badcat

There are a number of things that Jason chose to include on the character sheet (or leave off) that make it pretty unusable for me as is, too. That's OK, and nothing new, though. I have several home-made character sheets on my desk right now, and I don't think I have ever been happy with a published one anyway,Chaosium or otherwise. Just whip up one for yourself with the hit locations included...from the approach taken with the book in general I think that is an expectation (lots of customization of the rules, to have a version of BRP just right for each individual) of the authors' anyway, although I could be dead wrong about that. In earlier posts Jason indicated that the option for hit locations is included with location formulae and the whole nine yards.

Just out of curiousity, what is your source for the statement that the gladius was used primarily as a slashing weapon at Cynocephales?

Oh...my. It looks very, very good. Thank you, and the guys at Chaosium.:thumb:

Nothing at all. In that case, enjoy your warrior-wizard.:thumb: Of course, with all 18s and 16s, you are going to pretty much have it all in any system, right? With your example, your main restriction as a fighter would be an upper weapon skill limit of 72%. With a DEX 18.

It's 1/2 INT, round up, for spells held in memory and levels that can be cast for a trained mage; 1/4 of each, rounded down, for an untrained caster. Elves are mid range in both at 1/3, round up. Base %'s, INTx3% for four spells to start for the mage, 25% for any spells known for non-mages. There is no minimum POW or INT for learning magic, for anyone, under the rules. A non-mage has to have a very high INT and POW before he has much capability with magic at all...he does not even get to cast 3 levels until INT 12, nor 4 levels unless INT 16+. It's not really a worry, no one is going to get to be the best at combat and magic in this. A trained mage can cast 8 levels at INT 16, the most an untrained warrior can ever cast is 4 levels, as above. A warrior with a spell or two has an advantage but not an overwhelming one. The mage is limited in weapons in a similar way, I think it was DEX x 4% with any weapon known. But they can use any weapon.

As an example of what Jason is saying, I can offer the following. I have run a BRP swords and sorcery game for years with a magic system based specifically on the Magic World booklet. Some of the limiting factors I used were: having a requirement of POW 16 to be able to use magic (mageborn), basing resistance attacks on current POW (the more you use, the less effective many spells become), sticking to the 'untrained' rule (non-mages can only cast one quarter of INT level spells, rounded down). In addition I made a houserule that required knowledge of other magic disciplines to cast some spells so that the more effective the spell, the more had to be invested in terms of experience and skills. For instance, the Wards spell is a spell that allows a defensive field to be set up that warns against intruders and blasts them in a preset area if they intrude there. The material component is a set of enchanted stones that are set out to define the area. I just required a certain expertise in Enchantment as well as Sorcery to use the spell. One thing that is really neat about this system is that you can have spells of a defensive nature that a hostile mage must then overcome to harm you...a fighter is not necessarily going to be toasted by a spell directed at him (assuming he has learned some of those defensive spells, like Countermagic and Protection). It's very flexible and flavorful, very much like a D&D style magic system with more options. A PC can have a few spells and a mage can have any weapons, but neither is as good at the secondary ability as the one trained in it. Using it is sort of like RQ without the cultural flavor, that you can tailor to taste.

You know Pinnacle is coming out with a fantasy game that has a similar setting early next year? It's called 'Sundered Skies'. It sounds very similar except that it has elves and such, a high fantasy version essentially. I wonder if they would be similar enough to be in direct competition. Pinnacle is putting out some really top-notch if expensive books right now, too.

I would like to see some, but on a level with the Buck Rogers in the XXVth Century rpg from TSR back in the late eighties. Something simple and fast, with more space opera flavor than hard sci fi.

I seem to remember that Ken St. Andre suggested, even recommended, in SB1 that subsystems from RQ could be used in Stormbringer, such as strike ranks and fixed armor. The system has always been interchangeable and flexible that way.

You can give them stats like STR and so forth, too, like in the armies in 'Warlords of Alexandria', or ship 'personalities' like in 'Serenity'. Loads of ideas to get started, anyway.

As I said earlier, I have used both, and the reason I prefer variable is that it makes running a game easier. For the rest, I enjoy both for the very different feel they give the combat and outfitting options and all. Two different flavors, as it were.

Apparently I started it, sorry.

Yes, it will work. I have tried just about everything suggested in this thread, and finally have come to the point where I just use SB1 major wound/variable armor. I can still put stuff like +1 armor or separate pieces in the game without breaking it...either as I have already stated or by saying the base value is body armor, and helm, greaves, etc. add bonuses of one kind or another. There are many ways to work BRP. The ones I have no patience with are the ones that complicate the rules or try to copy an entirely different system, such as GURPS (esp. ads/disads, fate points, and other 'metamechanics').That stuff is unnecessary. What you just suggested will work as well as anything. I'd say it is whatever you are comfortable with and can get your players to go along with...:thumb: But this forum is beginning to make me wonder if the new book is going to be worth my bothering with. I pretty much have all the rules I want, so I am beginning to question why I even need another copy of what are essentially the same rules I already use in one form or another. Maybe I should just crank up my computer and compile my own houserules.

On a slight detour of the main thread subject, does anyone have a suggestion for a published set of starship construction/combat that would fit a BRP game?

There seems to be a difference between 'feels realistic' and 'is realistic', a big one that I never really noticed before. Because it is a game we are talking about I will continue to go with 'feels realistic and is playable'. It works and I have seen a lot of 'is realistic' games go by and be forgotten. One puzzler to me, always, is how D&D, which is not realistic in either sense, managed to be top dog all this time...but that is a subject for another thread, I guess.

'This charming beast has +3D6 Charisma'. Never forgot that one.

...and I use encumbrance rules.

RATS. That didn't work too well. It is supposed to be two columns, one for 'armor value', a single digit, and the second for 'protection'.

Actually, Atgxtg, that is what I did with variable piece armor, part 2. The scale continues past one die values. Give a value to each piece of armor, as helm=1, leather jack=2, greaves=1, etc., and add the various pieces' values up to one sum. Then use a progression as follows... armor value protection 1 1D3-1 2 1D4-1 3 1D6-1 4 1D8-1 5 1D10-1 6 1D12-1 7 2D6-1 8 2D8-1 9 2D10-1 Or some similar variation. I've tried several different ones. Including dropping the negative mod. It includes 'armor value' for magic or master work armor as well. The player asks what armor the orc is wearing, and if he isn't wearing greaves, say, then a called shot to the leg gets no armor roll. The problem is getting the AVs to balance out right. Oh, and I have usually offered the players the option of just using the AV as a default roll, or rolling the protection rating. It was surprising how often they took the roll.

In Stormbringer 1-3, they do indeed drop like flies, Triff. Before I modified the critical rules a bit, at least one PC was killed every session. Of course, they did insist on using poison, firing into mixed melee with poisoned missiles, charging into combat like it was D&D, etc. After I modified the criticals we only lost a PC every couple of sessions.

That's Jason I agree with, just so there is no confusion.

I definitely agree. Even when a BRP game did insert a small nod to 'realism' that involved slight additions (like the mace halving chainmail protection, in Hawkmoon) I tended to disregard it. Stormbringer 1 always brought the feeling of flashing sword booming on dented shield, all the excitement of favorite books and movies, and it still does it better than anything else I have found. And most importantly, it does it without distracting from the storytelling, which was (I thought) the whole point of rpgs. Every version of BRP does to some extent, but SB1 always has been my 'sweet spot' for rules vs. playability. With some of the wildness toned down (I didn't make players take beggars or use the Elemental Lords casually, for instance). Books/stories that I always thought SB1 captured perfectly, besides the Elric stories of course: Conan, David Drakes' 'Dragonlord' and 'Killer', Nifft the Lean stories, Wandor, The Lost Prince, Coramonde, Sir Walter Scott stories, 'Men of Iron', the list just goes on and on. The system just helps tell the story without bogging down in details...and the variable armor system is a big part of why it does.

Soltakss, yes, I have done that too, usually only rolling hit location after a major wound (not a critical, I was using half total hit points as the measure for a 'critical' hit, with various effects depending on location). So the 'critical' was more like the 'special' in RQ (10%). It works fine, but as you think would likely be a hard sell. The group with which I implemented it had been together a long time and we had generated a lot of mutual trust when it came to games and housrules and such. Actually it was a houseruled version of the original 'major wound table' from Stormbringer 1, with toned down results. The whole variable armor mechanic is not as deadly as some people think, and it certainly makes running a game faster and easier, while enhancing the excitement of play during combat sequences. I think I still have the character sheet for that particular version of fantasy BRP around here somewhere.

Lord Twig. The d8+4 etc. was Melnibonean armor, only...and from Elric!, a different ruleset. Added in my list for comparison only, and yes they do sort of defeat the random roll...that was part of Melnibonean superiority in warfare. They make real good armor. The rules that go along with the first set of armor values are the original Stormbringer and are a 10% critical that doubles damage dealt by the weapon; half total hit points are a major wound that yields a possible crippling effect. And no armor roll on a critical (which part I never used, as it tends to result in instant kills on criticals). The net effect being about the same as special/critical with solid armor value and hits by location. The main difference is that 10% critical/variable armor/major wound level is considerably easier and faster to run with a fraction of the book keeping. I'm OK with either one playing, but I much prefer the variable armor system when GMing. And it does help level the playing field for weaker npcs, it makes them more of a threat. Or so I have found running many games with both systems. It's MY preferred way.

In the early EC games, leather 1D6-1 half plate 1D8-1 full plate 1D10-1 w/helm 1D10+2 In Elric!/Stormbringer 5, leather 1D6-1 w/helm 1D6 ...similar to above, until you get to Melnibonean armor, half plate 1D8+4, and I think Meln. full plate was something like 1D10+8, just to give you an idea.