NickMiddleton

Dustin's cryptic tweet a few weeks back suggests this one is close to release, IIRC as a full book not a mono - see here . Nick

According to the chap who did the layout it went to the printer in the first week of September - http://www.squamousstudios.com/?cat=14 Cheers, Nick

Yes. It's a nicely but lightly polished version of CoC 6th edition with some great editions (especially the computational magic) and does a very good job of capturing the feel of the stories without being obsessed with their continuity. And the scenario anthology (Black Bag Jobs) reads very well too. Nick

Demon Magic was the second Stormbringer companion - not a lot from it made it (directly) in to Elric!/SB5, but it was very much a supplement for the early game. There's an excellent scenario, a solid SAN variant and some OK "Rune" magic ideas... There's some other stuff but my copies at home... The Bronze Grimoire is a substantial expansion of the Elric!/SB5 sorcery system and has currently NOT been re-issued or reworked for BRP and is well worth picking up. It adds a significant number of spells, a whole system of rune magic, an entirely new necromancy sub system and a load of other material. Demon Magic is really for completists only - the Bronze Grimoire is something I wish Chaosium would de-Moorcock and republish NOW. Nick

I have played BRP in pretty much every incarnation since RQI and I've run many campaigns with variable armour and many with fixed... Both work. In general fixed AP and hit locations gives a grittier feel and variable AP and major wounds a less gritty one. My SF monograph (Outpost 19) used fixed AP and hit locations for that reason: my heroic S&S campaign last summer used variable AP and major wounds... For me, along with switching between THP=SIZ+CON and THP=(SIZ+CON)/2, it's one of the easiest ways of adjusting the feel of a BRP game. Cheers, Nick

Actually, thinking about it, I think I've always run maximum roll plus minimum roll - so , yes, a POW of 2D6+6 DOES produce a racial maximum of 26... Nick

With or without the Mythos Delta Green / Cthulhu Now can easily be run in "24" style, as can The Laundry. Using the Big Gold Book plus some existing resources (here or in monographs such as the Modern Equipment Catalogue and such) one can cover the basics. The difficulty is knowing what sort of "modern or near future setting" you are after. The recent Transformers films, Sons of Anarchy, The Shadowline (recent BBC noir thriller), Nash Bridges (!)#? It's a broad category: can you give us a more specific idea of what you are after? Cheers, # I have no idea why that came to mind - I don't think I've watched an entire episode in my life...

IIRC there are some notes somewhere by Marcus Rowland on converting Space 1889 to Cthulhu By Gaslight... Last time I ran a game in the setting I used BRP, I'd do the same again in a heart beat. Nick

My understanding from this post at RPGNet is that it's been "upgraded" to a full distribution book but when it'll be released I'm not sure: "Soon" is all the author could guess... Nick

To be honest, (and I'm so not a gear head) all I'd want in a set of vehicle rules that was any more detailed than the "statting gear" stuff in the BGB, would be a set of generic versions of those ship rules that covered most tech levels and vehicle types, ideally with some tweaks so they interface nicely with the chase rules from the BGB. Actually, I think I started a set of starship rules like that at one point... Cheers, Nick

Depends on how you round... Nick ...who thinks this whole tangent about maths is silly - 5%, 10% or 20% are not hard, and neither are they so onerous that that every player has to do their OWN calculations; now, a system that required everyone to regularly use square roots or something, THAT might be "too difficult". But a system that 80%+ of players can do in their heads and which it's trivially easy for the math savvy players to help out the remaining non-maths savvy 20%- players? Puh-lease, they are far more substantive issues to debate...

For MRQ2, not really, no. It's a highly regarded variant of the BRP/RQ rules written by well respected members of the community. The company it was/is published by however are not universally well regarded, for a number of reasons that stretch back a number of years and not all of which are specifically related to MRQ/MRQ2/Glorantha. Suffice to say that Mongoose polarise opinion in a way that MRQ2 itself does not. (I could be a politician me...) Nick

IIRC Moon Design DON'T use the OGL though. SOme sort oif license, if you wish to protect you trademark is essential I agree, but I'm not sure that's where MGP are going: "Legend" would be challenging to register a trademark on I suspect - and prepping an SRD is clearly more work than MGP are prepared to go to (plus, it does encourage people to produce their OWN core rulebooks). On the other hand, setting up a trademark license that says "you can say Compatible with Legend" in return for following a couple rules lets them keep core book sales themselves and everyone's supplements help their core sales. What they DON'T want is Clockwork & Chivalry switching to BRP or OpenQuest and at this stage they can't openly admit that the core text is likely to remain "closed", but that they are planning avery relaxed "referencing / claiming compatibility" approach, but that's how I read: Note, NOT "You can publish your own standalone Viking saga using text from out core books". Which to be honest, is what I thought was the only sensible move when they first mooted some sort of open license for notMRQ2. They want to encourage third party support, NOT third party cloning (albeit the irony of this, given it's Mongoose is hilarious...) We'll see what they do come the autumn - I'm still waiting for an announcement related to this that has the "Wow!" factor that convinces me not-MRQ2 will still be around this time next year to be honest... Nick

Hmm - with the caveat that these are somewhat subjective, and easily confused for a third option - omissions from a game that aspires to be totally generic... These are omissions, rather than flaws or things that need fixing. There ARE vehicle rules, just not particularly detailed "gear head" ones. Personally, the lack of them doesn't bother me but there's clearly a market for at least a monograph on vehicles for BRP See above. In the same vane, a planetary creation system for BRP would be nice. Yeah. The more I've dug in to the shield question the more I've realised we (the play testers) dropped the ball. The rules in the BGB work, they just don't work the way many expect (or think) they do, and as a result the distinction between off -hand parrying weapons and shields is much subtler than in previous BRP games. Given a chance it is something I'd change, and I generally do run different rules in my own games. Again, don't see these as flaws particularly. I'd like to see a more detailed set of weapon stats, organised by historical / cultural / technological capability (so a GM cold just pick a "renaissance era" weapon list without worrying weather rapier and gladius belong together). Weapon damage is a tricky one - I'm not sure BRP is actually that fine grained that is makes a huge difference, and given it has two different armour options (fixed and variable) as well as two hit point options (locational and non-locational) I'm not sure it would help THAT much to tidy things up... However, the obsessive in me WOULD like to revise weapon damage so that wherever possible weapons do EITHER one or two dice of damage, without adds (similar to the RQIV:AiG weapons table). I'd also go further and change the Damage Bonus table (to a linear progression or 1d2, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, 1d14, 1d16 etc) Don't believe in the concept of non-lethal damage, and there are knock-out rules already. I know SIZ frustrates many people, but I LIKE it's ambiguity. It's a fudge factor and it serves as a constant reminder that these are tabletop RPG rules, NOT a precise analytical schema. My solution to the ENC / fatigue issue is well known... The only areas I think need additions are large scale stuff: there are passing reference / brief notes on stuff like large scale battles etc, but it would be good to have a more detailed and robust system for running PC's in a skirmish or battle situation, for running companies or countries etc that all interface with the existing skills and such. I'm not sure I'd always use them, but there are occasions when I would and they would be a worthwhile addition to the rules. As revisions to what we have I'd love to see Jason's original Power's chapter revised and expanded as FULL modular "build your own" power system. I love the "off the shelf" option we actually went for in the BGB, but there's clearly a market for the alternative. I'd also like to see, possibly as monographs / PDF only things, "modules" of rules - a fully BGB compatible and derived "light" combat system for example: a book that describes combat JUST using the rules from the BGB that will produce the lightest, fastest combat system and another for the most detailed BGB derived form of combat etc. Some accessible, easy to digest demonstrations for GM's new to BRP as to HOW you tweak the system for particular feels / genres. Cheers, Nick

SAN is for modelling very specific things - I wouldn't use it to cope with general "fright" etc. Ben Monroe and I came up with a variant mechanic for "mental stress" which I published in Uncounted Worlds which was aimed at a more survival horror like feel than SAN (constant exposure will erode a character's mental stability but the can recuperate a LOT with significant periods of rehab, unlike SAN's "inevitable" downward spiral. If you have access to the BASIC Creatures Monograph there is the Shade (Darkness Elemental) with it's "fearshock" attack as well. Cheers, Nick

Looks solid - depending on how gritty a feel you are aiming at you might want to keep random armour, especially if you are dropping hit locations. For a cinematic game I'd go with fixed armour, total hit points and heroic hit points (SIZ+CON), but it's a matter of taste. Again, depends on exactly how gritty / dark you want it to be. Buffy / Angel has it's dark moments, but were never Call of Cthulhu level bleak, and for that sort of game I'd definitely use something like Fate Points. For something like Hellblazer or Torchwood (or rather what Torchwood aspires to be), I wouldn't use Fate Points (and I'd probably use normal hit points and hit locations)... I'd use Sorcery, NOT Magic, and psychic powers and I'd only use the Super powers stuff to described / quantify the capabilities of specific creatures and "monsters". I'd strongly recommend the Witchcraft monograph as well - it has some great material in it and is fully compatible with the core magic and Sorcery systems. Cheers, Nick

Yes the more I think about that, the more I think it's a glitch we missed in play testing. The old RQIII "minimum 3SR separation between actions" should be re-instated at the very least: but I use RQIII SR if I'm using SR anyway... Nick

Just picked up BBJ and is does look good - albeit I was slightly non-plussed to discover that in this setting Rockall is apparently in the North Sea (east of the UK) and not the North Atlantic (west of the UK, where you will find it in the real world)... Nick

So irrespective of how far apart combatants are or who or what lies between them, if one has DEX18 and the other has DEX15, the DEX18 combatant can do everything he wants in the round BEFORE the DEX15 guy (e.g., run past DEX15 guy the 8m to the control panel and set off the bomb?)? You really think that's a remotely plausible or convincing way for things to happen? Even D&D 3.x isn't that implausible and unconvincing... It's your game, obviously, but I am genuinely baffled why one wouldn't use DEX ranks (or something similar) to sequence character actions so things are at least vaguely plausible. Nick

After trying to boost shields within the BGB framework in my "Savage North" game last year and being somewhat unsatisfied with the results I think my position now is that I'm simply going to re-instate something like the Elric! rules. When success levels of Attack and Parry are tied, roll normal damage. If the damage is less than the hit points of a parrying sheidl or weapon (which is designed to be parried with), nothing happens (a weapon NOT designed to parry with loses that many hit points). If the damage exceeds the parrying objects hit points by 1 it breaks (if it's a weapon) or loses 1 hit point (if it's a shield). If the damage exceeds the parrying object s hit points by more than 1, it breaks (if a weapon) and the damage goes through to the target or reduces the parrying objects hit points by the excess (if the parrying object is a shield). Cheers, Nick

The fatigue system I developed for Outpost 19 and which Rod used as the basis for his system in Classic Fantasy is explicitly intended to accommodate that sort of thing. Heavy armour is precisely the sought of factor that should in my system influence when a GM should consider dropping a character a fatigue level, or when they call for a stamina roll to avoid such a drop. Cheers, Nick

"Serpent Moon" and the "GM's Companion" for Nephilim might be adaptable - the former is a set of "loosely" linked scenarios, the later has the San Francisco Bay area circa the mid-nineties written up as a campaign setting for Nephilim. The game itself is technically BRP and "modern occult" but a long way in feel from a typical o/nWoD or Buffy-verse game... The Nocturnum campaign for Call of Cthulhu from Fantasy Flight Games is a good starting point. As written it is very bleak and tough to survive, but it is set in the modern era and although ostensibly a Mythos campaign it's very easy to remove the mythos elements. Plus, the various scenarios in the campaign could all be adapted to either stand alone or other uses. Cheers, Nick

Actually, a number of BRP games have done without the special - CoC, Stormbringer, Hawkmoon... Nick

This.Specifically give each culture a list of at least five skills, and let players choose say two or three from the list to add 20% to. Gives a little differentiation to each culture and allows for some variation WITHIN each culture without miring character generation in yet more finickety point allocation. Cheers, Nick

I've run the RQIII Magic rules either as is or with minor house ruling off and on since the late eighties and whilst there are a few niggles I'd like to remove, they are mostly things I have noticed from GMing multiple campaigns, NOT player complaints. As for the MRQ2 comparison - The Magic Book is listed as $14.95 SRP, MRQ2 IIRC is $39.99... Cheers, Nick