fulk

My only rather lame point being that Marius' Mules were iron age, not bronze age. So, not an example of bronze chain mail. I would remove chain mail for a more bronze age feel, if that is what you want, YGMV.

Yes. But they would be using iron, not bronze.

How do you treat literacy in your games? For example, in a non-automatically-literate setting, would you allow it as a Lore Skill during chargen? Or, only as a Hobby Skill for those characters with professions w/o access? Would you allow it as automatic for some social classes? For example, a 15th or 16th century Gentry higher character might be expected to be literate in the real world. Is such a setting would make a noble character buy Literacy or just automatically have it? Just curious.

In general I like the ideas. However, I would suggest that Marozzo (1536?) the Dardi school more appropriate for a 16th century setting than dei Liberi (1409). I've always been a bit mixed on combining ranged and melee weapons into one weapon style. Just doesn't seem that being a good crossbowman would also lead to being good with a short sword. YMMV.

RE Mythic Greece. You also have multiple, very different time periods to deal with. Homeric (~bronze age) Greece is not the same as the Persian wars in terms culture, political systems, military technology, war, etc. I would love a Mythic Greece set in a Homeric Greece. Happen to be re-reading the Odyssey at the moment. Fantastic read in the Lattimore translation. I was just reminiscing about Star Frontiers recently. In reality, you could just play Mythras out of the box for SF pretty easily. Use the old books for flavor.

Star Frontiers...always liked that setting.

In Briefe, Pendragon wraps everything up into one roll (well two). The combatants don't take turns. Each round both fighters roll at the same time, and there is no initiative. Pendragon uses d20s and skills will be something like 'Sword 16'. Like RQ, armor reduces damage. If you roll higher than your opponent, but under your weapon skill, you Win and score a Success and roll damage against your opponent. If you roll your weapon skill or less, but lower than your successful opponent, you lose but score a Partial Success, which allows you to add your shield armor points to your total armor points (Shield Bonus). If you roll over your weapon skill you fail. If your opponent was successful, he/she hits and you do not get your Shield Bonus. NT

I would also do the Black Company!

Yeah. I went in on the Kickstarter. I always liked WHFRP2. Zweihander looks fun. Can't wait.

Yes. Should look nice.

Very true. I couldn't understand how he was going to use a lump of beef to make an axe or whatever.

There is a BRP Pirates product, which I have. Pretty good. Dune would be awesome. I wouldn't mind Talislanta with Mythras mechanics. Could be quite fun. NT

I'm not sure it would reduce speed to the point of reducing strike rank. Range for sure, and yes, impale only.

Those are quite handy.

ha! Is prepare counter in Mythras Imperative?

(1) Re RG3. Ah, yes. Now I remember. Either way is wasn't a straight...I hit, I connect anywhere I like. There was some reduction in your ability to target a location. (2) In the Riddle of Steel you chose a general target but then there was some variability in result. Thus an overhand swing at the upper left side might hit the head or should or arm. Not automatically the head. (3) RE 10 cm. That would be the difference between hitting some one in the head or on the shoulder. Just a thought, either way.

The choose location effect always has seemed a bit powerful to me. Essentially if you hit you can always hit an unarmored location. Makes wearing anything less than full armor somewhat meaningless. I know you can ward and use shields etc and that getting hit in the arm is less bad than getting hit in the chest. As I remember it, RQ3 allowed you to target areas by delaying an attack. However, you still rolled to hit but were allowed to adjust the hit location to some extent. I don't remember the exact rule off hand. I was thinking of trying something similar for the Choose Location effect: Success: roll to hit but you can adjust your hit location by +/- 5 points. Critical: choose location without rolling. Thoughts?

I can go along with that. Like 1st & 2nd. Didn't like 3rd.

@ Verderer I think you gain styles multiple ways. Some from 'hard knocks', some from militia training (every body practices longbow on Sunday after church), some from official military training. Depends on the character. Whether or not you need to be savvy in military history depends on how much it means to you. I think just about any one who plays fantasy RPGs can guess that a knight Combat Style should probably have lance, sword and shield. It mostly depends on how much detail and historicity you want in your campaign. If you like history stuff, it isn't that hard to look up some information on the internet. That said, I agree it would be great to have a big list of suggested styles for various time periods all based on a similar set of design principles. Some of the supplements like Shores of Korantia have numerous Combat Styles as examples. It might also be nice to have some guidelines on merging combat styles. I might start out with Militia Pikeman (Pike, dagger, Formation Fighting) but then become a mercenary. Perhaps Mercenary Pike has Pike, halberd, short sword & dagger and Formation fighting. Perhaps I could increase my Mercenary Pikeman at half the cost until it replaces Militia Pikeman. I could still always use milita pike man while fighting with my pike until it equals out. I don't know. I think the costs of advancement are an issue. I'm not sure of the best solution. I think I would make Weapon Schools expansive but make Combat Styles almost more of a individual weapon skill within the School. That allows you to buy up the entire school during char gen. Then you could either advance the whole school (at say double the cost) or individual weapons (really specific Combat Styles) at normal cost. Not really sure. NT

"My" idea for Weapon Schools comes from The Riddle of Steel, specifically The Flower of Battle supplement. If you thought BRP was deadly... I guess the key to the whole Combat Style (hereafter SC) thing is fluidity in implementation. Quandaries... (1) I think orphaned weapon skills are just a separate combat style unless there is a way to integrate into a current combat style. Some interpretation is necessary. If I have sword and shield in a 10th Century setting, I can probably incorporate club into my sword and shield proficiency. In both cases I would be doing a lot of swinging with the weapon. However, in a 17th century setting, my rapier and dagger style would use mostly thrusting and club would be a very different approach. (2) There are some guidelines in the core book. I think specific rules are difficult because CSs are meant to be adapted to each campaign. Shores of Koratania does include some info on Militia, Military and Civilian CSs. Such guidelines might be nice to incorporate into the core book. Basically, militia skills include only one of two weapons (spear and shield), while Military CSs include the suite of weapons used by a unit (spear, javelin, shortsword, shield). Civilian styles tend to be weapon specific (sword). (3) I take your point. However, the GM just has to force the players to not over-interpret the rules. In your example, 'knockout blow' requires targeting the head and timing it correctly. You can't do that in the dark. Special traits lose the "specialness" if you can use them all the time. (4) I'd say you can't incorporate the traits. The styles are different and the traits are different. You can lance from the back of a beast or be a daredevil on foot. Perhaps being a good beast lancer requires more discipline than daredevil allows. If you want to use your Big Rubble style on horse back you can, but your CS is capped by riding skill. (5) Where do traits come from? Depends, but I wouldn't worry about it. Mounted Combat trait comes from practicing the weapon skills while mounted. I don't think it is especially mythical. Formation Fighting comes from practicing in a formation. (6) I'd say your axe wield can use all the traits but must specify which CS he/she is using first. So if you have three styles at 85%, 65% and 45%, and you want to use the Trait associated with Beserker Axeman 45%, you have to attack at 45%. I don't really see a problem with overlapping CSs. I think the point is that it seems inefficient to have sword in two different weapon styles, but sword and shield on foot is different from sword and shield on horse, as evidenced by different Traits. You might be better at one versus the other. (7) Might not be a bad idea to say that you need 40% or something like that to access the Trait. Likewise, access to the trait might actually require some role playing or official training. You can't just pick up spear and shield and know Shield Wall trait. You have to practice it with some one. Otherwise, perhaps you develop some Trait relevant to your experience once you hit 40%. NT

Yes of course. I was really distinguishing between PC generals and PC soldiers.

After much additional thought, I vote Warhammer Fantasy Artesia Black Company as my top three, not necessarily in that order.

Ah. Too bad. I'm happy to see some one is producing Barsoom game, but I'd prefer BRP/Mythras type rules. The special effects from Mythras would seem to make for a fun bit of fencing instead, which would be perfect for the setting. F

Does anyone alter the starting skills for background (civilized, barbarian etc) by social class? For example, skills like Ride and Literacy are not currently available to a Gentry social class character who follows a Warrior profession (except as a hobby skill). However, a late medieval/renaissance gentry character would likely be well able to ride (as a knight) and read. One could replace Drive with Ride and let Literacy be taken as a Lore skill or allow Literacy to replace conceal. Some such substitutions would likely be period dependent, but one might also rule that Gentry in a late renaissance society automatically know how to read their own language. I wouldn't, for example, make people pay for literacy in a modern campaign world (I think it mentions this in the rules, but I could be mixing up RQ6/Mthras with some other BRP variant).

Ha. I reply with: John Carter of Mars (Barsoom).