NickMiddleton

The mass market is in broad high fantasy still though, and BRP did do that. Glorantha might well have always had more depth than Greyhawk (and these days spends interminable reams of paper lovingly caressing every minutia of how different it is, *yawn*), but originally it's popularity was that it was a fun and different place to kill things and take their stuf, with a system that actually made trying to kill things feel as risky and heroic as it ought... I think what BRP needs is a new Glorantha, as Glorantha was in 1978 - somewhere with distinctive flavour, but not opaque and unapproachable. Somewhere that someone who has just read Lord of the Rings, or Conan, or Until they are Hanged could get to grips with quickly, but which DOESN'T feel like Greyhawk / Forgotten Realms-lite... And BRP used to do well with Elric! / Stormbringer. But to be fair, S&S is at one end of a sliding scale with Forgotten Realms style High Fantasy at the other and AD&D used to adapt reasonably well between them, and BRP still does. I'd favour something more towards the S&S end of the scale, but I think being too dogmatic about it would restrict it's appeal. I think these are lovely ideas for supplementary settings, and certainly blending more influence from these non-European sources can add flavour - but as exotic settings from Glorantha onwards have discovered, stray too far from the European paradigm and sales (which are to a largely European descended demographic after all...) aren't so good. This to me is the obvious direction to take a "revival" of Nephilim, or rather, a revival of Chaosium's interest in modern occult / fantasy gaming (as opposed to Horror)... The challenge is in building a setting that isn't blatantly obviously "Neil Gaiman" the RPG without Gaiman's permission, or Buffy / Angel -lite. I think one could do something building on what was in Nephilim, but it would require such a radical re-imagining that it would be a different game in most respects. [*]Pre-Tolkien fantasy literature (e.g. Oz, Gormengast, the worlds of Lord Dunsany)

I have a copy of JAGS and Wonderland somewhere in PDF and I have read them both but hadn't made the connection to it until you posted but beyond the suggestion that DaVinci's heir's might sue (albeit I'm pretty sure that his original is out of copyright anywhere in the world, what with it being a bit more than seventy years since his death) I don't see anything to be suspicious of - so two people independently came up with the idea of using Da Vinci's "Vetruvian Man" as the basis for an image promoting a multi-genre RPG - big deal. As Jason rightly alluded to, BOTH could be construed as copying Hero games Logo, which itself clearly echoes the DaVinci pic but was around before the JAGS illustration and the BRP cover. And whilst the JAGS and BRP images are more closely derived from DaVinci's original than something like the HERO Games logo, they are clearly different executions of a similar concept, nothing more. They have different numbers of limbs / appendages, the weapons are different (the JAGS chap appears to be holding some sort of revolver), the armour is distributed differently, the BRP has a tentacle coming in... *shrug* I really don't see an issue here... Cheers, Nick

I like the idea of tricks, and started roughing out some ideas for a BRP system - then I thought again: So the lucky farm boy (POW 18) is better at Intimidation than the veteran Soldier (POW 12), the smart kid (INT 18) better than the average adult hustler (INT 12), the graceful apprentice (DEX 18) better than the normally co-ordinated Guard (DEX 12)? I concluded after some thought that a) a lot of this stuff is covered in the new BRP in the Spot Rules and they are functions of skill (i.e. experience and training) not raw ability (i.e. stats). If I was to implement a generalised mechanic for non-combat skills aiding in combat I'd use a variant something like this: a character with a sufficiently high skill (e.g. Fast Talk 50+) can use it in an opposed test vs. an opponents appropriate skill (e.g. for a bluff, or taunt use of fast Talk, probably Insight) and if they win either penalise the opponents defensive skill or add to their attacking skill an amount equal to their special success chance with their winning skill e.g. in the Bluff example, one fifth of their Fast Talk could be applied as either a penalty to the defenders parry or Dodge, or as a bonus to the Attackers weapon skill. There are Entangle and Knock-back rules in BRP already - I think the issue is as much getting players to THINK about what their characters options are in a combat as it is a rules issue. And, funnily enough, I know of at least one Savage Worlds GM who has had problems getting players to engage with SW combat properly because they didn't know or understand the options available... I think much of this is, as I said, already covered in the BRP spot rules, and that the vast majority should be skill based... But I still want to sit down with a copy of SW and the BRP Spot Rule chapter as I think I think a "Guide to BRP Action Sequences" with suggestions for both players and GM's on how to implement and exploit the Spot Rules stuff might be useful. This is covered in the optional "Fate point" mechanic in BRP. I've yet to try them in play, but I know Jason and others have used these sorts of things a lot and think well of them... I think it's worth looking at skills over 100% and considering how big a deal it is: in an SB style game, skills over 100 are sufficiently common that they don't nee extra rules. In a RQII/III game where skills over 100 are theoretically possible but rare and noteworthy then I think some extra benefits of exceptional skill would be good - whether something like Land of Ninja's ki skills or MRQ's Legendary Abilities done right. RuneLords in RQII got specific unique abilities for weapon skills over 100, which might be a source of inspiration. Cheers, Nick

Err, care to condense that a touch? Or at least break out the key things you think MIGHT be useful / relevant to BRP? I'm afraid I don't particularly rate Mike Mearls as a designer (most of his d20 work I've read I find overly fiddly and poorly thought through) and most of the rules ideas in 4e seem aimed at taking the game even further back down the "tactical skirmish wargame" road than 3.5 - a shame as the flavour text and such has been a marked improvement over 3.0/3.5 - but frankly, if I was to run something in a 4e style "points of light" setting, from what I've heard so far 4e is pretty low down the list of possible systems I'd choose to use... Cheers, Nick

It's a bit of a quick straw poll effort, and I suspect one would need to get in to some rather lengthy discussions to clearly define Modern Horror and Modern Fantasy as distinct from each other - AND explain how both aren't already to some degree addressed by Call of Cthulhu. But I'm sure Chaosium would listen to / read a pitch on either one - and they might revise the poll in response to an email. Be interesting to see what the results look like when it has more respondents...

Yes - basically you can add more levels to a spell and for spells where it makes sense, those additional levels can be applied to different aspects of the spell. So a level 6 change spell could last 15 minutes and affect one SIZ 18 individual, OR affect TWO SIZ 9 individuals (six levels of it's basic effect, split between two targets) OR one SIZ 9 target but for a duration of one hour (3 levels of basic effect last 15 minutes, and three levels of additional duration). The spell list is virtually unchanged from Magic World, but there is a Conjure Elemental spell, and as you say, it would be very easy to improvise additional spells. I'm also hopeful that an early supplement for BRP will be some sort of "magic system anthology" based on the RQIII Magic Book but also including material from the Bronze Grimoire, Nephilim, Liber Ka, Land of Ninja and some new ones... Cheers, Nick

I dislike the fixed damage bonus approach, as it removes any possibility of a glancing blow from exceptionally large creatures. The increasing die size damage bonus seen in MRQ (and earlier in the things like the Elric! effect die table) is a better solution, addressing both the lack of variability in the fixed system, and the bias towards average (and thus large) damage adds of the traditional d4/d6/2d6/3d6 DB progression... But I thought long and hard about it during the BRP play test and to be honest, at the point at which things get a 2d6 DB in BRP , I don't think it's an issue. Before I'd re-jig the DB table I'd re-jig the weapons damage tables to remove the flat +'s, as I think they distort things far more. YMMV. Nick

Not exactly. BRP 0 defines a condition "Fatal Wound" - where the character receives an injury that does them more hit points damage than they currently have hit points" So, in theory, a character could go to -157 hit points, and if some how a companion character could administer 158 points of healing in the round on which the fatal wound occurred and the immediately following round, the character would survive - which, given eth necessary power level of any campaign in which 158 points of healing over two rounds is even possible, doesn't seem unreasonable. In a "normal" level campaign with First Aid, a character5 might make it back from going as far as -5, but it's not likely, and any more severe is irretrievable. I've used variants of the D&D "dying rule", where a fatally wounded character loses a further hit point per round until -CON, at which point they are beyond treatment - it depends on the genre and setting. Cheers, Nick

I'm in the process of adapting BRP 0 Sorcery as a system of Divine magic for Priests in a fantasy setting i'm writing up, and basically all I've done is replace the POW 16+ requirement with an Allegiance requirement (To gain spells a characters must have Allegeiance (Specific Deity) 50+ and be allied to that Allegiance) and renamed the spells to remove the word Sorcery / Sorcerer. Cheers, Nick

Before I get thoroughly diverted from what I should be doing (which is finishing off the thumbnail sketch of the setting so I can get back to writing up this bloody scenario for publication), has anyone worked up the Optional Rules checklist from the back of BRP 0 as a electronic document (doc / pdf / odt)? Cheers, Nick

So each family line has it's own set of "ideals" from the traits list? And perhaps each family / line has an Alleigance (family / Line) that works as per the BRP Allegiance, but each family / line has different sets of actions / behaviours that add allegiance? So you have both a set of ideals for a family / line that the character would strive to live up to, AND a set of specific behaviours that family tradition / loyalty would define as "right action"... Cheers, Nick

Nah, re-read Jason's posts up thread - BOTH are copying Da Vinci's "Vetruvian Man" aka "Measure of Man" - it's a very well known image - see here . Nick

Purely off the cuff, but how about, rather than using the fate point mechanic and Allegiance (which is in some ways a fre-form variant of Pendragon's Passions rules), define some "ideals" - sets of say five traits that exemplify a particular ideal / philosophy / worldview and if a character who espouses that ideal has trait scores that qualify (16+ if 1-20 scale, 80+ if 1-100 scale, can't remember how BRP 0 does 'em but think it's 1-100) they get a benefit. Or even, for each qualifying trait they get a minor benefit, and for the full set they get an enhabced benefit? Just a thought... Nick

The catalogue works, and I managed to log in, so I think they're most of the way back. Cheers, Nick Middleton

I've always found Dustin is pretty good at responding promptly, and he specifically posted to the BRP play test Yahoo group regarding license submissions - BUT he's also remote from the Chaosium offices in California, so I know his email recently has been erratic. regards, Nick Middleton

IIRC Jason's notes on doing Star wars in BRP were posted in a thread at RPG Net a while back... Cheers, Nick Middleton

Err, which "new rule"? In BRP zero, a critical Parry or Dodge negates an attack and in the case of the parry the parrying object takes no damage - which is exactly how a critical parry worked in RQIII (and in RQIII, a special parry means the pParrying object takes no damage)... Cheers, Nick Middleton

BRP Zero includes the RQIII fatigue point system, and a simple systen rekated to the RQII Encumberance model, IIRC. Nick Middleton

I haven't got BRP zero to hand, and this is off the cuff, but how about: 1) Attack vs. Dodge is an Opposed Roll per the opposed skills rule (with a bit of fine tuning and clarification#). 2) Attack vs. Parry is not treated as an Opposed Roll i) A successful (critical, special or normal) parry blocks the parrying objects AP from a succesful (critical, special or normal) Attack's damage roll. ii) Whichever "object" achieved the lesser degree of success out of the attack or parry reduces its AP by 1 if its AP were exceeded by the other objects damage, plus an additional one for each degree of success less. iii)Where sensible (e.g. Impaling weapons vs. Shields) aspects of weapon special effects may (GM's discretion be applied) e.g. impaling weapons getting stuck in a shield. So... Parrying with a shield, even perfectly, probably won't break a sword, and may well not stop all the damage, but unlike armour CAN'T be by passed (and the shield will have a LOT of AP); weapon AP's have a role, and weapons and shields do degrade, but slowly. And in the past in RQIII I've let characters use their weapon skills as a Maintenace roll with appropriate resource's to hand to "first aid" their weapons and shield and replace lost AP, so I'd certainly allow that as a possibility. Quite like that actually, will have to try it some time... Cheers, Nick Middleton # Specifically, that when Degrees of Success are tied, the higher roll wins but is in ALL cases treated as having only achieved a normal success, so ties on any DoS result in a normal success for the winner.

Hmm: unlike the Tribe 8 / Silhouette version, this potentially allows a characters to dump a LOT of power points in to a fairly major effect: a typical character could easily afford to drop 8 power points, for a +40 augment... I'm not saying it's a bad thing (or even out of scale with T8), but would one want to limit it? I think if I were looking at a BRP conversion of T8 I'd be tempted to impose a maximum limit to augments, at least for non-dreamers characters - say may be 4 power points at a time (i.e. +4 to special chance, + 1 to critical chance), or no more than POW / 4 perhaps. And I'd raise the caps on augments - so whilst a non-Shaman could augment some what, a Shaman could really turn on the juice, as it were... What might be useful is, despite the ideas roots in T8, to try and divest the ideas of their T8 terminology - whilst I'd love to see a T8/BRP conversion, I think you are right and there are more interesting and original things that can be explored from here... Decide whether we're talking about a T8/BRP conversion (which would be cool!) or about shaping a new magic system / setting for BRP inspired by T8's Synthesis (which would also be cool!). Cheers, Nick Middleton

Sounds promising, but I'd hav eto look at my Tribe 8 stuff again to be able to say anything useful. Bear with me... Nick Middleton

The default rule: Both characters roll and the one who achieves the highest degree of success wins. Once the "winner" is determined, if the losers roll was still a success, they reduce the winners degree of success by one step for each degree of success the loser achieved above failure (So a normal success will be beaten in an opposed test by a critical roll, but the critical will be reduced to a special success). Where degrees of success are tied, the victory goes to the higher dice roll (thus rewarding the higher skill). A number of optional variant are included, and there are some wrinkles in interpretation that were to be clarified as a result of feedback on BRP 0 IIRC. The default rule and variants automatically takes account of skills over 100. Cheers, Nick Middleton

It's a cracking setting, and pretty easily adapted to BRP, and it's native system (for the first edition, Silhouette) is actually pretty good. I've yet to run it, and thus haven't actually committed to whether I'd convert to BRP. Albeit the After the Scouring campaign I ran last year that was heavily inspired by Tribe 8 was basically RQIII powered... I think the key thing is to provide something that can be used immediately, and that demonstrates the range the rule set is capable of. I wasn't imagining tying them to specific settings: more just very generic examples of those genres with good scenarios that can be played with just that demo game. Cheers, Nick Middleton.

If the model is something that can be given away, take a look at Dream Pod 9's Tribe 8 demo-game . No character generation, but a concise outline of the game mechanics, the game setting, a set of pre generated characters and a solid scenario for them to play through. All in what amounts to four sides of A4. Something like that (a set of pre-generated characters in a specific setting, with a concise explanation of the core rules and a solid scenario) is what would be best - but, given that BRP is not tied to a specific setting, what might be best is a set of these: fantasy, SF, superhero, perhaps western, espionage and post-apocalypse as well? Cheers, Nick Middleton

There is a fate point mechanic in BRP (page 176 of BRP 0). (my emphasis) My experience of such systems (not just in BRP/RQ but in a number of other games) is that they are intrusive, breaking "the fourth wall" in a fashion that is detrimental to the atmosphere and flow of the game. Some groups love them - but equally, some groups don't... How else would you describe a skill of 250%? "tremendous skill" is just that: tremendous skill. Elements of the Super Powers system can be used to model exceptional / superhuman talents (e.g. Superhearing will let a character hear frequencies other humans cannot), and setting the campaign "level" suitably high will allow very high skill levels. Err, Hit Lcoations are an optional system in BRP. The Fate Point system I mentioned allows a Character to "soak" one point of damage at the cost of three "power points" (what we known in previous BRP games as magic points), as well as offering various options to affect the outcome of percentile rolls that could reduce damage suffered in combat. Cheers, Nick Middleton