Baron

Sandy will be participating in a thread on G+ tomorrow, in the Glorantha group!

Re: making monographs stand-alone books that don't require the BGB.

I understand the appeal of this but practically it's not very cost effective. By that I mean each book would be $40+ and would cost more to print. I know some wouldn't mind but that doesn't really appeal to me personally.

I have an Openquest  book called "Age of Shadow." It's 75 pages long, and has all the rules in it -- a complete rpg. PDF or POD, and it was $12 softcover, now on sale at Drivethru for even less. Just as Ben mentioned, all BRP-related games take what they need of the basics, and tweak as necessary. It's not required to print every option from the BGB toolkit; a bargain-priced stand-alone book is very do-able.

Keep the "good" ones available, fix what's worth fixing, kill access to what gives Chaosium a bad name. Whether they continue to have a monograph "avenue" to publication, or end the program, is another matter. Personally, I like the variety of subject matter. I like adventures. I don't like rules sets that are not stand-alone books, though. I don't want to have to flip through the BGB along with whatever spiffy new book I just got, when I'm at the table.

Well, OK, so maybe they'll make Lovecraft and the associated classics (CAS etc) available under their own imprint, although it's all available already. But for me, at least, if I feel like buying some fiction, I buy based on authors I like. So it seems unlikely that I'd ever go to Chaosium to buy the latest book by, say, CJ Cherryh. And not interested in trying new authors that, say, Sandy happens to like, just because Sandy likes them.

I wouldn't want to see Chaosium get into more financial diffiiculties by trying to sell reprints of old stuff, or new stuff by people I've never heard of. For instance, I would absolutely never buy Cthulhu Mythos fiction that wasn't written by Lovecraft (or CAS). If they went and commissioned a bunch of writers to create books of short Cthulhu stories, well, that would seem to me to be a bad business decision. And I already own all of the Mythos fiction that I'll ever want.

Anyway, hope they make very careful business decisions, and stick around for a long, long time.

My own preferences coming out, but is Chaosium likely to sell a significant amount of fiction?

Well, I just ordered Outpost 61, Rubble and Ruin, and Mission to Epsilon. So although I can't review them yet, they must look good to me! But for immediate BRP SF gratification, you should check out the Downloads section of this site! BRP Starships, BRP Cybernetics, BRP 40K Conversion, there's some fine material here!

Colin, the Download section for files is currently, to qoute a friend, "wonky." The admin is Trifleaxtor (sp?), so might want to check with him.

I use Roll20 to game with my old buddies, but it's difficult for me to get live gaming time in any case. I run my 1st ed AD&D Tekumel hack on Roll20 for them, and it's working out OK. But we got a lot more gaming in on play-by-post boards. OTOH, Roll20 allows us to see and hear each other playing, which is hard to beat. In any case, any efforts to make good games easier on Roll20 is appreciated. I play Chaosium 2nd ed RQ, and older Call of Cthulhu, and have yet to try Renn. But knowing it's out there and bringing more players in, makes it that much more likely that I'll be able to try it someday. (Especially if someone hacks Drageara!) So kudos, for your efforts.

You are so far ahead of where I thought. Kudos!

I'd love to see a pdf, thanks!

I would never try and spoil someone's creativity, so I applaud your efforts. I will say that, as a fan of Moorcock and Elric from way back, I still play 1st ed Stormbringer and find it represents "the Elric world" just fine. But again, by all means. I support your creation of another campaign setting, and thanks for sharing.

I don't know how "compatible" this space-based game is with any particular d100 game anyway. What does that actually mean, especially in this case? Every different d100 'game' and edition has all sorts of fiddly changes that make it different from every other one, to some extent or another. Since we're talking SF, just how close was "Ringworld" to any of its contemporaries (CoC, RQ, Stormbringer, Elfquest etc)? How close is your game to the "Ringworld" edition?

Supply all the necessary rules in your book. Make it stand-alone. Figure out the "polite" reference you want for the cover that says, essentially, "This game was written by fans of such games as Runequest, Call of Cthulhu and other Basic Roleplaying games. If you see a resemblance, don't be surprised."

And if you want to make some sort of business deal with a publisher of one of the other games, by all means do so. It all depends on what your goals are for putting it together. Personally, the monograph sounds like an interesting option from what Rod says.

Aw, no video? Rod has to step in, like The Voice of Reason, and spoil everything! ;-)

Hmm, my post didn't 'take.' Anyway, Colin Brett wrote the 'other' BRP ME mashup. There's also "Age of Shadow." And I'd love to hear from Fergo113.

I will refrain from ranting about the movies. I like the Merp supps. I'd love an update from Fergo113... And the "other" BRP ME rules set is by Colin Brett. It's very nice.

Hey Fergo113, are you still about? Hoping you're still writing ME chapters...

Sounds good.

Oh, and I don't do kickstarters.

Nice point, Ethereal. "Compatible with" on the cover might be good though.

Well, I don't really use pdfs, and as a BRP/RQ/CoC gamer from way back, I'm gonna venture to say that in this company that's not as rare as it might be among fans of other games.

So, since I'd like to see as many people as possible playing your book, I'd like to see it available in printed form. Don't know if hardcover is called for, as long as the book is sturdy enough. I require a sturdy book.

OTOH, money is always tight these days. I won't spend $40 on a book. I know that many other gamers don't flinch at $70 books, but I won't buy one.

My two credits worth.

Thanks! Getting a 404 on the saints doc though...

That's what I did. My investigators' efforts determined whodunit in the end.

Will dig around. How's Astounding Adventures? I picked up Justice Inc, because I loved Allston's Land of Mystery, but haven't read it yet. Also curious about Mercenaries Spies & Private Eyes...

I'm using Roll20 for a D&D game. I think it works fine. And it's free.

I only use it rarely, but for the basics I have no complaints. A/V working, die-rolling, all my docs up. Someone even made a charsheet that I'm trying. Managed to get all free tokens and maps. Really it's just a vtt, and does all I need.

Pseudoqoute: "Too many options and too generic can make it a bit harder..."

Possibly. I'd use an equipment list, not a builder. Might look at a build system to get a feel for my handwavium pull stats from air methodology. Too many options will make my eyes glaze over, but that's just me.

I might suggest separate but compatible instructions...