icebrand

Magic for RQ/BRP!

BASICS:

• Each "spell tree" is an advanced skill, with INT+POW as base

• Each spell costs a number of MP; character's starting MP are equal to POW

• The "level cap" for a spell is INT/2 (max 9), but you need 10% per level (round down) in your skill to be able to cast that high

• MP's return at a rate of 1 per hour

• To learn a new spell, you need to find it, read it (skill test), and understand it (INTx3). If someone is teaching you, you need not read it, and you roll INTx5; you need at least 90% in the skill to teach a spell. Learning process takes 1 week per spell (and you may retry if you fail!)

• A character may know "off hand" a number of spells equal to his or her INT; you may write a spell on your spell book with a read/write skill roll, and if successful, spending 1 POW

• "learning" a spell from your book takes 1 hour (and you make "room" for it simultaneously if you need, by "forgetting" a spell of your choice)

• Spellcasting goes in DEX order (you may use INT if you like), at -1 per MP spent. If DEX/INT goes negative, you cannot cast it (but 0 is ok)

• You may split your spellcasting skill to cast several times in a round (as per melee attack). Each successful casting is at -5 DEX/INT rank -but keep in mind you still have to further reduce your rank based on MP cost

• Range: All spells are line of sight

• Moar MP!: You can get a familiar AND a talisman

• You may have only ONE talisman, and it does not add +1D6 damage; it adds +20% to spellcasting skills instead (but you have -20% if you lose it, until you recover it). You ALWAYS know where your talisman is, and costs 1 POW to make

Here's the fist skill:

FIRE MASTERY (INT+POW base, or magic modifier base, or whatever your twisted brp variant uses)

Firebolt

[instant or Temporal, Ranged, 1MP/3 lvls]

"Gathering a small amount of elemental energies, the Sorceress hurls darts of pure fire at those who would seek to injure her."

Lv3: 1D6 (1 MP)

Lv6: 2D6 (2 MP)

Lv9: 3D6 (3 MP)

Make a ranged attack with your Fire Mastery skill. A special is +1D6, and a crit is +2D6 (+1D6 crit if playing MRQ or you don't like to special with spells). Armor protects as normal; if the target receives damage he or she will catch on fire unless he or she succeeds on a Luck (POWx5) roll.

If burning, a target takes 2D6 next round and 1D6 the round after. Remember that fire damage is not cumulative, so burning and more fire-stuff (like another firebolt or more burning) does not stack.

The sorceress may also keep the firebolt on her palm, illuminating like a torch; this lasts as long as she concentrates.

Warmth

[instant, Self Only, 1 MP/3 lvls]

"If a Sorceress wishes to truly become a formidable spellcaster, she will pursue this talent. By collecting the essence of the ambient heat in the surrounding air, she can convert this energy into the mystical force that powers her spells. In this way, she recovers more quickly from her magical exertions."

Recover 1D4 MP for every 3 levels, but lose 1 HP:

(mp from casting already factored)

lv3 +1D4-1 MP, -1HP

lv6 +2D4-2 MP, -2HP

lv9 +3D4-3 MP, -3HP

Inferno

[Temporal, Ranged, 1MP/lvl]

“Using this spell, a Sorceress can reach into the depths of her being and issue forth a gout of fire, incinerating any opponents standing within its reach.”

Summon 1m3 of fire per spell level. Fire may be shaped and moved with a move of (whatever a walking human moves in the BRP incarnation you use, for RQ is 1). This fire behaves just like normal fire (though it doesn't need fuel to burn), causing 1pt to 3D6 damage according to target's exposure. The spell will last for as long as the sorceress concentrates.

Blaze

[Temporal, Passive, Self-Only, 1MP/lvl]

“Using this spell, the Sorceress ignites her very soul, gaining near-immunity to flames”

Each spell level reduces by 2 any fire damage (making yourself immune to most normal fires at lv9). Against magical fire, it protects at half value (keep in mind that inferno is not magical).

Fireball

[instant, Ranged, 1 MP/3 lvls]

"Once she has learned the basic incantation of this spell, the Sorceress can collect a large amount of elemental fire and contain it within a globe of energy. Discharging it toward her enemy, those energies are released in a devastating explosion upon impact."

Lv3: 1D6 (1 MP)

Lv6: 2D6 (2 MP)

Lv9: 3D6 (3 MP)

Make a ranged attack with your Fire Mastery skill. A special is +1D6, and a crit is +2D6 (+1D6 crit if playing MRQ or you don't like to special with spells). The fireball explodes and hits everything in 1mt/yard radius. Armor protects as normal; if the original target receives damage he will be knocked back (various BRP incarnations resolve this in several distinct ways, use spell damage or sorceress POW vs SIZ, move 1 mt. per every 5 damage pts, or whatever you like). Collateral damage does not cause knockback.

Enchant

[Temporal, Ranged, 1 MP/3 lvls]

"Upon learning this skill, an experienced Sorceress has the ability to imbue a weapon with the power of fire."

This spell replaces a bladed weapon damage for 1D6 fire damage every 3 levels (+1D6 on special, +2D6 on crit). Damage modifier is added as normal. The fireblade lasts one turn (5 minutes, or 20 rounds, usually simplified to "the duration of the scene") when cast on an ally, or for as long as she feels like when cast on the sorceress weapon. In both cases the spell ends if the weapon is sheathed or dropped. A fireblade illuminates like a torch.

Firewall

[Temporal, Passive, Ranged, 1MP/lvl]

"This skill allows the Sorceress to raise a barrier of flame to block her flanks from attack, creating a tactical advantage for both herself and her allies. Any creature unwitting enough to attempt to cross the barrier will feel the full force of these flames as they advance to their ruin."

The sorceress creates a firewall 1.5 mts high and 50 cms wide anywhere in range. The wall is up to one meter long per level, and must be cast on a somewhat even floor (no firewalls on walls). Of course, it does not work over water! It may have any shape the sorceress wants (an arrow, a semi-circle, straight, whatever), but once set it remains that way.

Of course, the firewall will ignite whatever it touches, and does normal fire damage (1 pt if standing at less than 1 yard/mt, 1d6 if touching it, 2d6 if you are a moron and 3D6 if passing through). The wall may be cast OVER someone (doing damage as per firebolt), but you must aim with Fire Mastery and the target may dodge as usual.

The firewall lasts one turn (5 minutes, or 20 rounds, usually simplified to "the duration of the scene")

Salamander

[Temporal, Passive, 1MP/lvl]

“A sorceress learned in this art can summon a Salamander constructed entirely from living flame. The Sorceress summons the elemental through accelerating particles of the air at an ever increasing pace. These particles then ignite and the Salamander crackles into existence, seemingly out of thin air.”

These salamanders are RQ3-Like.

Lv3 = Small salamander

Lv6 = Medium salamander

Lv9 = Big salamander

The salamander remains under the sorceress' control for one turn (5 minutes, or 20 rounds, usually simplified to "the duration of the scene"), and then it returns to the ether. It will obey verbal orders if the sorceress knows firespeech, or work under mental control (at 1MP per order, but this counts as the sorceress' action for the round).

This spell may be used to control other salamanders (with enough levels according to its size, and a successful POW vs POW) or to dismiss them (no roll required). The sorceress is able to command a single salamander at a time; summoning a second one will break the link with the first, which will be free to wreck havoc.

Fire Hydra

[Temporal, Passive, 1MP/lvl]

"This skill enables the Sorceress to summon a beast of pure flame from the core of the world. They never fail to answer a call from a proven Sorceress, and stand ready to spit bolts of scorching magma at her enemies."

The hydra is an elemental lord of fire that looks like... A hydra on fire! It fissures the ground and emerges through it, so you cannot summon it on water or in the air. It will fight for the caster for one round per level; in addition the caster may split her Fire Mastery % to give the hydra additional (up to 3) heads.

The hydra has the same summoning limitations than the salamander, and you can only have one at a time (so no hydra+salamander or 2 of any).

Fire Hydra Stats:

STR 17 (3D6+6)

CON 11 (3D6)

SIZ 13 (2D6+6)

INT 13 (2D6+6)

POW 17 (3D6+6)

DEX 14 (4D6)

MOV 1

AP: POW/2 (but damages attacking weapons as per attacking inanimate objects)

Damage Modifier: +1D4

Attacks: Enhanced Firebolt 2D6 (90%, 30 mt range), Bite 3D6+1D4 (spear reach)

Special: The hydra gets healed by natural fire or fire magic!

I must admit I'd go for the higher of the two options ie 26, does this give elves an unfair advantage POW wise ? maybe, but perhaps they're just naturally more POWerful, them's the breaks

I guess its gets balanced when they get hit by iron and die.

Ok, the gorilla went down to 4D6+12 STR and 3D6+12 SIZ.

The cattle went down to 4D6+18 STR and SIZ.

Also, deer have 2D6+6 STR and 3D6+12 SIZ, which makes the animal likely to have less than 1/2 SIZ as STR. Ideas?

Cattle do have more strength than polar bears, at least I very much doubt that

two polar bears could pull a wagon as well as two oxen.

The cattle has 2D6 less str and 2D6+6 less str than a friggin elephant!!! Also, dogs can pull a retarded ammount of weight

(and that's not even a sled dog!!!). I like to see cattle pull a wagon with no wheels!

Plus, a gorilla with 6D6+15 weights 500 pounds, a polar bear with 3D6+21 (which is the most powerful land predator) weights 1500 lbs :S

RQ 3 Stats:

Bear, Brown: 3D6+15

Bear, Grizzly: 3D6+18

Bear, Polar: 3D6+21

Cattle: 4D6+24

Gorilla: 6D6+15 (4D6+12 SIZ)

Horse: 4D6+18

Lion/Tiger: 5D6+12 (4D6+12 SIZ)

BRP Stats:

Bear, Black: 3D6+10

Bear, Grizzly: 4D6+10 (3D6+12 SIZ)

Bear, Polar: 5D6+10

Horse: 3D6+18 (4D6+12 SIZ)

Lion/Tiger: 2D6+12 (3D6+6 SIZ)

I don't like how values interact with each other. The BRP BGB tuned down the horror somehow (i don't have basic creatures). The cattle having more STR than a polar bear, and the gorilla beeing friggin king kong kind of bothers me... Also, i liked bears more on RQ.

What you think?

As far as I understood, the ammunition used in the video I linked is the .700

Nitro Express. The .700 Nitro Express is a rather common big game hunting

round, and rarely (if ever) fired with a bipod or tripod. It has been available

and in production for more than 20 years now, so it is also not exactly a no-

velty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.700_Nitro_Express

Its a t-rex

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.577_Tyrannosaur

"This cartridge has the distinction of possessing the heaviest free recoil of all commercially available, shoulder-fired weapons, at 220 lbs into the shoulder with its heaviest solid of 750 grains."

Yes and no, since most longarms which fire high power ammunition have recoil

buffers, because otherwise it could well happen that the one firing it is indeed

knocked over.

Besides, if the one firing the weapon has a minimum of training and experience,

he will fire it from a stable body position, expect the recoil and prepare to absorb

it with his body. Just take a look at beginners firing a comparatively heavy wea-

pon for the first time without any training, it is not that rare to see one of them

in a sitting position after the first attempt.

Edit.: This one here is demonstrating how not to do it ...:

The target normally does not know that it will be hit and cannot prepare to soak

up the energy from the impact, and is therefore far more likely to be knocked

over.

What is nonsense is the Hollywood idea that a hit with a projectile from a normal

firearm could throw the target several meters through the air, this is simply im-

possible.

That video borders trolling, they are firing a novelty ammo that is so overpowered that's actually useless on a real world situation. It doesn't come any heavier than this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtzk8HNPzHY

Anything whith a recoil that can knock a man over is usually fired on a bipod!

This is a .460, for taking down ELEPHANTS.

I've never come across the latter two in a published BRP-based rule set, and the first one is only used for POW in RQ3.

FIXED! RetroQuest is published

Also, the rule comes from GORE

icebrand, is it okay if I use CON in rounds in my edit of the rules? Should be done in a day or two (didn't quite manage to finish it this weekend).

Awesome! You are approaching co-author territory lol!

I think First Aid could save the character within CON rounds, healing magic within

CON minutes - afterwards Detect Life would show that he is now a corpse.

I love it!

BTW, anyone who has contributed and wants their real name instead of a nickname listed in the credits, PM me!!!

Okay, sorted. Next one, First Aid can "bring characters back to life". I assume there is a time limit?

one round as usual... though that and nothing is actually the same, given that 1st aid takes one round and if you die theres no chance in hell someone is can use it in that timespan unless its the guy that killed you (and even then, if it was melee).

I would wing it as the scene or turn, but thats too much... No idea really. 1/2hp rounds?

In the section on characteristics, you mention that no characteristic score other than INT and POW can rise above 21 (for humans). Does this mean there is no upper limit to INT or POW?

21 for pow, INT and SIZ can't be trained as usual!

I would make skill modifiers simple, but not reinvent the wheel. Either an action is Standard, Easy, or Difficult, using the BRP rules as written.

For a BRP-lite system I'ld actually get rid of the mega-broad Characteristic Rolls (ie: Agility, Effort, etc) and just have Skill Categories, that then allow you to do anything you want , making liberal use of the whole Standard, Easy, Difficult thingy. The skill categories are less broad than the Characteristic Rolls, but cover every action you'ld need to make. Anything outside of these would be an Attribute vs Resistance on the RES Table instead, for things such as Strength rolls etc.

Perhaps a few Notable Skills/Traits are known, which are bought in +15% increments. These ones gain Skill Checks as per usual, but they actually gain Skill Development Points instead, which transfer into actual skill % increase at 15% increments (eg: 15%, 30%, 45%, 60%, and so forth). Keeps the maths very simple.

But I think something like this is more worthy of the title' Basic Roleplaying' than the standard system actually is - BRP certainly isn't complicated, but it's too 'crunchy' to be "Basic", I would of preffered the standard system to be called 'Chaosium System' after it's parent company, but I'm digressing.

All in all though I like what I'm seeing in RetroQuest for a brp-lite set of rules, but it needs to go 'lighter' I reckon...

Yeah, we are on it

I didn't get the "categories" modifier, would you mind re-phrasing? In the original version we didn't have athletics (it was covered by either STR, DEX, or CON x5).

Also, we are going with +30 / -30%, since the easy and hard modifiers from brp give HUGE bonus/penalties. When proofreading is done, ill upload the new revision.

As for STATx5, it's been widely used since RQ2, and it covers "no skill" situations.

STR and SIZ are not used (since they go with the resistance table) and CON was there a few revisions ago, but got lost in the way along with fatigue rules.

Fatigue MAY come back (roll CON x5 after whatever the GM sees fit, if you fail you are at -30% cause of fatigue till you rest; major wounds automatically faitgue the char, and fatigue over fatigue means KO). <-- Ideas?

Also, i don't like acid rules AT ALL, poison rules should go away, or at least rephrased to cover poisoning... Maybe merged with disease?... Movement also needs a rewrite.

Combat seems dandy (with no modifiers save for +30/-30 atm); maybe unarmed an natural weapons should get no special hits. And that's it since theres nothing more.

Also, the animals are finished for the creatures book (so 3 or 5 more weeks and it will be ready), and im trying to convince people to use BRP's magic and sorcery as basis for wizardry and shamanism.

It could be used that way, although I do not use its equivalent in my campaign,

Athletics*, as a defensive skill to avoid dangers.

* For my campaigns I have combined Climb, Jump, Swim and Throw into one

Athletics skill, Brawl, Grapple and Martial Arts into one Unarmed Combat Skill,

Hide and Stealth into one Stealth Skill, and Listen, Sense and Spot into one

Perception Skill. This made a little elbow room on the character sheet for the

various engineering, science and technology skills my science fiction setting

requires.

Sounds just like retroquest!!! (only that throw is a separate skill!)

How is it complicated? Please Clarify.

SIZ alone is messy enough for me... Splitting it is 2x work and no benefit at all.

Also i was just listening to avril lavigne and copy pasted the lyrics

VOL and MAS sound good to me.

I got a table that did this awhile back, for airships. Basically, you can use the same table, and just give a shift for density. For instance, water could be the default at sg1, and something twice as dense would be +8 to MAS for a given VOL. Something like an airship would be -80 MAS for a given volume (or +80 volume for a given MAS).

Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated? Siz is a mess :'(

For example, a SIZ 12 rock is 75kg. But a rock with twice the mass (150kg) would be SIZ 20 (base 12 plus 8 for doubling). A rock 16 times the mass, or 1200kg, would be SIZ 44(base 12 plus 32 for doubling four times).

Why are we still using SIZ again?

I can't find the linothorax rules.

Ha! Because for that you need to *BUY* the special linothorax edition!!! You thought we were gonna unveil the linothorax for free?

Combat skills would be:

Archery

Dodge

Melee

Unarmed

Throw

If we take dodge out... Maybe unarmed should go the way of the dodo too? Or perhaps replacing dodge with "defense" (dodge+parry)? Problem with that is people with high % at defense that don't actually know how to fight...

Still, using only the melee or unarmed skill makes sense... Maybe -30% to parry missiles if you don't have a shield (since dodging them is harder than crouching under a shield), and -30% to parry weapons with unarmed (since an unarmed character is at a severe disadvantage against an armed one)

I7d say just go with SIZ by mass, and ingore the old 1 SIZ = 1 ENC thing.

That would give you SIZ 13 for a man (SIZ 12 for 75kg),

SIZ 126 for a 180mt blue whale,

and SIZ 5000 or so for a Iowa class Batleship.

Not too bad.

Of coruse, if we stuck with the doubling progession the whale would be around SIZ 102 and the battleship SIZ 167 or so. Numbers that would be quite usable for Supers yet still big enough to illustrate the differences.

Blue whales are 30 mts / 90 ft, so yours with 126 SIZ would be actually smaller than a horse when scaled :S

But a 126 SIZ whale is 10 people worth of mass, while a real life whale is 2400 people worth of mass (YES, it is friggin huge, as in "the biggest animal that ever lived)

I recently read a collection of early Conan stories and I was struck by how Lovecraftian some of Howard's monster/gods were. (Slimy, tentacles, utterly indifferent to human well-being.) Howard was a correspondent with HPL, so it's not surprising. I think you could definitely mine CoC for some ideas of the sort of things that lurk beneath the decadent, effete cities.

As far as magic being limited to NPCs, this seems to be an issue of whether you're trying to emulate the Conan stories or the Conan setting. Obviously Conan would have no interest in a sorcerer's library, unless maybe he was out of toilet paper. But that's because REH wrote him that way. You have to cater to your players' interests, and not everyone wants to be a steel-thewed barbarian with the reflexes of a panther.

Incidentally, in BRP a tiger has better reflexes :troll:

Back on topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYJ8G_ou6Dc

There's WAY too much to this system. Too many B.S. rules. I'm using the rock-paper-scissors with best 2-out-of-3 for all combat. I'm tired of all this ridiculous rolling of dice and looking at numbers foolishness. If you need something more "detailed" than rock-paper-scissors, you might as well be playing D&D 4E.

PFFF!!! Rock paper scisors!!! HA!!! Real men flip coins, what do you need 3 tiers for? My players cant handle the math on R-P-S

a

b.

Ok, do you really NEED magic for conan? Conan sorcerer's scream NPC.

If you do, check the savage world of solomon kane. Magic is (DUH) very howard-ish. Also the book is amazing, the art is breathtaking and solomon kicks ass!

I cannot comment on the conan book, since i don't have it

Who would've thought BRP was the game for the mathematical elitists?

Get real people. No one is saying the devs need to necessarily dumb down the game or that they are asses for not putting out a simply mechanic. I AM saying though I vastly prefer MRQ II's 10% crit and no special success model. It is easier and more intuitive. Quicker too.

Ok, in our current house rules (available as "retroquest" on a pdf ) you have 10% crit chance... Rounding down.

So you discard the units, and that's it. For combat, and then, only for attacks, you have special success, that is 2x crit (add +1 if the units are 5-9). That gives about 27%ish to hit on a 100 vs 100 vs. the 16ish? % of BRP, making stuff go fast.

Even if you keep using 5% crits, making the calculation simple (rounding either up or down, rounding down is usually easier) works BETTER than RAW imho. You don't even need to keep track of every %. Just do "discard units, /2 for crit and x2 for special". You lose minimum granularity, and gain "noone has to do math, ever"... (if they can't do a simple /2 x2 on a 1-digit number the GM sure can!)

I was wondering... was this the RetroQuest that has werewolves?

Looks good.

Rod

Nono, its WEREWOLF-FREE!!! (or your money -and limbs- back)

THIS is the RetroQuest with werewolves!!!

Coming soon... Any full moon now!!!

v1.1 up!

No more stupid modifiers! Everything is either +30% or -30%

http://basicroleplaying.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=413

Also, somehow tables came out REALLY bad on the PDF. I guess it was the curse of the werewolves!