, my interest in running a d100 game has been rising lately. Now, I've got a number of iterations of the d100 rules, and I've got access through a friend to many more, spanning many years of d100. I've noticed that in earlier d100 rules (I've seen Stormbringer 4th), Characteristics are generated on straight 3d6. In the Elric! rules, they were generated on 2d6+6. In CoC 6th edition and the Big Gold Book, Size and Intelligence are 2d6+6 and the other five are on 3d6. This seems to have been standardized across other more modern editions of the rules. Going back to Stormbringer, depending on what race/culture your character came from, there could be other major modifications to your results, including rolling other dice and adding or subtracting those values from your initial scores. I'm curious as to when the decision was made that SIZ and INT should be on an 8-18 range, and what the thinking behind it was. The reason I ask is that the last d100 game I ran was M-Space (using the Reflux adventure). I ran it with some players who are veteran gamers, although more of the power gamer/dungeon-basher mindset rather than the roleplayer mindset. Using the standard point-buy system, they very quickly identified what characteristic levels would give them the greatest mechanical advantage, and designed characters to exploit that. Such behavior is understandable, but when acting as a GM, I always find power gamers to be very tedious and unpleasant to deal with. I've tried to put a bit of thought into other forms of character generation. '4d6 drop the lowest' appeals to me, because I like characters to be heroic, but the ranges on SIZ and INT spoil the flow a bit. I'm considering five options presently: 1. 4d6 drop the lowest 5 times, 3d6+6 drop the lowest 2 times. Allocate the latter two rolls to SIZ and INT. 2. 4d6 drop the lowest 7 times, assign minimum of 8 to SIZ and INT. 3. 4d6 drop the lowest 7 times, no restrictions on how the results are allocated. 4. Devise a standard array of 5 + 2 values and allow the players to allocate the results as they see fit, allocating the 2 results set aside for SIZ and INT separately from the other five characteristics. 5. Devise a standard array of 7 values and allowing the players to allocate the results as they see fit, with no restrictions. Any historical insight or present opinion would be of great value to me. Thank you for your attention!

As a consumer, given current technology, I like having both a physical product and a .pdf. I like .pdfs because I can load them onto my laptop or a thumb drive, and take 'em with me to peruse at my leisure wherever I go, without having to lug pounds of bulky books everywhere. I like a physical book because if and when I actually use the product, I find books easier to use and more pleasing in a tactile sense than employing a laptop or desktop computer. I have used, but not to my satisfaction, services for printing out .pdfs. There's a Fedex/Kinko's not too far away from where I live. But, there are some issues with getting .pdfs printed there. The 'normal user' facilities are ridiculously expensive to employ. In order to get a printed B&W set of pages, let alone drilled and spiral bound, I have to request the service from the personnel there, and then they are going to spend a long time scrutinizing the .pdf for permission to print a copy, and I have to deal with their questions and comments about the subject material. It still winds up costing more than just buying the book to begin with. So, currently, I would prefer to buy the book and .pdf from the publisher. However, if I buy the physical book, I would like the .pdf to come free or at minimal additional cost. Currently, .pdfs can cost as much as one half to two thirds as much as the physical product, which is understandable if that's all you are getting, but ridiculous if you are getting the physical product as well. I am hopeful that electronic paper formats will become cheaper, more widespread and usable in the future. That could eliminate the problem.

I've been silently lurking hereabouts for some time now. As I have already broken my silence for other reasons, I figured I should probably go ahead and formally introduce myself. As I see from reading the other introductions, I am not alone in being a bit of a geezer. I was introduced to gaming by some friends on a playground in New York, nearly 30 years ago, and have been an avid collector and sporadic player of games since then. Chaosium games have been some of the most successful gaming experiences I have had. Back in college, I ran a brief but very creepy Call of Cthulhu game, and later ran the Rogue Mistress campaign with the Elric! game. I picked up the BRP rules, and have been (slowly) working on writing a sort of modernized Planetary Romance setting. I posted about it over on RPG.net, here, and was promptly directed to this website, and Jason Durall's forthcoming Interplanetary book. I've also got some thoughts about doing a fantasy setting as well. Possibly I'll be able to make use of your assistance in developing my stray notions into something real.

Hello. I registered here a while ago, after a suggestion made on rpg.net. I have, however, been entirely a lurker. I received a Private Message from another board member named Jessie, who appears to have as little real presence here as I do. The message was as follows: I don't know if 'Jessie' is a legitimate member, but this struck me as being a bit suspicious. This seemed like the appropriate subforum to mention it.