lawrence.whitaker

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Some more preview pages are now up on our website. This time focusing on the magic systems.

True, but I suspect that such great orators would rarely be found among the

average adventurers, and therefore would hesitate to consider this possible

for any character with an Oratory skill level below 90 % - partially because I

consider this realistic, partially because I would want to keep the ability to

influence mass audiences rather rare in my settings (why deal with a problem

yourself if you can easily inspire a few dozen other people to do it for you ...).

Which is why I said it depends entirely on circumstances. :-)

So - what's the shortest time (speaking and/or preparation) that you'd allow for use of Oratory?

As ever, it depends entirely on the circumstances. The great orators can stand-up and deliver a rousing speech with zero preparation or scripting. It comes from having clarity of thought, confidence, and the passion to deliver a message in a particular way based on the mood of the audience. It doesn't necessarily rely on pre-written or rehearsed material.

Churchill was the arch-orator. Once, on making a speech in Parliament, he apologised for the length - 'Because I didn't have the time to write a shorter one.' Which is as true as it gets.

Some politicians are exceedingly poor orators and very good fast talkers, but more often than not, they're poor at both without a great deal of rehearsal and pre-briefing. A very good Fast Talker, and a good Orator, can perform both skills more or less off-the-cuff. The difference is that, in oration, its a one-way speech. In Fast Talk you're likely to be responding to questions and attempts to catch you out or trip you up. Like I say, very different skills, although yes, Frogspawner, they're both examples of Clever Speaking.

As long as the character has a plausible access to whatever is required to

learn or improve a skill, there is no issue. The problem only begins when a

player wants his character to learn something which would normally be im-

possible to learn in the current situation, and comes up with some silly ex-

planation why his character should be able to do it (like learning to ride by

reading a book on riding).

This has been raised before on the Mongoose boards. Its very simple to handle: advise players that improvements can only be made to skills if the appropriate tools/resources/opportunities are available. And even then, as Deleriad says, it can be a non-issue. If the improvement rolls are doled-out at a point where the characters are likely to have significant downtime, such as between campaign chapters or scenarios, then it shouldn't be an issue. If you give rolls more frequently, and they crop-up mid-way through a scenario in a specific locale, then its easy enough to rule as above.

Also, recently I've come to think Fast Talk and Oratory are similar enough to be the same skill

I disagree. Oratory is public speaking; Fast Talk is gift-of-the-gab. I'm pretty good at the former and not so good at the latter. Oratory is a specific craft that I believe needs differentiation. You may have a wily con-artist who can sweet-talk his way through any improvised situation but stick him in front of a hostile audience at a politically important event and he may clam-up pretty darn quick. I've seen plenty of real-life instances of this happening.

Does you have a direct email address, skype name, or phone number directly to him?

I wasn't bringing up Steve to say he's with whom I'd need to speak now, but rather to illustrate the idea was well received in the past. I hope you understand.

Yep, I understand. The rights concerning Glorantha are a lot more complicated than they might appear especially if your experience of the world is via RQ. The game system and the world are separate, but related, properties.

I'm not going to post Greg's contact details here. Drop me a PM and we can take it from there.

I'd talked to Steve Perrin (well, we chatted via Usenet) several years ago re: writing a work of fiction (novel/trilogy) based in Glorantha. The reception back then was positive and he asked me to submit a sample chapter (note: I was not asking anyone to publish it for me. I was just seeking permission to use the source material to tell the story. THEN I would seek a publisher). Unfortunately, at the time I'd just been accepted as a pilot to fly for the 160th SOAR and we lost touch. Now that I'm retired, I'd like to pursue that avenue once again. Does anyone know to exactly whom I would need to speak to get said permission? Or to whom I could write? Any leads or information would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, you'll need to talk directly with Greg Stafford at Issaries. Anything Glorantha-related needs to be go through Greg.

Thanks for your feedback Al.

Fonts - like

Clean layout - like - more than that it is clear on screen and will print 2 per side (4 per page) readably - like x2

Excellent. We have tested the previews on a variety of tablet devices too, and even on a 7" screen it remains clear and readable.

'Brawl' more evocative than 'Unarmed Cbt' - agree, but Brawl presumably is a 'combat style' involving fists, feet, knees, heads, mugs, barstools and knives as practiced by Vikingr, sailors and drinkers there's no way my Wushu warrior is using that style unarmed

Yes, brawling in this context is a combat style, hence why we left Unarmed as it is.

'Endurance' should clearly be 'Stamina' obviously

It could've been, but isn't.

Why is 'Conceal' seperate from 'Deceit'?

They're very different skills. Conceal is used to physically hide things. Deceit is used to lie, cheat, deceive, obfuscate and so on.

Re-ordering characteristics - alphabetically would be best obviously - its not CDO its just correct

Maybe, but RQ and BRP's traditional ordering (clearly inherited from D&D) has been STR, CON, SIZ etc. You can tinker with the established order a little, but re-ordering into alphabetical would probably push quite a few grognard buttons a little too forcefully.

Thank you for the feedback.

I like the character skills (it gives me a nice "RQ3 good old days") and I definitely like the rearrangement of the characteristics in a more logical order. Without knowing how Fatigue works now, I would have like to see the penalties per level of exhaustion written on the sheet (so you don't have to rewrite the penalties everytime your fatigue level changes). A sheet on one page is also a bit cramped, sections about Professional Skills, Passions and Magical Skills are a bit small.

My guess is that the second page is for equipments and notes. I also hope the full size sheet doesn't have such huge left and right margins (or top and bottom for that matter).

We have changed the Fatigue rules and believe me, if we list the levels and effects then the character sheet looks very cramped indeed (and, in fact, would mean losing another, more important, play-related element). The margins in the character sheet are the narrowest I can get away with to maximise usable space.

You're not viewing a full-sized sheet in the preview. The original is a full letter-sized page so it doesn't look as squeezed as the preview suggests. It also runs to two pages with equipment, magic and other areas accommodated on the second page.

I also like the renaming of a few skills. The creature stat block is very neat and in great RQ tradition, I like to see in the bestiary notes to play non-human.

That's good to know! No-one's yet commented on the renamed skills or the creature stat-block. I actually though the stat-block might attract more criticism than the character sheet!

Unfortunately, I have a very negative comment about the preview. It is unfortunate that it was chosen to preview only 17 pages when in my sense a preview of 300 pages would have been a lot more appropriate.

:-)

I even would have paid bucks for it...

Oh, there's time.

It's a pity the original release won't be hardback, but as long as they edit it up properly, it's very much a must buy for me.

Hardback is simply too expensive for us at this stage, but we may make a collector's hardcover edition available a little later. RQ will be available as a print option via Drivethru, and I believe their hardback format is reasonably good, so you can still get a hardback by going down that route if you prefer.

If they can get round to making a Classic Greece setting supplement

This is on the cards...

and then produce a hardback slipcase to fit it together with the core rules, as well as a large full color poster,

Poster, perhaps (in fact quite likely. I'd like one, if nothing else), but slipcase? Don't push it...

with a full colour map on the reverse.

A map of where...? I can do some nice ones of southern Ontario...

And lots of adventures.

Book of Quests and Monster Island are our next two projects. Work is already underway on both.

And RuneQuest specific dice.

These would be cool. If only we could think of some game mechanics for using a rune-engraved d20...

And a t-shirt and mug.

Ah - y'see? You pushed it.

No pressure.

None taken! :-)

To my mind, one of the strengths of RuneQuest down through the ages has been the value and thoroughness of the examples. I'm glad to see that idea kept alive with this edition.

I'm not sure if I can comment much further. The font is easy on the eyes. The sidebars are unobtrusive, but broadly useful. I'm concerned with the breadth of the combat styles referenced in the Nomad section of the preview, as I'm a fan of a finer grain of skills, but I'll reserve any judgement until I lay hands on the finished goods.

There are lots of examples using Anathaym throughout the book. They're one of my favourite elements.

The combat styles are simply examples of where they can be taken and developed. The rules contain a lot of advice on how to structure them for the culture and campaign.

We've posted some pre-prod preview pages here.

Look forward to the feedback.

Yup!

Loz's excellent Unknown Eastern magic is now "Deep Magic" in Advanced Sorcery. I'm really excited to get it back in print again.

Thanks Ben - I take it the enormous royalty cheque is in the post?

Is there any chance RQ6 will be available at Continuum? Will there be any demonstration games for Continuum?

We're hoping so. At the very least Pete will be there in person (I can't be, sadly, although I intend to attend the RQ panel virtually) and we hope the book will be ready by then. If not, we'll be armed with previews.

I must say I am also enthusiastic about a new edition of RuneQuest - considering the job you did on the last edition, which was terrific.

Thank you!

I'm not sure if the play testing is all done and dusted, but some questions:

1) would it be possible to have cheat sheets made up for combat maneuvers, and a character design sheet to allow you to add up the skill scores stage by stage?

The appendix will contain all the most useful charts in one place, and CMs (now renamed Special Effects) will have their own section. A character design sheet is an idea we're considering; much depends on structure, but it would be a good appendix addition and website download.

2) Is Mysticism going to be similar to that used by the Dragon Cults in Glorantha, or will it be broader to encounter things like Zen, Sufi-ism etc?

The latter, most definitely.

3) Somebody asked in your forum about Chargen being based upon 3d6 for all Characteristics. Personally, I thought this was a good idea (with the stipulation of re-rolls for any score 6 or less). What do you think?

We've opted to stick with 3d6 and 2d6+6 for INT and SIZ.

4) What about a sidebar suggesting throwing attack, hit location and damage dice all at once? Also, in the interests of it being a book that beginners can pick up, might you include a brief line or two describing the dice that are used? Fundamentally, the game uses % dice, plus d20 for hit location and polyhedrals for damage.

Nice idea. Better in the GMs' Chapter though.

5) Will the PDF come out first?

No. Print first, then PDF.

6) How about making some reference to the Hero's Journey (Joseph Campbell) in the inevitable GMs advice section?

Funnily enough, I've been watching a 4-hr PBS documentary/interview with Campbell which goes, in-depth, into his many works on mythology and I was musing on how incorporate his themes and ideas. We'll see.

7) I notice you're name in the credits for the BRP Advanced Sorcery book. How compatible with RuneQuest 6 would it be?

News to me! I suspect my name's in there because I gave Zomben permission to use the Unknown East magic system. In terms of compatibility though, all the BRP family of games are highly compatible, although there's no overt attempt to make RQ6 and Magic World 100% so. Both have been developed independently.

8) How soon is now with regards to Pete Nash's Ancient Greece book?! Any thoughts of also encouraging him to do Ancient Aztecs, Ancient Polynesia and Ancient Egypt too?

Its a little way off. Pete's keen to do the Ancient Greece book, but we have other projects before attempting Aztecs, Polynesian, and so on.

I'm really looking forward to picking this up at Gen Con if you guys have it ready by then. Any chance of RQ6 sessions being offered at Gen Con?

We're working on it.

Thanks for the update.

(Gotta squeeze in Ducks somehow, despite the mixed fan reaction. RuneQuest without Ducks is like McDonald's without Big Macs. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're part of what makes the game different from Brand X.)

We'll leave the Ducks for the Glorantha supplement. They really are divisive little bastards and I don't want to start alienating a section of the customer-base if I can avoid it. :-)

Thought I'd share with you a little of where RQ6 is at.

First, several chapters are now in layout. Some artwork is still to come in, but the design and structure of the book is taking shape. Others chapters are still being edited, and the final chapters are in the hands of the playtest crews, but we're nearing the home straight.

What this means, in terms of publication, is clearly not the 'Early 2012' we'd promised. Real Life intervened for both Pete and I which slowed some things down. What we're now looking at is 'Early Summer' - and the vague goal I've set is for RQ6 to be available, in print, for GenCon (which I'll be attending), if not a little before. So we're still shying away from specifying a particular release date, because a whole mountain of things could happen to cause it to slip: but I am hoping that June/July is reasonable. It should be. A great deal of work is being done and we want to make the best book possible, which will mean detailed proofing and final error-trapping before I send finals off to the printers.

We will open pre-ordering before publication. Once the book is fully laid-out we'll know its complete size, and can therefore price it accurately. How pre-ordering will work is dependent on a few background factors, one of which is how well the e-commerce facilities from our Site Provider work. They have new tools that I've yet to test, and it could be that we plug into Moon Design's e-commerce facilities instead. But rest assured you'll be able to order RQ6 from us, in advance, using a variety of payment methods.

So we're chugging along nicely. I know its frustrating waiting for is to say 'Guys, it'll be out on X of N, send us yer money...' but it will be worth the wait. We said from the start that we wanted to deliver the most complete and best edition of RQ that we can, and we're sticking to that goal.

But we do appreciate your patience and are looking forward to rewarding it. We will post some layout previews soon.

Press release from Moon Design...

Good news Glorantha-philes!

Pavis: Gateway to Adventure is off to the printers. For more information, and a few sample pages to give an idea what is in store for you, check it out: Pavis: Gateway to Adventure is off to the printers! | Moon Design Publications

Jeff

No.

Next!

I was in Boden a couple of weeks ago, Chorpa. I arrived on the day it hit -36 at Lulea airport. A group of us had our annual trek to Pete's for a week of roleplaying goodness.

And yes, Spring will be Canadian/Northern Sweden spring, which means when all the snow has gone, temperatures are above zero for more than 6 days in a row, and the bears come out of hibernation.

Everything hinges on the bears.

How so ? Do you not get royalties ? If so that's bad.....

Its very common in this industry for writers, whether freelance or salaried, to be paid either a flat fee or a per word rate. Royalties on sales are very much an exception. Pete and I were both salaried and paid a flat fee. So, Mongoose owns, quite fairly and legitimately, MRQII and can take it and do with it as it pleases. So it might seem bad, but in reality we know the score. I've freelanced in RPGs for over 20 years and I've never once been on a royalty deal.

If Loz wishes to reply to my previous post, I suppose a PM is more appropriate.

Not really. We should agree to disagree, shake hands gentlemanly, and continue with our endeavours in the way we each prefer. There is one thing I'll comment on though:

Matt overflooded the market with cheap PDFs of your old ruleset

Pricing an electronic product at $1 is hardly overflooding the market. Its a very canny marketing move, and if it brings in new people to this side of the hobby, then its to be applauded.

(BTW, how do you feel when you see the medal "Platinum Best Seller" and then "Authors: L. Whitaker and P. Nash" written below it?)

Our chests swell with pride, and then we realise that we don't get a cut of the sales, and they deflate again. Hopefully they'll swell even more when/if the Platinum Selling title is RQ6...

Loz, you know that there has been a precise pattern in how d100 gaming has evolved over the years.

No, I don’t know that there’s been a precise pattern. If anything its been quite haphazard. And I’m not trying to be obtuse Paolo; I genuinely haven’t seen much of a clear pattern at all.

Maybe I should have said it uses to be played rather than meant to, but after 30 years I suppose it becomes the same thing.

Not really. Your statement: ‘but it would deviate from how the game is meant to be played.’ Is very clear. Its also tantamount to prescribing how one should play RQ, BRP or anything else under the d100 banner correctly. There is no correct way. All roleplaying games should be played how the GM and players want to play it. No version of RQ or any other BRP game, come to think of it, has prescribed exactly how it should be played. Your statement is implying that if you use generic cults then you’re doing it wrong. Bad gamers! You’ve heard the term ‘Bad Wrong Fun’… well, your statement was precisely that!

The solid production lines of d100 gaming have always been the very specific, high-fantasy ones with plenty of setting depth (Eternal Champion and Glorantha) and the historically grounded ones. The historical ones are used as models for the high fantasy, including all the detail about economics, society and the everpresent cattle stealing. This giving the "weird" cultures of the Multiverse or Glorantha a realistic feeling that vanilla settings like Forgotten Realms or Golarion lack. Ever wondered how the races of the Underdark survive, i.e. feed, for instance?

Again, I disagree – and not for the point of disagreeing. The success or popularity of settings such as Elric and Glorantha is more to do with the depth and creativity of the original source material or the approach taken to the game supplements. As for historicals being used as a model for high fantasy; perhaps, but its probably more to do with the quality of research and presentation of the material, allowing for satisfying historical games to be played in those settings.

A gateway supplement that I remember that was really, really useful and innovative was RQ cities, but it was very, very different from a collection of generic examples, it was a tool for building your own adventures, more akin to the adventure generator in Deus Vult or to your "Cults and Guilds" than to the Order writeup that Dale presented here. For the rest, I fail to see any "vanilla" supplement for RQ being so successful. If anyone has different data please step forward. My data says something else.

Yes, ‘Cities’ was pretty good. ‘Cults, Factions and Guilds’ was a companion volume to ‘RQ Empires’ which, from the outset, was designed to be a metagame. I would think that a generic supplement, done well, with useful information, presented in an appealing way, has every chance of being successful. But I think you're also missing a key point, which I'll come onto later. The market is changing. What applied last year, two years ago or when MRQ first came out does not necessarily apply now...

In any case, Dale his betting his own money and time. I have just told him which kind of supplements have sold well over the last 30 years, and "generic fantasy" has always failed for d100. With "failed" being - well, I think we should warn him about a certain ritual that takes place at Castle Stahleck every Spring. If he does manage to sell Legend or RQ6 to the kind of customers who buy "generic" stuff, that is good and everyone will benefit from it.

Hmmm. ‘Eldarad’ and ‘Daughters of Darkness’ are ritually burned not because they’re generic, but because they’re very poor examples of settings and scenarios…

However I think the market is shifting. As Prime Evil points out, people are coming into Legend from different avenues where the old tropes of RQ/BRP just don’t apply. These, more than the likes of you and me, are the market where generic sourcebooks of any kind are likely to find an audience.