lawrence.whitaker

Mine too. The design changed between the cover mock-up which is out on the Interweb and the Dead Tree product.

Don't see why having a the Luck rune on the book's cover is a shame... :confused: No. Because physical runes are gone. Completely. If you had them and liked them in an existing MRQ1 campaign you can continue to use them; but otherwise... no physical runes.

Page 27: Magic Using Characters 'Sorcerers and Witches: Gain a Grimoire appropriate to their cult. If a pre-defined cult is being used then the spells contained... will be already determined. If a Grimoire needs to be developed from scratch, it will contain up to four sorcery spells appropriate to the sorcery order's nature and teachings.'

Yep, nothing's changed. I'll accept the magic explanation...

The Remember Me setting is now working. If you fixed this Trif, many thanks!

Consider it done. ;-)

Me too. The site also refuses to remember my user name and login. I use Chrome, but didn't have this problem under the old regime.

Ah, but the aim is to minimise paper and print costs, and to see if Frogspawner's claim that a 1-2 flyer will do the trick. So the 1-2 page challenge still stands: oh, and in a standard, 10-12 point font, so that its readable (remember Granny Smith and her poor eyesight, and Little Johnny and his miniscule attention span) and not too dense, text-wise. By the way, I'm not being facetious or cynical here; I'm interested to see if it can be done, and appeal in the way it needs to. If it can, then it becomes another tool in the 'Make BRP Popular' armoury, to complement the more detailed quickstart rules, and be something that can be swiftly and easily distributed through letterboxes, at cons, and even in the local pub/bar/tavern/nightclub. I'm reminded of something Winston Churchill once said. He stood-up in parliament to make a speech and before he started it, he apologised for its length: he hadn't the time, he explained, to write a shorter one...

1. I wish it were THAT easy. It isn't. I've had some complete newbies grasp the concept in a heartbeat, but for many others, its taken a while to get used to the interactive nature, the rules, the funny dice, the taking on a character. You may have some fool-proof technique, perhaps. 2. Complete newbies won't. But at a con, what do you think they've probably been playing? 3. Agree 100%. 4. Sure. I'll come onto this one... 5. Yep, you can do both. If you genuinely care about making BRP more popular and don't mind the effort (and have some fun into the bargain) then you won't have a problem with GMing. Just chucking a few flyers onto a table though, won't work. I've spent a lot of time cleaning up after cons. You'd be staggered at how many flyers get used as drinks coasters, paper darts and so on, and don't make it any further. Its often quite a depressing waste of paper. 6. A tiny, tiny few might. Most, I suspect, may read it, go 'huh', and switch back to Fox Sports/Playboy Channel or whatever they subscribe to. Frogspawner, popularising BRP is going to take effort. Nothing else. Its going to take more than a few hundred or even a few thousand flyers. One single approach on its own will not work. But targeting the right people, in the right way, with the right tools and the right supporting resources stands a better chance of widening the appeal. I genuinely admire your optimism and faith that such a simple approach will work. As an aside, can I ask how many conventions you've attended? Or how many game evenings at local game stores? Its a serious question; I'm interested in knowing. Now, back to point 4. Why don't you produce that flyer, complete with good examples, fully usable but-simple-for-the-uninitiated, in no more than two sides of A4 paper? That's about 1,100 words you have to play with. Remember: this is BRP you have to reflect, and it has to be structured so that everyone - from Granny Smith next door, right down to Little Johnny (aged 10 and 3/4, and interested in Guitar Hero and Supermario) and everyone in between, will a) get, understand and be enticed by both roleplaying and BRP; highlight all the core mechanics, from chargen, through to combat, and skill use? Magic and super powers you can safely ignore, I reckon - but if you can fit them into around 1,100 words, then go ahead. Can it be done? I don't know: let's see. Why don't a few of you have a go? I will gladly take this along to Eternal Con and Continuum and distribute it.

What I mean is that everything you need to understand a CoC character is there on the character sheet and easy to understand. Not that the rules are in some one-sheet format. I could have made myself more clear!

I think CF is as good a place to start as anywhere. It is in full print and it shows how to do D&D-style dungeon-bashing with a more effective rule-set. I'd think most roleplayers can relate to that and for demo purposes, it should do the trick. But yes - as Paolo says, two settings is better.

I'm willing to bet that the Return on Investment is higher with my approach than yours. Both require effort, but your approach is little better than unfocused mass-marketing; chances are that more flyers will end-up in the recycling bin than not. Also, what happens afterwards? How do these flyer-converts who've never played an RPG before get a game? Who runs it? How do they meet other players? How about dice? And surely it doesn't matter that you're 'preaching to the choir'? Surely we're aiming to make BRP more popular? Or don't existing roleplayers count for that much? And yes, sure BRP is simple... but if you've never played a roleplaying game before, no matter how clear-cut you make that one/two page flyer, it won't come across that way. My approach might be about preaching to the choir, but it has several advantages: 1. They probably know what a roleplaying game is: you don't need to expend energy teaching them first, or hope that they get the concept from a flyer. 2. They have some other system to compare it to: 'So, in Aftermath, you'd roll damage using the 4-page flowchart. In BRP, you just roll 2D6...' 'Sure your character can use magic. You don't need to be a Magic User. Sure you can multi-class - skills let you be what you want to be. 3. You can teach the rules properly, in situ, answer questions, demonstrate the options and the nuances. You can't do that with a flyer. 4. If at a con, and it has a trade stand, there's somewhere for them to buy the rules. If you're canny, find out who'll be trading beforehand, get in touch and tell 'em you'll be demoing BRP - perhaps they'd be sure to have a copy or three of the rules available; you'd be happy to puish custom their way. 5. You reach a small group but in a targeted way. Say there are two GMs at a 1 day con, running two sessions each designed for 4 - 6 players. That's potentially 24 people - roleplayers - who will, at the end of the 3-4 hour session (possibly sooner) be converts. They may well go home, armed with their copy of the Quickstart rules that you've brought along, and tell the other 4 people in their group: you've suddenly reached 96 people who could well be interested in buying the rules without having to wander around the streets dishing-out flyers. 6. At a demo game, you're part of a group; that helps you learn. Sitting at home, on your own, with your flyer, who do you turn to? But I wish you success with your blanket-flyers drop. I think that most studies of direct mail marketing have shown that you typically get a less than 1% take-up (it depends on the nature of the campaign, of course, but the yields are typically low). Careful targeting the market, however, typically enjoys a higher rate of success. You may also find the following link useful: http://www.hp.com/hho/smb_hp_create/media/downloads/pdf/How_NOT_to_Do_Direct_Marketing_Campaigns.pdf

What's made CoC popular is as follows: 1. An accessible setting that's easy to relate to (1920s originally, and our world) 2. Horror as the backdrop and the uneasy nihilism that hooks even non-roleplayers into a game, scares 'em rigid, and wants them wanting more 3. A trimmed-down version of BRP that can be contained on one side of a character sheet and is easy and fast to implement. What's kept it popular... 4. Constant product support 5. Some of the most innovative supplements out there (Masks of Nyarlathotep being the standout example) 6. The accessibility of the setting and system 7. No serious competition in this kind of horror-investigation field 8. Dedicated GMs, like Kult of Keepers, who have gone out there and proselytised. I doubt that you'll replicate this success template, as simple as it is. In this respect, CoC is somewhat unique. Its still one of my favourite ways of introducing new players to roleplaying, but I don't think that either a fantasy or SF setting is going to work in the same way. Its a very crowded market; CoC worked because it was unique when it was launched; there really was nothing like it out there. These days - there's lots of horror RPGs (although nothing does it as well as CoC). I'll come back to my earlier post. If you want to make BRP, as a rule set, popular, don't just rely on that killer setting book or trying to replicate CoC's success and popularity. There are tons of killer settings books out there, and the things that made CoC unique when launched have long-passed and can't easily be recaptured. Instead, we need people running games, show casing the rules, introducing new players, giving them copies of the Quick Start, running simple, fun, engaging and accessible adventures, whatever the setting, to proselytise. What you want is for a group of players who've visited a con, or been to a demo session at their FLGS, to buy the rules or take the quickstart back to their regular group and say 'hey, this was awesome. Let's play some more. We know how to do it.'

We've reached 59 pages of discussion and I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned conventions and demo games. Apologies if they have; I haven't read every post in this thread. To my mind, the best way of making BRP more popular and accessible is to get out there and demo it at cons, large and small, and at FLGSs. Does anyone remember SJG's Men in Black? Or the Kult of Keepers? Or Mongoose Infantry? These teams of GMs went all-out to take the different games, systems and settings to conventions, games nights and so on, run lots of different scenarios, all designed to show case the rules and offer a great gaming experience. The result is that word spreads, people play the game and have its nuances taught, and experience the setting(s) first-hand, instructed by experts. If the job is done right, they become converts, rush off to the trade stand, and buy the core rules. I don't think that any single approach is going to work on its own. A setting can be hugely innovative/accurate, whatever... but its exposure to play that works the best. Even at cons like Continuum and Eternal Con/Tentacles, there are players who have never experienced BRP but go to these events to game. If games in their droves are offered, then you have a better chance of increasing its popularity. At Continuum, for example, we regularly host Kult of Keepers, D101 and Smart Party. These are hard-core GMs who will run games ad-infinitum, but are always in demand and help push people to the benefits of the system. It works. BRP Central clearly has a whole stack of talent who can help facilitate this approach. I'd be happy to arrange for Continuum to have a dedicated BRP Demo slot, with a gaming area set aside, for a bunch of GMs who wanted to come along and do that demoing. But there needs to be some co-ordination. Someone needs to organise the group, identify cons and local gaming nights, and then help rally the cadre of GMs to go out and spread the word. I'm sure Chaosium would offer some GM support if approached. So come on BRP Central... get some kind of act together and propel this thing. Only by getting out there, away from this board, and showcasing the game you love will you really increase its popularity: Show, Don't Tell...

I don't think he ever sued. There might have been threats, but never any court action. Mongoose approached Chaosium for the EC rights and they were sold, but Mongoose also had to negotiate with MM as a part of securing the rights. The EC line has a huge amount of potential. Part of the problem is that Moorcock's popularity has not increased in recent years. Where once the M section of bookshelves would once be groaning under maybe a dozen in-print Moorcock titles, you're lucky to find one or two these days. However, EC as far as gaming goes has always been a small niche. The work in the pipeline for the line under Mongoose may help reverse this a little; Corum will be appearing, an Elric campaign, plus other books designed to support the line across its various titles. The future is pretty bright for EC gaming and I'm looking forward to writing that Elric campaign next year. Ringworld was a different matter. The license cost a lot for Chaosium to secure, and then the rights to a movie and TV series were sold separately, and this included merchandising and game rights. Chaosium could not afford to bid on this and so the license had to lapse immediately. All stock had to be liquidated and a planned campaign book, already underway, was rapidly mothballed. The rights to Known Space and Ringworld are still in that state. Chaosium were keen to publish a Known Space setting for BRP but Niven's agent kiboshed the idea owing to the TV/Film rights. Niven himself, however, was fully supportive.

It does beg the question, then, as to what is 'proper' Glorantha. Anything written before 1984? Only material written by Greg? Nothing beyond 'White Bear, Red Moon'? Only material you're interested in? As to the newly-made-up 2nd Age stuff, Greg produced a comprehensive set of notes specifically on the 2nd Age drawn from many previous sources including King of Sartar, Glorious ReAscent of Yelm and other material that he's worked on for years. There's been a great deal of fresh material added by the Mongoose writers, naturally, but we all work as closely as possible with Greg and others to ensure continuity, canon and compatibility. Your Glorantha Will Vary, of course. And rightly so. But saying that something is 'clearly still not the true Glorantha setting' presupposes that there's a single, solid, unchanging version of Glorantha out there; that one, definitive book, box, game or article that fixes, forever, the nature of the setting. If there is, please point me in its direction and I'll happily cleave to that forevermore.

Much as I'd like to, I'm fully committed to full-time writing projects. I simply wouldn't have the time, I'm afraid.

To my mind, a rip-roaring pulp Space Opera in the mould of Star Wars, Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. Blasters, improbable warp drives, low on the scientific accuracy, heavy on the MGF. More 'Star Frontiers' than Traveller. Lots of Bug-Eyed-Monsters, planets that ignore astrophysics/geophysics and exist just because its fun and cool. A big, evil, galactic empire, with lots of princesses to be rescued, evil worlds to be destroyed, and improbable substances that permit FTL without having to worry about calculating fuel requirements, thrust ratios and all that stuff.

The Bond system was terrific. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It wasn't just the Hero Points that helped with the action elements though; the Ease Factor system was very well done: nothing was impossible; it just had a lower Ease Factor.

It remains fully compatible. There will be a revised RQ Empires which will take into account some of the changes to the core rules, but the essentials will be unchanged. I'll also be extending its content to include more character options. No plans at the moment to do the same with G,F&C, but that doesn't mean there won't be a revision.

It all depends on the circumstances...

One the characters in my playtest game for RQII is a Praxian shaman and he's as far removed from a traditional spellcaster as you can get, but still incredibly potent in the way he uses his spirits.

I'm not going to elaborate too much on the detail of combat for obvious reasons, but let me clarify a few things. First, resolving attack/parry does not use the opposed roll system of roll-under-but-higher. Its a straight forward roll under to succeed. Your opponent can do the same to parry. If you both succeed, there's no advantage (but damage/reducing it through parrying then happens). If you both fail, nothing happens. If one of you succeeds whilst the other fails, it confers a level of advantage which translates into a combat manoeuvre. The combat manoeuvres are varied, some can only be used by certain weapon types and some manoeuvres can only be used if a particular degree of success is achieved. There are some further subtleties, but its not really much more complicated than that. I can't and won't elaborate further; you'll just have to wait for the rules to come out! :innocent:

Okay - I see where you're coming from now. I think CHA tends to be a dump-stat in many games, not just RQ and BRP. However, the CHA-based attribute isn't the only way of curing this problem. You'll find that CHA forms the basis of several magical skills and is directly influential in Pact.

Don't be. Combat becomes far more tactical now, and the book keeping is reduced. Furthermore, Combat Manoeuvres help compensate for a loss of reactions: you get both offensive and defensive manoeuvres. I really don't understand your consternation here... if you're referring to the new Attribute tied to CHA, it has nothing to do with the magical skills. And the magic skills do use INT, POW and CHA in varying ways, so I'm not sure what you mean by 'a simpler fix'.