Jason D

One aspect that variable armor "simulates" is that even if it is homogeneous across all locations, the material doesn't always protect the same against different types of weapons, or against blows delivered from different angles. If you're head to toe in mail, even wearing a full-face mesh coif... would you rather be hit in the stomach or the head with a mace? Plate armor is best when it's deflecting points, blades, and crushing blows, not handling them head-on. Mail, also, is great against blades, somewhat good against points, but not terribly effective against blunt weapons. Anywhere where bone is close to flesh is more vulnerable. Against blunt weapons, the padding under the mail is more effective than the links themselves. However, from a preferred gameplay perspective (and I think "degree of realism desired" falls under that category), I prefer variable damage rolls. The mechanic was first introduced in Stormbringer, a game where a character can start as a blind, limbless, leprous beggar from Nadsokor, or as an assassin-noble-sorcerer from Melnibone... variable armor is a perfect extension of that. I like the variability of the random armor protection precisely because it abstracts armor and the interaction of damage. I find that if I begin thinking that fixed-point is more "realistic", then I begin down a slippery slope into fixed armor protecting differently against different weapon types, and then it becomes more complex than I prefer. However, I'd argue that the sheer genius of the BRP system is that one can have random armor values, or one can then use fixed point armor value with variable protection against different attack types (slashing, impaling, blunt, etc.), and the game still works.

At the risk of sounding like a thread policeman (which I'm not), is this argument going anywhere other than one of these two positions? 1. I prefer variable armor protection because it suits my style of play more vs. 2. I prefer fixed armor protection because it suits my style of play more The core book uses "generic fixed" armor as the default, and presents variable as an optional system. Everyone wins!

I actually prefer variable armor protection far and above fixed armor point values. It allows for some variability, doesn't slow combat down that much, and even creates some nice options for graphical descriptions of armor working or not working, such as: (low roll) "Your armor only stops one point? Okay, then. The dagger slips between joints of the half-plate and plunges deeply into your flesh. You take seven points of damage after the armor protection." (high roll) "Your armor stops eight points? Okay, then. The dagger scratches along the metal plates on your breastplate and leaves a bright scratch, but doesn't penetrate." It also helps add an air of unpredictability, where fixed armor values don't. A character with fixed-point value full plate layered with something else, for example, is nigh-invulnerable to any hand weapons that don't critical or have a significant damage bonus. I was happy to include both systems in the core rules, but whenever I play, I'm using random armor protection.

Not quite. Hit locations are optional, as are hit points per location. Major wounds are a part of the default system. If a major wound is rolled, roll on the Major Wound table. It will usually provide a hit location. Not quite the same as a hit location being rolled on a major hit. The table is the same.

I think I've answered this before, but here goes once more... I don't know exactly what's in the pipeline. I've heard of some projects on public forums, but haven't gotten any look at Chaosium's schedule or plans. As they have no internal writers, their release schedule is almost entirely driven by freelancers. They are actively seeking people who want to write BRP related material. They're especially interested in shorter (48-72-page) setting sourcebooks rather than adventures or big comprehensive settings. Contact Dustin Wright at dustin@chaosium.com with proposals. He's great to work with, and is enthusiastic about supporting BRP. I'm going to work on something, but have approximately a dozen different things I'd like to do, and haven't decided which one to focus on. I'm mostly trying to get my life back on track and support the publication of the core book for any last-minute edits or rewrites required.

Is there a way for individual users to reorganize the main page to their preferred arrangement? I confess that I find the right-sided navigation to be extremely counterintuitive to the way I've been using the web for the last decade. I'm crusty and old, I know, but it seems pretty jarring and against all of the techniques and principles I learned when I was a web designer. When the page loads, I keep expecting it to "fix" itself by reorienting with something on the left side of the page.

It wasn't like it came up suddenly ("now"). I'd pitched the book to them during Gen Con 2003. Then, around eight months later, they asked me to begin work on it. I gather that it had been on their minds for years, as I know of at least two people who'd mentioned it as a possibility while working for Chaosium years prior. It was ultimately a case of having an author they were on good terms with and could trust to turn in a workable manuscript. I suspect, too, that it is a case of not keeping all of one's eggs in the Cthulhu basket. Sales of Eternal Champion products had never really done that well in the last decade, and diversifying to more than just Cthulhu-related fiction and the Call of Cthulhu game line is just good business sense.

Oh believe me, they want it out ASAP. However, there's always the unpredictable stuff, like the cover issue, like printer schedules, etc. Regardless, it's just comforting to know that it's coming out soon, and any delays are a matter of weeks, rather than months or longer. As a funny bit of irony, I was working on an Eternal Champion book before BRP when they asked me to contribute to Pulp Cthulhu. It sounded like it was on a fast-track, and I didn't have the time to spare, so I said no. Then they pulled the plug on the EC book and asked me to do BRP, which was fine as I was still in "pre-writing" for that first product. Now, more than three years later, EC is no longer Chaosium's and Pulp Cthulhu is still on the horizon.

Most analysis about the industry I've seen actually says that Christmas is a slow time for RPG sales, with the post-Christmas bump being more significant to the hobby. The near-total failure of the pen-and-paper retail industry in presenting characteristics normally associated with Christmas shopping (extended hours, sale prices, parent-friendly service, more advertising, high availability of product, gift wrapping, etc.) means that most people don't get RPG products for Christmas (or Kwanza, or whatever holiday), and many people end up buying them later with holiday gift money. I know that in my entire life, the only RPG product I ever got at X-Mas from someone else was the old blue box D&D, and that was ordered through the Montgomery Ward's Christmas catalog. Not that there aren't good stores (I shop at a good one), but even they don't really change their business plan around holidays other than a display for the front of the store and some recommendations for gifts.

I wish I knew more, but I'm just as in the dark as you are.

If you're using the FP rules as normal, on average a character will have 20ish FP. If struck by a character with no damage bonus, they can take around 20 punches to be knocked out (assuming a roll of 2 on 1d3), but then, they'll also have taken 10 HP in damage, which should be enough to put them out cold as well. Against someone with a 1d4 damage bonus, you're looking at an average of them taking 2 HP and 2-3 FP per round, making for a much shorter fight, but simulating more of both the reality of trying to punch someone out cold, as well as cinematic unarmed combat. I think it's double-dipping. A character's SIZ is already helping with a damage bonus, and in all likelihood, a character with high STR+SIZ is also going to have a higher number of HP than average. The damage bonus is a tremendous edge over a character without one, and I think it's just too unbalancing to make it also add armor protection (especially considering how low most armor protection values already are).

Assault Armor (Heavy), Powered: Similar to ‘Assault Armor’ above, but massive and with thick armored plating and internal servomotors boosting the wearer’s strength. Combatants in powered heavy assault armor often use it to wield massive weapons. It is often given modular enhancements, such as jetpacks, and is sealed against chemical weapons or the vacuum of space.

You raise good points. Mainly, I'm finding that when I play BRP for fantasy settings, I like the player characters to be more robust... which is why I had the heroic HP optional rule in the BRP corebook (heroes and special NPCs figure HP as SIZ+CON, mooks use the regular formula). Having the numbers creep up into the 20-30 range (on average) for HP and PP/MP makes for tougher combats, more powers being able to be used, etc. But that's just me. There's no reason at all one couldn't just do all of the averaging and keep the other factors (except for SAN) at the same values. One of the alternatives that I conceived during the playtesting (but didn't put into the book) was using Fatigue at [sTR+CON]/2 as non-lethal HP. With this system: Damage with non-lethal weapons (mostly hand-to-hand) is rolled normally. The minimum possible roll value is subtracted from the roll and applied to HP. The rest come out of Fatigue. If you're using the Martial Arts skill and succeed in using it, you can chose to make your unarmed attacks all FP, "normal", or all HP. You need to announce what you're doing before rolling, though. Criticals and specials work as normal, with points subtracted as above. If your Fatigue reaches 0, you're out cold. Any excess FP are taken out of HP. FP regenerate normally. For example, if you're using Brawl (1d3+1d4db), you'd roll your 1d6/2 and your 1d4. Assume a roll of 5 (2+3). You can roll a minimum of 2 on 2 dice. You subtract 2 from 5, inflicting 2 HP and 3 FP on your opponent.

Add STR+SIZ. If total is below 17, it's a -1d4 damage bonus. If 17-24, no bonus. If 25-32, +1d4 to damage. If 33-40, +1d6 damage. 40+ more damage (increases in steps of 16, if I remember correctly).

Same as in Stormbringer. Only 1/2 damage bonus for ranged weapons.

Yeah, it always bugged me that the system was so inconsistent about them. HP = [CON+SIZ]/2 MP/PP = POW SAN = POW x 5 FT = STR+CON I always wanted to make them all sort of work in the same method and refigure the rest of the values, like this: HP = CON+SIZ (healthier, bigger people have more HP) MP/PP = POW+CON (healthier, more willful people have more PP) SAN = INT+POW (reasoning and will help resist insanity) FT = unchanged This, of course, would lead to changing weapon damages, power use costs, sanity losses, and fatigue, and I'd treat all of those resources like something that does damage against them. SAN losses would be chunked away if you fail your Luck or Idea roll, but would be less (because you've got less to lose). Fatigue would be lost per turn of heavy activity based on your actions/armor/burden, and you might make Effort rolls (CON x 5%) to avoid losing them. And so on....

It's an optional system, and there are two options. The first is a slightly improved version of the RQ3 mess, while the second is the easier version from Elric!/Stormbringer. One of these days, I'll post my unified resource system for power points, fatigue points, and sanity points.

Which is why they're there, but as an optional system rather than a default part of the rules.

I'm a huge fan of Usagi Yojimbo. I ran a lot of the Gold Rush Games version of it, and despite the anthro aspect, my players all thought it was a blast. I didn't, however, enjoy the updated rules set from Sanguine... suddenly it became overcomplex and crunchy when the previous edition had been simple to run and quick to play. The players likened the rules switch to going from BRP to D&D. Usagi Yojimbo (as noted above) Jadeclaw Ironclaw Kzinti from Ringworld

I'm pretty sure that's not the plan at all.

You missed the part about "trying to decide".

I'm trying to decide what I'm working on for them next. I've got a few small projects on the table, but will likely do one of those short setting/sourcebooks.

Well, they have gone over to Lulu (I believe) for some of the printing, which does make for nicer-looking books.

If I recall correctly, one of the main goals of the monographs was specifically to create a reason fans would periodically check out the website. A second goal was to offer something like those old mimeographed booklets that were available only at conventions, directly from Chaosium. I'm not saying those are great reasons, but the monograph program does fill both of those requirements solidly. That's a valid concern. You should email them directly and let them know you've got a problem with that.