olskool

Great minds think alike. Reach the HP threshold and the limb is TEMPORARILY disabled. 2 X HP and the limb is possibly permanently disabled (if a CON roll is failed). 3 X HP and the limb IS maimed or amputated. In RQ2, we also used a sort of "threshold system" for the total HP but we liked our Runequest "gritty." 1/4 HP in damage = Lightly Wounded with no effect. 1/4 HP to 1/2 HP = Moderately Wounded. +1 to SR. Move reduced to 75%. -1 to Characteristics when using the resistance chart or doing rolls. 1/2 HP to 3/4 HP = Seriously Wounded. +2 to SR. Move reduced to 50%. -2 to Characteristics when using them. *Skills reduced one Level to 3/4 (X0.75). 3/4 HP to 0 HP = Critically Wounded. +4 to SR. Move reduced to 25%. -4 to Characteristics when using them. *Skills reduced two Levels to 1/2 (x0.5). Negative HP = Unconscious and dying. CON roll to regain consciousness. Move 10% (crawling). -5 to characteristic tests. *Skills reduced tree Levels to 1/4 (X0.25). Negative HP over CON = DEATH. * We recorded our Skills on the sheet with the following "Difficulty Levels" and just "shifted difficulty" up or down as modifications to a skill during play as it was much faster than doing math. Those Levels were: Easy (2 X Skill) Routine (1.5 X Skill) Average (Skill) Fairly Difficult (0.75 X Skill) Difficult (0.5 X Skill) Formidable (0.25 X Skill) Impossible (0.1 X Skill)

I substitute POW with WILL for mental strength. POW then becomes a "derived value" (based on WILL) like HP.

I am reminded of Fred Ward's Shinanju instructor in the movie Remo Williams, The Adventure Begins. Even now I can see him telling Fred "You move like a pregnant Yak!"

I worked armored cars for nearly two decades and I have NEVER understood the weight of coins in RPGs. Most medieval coins were alloyed just like modern ones. This significantly reduces the weight of a coin. I would just use a modern US Quarter's weight as the base weight for coinage. You get 180 Quarters total in a single Kilogram (coins are weighed to verify counts at the Federal Reserve). You could also use a slightly heavier weight to account for the coins containing more precious metal in them than modern US coins. I'd use a number like 150 coins per kg... a nice easily remembered number. If you like BIG coins just use the APPROXIMATE weight of a Half Dollar which would give you about 100 coins per kg.

Zit's spot on. Just calculate the Treasure Factor for the party members and then make sure the monsters AT LEAST total that amount of TF. I say at least because a party with good synergy can survive a 200% of their TF advantage with some difficulty and routinely defeat up to 150% of their TF just through cooperation. I used this system to balance games so much that I even changed the name to Threat Factor.

I'd definitely back a Chaosium reprint. I wonder how much SAN we lost looking at AH's artwork though?💀

"I would participate in a kickstarter for a re-edition of RQ3." WAIT!? Do you mean an actual REPRINT of the Avalon Hill game or a "reimagining" of RQ3 by Chaosium? If it's a literal reprint of Avalon Hill's work I'd probably decline. Aside from the confusion in some of the rules in the base edition, there was artwork in the AH editions that once viewed, one simply cannot "unsee." The Dwarf, Troll, and Elf in the Elder Races book come to mind immediately. IF Chaosium did a re-edited version, I might bite.

Consider the case of a 21-year-old US Army soldier who joins at 18 right out of high school. If that soldier signed up after 911, he could have more than 2 years of actual combat experience and already be an NCO (SGT or possibly even an SSGT with a waiver and a good career record). It takes about 6 months "in country" to get to a passable level of experience as a soldier on deployment. By the time that soldier has 2 years in combat, he (or she) would be an expert in the "soldiering skills" needed in the combat zone. Therefore, "Experience" has very little to do with a person's "chronological age" and more to do with their exposure to danger in a combat zone. "Wisdom is a product of Experience and Experience is often the product of poor choices." Mark Twain

I run a modified "skill tree" where Special Effects (hereafter SEs) are awarded at the following "success levels..." 1/2 Skill Level (rounding up) which I call a Special Success. Outstanding Success which is 1/10th Skill (rounding up) and is the old Impale/Slash/Crush or Special Success. Critical Success (which is the same term I use) which is any DOUBLES rolled (counting 00 as zero, zero and not 100) that are under the Skill in question. Fumbles are DOUBLES OVER the Skill roll needed (excluding 00 which is counted as zero, zero). If both parties roll an SE, I allow the option for BOTH SEs to apply in order to "spice up" my combats a bit. Losing players (the one with the higher roll) also have the option to "reduce" the opponent's SE by a grade instead. My SEs are divided into 3 tiers of "effectiveness" based on how damaging the results can be. Criticals are reserved for the largest effects (sunder weapon/armor, compel surrender, bypass armor) and the 1/2 Skill level is for the weakest (change range, press advantage, increase parry size). This method of doing SEs works just fine and breaking down the SEs into 3 steps reduces "analysis paralysis" during play. I have had zero issues implementing this system.

We always wanted to differentiate Spirit Magic from Sorcery and Rune/Divine Magic. We gave Spirit Magic a duration of MINUTES equal to your Magic Points at the time of casting. Have 2 Magic Points left? Your spell's duration is 2 minutes. Have 15 mp left? You get 15 MINUTES of run time on that Protection spell. The Shaman got to use his POW so his duration never changed (a perk for being a Shaman). Divine/Rune Magic lasted minutes for Initiates and HOURS when cast by a Rune Priest. The difference in runtimes between different "tiers" of casters proved to be especially popular reasons to take the restrictions those higher tiers had to endure during play (like the DEX x 5 limits on skills).

I have to give Mythras the shoutout here as being easier to explain to new players. A less "polished" version would be Legend by Mongoose Publishing. I really like the ACTIONS system Mythras uses as well as their Special Effects.

I have that exact mapboard myself. I also have the square/grid version too. Nowadays, I also use standard sized (8.5" X 11.5" ?) 50 and 100 sheet pads/tablets with 1" grids (available at Staples) to draw individual interior rooms on. If I plan on using them a lot, I will laminate them. For most adventures, I just leave them as is so I can draw on them during play. For markers, I have seen Checkers, Chess pieces, and even Monopoly pieces used to represent combatants. The coolest "minis" I have seen for a GM who travels to games is the 25mm cardstock prints that fold in half to show the front and back of the Character and which "clip" into a plastic Hex Base to stand upright. You can carry a ton of those and swapping bases is very easy.

I came up with a simplified way to figure damage based on surplus STR for a weapon. EVERY weapon is given a STR and DEX requirement and then each weapon is designated as a LIGHT or HEAVY weapon. To determine your Damage Bonus, you SUBTRACT your STR from the weapon's required STR. To this "SURPLUS STR" total, you may add 1 point for every 10 full points of SIZ above a size of 10 that the creature possesses (so a SIZ 31 Troll would add 2 to STR). You then take this "MODIFIED SURPLUS STR" and give the character a +1 bonus to Damage for every 10 points of Surplus STR for LIGHT Weapons and a +1 bonus to Damage for every 5 points of Surplus STR for HEAVY Weapons. This system prevents the "double bonus" of a high STR character getting a big Damage Bonus IN ADDITION TO being able to wield larger and heavier weapons (due to STR requirements).

In the 10th Mountain, we had them beat. Every 3 months we did a 30-mile road march in 6-7 hours (you'd better NOT take 😎 with an 80lb ruck. You could only get it done if you "Airborne Shuffled" (kind of a slow jog) on the flats. I really mind didn't the weekly 10-mile humps after doing a couple of 30's.

Are they ever going to have a slipcase set with the Runequest AND Glorantha books TOGETHER (in a single case)... in Leatherette. 😁 And could Chaosium maybe... just maybe... put a copy out with a 16" X 24" page size format (with big print because I'm getting old) and a gilded bronze hardcover complete with dual leather straps, bronze or brass buckles, and a red silk bookmarker so I can rest a copy of RUNEQUEST on a podium in my game room like it was a giant Gutenberg Bible?😎

I have borrowed things from EVERY edition of Runequest for my homebrew.

I ditched conventional Movement AND the basic Strike Rank system for one where each SR equals one second of time. My movement rates were based on METERS PER SECOND (SR) and consisted of (for a human): Sprint: 8m/SR Run: 6m/SR Trot: 4m/SR Walk: 2m/SR Crawl: 1m/SR

I would have my players put an Experience Point/Dot after each physical Attribute (STR, DEX, CON) every game session. Once they had acquired 10 EXP, I'd allow them to trade those points in for a chance to improve that stat. They'd roll a 1D20 (for a human, I used different die sizes for non-humans) and attempt to roll OVER their current Attribute. If they succeeded, that Attribute would increase by one point. Successful or not, the 10 EXP were used and lost. This provided a reasonable balance between allowing weak Attributes to increase and limiting the chance for higher Attributes to increase without imposing an arbitrary rule on the improvement of those high-level Attributes. Of course, I allowed Attribute improvement (including mental ones) because I used an Aging Chart that required the players to make "Aging Saves" against their Attributes (using the same Roll-Over Mechanic) once they hit 40 (for a human) and every 5 years afterward. I also allowed disease and certain poisons or magic abilities to "drain" Attributes during play. The Vampire would drain both CON and STR with their bite while the Wraith could age you 1D6 years with its touch. Thus I had Attributes in a minor state of "flux" during play.

Yes, I'm aware of this. My issue was always if you ran out of ACTIONS or you used your last ACTION for something else (casting a spell, readying a new weapon) and your opponent scored a success on an UNOPPOSED ROLL, he gets to not only hit you for damage but inflict some kind of Special Effect as well (some of which are "game changing"). All of this just because you run out of ACTIONS. It felt more than a little "unfair" to slower characters and magic users trying to cast spells with their actions who were subsequently attacked (often with ranged weapons). My bumping the selection of an SE up to a roll of 1/2 Skill or less your Skill reduces the frequency of SEs and makes them feel more like the Special Effects I believe that they should be. This is just my opinion of course, and your RQ6 may vary. This desire to make SEs feel "Special" is why I divide them up between THREE levels of Success (instead of the two levels in RQ6).

Yes. I give the benefit to the player since I'm dropping this from 20% of the roll for a normal Special Success (impale).

Well, you should consider that "borrowed." ...(Sighs)... looks like I have another reason to buy Revolution now, and I just ponied up for RQG, D&D5e (not really impressed by this despite my nephew's accolades), and 3 softback editions of Mythras as Christmas presents. I just wish my local gaming shop had a hardcopy to buy. I am admittedly a "Dead Tree Grognard" and hate PDFs despite my "digital" nephew's best efforts. He does seem to enjoy borrowing all my "dead tree" RPGs Though, pretty odd for someone so attached to digital media? I guess I'll have to look into a LULU printing like I did with Mythras.

I did this too but I took a page from the new CoC and I changed the success levels to expedite play. I use the Special Effects from Runequest 6 but I didn't like the "Effect hunting" that occurs with the "stock/RAW" system. Therefore, I broke the Success Levels down to the following steps. Simple Success: This is a roll under the skill involved and doesn't generate any added benefit in the form of Special Effects. The highest roll between two Simple Successes wins. Special Success: This is a roll under HALF (rounding up) of the Skill involved. It beats a Simple Success AND generates a Special Effect from the list of SEs for a Special Success (further segregated by Parry and Attack). High roll wins between two Special Successes. Outstanding Success: This represents the old Special Success (ie Impales, Slashes, and Crushes) BUT it is only 1/10th of the Skill rounding UP. Thus a Skill of 58% would achieve an Outstanding Success on a roll of 6 or less. There is a list of even more effective Special Effects (segregated by Weapon Type, Attack, and Parry) for the Outstanding Success. Those SEs can be "game-changers" like Impale, Crush, Slash, Riposte, Disarm, and Trip. Outstanding Success always beats a Simple or Special Success. Critical Success: This represents the old Critical Hit and occurs ONLY ON DOUBLES ROLLED UNDER SKILL. Thus a skill of 60% would Critical on a roll of 11, 22, 33, 44 and 55. This level of success allows the best Special Effects in RQ6. Special Effects like Sunder Weapon, Do Double Max Damage, Bypass Armor, Choose Location, and Compel Surrender all are found in this success range. Criticals beat all comers except other Criticals. Fumbles: The dreaded Fumble occurs on DOUBLES ABOVE THE SKILL LEVEL. Thus that 60% skill above would Fumble on a roll of 66, 77, 88, 99, or 00. Fumbles also have their own list of Special Effects BUT the opposing player picks the Fumble. A player will pick for a GM's Fumble and vice versa. Some of the Special Effects include Riposte, Hit Self, Hit Companion, Drop Weapon/Shield and Trip and Fall. I find the math much faster and easier with this system and dividing up the Special Effects between the Success Levels reduces the "Analysis Paralysis" that new players often suffer when playing a version of RuneQuest with such Special Effects included. I hope this helps you out in your own game.

I hope you find the answers to those questions we all ask but never have answered. You shall be missed. Godspeed Sir!

The REAL QUESTION is... Is Chaosium still suggesting that Morokanth are Vegan? 😒

Retired Marine and Movie Actor R Lee Ermey died on Sunday. May you rest in peace Gunny!