Newt

If you've bought OpenQuest Refreshed over the last week or so since its release you have my heartfelt thanks. Its had a good opening week, up there with some of my best sellers So I guess OpenQuest is back up and running

Aw you guys I'll see what can be done sooner rather than latter then

I've not got an eta on OpenQuest Basics. In theory it should be a straightforward, cut and paste of the revised combat chapter and a quick proof and mirroring of any changes made in the big book refreshed version. But I've got to work out whether its worth my time doing a printed version of Basics - I can count sales of the previous print editions of Basic on one hand. There is also the temptation to spend a bit more time revising it. If I started tomorrow It could be a month away or if its a longer job, which is going to be lower on my priority list (since I don't actually make money directly from it - but indirectly when people come back to buy the fuller game), by the end of the year.

The new updated version of OpenQuest is now available. Its a slight tidy of up and revision of the OpenQuest 2 Deluxe version that I released over five years ago, with a new cover by Jon Hodgson and all new full colour art by Jeshields inside. Its now available via the D101 Web Store OpenQuest Refreshed Hardcover + pdf (£23/ approx $29 ) OpenQuest Refreshed Softcover + pdf (£19/ approx $15) Its also available via DriveThruRpg.com OpenQuest Refreshed at DriveThruRpg.com If you are looking for more information about what this new edition involves, and the plans for supplements going forward, check out this blog post over my Sorcerer Under Mountain blog. OpenQuest Refresh Here's the new cover by Jon Hodgson.

Alas I didn't get to run them, because we had a lack of takers (due the stallbeing invisible due to us being stuck behind the Not-So-Great Wall of Yu-Gui-OH!), but fear not they will be available some where at some point in the future.

Hi all As part of D101's Demand a Game! Programme, we will be running short 30-45 miniute demos at UK Games Expo for OpenQuest and River of Heaven. Just turn up at our stall (L6 next to the Leisure Games Games Drop and right at the top of the hall) and well book you into a session Look forward to seeing people

Indeed I will have a small number of copies of OQ Refreshed at UK Games Expo, Friday - Sunday at the Birmingham National Exhibition centre, along with a handful of OpenQuest adventure books (Savage North etc). If I have any left they will go up on my web store on Monday, with a general release via Drivethrurpg.com shortly after

I'm locking this topic down as forum moderator. its gone completely off topic in an not very constructive manner.

Here's a quick blog post I did on my Sorcerer Under Mountain Blog about the forth coming Green Hell supplement, which is in the early days of its development. Sunday Morning Dungeons.

I'm always intrigued about what people are using OpenQuest. In the past I've received reports of a Fallout style game with Psionics and a Ravenloft style game. So go on what have you used OpenQuest for currently or in the past?

I did consider this, my favorite would have been to use Battle Magic as the base system with unique spells from Sorcery and Divine added to the list. But then this would broken compatibility not just with OQ's existing adventure books but with other people's campaigns. Plus it does have a familiar charm As said if I want to do this big change I'd do it as new game. This is why Its a Refresh rather than a Revision of the system. As for being in RQ's shadow that's always going to come down to personal perspective, but I see OQ now as being firmly post-RQ. Its always been there in the rules. Even in the magic systems there's a lot of difference not just in how some of the concepts are implemented but in the fact that there's a bucket load of new spells in all three approaches. You can also see it in the Adventure supplements I've released (Life and Death. Savage North, Crucible of Dragons) Each is its own thing. You'll see it more and more in the upcoming QO Adventure/Campaign books as we go forward.

With that one I just have to think "its a JapRPG, it's a cultural thing"

Its a gorgeous day here in the NW of England and to make it even better the print-proof of OpenQuest Refreshed turned up. Still some tweaks to the text to be done (which the ever gracious Guy Milner is helping out with) but the new colour art works well with DriveThru's new standard colour format (which is on heavier grade of paper than RoH and OQ2 was on), which was the main purpose of this print proof. Jon Hodgson's Heroine cover looks all dark and deadly too Fingers crossed it will be on the stall at UK Games Expo.

Its an area I left deliberately vague and up to the GM and their players. Its a matter of what fits your group's play style and the setting you are playing in. If you are playing magic subtle the guard may never notice, even on a fumble. Conversely if you are playing it so that each time a spell is cast it gives off obvious whizz bangs of magic, which only overlooked (in the case of deceptive magic) if the target is successfully effected, the guard will notice if the spell fails to effect them. That's the two extremes and most groups will fall in between, which is why I didn't strictly define this in OpenQuest.

There's full rules on when and when not to make skill checks in OpenQuest which are similar to what you are saying. Page 35 OQ Basics Page 31 OQ 2 Deluxe

Craft if its you using your knowledge of knot work. Athletics or Unarmed if you are doing it while they are actively opposing you If its an important skill that turns up again and again, then make it a skill on its own. Regarding Engineering - nope no one has ever used it and its only really there for completeness or as an example of a Specialist skill.

Thanks for posting that Sunwolfe. Its kind words like this that keep me going some days with OQ, it has its tough moments, and inspired me to put asside my reservations and get on with with OQ and its 'aggressive' release schedule

You might be interested in the two spin-off D100 systems I created during my hiatus year Part of the process of self-evaluation and exploration that has led to OQ Refresh was seeing if I could 'simplify' it any further. As a result I came up with two D100 rulesets. SimpleQuest which is really a minimal version of D100, the seven stats which feed into about nine skills (inc Combat skills) which funnily enough are named after the old RQ3 skill modiifers, and a single magic system of simple spells which have magic point costs and if they have variable effects you roll a dice to determine the effect (e.g The Blessing of St George gives Christian Warriors an extra D6 damage against pagan opponents). Currently it fits in about 7 pages, with minimal explanation, would probably be around the 10 page mark when polished up. D100# which is a complete overhaul of the basic D100 system, with things like characteristics are skills, one magic system with no magic point cost, Talents for specialised skill areas. As well as its D100 heritage its pretty heavily influenced by The Black Hack's approach to overhauling the OSR/D20 system. It currently stands at about 30 pages, but if any thing the final thing would probably weigh in at slightly less once I've given it a viscous self-edit. With both these rule sets I kinda realised that I was getting pretty much the same thing from OpenQuest (which when you strip it down probably comes down to 30 pages) and that it made more sense to do OQ Refresh.

One thing that overwhelmed me last year when I hinted at doing a much more radical changed OpenQuest 3 was what a port of stability and safety even OQ had become for a lot of people in these times of rapidly evolving D100 systems. That's why I decided not to radically overhaul OQ. If I do that I'll do a separate new game.

Basically its some very quick guidance notes on how I use Influence checks in my game, from single checks for fast talk type situations to more involved discussions where I may ask for a influence check (or not if the role-playing has been convincing enough). Its nothing that old hands at D100 will find new or odd, but its more there for GMs new to D100 who come from modern systems where Social Conflict Systems are a thing.

Right many thanks to John Ossoway who has provided a printer friendly B&W character sheet. Grab it from the Downloads section of the D101 website. http://d101games.com/files/

Well the ground work for Hi-octane Kung-Fu shenanigans has already been put in place in OpenQuest 2 (and will carry forward into OpenQuest Refresh), go and look at some of the Battle Magic spells

" Me too! I spent most of last year tied up getting the behemoth that is Crypts and Things out and naval gazing about the relevance of OQ in the face of the impending release of Chaosium's RuneQuest and the re-branded and most excellent Mythras. Ultimately I realised that OQ has its own well established niche that is different enough yet complimentary to the other d100 games, to justify its existence. All the kind words from people here about it helped alot during that period of uncertainty

Hi Prime Evil In answer to your questions Crowdfunded Hardcover - nope I'm keeping it POD and getting Refreshed out as quickly as possible. Changes to Combat chapter - Its been reorganized so it makes more sense to read. The biggest tweak is that you now get as many defensive reactions as you need, which are taken as they are needed, but you get a cumulative -25% modifier for every defense after the first. Unarmed combat has been re-written so its more immediate in effect and is clearer. Shield use against ranged combat has its own section in the Special Combat Rules section, for clarity, Finally there's a very quick section on handing Social Conflict at the end of the Chapter, which to old d100 hands is nothing new but should help people new to the game figure out how handle such situations. Its a revision of the guidelines I gave in Life and Death. Shamans/Spirit Magic - I had a look again at all the rules, magic and creatures involved in depicting the Spirit World, and felt that the rules had drifted quite far away from the simple approach that I had when I first released the game. So I've dumped a whole lot of stuff that was added in, dropping back to the first release, and then doing amends to make sure it made sense. OpenQuest Bestiary - yes I've quite seriously considered doing one, new monsters and expanded information for the existing monsters to flesh out the rather basic descriptions given in the main rule book. But its low on my priorities list. More Gatan scenarios - if its cookie-cutter fantasy no. If its something special and different yes. This runs across all submissions. I am not interested in doing more Swords and Sorcery releases and revisiting ground that's already been covered in the previous OQ adventure releases. Think of something fresh and new. One of the reasons I went with the new cover is that I wanted to clearly signal this visually.

I'll be doing previews of the new layout once Its gone through a final check. Some material from the Savage North will be in From Darkness into the Light in a revised and expanded form, but the adventures which make up two thirds of the book won't be. Life and Death, yes I do have plans for that, but they are huge and rather silly at the moment. All I'll darkly hint at was that L&D was meant to be the first of a five book series, with each book centered round one of the five cities of the Shattered Lands