drohem

I've always had a hankering to run a 100-Years War fantasy game. I mean, armoured knights, gunpowder, warring princedoms, betrayal - throw in some witchcraft and folklore, and what hasn'tthat setting got?

Watching the entire series of Berserk (anime) back-to-back might be colouring my judgement. Now, where's my Flesh and Blood DVD ...

I like this concept as well. Flesh and Blood was a great movie.

I have no problem with Hero Points, or any other similiar engine. Sometimes the dice gods are fickle and can cause players/GM to have a bad day.

We have developed the Mr. Hand (Fast time at Ridgemont High) theory in our gaming circle.

"If it's my time and it's your time, then isn't it our time?"

In other words, we all there to have a good time and spending precious time out of our busy lives. It would suck to have a character or campaign derailed over one errant dice roll.

Yeah, that was one of the things that attracted me to purchase Fifth Cycle. Of course, there are mutated animals (the nation of Bonparr rocks!) from Gamma World. I liked the Wolfen and Bearmen from Palladium, Gnolls and Bugbears from D&D, Ferran from Talislanta, and the Broo from RuneQuest (as bad guys, of course!). The best of all for me are the Betas from Justifiers. I know there are many more games that have this concept, I just can't think of anymore off the top of my head.

Oh wait, didn't Warhammer have the Skaven, a ratman species?

Also, Legends of the Five Rings had the Ratlings.

Hengeyokai from Oriental Adventures and Kara-Tur.

Lupins, Rakasta, and Tortles from the Red Steel campaign in Mystara.

Ok, come to think of it, it seems to be a fairly common theme in fantasy/sci-fi settings.

My first exposure to RPGs was with a hybrid 1st/2nd edition Gamma World campaign. It holds a serious nostalgia factor for me. I would like to see the Overlord of Bonparr campaign (4th edition) translated into BRP. I just love anthropomorphic humanoids that are bi-pedal and bi-manual.

I'd like to see a BRP Gamma World done.

Yes, I understand the percentages, but which die do you think will yield the highest damage in the long run? A d12 has the highest immediate results and the d4 explodes more often, so would you take a d6 shortsword or a d10 bastard sword?

In my gaming experiences thus far using the open-ended damage for ballistic weapons and falling damage, I would have to say the d6 yields the greatest damage. Even though a d4 looks like it would because of the chance, it has appeared to me that the d6 is the most solid for re-rolls.

I have used that in games with high, inflating hit points successfully. But we were never quite clear on whether a d8 is actually better than a d6 (for instance). Is better die average over the long run or better chance of rolling max on the first roll going to be generating more damage? A question that always gets asked at a Savage Worlds game, for sure. What do you think?

Here is how a single die looks:

d4 = 0.25 = 25%

d6 = 0.16667 = 16.66%

d8 = 0.125 = 12.5%

d10 = 0.1 = 10%

d12 = 0.08333 = 8.33%

d20 = 0.05 = 5%

So on a d6, you have a 16.66% chance to roll a '6' and a 83.33% chance not to hit a 6. So each number on a d6 has a 16.66% chance to come up.

So on a d8, you have a 12.5% to roll a '8' and a 87.5% chance not to hit a 8. So each number on a d8 has a 12.5% chance to come up.

This changes of course when you roll two dice together (i.e. 2d6). Then you have a greater or lesser chance to roll a specific number within that range.

2d6

2 - 2.78%

3 - 5.56%

4 - 8.33%

5 - 11.11%

6 - 13.89%

7 - 16.67%

8 - 13.89%

9 - 11.11%

10 - 8.33%

11 - 5.56%

12 - 2.78%

So hitting a 7 has the greatest chance at 16.67% while hitting a 2 or 12 has the least chance at 2.78%.

Here is a link to a cool dice probability calculator you can play with:

http://www.anwu.org/games/dice_calc.html

Here is another probability links you might find useful:

http://www.edcollins.com/backgammon/diceprob.htm

An option to consider is open-ended damage for ballistic weapons.

For example, if the weapons damage is 1d6 and a '6' is rolled, then you roll another d6 and add that to the total damage.

This can be an abstraction of the artery being hit, a bone being smashed into pieces, an organ damaged, etc.

I agree with you Badcat. The hit point/weapon damage system is an abstraction; not a simulation. A good friend of mine got hold of an anatomy book when we were playing RQ3 exclusively. He created this incrediably detailed combat system based upon damage to organs, etc. I took a look at it and said it was beautiful, but I would never use or play in his game if he used it, LOL.

I went back and looked, and as it turned out, I _was_ crossing AE and CHILL up. However, AE, other than being percentile based still wasn't that BRP like, since the only way to advance skills was to advance the underlying abilities with experience points. I suppose it turns on what's needed to make something like BRP, and I tend to think a little more than percentile based skills is required; if that was it, as I recall, Rolemaster would count.

That's your viewpoint, and your opinion is valid. Just as my opinion is valid.

Harnmaster, which is a BRP derivative, has crits, successes, failures, and fumbles. You roll % against skill. Under is a success, over is a failure. Any multiple of 5 is a critical (if under) or a fumble (if over).

I liked Harnmaster's skill index concept as well.

While percentile based, AE wasn't really very BRP-like; as I recall, it had experience points and only three skill levels (I could be confusing the latter with the second version of CHILL, which was also percentile based).

I don't know what you mean by three skill levels. It was similiar enough to me to warrant mentioning it.

CDA = Cthulhu Dark Ages

That is an intriguing approach. I'll have to think on it.

Sweet! Hmmm...powered armor.

/drooloff

I plan to resurrect my homebrew fantasy campaign (Thonkar) that I created using RQ3 rules. Dwarves, gnomes, halfings, and elves are relatively recent colonists on the continent of Thonkar. Humanity is divided between tribal barbarians and a dominant civilized magocratic empire. The decadent mages have used their twisted arts to create a slave race. Using foul magics, they have combined animal and humans to created anthropomorphic creatures that are bi-pedal and bi-manual. The conflict arises when contact between the united colonist races make contact with the empire. The empire outwardly proposes trade and exchange, but they secretly mean to conquer the colonist races. The colonists discover the slavery of their citizens with the help of renegade Ani-men. The united colonist kingdoms go to war with the magocratic empire, and defeat the empire with the help of an Ani-men slave revolt.

I just want to discuss ways to do magic, social structure not completely modeled on feudal Europe, that sort of thing. Not fairy tales but fantasy with heroic warriors, mysterious mages, ruined or lost civilizations, etc. Like Hyboria, but less gritty. Like high fantasy but not as shiny. With some horror but not dominated by that aspect. A touch of post apocalyptic atmosphere. Elves and dwarves not necessary. Maybe come up with something like BRP Earthdawn or Tekumel with some refreshing new angles. Pretty much hopeless, I know.

Not at all! I just wasn't too clear on what you were asking, sorry.

I know after seeing Terry Gilliam's Brother's Grimm movie I wanted to do up a setting that had the Napoleonic wars as a backdrop... but focused on the fluttering vestiges of the old world that still lingered in the darker corners... alchemists in Prague... vampires in Romania... goblins in the woodwork.

hehe...I do the same thing after I see a movie I like. I like your idea.

Are you offering to GM one? Or asking if someone else will GM one?

I am intrigued by the game's genre or setting first, and look at the rules second. If I don't like the rules, then I toss them out and convert to whatever rule system I like at the time.

There was a game called Time and Time Again, which was published in 1984, that I liked because of the concept and campaign setting. It had to do with time travel. There was some real hard science behind the concept and campaign setting. Basically, the characters were time agents in a military organization based upon the French Foreign Legion. The rules sucked rocks. It used some whacky d200 percentile system for combat and tasks. I threw out those rules and coverted it into BRP/RQ rules and GURPS later on.

I did the same with the game Justifiers, which was published in 1988. I translated the genre or campaign setting into BRP/RQ, GURPS, and d20 Modern.

I also did this with the game Talislanta. GURPS was supposedly going to publish a licensed Talislanta game, but, sadly, it never saw print. So I made up my own GURPS version.

I like this idea as well. When my group played RQ3 we just ommitted any Gloranthan specific rules and played in a fantasy setting that was Tolkien-esk.

Sorry, I just couldn't wrap my mind around a talking duck or some of the crazy chaos monsters.

It all tastes like chicken anyway, right? LOL!

Weither swords are developed from knives only, or both knives and axes I have no idea. Kindoff hard to know for sure too, as it's a pretty long time ago they were developed.

It is well supported by academics, scientists, and historians that the sword evolved from the knife, and the that the axe had a separate evolution.

Just because it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, does not necessarily mean it is a duck.

I appreciate your certainty, but I do not see that as the case, nor does my reading support it.

My reading does not support your assertions as well. I agree to disagree.

Thanks. That helps.

No problem. Save yourself some cash and just use the RQ3 material and change any Gloranthan reference to suit your campaign.