1d8+DB

I've been re-reading the Mongoose Traveller rules, and I'm intrigued by how they handle multiple parries/dodges in combat. Anyway, in Traveller there is a flat penalty for multiple dodges/parries, however, for each additional parry/dodge, you suffer a -2 adjustment to your Initiative. So in the D100 world this work something like this: any parry/dodge after the first one is 1/2%. However your DEX rank for taking action is reduced by 3 per each additional parry/dodge after the first one.

So I came across something I wasn't aware the other day on the used shelves of my local game-store, an AHRQ campaign book for a non-Glorantha setting called Daughters of Darkness. The whole thing takes place on the Menetia peninsula, with a milieu that reminds me of a cross between medieval Scotland and renaissance Italy. The good: some good maps and oodles of NPCs. The bad: the cults provided seem somewhat generic. Altogether the setting seems a little bland; nothing really grabs me and makes we want to explore the setting.

Match your Magic Points vs. Magic World's MP total of 17 to avoid being annoyed. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Some more grist for the mill. I would have an 'Awakened' skill, that measures one's awareness of the 'True World.' When this reaches 100% the character has reached apotheosis, and leaves the world of 'illusion' forever. This skill would also function like the Cthulhu Mythos skill in COC, in that it would conversely reduce your SAN. Characters who are highly 'Awakened' would have a hard time dealing with those who are not, and would be deemed insane by the majority of folk. Furthermore, I would use the sorcery rules for magic, with the 'Awakened' Skill being used in the place of the 'Manipulation' skill.

A cheaper alternative might be GURPS Cabal: Kenneth Hite: 9781556344299: Amazon.com: Books. This gives a good overview of hermetic magick and kabbalisticism. For the historical and philosophical background there's Amazon.com: Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism (9780060670184): Kurt Rudolph: Books. Gnosticism is a fascinating subject: and its influence in western thought is surprisingly wide-spread. Phillip K. Dick came to hold gnostic beliefs, and the Matrix films of the Wachowski brothers can be seen as a Gnostic allegory. I can't believe that someone hasn't grabbed up the Kult license. Chaosium? Pelgrane Press? Hello?

Kult is a highly sought after collectible. I lucked onto a copy of the 2004 edition which I found in a Hastings store: but going onto Amazon I don't see any that you would be able to get ahold of a dead tree copy for less than $60 (used). Holy ****. There's a dealer in Texas who wants $1500 for a copy of the '93 edition! Moving on. The magic is mainly ritual. Magic is grouped into five lores: Passion, Death, The Dream, Madness, and Time and Space. Casting spells costs Endurance. Beyond our illusionary world is a vast, nightmarish city: the Metropolis. In a medieval setting I suppose this would be a composite of Rome-Alexandria-Babylon. There are places where the veil between the Metropolis and our world are thin, and the unwary can stumble through.

For good examples of how you can design creatures and races using BRP see "Build A Better Monster," "Tales From the Cryptozoo," and "Chronicles of A Future Earth" threads.

Hero is pretty math intensive. I'm looking at the combat chapter of Champions, which is pretty much the version tailored for superheroes, and calculating a combat value (CV) has eight steps. Now I haven't actually played with the system, but it does look a little intimidating to a mathphobe like myself. Savage Worlds is a good fit for games that feature a lot of gunplay. There are some simple mass combat rules, and their rules for autofire are much better than BRP, though perhaps the hard-cover addresses the infamous 'firehose of death.' Oh, and the general consensus is that BRPs mechanic for for determing the SIZ (Size) characteristic for really, really big things and creatures is broken. Again, maybe the HC edition addresses this.

Well, the bride got cold feet, eight of them exactly! Now, if Mongoose still has my pre-order on record!

You could also I suppose use a SAN roll. A failed roll means, against all rational arguments, you follow her up to her apartment, eat the cake, have a romantic relationship with your biographer, etc. The psychological argument being you lost a struggle with self-destructive impulses.

All right, here's a setting idea some might want to run with. First line of the elevator speech: "Giant monsters of the apocalypse!" The Kaiju: Gigantic, biologically impossible creatures with an endless appetite for destruction. These things are actually constructs of some type. Outwardly each is unique, inwardly they are composed of a yeasty substance a little more dense than cotton candy. Of course 2000 tons of this stuff in a 800 foot tall monster is still something that makes the earth shake with each mighty footstep. Oh yeah, there is is one internal organ, the Toho Nexus, which a produces a slight gravity warping field around the beast; making fantastic leaps, and even flight, possible for the Kaiju. Humanity: Is mainly underground. There are a few fortress cities, surround by vast defensive belts upon the surface. These are always far inland, as a majority of the Kaiju seem to have semi-aquatic life-styles. Also, some tribes of feral humans still wander the surface. Most of these of these have adopted one of the Kaiju as a totemic beast-god. Interestingly enough some shamanesses among these tribal bands have developed a kind of telepathic rapport with their adopted Kaiju totem. Play: The Player Characters are probably trouble-shooters from one of the fortress cities. There job is track the Kaiju, in order to predict their movements: kind of like of today's storm chasers. They of course have all kinds of neat toys, vehicles and weapons, to play with. Of course the Kaiju seem to particularly like to smash these vehicles...

Godzilla The horrible result of atomic radiation mutating a previously unknown type of prehistoric reptile; this creature is a force of pure destruction and elemental chaos. STR 160 CON 200 SIZ 300 INT 5 POW 12 DEX 15 HP 250 Damage Bonus +21D6 Weapon: % Damage Stomp 100% 100+DB Tail Sweep 100% 50+DB Fiery Atomic Breath 80% 5d10+3d6 Armor: 30 points for scaly hide. Combat Notes: Stomp: Anything caught beneath Godzilla's ponderous feet is flattened. The area covered by each colossal foot is roughly 30 meters in diameter. Tail Sweep: Every five rounds Godzilla can sweep an area in a rear 180º arc, out to 500 meters with his tail; which effectively obliterates everything in its path. Breath: Godzilla can spew forth an incandescent plume of radioactive gas one every 12 rounds. This gas pours forth in a 1000 meter cone. This is an area attack, with an effected area of some 50 meters in diameter. Radiation: Just being in close proximity to this radioactive behemoth can be dangerous. Within 30 meters of the great beast the POT of the radiation is 10. At his scaly hide the POT is 15. Movement: Stride 30/ Swim 48.

Penanggalan A horrifying undead monster from Malaysian folklore, the Penanggalan is truly a grotesque nightmare. By day the creature takes the form of a comely, young woman. But at night, her head separates itself from its body, and with its entrails hanging in bloody loops from the stump of its neck, flies through the night searching for blood. Characteristics: +1d4+1 CHA (for its 'bodied' form). +1d4 POW. If using Hit Locations figure the HP for the head as normally, and add +1d6. If Hit Locations are not being used then the head has ½ of the creature's HP. The creature's base HP is as the basic racial type. SAN: The horrifying nocturnal appearance of the Penanggalan forces a SAN check, 0/1d6 SAN. Powers: Defense (x3): -15% to all non-magical attacks made against the Penanggalan. Flight: As per the power. Drain (Hit Points): Requires a successful bite. Snare Projection (Level 16): The Penanggalan can use its bloody intestines to snare, trip, entangle, and even garrote its opponents! The range of this horrid attack is some 5 meters. The Penanggalan's intestines have a STR of 16, and 0/5 AP/HP. The Penanggalan does not have to expend any power to use this ability. Super-sense: Darkvison. Super-movement: Wall-walking. The Penanggalan can shimmy up vertical surfaces like a wall-hugging caterpillar at a Move rate of 8. Skills: Climb (40+1d10%), Dodge (30+2d10%), Projection (30+3d10%), and Stealth (40+3d6%). Magic and Sorcery: Many Penanggalans are witches prior to becoming this unholy creature: and as such can retain all the arcane skills they had previously. Combat: Bite (30+1d10%), 1d6 damage + Drain. Notes: Favored victims are pregnant women and children, but any sentient being will do in a pinch.

Jiangshi There are many tales surrounding how these creatures come to be: failure to observe proper burial rites, necromancy, leaving the corpses of suicides exposed to moonlight, or the refusal of some evil men and women to rest quietly in their tombs. The result is the same: a horrible, undead monster that stalks the living to feed on their blood. Powerful Jaingshi can cloak their appearance with illusion, appearing as graceful and elegant humans. Their true appearance, which appears in mirrors and other reflective surfaces, is that of a corpse green with grave-mold; having a wild mane of white hair and long, talon-like nails. Characteristics: As when living, with the following modifications: -2d6 from CHA for its monstrous appearance, +1d8+2 to its POW. Powers: Magic: Many, but not all Jiangshi, have a glamour on them, that hides their hideous appearance. The Jiangshi's reflection shows it's true, grotesque form. In addition cameras also record their true appearance. There is no power cost for the Jiangshi to cast this illusion during the night; however while the sun is in the sky they must expend Power Points to maintain the illusion. They also commonly posses the spells Control, Countermagic, and Dark. Sorcery: Many Jiangshi are puissant sorcerers. Powers: Resistance: The Jiangshi resist damage from kinetic weapons, which pass through their bodies without doing any damage. They do take normal damage from iron, silver, or weapons of hawthorn wood. Fire and electricity do normal damage. They seem to draw lightning, so they tend to cower in their lairs during violent storms. Drain: As you might expect from a vampire, the Jiangshi drain their victims of their vital life energies, or chi. This ability functions as the Drain Power, 1st level, Hit Points and POW. The Jiangshi has to inflict at least one HP of damage to an intended target, before it can first utilize this power. After the initial wound the vampire merely has to maintain physical contact with the victim to continue draining. Alternate Form: The Jiangshi has at least one other alternate form. Wolves, owls, and ravens are common animal forms used by Jiangshi. Super-Movement: Jiangshi possess Light-Foot and Wall Walking powers. Leap: Jiangshi possess 2 levels of leap. Requirements: The Jiangshi must always maintain a certain amount of reserve power, equal to 1/3 of their base POW, rounded down. If their POW drops to this level or below, the rigidity of a true corpse begins to overtake them. They become stiff, inflexible, and can only move in a grotesque hopping fashion (3 units of movement per round). Aversions: Mirrors, the hexagrams of the I Ching, the call of a rooster, and jujube seeds. Sunlight: Sunlight weakens these monsters, but does not destroy them. While in bright sunlight they cannot use any of their powers other than their learned magic and sorcery. They also loose 1 point of POW per hour while exposed to the sun. Natural Weapons: Their long nails do 1d6+DB in damage. Senses: Traditionally, Jiangshi are blind, though their olfactory and auditory sensitivity count as super-senses (Hearing and Smell). Variants could only be blind during daylight, with Darkvision during the hours of night; or not be visually impaired at all.

I thought that Bradbury was using some poetic license for a weapon that fired some kind of smart munitions myself. Actually, given Martian telepathic powers, they could make you believe you had been shot with any kind of weapon that they wanted to imagine: and you would psycho-somatically suffer the damage most likely for the weapon.

Is this already covered by the Weapon Length weapon rule, p.235 BGB? In a nutshell the longer weapon always goes first, the fighter with the shorter weapon must successfully dodge to 'step' inside the reach of the longer weapon in order to attack. Once inside, the fighter with the longer weapon must sucessfully dodge the shorter weapon, to regain his tactical advantage: and cannot attack again until he has successfully done so. Depending upon the conditions, or the skill of the wielder, you can apply modifiers as appropriate: "Upon the narrow ramparts, you don't have room to effectively dodge-- your dodge skill is effectively halved for purpose of trying to work your way inside the reach of that attacking orc spearman."

122 years today. Of course they don't allow us any candles here in Arkham Sanitarium.

Here's a free HQ scenario: http://http://moondesignpublications.com/page/return-apple-lane, worth it for the maps if nothing else. Almost no 'statistics' are given, and most of the material is descriptive or historical. I could see a GM running parallel campaigns in both systems: a gritty game of hard-scrabble rogues in RQ/MRQ/Legend, and a mythic HQ game based on the folklore and mythology that inspires them. "After that hard fought battle with the Broo warband, as you rest exhausted around the campfire, Aseor decides to raise the spirits of his companions by telling the tale of Taran Swift-Axe's slaying of the Great Beast of the Burning Woods."

Take the stats block of a creature that you think suits the encounter as far as the level of challenge goes, and then add your 'creature' description. Tweak the AP, movement, add or remove an attack, perhaps add a Power and presto whole new monster.

So what does this add to the Renaissance SRD?

You might want to check out Books - CthulhuTech; Lovecraft meets Ghost In The Shell. Though I thought this came up in a now missing reply to this original post. Damn those time-slips.

OK. What I've come up with is the Mi-Go planning to use human brains as living grimoires. This, along with their attempts to 'tame' the remaining Shoggoths, threatens the existing balance of power on earth.

Ra could have been a legendary sorcerer of one of the Hyborean civilizations, who was given the status of a god by the following Eygptian civilization. Your 'Star Devourer' could be a kind of looming, off-stage threat: his cultists steal the spear, and as the Player Characters investigate its disappearance they learn of of its importance as the final and only weapon against Apophis. I would make Apophis an avatar of Nylarhotep, who, as the Haunter of the Dark, can be banished by bright light ( a focused beam of solar light that the spear can project).

So I'm playing with the idea of a steam-punk COC campaign/alt. history campaign. The main plot-pivot will be the war between the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign and the Mi-Go (mentioned in "The Whisperer In Darkness" and some of the Delta Green stuff). The Brotherhood is sponsoring the Western Empires (England, France, and the United States), while the Mi-Go are patrons of the absolute monarchies of the East (Russia, China, and Japan). The "permissive" democracies of the west allow for more individual alienation and nihilism, to be exploited by the Brotherhood. The problem I'm having is the ultimate motivations of the Mi-Go. They're here to mine and stick brains in Mi-Go cannisters. There are very few minerals on earth that aren't abundant in space, so why are the Mi-Go here? What exactly are they fighting the Brotherhood for? I'm thinking that human gray matter is the resource they're most interested in exploiting, but to what purpose? What are they going to do with all those brains? Anybody out there use the Mi-Go regularly? What ultimate motives do you ascribe to them (granting that they're profundly alien in outlook)?