TRose

I was thinking the humans 3d6 for all stats like normal.

except for the humans that lived real close to ape city Im not that familar with the stats of the humans herdsmen from glorantha. Can someone enlighten me on their stats.

In the Book Drastic Resolution Prax herdmen have a fix int of 8. That even better then a dog(4) or even chimpanzee(7) . All other stats are same as human .

I would give the gorillas an int of about 2d6+2 as they are not shown to be very bright and to offset their strength.

And I would use herdmen for the humans in the movies and perhaps normal men for the series. I know the girl learn some words ,but then they have also taught apes sign language and would allow movie type humans to learn only a few simple words.

If it will help I have prices the goverment paid for weapons during the American Civil War around here some place. One thing to remember was just after the Civil War the Goverment almost gave away millions of surplus guns in the years between 1865-1870. A Henry rifle that cost $25 dollars could be had for $3 for a veteran .

Think it would be faster to list ones I have not tried over the last 30 years.

At present playing Cowboys and dinosaurs with my 5 year old son( Rules. Build Cabin and tower with toy logs, stock it with cowboy figures and then knock down with plastic dinosaurs.)

I also been playing online games with my 2 older kids, Swords of the New World and Endless online . as Kids like them and cannot beat the price. Free so that makes wife happy.

I'm also play in a Call of Cthullu game set in the 22 century when time permits and play Hearts of Iron II on the computer on my days off'.

I am planning on starting a RQ game come january when my schedule at work changes.

One of the things that really changed things for us as far as Magic goes was when the First Wizard got a familiar. The nice thing about the smaller familiars was nobody pays attention to them at first during combat, so that little mouse can cast to his heart content . We figured that why wizards in stories like mice, frogs and other mundane familiars, nobody pays attention to them while the bear familiar gets an arbalast in the head. And with only one hit location they are easy to armor enchant so when people do start to notice them they dont get squished so easy.. We also allowed allied spirits and fetches to cast spell( In return Fetches where not allowed to posses other people) and my Shaman Fetch became the main healer of the group.

So called pet brigade ended up casting more spells then the characters did in combat.

If you want revenge, try cinnamon. That spice has an effect on most people from non-western nations that garlic has on vampires.

Yeah, the hardest thing with historical settings is that modern people really don't understand what everyday life was like, and tend to view things in terms that they understand.

Things like roasted, stuffed mouse (tasty), garum (a paste made from rotted fish entrails, Rome's answer to ketchup) and vomitoriums don't translate well.

Likewise, most people tend to look at the Biblical account of sleeping in the stables as subhuman way to live, missing the point. In fact, the stables weren't much different that most homes. It was the idea that one of such high status (The Messiah) would be born in so humble a spot that was the point.

That sort of stuff is hard to convey, but crucial to breathing life into the campaign setting. Otherwise Rome just becomes generic fantasy in skirts.

Well as far as food goes, all I can say there a lot of food my Philippine born wife eats that even after 20 years of marriage I will not touch , such as Balot( A Duck egg almost hatched) or Shrimp paste.. And when she cooks pig intestines I leave the house.

But you are right that most people dont understand how hard life was then. But all one really has to do is look at how life is in many underdeveloped country to get a glimpse of what life was like

I admit I have a hard time understanding why people kill each other over slight differences in ethnic make up or because somebody worship God in a slightly different way,

For those who anwered the my question right , there will be all you can eat pork rinds after the battle with Pyrrhus..

And so will I be able to spend skill points in flaming pig then?

But for me I think running a game around the time of the War with Pyrrhus for me would be interesting. Rome powerful but by no means the only power around and you have plenty of mercenary bands running around like the Mamertines ( Good group for the players to join) causing trouble.

Perhaps not impaling hits for vehicles, but maybe allow crits to do things like explode gas tanks, ammo etc. instead of extra damage.

Neither of which can be agreed upon. History is so much fun.

I wonder if we have stats for African Elephants in the book. I'd assume the Punic Wars will be covered.

Oh, BTW, Jason's old Pax Romana stuff is still available for downloading. Its not the full supplment, but is good for a BRP Rome fix.

I do remember the African Forest elephant( now extinct unfortunately) was smaller then the Indian Elephant .

But if there Elephants then can I use flaming pigs. You are a real history buff if you know what I'm talking about.

Pretty much everything is deadly in RQ/BRP. Guns aren't really much deadlier than swords, axes, etc. in RQ. In CoC prety much everything is deadly.

Its the lack of armor that hurts. So some sort of "fate points" idea would help.

I don't doubt that there was slashing damage done by gladiui, there were perfectable capable of cutting as well as thrusting. It is, in essence a big knife and you can use a knife both ways.

I know of only 2 case where armor was used in the West, although there might be more.

One was in Australia where a Bandit gang tried to use some home made armor to shoot it out with the Police.

Second was a Comanche Chief who some how got his hand on a old Spanish breastplate and used it as a magical item.

Cannot recall the name of either off hand but the Australian bandits I know are real famous in Australia at least

A few questions here.

Will the book cover the enemies of Rome if one ones to play a Celtic rebel or such.

2) And will there be a section for a fantasy Rome for those who wish to have magic?

Few points.

First the Army of Philip V was unlike that of Alexander lacked good Cavalry. The Romans had a low opinion of Macedonian Horsemen. Alexander, companions on the other hand where perhaps the best shock cavalry of their era.

And as far as the difference a good general makes, well the best example of that would be Hannibal. Be for Hannibal the mercenaries that made up the Carthaginian army where not very good and the Greeks and Romans never had too hard a time defeating them in the field even when the army of Carthage was much larger. But under Hannibal the same Gauls, Spanish and African suddenly became an army to fear.

And as far as the victors writing history. I think the history I was taught about WWI was a perfect example. In class I was taught the Germans alone where responsible and attacked the rest of the world just to be mean. Reading on my own I feel it was more of a brawl that everyone want to start and everyone was just looking for an excuse to start a fight with no innocents around, at least among the big powers.

Or games in general. I once read somewhere that a lot of the fantasy and science fiction writers of the 30s+ started out playing wargames (what we call miniatures now) together on someones' living room floor in New York during the Depression...like L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt, Leigh Brackett, Poul Anderson, I don't remember who all.

As some one who started out playing miniatures wargames befor I moved into fantasy games I can answer that. Fletcher Pratt's Naval Rules are consider a classic set for those who play naval miniatures wargames.

Another classic set of wargame miniature rules is Little Wars by H.G Wells, who I also believe wrote a few Science fiction stories.

I used the RQ3 fatigue and did not have much of a problem. And my main character at that time started in the negative with a bastard sword, full suit of Chain and shield. I just remembered what my starting penalty was and remembered to subtract one every turn.

Well for the monster in the first book, I think it should include a good numbers of monsters a starting player can fight and have a chance to win . Things like the old rubble runners, skeletons , weapon snakes and the like. I like dinosaurs too, but to even a group of rune levels a dinosaurs is a very tough match. 6 Runelords+1 Tyrannosaurus-Rex= 1 well fed Tyrannosaurus-Rex.

Might add I have always liked Giant insects and other similar creatures. Nice thing is you can use them in almost any setting . Or any strength level of your players. you can set your new players to fight a foraging party of worker ants and your more experience against a hive full of soldier ants.

I've got a real problem with the attitude that such-and-such a scenario-type is bad and so-and-so is good. I've played excellent scenarios of many different kinds and bad scenarios of many different kinds. Personally, I don't particularly like playing in detective scenarios, but I have done some that were really good.

The best scenarios are a combination of several scenario-types.

Also, combat-light scenarios are not always about roleplaying. They can turn into problem-solving or detective or gadget-making scenarios instead.

It's hard to generalise over what is a good roleplaying scenario, except to say that a good scenario is one that the GM and players enjoy.

And I agree with that 100% I played at times in scenarios that could be only called silly( Such as the time whe had to deal with the purple people eater)

to ones that where highly complex espinage ones. the important things is to have fun.

Considering the shape the world is in , if Cthullu ate the world would he get sick from food poisoning ?

Yup, you cvan pretty much do anything with any system, if you have a mind to, and are willing to do a little work. Some systems are better suited towards certain things than others, and results can vary, but it can be done.

Have to agree there think most of us that come here have played long enough that we could convert a Call of Cthullu adventure to Bunnies and Burrows and not work up a sweat.

And why hammer a nail with a wrench ,that what wrecking balls are for. Now you just hold the nail while I get the ball swinging .One swing should do it.

I could see it being used as a behind the scenes excuse for the ending of the cold war.

For instance, what if some faction released something that they couldn't control, and so East and West had to work together to lay the horror to rest before it destroyed the world?

I could even lead to some secret treaties down the line-MALT (Mythos Armament Limitation Treaty).

Kind of like giving them a choice of having the World ruled by Evil Capitalist/Godless Communist or having Cthullu eat it .

Well, yes and no.

Many people like meeting strange and exotic creatures in games.

Well I can think of some exotic creatures I would like to meet. There Sophia Loren, Salma Hayak, Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh to start .

Good thing my wife does not read these boards.

I think if you traced the origins of a hundred mythical creatures you would find each has a unique origin. Some as I mention befor was the ancients trying to explain what animals ancient fossils where. other where the result of some one describing an animal to some one else who then described it to another person and so on, each changing the story a little. Centaurs for example are said to be the result of some traveller describing the Central Asian Horse nomads to another person, who then passed on the tale to another and so on. A description of people who live on their horses ends up as a people who are half horse and half man.

Others could be the result of some old storytellers just trying to entertain his audience for the night. When the Mountain Men first told other people about the petrified forest here in the U.S they described how petrified squirrel and birds where still on the limbs of the trees. They of course knew better but loved pulling one on people back east.

Even when you have facts that state otherwise people like the story that is more dramatic ,entertaining or politically acceptable. Take the story of Goliath. Most pictures and description of him say he was around 9 foot tall, but the early Hebrew system of measurement was not very exact and could vary considerable. The 9 foot is using the high end of his height. If you use the low end Goliath height comes out to about 6 foot 10 inches .

Both the CIA and KGB deny using telepaths, Demons , dark sorcery etc, during the Cold war. But I would still like to know whats behind that reinforced steel door in the janitors closet in the bottom basement that has Elder runes carved on it.

One thing to remember is game rules are never written in stone , at least as far as I'm concerned. No matter how written sooner or later you are going to run into a situation where if you follow the rules the results are silly. I still remember my bad guy who while defending a staircase hit himself in the head with his pike. I change the fumble to that he tripped and landed on his head instead as to me it made more sense. Might add i bent the rules at start of fight as the fight started on a spiral staircase and I ruled that the Bandit with the pike could strike down to the otherside because of the length of the pike but the players armed with swords could not strike at him

I use the resistance tables for things that would require raw strength and athletics where a little skill would be needed. If you wanted to break down the door and did not mind about damage or noise use a strength roll. If you want to use a crowbar and do as little damage as possible and not too much noise use athletics .