Mankcam

Yes, I could easily do something similar (ie: extreme success + something awesome), but I am just confused as to what the authors intended, considering the two examples are the same.

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or over at Yoggie. I've had the CoC7E pdfs for some time, but sometimes I miss things when I read pdfs, and now I'm really taking my time to take a good look at the game mechanics changes considering that I have the hardcover books in my hand. I do like most changes, however I am a little confused in regards to damage from a Critical Success attack roll. In the Keepers Rulebook p89 it talks broadly about Critical Successes (a roll of 01) being an avenue for the Keeper to narrate some good fortune when a character performs an action. Specifically in regards to attack rolls, a default example is provided that states that maximum damage in automatically inflicted, no roll required. Then in the Combat chapter, under the section of 'Determining Damage' on p103 it describes scoring an Extreme Success on an attack roll which yields a result of extreme damage, inflicting maximum damage, no roll required (unless the attacker uses a piercing weapon, in which case it is maximum damage + another roll). So I must be missing something. If an attack roll's Extreme Success yields maximum damage, than what happens upon a Critical Success? I could understand if in combat, a Critical Success attack roll was a narrative description purely left up to the Keeper. But this does not seem to be the case, as the example on p89 for Critical Success provides an actual default damage which reads pretty much the same as for an attack roll Extreme Success on p103. If anyone is able to shed a light on this, it would be greatly appreciated!

This was excellent! Thanks for posting! Now I want to see the one on RQ

This is not specific to your actual scenario, but very broad advice - railroad it. When in doubt, just railroad a few bits by narrating something like this: 'Your curiosity gets the better of you, and despite your better judgement you follow the path, even though every instinct is screaming otherwise..." Then you have them back where you want them (ie: in a prepared scenario, rather than having to wing everything on the fly). If unhappy, just remind them that this is a joint storytelling exercise, and some plot points need to occur, and it is your prerogative as a Keeper to ensure this happens. It is best to avoid this, but if you hardly ever do this then it should not be a big thing. After all, it's for the good of the game and it's no fun for anyone if the Keeper runs out of juice. If you want it to feel more fair from a gamist sense, then perhaps it can be regulated with the use of 'Keeper tokens'. The Keeper can perhaps start the scenario with a number of tokens proportionate to the size of the troupe in the session. Maybe one token, and an additional token for each investigator PC in the troupe (ie: for a troupe of three investigators, the GM starts the scenario with four tokens). These tokens represent the number of times that the Keeper can automatically decree something occurs within a scenario, and the Keeper then 'cashes in' a token upon each time that a plot redirection needs to occur. This way the players do not feel that the Keeper has the absolute power to do it whenever, and it reinforces that it only happens when the Keeper feels it is essential to the plot. Plus it kinda feels fun

Well, D&D is American. But Chaosium was Californian .

I didn't like it being called MagicWorld when it's quite different to the old MW from WoW. Naming it something different would have been a better way to go. However compiling elements from SB and RQ3 was a nice idea to show how fantasy could be done with the BGB. I particularly like the streamlined character generation, that was so cool, and the fact that only one book was necessary. The Advanced Sorcery supplement was great, but it never felt like you had to have that to play MW,it was very much supplemental material. So that was nice from a consumer perspective. I think perhaps my favourite part of MW was Ben's enthusiastic presence on the forums and elsewhere; he really made you want to grab an old Basic D&D scenario and run it with the MW rules. The spike in fan based material that followed was also impressive, I think tooley1chris really outdid himself here! MW was a short lived but great phenomena which may have only primarily had life within these forums and a few offshoots. I am glad to have witnessed it, and I hope Ben Munroe shows up again in the RPG industry, this time supported by a budget worthy of his enthusiasm.

I would like to see something like this in the next edition of RQ. The thresholds would have to be based on the primary Characteristic x 5% for each Skill Category. I think I've finally found my legacy contribution to BRP, heh heh. Although I really can't claim credit for the concept. I lifted the idea from Savage Worlds rpg and just applied it to BRP. Seems like it may work just as good here!

D100 Essentials may possibly work...

It could have been much worse...!

A good enough reason to change it, especially if it has been referred to as BRP for almost three decades by the publishers, yet hardly anyone in gaming stores actually calls it that (Excluding GMs who frequent online gaming forums ) The Chaosium System ( "Système Chaosium" ) or The D100 System ( "Système d100" ) both work reasonably well if Worlds of Wonder is off the table. I would go for WoW D100...

BRP is my favourite system, but it's an awful name. It's very clinical and stale sounding, and also incorrect, as the system is far from 'basic' by today's standards. For a simulationist system it's not overly complex, but it is a long way from being considered a 'rules-lite' or 'basic' system. I always thought Chaosium were onto something with the 'Worlds of Wonder' title for their box set of assorted settings back in the 1980s, and I would of preferred if they had also considered using that title as the name for their core system. These days it would be referred to as 'WoW', and now 'Worlds of Warcraft' has that acronym. However I can live with two 'WoW's in the gaming industry. Unfortunately BRP has stuck, although I wonder how hard it would be to rebrand the core system's name? The current crowd would have to live with it, but new players may be more attracted to a more evocative name. Most players I know just refer to it as 'The RuneQuest System' or 'The Cthulhu System'. Occasionally I have seen it referred to as 'The Chaosium System' and sometimes just 'The D100 System'. Despite all it's years of existence, the name 'BRP' is not on the tips of many gamers tongues, even if product titles like RuneQuest and Call Of Cthulhu are widely known.

You could go a step further and make this pertain to ALL skills by ruling that Skills cannot go beyond a maximum value (equal to a specific Characteristic x 5%). However my preference would be to make it a 'threshold' rather than a maximum value. Once the relevant Characteristic x 5% threshold is exceeded, the rate of % gain is reduced for Skill Checks (ie: a successful Skill Check only yields a 1D3% gain, rather than the usual 1D6% gain). That's an easy way to make all Characteristics meaningful.

Yes that is a big issue with BRP games in general, perhaps even worse in the classic line as opposed to the MRQSRD line. I would have possibly preferred BRP based on core Characteristic Rolls with bonuses for particular skills, which is what a reasonable proportion of RPGs do. The other option would be to have no Characteritics at all, and base everything on Skills. Just assume any untrained action has a default roll as the characters are within normal limits, and if they have particular aspects that place them outside of this range then they could be expressed as Traits which could provide bonuses or penalties, depending on the Trait. I have seen this issue raise its head in forums quite regularly, and there is always a good debate on boh sides

That sounds much more reasonable!

Just found this on eBay. Crikes I can't believe the price! http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dragon-Lines-Guardians-of-the-Forbidden-City-A-BRP-Martial-Arts-Fantasy-/172293710287?hash=item281d8161cf:g:FP8AAOSwARZXoiyD

The Wushu Powers in Celestial Empire utilise a character's internal energy called Qi (which is represented by re-trapping of Power Points, not POW ). Basically it is using Super Powers using Martial Arts as the activation skill, There are versions of some of the BGB Super Powers, plus a reasonable range of new Powers specifically for the setting. So this is really the highly cinematic and semi-magical martial arts that we see in Wuxia films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House Of Flying Daggers. Which is a little unusual, considering that the rest of the setting is psuedo-historical China and feels that it could be played as a gritty realistic setting with perhaps a more realistic take on Martial Arts. Some great content however, it has alot of information for it's page count, and if you want to play cinematic Chinese Fantasy then then Martial Arts works well. Dragon Lines: Guardians Of The Forbidden City depicts an Oriental High Fantasy setting, something not all that dissimilar to Journey To The West or even Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the Martial Arts ranges from normal styles up to magical styles ( wuxia -influenced) Each style of Martial Arts covers certain attack and non-combat skills, and also grants a few signature moves for each school. These signature moves have two forms: Techniques and Chi Powers. Techniques give the character special traits in combat (usually a +10% to a skill of relevance), or replace special success attack rolls. Chi Powers are additional moves only available to the magical styles, and work similar to the Wushu Powers from Celestial Empire, wherein they cost the character's internal energy, called Chi (portrayed by Power Points). They replicate some BGB Super Powers and also describe some new Powers specific for the setting. Although I love the attention to detail in the Celestial Empire book, the martial arts are more detailed in Dragon Lines and cover both mundane and magical martial arts styles, so if you have to choose then this is the title for the Martial Arts. However both books are really good, and work well with the BGB. I think they will probably be equally as good if ever republished using Alephtar Games upcoming version of the BRP system, Revolution D100.

I think I read early on that they said that the content of the G2G would hopefully remain in circulation in some form, although not always in th form of large coffee table books, although this next release sounds pretty much the same. I know there was mention of also doing Gods Of Glorantha in similar format as a double companion volume to the G2G, which will likely be another lengthy Kickstarter project if it happens, and pretty big news if it is announced. I can see the content for both of them being re-released later in a series of general trade publications, but it will always be good to have the original coffee-table books from a collectors point of view. Any fan of the Gloranthan setting who doesn't have the G2G should defnately consider getting it this time around.

Yeah this isn't the kind of thing I would throw money at in a Kickstarter, it's more for immediate gratification rather than waiting endless months for. If it is a general release this year then I can definitely see me playing this with a mate or two with a few beers at our Christmas BBQ

That makes much more sense. I thought it was Sedenya and possibly the World Spike in the background, and a reference to the Red Moon and the World Spike that I was unaware of. Although the yellow halo was confusing, indicating that it wasn't the Red Moon after all. I would have got it eventually ... maybe ( cough, cough) But back on topic, I hope Chaosium/Moon Design look into this and either get their royalties or get the product off Amazon, it's just blatantly bad form. However it does raise the idea of 'novelty' products, which do seem to sell quite well. Plush Cthulhus are a good example, along with the 'Cthulhu For President' stuff, and this new card game Khan Of Khans looks to be another fun novelty product. Online stores like ThinkGeek are an excellent outlet for fanzine novelties, and I'm all for it as long as the original creators are getting something out of it. If the original creators are involved then its all good as long as they keep their eye on the main game and don't digress too much into just bringing out novelties per see. So I wonder if Moon Design/Chaosium is getting anything from this product?

I played Hero Wars when it first came out, but wasn't overly impressed with it back then, and returned to using RQ3 and BRP for Glorantha. When HQG was published I mainly bought it just to support Moon Design to keep all this Gloranthan content rolling. After reading it I find that I actually don't mind the system, it feels like it flows better than Hero Wars, I do like its narrative focus, but my players are more into BRP so I never became overly familiar with it, although I have a renewed interest in it at present. In regards to the system however I think I would prefer to see HQ done for a Pulp Adventure/Noir Era setting rather than a fantasy setting, but that's just me. I can see that it does Heroic Age flavour quite well. I tend to read the G2G for most of my Gloranthan fixes these days, along with the Sartar books and Pavis books for HQ, and the Gloranthan Classics compilations that Rick compiled a few years ago. I have got The Coming Storm pdf, it looks good, and it's in my reading backlog at present. I will have to take another good look at the HQG book itself. I love the quality production of the book, so I know RQ will look equally as good. I do tend to look at the pics as you say, the colour plates are great, and I find those little b&w pics of the figures very useful for getting a feel of the different cultures. Well I think I will sink my teeth into it while waiting for RQ. It feels very much like an extension of the G2G, and I need to keep expanding my Gloranthan knowledge

Ah right - I have HQG but haven't read it too much as I am more of a RQ/BRP GM ...well in that case it is Glorantha heh heh. BTW is that the Red Goddess in the centre? Did I get the others right? More to the point, Moon Design/Chaosium should contact Amazon to get the product taken down, or work out royalties

Is it necessarily Gloranthan? If that was Sedenya in the centre then shouldn't she have a Red Moon halo instead of a yellow one? I must admit that does look a lot like Yelm up in the top left corner, but I guess it could also be any ancient figure. But he is fighting a blue skinned warrior with a horned helmet emerging from clouds..that could possibly be interpreted as a depiction of Orlanth or Heler perhaps... That figure in the bottom right hand corner could easily depict some type of Thai Demon... but it also sure looks a lot like an Uz... and many of those symbols surrounding the centre figure appear to be Gloranthan Runes... ...yes, agreed, it's pretty suss...

Perhaps more Gloranthan products can be made like this in future, just narrative content, no game stats at all - this way it appeals to players of RQ, HQ, OQ, Mythras, 13G, or whatever takes your fancy. Also I think there is a growing number of people who are interested in the setting of Glorantha who are not into games, much like Middle Earth. The G2G has been the game changer here.

Another issue is Magic Points. The default value is equal to POW. However this could vary from setting to setting. For example, if wanting to play a classic high fantasy style Bard you may give them Magic Points based upon their CHA for example. This could potentially work with other magic as well, such as a Wuxia style Warrior-Monk whose Magic Points are based upon DEX perhaps. So I guess it depends on how much you want to deviate from the RAW. I find OQ (and other BRP games) to be simple enough to tweak things here and there for individual settings and not cause any dramas.

Yes, however upon reflection I think it may work better with 1 Hero Point per 4 CHA, the break points are better as the characters will really see the difference having a higher CHA this way. It means some people start with slightly more Hero Points than suggested in the OQ rules. OQ suggests starting a beginning character with 2 Hero Points, however under these rules you would start with 1 Hero Point at CHA 4; 2 Hero Points at CHA 8; 3 Hero Points at CHA 12; and 4 Hero Points at CHA 16. So it's not a big issue, and it does gives weight to the CHA characteristic right from the start. However I think making ongoing Hero Point or Improvement Point gain based upon CHA rolls is probably the best way for players to see another practical benefit to having a high CHA. I would deem some some awards as being automatic, based upon the achievement (ie: plot goals achieved), whereas others as only opportunities to acquire awards, dependent upon a CHA x 5% roll ( ie: awarding good role-playing and creativity etc). This is would certainly make CHA much more appreciated. I also tend to use Social Rolls quite prominently in my games as well, granting bonus or negative modifiers based upon the player's descriptions and creativity. It not only highlights good opportunities for roleplaying, but it is a constant reminder of how important social skills are (and thus how important CHA is). Most of my sessions are focused on social rolls with players trying to avoid physical combat (at least hand to hand melee) as much as possible, due to the consequences of being wounded. So this puts a big importance on the social skills, and makes the more charismatic characters quite valuable at times.