Mankcam

Very Tolkien-esque, the Works Of The Master, not the Mad Genius stuff above heh heh

RQ3 Gods Of Glorantha had some good stuff on this. Possibly also the HeroQuest Glorantha book and the MRQ2 Cult Compedium as well (but offhand I'ld have to check these). No doubt the upcoming Guide To Glorantha will touch on it as well, but I'm unsure as to what length. I'ld strongly advise you to get an account with Glorantha.com (Moon Design) and post this comment over there. You'll find yourself knee deep in Gloranthan lore and resources from those forums

And I've had a little squizz at the Pirates & Dragons pdf - not bad, very much in the style of Savage Worlds '50 Fathoms' setting. You could easily run Freeport with it, its almost made for it.

Yep, quite a good setting for a generic fantasy setting, I'm sure it would play well with core BRP, OpenQuest, LEGEND, RuneQuest, and especially Renaissance with its social class system and black powder rules. LEGEND has a Pirates rules supplement (originally MRQ2 Pirates) which could also work well here. Not much to port over, you can pretty much just use any BRP to plug into the content of the Freeport setting, although I'ld choose either LEGEND Pirates, or Renaissance as the ideal sets to go with. LEGEND plays a bit pulpier than Renaissance, which may be more ideal if you want a swashbuckling flavour to the setting. Renaissance will be good if you want to dress up the gritty and grimy aspects of living in a medieval urban port setting. Depends on how you want to play it, but Freeport has tended to be portrayed with cinematic systems like D20 or FATE, so I'ld go with LEGEND for emulating this.

Yep, some good advice here. All great settings listed here, some good memories playing these. Personally I can't wait to see how things shape up in RQ6 AiG. I've got the sneak peek of the kickstarter Guide For Glorantha and the setting looks better than ever. Very much the bronze age setting, the cultures really come alive. Personally I would like to see some new campaign material for Holy Country, and perhaps some Malkioni campaigns. The Malkioni are much more bronze age in the upcoming Gloranthan material, very little in common with medieval Europe, I think the mid period Byzantine Empire would be one of the closest analogies perhaps, but as usual there is alot of influences. Anyway I hope RQ6 AiG is reasonbly comprehensive regarding the cultures, but I hope any campaigns shifts the focus away from Dragon Pass, Prax, and The Lunar Empire as I think we can get the content for that from the HeroQuest rpg and just port it into RQ6 mechanics. Holy Country, Malkioni, and Teshnos have my votes for upcoming campaigns. Maybe after that the focus could go somewhere exotic like The East Isles or Fonrit, but I think some more Genertelan stuff needs to be covered first. You're right on the money with those Chaosium RQ2 settings being a great introduction to Glorantha, they were all good products that stand up well to the test of time.

Looks similar to Heroic Abilities from MRQ2 and LEGEND. If I was to use these I would tweak them in with the Arete system from Magic World for consistency. I found that you don't need a Feat system for most gritty BRP games, especially if everyone also has access to a spell or two if its a fantasy setting. But its nice to gain advantages to skills if you proceed beyond 100%, so some of these could be easily tweaked to work in with the Arete rules. Thanks for posting. The only time I would want a Feat system for skills below 100% would be if playing a very Pulp flavoured setting. I'm currently doing this with Astounding Adventures, except I allow the characters to choose from the BRP Spell list and change the trappings to be heroic yet barely plausible abilities, as most other Pulp settings do this to great effect. I was surprised that BRP Astounding Adventures did not have them actually, as without them its just like playing Call of Cthulhu without Monsters. I'll save your Feats and see where they fit in with the Arete system. It shouldn't be too hard, and I like what you've done here.

looks good so far!

In that case I think we're pretty much on the same page then

I agree whole heartedly when this comes to character generation. MW certainly wins out here, as its char gen is much more simple and superior than the clumsy old char gen presented in RQ3. I do have fond memories of doing character generation for RQ3, but I don't think I would have the time or the patience to do that for every character now. However I find I can't see how MW as a set of rules plays more smooth than RQ3 in general game mechanics. I think perhaps most of the other differences (such as Hit Locations vs Major Wounds, or Static AP vs Rolled AP, etc) are purely just a matter of taste as to which flavour you prefer. In my opinion you can play most games with FATE, its one of my favourite recent game systems. I don't know if it does the gritty, down and dirty aspects of BRP, but it certainly can handle pulp settings and heavy narrative settings quite well. I suspect if you use it for Glorantha than it may play like a better version (IMO) of the HeroQuest rules rather than the RQ rules. You may find it easier to convert Gloranthan HeroQuest supplements rather than RQ supplements. Have fun

Tooley1chris you have done a fair bit of work with your martial arts powers. I think if you buy Dragon Lines you will find that some of the martial arts effects you created are already covered in that book, although you can probably incorporate some of the other ones as techniques under your own Martial Arts styles. You could use Dragon Lines Martial Arts styles as a base, and if you need more then just follow the template there provided for Martial Arts styles and create a few new ones to your liking. You can come up with a nice homebrew that is using ideas already playtested, its not all that different from the path you were going down. Having said this, I think I personally find the Martial Arts presented in Celestial Empire pretty good as well. There is an option for having Wushu Powers, which is basically some of the Super Power rules attuned for Martial Arts, and some new Powers as well. I find the approach in Celestial Empire much clearer in some ways and more consistent with the BGB. Even though the flavour of the book itself is very historical, the optional Wushu rules work quite well and are simple to grasp. I slightly prefer these rules, but either Celestial Empire or Dragon Lines will certainly be a good buy for you. Zomben I have the old RQ3 Land of Ninja and the Ki Skills were a cool concept for its time. I think I tinkered with it at one stage to see if it could be widened in scope, but I have since lost those notes, it was mid 90s or so. Anyway it sounds like the new 'Arete' system in the upcoming Advanced Magic book is something that increases the scope of skills to beyond mundane effects, and this will be something I'm keenly interested in. I'm sure you could also create 'Pulp' Feats as well using such a system, which would be good if transposed onto the Astounding Adventures setting rules. I am also interested in seeing some examples of using Allegiance in cults, so this also raises my interest in the Chronicler's Companion. Sounds like both titles will be a worthwhile BRP purchases, I'm looking forward to these books Ben.

Both Dragon Lines and Celestial Empire are great asian settings. Celestial Empire is more historical in context and centred around China, whereas Dragon Lines is a pure fantasy setting. Both have Martial Arts although Dragon Lines is definately more fantastic Wushu in flavour. I see Celestial Empire as part of my Mythic/Fantasy Earth setting, whereas Dragon Lines is pure oriental fantasy which has a great setting but can easily be plugged into any asian style homebrew settings. Both titles are relatively slim, but have great content and are an asset to any BRP collection. I highly recommend both books, but Dragon Lines in particular will scratch your itch here, it has the flavour you are after.

I have bought it on pre-order from Amazon, its much cheaper internationally than paying for shipping from Chaosium. Can't wait for it to arrive, but no ETA on Amazon as yet, its likely to be at least a month or so after its published by Chaosium. I hope the pdf is available soon, that will suffice until I hold the actual book in my hands...

I have played most of my Gloranthan games using some version of RQ. I briefly used Hero Wars (now HeroQuest) for a year or so, but then moved back to RQ and used the Issaries Inc products with RQ as default. I was impressed with MRQ2 but didn't actually GM any 2nd Age Gloranthan material. I really like RQ6, and will more than likely continue with 3rd Age Glorantha for a default setting.

Wow, the future looks bright ahead, I can say I'm shelling out for the majority of these upcoming titles!

I was indicating the similarities in setting flavour rather than mechanics. But yes, you are right that there are elements of BRP that could be streamlined. Character gen could be quicker, and a more direct relationship between attributes and skills would be good. Magic World's quick skill allocation system for character generation is a pretty good idea, something that could be replicated for other BRP games. Numenera's one number opponent rating may be an innovation that most systems would have trouble competing with, its a great idea.However its easy to make up opponents on the fly in BRP as well, you just need HP and one or two skills. These things need to be presented in the actual core rules rather than well known GM home rules. I think most of thhe BRP system can stand up well to newer systems, it just needs streamlining here and there.

Yes, this is a real shame. Given Numenera's popularity, a good quality production of Swords of Cydoria could have potentially been a flagship product for BRP. Lets hope Magic World can hit the sweet spot, and I think The Green also has potential for a full fledged setting, but the sheer scope of Swords of Cydoria could have easily made it flagship material.

Continuing the Atomic Age Cthulhu play list: Early bobby socks rock n roll https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7lVQQmn91o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7lVQQmn91o and some sci fi soundtrack music:

Excellent, very excited +++ Love the book cover and wanting this content very much! No doubt I will have to wait to get the print edition from Amazon as its usually too expensive to get it shipped over to me otherwise. However I'm sure Chaosium will have prompt pdf release as well, so that will likely be my initial experience with this one. Either way I'm looking forward to it!

Yep, I sure would. I would love to pick up another BRP product from you, all of the Alephetar Games purchases for BRP have been pretty good, and a setting like this is crying out for BRP treatment, although its own system does sound pretty neat as well, I think I'ld like to see it in English either way

I love the hardcover edition, its a pleasure to read. But if you are after a gaming aid then you need to make your own screen / rules folder or just bring a tablet to the actual game, with the pdf in it. I kinda do both these day. I have a light folder with easy access to charts and house rules, and have the tablet on standby if we need to clarify anything in the rules pdf. I wish all hardcover editions came with pdf registration codes at a reduced rate, that is how things are going. Still, nothing beats a good looking hardcover in the bookcase!

Ken Hite's setting 'The Day After Raganok' is a great post apocalypse setting. The premise is that the Atomic Bomb in WW2 initiated Raganok. The actually game is set the 1950s or 1960s but the world is radically different, very Mad Max, Fallout, etc I have two editions of it, one for Savage Worlds and one for FATE. It suits the FATE mechanics a tad better than Savage Worlds (primarily because I think FATE is a much better system than SW). However it strikes me that the pulpy flavour of FATE is not the best fit for this setting, I would have much preferred to see it come out for BRP. BRP does gritty, down and dirty settings so well, especially if using a Hit Location system to make combat feel more tactile. It would be reasonably easy to port 'The Day After Raganok' setting into BRP, I'm surprised it hasnt already been posted actually. I recommend the setting very much for anyone wanting to do this kinda of game

Yes I need to know as well!

yes, a digest sized edition of a rules-lite OQ would have a good feel to it...

Which would be a good reason to have dual stats, it would be interesting to see how the creatures are perceived through two radically different game engines

Wow! These are excellent! I love the fact that it is a quick one page summary, very good for a GM already familiar with Glorantha from previous versions of RQ. This is a great example of fan material, I am really happy you posted these. I would certainly recommend others to check your site out!