Jason D

Agreed. I'd allow the NPC the attempt, though at a penalty.

I'm hoping that more third-party support will materialize. Chaosium has made their terms public, and I suspect that if those terms aren't acceptable, they can renegotiated.

I got the email, and I didn't even submit anything.

We should change that notice on the front page... it is not only back in line, but may be available in some form sooner than expected... More I cannot say.

To be fair, Savage Worlds has been in print as a generic system since 2003 or 2004. It's a solid system, but it's also supported by a much larger company. I certainly wish Chaosium were doing more with BRP, but they are entirely reliant on outside freelancers for submissions, and honestly, Call of Cthulhu is their bread and butter. Heck, it's not just their bread and butter, it's their cutting board, their knife, the oven the bread was baked in, the cow that produced the milk, and the churn the butter was made in, as well as being the plate the bread is served on.

First off, I'd ask the player to make an Agility roll (DEX x 5) to maneuver into that position to take the shot. Then I'd double the already-doubled skill due to being at better-than-point-blank range. If you're not using hit locations, you're golden. If you're using hit locations, then you're essentially targeting a specific body location. I'd take the original chance to hit, double it for point blank. Call for the Agility roll as above, then double the skill as above, but then reduce it again by half for the called shot (as described on p213 "Targeting a Specific Area"). The end result would be a doubled skill chance that ignores armor. If you're being a generous GM, you might let the attack do max rollable damage, with the proviso that if it goes through the monster's hit location (or takes it to 0 HP), it goes on and might hit the player being grappled (he/she should make a Luck roll to avoid this).

Sadly, Chaosium isn't the owner of Different Worlds. Long ago, around issue 40 or so (of 47), the magazine spun off as the cornerstone of its own company, called Different Worlds Publications. They may or may not still be in business... their website doesn't seem to have been updated in a long while (August 2006). Sadly, that issue is sold out. You might have luck emailing them, though.

I've just dug the issue out and it's much better than I remembered, as it happens. Though short, it's a scenario/campaign setup for Magic World wth a swashbuckly sort of setting, with a cast of eight major NPCs described in around 30-50 words apiece. The "plot" is mostly a series of rumors about what is happening or what might happen. It doesn't really nail down which are true and which are false, but it does provide a lot of gist for creating adventures. There's a bit called "The Plot Thickens" that essentially provides guidelines for how PCs might become involved, and how things might escalate based on the goals of a few of the major NPCs. The section on "Conclusion" is somewhat bizarre, as it hints that the PCs might not even interact with the major NPCs. Ironically, it feels exactly like a 7th Sea campaign description, and very little like the generic fantasy setting described in Magic World. I'm reminded that when I read it, I thought about adapting it to Flashing Blades, as it felt more like that sort of game.

That was certainly a nice surprise. I hadn't seen or heard about the review. Thanks for the heads-up, Nick!

My problems with SIZ are mostly in the way it's applied to characters/NPCs, not physical items. In its place, I'd use a SIZ modifier that affects HP, STR, certain skills, etc.

If I recall correctly, I used Imperial measurements in a section where a GM is speaking narratively, specifically in a fantasy setting where metric distances would feel out of place. If it appears elsewhere, it's a mistake that didn't get caught during editing. (And off the record, SIZ is one of those aspects of BRP I'd really love to see ditched in a future revision of the rules.)

Apparently, that table is cursed.

This is how I'm handling Interplanetary, as well.

As a nice bonus, I received print copies of Ashes to Ashes and Berlin '61 in the mail from Chaosium yesterday. I'm hoping to give them each a read-through this weekend, but my initial flip-through indicates that they each look pretty good. The glossy BRP-style covers are quite a step up from the original cardstock and tape-bound black covers of older monographs, and they're both sizable volumes.

Nick's answer is correct and his suggestion quite solid, so (as often happens) all I can do is say "What Nick said."

I'm delighted to report that Chaosium have settled all issues with me, and I'm going to be back to work on Interplanetary this very evening.

It feels bizarre to quote myself, but I am happy to report that Charlie and Chaosium have taken all steps to mend the fence, and I'm getting back to work on Interplanetary this very evening.

Bottom of page 23, step 7, under "Personal Point Pool" and the last paragraph in the first column of page 24.

Long out of print, though someone's licensed it for True20 implementation, unless I remember incorrectly.

Absolutely correct. When the matter is resolved (and I am hoping it will be very soon, based on recent communications with Chaosium), I will be thrilled and relieved to get back to work on Interplanetary as a BRP product. It began as a BRP product, and I have always wanted to see it in support of the core book.

Far more detail than my feeble mind can remember...

I remember it fondly... but there wasn't much meat to it. It was a very short article basically focusing on some aspects of someone's campaign setting, presented in a generic manner suitable for almost any setting. No unique creatures or special rules... it didn't feel like Glorantha in the least. The gist of it was a castle on the coast. There was a royal family, and a famed pirate lord, and some of the connections between them were explored. It had a high medieval/swashbuckly sort of feeling to it... certainly not the crazy magical Bronze Age feeling of RQ. I suspect that its publication was a favor to the author, as it didn't really have enough substance to be tremendously useful.

I'd ignore spell protection as well as mundane, unless a compelling reason would be to rule otherwise. Does the fire attack ignore armor? Is it magical fire? If not, then both forms of protection would be in effect (the armor for only one round). Are you using hit locations, or generic (whole body) armor protection? The spell is traditionally cast on a person, not an object, but if the GM allowed an item to have the spell invested in it, then the item would protect for that location. A crown certainly would count as armor. I'd take the value of the highest level of protection and let that be the top. So in other words, stacking of items is fine, stacking of effects... no.

Charlie's gotten in touch with me. I'm now cautiously waiting to see what comes of it. By all means, though, a boycott of their products would be a terrible idea. The publishing industry is currently hurting mightily, and cutting off sales is the quickest way to kill any company and guarantee no one gets paid, ever. My apologies to all for even making this semi-public.

It's an interesting option, but given the situation I cannot imagine any conceivable way it would work.