Mankcam

Although I prefer the RuneQuest mechanics, the Storyteller system is also a great fit, a bit more handwavey but it feels more like the Glorantha portrayed by HeroQuest 1. I don't find HeroQuest great for a fantasy setting (although it's perfect for a modern day pulpy action/adventure setting), but I'ld happily play Glorantha with the WoD Storyteller system. I have always liked the original Griffin Mountain setting. I felt that the Theyalans/Orlanthi were very Thracian-influenced in their portrayal, living in small Mycenaean-style citadels (actually the floor plan for one of those citadels was completely ripped off from a real-world historical Mycenaean citadel). The interplay between the three citadels is quite interesting, especially with the Lunar presence in one of the citadels. The nomadic Balazoring tribes aligning themselves to different citadels is also a good idea. Having a self-contained region like this at the edge of The Elder Wilds makes it a great sandbox setting, heaps of adventuring opportunities due to the dangers inherent in the wilderness. If playing it at the time set in RQ2 it is a perfect setting for GMs doing their own thing without worrying about the meta-setting in the lands beyond. However as RQG will be set a decade later then The Hero Wars will eventually impact even here, although again I would envision it will be up to the GM how this would roll out. Lots of freedom to create your own stories here. Highly recommended for the OP to take a look at the Griffin Mountain PDF/book BTW yes there is some great content on the website posted above regarding Balazar & The Elder Wilds; this will keep me reading for some time, thanks for posting!

Well I have River of Heaven which I have not yet had time to run, but it looks very good. I also have Age of Shadow, which I may use as a base to run Middle Earth at some stage (probably with some additional concepts brought across from Cubicle 7's The One Ring rpg). I have introduced my children (late primary school age) to rpgs, and used OpenQuest Basic to do it. Ran a few sessions of classic fantasy along the lines of Basic D&D modules and Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. It worked really well. My 9 yr old has some issues grasping the concept of rolling percentile, but my 11yr old was fine with it. I have bought The Savage North, intending to run with a more adult group at some stage, when they're in a less adult mood For me I like the simplicity of OQ, and the fact that characters can be rolled up quite quickly. For me it's a nice counterpoint to more 'serious' gaming.

Cool, I have been waiting for this!

One thing I may have liked to see with a new edition of OQ would have been a reworking of the magic not to mirror the RQ magic systems too closely. For instance I would completely retrap Battle Magic as optional rules for cinematic Talents. I know such is suggested in the book, but I would of made Talents the default form. Arcane Magic is reasonable with the Sorcery rules, although additional rules for Alchemy might be helpful. However I guess that may not need to be in a core book. Priestly Powers could be presented in the form divine abilities or theological knowledge which has practical applications of blessings, wards, pacts, and curses; and more moral/behavioural focused (however not too complex with these, the game works well unburdened), Now that RQ2 is back and RQG is on its way, it may be good to present OQ with its own identity rather than being in RQ's shadow. However all of these things are easy to hand wave, which is another of OQ's charms. All in all I still think OQ is a great little toolkit for a less cluttered BRP game, making it perfect for classic dungeon crawls and superficial rollicking sword n sorcery sessions.

Indiana Jones & The Masks of Nylarthotep...

Just for the record everyone, I was only thinking with the Combat system analogy because the original arguement was framed as 'Social Combat'. So one would assume that it would replicate such with a form of 'combat style' and 'hit points', retrapped to portray a social context rather than a physical one. So I am not sure where any confusion comes from Otherwise that whole idea is really just down to a bunch of extended rolls, which many of us already do, using milestons as a base, like the extended crafting rules. Some good ideas in this thread, but also some confusion as well. I also might also bow out of this one, to keep it on track.

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I'm not sure we are in any disagreeance. For example, I know there are Orate, Play Intrument, and Act skills in Mythras, but they are just single rolls. My point was that some skills like this could actually work quite well as an extended roll/social conflict mechanic. Just not all skills. Influence, as an example - sure, it could work with Social Conflict, but in my experience its more fun actually roleplaying it verbatim. But everyone's game differs. I was just chiming in on the banter, agreeing that Social Conflict rules could work well for some situations and less so for others. Social Hit Points is an interesting concept. I think it is reasonable calculating them as (CHA+POW)/2 if it represents a concept like 'Conviction'. The more I think about it, the more I also think there will be situations where it could represent other concepts, like Logic for instance (perhaps just INT), or 'Bearing' (just CHA), who knows? Yes I agree that there may be many different ways to calculate Social Hit Points. Social Combat has been raised a few times in these forums a while ago, although it may have been more general BRP. Much of those discussions may still be relevant here. However I do like the Mythras-specific take on this, some of the 'social combat styles' that Alex Greene suggested in the original post have alot of flavour.

Yeah Defence is just a bit too fiddly for me, I really prefer the active flavour of rolling for Dodge or Parry, as opposed to RQ2's way of doing it.

Land Of The Samurai is very good. It was republished as Samurai Of Legend, I think without hardly any change to text or content The Honour system ('On') is also easily retrapped and ported to other settings - I reworked it as a Glory system for an Ancient Greece campaign that I never managed to run. You will find that either 'Land Of The Samurai' or 'Samurai Of Legend' will be about 90% compatible with Mythras. It's well worth grabbing a copy at a reasonable price.

Yep that cover suits the old AD&D flavour, very early 80s, I dig it

These Social Conflict ideas have been kicking around for some time, especially since they were highlighted many years ago in games like HeroQuest where any notable trait can be used for simple or extended rolls, for almost any situation involving some form of competition. I have not had time to fully read my RD100 book yet, but I think it may suggest social conflict rolls, I'm unsure "Social Hit Points" would probably be based on (POW+CHA)/2, thats a no brainer. They would need a more appropriate name, something like "Conviction Points" spring to mind. It could possibly work well for things like oration and debate, such as Pompey and Caesar verbally duking it out in the Roman Senate. Another idea could involve an entertainer trying to impress an audience through showmanship, although I'm not sure how you would handle 'group social hit points'. For things like fast talking I would definately prefer if the player character actually roleplays the verbatim, and the GM assigns modifiers to their Fast Talk/Influence roll based on the verbatim - there are some circumstances that you definately don't want to replace 'role-play' with 'roll-play'.

That is truly a shame Jason. The skill mechanic of D100% is the most logical there is, it really is the ace up BRP's sleeve. Most other skill roll dice feel very gamist to me. Absolutely everything else about the new CONAN rpg looks brilliant. Exceptional artwork, and a big emphasis on cultures etc, and with all the consultation involved it really does capture Howard's setting and perhaps elevates it - its going to be a truly great product line, you all must be very proud! Of course a grognard like myself may end up hybridising it with BRP, just for the sake of it!

Given the setting's inclusion in Cthulhu Thru The Ages, one would assume that there are plans for it in Cthulhu 7E at some stage. Perhaps a one-off book with setting info and supplements, much like what they did with The Dreamlands setting. However there has not been any formal announcements regarding it, so my guess its way on the back burner at present.

My teens and early 20s were pretty good times for rpg gaming. We would do nothing for a few months, then suddenly would find ourselves gaming quite frequently, sometimes several times a week. Then I went through a rpg drought from the late 1990s to mid 2000s, GMing and playing in only a handful of sessions over a decade. Dark days for my gaming. Since about 2010 we had a renaissance which led to second monthly catch-ups, which have progressed to monthly sessions. Its not as sporadic as it was gaming in the 80s/90s, but its actually more regular and organised for me now, and the campaigns benefit from some maturity and hindsight. I count myself lucky

Ah yes, that's right, I forgot it was an add-on for RD100 - an add-on that I seemed to have forgotten about, yet I remember pledging for it. That and Robyn Holde. Cool, thanks for the reminder, more to look forward to (PS: Apologies for digressing off-topic)

Simon I must say that you did exceptionally well with all that, and you should be awarded for your services to BRP. Those Merrie England books are books that just keep on giving mate, I was very impressed by both versions that I have (the one for MRQ, and the one for BRP BGB). What's this talk of a third volume?

MW is also quite good for what we are describing, the char gen is simple, and it plays smoothly. In many ways MW could really be a good fit for gonzo old school D&D type games. I see OQ in a similar realm, but perhaps would like it to be even more simple than what it is now, only just slightly more complex than Fighting Fantasy (I am interested in seeing what Newt is thinking regarding his ideas on SimpleQuest). Although I'm still happy with OQ in it's current form, don't get me wrong about that Keeping a different flavour and complexity to MW and OQ keeps them in different niches, and not moving into the more serious territory of RQ and Mythras works for me, as this really appeals to a different kind of game play. I am quite a big time Glorantha, Hyboria, and Middle Earth fan, and converting or playing these with a mix of RQ/BGB rules has been my tabletop mainstay for many years. However sometimes I just want to crack open a beer and crack a few goblin heads without rolling hit locations or worrying about the plausibility of the setting, or the nature of it's mythos, or inner workings of its pathos, or whatever. Just to be in junior high again heh heh

Both of those systems sound pretty cool, but I think SimpleQuest may tick alot of boxes for me if I want to play an even more streamlined version of BRP. I thought that SimpleQuest was an earlier version of OpenQuest, but I may be wrong, as I never saw it (but seem to remember it possibly being discussed on these forums quite some time ago). But yeah,from what you described with SimpleQuest it does sound pretty good I was toying of using OQ and trimming the skill set down to the Skill Categories, or perhaps just even using the core Characteristics for most rolls, although the GM would have to place circumstantial modifiers on them a bit more. Perhaps some specialties would provide bonuses etc. I never finished tinkering with it, but the idea was to get a D100% system down to the simplicity of Basic D&D or Advanced Fighting Fantasy, using OQ as the base. In any case, OQ RAW isn't too far off that

I especially bought Road Of Kings and Faith & Fervour at the time particularly so I could port them into RQ/BGB. I remember the gazetteer was not in any game mechanics, it was primarily pure content. The cults book was also very content-heavy, but it also had a particularly 'RuneQuesty' feel to it, enough to port over to RQ/BGB with relative ease. I have backed the new Hyborian rpg (by Modiphius) - it's called CONAN: Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of - it's very well done; its a pity the core mechanic isn't a D100%, but everything else about it looks great. Truly beautiful artwork, and the game mechanics look like they are going to emulate the setting very well. It quite easily will become the definitive rpg for Hyborian gaming I think.

In some ways I would like OQ to have an even simplier character sheet structure, broader skills, more like skill categories (with the occasional specialisation - an idea explored with RD100), although perhaps more based on the core characteristics, dare I say a bit like D&D. I think making it even simplier would be a good niche so it is in contrast to Mythras and RQ, not competing with them. However I understand not radically changing it in case of distancing the current fan base. It already is much 'cleaner' than Mythras and RQ, and is a great introduction to D100 Fantasy. Sometimes I want something to play akin to the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks or the early classic Basic D&D scenarios, with the flavour of Dungeon Crawl Classics, using a intutive D100% skill mechanic. I think OQ is the closest way to do this with the BRP engine. In any case I see a niche for what OQ is (and also what I feel that it potentially could be). It's great to see that youre getting your mojo back for it Newt

I have the Chaosium G+ Feed, but I have been not keeping up to date recently, prefering to visit here instead.

Ok I guess that confirms it is the RQ engine and not the CoC 7E engine, I had not seen the actual submission guidelines. Its a bit weird that Mythic Iceland is already a CoC setting in the Thru The Ages book, yet the stand alone product is going to have a different BRP engine. No issues though, both versions of BRP are likely to be equally good in my books. For me, the name 'RuneQuest' is closely associated with Glorantha. However I think the Fantasy Earth concept will also work well, although it would be a shame if the settings are in direct competition with settings that Design Mechanism is doing with Mythras, in some ways it may stretch the consumer base. However from my point of view, I prefer to have a core base engine and hang different setting mechanics off that. It's less mental effort as a GM if the core system is known at a 'DNA level', and also much less issues for players as well.

Chaosium can certainly use the base BRP engine that is being developed for RQG, or they could just as easily adapt CoC 7E's version of the BRP Engine. In fact, most of the groundwork has been done for the later. Mythic Iceland is ALREADY one of the alternate settings for CoC 7E, as shown in the publication of Cthulhu Thru The Ages. Either version of BRP will work fine. My only suggestion if they intend to use the CoC 7E engine is that they present the optional Hit Locations rules as default, considering the visceral emphasis on hand to hand combat in the Mythic Iceland setting.

I'm good with this. I always liked the way the BGB BRP did it by having a culminative -30% modififer for each additional defensive action, I think it's a concept that works well and I never really liked the Action Pts economy I saw in MRQ. I think its great the way you are now doing in OQ by using the actual OQ modifiers to do the same thing. Nice touch