lawrence.whitaker

I'm curious to know if, as a publisher of a D100 game system, you agree with those minimum criteria or if you would add any. I think that the minimum criteria, and allowing the resolution dice to include d20 and d10, leaves the exercise open to a lot of edge cases - like the FGU games and Rolemaster. You could perhaps include magic fuelled by Power or Magic Points (if not already included upthread), but that won't disqualify games like Bushido.

Bushido has levels and armour that reduces the chance to hit, but that's about as much as it has in common with D&D. Otherwise, all three games precisely fit the stipulated criteria. Both Daredevils and Aftermath are overly complex, but they still tick all the qualification boxes for d100 compatible games.

As mentioned on RPGnet, you should also include several of FGU's games: Bushido Aftermath Daredevils They all fit the d100 compatible criteria you've established.

It is - although in the 6th Century, the fenlands were much more extensive.

Sure*. It would just mean upping the page count (and cost) by 30%, laying out the entire book differently, and then doing all the attendant proofing, corrections, reproofing, errata handling, and so on. I realise that the request is only semi-serious, but the point of the second printing is to correct outstanding errata and add a little more like clarity here and there. We simply can't make wholesale changes without a significant investment of time and money. *And with or without ligatures?

We have recently (last weekend, in fact) done exactly this in preparation for the game's next printing.

As Rosen McStern says, the idea behind Combat Styles is to better reflect the way warriors train in combat. Some styles will be weapon and technique specific (Fencing, for example), and such styles will include one or two weapons (sabre and foil, perhaps), along with a trait that applies to the training method. But for career soldiers and mercenaries, it's unlikely that you train in one weapon in isolation, and thus have the potential for wildly differing skill %s across weapons you practice with regularly. In Bernard Cornwell's Saxon and Arthurian novels, there are many descriptions of training or how warriors trained, and in all cases, combinations of weapons (spear, shield, sword) are routinely mentioned. But this is true of Greek hoplites, Roman legionaries, Napoleonic infantrymen, and even modern day soldiers. But of course, Your Mythras is Your Mythras (YMYM), and so we deliberately left combat styles quite vague, so that you can, if you wish, make them very specific or very open, as you prefer. The intention though, is to allow for groups of related weapons to be trained together to ensure continuing skill increase parity. Also notice that during character creation, characters have the chance to gain a cultural combat style, and then, when they choose a profession, perhaps one or more additional combat styles. The former reflects the kind of martial training one might gain in the formative years, while the latter includes the scope for increased specialisation as one makes a career of martial training. Find the way that suits your style of play. Mythras supports it.

I believe Alephtar have a BRP Mecha supplement that you could quite easily hack for Mythras.

Slightly off-topic, but my favourite incarnation of a class/level/skill/social system remains FGU's 'Bushido', which successfully marries class and level-based character creation and advancement, with a sophisticated percentile and d20 based skill system (as in Pendragon or HeroQuest, one rolls skill or less on d20. The score of the skill is figured on a 01-100+ scale and divided by 5 to provide the resolution target number). There are experience points for killing things, for acting honourably, and for certain social functions too. The level/XP system is neatly divorced from the skill advancement system, but still influences it, so that there's a satisfying blend of skill driven advancement, with the visceral satisfaction of gaining another level (there are only 6 levels, with one's level providing a straight +n bonus to the d20 skill. So a 4th level warrior may have a sword skill of 14, with level giving him an effective 18 or less to roll on d20 for success). Years ago, I hacked Bushido and HeroQuest together to run a Griffin Mountain campaign, and it was superb fun. I think 'Bushido' remains one of the best examples of elegant, nuanced game design. The rules aren't necessarily easy to parse (he writing is highly technical, and the rule books have a strange structure), but the mechanics are rock-solid, surprisingly flexible, and offer a perfect blend of class/levels/skills/d20/d100, built-in task resolution, XP, and social advancement that was surprisingly ahead of its time. I still enjoy the system.

Treat it like a passion. Genetic Memory X%, which can either augment another skill (when calling on something specific), or roll against the passion when calling on something general.

You should include Chaosium's 'Thieves' World' in the Books/Comics section. While it's multi-game, it's principally known as a d100 pack.

Well, as you've ordered a copy (which may well have errors - it shouldn't be live yet, and that's why we haven't publicized the release. There's something wrong with the Lulu privacy setting), you'll soon know...

The powers are largely street/mid level - so Daredevils, Spider-Men, etc, and it's possible to get to Fantastic 4 levels too. Powers are quite easy: you get a certain number of Powers based on a characteristics, and then spend Power Points to boost them (powers are either always active, or cost a base amount to switch them on). Limitations/disadvantages help you get additional Boosts. Powers range from enhanced STR, DEX, speed, etc, and go through energy and material manipulation, to include flight and teleportation. We haven't used BRP or Superworld as a base here; it's largely a fresh interpretation.

It's the same set of rules with a couple of small tweaks.

If the Trance roll doesn't succeed, it's up to you as the GM as to when it can be tried again. Sometimes the GM will require a Luck Point to be used (I do this if the Trance roll is happening at a critical point in the story). Or, if the roll is within 5 points of a successful roll, I just allow it, if it's a non-critical situation, and assume it took slightly longer to do. Don't forget that you can also Augment the Trance roll with a Passion, or another skill, such as Willpower or Meditation, if it's appropriate to the circumstances. You can also adjust the grade of the Trance roll - making it Easy or even Very Easy, if the conditions are right (the character is well rested, in a sacred grove, taken certain herbs, etc). So there are all sorts of ways of boosting the original roll to reduce the likelihood of failure. Is it possible to provoke a spirit to attack? Of course! Depending on their type, spirits can be fickle, mercurial creatures, quick to anger, quick to take offence, and quick to take revenge. These are not creatures with human motivations, and they act according to their natures. A Bear Spirit can be expected to be aggressive. A Disease Spirit will want to infect a suitable soul. An Ancestor Spirit may want to test the worthiness of the animist. A question for you: you say you're playing in Britain in 500AD. Are you using 'Mythic Britain'? It has some additional rules for spirits, and an explanation of how druids interact with the spirit world. If you don't have this book, I recommend you get a copy. It's set in 495AD, covers Dumnonia (which includes the Devon coast), and has a whole bunch of scenarios that include spirit interaction.

Hi Gol, With training (or natural ability) just in Trance, the character will be able to move into the Spirit World and interact with spirits there - conversing, observing, and so on, but won't be able to strike bargains or compel them to help. Matt_E has offered some excellent suggestions, and I would also add that if the character needed to enter into Spirit Combat, then she could always use Willpower at Formidable instead. But there's actually quite a lot she can do with Trance alone; and perhaps you also have a plot opportunity here with the character needing to seek out a druid to help her learn the Binding skill.

Originally, Sabre infringed our copyright by directly copying quite a lot of text from Mythras (not Legend, despite using the Legend OGL to support the game) without our permission or approval. We told them to cease publication and distribution (and enforced this via OneBookShelf) until the text was amended to our satisfaction, and due acknowledgement given. And, to their credit, they admitted their mistake, fully complied with our requirements, and everything worked out well. We have no issues with Sabre at all. I'll note though, that 'Raiders of R'Lyeh', despite using the Legend OGL, is, in many places, quite clearly a mere rewording of Mythras, even retaining the same structure and flow of certain key rules. It might use the Legend OGL, but Mythras is the source. Wording is changed sufficiently so that the copyright infringements Sabre were guilty of haven't occurred, but it is a little disappointing that there's no acknowledgement of Mythras included in the work. We'd be quite happy if that was rectified, but, it's not something we can insist upon or enforce. Still, TDM believes very strongly in being gentlemanly in such things, and finding acceptable compromises, so that everyone's happy.

Thule, are you the same person I've been corresponding with over the weekend by email?

Next month: TDM gets a DVD player.

I did. Not intentional (apologies, Pete and Ken!), and kind of reinforces the point that there's a lot of choice, and easy to overlook some of the other options. I forgot about GORE too.

There was a time where most decent bookstores (new and second hand), public libraries, and charity shops, had an entire shelf dedicated to MM's works. This was during the late 70s and early-mid 80s which is when the Stormbringer RPG was released. It wasn't a massive seller then (it took about 2.5 years for the Stormbringer Companion to be released; another two for Demon Magic), and although there have been old stalwarts like us fighting its corner, sales steadily declined - even with the Elric! and SB5 reboot. Mongoose were happy to let their license lapse because sales simply didn't warrant the efforts involved - and they enjoyed very good relations with MM. These days, you're hard-pressed to find any of MM's books on the shelves of decent bookstores (new and second hand), public libraries, and charity shops, so relaunching the Stormbringer RPG (or any Moorcockian RPG) is going to be a very risky venture, irrespective of relations with Mike. Of course, if the long-rumoured Elric film or HBO spectacular ever materialises, then that could change, but the reality is that Mike's work simply doesn't have the profile it once did; and at its height, 'Stormbringer' never really made a huge impact on the RPG market.

@designmechinc Please follow us, and do whatever it is one needs to do to Twitterise.

Hi Thule, To break things down. RuneQuest is a Trademark of Moon Design Publications LLC, and published through Chaosium. It isn't OGL and you'd need to check out the various licenses they have available on their website for designing your own game (and, advisably, contact Rick Meints to find out what is possible). Legend is produced by Mongoose and is OGL. The whole book is the SRD, so you can freely use it, subject to the OGL terms and conditions. Its about 90% compatible with Mythras. Indeed, the recently published 'Raiders of R'lyeh' uses the Legend OGL but lifts almost its entire structure from Mythras (reworded to avoid copyright infringements). Mythras is a Trademark of The Design Mechanism. We operate a 'Gateway' license that you can download from our website. It allows you to use the whole of Mythras Imperative, our free version of the rules, and parts of Mythras core. Take a look through and get in touch if you have questions. The one question I'd ask is, the d100 game you want to produce, is it for personal use or publication? If publication, I'd ask 'Why'? There are already a plethora of d100 games available: RQ, Mythras, Legend, Magic World, OpenQuest, Raiders of R'lyeh, and Revolution d100 (also OGL). Is another needed? I know of another d100 game called Sabre, that is, again, heavily based on the Legend OGL, but leans heavily on Mythras; I'm not sure of its sales, but it's not terribly well known. I'm not trying to deter you, but I do want you to be aware that it's a crowded market, and how much time you expend on the project depends on your intentions and what innovations you think your version of the rules, whatever their base, can bring to the market. The approach will also determine, to some extent, if you use the OGL, or cleave to Mythras or RQ (using one of its licensing models and with permission: contact Chaosium directly for clarification). But I think you'll find all the publishers in the community - TDM, Chaosium, d101, and Alephtar, are very happy to answer questions and be as supportive as we can. I can't answer for Mongoose: they rarely post on this board, and I haven't visited the Legend Forum on the Mongoose site for a very long time. So happy to answer any more questions you may have, publicly or privately. Lawrence

Correct. There's a possibility that we will, at some stage, produce a true Anglo Saxon book along these lines, but all the elements are actually in place to run and enjoy such a campaign already, if you know the history of the 8th-10th Centuries.

Most likely the edition published by the Swiss company, 'Men in Cheese'. Lyonesse certainly has a fair amount of lightweight fairytale fantasy to it, but it also has some quite brutal, gritty, Game of Thrones-style realism too.