sdavies2720

Some of my old gaming friends want to get together for an online (tabletop-based but we're all in different cities, not a MMORG or whatever) game. Does anyone have recommendations of tools for this? Thanks!

I got MRQ2 earlier this week and have been reading through it. Overall, so far I'm impressed. I think it (re)captures some of the feel of earlier RQ versions, has a clean layout and implementation of many of the standard stuff, and has a few innovations that are intriguing. I haven't run it yet, and honestly haven't finished reading it (I'm in the Combat chapter right now). Based on what I see so far, it's a worthwhile add to your BRP/RQ/etc library. I suspect that I'm going to stay with BRP with a few things borrowed over from MRQ2. Likely candidates right now: Actions per melee round (I liked that idea in MRQ1 rather than the -30% per use in BRP), and the tactical options when you get a critical. We'll see what I can pull from the magic sections once I get there. Steve

Great! My comment was poorly worded and probably gratuitous. I'm sorry if it caused anyone to infer I didn't think the rules were tested. I guess it was carryover on my part from the...looseness...of some of the MRQ1 rules. Your confirmation of testing supports my point: MRQII is a coherent system that works well -- the fact that it is tested to work well in play makes it an easier (IMHO) platform to customize than BRP is.

I misread that the first time and thought that one of the ethnicities was "BAIT" which I thought was really unfortunate for them.

White Bear and Red Moon came out before Runequest, and does not have Broo in it. It was one of my favorite games at the time, and I'm still kicking myself for never picking up Nomad Gods (especially when I see what it goes for on ebay) Steve

I picked up MRQ2 last night and my first impression is it's a lot cleaner than MRQ1 and moved back toward RQ3. Overall I think it's way better than MRQ1. I'm glad I purchased it, whereas MRQ1 didn't hold me long enough to finish it. To thread-jack a little more, MRQ2 also shows one other strength of non-generaic or nontoolkit rules: Because there is one coherent system, it's easier to see what you like and don't like, and it appears easier to trade out specific rules for houserules. In theory, BRP should make this easier, but it's harder to see how it all works together and harder to believe that every combination of options has been play-tested, and that the configuration I want will work. With MRQ2, I assume (reasonable until proved wrong) that Mongoose tested the RAW, so I just need to evaluate whether any change I want to make will unbalance things. That feels easier to me as GM. Steve

My hypothesis is the people on this site played RQ and were waiting for BRP to update it. Thus the last big group started playing around when RQ was last published. If we repeat this poll next year, it would be interesting to see if BRP begins to attract younger gamers. Does anyone know if Mongoose has done a similar poll for MRQ? Steve

I've been watching the Water Margin, based on someone's recommendation here, set in medieval? China. The characters are always pulling big pieces of silver from their sleeves to pay for meals and other stuff. I keep thinking that shoppers in the market must be injuring each other as their 40-pound sleeve purses bash into each other.

I have an always-in-process-never-finished-and-repeatedly-lost personal project to make an economic system in a price list. What I wanted was a price list that was not the same in each city/country, which was plausible, and which I could change quickly. So it was/is a spreadsheet that lists about a dozen or so inputs/raw materials (things like 'wheat', 'Copper', 'Tin', 'Unskilled Labor', 'Skilled Labor' ). Then each item on the price list had an amount of each input and a fudge factor. For example, a Bronze Sword might be 3 lbs of copper, .3 lbs of Tin, and 10 hours of Skilled Labor. The trick is to get something playable without adding every factor. I've never gotten much beyond setting this up multiple times (and losing the spreadsheet multiple times). But it should work, and with a suitable fudge factor get a simple way to make regional price lists. I thought that this would at least eliminate the most obvious market inefficiencies. Steve

Generally I've dealt with this just from the point of vew of the characters trading opportunistically. I.e. they are travelling from one place to another and figure they'll load up an extra mule or two with trade goods. Generally one or the other has a background as a Merchant. What I do in this case is just give them a purchasing discount of 1D6% if they succeed in their relevant merchant/trading/whatever skill. Then when they sell (assuming the trade goods made it to the destination) I give them another bonus on the selling price if they succeed in their trading skill (this one I might adjust for distance travelled -- 1D4% for near, 1D6 for medium, 1D10 for long distance). Usually Special SUccesses and Critical successes get additional bonuses. This simple system rewards them a little for increasing their Fast Talk and other skills, doesn't require me to create lists of prices for each city, rewards them for taking the initiative, but doesn't make trading so lucrative that we spend long sessions planning out whether to take olive oil or coconut husks this time... I've found that whenever I go deeper than this, there is always a player who games the economic system, and it's too time consuming (and boring for me) to police it. Steve

I just looked at the homepage in IE8, Firefox 3.0.16 and CHrome 3.0.195.34 and it looked ok in all browsers, and all reasonable window sizes (I didn't try sizing down the window until the pictures no longer fit). I'm on a PC, could it be a Mac v PC browser version problem? Steve

Ecological disaster in a box. Just add water!

If you haven't seen it already, Drive Thru Rpg is offering a deal to assist the Haiti relief effort: Publishers have donated over $1,000 of rpg materials. For a $20.00 donation (all of it goes to the relief effort) you get all of the donated items (PDFS/downloads) for free. It's a brilliant, everyone wins, deal. Check it out at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/. The list of items is at: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/rpg_haiti.php?&SRC=haiti#prodlist I don't have any affiliation with DtRPG, but they've raised over $80,000 already! It's worth taking a look. Steve

I love this kind of thread. Pleasure-seekers. Whether it's the thrill of the safari hunt, or new experiences, or "human contact". A whole country or planet that is looking for a new place to root. Prospectors, fur trappers, anyone opening up the "West"...er the "Rim". Isolationists who just want to be alone. Racial Purists. Wigged-out alientists who believe god is out there in one of the aien races. Technologists who are looking for patentable materials for their home company. Tourism developers: People scouting for new locations, Tourism board members, individual tour bookers who want to see for themselves. Tax evaders (Google was going to put servers on barges in part I beleive to avoid tax jurisdiction. You could have a cloud of corporate and private citizens camped outside the limits of authority. Seekers of the promized planet. Frankly. I could see the Better Business Bureau surviving Greenpeace? Putting their ship in between the PCs and the space whale that they're tying to kill (before it kills them...) Rock bands There should be an interstellar version of the Burning Man festival (or Rainbow Gathering). As new territory is opened up, every major religion should be sending missionaries to save souls. X-Games players -- every new world will presnt some new challenges that sports enthusiasts will want to tackle.

I would think that there should be a wealth of philosophical and religious groups. Everything from the radical "redturn to Eden" society that thinks man should not be off earth, to sects that believe certain segments of the galaxy are sacred (or defiled). Scientific communities that believe that whatever is powering spaceflight/jump drives/whatever is destabilitizing the universe (and if you want to make it a perfect parallel for global warming, make the effect slow, difficult to measure, and counter to what is convenient) Depending on the speed and ubiquity of communication/knowledge transfer, there should be a shadow world in the E-space. Every type of organization that you fiind in the RW would probably reasonably evolve in the virtual space, albeit perhaps with a different agenda. I'd also look for a parallel point in world history and see what organizations existed then. Aid societies would exist in every time and place (from Hospitallers throgh to travellers aid and relief) Those are my top-of-mind thoughts Steve

Props. I come here every day.

And, you can play it out in Avatar, the RPG

If you look at it as a Moorcock setting, the Inquisition is definitely on the side of Law and Galilieo is definitely on the side of Chaos. Look at the havoc Galileo wreaked on the prevailing worldview. Steve

Hmm, I didn't see Mythic Russia. Is it on Lulu? It didn't come up in search. Steve

Like one of the gods syphoning it off for his own needs, and a once-in-a-milennium eclipse is coming when he passes between the earth and the sun, blotting out all energy and dropping the earth into an abyss of chaos from which it can only emerge if our heroes finish a complex ritual before the hour-long-eclipse is finished? And they only find out about it a day before the cataclysm is about to happen? That kind of something?

The poll illustrates that BRP is played by people who started a long time ago (and probably have been playing RQ/BRP for a long time). I don't think you can make the logical conclusion that it's unpopular because people have been playing it a long time. To me, it illustrates that BRP hasn't attracted more recent generations...who want to vote....on this discussion board The data are far from showing us causation.

Heard about it in 1974 at summer camp in Minnesota, but couldn't get into the game (different cabin). THen in '75 I was in the same cabin & was hooked. The wood grain box is long gone, but the three books are still in my basement.

Oh no, not another "I attack the darkness" thingie. I've listened to a few podcasts of games...or more accurately, the first few minutes of a few podcasts. Even for games that I'm sure I'd like, after a few minutes of inane chatter, I'm pretty sure I WON'T like the system. So please tell me you're thinking of something more appealing! Please. :eek:

Right now I can't get to YourGamesNow.com either:(

Or lock it afterward and say, "I don't know where he is; I guess he doesn't care. I win...what's that sound?...nothing, don't worry about it. Back to the game. And I wouldn't drink anything else if I were you. Just friendly advice."