silent_bob

Just use DriveThruRPG.com. I think they have Chaosium's complete catalog

CelestiCon seeks Bay Area Chaosium GM's for September 2-5 show.

http://www.celesticon.com/ Run a game or two and get a free badge.

Chaosium will be there!

With the exception of The Laundry one still has to buy the system BRP in

order to play the setting Classic Fantasy, Mythic Iceland or whatever, and

I think that this makes the combination of system plus setting comparative-

ly expensive and thereby works against BRP becoming the "winner" of the

current wave of d100 publications.

The full BRP Core Rules PDF is only $27.95 and the Classic Fantasy PDF is $20.95 at

DriveThruRPG.com for a total cost of $48.90. This is hardly an uncompetitive price especially

considering that the BRP Core Rules can be used with many settings.

Waaaaay back, during the first frenzy of Big Gold Book excitement, there were at least two superhero monographs proposed. Anything ever come of them? So far, we've had Dragon Lines published for kung fu butt-kicking but no four-color spandex action.

Is it that BRP-ers just aren't into comics? Or have they decided that their favorite system isn't the best to depict supers?

Look at the City of Heros BRP Quick Play Rules which are available at the following link:

http://basicroleplaying.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=60

When can I get a copy?

Most of you probably know about my Glyphmaster project by now - if not, go check out the Gringle's Pawnshop forums for details and progress updates. Anyway, I've belatedly been thinking about layout. This being a PDF-only product, does it make sense to have a two-column layout? That's what I've been doing as I've written the chapters, but as you all know it's much easier to read a single-column layout on a screen. Some people might print the thing out, but the majority will only ever look at it on a screen of some sort especially with the growth of the modern tablet-thingies.

What are your thoughts? And if you have an opinion, I'd be grateful if you pop into the poll on the subject in the Pawnshop.

I will be buying a copy!

Its with great pleasure and excitement that I'm able to announce that The Design Mechanism, the new company formed by myself and Pete Nash, has successfully reached an agreement with Issaries Inc to become the new licensee for RuneQuest. The full Press Release can be found on the RuneQuest page at www.thedesignmechanism.com along with a detailed Q&A sheet for those who want to know more about what we have in store for RQ.

Greg Stafford, Issaries President, had this to say on the agreement: "RuneQuest is an old, highly respected brand that requires creativity, dedication and knowledge of the product. I know that Loz and Pete have that, plus enthusiasm and professionalism that will keep up the reputation and good name. I am pleased."

Clearly its early days for both Design Mechanism and RuneQuest's 6th edition but we have exciting plans for the game building on the work Pete and I have already done with Mongoose's RuneQuest II and we look forward to sharing them with the roleplaying community as we develop the new rules.

Lawrence

You should take a look at the free Aliens: Game Over by Michael Tresca. It is a D20 supplement but it is filled with great info on the facehuggers, chestbusters, xenomorph queen and egg sac and it is available at the following url:

http://members.toast.net/talien/michael/pdfs/aliens.pdf

Please reveiw.

Xenomorph

STR: 2D6+12 (19)

CON: 2D6+12 (19)

SIZ: 4D6 (14)

INT: 2D6 (7)

POW: 2D6 (7)

DEX: 2D6+12 (19)

CHA: 1D6 (3-4)

Move: 12

Hit Points: 17

Damage Bonus: +1D6

Armour: 2 point carapace (spews acidic blood, see below)

Attacks:

Claws 50%, 1D6+db (bleeding)

Bite 35%, 1D6+db (bleeding)

Tail Lash 35%, 1D4+db (impaling)

Grapple 35%, special

Each round, the xenomorph will attack twice with claws and once with a bite attack 5 DEX ranks later. If it is successful with both claw attacks, it will attempt to grapple and bite on the next round. If appropriate, it will substitute its bite for a tail lash attack.

Skills: Climb 75%, Dodge 70%, Hide 60%, Jump 50%, Listen 35%, Sense 50%, Spot 35%, Stealth 50%, Swim 50%, Track 75%.

San loss: 1/1D8

Acidic Blood: Xenomorphs have a special defence: acidic blood. This biological acid is intensely powerful and will spray from any physical wound the xenomorph takes, actively corrosive for 1D6+2 combat rounds. Any target 1 meter from the xenomorph must make a DEX x5 roll to avoid being spattered. Failure indicates that the character takes 1D3 points from the acid. Armour will initially protect against this acid, but not for long. It will continue to eat away at armour protection, doing damage each combat round until it is through the armour. The GM should keep track of the acid’s damage each round until the armour’s value is overcome. At this point, it will begin to burn the character. Removing the armour without being burned takes one full combat round and a Difficult Agility roll. If using the optional hit location system, only the armour on the affected hit location(s) need be removed. Failure indicates that the armour is still on. A fumble indicates that the acid got onto the character. Once a character is being burnt by the acid, it will continue until it is neutralized by some force, or the acid eventually stops being corrosive at the end of the 1D6+2 duration.

Wall Walking: Aliens can walk on walls and ceilings, whether on all fours or standing upright. They can stand still on vertical or upside-down surfaces as if on the ground.

Immunities: Aliens are effectively immune to damage from acid, cold, radiation, vacuum, and inhaled gasses. They take half damage from electricity.

Aliens, or xenomorphs, (Internecivus raptus) are a deadly extraterrestrial species with complex life cycle, and a need for a host organism in order to reproduce. When standing upright, the Aliens are vaguely bipedal in form, though they adopt a more hunched, quadrupedal stance when walking or sprinting. They have a skeletal, biomechanical appearance and are usually coloured in muted shades of black, blue or bronze. Aliens do not radiate heat, as their body heat matches the ambient temperature of the environment in which they are found. Aliens have the ability of running and crawling along ceilings and walls. They have great physical strength, having been shown to be capable of breaking through welded steel doors.

Aliens have segmented, barb or blade-tipped tails. The tails have a flat ridge of spines at the base of the blade, to help them swim. They are also adept at using their tails as blunt weapons, sometimes to deadly effect.

They have elongated, cylindrical skulls, but possess no visible eyes. How the creatures see is uncertain. A fisheye lens was used to illustrate the Alien's point of view. The aliens' mouths have a second inner set of jaws, which are located at the tip of a long, tongue-like proboscis. The Aliens' inner jaws are powerful enough to smash through bone and metal. They eat with their "tongue mouths", not their outer mouths.

Human-spawned Aliens have between three and six fingers. Aliens have been alternately portrayed as both plantigrade and digitigrade organisms.

Alien “blood” is an extremely potent acid and is capable of corroding on contact almost any substance with alarming speed. It is dull yellowish-green in colour, and seems to be pressurized inside the body so that it spurts out when punctured. Some suggests that the acid is not blood, but a fluid maintained under pressure between a double layer of skin. The Aliens are conscious of the effects of their acidic blood, and even use it to their advantage, two Aliens escaped a cage by killing a fellow Alien so that its acid ate through the cage floor. It is theorized that the Aliens' acid blood could be some type of "hydrosulphuric acid" composition due to its corrosiveness and the conspicuously toxic effects on living human tissue.

Aliens can produce a thick, strong resin (secreted from their maws, giving them the look of a slavering beast) that they use to build their hives and to cocoon their victims, and they can use the walls of their hives as camouflage.

Xenomorphs appear to possess an intelligence roughly similar to that of a typical primate. The species excels at observational learning and problem solving. Aliens have managed to learn how to operate the machinery of mechanized environments at a very basic level. Aliens were able to cut the power from a section of a habitation complex to allow themselves access to the humans inside. A queen was able to learn how to operate an elevator simply by observing it once. Aliens have demonstrated little actual emotion, save for self preservation, and maternal instincts toward their eggs.

Life cycle

Their life cycle comprises several distinct stages: they begin their lives as an egg. The eggs are large, ellipsoidal leathery objects between two to three feet high with a four-lobed opening at the top. As a potential host approaches, the egg's lobes unfold like flower petals, and the parasitic facehugger extracts itself from the egg and attaches itself to the potential host.

The facehugger, a form with 8 long legs and a long tail, attaches itself to the victims face, in order to implant an embryonic chestburster down the host's throat, a process which takes several hours. Removal of the facehugger generally proves fatal, as it will respond by tightening its grip on the hosts throat, and its acidic blood prevents it from being safely cut away. Once the Alien embryo is safely implanted, the facehugger detaches and dies.

Shortly after implantation, the facehugger dies, and the embryo's host wakes up showing no considerable outward negative symptoms. Symptoms build acutely after detachment of the facehugger, the most common being sore throat, slight nausea, increased congestion and moderate to extreme hunger. Over the course of between several and 24 hours (and sometimes up to a week, in the case of some queens) the embryo develops into a chestburster, at which point it emerges, violently ripping open the chest of the host, killing it. The chestburster then matures to an adult phase within a day, if it ingests sufficient energy, moulting as it grows.

Aliens are laid by an large queen alien. A lone alien warrior can also produce eggs by encasing the still-living bodies of its victims in resin, and converting them into an egg.

Alien queens are produced by special, larger facehuggers. However, some have suggested an ordinary warrior alien can transform into a queen if necessary.

Now, I want to talk about what I see is a diminishing quality of art in Call of Cthulhu game supplements. I see that the art is going the way of jokey and rather mundane art. Pagan products notwithstanding. The art in many CoC no longer scares me or unnerves as it ought to do.

I find myself turning toward Trail of Cthulhu as a torchbearer for what Cthulhu art ought to be. As I find nowhere the haunting images of the 5.6e or the creepy paintings from in 3e nor do I find the likes of Blair Reynolds nor even the person who did the bulk of Unseen Masters.

Worlds of Cthulhu did the art right (if I read German well enough - I could use the present case) and as a said, I do like much of what Trail does. Pagan still keeps the flame alive but even some of the smaller publishers are aping Chaosium's particular style.

Am I a lone voice in the wilderness here...and in that case, I will wait for the Wendigo...or do others feel the same thing. For if anything there is a glut of images that are horrifying and horrific without going for gore.

What do others think?

You are right about Chaosium's art, but I am more interested in the quality of the writing and ideas contained therein and Chaosium has maintained excellent writing.

If you want to see some good Cthulhu art check out S. Petersen's Field Guide To Cthulhu Monsters at the following link:

http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/search?q=S.+Petersen%27s+Field+Guide+To+Cthulhu+Monsters%2C+1988

For those who use Hit Locations, which style do you prefer?

Locations in Numeric Order (01 at the top)

R Leg 01-04

L Leg 05-08

Abdomen 09-11

Chest 12

R Arm 13-15

L Arm 16-18

Head 19-20

Locations in Locational Order (Head at the top)

Head 19-20

Left Arm 16-18

Right Arm 13-15

Chest 12

Abdomen 09-11

Left Leg 05-08

Right Leg 01-04

Some other Order

Don't Care

I prefer numerical order because I haven't memorized the locations and it is easier to find the location when the d20 is rolled.

Do you know where in the rules it says that?

Look at the spot rule for Backstabs and Helpless Opponents on page 215:

"If in the midst of hand-to-hand combat, your character

is able to launch an attack at the unprotected back of a

target, the chance to attack is Easy for this one attack.

If the target succeeds in a Difficult Listen or Sense roll,

he or she can make a Difficult Dodge or parry attempt,

and only if he or she has any remaining opportunities

for defense. No additional damage is done by such an

attack—the heightened chance at inflicting a special or

critical success and the lowered chance of avoiding the

attack is advantage enough. "

Furthermore, it is the interpretation that makes the most sense.

Do Difficult and Easy skill rolls decrease or increase a characters chance to score a crit or special success? Ive always assumed they did but where in the BRP rules is this discussed?

The fumble/special/critical chances are figured after all modifiers are accounted for.

I do not like the Modern Equipment Monograph. Based on the soldier on the front cover, I was expecting detailed weapon listings and I was shocked to discover than their are no weapons in this Monograph!

However, both of the adventure Monographs are quite good.

Thanks for all the responses and juicy links

Where can I get modern floorplans for use with BRP?

Who is going to Kubla Con in San Francisco on May 27th - May 30th, 2011?

Here is the link:

http://www.kublacon.com/

The Damage and Hit Locations rules on pages 204-205 don't allow for a heroic effort roll (CONx1) when a limb is reduced to zero hit points but hasn't received more than double the locations hit points in damage.

However, the rules state that you would get a heroic effort roll if the limb received more than double its hit points in damage. Which is a more severe wound.

Is this an oversight?

The creature hit location tables on pages 368-369 only list the melee hit location tables. Where are the missile hit location tables?

It is not just BRP, Supers just seems to be one of those genres designed to break a game system.

Personally I think the real problem lays with the source material. Unlike more "realistic" genres that have relatively stable physics, comics tend to have poor continuity, leading to wandering target points. In one issue Superman may lift an aircraft carrier, but in another he struggles to move a much lighter locomotive. One week he laughs off a 16" naval shell, and the next he is staggerd by a tank round. Another issue is variable power levels, Superman is clearly orders of magnitude more powerful than Batman, yet when they work together they are fairly equal.

I think a BRP Supers option is possible, but it would be better to make one unique to BRP rather than trying to emulate Marvel and DC comics to closely.

Good Points. I am running a BRP supers game that is similar to the Heroes TV series and the BRP rules seem to work well for that power level.

The Summary on page 147 states that defense reduces an attackers chance to hit by 1% per level of defense. The defense description on page 151 says 5%.

Which is correct?

I find it difficult to imagine a chance to dodge when the energy projected is not

visible, as for example with radiation.

The rules on page 198 allow dodging of bullets at 1/2 the target's dodge skill and they are invisible when fired. Of course the target would have to know the attack is coming. No one would expect an unarmed man to have a radiation EP attack and I would not allow a dodge for a target that was unaware of the power.

The difference is that 2d6+2 can just as well result in only 4 points of damage,

while a power that always does 10 points of damage leaves the target no chan-

ce to be lucky.

True. Perhaps lowering the cost of EP to 5 points per 1D6 would work.

This would turn Energy Projection into an "instant kill" power. The 10 points of

damage would be sufficient to kill the average human with 10 hit points outright,

while 1d6, 2d6 and even 3d6 still include a good chance to survive the attack.

Player characters tend to have more than 10 hit points, but few players would

like to see non-player characters with a power sufficient to instantly kill their

characters once they are wounded and down to 10 hit points.

The attacker would still have to succeed at his energy projection skill to hit the target and I would allow the target to dodge at 1/2 his dodge skill. Furthermore, this would make EP better balanced against guns. For example, an assault rifle does 2D6+2 (average 9) HP of damage per bullet and the target would be hit by an average of 2 bullets in a 3 round burst and suffer an average of 18 HP damage which is far more than 10 points of EP described above, at essentially no cost.

Granted EP does have some advantages over guns as you pointed out: it is concealed and can get through metal detectors and is always with the character and so on. However, these meager advantages don't explain the high cost.

I would love to hear from the authors of BRP as to why they made EP so expensive. The only reason that makes sense to me is that they consider EP a "flashy" power that is only appropriate for superhuman campaigns.

Why more expensive? Against a single individual attack of course it isn't; against the full array of potential EP's it is more costly. Against any EP, absolute protection costs 54 points against all energy types. As suggested, since defenses will be established before threats are faced, the advantage remains with EP.

No disrespect, but I don't think you are comparing apples to apples here. EP costs 10 times more than armor per energy type. To make sure your EP is effective you would have to buy all energy types which is absurdly expensive. If you only bough one EP energy type you know your GM is going to put some opponents in the scenario that will have protections from that energy type for game balance.

Not only is it pretty cheap, but a comprehensive suite of defenses is comparitively very expensive. To take 3 points of defense in all categories (since an energy blast could conceivably be one of any of those) costs what, 27 points (off the top of my head without the BGB to hand)? Therefore the edge goes to attackers in settings where all 9 attack types are roughly equally as common.

I don't follow your logic. Armor only costs 1 point per energy type while energy projection costs 10 points per energy type. Furthermore, armor is permanent or lasts 10 rounds. So how are defenses more expensive?

If you wanted to buy armor for all energy types, since an energy projection attack could use any type of energy, you would pay 1/10th of the cost of buying energy projection for all energy types.

This has lead my players to buy armor and forgo super attacks, like energy projection, in favor of guns.

So again I ask, what is the game logic behind making energy projection so expensive and defenses and guns cheap?

Why not make energy projection cost the same as armor? Forget the 1d6 damage per level and buy the damage point just like armor. This way 10 points of energy projection damage for radiation, for example, would cost 10 budget points and would use 10 pow points per use.

1D6 of energy projection cost 10 budget points while an assault rifle does 2D6+2 per bullet in the 3 round burst. This seems unabalanced.

Why is energy projection so expensive? Is this a typo?

How much stun damage does a taser do?

The stun rules on page 232 for weapons designed to stun, state that you are supposed to compare the weapons damage vs the targets hit points, but this is hard to do when the rules don't list the tasers damage.