NickMiddleton

Yes, albeit what I'm planning is a fan zine that will carry scenarios, rather than a commercial venture: Uncounted Worlds | Basic Roleplaying . Net I'm hoping to pull together a first issue of two or three scenarios and a few other bits and pieces for this summer - but I have very little free time at present as my day jobs in meltdown. As for other people I don't know - Chaosium are certainly interested in looking at proposals as I understand it... Cheers, Nick Middleton

*shrug* GURPS lite for 4th edition GURPS is 32 pages and includes no scenario. In the Cthulhu quick start the actual rules bit is pages 5 - 11. Pages 12 to 19 are the classic scenario "The Haunting", revised for novice Keepers, and the rest is the usual padding (Cover, blank character sheet, details of other Chaosium products). I'm not sure what you were expecting, but I think Ben Monroe and William Jones did a bang-up job of distilling the core rules of that game and sprucing up a classic scenario for new players, and they do it in 14 pages (ignoring padding), including a scenario such that you genuinely could run the game with just the quick start - not something that's possible with say GURPS lite. Cheers, Nick Middleton

I noticed Jason said: (my emphasis)... :thumb: To be honest, I have both RQIII and the BRP monographs - I'm writing up one thing at present using the BRP monographs as a reference and that'll have to do for the moment. As for the quick start / intro idea - we did discuss it in the Play test group IIRC and it's clearly a good idea - in some ways what would be really cool would be to have several brief scenarios with pre-gens to show case the system in different genres / styles... If you haven't seen it before, take a look at the Call of Cthulhu quick start rules which is a pretty good illustration of what can be done. Cheers, Nick Middleton

Funnily enough, exactly my thought (related to a setting using magic based on the RQIII magic systems) was to have a Character's Allegiance score (if Allied to that allegiance - i.e. 20 or more greater than all other allegiances AND the character has committed to the allegiance) as the source of the Characters ability to use "Divine Blessings" ( RQIII style Spirit Magic), whilst "Divine Miracles" (RQIII style Divine magic) would come from sacrificing POW as in RQIII. IN the specific setting everyone would still have limted access to "Hedge Magic" (RQIII Spirit Magic) but only Divine Priests and Hedge Wizards would have significant Spirit magic spells. What I like about using Allegiance in this way is that as a system it is a character choice driven mechanism for power that rewards "right action" (doing things that promote the character's allied Allegiance). Likewise, if a characters actions favour a different allegiance (or are detrimental to their allied allegiance) the player can see the effect and the risk, but is left free to role play the implications /consequences in their characters behaviour. So there is a justifiable moral framework associated with particular Allegiances but one that players are free to role play with, rtaher than being straight jacketed by. That's definitely what I had in mind when I mentioned Pendragon - and extra short term "boost" from invoking your Allegiance, with greater benefits for Allied Allegiances. Cheers, Nick Middleton

The idea has been mooted sufficiently often by various play testers and Jason himself that I think it's pretty much inevitable that SOMEONE will pitch a "BRP Magic" book to Chaosium and I'd be stunned if they didn't pick it up - but I doubt very much it would be a PDF. Monograph or proper book would be my guess. Cheers, Nick Middleton

Apart from their propensity to drop pages from the centre at the slightest provocation... The GW hardbacks of the mid-eighties are notoriously variable in quality. If you got a good one, it will probably stil be going strong. But some of them disintegrated phenomenally quickly. My AH Softback is still doing fine, albeit it's not be subjected to particularly hard use. But I generally use photocopies of the Players and Magic books I did a few years back from a scruffy copy of the AH deluxe boxed set I picked up cheap off eBay. Cheers, Nick Middleton

Err, you HAVE played Stormbringer 5 / Elric! at some point, surely? Alignment (in D&D) is a rather clumsy straight-jacket which really doesn't fit the way the game is usually played, but which is inter-twined with some fundemental aspects of the rules system (significant portions of the magic and class ability systems depend on the use of alignments in 3.0 / 3.5) and is awkward to remove without fairly major surgery to the game and its core assumptions. Allegiance is a system that lets GM's codify the divine / metaphysical conflict(s) in a setting without straight-jacketing players and allows players who want pursue a specific philisophy / code for their characters to do so and, if they choose, reap some reward for it. One could even import some Pendragon ideas - "inspiring" on ones Allegiance for example... Cheers, Nick Middleton

From a quick look in both Camino (1.5.5) and Safari (3.1) it looked fine. Cheers, Nick

Yes, largely based on those from RQIII if memory serves. Cheers, Nick Middleton

Mongoose have a licensing deal with Issaries Inc to publish Second Age material and to use the RuneQuest trademark. Moon Design have licensing deal with Issaries Inc to publish third age material and to use the HeroQuest trademark and copyright material. It's entirely possible to imagine some sort of deal that would allow explicitly BRP material for second or third age Glorantha to be published that Chaosium, Issaries, Mongoose and Moon Design would all be willing to sign up to: just as it's possible to imagine flying pigs, cold days in hell and honest politicians... but I wouldn't hold your breath... Cheers, Nick Middleton

My memory from using it last year on a PC was that it could create PC's and NPC's. for pretty much any race (icluding custom ones) - someone urgently needs to port it to a platform independent format like Java, or I'm going to have to look in to one of the emulatino / virtual machine options for running Windows XP on my iMac, as it was very useful when I was running RQIII last spring / summer. Cheers, Nick Middleton

Great work on the stat block Shaira, and I'd have to agree that examples 3 and 4 in the PDF from DirkD seem clearest to me as well. Does mean I have a chunk of stuff I'll have to revisit to make it look presentable now though... Cheers, Nick Middleton

Looks fine in Camino (same engine as Firefox) and Safari 3.1 on my iMac. Black text against the parchment is a bit hard on the eyes, but apart from that, no complaints. Cheers, Nick Middleton

We all knew that we were buying a proof copy - if anything it somewhat restores my faith in RPG publishing to hear that Chaosium have taken on board the comments about BRP0: too many modern RPG publishers these days would have simply released BRP zero and then thought about a revised printing if there was enough of customer reaction. I'd always intended to get at least one copy of the full proper printing anyway Cheers, Nick Middleton

Pretty much all the "magic powers" in Dune are actually just phenomenally well trained and integrated skills. The "weirding way" is a superstitious Fremen description for Bene Gesserit prana-bindu based martial arts, "the Voice" is clearly described as a technique of vocal modulation and pitching aimed at a specific individual. Even the truth saying thing is IIRC a matter of reading body language and vocal nuances. The only thing that's not a matter of training alone is the actual pre-gog. So I'd say Pete's correct that most of it could be handled by some setting specific skills, an dother wise there would be no "powers" at all. Appropriate equipment descriptions would be key - no energy weapons (apart from the banned lasguns...), eprsonal shields etc. The officially NOT cannon Dune Encyclopedia would make a good reference, especially if one were aiming at the "classic" setting of the original three novels. Cheers, Nick Middleton

I believe (from the Wired article somebody linked to earlier) that Gygax was using a system of picking sight unseen a single chit from a set numbered 1 to 20 before he was show the icosahedron in an education supply catalogue. So he already had the idea of a 1-20 random range (flat distribution etc.) but didn't have a die shape until he saw the icosahedron... Nick Middleton

Geometry lectures and classes - the Icosahedron, like the tetrahedron, cube, Octahedron, Dodechedron are Platonic solids - regular convex polhedra. Cheers, Nick Middleton

The "Advanced Readers Copy" (aka BRP Zero) PoD edition of the new BRP book that Chaosium originally did for final proof-reading / editing purposes and which (due to fan pressure) they also made available through their web site, was printed in a limited run of 420 (Jason Durall, the author, getting number 1...), the number being written inthe front of each book. Some one suggested those who had a copy sig which one they got, hence the x / 420 notation in many peopel's signatures... Cheers, Nick Middleton

"Spot" would seem well suited to what you want: Alternatively, perhaps an Idea roll? Cheers, Nick Middleton

Since you mention it, I think defaulting ALL posts to CC, and burying that fact in the T&C's would probably NOT stand up in a European court if someone chose to contest it (but I am so NOT a lawyer) and more importantly could, if people understood the implications, put people off posting in the forums as effectively ANY idea they have posted here is now CC licensed... So I think keeping the wiki as CC licensed is OK (but that fact needs prominently displaying), and the forums should default to normal copyright conventions - but if there's an easy way for those who wish to "opt in" to a CC license for their posts, that would be cool: perhaps a standard disclaimer on each page that provides people with a link to show how they can put a suitable blurb / link in their signatures? I certainly think for those who AREN'T comfortable that everything they post here is CC licensed should have an easy way of opting out even if the majority are in favour of the CC licensing... Cheers, Nick Middleton

My instinct has always been to use pretty much full bore RQIII to capture the brutal feel of the original setting: Spirit Magic and the Shaman rules (with a little adaptation) cover the Will; Elemental and Dragon-King Worship is neatly covered by Divine Magic and Defiling / Preserving is an adaptation of Sorcery where the MP's DON'T come from the individual but from the surrounding flora (terrain dictates the rate at which MP can be drawn, defiling is significantly faster but defiles the area affected, MP drawn and terrain determine the area of effect of the defiling). However, now BRP Zero is out and the full version hopefully soon, I'd be tempted to look at adapting the Psychic powers and Magic systems from that for Athasian Psionics and Preserving / Defiling. I still think RQIII Divine Magic is pretty good fit for Templar / Elemental worship powers though. Cheers, Nick Middleton

I think I'm looking forward to Iron Ring more myself... I've never persuaded a group to play it and I'm increasingly fearful that it's going to end up as one of those games I own but never get to play - which would be a tragedy as it is a fabulous setting. The system, whilst basically very much my sort of thing (unobtrusive, bascially simulationist), isn't scinitillating, and I've have been happer with some more substantive scenario and campaign suggestions. But other than that (and the minor quibble that the custom a|state font isn't as legible as it could be) I think a|state is stunning: it's a genuinely beautiful book and a remarkably haunting and richly imagined setting. I've been holding off on doing the same to wait for BRP to settle (albeit it ought to be possible to do a conversion using BRP zero) and for some free time... And I had some vague ideas about adapting the RQIII professions model to BRP to provide a "prior history" / life path type set up (albeit I'd done very little on that. I do have an outline of a an a|state scenario I wanted to try somewhere as well... Cheers, Nick Middleton

Then, frankly you either weren't paying attention or wilfully misconstrued what was said. Chaosium (and Jason) have consistently said that (to continue the analogy) they were producing the best motorbike they'd ever done, based on all their previous motorbike designs. Certainly, the "high cargo capacity" configuration was going to learn some lessons from the pickup truck they had made and marketed twenty plus years ago - but the new product has always explicitly been a motorbike, not a pickup truck. BRP is entirely compatible with RQIII - pick the right set of optional rules and, bar a few skill category names and the contributing stats, it's mechanically indistinguishable. Add the BRP Magic Book monograph and it has the same magic systems as well. Customers requested a product be made available. How is this a "cynical marketing ploy"? Cheers, Nick Middleton

That was precisely the original motivation behind Gwenthia, albeit we wandered quite some way from that original motivation fairly rapidly... The difficulty is there is no "in house" at Chaosium: they have no designers / writers on staff any more (well, Lynn Willis has written stuff in the past, but I gather these days he only does editorial work). It's possible they might consider some sort of supervision / licensed arrangement I suppose... Indeed, and perhaps something that this community could do in it's wiki, or on a clsoed sub set of the forums? Cheers, Nick Middleton

More worrying about what might have happened in the past is that it's just up the coast from Sizewell Nuclear Powerstation! Adn not that far from Southwold (which is very pretty, but also right next to Walberswick...) >:-> IICR there was a rather nice piece in a late issue of Valkyrie magazine about the whole area. Cheers, Nick Middleton