SDLeary

It depends on how much is being printed. The more you print, the lower the unit cost. Thus is is somewhat variable depending on printing type and quantity. I completely agree with you on formatting for tablets. Though amazingly, all the old Chaosium stuff, except Pendragon 4e, is VERY VERY readable on my iPad, despite it being mostly 2 column 9/11 or 9/12 printing. The only stuff I really have to zoom in on is box text. Whenever you print one of something, thats when its going to be the most expensive. At copy houses this SHOULD NOT be as expensive as it is, but thats not the fault of the publishers. Copy houses tend to charge about 4x+ actual cost for color prints. SDLeary

And that won't happen. Printing an RPG is generally NOT the biggest expense in game design, its the Art and Layout. Thus prices can't come down too much. What you experience when you print a single copy is exactly what a publisher faces when they look at the price schedule of a printer and have to decide if they only print 1000 copies at a higher price so that they don't get stuck with much leftover if the game doesn't do well, or if they go for 5000 copies to get a more discounted price so that they can lower the price per unit. Fewer prints, more associated costs. This is even more the case if the publisher uses a quality offset house rather than a toner/laser based house. SDLeary

For quick games when time is an issue and we want to get our fantasy on, buddies and I move to WotCs Ravenloft and Tales of Ashardalon. This gives us a quick fix, and one of the buddies kids (9) has a blast. Now I will admit not much role-playing in these games, but still fun! SDLeary

Another reason, often unmentioned by game store people, is that distributors tend to have minimum orders. So if they are forced to buy five of something, and they have only had one person inquiring about the product, they will be UNLIKELY to order it. They don't want to have to sit on inventory that they do not think will sell. In fact, here in the States, I think they pay tax on their inventories at the end of year. So a store never wants inventory that is just going to sit, or that they think is just going to sit. The only way to convince them otherwise is to go into the stores, and continually ask for the product. SDLeary

Something to keep in mind is that Magic World is going to be a core Fantasy game, not something that is designed to focus on magicians themselves (like Ars Magica). While less than 100 spells, there is a separate publication that is due to come out later. Advanced Sorcery has more spells, and a very good free-form magic system. Being BRP though, it should be easy enough to bolt on any of the various systems available; The Magic Book with the old RQ3 Sorcery, Spirit Magic, and Theistic Magic can all work. John Snead is working on his Enlightened Magic, which if I understand correctly is a revision/enhancement of the system shown in the Liber Ka supplement for Nephelim. SDLeary

I think we scared Nick away from the discussion! SDLeary

And to reduce though not eliminate notes... the old box Superworld had a pretty good Operative Control Sheet (mooks/minions page).... could get 15-20 onto it IIRC. SDLeary

Isn't this subsumed already into the minimum Strength and Dexterity requirements, or in the case of firearms their shots/mr? It doesn't include your range restrictions, but as you've pointed out some weapons are always awkward (longbow). If you were to go with something like this, I'd probably keep the weapon STR requirements and get rid of the DEX requirements... which is something I've been considering myself. SDLeary

They have BOTH succeeded... that is the round is a tie, at least in my world. If combat, one might inflict a wound on the other, but in this case the level of success is not what determines that. The 70% person has a range above the skill of the other where they succeed (51-70) AND they have a higher chance of rolling a Special or Critical. High skills still have value in roll-low. Greater overall chance of success, greater chance of special or critical and their resulting effects. In contests of various types there is not always a winner or looser. SDLeary

Again, not so much fix as provide options that might fit a particular style-of-play or world better. As they stand, all are very serviceable and all have some pitfalls (the core systems, not this particular edit). I'm actually somewhat perturbed that Chaosium hasn't released errata yet, as I know the issue has been brought to their attention. SDLeary

I much prefer just giving Sorcerers a Boot-to-the-Head! So we incorporate a discussion on Martial Arts! ;-) SDLeary

It was never an issue in the games I played. It was the method we used most often. Now, our GM would have called us out (he always looked over ALL characters before play) if we had chosen anything odd, and made us justify them. The farmer in your example could be the local Militia Sargent for example. Hmmm... very different experience here. We were playing in an adventure, and went where the story took us, or where we thought the story should go. I don't remember anyone who was pre-occupied with working their character up to Rune Level, and we were playing in Glorantha! Thus, all three had benefits and pitfalls. And, while the magic that the Spirit Magician could work was by default weaker, they also had a much easier time finding and using spirits to their benefit. Depends a lot on the setting. And in this context, Priest would not necessarily be a counterpoint to Shaman and Wizards. In fact, I see no reason why Shaman and Wizards could not be Priests, unless of course a faith/cult didn't allow it. In traditional Glorantha, the Spirit Cult would again provide the example. Not really looking to max any of them, simply to provide options. SDLeary

That would depend on whether you used the Quick Experience system, or the Experience by Occupation system. If the former, you could easily have a shaman and apprentice with almost the same skill/spell structure, one having their fetch, and the other without. The Quick Experience system appeared the lesser because of to unfortunate issues. One, the space devoted to the occupation descriptions and skill multiples; the other the fact that they recommended that the Quick Experience system only be used with Gamemaster approval. Never heard this. And it doesn't really make sense, because if you have a spirit cult, or a cult that allows sorcerers, you would still have apprentices, regardless of cult structure. I think it had more to due with the setting change; supporting the Western European view of a magicians as solitary individuals with one to a handful of assistants/apprentices, whereas Priests lived within the structure of The Church. Anyway, thats a philosophical design tangent! Sorcerers spent more skill points to be potent, Shaman and Priests spent POW. The issue was the benefits of the latter. Divine spells and spirits were probably overpowered, or the sorcerers spells underpowered. The core structure was relatively sound on all three magics though. An easy way to fix this is to use Sorcery/Wizardry as the core structure for both Shaman and Sorcerers, and only allowing Priests to have Divine spells. SDLeary

Apprentice Shaman and Shaman were both starting occupations in RQ3. The reasoning for Assistant was mainly as a plot device. Perhaps your boss was also a member of the party, perhaps something had happened to them and you were questing to find them. Perhaps they had sent you on a quest to find something they needed, or on a quest to find you Fetch. It was the same for Sorcerers. And WRT Wizardry in the Magic Book, that is RQ Sorcery. SDLeary

Possibly because it was not in early versions of Stormbringer that used Category mods. Easy enough to add though: Int and Pow = Primary Dex = Secondary Primary characteristics add one for each point over 10. Secondary characteristics add one for every two points over 10 Not quite as much an issue if you also allow Grimoires. To put it in DnD context, treat spells in FreeINT as those you have memorized for the day/week/period of time. This also reinforces the RQ Scholarly Wizard if you allow spells to be cast from a Grimoire as a ritual. Memorized = Cantrip/charm low powered though still potent magic; Rituals out of the books = the real stuff. SDLeary

Sadly, these goals seem somewhat mutually exclusive these days, unless the movie you are going for is or has one of the Avengers (NO Not Patrick MacNee or Diana Rigg, not that Avengers) characters in it. SDLeary

Yes! So Better Success Level Wins wasn't really needed! ;-) And as far as opposed rolls go... Lowest roll under skill wins sounds just fine, no need for fancy schmancy "success levels". SDLeary

I suppose a question would be is this "Pendragon", or a different setting using the Pendragon system? If the former, I remember Greg saying somewhere that it was assumed that everyone was speaking and writing (if they could) Latin. SDLeary

Or to simply dispense with Levels of Success as we now use them in BRP and go back to the cRQ2 usage where, apart from success and failure, they simply invoked a special effect (Critical damage ,Slash, Crush, Impale, Failure, Fumble) SDLeary

As the Book of Knights and Ladies has already introduced new skills into the base, I would say that your fine introducing new skills. I would add the skills separately though. Communication does give you the ability to find out about culture, but does not automatically reveal that culture. I am unfamiliar with your term malus, but it appears as if you are using it as a synonym for penalty. In cases of the need for Oration, I would limit that skill roll to the lowest of the three; Orate, Non-Native Culture, or Non-Native Language. Oration would probably be an extreme case here though as it does require knowledge of all three to be effective. SDLeary

Interesting. If I use the riposte option, or offer it as an alternative, I'm thinking of allowing it at full skill or with the normal penalty, as I'm still going to allow a second parry or dodge at the normal -30%. I think that I'm not going to use success levels either. Also, I think that skills over 100 only garner the enhanced Special and Critical success chance, and their effects (impale, ignore armor, and add a few others) but not the normal higher level trumps lower. SDLeary

I have also been thinking about an alternate combat option. Blackjack, high roll under skill, rolling skill is crit (renamed)... yada yada. Damage is figured somewhat as in Pendragon (d3s and d6s rather than just d6s), thus weapons do adds or special effects. Criticals on doubles under skill, Fumbles either on doubles over skill, Heroic Success (traditional crit, or impale from Stormbringer) on roll of skill. Skills over 100 are represented by Expertice (Mastery levels) which allow shifts or special effects (disarming, unbalancing, etc). This models an Exchange of Blows rather than an attack/defense cycle. Thus, highest roll under skill rolls damage for a particular contest. If one rolls under skill but is NOT the winner of the contest (Partial Success), they get to block/parry depending upon weapon/weapon style. A Partial Success, which is also a Critical blocks/parries double weapon AP; A Heroic Success that is under the roll of their opponent (still a partial success) parries all damage unless the other opponent also rolls a Heroic Success, in which case the looser is still a Partial Success. SDLeary

I have actually been thinking about doing this. With, perhaps, a special parrying double AP (i.e., a partial deflection), and a critical parrying completely or allowing a counter-attack/riposte on the following SR. SDLeary

Yes, the equivalent to a Mantlet in Europe, but the men weren't actually carrying these into Melee. In any event, these are more portable wall than a shielding weapon. And most Samurai would have been in the rear, waiting for the charge command with their horses. As for Armor, I would say that they were probably on par with a Hoplite or Heavy Legionary (think eastern legions), without shield of course. BUT! Back on track.... Two handed weapons are really only slow if being used by someone who hasn't been properly trained in their use. They generally aren't used like baseball bats with large arching swings, though they can be. There are better vids, but is another off the top SDLeary

Re-read my statement. SDLeary