Questbird

I am getting some sci-fi RPG inspiration from the game Elite: Dangerous. In that game there is a background political system which is affected by the actions of the players. There are three 'superpowers': the Federation, Empire and Alliance. Each system has a clutch of local factions, usually about seven. Some factions operate in multiple systems, but their influence and relationships to each other in each may vary depending on their relative influence. Some systems are 'controlled' by a faction; others may be contested. Bases and planetary settlements may be controlled by different factions. Each of the factions is connected to the superpowers (occasionally there is also an independent faction). The factions have different forms of government, broadly autocratic, democratic or corporate. Factions with roughly equal influence in a system will be in competition if they are of similar governmental types, or at war otherwise. The total influence of all the factions in the system is 100%. Doing missions for a faction will improve its influence (and that of its parent superpower) at the expense of others in the system. Anyway, long story short, this faction system creates plenty of opportunities for local mercenaries, pirates, bounty hunters and couriers. One faction's pirates are another faction's righteous privateers. One faction's agitators and propagandists are another faction's couriers of vital electoral information. One faction's 'system security' might be an oppressive police state to their opposition, etc. Behind it all, the super powers (the equivalent of your MOO space empires) are playing the local factions in their game of thrones. I'm using a system inspired by this for my online Coriolis: The Third Horizon game, which has 10 Horizon-spanning factions. In each system I make sub-factions with allegiance to one of the game factions. As the players help or hurt these organisations through play I adjust their reputation with the governing factions accordingly.

Yes Renaissance will give you that 17th cent vibe in BRP including black powder weapons. If you want to tweak the magic after that, go nuts. Blood Tide also deserves an honourable mention, though that is more focused on Pirates of the Caribbean themed campaigns. Also if you aren't limiting yourself to BRP but want a WFRP alternative you could check out Warlock! by Fire Ruby games. It has the careers and d100-like skills, plus its own magic system that you could investigate for your needs. The link for the bundle of holding has expired but here it is on Drive Thru RPG https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/312204/Warlock

Unfortunately, it's gone. This thread explains why:

I'd never played RPGs online before last year. I've managed to squeeze in a couple of face to face sessions over the last year and a half, but also quite a few online sessions. Like you I've been able to try some new systems and play with friends in different countries. I still prefer face to face but when online, why not use its advantages? It's good not only for connecting with distant people, but also for in-game sound effects or ambient sounds, and visual props.

I've played D&D and Coriolis: The Third Horizon on roll20. It's great to know I can play Elric! there too. Unfortunately one of my Elric! regulars refuses to participate online.

Any chance that mostly written setting might one day reach the light of day in some form?

I don't mind this system at all, especially since it works well with my favourite system Elric! which only has criticals. Does this method work the same way for critical failures? For example, if you had 60 skill and you rolled 65, would that be a fumble? (Not that Elric! has critical failures except for a fumble on 99 or 00).

I'm not a fan of the dice flipping idea either. However I do sometimes find dealing with Specials and Criticals a bit too fiddly. I did experiment with the Harn system (0 or 5 units is a critical success or failure) for my hitpointless combat system. It gives the right spread of results and and makes calculating the critical fumbles easier*. I changed it to 1 or 2 on the units die to preserve the sense of 'roll low is better'. It hasn't quite stuck (partially because I only used the hitpointless system in one campaign). I'm no maths-phobe but late at night those 'visual' dice methods such as in OpenQuest (ie. doubles are criticals; or @deleriad's variant which adds the exact skill as a super critical), or even the "units less than tens die" method mentioned by @Zit and @Mugen have appeal. * "5% of your chance of failure" is not intuitive for fumbles and the players have no interest in getting the calculation right anyway!

Following on from the discussion in -- I pulled down a selection of my games from my shelf to compare how they handle criticals. Looking down the list (which dates me as a gamer; I've asterisked the ones I actually play with any frequency) you can discern some of the BRP family tree. It's notable that the concept of Special successes is only found in a few of them: RQ3, BGB, and Magic World. These days I crave more simplicity in my gaming and am inclined to use a system with only criticals. I like the idea of the doubles-as-criticals idea from OpenQuest, but I haven't used it yet. Basic Roleplaying (Big Gold Book) * Special ⅕ skill Critical 5% skill Fumble 5% of failure chance Any skill of 5% or higher will always have 5% chance of success Easy skill rolls x2 skill Difficult skill rolls x½ skill Call of Cthulhu 3rd Edition * Impale, for piercing guns and some melee weapons, ⅕ skill Clockwork and Chivalry (Renaissance), 2nd ed. Critical ⅒ skill, fumble on 00 01-05 auto success, 96-00 auto failure Elric! * Critical ⅕ skill Impale (for thrusting and stabbing weapons) on 01 Fumble 99-00 for skills less than or equal to 100%; for 101%+, on 00 only Lyonesse (Mythras) Critical ⅒ skill 01-05 auto success, 96-00 auto failure Fumble 99-00 for skills less than or equal to 100%; for 101%+, on 00 only Magic World Special ⅕ skill, critical 01-05, (Errata'd to 5% of skill, thanks @NickMiddleton) fumble 99-00 for skill < 101%; for 101%+ on 00 only Mongoose Runequest (I) Critical ⅒ skill, fumble on 00 01-05 auto success, 96-00 auto failure M-Space Critical ⅒ skill Fumble 99-00 for skills less than or equal to 100%; for 101%+, on 00 only Nephilim Critical ⅒ skill, fumble on 99-00 Skills over 100%, critical ⅕ skill, fumble only on 00 OpenQuest 3rd edition Critical on doubles roll on d100 that is less than skill (Approximately equivalent to ⅒ skill or just under) Fumble on doubles roll greater than skill 00 auto fumble except for Master (100%) Runequest 3rd Ed. Critical 5% of skill Special ⅕ skill Fumble 5% of failure chance

Yes it can derail things if players don't spot clues using Spot Hidden checks. It can be hard for players to put clues together even if they find them, let alone not finding them at all due to a random roll. You can partially hide clues by, for example having something in a cupboard that won't be found unless the player states that they're looking in the cupboard; but they automatically spot it if they do. Spot Hidden could be used to get even more information from a crime scene, ie. extra clues. Also, used passively you can keep players nervous by calling for random checks; that way not every check means there's actually something to see. If they succeed you could confirm that they're not being followed, or give them some random clue for your investigation.

Fire and Sword by Ray Turney (available here on BRP central) uses a d20 system for skills, but a d10 for 'easy' checks and a d30 for 'hard' ones.

I like the simplicity of that. It's like the basic d100 system: explaining it is easy. Roll under your skill = success. In this case you could add: Roll exactly your skill = super success Roll 100 = fail Roll doubles = 'crazy fate', twice as good or bad, depending on under your skill or not.

With 45% chance of critical at 100+ skill, confilcts between Masters would probably be short and sharp, instead of "bif-bof-bif". For skills > 100 you could change the rule to 'ones less than or equal to tens' is a critical.

The ones less than tens method is quite interesting. Someone with 50% skill would have an 11% chance of critical while another with 70% would have %22. This is fine, and a good idea for a game like Elric! which has ⅕ criticals. But how would it scale to skill levels above 100%? If you had for example 120% skill wouldn't all the 'ones' be less than the 'tens' on d100 and therefore you would have 100% chance of a critical?

You are welcome 😄. If you bought the full bundle, one of the Companion books has different careers for non-human communities.

There's some good discussion of stripping down skills to the basics in this thread: Many of the current crop of Free League games like Coriolis and Forbidden Lands are doing similar things, simplifying the skills to a manageable core. Coriolis has a single 'Pilot' skill for all vehicles. I would probably at least distinguish animal control/riding from vehicular travel. You're right in that not every game would need all of those skills. A campaign set in the old Inca Empire would have no need of Riding, Sailing or Driving! (Actually not quite true; there would have been animal handling though not riding, and some boating would have happened on the coast or mountain lakes).

It's not Elric! or BRP but there's currently (2021-08-06, and lasting for another 11 days) a bundle of holding offer for Warlock! https://bundleofholding.com/index/current/name/Warlock. It's a terrible, unsearchable name for an obscure RPG. However, I bought it and it is quite a pleasant amalgam of WFRP, Dragon Warriors(?) and Fighting Fantasy (the "best of British"), though mostly the former. All the classic professions and advanced professions are there, with a skill system that could translate quite easily to BRP/Elric! You roll a d20 and add your skill and if you get 20+ you succeed. As @Nikoli was hinting at, each profession has its own 'profession' skill as well as others. It has an ok looking magic system too. Maybe worth a look for your research?

How hard would it be to get OpenQuest 3 an ISBN? It's not a big deal, I ask merely because I wanted to add it to my Librarything RPG library. It didn't show up in the search there, though the Jackals games do (they have ISBNs or ASINs or whatever). Several people on Librarything, including me have added various editions of OpenQuest manually, but those aren't shareable.

Since the Got my OpenQuest rulebook today thread is closed, I'll add that I got my OpenQuest3 rulebook today! 😄 Thanks Newt! I like the layout and font choice more than OQ2; it just seems more readable to me, enticing even. So far I haven't got to any bits which are vastly different in content than its predecessor but I'm looking forward to reading it in full. I admit in spite of good intentions I haven't used OQ in a game yet; probably won't while my Elric! copies are still intact. My gaming gang is stable and mostly play what we play. But OQ still interesting to mine for good ideas.

Well because it's Mythras (The Design Mechanism) we're discussing here not Call of Cthulhu (Chaosium). I think the two companies are respectful of each others' areas of influence.

Probably not allowed for Mythras 😄 though

Swords of Cydoria has already gone a different route and has become Exiled in Eris with a non-BRP system. Rubble and Ruin and Classic Fantasy are the two other monographs I've actually played (in monograph form), though I've enjoyed and considered playing most of the others you've listed.

And ironically in the time it's taken you to get the job it's now Brisbane and Sydney in lockdown and Melbourne that is COVID-free 😄

It's easy to implement because any weapon size is easy to guess. It's not BRP but in my Tirikélu thread there was the idea that even on a successful parry the defender takes (the attacker's damage bonus) - (the defender's damage bonus); which further emphasises that it's better to dodge the attacks of huge creatures than try to parry them. Also possibly better to dodge if you're unarmoured vs. a strong opponent. In Tirikélu the damage bonus is just a number but in BRP it would be more fiddly because would mean extra dice rolling per attack.

One useful concept for this from OpenQuest and Mythras (at least the Lyonesse version) is weapon sizes. Weapons and shields are categorised as Light, Medium, Heavy, Huge (Lyonesse uses: Small, Medium, Large, Huge and adds Enormous for giant clubs etc.) Parrying with a weapon or shield of the same size or greater deflects all of the damage, parrying with one size less deflects half the damage; and if you parry with something 2 or more sizes smaller it deflects nothing. That's when dodging becomes suddenly useful! Also shields punch above their weight, so that even a buckler is counted as 'Medium' size for what it can parry against.