Aycorn

I've never felt the need to do a specific interpretation of % values. But I'm actually kinda happy Jason says this IS in the new rulebook, as it will least shut some detractors up. Of course - I know people will now debate the interepration, probably ad nauseum I too have applied modifiers under certain circumstances. As to whether a person with a 0% had a chance to do something anyway, it depended on the skill and the circumstance. I'm a seat-of-the-pants sorta GM. I always thought BRP lent itelf well to that. One of the reasons I like it.

Okay, as requested. Basically, it's like this = ST = STR DX = DEX IQ = INT HT = CON APP = APP or CHA WILL = could be translated to POW. Or not. That's really pretty much it. After that, just ignore GURPS ratings and plug in appropriate ones from BRP. If you understand BRP, that shouldn't be at all difficult. Only potential tricky part is that GURPS allows well over 18. You'd just have to make a decision - over 18? Or stop at 18? All in all, GURPS > BRP should be a piece of cake.

What - have you forgotten the old AD&D elves? Wood elves, Gray elves, pink elves, beach elves...

Tal; I'd love to see your setting notes.

Since Trifletraxor expressed interest, here's some basics on the setting I'm developing: Basically, as said, it’s a Celtic myth influenced/inspired setting. It is NOT a historical Celtic setting, nor even (to my mind) a “fantasy earth” setting. Drawn heavily from GURPS Celtic Myth, a bit of Pendragon, and lots of ideas from various Celtic-influenced fantasy – Lloyd Alexander’s books, Morgan Llewellyn (“Druids” and “Lion of Ireland” especially), “The Mists of Avalon,” Moorcock’s “Corum” books, and “The Dragon and the Unicorn” by A.A. Attanasio, an unusual retelling of the Arthur legend, inspired a lot of ideas, too. So did the film “Excalibur.” And the “Slaine” comics. I’ve roughly mapped out a land region that’s basically England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales picked up, turned around in different directions and then mashed together into one land mass, with several outlying islands. Some parts of Glorantha are getting transplanted into this area, too, although with some major changes to make them fit (Dorastror, Griffin Island, and Dragon Pass). There are three main dominant cultures - the main one is based on the Irish as depicted in the Pendragon: Pagan Shore supplement, with some modification. In Gloranthan terms, they’re a bit like the Orlanthis mixed with the Western Culture – in other words, a little less “barbaric” – they actually build major cities and have a bit more structure and organization. I’m probably calling them “Erainn” - names are a problem – I have trouble coming up with ones that sound right and satisfy me. Their gods and heroes are based on gods and heroes from Celtic myth (Dagda, Nuada, Lugh, Morrigan), but generally they will have different names and some different attributes. The second culture are basically the “Picts” – again, drawn heavily from Pendragon (“Beyond the Wall”), with a dash of Robert E. Howard. Again, speaking in Gloranthan terms, kind of a combo of the Hsunchen and Orlanthis. They are basically shamanic and have a very powerful, stag-headed god (this comes from Attanasio) who figures into things. The “Erainn” also have a place for this god in their religion. Finally there is a third culture, foreigners who have invaded, raided, and established kingdoms in the land. These are, for all intents and purposes the Saxons (again, Pendragon supplements have come in handy in defining this culture). They will no doubt have a Norse-type religion, again with certain changes. All three of these cultures are in various forms of conflict/alliance. I was definitely taken by the treatment of the “Otherworld” and the Sidhe in GURPS Celtic Myth, so they will be a part of things as well. I was also intrigued by the concept of the Fomorians, so I’ve adapted them (in my concept they’re an evil, Sidhe-like race – larger than men (small giants), able to appear as either very beautiful or very hideous; powerful magicians with a particular talent for conjuring cold and storms. They’re going to lurk in the background as major villains. Since I’m using the Sidhe, there’s no elves. There are dwarves (Tolkein/Mostal/D&D-like miners) though they are not a major part of things. Oh – and there’s Broos. The magic took a long time to work out. The dominant magic users are (surprise!) the Druids. The Druids are a loose order – not quite a cult – but with a hierarchal structure (there is a big chief druid somewhere). They are sorceror/priest/sages and tend to have specialties (that’s an idea from Morgan Llewellyn), so one might specialize in healing, or divination, or religious ceremonies, etc. For game purposes, they pretty much follow the initiate/acolyte/priest structure of RQ cults. Those druids who devote themselves to religious concerns (not all do – some of them I imagine as devout, others rather perfunctory in their piety) have access to divine magic. All druids have access to spirit magic, modified by their own set of “arts” (as in Sandy Petersen’s Sorcery rules), which are pretty much lifted from the Lunar priesthood in Gods of Glorantha. They have pretty much the standard spirit and divine magic spells, plus any number of unique and powerful spells of their own. Ritual and Summoning are just like in Sandy’s sorcery. Instead of Presence I use INT+POW. They also learn “Great Shapeshifting” (adapted from GURPS Celtic Myth), so shapeshifting duels ala “The Sword in the Stone” are possible. That’s about it right now. I’m currently working on developing the map and the kingdoms of the land. I’m sure it sounds like a weird mish-mash, but when I’m done I think it will work pretty well. Again as mentioned, I’m not attempting any real fidelity to Celtic myth or history – I’m after more of a Celtic “feel” than anything else, and I’m pulling in and cannibalizing those things that resonate for me, changing or discarding what doesn’t. If people are interested in more, I can post about it as it develops.

I'll start tonight (I'm at work right now - and supposed to be working ). I'll give it it's own thread, but it seems like it might be a good idea to start a new sub-forum for describing our own campaign settings. What do you think?

I think the basic mechanics are pretty easy to convert. I have some notes somewhere I can post.

That was a little weak. I liked the scene of them sitting alone at the pub, though. It said everything about how they'd changed. I was already a big fan of Peter Jackson long before these ("Heavenly Creatures" baby!!)

Probably a no on publication, but I might stick something up on the web. I can't violate copywrights, but I could summarize some of what I've done. And, as I said, if people would like to see some of that here I'd be happy to post about it.

I think the GURPS settings are mostly pretty good. But I suspect BRP could do their own take on several of them, especially since many are going out of print.

As mentioned in my introduction - I'll be doing a Celtic-flavored fantasy using BRP/Stormbringer-type rules. To get more specific, though GURPS Celtic Myth is an important resource for me, I am NOT trying to create anything faithful to either Celtic history or Celtic mythology/folklore. I'm after more the flavor of it than the actuality of it. So it's a place where "druids" (based on historic but tweaked according to my needs/desires) practice magic and lead strange worship, etc. It's still a work-in-progress but I'll be happy to go into more detail if anyone's interested. I'm also developing a "Cthulhu By Gaslight" campaign.

Re: Tolkein - I like the movies better than the books.

I'm Aycorn, real name Alan. My prelude to FRP was the board game "Dungeon," which I first encountered in 1977. Soon after that a friend introduced me to D&D with the blue book. I was utterly fascinated (he hated it). I read and re-read that thing!! A couple years later I got into playing AD&D with others. Started my own AD&D campaign which, while pretty primitive, was a lot of fun. But I did find myself sometimes feeling a little bit hemmed in by the rules. Anyway, a local library used to let kids play FRP games on weekends, and I went there one day and met a group of older kids playing RQ. So I joined in. A couple of you have mentioned the word "liberation," well, that's how I found it. I mean - wow! What a difference! No stupid alignments. No stupid class systems that arbitrarily said you couldn't use magic AND a wear armor. Everything was so much simpler, so much more streamlined. I was hooked! I wanted to convert my AD&D campaign over, but the rest of the gang hated RQ - they couldn't have 10th level magic-users, or kill armies of dragons. I ended the campaign about 6 months later. Then became an avid Call of Cthulhu player. Being a long-time Lovecraft fan, even then. Still one of my favorite games. I even corresponded with Sandy Petersen (great guy) for a couple of years. Also dabbled with Top Secret (fun setting, bad system), Gamma World, Metamorphosis Alpha (remember that one?), Superworld, Stormbringer, Ringworld (read, own, never played), Paranoia, etc. I realized way back that BRP is a great, endlessly adaptable system - a tweak here and a tweak there and it's workable with any setting, as far as I can tell. I wouldn't go so far out on a limb as to say it's THE perfect system, but it is for me. It's very simple and very streamlined, easy to add to or subtract from, easy to extrapolate from. Also, I just plain LIKE the d100 system for some reason. I have also have a lot of sentimental affection for Chaosium. Some of it's because they're material was of such obvious (to me) superior quality to that of TSR et al back in the 80's (I really think Chaosium actually set a lot of the standards that now hold today). And partly because it always just seemed cooler and funkier than TSR (which always seemed to be made up of old nerds like Gary Gygax). Anyone who's been on the Yog-Sothoth.com forums may have encountered me there, making some of the same arguments I see posted here. These days I'm not actively gaming (I'm very, very choosy and will only play with close friends, so life sometimes gets in the way). I'm developing a fantasy campaign, using a homebrewed BRP system (mostly Stormbringer) I've nicknamed "Sword of Sorcery." The background is a Celtic-flavored one, with elements from Pendragon, GURPS Celtic Myth and several Celtic-flavored fantasy novels. It's too bad Chaosium didn't seem to quite realize they had the original "generic universal" system on their hands. They could have grabbed the market GURPS ultimately did. Ah well.

True ... but I LIKE polyhedrons!

I think many people do, but frankly, as a long-time player, I had a group that went two years and only lost one character to death/insanity. I think it depends on (a) smart players who know enough not to go toe-to-toe with some powerful monster ( a GM who gives players a fighting chance. Of course, there seem to be a LOT of COC players who apparently prefer the "you open the door and - IT'S YOG-SOTHOTH!! Everyone dies!! The universe explodes!!! AHAHAHAAH!!!" Different strokes and all...