sdavies2720

Or the typo of "% in Lair" in the original books that morphed into "% Liar" in all Dave Hargrave's game supplements.

Thanks. So now parries absorb damage...again. I always liked that approach.

Yeah, my interest has been in having a system that can be more than that--more flexible and more interesting. This discussion has been really interesting. I asked the original question because I did have a sense that whatever ultimately emerged from my efforts would be...fussy. It's been really helpful to hear thoughts so far. Fun is key, and I don't think that most of my players would want to bother with this stuff. I do have one that would though. But, there'd have to be some 'payoff' to him as a player and for his character for doing the extra work beyond 'point, expend power, do your damage.' Old Chivalry & Sorcery had a system where spells got condensed over time, allowing them to be cast faster (and I think more cheaply). If that sort of capability were included, would that change their appeal for anyone?

Darn, out of stock and no pdf yet. Reading the description, it looks to be HeroQuest-based, so is the ritual magic section similarly narrative in playing style?

Guarded optimism here as well. If the actual document matches the preview, it looks like a worthy version. I'm not elated by everything I see, but Mongoose's ability to publish add-ons quickly means that I'll check this out. Maybe I don't understand what opposed rolls in combat are...if they're keeping the attack and parry rolls both, isn't that an opposed roll? Or did I miss a generation on the definitions? Steve

I got a copy of Authentic Thaumaturgy when it first came out (published by Chaosium IIRC) and was excited by it. The problem is it (and this is true of most of the other 'realistic' systems) kind of point the way to create magical spells, then stop and wave their arms saying you need to work out how the magic works. I think that can work with a narrative game, but to me it's not consistent with BRP's more crunchy style. I think that one starting point for a magic system is a set of magical effects and levels/costs, along with potential source(s) of those effects. So, for instance, one effect could be "Damage(Fire)" with that effect coming from a source of the Fire Rune, and a cost of one Power Point per point of damage. So if the mage is to produce fire damage in his target, somehow he needs to incorporate the Fire Rune in his spell. By the time you list all the effects, costs, and sources, along with how you access the source and how you combine effects, that's already pretty complex. Can it be any less complex? Is it already too complex to be interesting/useful?

I was reading that thread, and felt it wasn't quite where I wanted to go with my magic system. But, that disconnect was part of what caused me to stop and ask what everyone wants--rather than make something completely idiosyncratic, maybe I can put something that both interests me and many other people. But it's probably easier to put a strawmodel out and get feedback... So, here's my thought. I recognize that this doesn't perfectly fit into the pre-defined magic category of 'ritual magic.' But neither does it match the previous Rune Magic designation, so I'm open to alternate terminology. UrMagic doesn't resonate, and Meta Magic is too Superheroism/modern for my taste. My core idea is: Runes are the core source of creative energy for magic. In addition to Power, they also provide creative effects. Mages gain access to the Runes by traveling to a power spot for a specific rune and binding the rune. This gives them access to a little of its power, makes them a little more susceptible to its influence, and possibly marks them. Mages can invoke the Rune to get raw power spells. These can do things, for instance tapping the Fire Rune brings Fire Damage, but also other Effects as well. But, this raw use is pretty quick and immediately useful in-game. To gain control over the power and effects, the mage can apply magical skill to create a spell. These are initially slow and more costly, but with successful casting (including out-of-game) they can be condensed (lower cost and faster). Because the crafted spells take more power, the mage needs to seek out additional Runes and power spots in order to advance in his craft, which in turn opens him up to additional meddling by world powers. So I guess it's really a Rune Magic system, but tapping the Runes directly will only get the mage so far. Pretty quickly, they will have to add a ritual element to refine their results. And, if the magical effects to be accessed are well-enough defined, there is no real reason that Runes need to be the ultimate source. You could as easily have ancestor spirits be the source, as long as the ritual elements balance well to generate effects. My thought is the rituals aren't necessarily long, but that longer rituals increase casting chances and lead to longer spell effects. So characters who are interested in just blasting damage can do it relatively quickly, while healers and protectors might focus on a few complex spells to get them faster to cast. But, Charles has good points. Maybe most players don't care about this stuff when you come down to it. For most people, this may be more of a distraction or annoyance than an enhancement to the core game.

Thanks, that's exactly the type of feedback I'm looking for, actually I was going to (and frankly will anyway) put out a document for review, but it's a perennial 'back burner' project, and I thought I'd try to elicit others thoughts while I'm working on it. Thanks again! Steve

And to answer my own question (risking narcissism): I want a ritual magic system that explains or at least illuminates some of the underpinings of the magic of the world. I want something that will explain, for example, why the evil mage is summoning a demon, and why he's doing it here. And I want those rules to be playable. I've found that when you have to work through some of the nitty gritty bits of how the system works, suddenly there are a lot of interesting ripple effects: The mage cannot summon the demon until he's gotten control of a specific power spot. Depending on when he casts the spell, he will need one or more herbs for associations. He needs a power source to get things started, and sacrifices are easiest but he can use his staff if all else fails. He cannot control the demon but can protect himself from it, etc. So my interest is in something more likely to play out in the background, but with some power for session play. One of the reasons that I like BRP is the characters who pursue one set of powers are still useful and playable in sessions. Anyone else? Steve

Over the break I got some time to work again on the Ritual Magic system for my world. Rather than necropost on an old topic (I first talked about this months ago at http://basicroleplaying.com/forum/basic-roleplaying/1224-ritual-magic-urrules.html ), I thought I'd start a new post. I'll probably post some thoughts for feedback and review -- the document is hobbling its way toward a reviewable draft -- but before doing that I thought I'd quickly ask: Is anyone looking for a ritual magic system? If so, what are you looking for? Steve

Great suggestions throughout -- I've found some wonderful background music for our games. Thanks everyone! Steve

To me, this (how could BRP be more popular) is the wrong question. Or it's only part of the right question. Given the renaissance BRP is enjoying right now, I'm pretty happy with the material I'm getting, and don't really care if I'm part of a dedicated small group of gamers or part of a huge mass of less-focused gamers. I'd be more interested in discussing how BRP publishers can make more money, or how to ensure that the flow of material continues and grows. Getting good answers to those questions would ensure that the great material for BRP will continue to flow; we won't have another 20-year drought, and I can get my periodic BRP material fix. Granted, having a wider audience is pretty likely to be part of the answer, but it's not the whole or only answer. So, to push the discussion: * Should we (collectively) be publishing more scenarios, specific settings, or focused/deeper rules (e.g. shamans & spirit combat, or witches) or some other type of sourcebook? * Are there best practices we all can share in writing different sourcebooks -- what will make them more likely to succeed in the market? * Is there something we need to collectively avoid? How? * And as a laurel branch to the popularity issue, should we set up a sort of BRP Trade group that individuals and companies can contribute (cash) to whose goal is expansion of the BRP market?

I've always limited the players through game-world restraints: Some skills are only taught in specific places, or magical abilities are acquired through quests. But I have to say, I really like the idea of paying for extraordinary abilities through reputation. You could even game it: "Well, we used to think Rurik was pretty hot stuff with how he saved the city from the dragon and all, but he's gotten weird all of a sudden -- lots of strange things are happening now. I'd stay away from him if I were you...did you hear about the gold knight at the tournament last week? Now that's someone to look up to." Steve

This is essentially the mechanic in AD&D (3 & 3.5, I'm not sure of 4.0): Take yur skill, add 1D20 to it, compare to the opponent's skill + 10. To convert that to %-ile: Your skill + 1D100 versus opponent's skill + 50%. The probabiities work out the same as the BRP resistance table, and I think it's a little cleaner mechanic operation. The AD&D system has the advantage of being easier to modify to a specific circumstance (harder tests add bigger numbers to the target number). To my mind, going to this system was the most important innovation or improvement in AD&D3 -- it was almost enough to get me to convert from RQ/BRP. Steve

Sorry to hear about the snafu. I guess the best consolation for you is I DID buy it, and intend to use it. I guess I should send a note to Chaosium too. Steve

I do love the cover. You might think about the logo spacing though. Visually I attach the "d" from d100 to the "rules" in the book title to visually end up with "drules" which phonetically is unfortunate. Just giving a little space, a color change to tie the "d" and "100" together, or something similar could easily correct this. Steve PS Just trying to avoid repeating & expanding the unfortunate "We're playing Burp" convention

Ok, I have to rant for one minute here. I got a bunch of stuff last night, and I'm pretty happy about the content. But a few of the books don't have tables of contents at the beginning. That's bad. Really bad for anyone (yours truly) who wants to dip in. It's also bad for anyone (hopefully) who wants to use them in a game. It's a great big no-no. I'm reading these electronic books, which are typically 100 to 200 pages long, and no table of contents to tell me what page to go to! Please people, don't do this. With modern editing software, it's really easy to create a TOC and keep it up to date. No excuses. Ok, done with the rant. Back to reading (starting with the books with TOCs). Steve

As I was signing off, I thought about this little more. Assuming the two heroes are relatively evenly matched, Fafhrd's SIZ advantage will net him only a few hit points -- and possibly 0-1 per hit location if you use those rules. The Mouser's only going to use Finesse if it bumps his damage by a category. Mouser's higher damage bonus will probably at least eliminate Fafhrd's hit point bonus on the first hit. That sounds too powerful to me as an option. Add to it earlie strikes and all the other things a high DEX does for you, I am uncomfotable having Finesse as a default option. Steve

I err on the side of making things skill checks -- and I'd do as you suggest, handle this with one attack role. I don't think Finesse being a universal opton is too powerful per se, but it does increase the usefulness of DEX, which will in turn nudge the players to make slightly different character trade-offs. I thiink you'll end up with a greater number of dextrous/swashbuckling characters than you otherwise might have. That could be just what you're lookng for. For my game, it's usually the tanks who are complaining,so I'd probably offer it as a skill. That also means that it's a special-case rule, and the campaign stays a little closer to RAW (one of my stated goals). I'm in more of a rule-light and player-choice mode now, so I'd say forget about categorizing the weapons. Once you come up with how to handle FInesse, it can apply to any weapon -- far more player-friendly that way. Now that I think about it, there is a Dwarf in my campaign that would take this skill in a heartbeat, probably bumping his damage to the next category. I'll see if I can test it next month. Steve

Great graphic. It recalls the color RQ covers without being derivative. Nice job.

I think AD&D3.5 had a feat something like Finesse where you could substitute your DEX bonus for your damage bonus. In BRP I would think you could either offer this to everyone or have a Finesse skill that worked like Martial Arts (Roll under both attack % and Finesse to get the benefit). I'd allow successful use to substitute DEX for SIZ in the damage bonus calculation. Maybe a Special allows you to substitute DEX for either SIZ or STR, and Critical allows you to substitute it for both? Never tried this, but that might be a decent formulation. Steve

Thanks. Yeah, I see why I missed it -- far down a page of text and just before eye-catching graphics. I'll know where to look for future orders. Steve

Yes, it didn't show up for me and it wasn't obvious on the site (not that I spent a long time looking). It would make sense not to offer it for sale items -- I'll have to get my MU tshirt some other way! Steve

I got: * Classic Fantasy * The River terror * Fractured Hopes * Val-du-Loup * Cthulhu Dark Ages * Cthulhu Invictus All PDF. The two Cthulhus were completely due to the sale. The others Id been wanting to pick up (and frankly I was waiting for a sale). The River Terror, well I'm not quite sure why I bought it, but I'm thinking I should write some more fully fleshed out adventures, and this should give me some good examples. Thanks for letting me know about the sale! Anyone know what the purchase threshold is for free shipping? I had a couple of tangible products that I wanted to buy, but was not above the free shipping threshold (and couldn't find it on the site -- which is bad marketing. The free shipping is supposed to entice me to buy more, but it doesn't do that if I don't know how much more I need to buy) Steve

Perhaps one of those people who know Niall Shapiro could put a word in his ear. I would think that there would be lots of volunteer labor that could replace the copyrighted images and offer the thing up on DTRPG or elsewhere. While it wouldn't make him rich, it could make a little money and make lots of people very happy. Steve