NickMiddleton

I suspect that is one reason why things have been somewhat delayed at Chaosium this last quarter actually. William Jones was officially announced as "...an Assistant RPG Line Developer, Staff Writer, and a Fiction Line Editor." Dustin Wright handles "Sales & marketing" and his bio at Chaosium makes specific mention of Monograph submissions. They have also been using freelance editors for specific projects, but that's not worked out well, as I believe at least two projects have been or are currently delayed due to editors dropping out and having to be replaced. I think (hope!) one of the things Chaosium is trying to address at present is the lack of internal editing resources... Cheers, Nick

Why not both? A print acceptable version at Lulu, so those who prefer hard copy can get one if they wish, and a screen use version here. Sounds like a good idea actually... Hmm: three judges who have to read all submissions and pick the best three. People could be elected by the user community here, and we could canvas for volunteers to turn the winning three into a Lulu-print compatible PDF... Could be really cool... Nick

Think the glitch is in the use of the term levels - Sorcery spells don't really have levelsm so page 122 should say you start with 1/2 INT in spells, andpage 123 is correct that the maximum possible number of spells you can have in mind is equal to your INT. That's certainly how the system worked in Elric! IIRC. Cheers, Nick

I think it works like this: The starting chance for specific weapons is as listed in the table, and the character's skill is exactly as you describe - because their personal skill with Melee Weapon (Sword) is 60%, modified by how easy the specific weapon is to use (so with a short sword they have 80% for example). If you want homogenised base chances for the broad weapon categories, pick the most common value of the weapons in the class, e.g. 15% for Swords. Cheers, Nick

We're beginning to get into an area where things aren't as clear cut as the could be. My interpretation: "...shields cannot effectively parry extremely fast missile weapons like firearms or energy weapons, and are of limited use against hand propelled weapons like arrows, sling stones, and spears. In these cases, a default chance is substituted instead of your character’s skill." Fast weapons ARE subject to the passive defence: there is simply that chance that your shield will "happen" to get in the way, and that "passive defence" is not, as previously discussed an active parry. If using hit locations, it would only apply if the location hit is one the shield normally covers (see the shield table). Against hand propelled missiles (arrows from bows, spears, sling stones) you ALSO get to actively parry if you wish, but only at the base skill chance for the shield; and doing so uses up your Parry action, precluding using it against other attacks, or for something else. Personally I'd probably allow the base skill parry chance for crossbow bolts as well, but you can argue that either way. I think the passive block chance is always operating if you have a large piece of armour strapped to your arm. I'm a mean and nasty GM, so I would say you have to declare as part of you statement of intent whether you intend to try and parry missile weapon attacks, and wouldn't allow a character to wait and see whether the passive defence worked before committing to use a parry. If nothing else, in my steel weapon combat experience (and some hair raising stories from an ex-army mate) it IS possible to dodge or block arrows or bullets (well, the first bullet at least) - you just have to be able to see the shooter... How's that? Nick

Designed by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis, and Greg Stafford IIRC and arguably never properly credited for the influence it had on WEG's Star Wars that followed in '87 Cheers, Nick

Err, can one really describe kneeling behind a shield as a parry?! The 15%/30%/60%/90% chances are the chances the shield will block the missile. Character skill is not involved, and the highest chance (90%) requires that the character be stationary, kneeling and taking cover behind a large shield. I think you are over reading the phrase "base chance" in the following: In this case "base chance" means that chance starts at 15% for the smallest type of shields, and then is increased by other factors, such as size of shield, and character action and position: the chance starts at 15%, a bigger shield makes it 30%, the largest size shield increases it again to 60% and taking up a static defensive position behind a large shield increases it again to a 90% chance of intercepting normal successes. The subsequent section: ... is saying that if a character wants to actively parry a hand propelled missile, they do so at the shields base skill chance. Does that help? Nick

The current book was reprinted in late September I believe - which was presumably just a re-order from the printer from the same master files, so the same current text. However, considering that the first print run was back in May/June, that's a pretty rapid need for a reprint from Chaosium, which suggests that as far as Chaosium's estimates are concerned it's selling well. It is, bluntly, far too early for a "2nd edition" (in the sense of substantive mechanical revisions), however a revised hardback, correcting all the typos found so far and any other minor textual corrections that could be made without necessitating revising the layout would be rather nice. Charlie Krank of Chaosium has on a couple of occasions indicated that a hardback edition is possible, but has never given a time frame. Write something for them. Chaosium are a publishing house - the vast majority of their output is content created by freelancers, and in a lot of cases came about because some one pitched an idea to Chaosium. Whilst they are clearly doing what they can to get BRP material out there, the can't publish material if they don't have it. Cheers, Nick

You could include such a rule, but bear in mind that a Magician has to have separate skills in each spell, which all require development if they are to be a well rounded caster - and that's time they cannot devote to training their non-magical skills... Plus becoming a Magician after character creation is a considerable undertaking, and without that training, a character's spell casting capability will be limited at best. The nice thing about Magic (as opposed to to Sorcery), is that Magic allows the possibility of dabblers like the Gray Mouser, who know a little magic. Cheers, Nick

It's a lovely dream, and some of us (Vagabond and or myself not least) may yet release fan conversions - but sadly I think any "official" BRP version is doomed to remain a dream I'm afraid. I'm just glad, given what's happened to Morrigan Press recently, that they never got involved with Jorune... Cheers, Nick

Chaosium's sample license can be seen here. It's not particularly "amateur friendly" - but that's clearly not the intent, and from a small press publisher's point of view I gather it's terms seem pretty reasonable. Chaosium's monograph submission guidelines can be found here. Cheers, Nick

Here. It's the setting for Translight. Cheers, Nick

Yes, albeit heavily discounted at present, as they have to dispose of all stock in the current form soon, as it carries the d20 logo. Whether they will re-issue it as OGL (or system-less, or True20) only I don't know. I guess sladethesniper is assuming christopherhouse was referring to the Chaosium version of Thieves' World from the early 80's. Nick

Err, his RPG writing is secondary to his work as a freelance writer, and his writing on Translight etc is secondary to his paid RPG writing (for Mongoose Traveller)? I'm not super excited about Translight, as my impression is that whilst its roots are in BRP it has diverged a fair bit: I'm more interested in Far Avalon, the setting, albeit I have quite enough settings as it is if I'm honest. Cheers, Nick

Is the copyright assertion a blanket one for the whole book on the frontispiece, or s specific one on each image? You may well find that what they are claiming copyright on is the complete work (the layout, accompanying text and presentation) which doesn't preclude specific images they've used being (and remaining) public domain. If you believe the images are public domain, contact the publisher and ask, but be clear it is the images you are asking about. Cheers, Nick

I wasn't talking about FGU (who are indeed a deeply dubious operation, especially these days) - the copyright of Other Suns has always resided with its author, Niall Shapero, as he had the sense to cut a more sensible deal with FGU to publish OS after Chaosium decided not to. He was talking back in '04 or '05 on the RQ Rules list as was about may be doing something again with OS, but as far as I'm aware nothing has come of it as yet, but now strikes me as an opportune moment for BRP related games, so I rather hope he'll look at it again. Cheers, Nick

The only text version I ever found was actually an incomplete draft of 2nd edition Other Suns, and IIRC Niall Shapero wasn't best pleased that even that version was online. I doubt he'd be happy about any PDF scan of the first edition being distributed either... When he was posting to the RQ rule list a few years ago he sold a "galley proof" of the 2nd Edition - I did urge him then to look in to Lulu or similar means of distributing it as it's a shame its not more widely accessible. If anyone here is in reliable contact with him it might be worth raising with him again. Cheers, Nick

Becuase it makes sense that someone can exercise the will and refine their attunement to the magical flow of the universe and thus increase their chracterisitc POW in the same way they can train and imporve their STR or DEX? I certainly agree that I don't think POW should shoot up the way it could in RQII when it can't be lost in a similarly profligate fashion (which is why I've long used rules simlar to the new BRP's) - but on the other hadn it does make sense to me that a character should have SOME faciilty to improve their POW. Cheers, Nick

It's mostly a question of logic, and heading off a bit of munchkin power gaming. If ANY POW vs. POW roll will do, what's to stop the PC from spending a quiet week casting Disruption (or the equivalent) on worms, squirrels and the occasional rat? The rule simply insists that for there to be chance of gain, there must have been a substantive chance of failure... This is mostly just an extension of the RQII rule (where you got no POW gain roll if your chance of success was greater than 95%). Funnily enough, I've had a house rule that's basically the same as the new BRP rule for a long time, so I can't really contrast the two - but I can say that I've been largely happy with the BRP like house rule I've been using. One of the reasons for my house rule is that I was never fond of the "personal stat inflation" that the RQII/III rule caused, but others will no doubt have a different view. Cheers, Nick

The problem is that "SRD" (or even "System Reference Document") is not IIRC defined anywhere in the Open Gaming License - so simply calling a document an SRD doesn't assert anything about its contents. Mongoose should really label ALL their SRD's the way they've labelled the MRQ core, to remove the ambiguity. Or, it may be deliberate, in an attempt to "guide" people towards using the MRQ System Trademark License... Cheers, Nick

Marcus, hope everything is OK with the youngest now! Great to see Old Hrolmar and Calisander available again - I have fond memories of play testing Calisander for Richard. Have only skimmed Andrea's article, but looks good to - especially for the way it addresses stuff like necromancy for those without access to the Bronze Grimoire. I look forward to more updates, and will ahve another rummage through my hard drive... Nick

Hmm that's weird - his Sorcery rules are all over the shop, but the Shaman stuff mostly 404's... Found these at the Stabbing Cat - https://www.msu.edu/user/moulinfr/spirit.html https://www.msu.edu/user/moulinfr/Votanki.html Ah Ha Found 'em: Philip Hibbs' Link Page All safe and sound on Phil Hibb's site... Cheers, Nick

yeah, I realised after I posted that I'd got rather fixated on the "spirit combat" bit... oops! Cheers, Nick

Err, page 114? And pages 342-343 (Ghost write up). Can't see any issue with using RQIII Shamanism (other than my long standing gripes with that system) with BRP, provided one fine tunes the BRP options to suit. Likewise with the RQII version. Not tried building anything specifically from what's in BRP but the basics are there (pardon the pun). Cheers, Nick

To be honest, the only really problematic power systems when used with others are Mutations (which has some weird outliers that could be severely unbalanced with other options) and Supers, which by its very nature does everything the other power systems do as well... Cheers, Nick