SDLeary

That would be them. Thanks much! SDLeary

Does anyone know if the old SODA archives ever got archived? Specifically, I'm looking for an old BRP/RQ UNIX program that generated loads of random NPCs SDLeary

Characteristics can be improved, see p. 186 in the rulebook. You might want to consider a "bounus" if the character has a high SIZ stat. No need to make a skill for Spot, its there already under Perception. Sense Motive can easily be inserted... I would suggest under Mental, but would fit under Perception too.

Huh, never got this feeling with AiG. Always seemed a way to redo things to bring them more back into line with RQII, and to add updates for modern games. SDLeary

In addition to the sizable list above, I'd like to add a local mini-Con. Good Omens gaming group is sponsering their Good Omens mini-Con on 18 July, 2009 at: Endgame 921 Washington Street Oakland CA, 94607 USA This is as much charity food drive as it is gaming con, so anyone interested is encouraged to attend. As you can see, the game docket is filled, and there is no BRP listed, but fun should still be had all around. I also suggest that anyone in the SF Bay Area that is interested keep an eye on the Endgame site. They hold mini-Cons roughly quarterly. SDLeary

<scratches head>It looks like you have things figured out with regards to SIZ as on the revised table. They are 4 figure values, but if accurate then whey create something else to make it "look better"? </scratches head> SDLeary

You could certainly try it this way. With the all or nothing parry in BRP though, if your players characters are well skilled, and fighting a skilled opponent<s>, then you might find the combat long and drawn out. My suggestion would be to use the Heroic level options from the book (example: CON + SIZ for HP), and lower the penalty for additional defensive maneuvers if you think its too high. Perhaps down to -15 or -20 %. This will give the PCs better odds against multiple opponents without prolonging the combats too much, hopefully. SDLeary

Apparently I didn't... or it got swallowed... or something. I'll see if I can find the original text and post it here and the wiki. SDLeary

You could develop a formula where the damage was based on STR and SIZ, ala Pendragon. Some people might find that not granular enough though if you keep it as multiples of d6. I put an alternate/optional rule into the wiki a while ago. The gist was that weapons parry based on the rules from RQIII; that is that the remove damage from the roll rather than block it wholesale. I rationalize this as weapons not covering any appreciable part of the body and a forceful blow still landing, but significantly reduced. Shields would still block as BRP RAW. I suppose you could also distinguish as weapon parries actually being dodges, because you are generally moving your body out of the way as you move the weapon into place. Perhaps saying weapon parries are dodges modified by a weapon bonus? SDLeary

What platform are you on, and what is the format that this is going to be submitted in? I haven't tried it in some time, but GIMP might fit the bill. Best tool? InDesign. But if you don't have it, give Scribus a try. In fact, you could use it for the whole layout if it will save to the submission format. Also, I remember a dedicated character sheet tool mentioned... NBOS Character Sheet Designer. This is Windows only though. SDLeary

I just got the book today, and I have to say... WOW! Looks much better than the PDF does. The cover is awesome. Pete and Rosen. You should really look to see if you can get this into distro. Even limited. I can tell you that if this were sitting on the counter at my FLGS (Left Coast of the US; yes, up to Chaosium, I know), there would be more than a few look throughs. I've only read a bit so far, but the content is awesome too. I love all the "old" artwork and wood prints. Makes the product feel more authoritative. The only thing that I might suggest is altering the selection of a heavier cover stock as long as it doesn't change the economics too much. SDLeary P.S. You wouldn't happen to have the colophon handy, would you? I think I might like things I create to look as close as possible to the book.

WOW.... thats... um... very quick for this industry! :shocked: Congrats again! :thumb: SDLeary

HUZZAH! Excellent news. Have my copy on the HD right now, along with hardcopy from Chaosium on the way. Congrats to Pete and company, and all the crew at Alephtar. SDLeary

I don't suppose Dustin or Charlie have mentioned to you if they are going to put this into Distro, have they? SDLeary

The Monograph cover threw me for a minute, but this is excellent news, along with that of the other projects. SDLeary

No need to forgive anyone for wanting to talk about it. Talk is what the board is about. A note though.... and please don't take this the wrong way... I think that your writing style is possibly part of the problem here. Many here, myself included (with some of your posts anyway), are probably seeing/interpreting an "in your face" style or angry tone (though perhaps its just impassioned). In a text based forum like this, that often comes across as shouting. When "shouting" occurs, everyones tension level raises, and things then really do become angry. Now, to summarize what I've tried to state before... The changes were made for a reason, by both Sandy and Lynn IIRC, to better represent common human ranges. They also included a point buy system as an alternative for those who felt that dice were too random and for those with a clear character concept, as a way to "craft" a character. No, you are not the only one to house rule this. I've played in numerous BRP games where we've used point buy, rolled 4d6, 2d6+6, etc. Many times GMs telling players to re-roll extremely low stats if it didn't fit within the players concept for the character, or if it didn't fit within the GMs concept of the world that they were trying to portray. The thing is, I don't think anyone ever thought poorly enough about the default to state that it didn't make sense in general. As others have stated, consider the rulebook a toolkit. Use the options you want, change the defaults if it better fits your vision for your adventure/campaign/world; and most importantly... HAVE FUN, thats what games are about after all. SDLeary

And, honestly, its not a change that you have to use. BRP (like RQ3) has a point buy system. No need to roll characteristic dice at all if you don't want to. And just for clarification, the human range has actually been 3-21 (8-21 for size and int) in many versions of BRP, but 7 sided dice are hard to come by. ;-) SDLeary

Not many of those game have a stat that is effectively assigning a weight/mass to the character, for which there is well documented statistics for what the range for what that species should be, like there is for humans. Even most grown human males who have conditions that cause small stature are not at the low end that a 3d6 roll would give. You mentioned a duck character before that you had played... looking at the stats for a Duck, a size of 4 is only just below the average for that species, so nowhere near the liability it would be for a human. The INT equation with IQ has already been mentioned. Also, if you go back and look, rolling dice was not the only method of characteristic assignment. There is also nothing preventing someone from petitioning their GM to allow lower stats if they should so desire; though with the Deliberate Method a minimum of 6 is imposed on the other stats without GM approval otherwise. SDLeary

sorry, double post

What about nicking the cultural professions from RQIII? It provides clearly focused character generation, and only says what the character has been doing up to that point without restricting what they can do after they enter play. Adding some points for the players to scatter among other skills would also be good. After entering play, players could pursue what they wished, any other restrictions coming from cultural and organizational factors. SDLeary

Yes, true. Perhaps is such situations we might have the parrying weapon damaged? Or perhaps adjusting things a bit so that the "winner" of the contest gets to damage, regardless of whos turn it is, ala Pendragon (where opposed rolls seem to work best). I guess this is why I've always favored the independent nature of the RQ rolls then. Both succeed (contest tie) but you still have a chance to damage or not. In the end, its probably a similar chance to damage. SDLeary

No, I was meaning that other resolution types should have their own documents. The one you just produced on Opposed Rolls is fine. Independent Rolls and respective options should have its own document, etc. SDLeary

Silly question to those helping in the codification. Why must their always be a winner? Success vs Success for example. Why can't this just be "the hit came in but was blocked" (as in Pendragon); why do we have to resort to a second mechanism, highest roll wins? If we allow ties, and we raise the threshold for degree shifting, I think we get rid of most of the issues (at least to my mind now, coffee has not taken effect). SDLeary

While it does not prevent the possibility of a critical, it does limit it to when the defender misses their parry or dodge roll. As stated, a simple success on the defense side is able to knock down a critical attack success to a special. The only solution that I see for this within the Opposed Roll mechanism is to raise the threshold for the shift mechanism from a normal success to a special and above. In his system it only applies to the dodge skill, ie its a feature of the skill, not the roll mechanism. Attack and parry are still independent rolls. A single chart and document as it stands right now. This was supposed to be a clarification of the presented method. Further documents should be created for other resolution mechanisms, perhaps with a short reference to them at the bottom of this one. Other documents should be clearly labeled as Optional. SDLeary

This is essentially the RQIII and Cthulhu mechanic, modified to take weapon HP (from BRP) into account rather than the AP (from RQIII). SDLeary