lawrence.whitaker

Pretty much in the same way. However if a player has come up with a combo or move that is dramatically brilliant, or just makes me laugh, I've had them make a Luck roll to see if the character pulls it off.

Yes, quite right. Luck rolls are mentioned in the RQ2 appendices under POWER in section A; but not indexed and certainly not up there as part of the core character generation. I do know Ringworld had Luck as a key part of the character design rather than something tucked away at the back of the book, hence my reference to it. Back when I played RQ2 we never used them, and they didn't form part of the Stormbringer core rules either, until Elric! appeared in 1992. The original BRP booklet has Luck as a part of the base system, but its figured as POW x5. RQ2 did clarify that different multipliers could be used for the Luck roll, depending on circumstances.

The combat table has different effects depending on the success levels of the participants. For eg, Crit vs Fail = full damage, plus rolled damage, plus ignore armour, or parrying weapon/shield takes 4 pts of damage. There are 17 cross referenced entries and, whilst most are common sense, there are some entries where there's a lot to take in. I simply won't be able to remember the various outcomes off the top of my head! When I ran a BRP playtest combat, during the playtest session, I found that combat was slowed considerably whilst I figured the results through using the matrix. Of course, I'm old now, and the mind isn't what it used to be. Wibble.

Hi Jason, Are saying that criticals are in or out? If they're out, have you amended all the skill entries that give critical effects, and removed that level of success from the combat matrix? Sorry - but I'm not clear on what you mean in the above. Loz

I'd say that GM fudging is essential, from time to time. I've had carefully worked-out scenarios completely trashed through unlucky GM dice rolls. You have a decision to make: rewrite the scenario on the fly as a result, or fudge/ignore the result. The former can be fun to do, but sometimes the latter is better - as long as its used judiciously and the players are aware that sometimes it will happen to keep the action moving. Hero/Fate points aren't core BRP, but the Luck Roll, which sort of amounts to a similar thing (but isn't a finite, managable resource) has been there since Ringworld and probably before. Luck Rolls are good and very useful, but require careful moderation to ensure consistency, usually because it requires GM approval. I've come a cropper myself where I've allowed a Luck roll in one situation but disallowed it or not offered it later in the same or similar, just because I've forgotten what I did earlier. Hero/Fate points place that capability in the hands of the players which ensures a certain degree of consistency. And, as a finite resource, players do (or should) think carefully before using them. I use them in MRQ and have used them in a BRP/HQ/Bushido hybrid I ran for Glorantha a few years back. They worked well and weren't abused. I'm a big fan of them. More so than Luck rolls, I think.

Personally I've never liked the Specials. It adds in another layer of complication, and, even though the Mongoose system for cross-reffing levels of success has come in for some flack, cross reffing fumble/fail/success/special/crit is every bit as time consuming and cumbersome. The table in the DBRP preview I have is... pretty bloody awful, I have to say. I prefer straight critical/success/fail/fumble. I can get my head around it much, much better.

Kind of at a crossroads for my Straw Dogs Hawkmoon campaign, due for its annual outing in January. Do I continue with the old Elric! hybrid that's served well for 10 years? The easy option... Do I convert across to MRQ? Tempting, but I've been using MRQ for quite a lot recently, and a change is as good as a rest. Do I use d100? There's so much to love about deluxe BRP, it would be a shame not to. And our Hawkmoon style is of a suitably gritty-yet-heroic kind... Do I use Pete Nash's rather great Combat Mechanics over on the the RQ Wiki? Choices, choices... To be fair, the game relies so much on the characterisation and in-character arguments that we could lob bottle tops ala Prince Valiant and still have a great game, but the Inner Geek is nagging at me to get all the character sheets overhauled and to pull the whole system together.

I know this is from a few pages back, but as I've just joined, I'm trying to catch up. Greg is busy on other things. He's just finished the 'Great Pendragon Campaign' (seen the size of it?) and is now working on the next Pendragon supplement. He's also gearing up for the 'Great Argrath Campaign' for HQ. So the reason he doesn't write anything for MRQ is lack of time, but I correspond with him a lot on the Glorantha books I have on my production schedule for Mongoose. He's been heavily involved in developing ideas for 'Dara Happa Stirs', and he's very keen to be involved whenever he has the time to spare.

I'm Lawrence Whitaker. I've played BRP in some form since 1982 when I first bought RuneQuest 2. From there I graduated to Stormbringer and that's where I've been at, off and on, for the past 25 (gulp) years. I freelanced for Chaosum during the late 1980s and 1990s, contributing to most of the Eternal Champion output; however my first commisioned piece was actually for the Ringworld RPG which was, I have to say, one of the very best of their literary adaptations. These days I write full time for Mongoose (catches Triff's spit and bottles it for sale on eBay) primarily on the RQ, Eternal Champion and Glorantha lines. I wrote the latest version of Elric of Melnibone and have just completed the Elric of Melnibone Companion and Castle Brass books for the EC line. Despite working for Mongoose Chaosium BRP is still my favourite system. I was one of the playtesters for the latest version, using it in various settings, including Gwenthia. I really like what Jason's put together and looking forward to the book. I actually think the cover art is okay too! Lawrence