Mankcam

You could possibly use CHA to calculate starting Hero Points, perhaps 1 Hero Point per 5 CHA. Additionally, when Hero Points are awarded, then perhaps some of those are automatic awards, whereas others may require a CHA x 5% to gain the Hero Point. I agree with keeping OQ simple and straight-forward, that's the charm of it. If you are using the social skills in game play as outlined above then I cannot see it being a dump stat at all.

Very decent of Sandy to provide this!

I actually thought this may have been a 'KS-exclusive' book which is to arrive alongside the 13th Age Glorantha book. Considering I'm not a D20 player, this book as a stretch goal was my main incentive for backing the 13th Age Glorantha project in the first place.... :-(

Best not to mention the Drop Bears heh heh

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The weird thing is that we say the same about the northern hemisphere heh heh Okay add this to the list of unusual aussie locations - the remote township of Coober Pedy, a tiny little opal mining settlement way out in the desert, much of it is built underground. An ideal location for a Cthulhu Now game, as perhaps the contemporary underground living segues into much older and darker tunnels... http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/coober-pedy-australia.html http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/coober-pedy-underground-homes.html Okay it's far too modern for the Convicts & Cthulhu setting, so getting back on topic, here's an interesting piece of superstition from the Penal and Colonial Australian era: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16801512 http://theconversation.com/these-walls-can-talk-australian-history-preserved-by-folk-magic-47636 (note: the link above contains a link to the researcher's actual PhD Thesis submission on folk magic warding practices in Penal/Colonial Australia - a very interesting reference, and something easily reworked into the Mythos)

Crikes! I wonder how much Sanity we lose by actually living down here. No regular Gen Con in QLD alone must net me 1D6 SAN, let alone the cost of transport added onto a ticket to The Kraken, heh heh

Wear that like it's a Medal of Honour, heh heh

The previous posters are on the right track regarding special effects for Martial Arts. Certainly adds alot of flavour and variety. Another approach, albeit much more broad, is to just work out whether the Martial Arts style is primarily offensive or defensive in nature. Offensive styles would probably just have the same effect as described in the BGB, doing double damage, no changes necessary. So something like Thai Kick-Boxing may fit this picture. Defensive styles are more about protecting yourself, or disarming or impairing the ability of another to harm you. So in these styles it is more about the opponent's ability which is affected. For these styles I would tend to make the effect mean that the opponent is at Difficult (half% or half Characteristic, whichever is relevant) resisting your maneuver, and if you roll a special success, then they also have to do likewise to resist. For example, you might rule that Aikido or Jujitsu are known for the ability to use another's weight against them, so they may be considered primarily Defensive styles under these rules. So if you succeeded in a Grapple attack then it follows the BGB rules as usual. However if your roll is both a Grapple success and also a Martial Arts (Aikido or Jujitsu) success, then your opponent's opposing Characteristic is halved for purposes of resisting any of the Grapple Effects - ie: half STR for resisting Immoblisation, or (SIZ+DEX) halved for resisting Throw Target, of half Agility % resisting Knockdown, etc. So I would just have two rules for Martial Arts: one for Offensive styles (attacker does double damage), and one for Defensive styles (halve opponent's resisting roll); that keeps things simple, yet still has a little variation for flavour. If you are playing a game with a more specific Martial Arts focus, you could certainly make different offensive and defensive effects for each particular Martial Arts styles, similar to the previous suggestions, but if going down this path I would definitely recommend acquiring Dragon Lines instead. As previously mentioned, if you are after Wuxia Martial Arts then re-trap the BGB Powers or hunt down Celestial Empire, as the hard work has already been down there. Or if you cross over to Mythras, then combat effects are a big thing and already worked into the core system, and Wuxia effects are covered under the Mysticism magic style. But if doing it with the BGB then I would tend to use my simple approach, or fiddle with the effects along the lines the others have already suggested.

Not too sure about it 'rockin' here in Brissy, but there's are about five comic shops that sell rpgs, scattered over a population of about 2 million people, so yeah that's something. Melbourne and Adelaide seem to be the places for rpgs. Sydney as well no doubt, given it's population, although I always seem to hear Melbourne and Adelaide more often referenced as a presence for rpgs here in Australia. Well at least Brisbane is on the Comic Con circuit these days!

The G2G should always be in print...

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Trade you for Brisbane AU; it can't be worse for rpg exposure...

ICE were good in regards to their skill allocation process, and the version of 'classes' allowed for a lot of variety. I found all the table referencing during gameplay to be very cumbersome, and this is why I never GM'd many ICE games. However I have played as a PC in quite a few ICE campaigns over the years. Cyberspace was better than Rolemaster, as there were less tables to reference, but still quite clunky by todays standards. Despite such, I consider ICE's systrm a much better system than any of the versions of D&D ( including D&D 5E). I think the main strength for me is that the content is usually great in the ICE books, including the Cyberspace books. I prefer the BRP Family as a skill system, but would also happily play ICE Cyberspace. Its a pity that ICE / Guild Companion have not revamped it.

Personaly I would use River of Heaven, and design my own Cybersprawl setting, perhaps using some pdf resources from Cyberspace if I needed further information. Or just use Cyberspace as is.

Yes Cyberspace was ICE so essientially a more steamlined version of Rolemaster, a few less tables etc more like HARP Fantasy in mechanics. I did quite like it, the mechanics seemed more suited to the genre than Rolemaster being suited to fantasy. From a playability perspective it may be one of the best options. Although it is a little dated in places, but it is very William Gibson

Cyberpunk evolved into another sub-genre of Sci-Fi, (just like Space Opera, Hard SciFi, Dieselpunk, or Planetary Romance). I guess Gibson just knew that he couldn't own an entire sub genre. No more than Tolkien Estates could own High Fantasy, or Poe could own American Gothic. Shadowrun is really a great setting, but yes of course the concept is essentially a fantasy-cyberpunk pastiche. However the current range of products by Catalyst is quite impressive, and it wins hands down for having the most resources.

I was just referencing how the Dwarves were presented in the RQ2 corebook and Griffin Mountain. After that Greg must have sured up his thoughts on them and presented such through fanzines etc but it was the RQ3 Elder Races box and RQ3 Gods of Glorantha where I first came across the real concept of Mostali. Even though the cultural descriptions have been in place for some time, they have always looked like Tolkienesque Dwarves until recently. The G2G artwork is a big departure from many previous visual depictions. I greatly prefer the contemporary visuals, as this stops drawing comparisons to standard high fantasy dwarves, and makes the Mostali uniquely Gloranthan. If I want Tolkien's dwarves then I'll play The One Ring rpg instead Not that I actually want to play Mostali, but they make great background NPCs, very weird little things

Elder Races have been significantly different since RQ2. Back then the actual RQ2 Core Book included pictures of Tolkienesque Elves and very goblinoid looking Trolls. The Dwarves were alsl very Tolkienesque, considering the artwork in Griffin Mountain. I think I remember the troll depictions changing first with the Big Rubble and Trollpak boxes. Then in RQ3 the Elves started being depicted more as 'plant people'. Mostali have been pretty much depicted as Tolkienesque Dwarves, although by RQ3 we were aware of how different they think compared to humans. However the most recent depictions of Mostali are in the G2G, and there isnt any trace of Tolkien's influence there, they look more like Brian Froud's creations. So the portrayal of Elder Races has changed dramatically since RQ2

Well I probably would have preferred a focus on a wider range of human cultures in the core book, and would have expected Elder Races player backgrounds to be covered in other supplements down the track. Not that I am unhappy at all, but that would of been how I would have approached the core book. I do like the three book format, especially in a slipcase. There is something appealing about not referring to a large tome at the gaming table.

I would totally go for that if I was anywhere near GenCon!

I agree that Mostali certainly make difficult player-characters; indeed Aldryami and most of the Elder Races are quite alien in Glorantha, and in my experience they all tend to be better used as NPCs unless the players are well versed in Gloranthan lore. However we did have fun playing Uz when Trollpak came out I was just surprised as I thought that the core book may have mirrored the same Races that were presented in the G2G Book 1.

Jeff is there any chance of replacing Morokanth with Mostali in the core rulebook? From memory I think the Morokanth were primarily only living in Prax, whereas the Mostali settlements are more widespread. To me it just makes more sense to have Mostali in the core book, and Morokanth presented elsewhere in a Prax resource.

Wow! This is all great news - sign me up for the RQ slipcase now !!!

I think we did some similar with Basic Magic. Initates could learn up to 2pt spells, Acolytes up to 4pts, and Runelords & Priests up to 8pts. Seemed to balance pretty well