Mankcam

This looks like a really cool setting. I remember that Savage Worlds did something like this with '50 Fathoms' and its great to see a Pirate/Fantasy mix for a BRP system. Its just a bit pricey for me with the current exchange rate of British Pound to AUD, the postage really bumps it up as well... I'll have to check my finances later in the month. Its a great setting, I hope it gets some momentum

Well I just cashed in my Chaosium Points and downloaded this monograph earlier this morning.Wow, what a great setting, heaps of source material, lots of flavour. If anyone wants to do a BRP John Carter style game, this monograph is worth its weight in gold. I'm very impressed with the content so far. This really needs to be a fully-fledged setting line like Invictus I reckon. Top marks for this one!

I think that an Advantage/Disadvantage system works well for a Pulp setting, but I don't think it is necessary for a gritty setting and it does get a bit mini-maxing during character generation if used in all settings. I think Pulp works because you can get a lot of flavour from naming an Advantage to suit the feel you are after. I think core BRP is designed for gritty settings, and here the skill system works fine on its own, and the characters shouldn't have any particular Advantages for these settings. In some ways I prefer BRP because it feels 'cleaner' without a system like Advantages/Disadvantages. If you have GURPS then it wouldn't be hard to use that as a resource and translate it into BRP terms I think. Yep, I have done this. I used Super Powers to emulate Extraordinary Abilities for my Pulp BRP setting, all you do is ensure that the power has 'mundane' trappings, provide a more suitable name for the Power, and Bobs your uncle. The Character Point Budget allocation I used was equal to 1/2 CHA. For a less pulpy game you could always go equal to 1/5 CHA I suppose. Obviously if the Power cannot be explained in a mundane, albeit extraordinary way then I wouldn't allow it otherwise you'll simply be playing a low level Supers game instead. Same goes for the Failings, they need to be plausible for the mundane setting rather than something that could only occur in a SuperHeroes setting. In some cases if the Ability cannot be explained in a mundane way I still allowed that power, although it needed to be in a Gadget rather than an actual ability of the character - eg: a character could choose the Flight power, but would need to have a Rocketeer-like Jetpack in order to do so, for example. If there isn't a SuperPower available, then just look at the other Power systems in the BGB and use the mechanics accordingly. For example, I used the old RQ spell 'Demoralize' and retitled it 'Steely Gaze', and stated that the character must make a social roll (ie Fast Talk, Persuade,etc) in order to use the ability. In combat, if the character had the initiative then it could be used in the first melee round to offset opponents, but no later in the melee as it is not an actual spell like in RQ. It certainly came in handy for alot of social scenes for the character as well. Alot of Abilities can be modeled from Powers, from memory I think I retitled 'Extra Hit Points' as "Toughness', and Super Sense (Vision) as 'Eagle Eyes', 'Super Skill: Firearms' as 'Trickshot' etc. The recent Pulp setting book 'Astounding Adventures' does have a 'Disadvantage' system called 'Catches'. I won't go into it too much as it is only a recent release and its not fair to give out trade secrets, but it appears pretty good as well. Kinda along the lines of what you would expect for the setting, I'm glad it was included. So there are certainly a few options

Gotcha. Yeah I misinterpreted that initially, I thought you were describing aspects rather than skills, and were wanting to replace core skills with aspects to cut down the list of abilities and make the system more narrative in flavour, hence why I indicated that FATE Accelerated Edition was a good source of inspiration. I do like that idea, but I did think it was becoming less BRP in the approach.. I can see more clearly now that you are using 'Brawn' and 'Finesse' as more apt terms to describe different character aspects (derived stats) that can be used to achieve a Damage Bonus or Damage Value. Quite a good idea actually, one I have never thought of before. So a rapier-wielding duellist can be just as devastating as the maul-wielding brute in terms of damage bonus, yes I do like this idea. Could you, perhaps, just use the Damage Bonus Table from the BGB, but alter it slightly: Use the calculations as basing it on the SIZ of a character, and then choose either to add either STR or DEX (whichever is highest) to calculate the Damage Bonus, thus if STR is used then perhaps call it a Brawn Bonus, and if DEX is used perhaps call it a Finesse Bonus? It probably achieves the same thing without making too many new rules, yet describes different aspects of the character as being more prominent. Although by the looks of your previous post, you are after a very different damage system rather than just damage bonus aspects. More in line with Pendragon RPG perhaps, where you have a consistent Damage Value based upon Attributes (in Pendragon it is STR+SIZ), and this value is altered according to equipment or other modifiers. I didn't really find this a great mechanic for damage at the time, but it could easily be replicated in BRP using the Damage Bonus Table as a guide, but replace the bonuses with ascending dice levels instead, starting with D4 for +0 DB. This could work, especially if you keep the pre-existing weapon mechanics for length, range, weapon specific specials, etc. Not sure if I would go to the trouble though, as if I wanted to do this I would probably just play Pendragon as is rather than convert it to BRP. But there is certainly no reason why much of that wouldn't port over to BRP, including the Damage Value idea. Food for thought in any case...

Yeah I saw this and felt the same way tgcb. I beefed up the tables, and any result of 13-18 now reads as an increment of 13-14, then I have new ascending increments for 15-16 and 17-18, then every 6 beyond this. So a CON of 15 would grant a Healing rate of 4, or a POW of 17 would give you 5 Luck Points for example. I haven't put it into play yet, it was just a tinkering I did, as I know my players will say exactly the same thing as you have identified. I'm sure my changes won't break the system, but it will make beginning characters a little more powerful than the authors originally envisioned. Shouldn't be much of an issue though, its better than than having players constantly complaining about it.

Well the skill list for BRP Worlds of Wonder: Magic World was reasonable actually. In many ways I would have preferred if the recent Magic World had been more influenced by its predecessor rather than the Stormbringer rules, I think that a stripped down BRP-lite concept was a good idea. I think I'll only run two rpg systems these days: BRP and FATE, as there is very little overlap between the two systems and they are both great to run. I'm leaning more towards FATE Accelerated Edition for my FATE games as it is quite different basing actions upon Approaches rather than Skills, and I'll keep BRP as my main gaming engine based upon a skill set. I don't think the Brawn & Finesse skills works well with the current set of skills, but if you do make a mix list of Aspects and Broad Skills then the concept could be consistent. In any case, it is the nucleus of a good idea here, one that should be explored further. Good luck with it!

Actually this sounds a little similar to the new stripped down version of FATE Core - called the FATE Accelerated Edition - where there is no actual skills, but every character has six 'Approaches' (Careful, Clever, Sneaky, Flashy, Quick, Forceful) which are applied to any situation. Characters also have modifiers for Aspects/Stunts (kinda like D&D Feats or Heroic Abilities) and modifiers for equipment. So a character attacking someone would use Forceful, but backstabbing would be Sneaky, etc). The basic idea is that it is the 'Approach' that is important, not an actual skill. You are kinda in the same flow of thought with using Brawn or Finesse as abilities rather than getting down to individual weapon skills. I think that this system could work quite well, but perhaps all the entire BGB skill list needs to be looked at to see if it could be trimmed down to Approaches/Abilities rather than Skills. Stealth, for example covers Hide/Sneak, as well as Fine Manipulation/Sleight of Hand etc. Agility could cover Dodge, Initiative rate, etc. you get the idea. Of course it is a big departure from BRP's simulationlist origins, but the idea certainly has merit, especially for a BRP-Lite ruleset that could focus more on narrative than nuts n bolts rules. For inspiration you could check out FATE Accelerated Edition from either DrivethruRPG or EvilHat.com, I think it is free.

I received my copy of Astounding Adventures within the last fortnight, and I'm an international customer, so they are certainly still in business.

I never knew a red hardcover of RQ2 existed. I have the softcover version from the boxed set, and my cousin had the full colour cover stand alone version of that. I preferred boxed sets back in the 80s, but this was before hard cover books for core rules became the norm in the 90s. In hindsight I would prefer to have a hardcover edition, if only for posterity if nothing else. RQ3 was always my preferred rule set, but RQ2 did have its charms. I'll have to hunt down a picture of the red hardcover version of RQ2 just to satisfy my own interest

Well...it is hard to tell if someone is joking sometimes in here... I never tend to put much skill points into Insight % anyway... BTW, the new BRP release, Astounding Adventures, has some pretty neat Mooks rules which could be an option for you if Hit locations are too slow when fighting hordes. That product takes a very simple approach, I won't give out trade secrets though, considering it has only just been released. It would work practically the same in RQ6 as it does in BRP. It is similar to the system in LEGEND that Chorpa posted, although slightly simpler in fact. Probably not worth purchasing the book for that alone, considering Chorpa has posted LEGEND's version. However I think I'll definately use the Astounding Adventures Mook rules across the board for all settings when a dramatic blow-by-blow combat scene will just slow down the pace. I love Hit Locations, but they are a nightmare in large combat scenes, and the Mook rules should resolve that nicely. Anyway, I better start making those Insight % skill checks for the benefit of future posts...

Those Hit Location dice are great for adding colour to other RPGs which don't already have a system of their own. However they don't add much to games like Harn or BRP/RQ where there is already a Hit Location option available

...and for that price that is excellent value

Rod I take it that those mini rules will be included in the next edition of Classic Fantasy?

Christmas works for my budget, don't rush !!!

I actually did something like this with Martial Arts (Dual Wielder); if the PC rolls under their sword skill AND their dual wield skill then they get an extra attack within that same round. Simple. Worked fine back then, I can't see how something similar couldn't work in this instance.

Sure, go ahead. It worked fine for us

I think this sounds interesting. You could go for a few genres, such as the Teen Mystery, or Teen Stalker, for example. I think the concept itself has merit, but I'm unsure how well it would translate to BRP. I saw one for True20 which was pretty good, from memory it had Youth Archtypes such as The Bully, The Jock, The Nerd, etc and I think this kind of thing could work - perhaps replace Personality Types with something like this, with more skill points in this section than Profession...I think you could have a few age groups, perhaps Kids and Youths perhaps...but I think there is at least a small book in this, you could play anything from The Famous Five through to The Goonies and perhaps up to something like Lost Boys or Scream...even a certain Boy Wizard genre could potentially be covered by some of these mechanics...yes I think it has potential for a few one-shots

I did come across a sidebar explaining how many hexs you can move according to your DEX, its only a paragraph or two but it explains it quite clearly. I haven't seen any major headings for miniature rules, well nothing has jumped out at me yet, I could have easily overlooked them. I will have a more thorough read later this week though.

I haven't found rules for minatures as yet, but there are some good tips on how to approach many pulp situations as well as a Pulp Adventure generator - I've seen similar such before, but its good if someone hasn't seen it from other rulesets - and it also looks like there is a Pulp 1930s scenario included. Looks like it will be a fun book to read when I get time to have a good look through it properly

Signed up and supported! This is gonna be a great book to have in my collection, I really hope you get funded with this product!

Well the USA is still better than here in Queensland, Australia - the small number of urban comic book shops have been the only decent place to buy rpgs from off the shelf during the past 20 years, and now the rpg stock dwindles to one or two small shelves, lost amongst a sea of trading card games and expensive complex board games, as well as, er, comics and graphic novels..., it seems online is the main way to browse rpgs these days...

I'm weighing in late here Stan, but I'ld just like to say that your experience with other more recent systems is similar to mine. I first played RQ/BRP back in the mid-late 80s, I never actually stopped playing it entirely, but certainly other systems crept into my gaming bookcase over the years, with White Wolf Storyteller forming a big part of that library. A few years ago I really got into Savage Worlds, but the 'wonkiness' that you describe turned me off after a year of GMing it, although I still love some of the setting books. I returned to BRP a few years ago, and I realised I have never felt so comfortable GMing than I do with BRP. My other favourite system is FATE, probably due to the narrative focus, yet surprisingly enough many of my friends have not liked it in actual gameplay. BRP seems to appeal to many people once they get into it. I tend to GM with a lot of hand waving, as it is such a simple core mechanic that allows for this. But two of my players are very simulationlist and they also love the system, they love stating their guns up for Call of Cthulhu, they love the Hit Locations of RQ etc. So in all my 28-29 years of gaming (good grief!) I have found BRP to have been my favourite system, and I curse when I think of how much money I could of saved myself on the multitudes of other systems that stock my gaming bookcase I pillage them now for ideas and occasional house rules, but I only tend to GM BRP these days. So BRP tends to appeal to both 'simulationlist' and 'narrative' GMs, I'ld be surprised if you don't find home with this system. Welcome to the BRP Community!

I think that Egyptian Magic could be pretty cool...perhaps reworked into an 'Astounding Adventures' scenario (ie Curse of the Mummy), or perhaps possibly in a 'Secrets of Cairo' Cthulhu setting. In any case Egyptian sorcery would be a cool system to have in my GMs bag of tricks

I just received mine in Australia, so international post isn't too bad, I ordered less than a fortnight ago, thats good for here First impressions is I really like this book. I have already been running my own 'Pulp Cthulhu' campaign for a while, and many of the amendments here are similar to what I did. Unfortunately I prefer some of my own rules where the rules differ, and there is no big surprises for me. My main gripe is that there isn't more 'Feats' - it has Psychic Powers (Mesmerism) and Powers (Gadgets), and a list of open ended traits called 'Resources'. I believe there could have been much more Resources and Pulp Abilities elaborated upon here, and this bit is a missed opportunity, as it is where other Pulp RPGs seem to excel. However the pulp flavour of the setting is captured perfectly with this book, and it is great if you want to 'pulp up' any Call of Cthulhu campaign, or if you just want to run a Pulp Adventure campaign. I'ld advise people buy a few setting books as well to accompany this, such as 'Secrets of New York' (for Urban Noir) or 'Secrets of Morocco' (I can see a Casablanca flavoured style adventure here). In any case this is a great setting, and one I would like to set supported almost as much as Call of Cthulhu. Finally, BRP goes 'officially' pulp!

Yeah, a few years back I would have invested a lot of time into something like this, but these days I'm pretty happy to accept most core rules as 'near enough is good enough'. I'm still happy to tweak rules for specific settings of course, but in general I've found altering the core rules often creates new problems, and usually its just not worth the effort to fiddle with the core mechanics. I'm not discouraging others though!