Newt

That's why I'm not proofing it

Ok couple of updates.

Just about to finish proofing - finaly chapter should be with my this weekend or next.

Artist is rearing to go, and I'm drawing up a list of Art right now.

John O who is a Designer by trade, is going to be drawing up InDesign Templates for me to do layout in.

While John unfortunately can't make Continuum, I will be running his scenario "The Last Witness" for him on Saturday Afternoon.

Still on for the OCT/Nov release date - so you will see the book at Dragonmeet

Hearts in Glorantha issue 5 is rapidly approaching print proof and I hope to have it out by Continuum at the end of the month.

As a tribute to the first Gloranthan fanzine which I bought issue 5 of Tales of the Reaching Moon "Humakti Special!", HiG#5 has a Humkati Feature. It has artcles and adventures by myself, Jane Williams, Loran Aillet and Adrian Smith. Now you can join in the fun by answering a simple question.

The question I'd like to ask you all is "Tell me about your Humakti?".

You can write a quick character sketch, a 100 word HQ character portrait ,or a tale of their most infamous exploit. Let their deeds live on even if they've joined their god in Humakt's Hall!!

Each one that is sent to me at newt@d101games.co.uk will be considered for publication. Please don't post them to this list, you'll spoil the surprise, and keep your piece under 500 words. The best will win a copy of the soon to be published Gloranthan Adventures issue 2 Red Sun Rising (100 pages of Lunar Heartland setting + adventures) + a copy of HiG issue 5, while two runners up will receive a copy of HiG#5 each.

Closing Date is this coming Sunday July 8th.

Ok I'll bite and offer to run a game. Need to do a bit of OQ2 playtesting anyway

Initial offer is to run a short introductory scenario, so people (including me) can get used to what ever platform I choose to use, and then a longer more committed game later on.

Spiral which time zone are you in? Im in the UK so I'm GMT +0.

OQ2 is kinda a slow work in progress, with no definite release date from me.....as yet.

Watch out for anouncement which should be more solid regarding release dates

....I see that the author's web site has not had much in the way of activity in recent years. Is the material still being developed? Is it likely to be turned into a proper Chaosium release?

Without giving too much away the answers to your questions are; Yes & No.

Alas no its slipped, due to some Real life issues on my part that has put back the whole D101 schedule by 2-3 months.

Currently stick in art and proofing.

Aiming for OCT/NOV release, in time for Dragonmeet.

Awesome. I was wondering when someone would use OQ to create an adventure pack/setting. Excellent stuff

GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!

The Company by Rik Kershaw-Moore is now available!

Ever wondered what it is like to jump out of an aircraft 50,000 feet above a stricken oil tanker? Or how you’d handle defusing an IED? Or what it is like standing between a visiting VIP and that sniper’s bullet? Well now you can because The Company will put you right at the centre of the action.

In The Company you play an employee of The Company – an elite independent Private Military Service Provider, a global security concern capable of dealing with any situation from a high octane firefight to the tracking down of serial killers. If you can think of it, The Company can handle it.

The Company uses D101 games’ OpenQuest rules engine; a sleek and streamlined D100 rule set that enables you to maintain the tempo of your stories whilst keeping the rules simple and in the background. Here is the complete first fifteen pages of the book, the contents pages + introductory chapter.

Buy

The Company $15 pdf / $40 Hardcover / $30 Softcover

Contents

The Field Operatives Manual contains:

The OpenQuest rules engine – tailored to a modern day setting, and including combat rules covering all aspects of modern warfare.

Simple Character generation – enabling you to go from concept to fully finished character as quickly as possible.

Equipment – a comprehensive list of vehicles and equipment, providing your character with everything you will need to prosecute a successful mission; be that the latest in covert surveillance or the most accurate of rifles.

The world – in which The Company operates within, the global flashpoint locations that Company Operatives may visit, competitors to The Company, Company customers and organizations that Company customers may come into conflict with.

Story seeds – covering a wide range of possible genre, from the classic war-story,adventures with corporate espionage, helping with disaster relief and close protection work.

Two example scenarios – ‘Operation Bluebeard’ and ‘F.I.S.H & C.H.I.P.S’ which will introduce you not only to The Company but to the workings of the OpenQuest rules engine.

Broadly compatible with other D100 systems. Written by Rik Kershaw Moore.

More info

D101 Games » The Company

Yes

...and pdf bundles, and T-shirts, and follow up supplements and Adventures.

Whole lot of fun is planned for this one

The lastest on release date is July by the very latest - so just in time for a Continuum release party

The Knights of the North are Holy Warriors in OpenQuest terms, or Rune Lords in old RQ2 speak. Holy Warriors are covered on OQ p77

Their armour is a gift from their God the Celestial Emperor Maximus and they are expected to crush Barbarians, Heretics and other enemies of their God and by extension the Empire of Gatan unceasingly.

They are high level characters, both in societal prestige and game terms ( you need at least 75% in Close combat and 50% in Religion) , and normal adventuring groups are unlikely to meet them, unless they have been increadibly stupid and really pissed of the Governor of Drakar i.e have done something so bad that they are declared an Enemy of the Empire. If you have a player character who is pursing becoming a Northern Knight, the road is hard and arduous and once you get there you are constantly having to fight equivalent opponents to keep in with your God.

And yes they are tough to take down, but not impossible. As pointed out above stacking powerful damage inflicting magic, and critical hits bye pass the armour. As does mental attacks. Did you bring your friend Shamus the Shaman with his trio of bound Bog-Disease spirits?

149 pages of Swords and Sorcery fun. Be a wild Barbarian, a deadly Fighter, a soul-torn Magician or a sword sharp canny Thief, fighting evil tyrants, foul sorcerers and demons in a world rapidly dying and heading towards its final Nemesis.

Using a modified version of Swords and Wizardry, which in itself is a tribute to the earlier versions of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game.

Chapter list

Scrolls of Wonderous Revelation (The Players’ Handbook)

Creating a character

How to play

Spell lists

The Book of Doom (A Crypt Keeper’s Guide)

The Continent of Terror - Gazetteer of the setting.

Ill Gotten gains of Dark Desire - Treasure and magic items.

A compendium of Fiends - Monsters

The Hall of Nizun Thun - A mini-crypt (adventure)

Appendices A to M: Notes from the Abyss

Witness the video flip through where I talk you through the book

Available in ;

Print from Lulu.com

Hardcover £25/$40

Softcover £15/$23.50

Pdf from DrivethruRpg

Pdf £7.50/$12

Once again Jon Hodgson has done me proud with this cover, itself a tribute to axe wielding Barbarians of old.

No pre-order yet, still a way to go with production - fulll proof and art is the next bit before I even touch layout.

Also, will there be weapon charts that have modern weaponry as well as futuristic weaponry? Is there any charts of the OpenQuest system for modern contemporary weaponry?

There are some modern weapons but nowhere to the detail of The Company.For example modern guns are simply "Slug pistol" or "Slug rifle" .

The page for the Company is here

http://d101games.co.uk/books/the-company/

It includes both a pdf with the contents and intro chapter, and a short vid by yours truely giving a flavour of the game.

I just read your blog and you mentioned what a pain the big list of guns debate was and got a somewhat-related idea. How about classifying the guns by the die type you'd use for their damage (and any modifiers)? Such as: d10 damage [list of guns and ammo plus modifiers for each gun and ammo to the die roll]; d12 damage [list of guns and ammo plus modifiers for each gun and ammo to the die roll]; etc. Hopefully this is a worthwhile. At least it would serve as a rather easy to reference comparison chart (so I think). I realize there's a ridiculous amount of research to making any such list as realistic as possible.

This is the blog post, by Rik the Author, in question

http://thecompany.d101games.co.uk/2011/03/22/the-great-big-list-of-guns-debate/

Very early on in the Company's development me and Rik had a big discussion about Guns and how to present them. Did we simply go for a very basic list of weapons - eg 9mm Pistol, .44 Revolver, 9mm SMG, Pump action shotgun, Double barreled shotgun etc. You know "a gun is a gun, I'm here for the action movie". We decided however to do the 'big list of guns'. We knew the games audience would want to say, "My character is using a Colt defender, what's the damage for that". So instead of guns grouped by damage dice, we've got tables grouped by weapon type that are reasonably complete (because I know the gun nuts amoungst you will find omissions). And Rik did do a lot of research....a damned lot of research

Very briefly, since I'll be making a fuller announcement, I've got confirmation from both The Design Mechanism and Issaries Inc that I can include RQ6 material for Glorantha in Hearts in Glorantha and Gloranthan Adventures

The game will be available in hard cover, soft cover, pdf and print/pdf bundles for definite. PDF will be fully bookmarked.

Given that its a Sci-fi game other publishing formats are being looked at

I just read through the blog about this game. It seems like it's heavily influenced by Dune. Is that true?

Its one of the influences. Alistair Reynolds' Revelation Space books are another. But I've just looked at the References chapter of the game and John lists a good three pages worth of books, films and TV shows that have inspired him while writing River of Heaven.

Really optimistically Easter, pessimistically Summer.

But somewhere along the line there will be a Pre-order and pre-orderers will get the pdf a good couple of months before the general release.

More details soon, when I've got D101's production schedule sorted out.

Its a common misconception that OpenQuest is focused on action. I don't understand why, just because OQ cuts out some of the crunch of its crunchier brothers doesn't mean its Jet Li jumping about ignoring hits and doing back flips. Its still the regular "Don't blunder into combat, plan your attack and pray you don't get hit" of standard BRP. Remember HeroPoints are optional rule, and even if used you would have to give them out like flowing water and make Hit points based off Con+Siz rather than (Con+Siz/2) to acheive cinematic levels.

AWESOME

Right then.

The easest way to contact me about errors on the D101 website or material posted and get a response is throught the email contact I give on the website

newt@d101games.co.uk

I very rarely - or very slowly answer posts like these on public forums, because I only periodically check them

Only the core rulebook of OpenQuest has been released as Open Game Content - it looks like the other genres will be closed for third-party usage.

That's completly correct.

It wouldn't surprise me if we see a second edition of OpenQuest at some point that cleans up a few sections of the rules that are ambiguous

Me neither

and incorporates some of the best ideas from Legend.

No that's not going to happen because :

1. I'm happy with OQ as it is, and if I am going to add new bits I want them to fit in with the OQ crunch lite philosphy.

2. I want OQ to remain its own man to a certain extent (for reasons you outline below).

There will still be some differences between the two systems though - I tend to think of OpenQuest as a lighter version of MRQ / Legend and use it when I want a simple, fast-moving system rather than a detailed system with lots of gritty crunch. Both approaches are valid and there is plenty of room for them to coexist. I suspect that the exchange of ideas will benefit both parties.

Bang on the money with your assessment of the relationship between OQ & Legend (and the soon to be released RQ6, which is evolving from MRQ2 ) BUT while I'll make sure that OQ is broadly compatible with other D100/RQ derivatives (so no dropping of the three types of magic) I've no plans to cross-pollenate with anyother system. OQ has its own design philopshy which I like and its own niche that is quietly profitable