boradicus

I totally agree about the D&D alignment thing. I mean, that is probably why there is not only a Monster Manual, but additional monster supplements as well. Players need fodder to plow through in order to level. On the other hand, Chaosium games are a bit more spare with the hit points, and characters tend to be a little more careful about engaging in combat; hence, relationships to other beings become more substantial than just objects to be destroyed in order to level up. So, consequently, "investigation," and other roleplaying options tend to be used more.

Well, I think that is part of the charm of D&D. Everyone is eager to get to that next level so that they can go through that whole "shopping experience" of leveling up.

Oooo... I had friends who had a campaign in the world of Harn.... is Harnmaster related to that???

That is a great argument for developing TTRPGs software/app playing aids to support combat, and other complex forms of bookkeeping!!!

It's probably time for you to try Rolemaster! Rolemaster has a very exciting combat system - but there are a few extra charts and tables to contend with. The combat system also uses d100s, but the dice explode. The critical hits are also quite realistic, with a variety of different damage types based on the weapon used. Hits are also vs. a particular body part, making the combat more realistic and challenging. Wounds can bleed, and can affect your character's ability to function and fight properly (but, of course, opponents are vulnerable to the same). You might really like it!

Thanks! I am more interested as a GM. Does it have in depth information on the Rune system? Can spells be constructed from Runes, or do they function more in the capacity of being generators of "effects?"

Yes, I was referring to the announced starter set that was mentioned above. As for the other books, I was asking because I am not at all familiar with them. I have had some of Chaosium's other rule books, but none of those. They sounded interesting, and that is why I was asking about them! I am still not clear on what a Passion is, but it does sound like it has a more directly causal and logical relationship to what it affects in the game than the inspiration system from D&D 5e, which awards inspiration for any sort of use for playing up to flaws, bonds, etc. Thanks for getting me interested! Of course, I would like to know more, in case I might want to invest in an edition of RQ. I am especially interested in the "recently added" runes. I sort of figured that runes were the point of RQ because they were a part of the name - but I suppose I really don't know that much about the game itself. Thanks!

I've heard some awful things about the new 5e modules. Most of the 5e games that I have either played in or observed seemed to me to also lean too heavily toward combat rules bog-down, or fast and loose rules that start to lack consistency and cohesion. I think that my least favorite thing about D&D is the level-progression dependency of hit points. It isn't only death by a thousand cuts, but also how under-powered, by comparison, the innate ability to physically survive is to that of higher levels. The first time I played Gamma World, I suddenly realized that it is pretty ridiculous to give monsters and animals hit dice based on their size and robustness and not have hit dice for humanoids base on a similar metric.

What are Passions in RQ? Is a RQ update coming in addition to the starter set? It sounds interesting!

Can you have a string of breakout skills? For example: Melee is the skill, and under that would be the breakout for swordsmanship, and under that would be the breakout for rapier.

Thanks! I was thinking of another approach the other day - that perhaps after a skill reaches say... 50%, that you *must* take a specialization, and then after that specialization reaches say... 50%, that you *must* take a sub-specialization. But that did not sufficiently answer for me how much a specialization would contribute to the general skill. Technically, I suppose that raw intelligence is a factor when determining how much can be abstracted from a specialization to type of general knowledge... but that might be going a bit far for game mechanics. What are breakouts in HeroQuest, and how do they work? Are general skill levels (the ability to abstract from specialized skills) increased when breakouts are added?

So, how do these traits work? Also, it sounds like the trait system is only comprised of one extra tier - in other words, each skill could only have one tier of traits because traits could not have sub-traits... or am I wrong in inferring this?

Although I have only played CoC thus far, I love Chaosium's game system. As for the skills, what immediately occurred to me as an enhancement, would be a skill "tree" by era. In other words, some skills are related to each other in such a way that there might be enough in common between them that they could provide some cross-over capabilities. But in order to model this accurately and neatly, a tree would be needed, wherein more general skills serve as umbrella categories for more specialized skills. Of course, both technology, and culture progress (or, sometimes regress) from era to era, and this would provide an opportunity to create specialized skill trees based on eras - and this could be done in the form of monographs or supplements for the particular era/world/culture in question. In terms of game mechanics, each monograph/supplement could detail both the chance for a more general skill to succeed at a more specialized skill, as well as how much a specialized skill might cross-contribute to a more general skill further up the trunk. One way to model this - that would make sense - would be for each monograph/supplement to first map out a skill tree. Then, the specialized branches of the skill tree could be categorized into tiers [e.g. Tier 1: 1920s firearms; Tier 2 1920s Handguns; Tier 2 1920s Guns w/Gunstocks, Tier 3: 1920s (Gunstocks) automatic weapons; Tier 3 1920s (Gunstocks) sharp-shooting weapons (rifles, etc); Tier 3 1920s; Tier 3 : 1920s (Gunstocks) scatter weapons (shotguns)]. Once the number of tiers for each root skill has been determined, we could then take the total number of skills from the highest tier (the most specialized tier) and this would determine how many points would be allocated to the tier below for each specialized skill learned; these points divided by the total number of points possible from the tier above (the more specialized tier) would provide the percentage for success for the tier below. So, what about branches that don't have as many tiers as others? How should they be weighted? Well, progressing from tier to tier, for each branch that is missing a tier, a general weight could be assigned by taking the average number of skills of all of the skills under the same branch at that tier. This would then be a reasonable weight for the purpose of determining the points to be added to the branch on the tier below it (the more general skill, closer to the root skill). Now, this could be a bit tricky during design due to the fact that cross-over can exist between skill branches with different skill roots (e.g. veterinary medicine would have some cross-over with human medicine; traditional medicine would have some cross-over with allopathic medicine, etc.). From the supplement/monograph designer's perspective, this could be addressed through the use of a custom software program that can handle such complex ontologies, and perform all of the same calculations that I mentioned above in a multi-dimensional topology (as opposed to a 2d topology where branches from different roots have no lateral branches between them). While this all sounds (ab initio) to be rather complex, such a software tool (even one made publicly available online) could be used by monograph/scenario designers to achieve both integration and consistency. As for changes in the core rules from edition to edition, such a software tool could be updated (if actually need-be) at the time (or shortly after) of the release of said new editions. Although another challenge, for such an approach, would be deciding how trees would be provide cross-compatibility from era to era (e.g., how would experience with a tommy-gun provide skill with a more modern automatic weapon?), by using such a software management tool, such challenges could also be deftly mitigated. Any thoughts? Any takers? [Electronic & Software gaming tools are increasingly the wave of the future - why not incorporate tools for the designers?]

I have never tried playing Glorantha. What makes it so engrossing for the people who play in this setting? Thank you!