frogspawner

I guess so. But in that light, is Sky Mountain enough to make SharedWorld distinctive? Probably not. Just having deep shadows is a fiddly detail.

BRP does multiple genres. So maybe we should play to that. I always liked the Moorcock/Corum plane-shifting idea, but thought not enough was made of it. It's not necessarily counter to the Gates idea - the actual, physical gates are just more formalized instances.

Would that make SharedWorld distinctive - having multiple worlds, in those different genres? Harks back to Worlds of Wonder, which wasn't successful (was it?). But was that due to lack of support? Maybe we could enlist various monograph-authors to endorse their creations as a "plane" of SharedWorld...

That'd be a way to kick-start it!

I was just thinking about creating a poll to see who is winning this one. >:->

Same here, but on reflection we probably don't need a poll, since ultimately they're both right - BRP needs a great system and cool settings.

1) Is the system great enough? Or does it need to be simpler (or more complex)? Or just have a default set of options? (What options does the QuickStart actually use?)

2) Which setting(s) shall we choose to develop? SharedWorld? Fractured Hopes? Classic Fantasy's Realm? All of them?

I think Akrasia's right - a solid Fantasy and SF setting (and I'd add as a third option a Post-Apocalypse one as well) could do very well for BRP.

Well, please come on down to the SharedWorld sub-forum and help make them happen...

I guess I can live with the Sky Mountain. My wanting to avoid it is probably just 'wanton'.

Mind you, things like that can have odd effects, that puncture the fantasy unexpectedly. Frex, there'd be no sun-'dials' - they'd be straight. A mate of mine had two suns: nice touch. The moon, though, had a fixed 28-day cycle, corresponding to the 28-day months: neat, except the day-of-the-month supposedly gave the fraction of fullness (in 28ths). Eventually, we twigged that meant it 'pinged' back from full to new in one day! Most amusing, and I liked it, but after toying with ideas about silver-plant-growths and crazy cosmologies, he cracked and reverted to a standard lunar cycle. Shame.

The principle remains, though - will the next contribution bring something over-arching and, to me, unacceptable?

Isn't it possibly to roll the damage dice at the same time as the attack/parry roll?

Oh certainly. I just like the immediacy of knowing the effect as soon as my dice stop rolling. Whether rolled together or separately.

(Besides being too old/addled to cope with anything more complicated...)

Anything I put forward into the Sky Mountain Shared World I put forward with the full knowledge that it is no longer entirely 'mine' and is now subject to the collective project. ... conforming to the absolutes of Sky Mountain (tech level, flat world, the sun lives on top of a big mountain). ... But I don't think it is good for a contributor to wantonly contradict what has been released for the setting previously.

That's the ideal attitude to have when contributing, of course.

But potential contributors may be put off by the 'absolutes' (like me, by the Sun-Mountain thing). And who knows what other wacky absolutes might come along? Politeness and a natural desire to get contributions might well prevent the SharedWorld Committee from saying "No!" - and then we're stuck with it.

(Like Thieves' World - I recall some rubbish story said all Mages had to hide a "secret", or lose their power. Lame and stupid. But it became canon.)

Contributors may feel the need to contradict some things, but hopefully not 'wantonly'. Am I, wanting a normal-sun world, exiled beyond the Gates? Are there limits on what I can have there? Am I, liking Akershule/Portal and The Green, allowed to have parallel-world versions of them, otherwise conforming to everything said about them in the official SharedWorld?

(And again - will The Green be staying on the official maps?)

Lock the restroom before rolling for the attack, and the problem is gone.

...but is replaced by a worse problem! And, since I usually host, let's not go there. Mind you - that could help concentrate people's minds and speed-up combat considerably!

It all depends on the circumstances...

Well, thanks for telling me. <Sigh>. <Sounds of cheque being torn up...>

I can't and won't elaborate further; you'll just have to wait for the rules to come out! :innocent:

OK, fair enough, you might not know if you can do an extra combat manoeuvre until the other guy's rolled his parry, but...

Can you calculate your damage before he comes back from the loo? Or would that be telling too much?

The charnjibber-trolkin have a Quantum Mirror (for entering parallel worlds).

So, you'll appreciate all the parallel worlds they reached would be in "Dragonewt's World/Multiverse", no matter how much they resembled Rurik's/Soltakss'/Frogspawners/Triff's (unless Rurik/whoever wanted the invasion to be canon for their world, of course.)

But I do see your point, hence my tendency for something that will happily and logically co-exist with the worlds of others to avoid the need for alternatives of the one world.

That's the other face of the same problem - your ideas shouldn't have to compromise, or be approved by a committee, or be so bland no-one cares. Who are we to say that world-dominating events/facts (like a Charnjibber Invasion or a Sun-on-a-Stick) are BadWrongFun and not allowed?

Once one or two charnjibbers make it through a few gates and spread, there will eventually be plenty of laser-headed charnjibber-assimilated trolkin (with spears) in Rurik's world. :party:

Ah, well - in Dragonewt's World, yes - laser-headed trollkin can stride around laying waste to Portal city. Under the model I'm suggesting, that would be for Rurik to make canon in Rurik's World; or, anyone who GM's a campaign on Rurik's World play it that way (though still non-canon). But, that way, the replicating Charnjibber/Trollkin Invasion idea survives - and some may well like it.

With the existing single SharedWorld, I expect this idea would die. Worse yet, if the rest of us said "Yeah, laser-head 'kin!", then Rurik would be obliged to make it canon - and Portal would be destroyed (or at least radically warped). However, I suspect Rurik would just (sensibly) take his creativity elsewhere...

That's my point. Associated, yet separate worlds - so all ideas can live.

(BTW, what IS the status of The Green? Does it now have to be, legally, written-out of the previous SharedWorld stuff?)

... it is better to avoid brainstorming - one could be sorely wrong in interpreting sentences along the lines of his own thought.

I can live with that - but with the assumption these 'Combat Manoeuvres' are extras, not alterations to the hit just scored. So, we shall see...

Basically, every contributor should be GM of their own universe. But universes could be virtually identical, by incorporating other people's ideas - or not, as they see fit.

Anything goes. No idea would be lost because it didn't gain general approval (or their potential contributor didn't even mention it because they feared it wouldn't). Nothing would be stifled.

Say, for example:

Rurik's World has the city of Akershule/Portal, and a Sky Mountain somewhere near the edge, and no trollkin. Soltakss's World has Akershule too, but Sky Mountain is central and taller, with plenty of trolls & trollkin. Dragonewt's World has Akershule (but heavily influenced with hi-tech), Sky Mountain (either central or marginal, opinions vary), plus laser-headed charnjibbers (which don't appear in Rurik's but do in Soltakss's). Frogspawner's World has Akershule, surrounding plains dominated by demi-bird-riding nomadic lizard-folk, a normal sun but a symbolic holy-place called Sky Mountain, charnjibbers/tech-items found only rarely, and a desert area known as The Green - where once was a huge fertile jungle stolen away by Chaos - now haunted by sentient clouds which hunt living things to suck out their souls and warp their bodies into vile monstrosities. Triff's World is identical to Rurik's, but does have trollkin - one of whom is an immortal, unkillable (albeit puny) hero.

You get the picture?

A Shared Setting - but of individual 'worlds', separated perhaps only by a 'thin fabric between the planes', or sometimes not separated at all.

Marital Arts instead of Martial Arts.

Ah, the Classic! Yours are much more original - I look forward to your posts. If I've now spoilt that by mentioning it, then that is my deep regret. Sorry. Please, type on fearlessly!

PS: Back in the Old Days, a mate of mine would refer to stuff like his "+1 Halibut" and "Vaporal Sword". Entirely unintentional, and endearing. Immensely clever guy, his brain just didn't spare the time to bother much with trivial stuff like words.

Alas, this is what you wanted to hear or understand. But this is not how it works...

Well, that was just my illustration of the principles of Opposed versus 'standard' rolling. The details were BRP-style, which I appreciate will be different in MRQ (e.g. it hasn't got specials/impales, has it?).

But if the rolls are independent, so you immediately know your hit's (potential) effect before the other guy rolls, I shall be happy.

Is it like that, d'y'know?

To help jump-start/re-start the project, I think the dilemma I mentioned at the outset needs fixing:

Every author needs final authority over what goes into his/her creation.

BUT

A truly "shared" world can't have a final authority (or it is theirs, not shared).

My proposed solution:

Each author has a world (universe!) of their own. Others can contribute to it, but always subject to that World-Author's agreement.

AND

Travel between the worlds is quite easy (for adventurers, at least*) but not automatic, and always subject to Game-Masters' agreement.

* This is the "Gate" idea again. Though now I'm thinking maybe more like a (very unreliable) spell, or ritual - rather like Corum passing between planes, it often/usually wouldn't work. But the normal mechanism(s) would be up to individual World-Authors, of course!

Actually, I was referring both to your sig and to your premature enthusiasm. Imagine, reaching for your chequebook before reading independant reviews and thumbing through a copy...

Yeah, I know. You're right - so now I'll have to tear up that cheque already made out to "Evil Empire of Mongoose". :ohwell:

While the article does make it sould like MRQ2 will be an improvement, I didn't see anything in that article about bringing back strike ranks (the real strike ranks), characteristic rolls, or resistance rolls, so I don't really see any improvement over what I'm currently getting with BRP, for my money.

Doesn't Atgxtg stand for "Axe-to-grind-something-something something"?

Maybe I don't understand what opposed rolls in combat are...if they're keeping the attack and parry rolls both, isn't that an opposed roll?

Nope. Here's the difference...

I roll a critical hit. With ORs, I don't know how good a hit it is until you come back from the loo and roll your parry, because your roll's Degree of Success will be subtracted from mine (e.g. a normal parry 'downgrading' my max-damage crit to a double-damage impale). With 'standard rolls' [oh, Loz/Pete, I love that name, and all the more non-capitalized!], I immediately know what I've done (i.e. max damage by-passing armour); how well you parry it is your business, not mine.

Is anyone else having trouble reading this thread? It just looks like gibberish on my screen...:ohwell:

Heck, one lousy split-infinitive and I'm declared incomprehensible! It's not like I'm challenging Atgxtg for his "Most Amusing Typo's" Crown, or anything. (Still not figured out what his name was supposed to be, btw. )

OK, I guess it doesn't make much sense until you've followed that link, downloaded the magazine, and read the preview article. But I recommend doing so.

Are you sure you have understood...?

"Combat does not use Opposed Rolls for resolution, as introduced in the Players’ Guide PDF and reverts to standard rolls for each party in the fight. This removes the ‘Downgrade’ situation which caused a great deal of consternation when introduced! However, neither are there tables for combat resolution. It has been simplified – as an attacker you either hit or miss and as a defender you parry or you don’t. Whether damage penetrates your parry depends on the comparative sizes of the weapons used." - Loz/Pete, Signs & Portents 75

You tell me, but it seems clear. Of course, we could be being deceived - a mongoose is pretty nearly a weasel, after all...

Damn - Frogspawner praising Mongoose - I thought this wasn't supposed to happen until December 2012.

Aiee! Aiee! The stars are Right! Early.

Agreed, but if its minimized to this extent, it should be more along the lines of a checklist, omitting narrative. "How to create a character" and whatnot. There is a Pendragon document like this floating around... now if I can only find it...

Well, my rip-off version of the original BRP Intro Guide (attached 9 posts up-thread) is 4 pages, and includes narrative, mechanics, examples and the mini-scenario. How good (or bad) is that? It'd be interesting to compare it with the Pendragon one.

From the Systems & Settings sub-forum. Worthy of more prominence, I thought...

(bunny-ears mine)

Oooo - I'm an "ardent purist"! Thanks, chaps! ("MRQ2" it remains to me, though, for anti-confusion purposes. But I'll drop the trailing "E", in honour of Loz/Pete's sterling work). And it's like they wrote that preview for me, personally - it's even got "primitives venerating their ancestral frog totem" !

O M G ! :shocked:

It looks like they've cracked it. Sounds as if they've fixed Magic and done some good things with it - but that was expected. They've repackaged the Feats, sorry 'Legendary Abilities', as reasonable rewards for HeroQuesting. They've done some stuff with combat manouevres that they're proud of and could also be good - we shall see.

However, the big one is this: For combat at least, Opposed Rolls are GONE! :thumb:

I've long thought myself a Mongoose-o-phobe, with an unspoken oath to never buy any of their product. But this is "Damascus Road II" ...I'm converted. Exactly when is it coming out, and where's my chequebook?

:innocent:

I would say that BRP QuickStart is the introductory document.

Well, I'd rather give newbies 4 pages instead of 48... (and preferably only 2!)

Signs & Portents 75 with the "Runequest II" preview by Lawrence Whitaker

can now be downloaded from the Mongoose website:

Mongoose Publishing : For All Your Gaming Needs ...

(bunny-ears mine)

Oooo - I'm an "ardent purist"! Thanks, chaps! ("MRQ2" it remains to me, though, for anti-confusion purposes. But I'll drop the trailing "E", in honour of Loz/Pete's sterling work). And it's like they wrote that preview for me, personally - it's even got "primitives venerating their ancestral frog totem" !

O M G ! :shocked:

It looks like they've cracked it. Sounds as if they've fixed Magic and done some good things with it - but that was expected. They've repackaged the Feats, sorry 'Legendary Abilities', as reasonable rewards for HeroQuesting. They've done some stuff with combat manouevres that they're proud of and could also be good - we shall see.

However, the big one is this: For combat at least, Opposed Rolls are GONE! :thumb:

I've long thought myself a Mongoose-o-phobe, with an unspoken oath to never buy any of their product. But this is "Damascus Road II" ...I'm converted. Exactly when is it coming out, and where's my chequebook?

:innocent:

Many times I have wished to cancel the whole publishing project and simply go back to the Shared World...

That's sad. Maybe we could get SharedWorld up-and-running again, and generate some product for 'The Collective'...?

Indeed, and I have to confess that I also like Eldarad ...

Pray tell, what was so bad about Daughters of Darkness, then? I never saw it.

So far I think we've got three suggestions that are sticking: 1. More support product in the shops, and 2. A small, easy to distribute primer to hand out to newbies, and 3. Get the Quick Start Guide into broader distribution.

Well, my attempt at No.2 is attached: a revised version of the original BRP 16-page Introductory Guide, shoe-horned into 4 pages. Not sure if it's really what's required, but it seems a good start. (And I'm not too hot on the new BRP RAW, so if anyone spots problems... you know what to do! )

BRP_Introductory_Guide_SJW.pdf

I submitted The Green as a monograph several weeks ago...

To me this sounds like bad news, I'm afraid. Things were much more hopeful when The Green was part of SharedWorld - but now that project (to create our own setting) seems to have stalled.

...but I have not heard anything back so far. It sounds as if the folks at Chaosium are pretty tied up... it would need a lot of help to bring it up to a professional level document...

Chaosium will not give it that help. Can't you get it 'back', so some of the undoubted talent around here can brush it up? (And then maybe also publish it...? >:-> )