Belisar

3 hours ago, lawrence.whitaker said:

Um... Mythras Imperative Reloaded isn't an actual 'thing' - that's just the tagline we gave to the post announcing that we'd added some more content to Mythras Imperative, so searching the internet for Mythras Imperative Reloaded isn't going to offer much aside from a forum post.

@Belisar, Mythras Imperative is a short, free, introduction to the Mythras rules. It has everything you need to try the system, including a simple magic system and a range of superpowers. It isn't meant to compare with the BGB. For that, you should take a look at the Mythras core rules.

Where core Mythras and the BGB differ is in scope: Mytheas offers a fantasy-slanted generic set of rules for d100 roleplaying, whereas the BGB offers lots of different options covering a wide range of genres. Mythras expands its fields via the various supplements, as follows:

• Mythras Companion: new rules and some expansions, including social conflict and rules for chases
• Luther Arkwright: Science Fantasy roleplaying with rules for psionics, inter-planar travel, and cross-planes characters
• Worlds United: SF golden age Rockets and Ray Guns planetary fantasy, set in a solar system where the Martian invasions of HG Wells and Orson Wells actually took place. Venus is a lush jungle world with dinosaurs and ophidians, while Mars is peaceful... for now.
• Thennla: fantasy setting based on the classical world. Magic rich, with highly detailed cultures.
• Mythic Earth series: Historical based supplements that apply a fantasy slant to Dark Ages Britain, Republican Rome, and Medieval Constantinople
• Classic Fantasy: rules and systems for replicating the old school D&D experience with the Mythras rules: familiar character classes, traditional AD&D style spells, treasures, magic items, and lots and lots of monsters. Fully compatible with everything else we publish.
• Fioracitta: A fantasy city based on the Italian city states of the Renaissance; lots of atmosphere, intrigue, new magical traditions, and ideas for a full campaign
• Monster Island: Swords & Sorcery goodness set on a mysterious, dangerous tropical island inhabited by a rag-tag human colony, lizardfolk, serpentfolk sorcerers, and more monsters than you can run away from.
• Book of Quests: interlinked fantasy scenarios forming a full campaign. Self contained and a great introduction to Mythras.

As others have mentioned, M-Space is a standalone, self-contained SF game that goes down the hard SF route, and is capable of replicating most SF genres, from Star Wars to Interstellar.

Lyonesse, also by us, is a Mythras-based self contained game based on the fantasy trilogy by Jack Vance. Unique background, very unique magic, and of interest if you really like high fantasy with a good dose of whimsy and the occasional brutal combat.

Our UK-based partners, Aeon Games, have just released Perceforest, a chivalric setting for Mythras based on a 15th Century text, and they are also producing their own Mythos-based game, 'Weird of Hali', which is based on the novels by John Michael Grier, and written by the author.

So there's a lot to choose from, and I'm sure you'll find something that will help your exploration of d100 RPGs.

Thank you very much, this overview is very helpful.

There's maybe one question very dear to me. I mainly play with my family including kids between 6 to 12. So in every rpg I look for options making characters very resilient, because the children tend to become very frustrated if their characters are too squishy. They want to feel somewhat heroic. I have seen, there are rules in the Mythras Companion to set a power level to pulp hero and paragon. I have no real practical experience with Mythras yet and how squishy characters tend to be in adventures with much combat. I know in Pulp Cthulhu hit points are doubled. Would this be an option in Mythras for my children or would it be too unbalancing and paragon is the highest I should go for?

41 minutes ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

As a side note I am working on a Master of Orion ruleset booklet (70% done) and setting (5% done), I could send you the ruleset if you are interested!?  

I'm interested for sure. 😊

1 hour ago, clarence said:

Hi Belisar, I’m happy you’ve heard good things about M-SPACE.

You can either use BRP as your base and bring in the sections you need from M-SPACE, or start with M-SPACE and switch any subsystems for corresponding systems in BRP. The rules are similar enough to allow for mix and match.

I designed M-SPACE with modularity in mind, so nothing should break down if you combine it with other mechanics. 

What type of sci-fi are you planning for?

I was thinking of Mass Effect, mainly. In the meantime I've skimmed a bit through Mythras and I could absolutely imagine to use it as the generic D100 system for homebrew settings as it seems to be kept more updated than BRP, which last revision was in 2008, if I'm correct.

Update: @clarence, btw looking forward to M-Space and the Companion, I just purchased a moment ago. Looking forward to the books. 😊

1 hour ago, hix said:

Classic Fantasy is d100 AD&D, specifically emulating the TSR game.

So it is not a general Fantasy supplement but a AD&D specific supplement? Is there a more general fantasy supplement?

Being new to Mythras on my search for my "to go" generic mechanics, I stumbled over Mythras and delving into Mythras Imperative, I really like what I see.

Now there are quite some supplements, I try to figure out which one is the setting agnostic "standard" book for each genre. For instance, I was told M-Space is the book to go for homebrew scifi settings. Which would be the books for:

- SciFi

- Modern World

- Fantasy

- Flexible supernatural powers in any shape, from Psi to classical fantasy magic or singular powers?

- Equipment Guides

- Bestiaries

- Horror (appart from lovecraftean horror for which CoC is already excellent)

8 minutes ago, Bilharzia said:

M-Space is a standalone book, not a Mythras supplement, so you do not need any other ruleset alongside it, M-Space reproduces anything it needs from Mythras Imperative. For obvious reasons it's easier to use Mythras if you are using a Mythras supplement, but you could reverse-engineer fairly easily. Bear in mind Mythras Imperative is not the core Mythras rules, the main Mythras core book is the best place to start if you are going to run a game using the system. The core rule book is 10 times the length of Imperative. I think it more comes down to which supplement you are most likely to base a game around and go from there. Mythras is certainly a good one if you are thinking about a SF setting - there's Luther Arkwright, M-Space and Worlds United, all of which could feed into a SF campaign. You can also find the RuneQuest 6 Star Wars supplement online, Jedi powers are represented by the Mysticism system found in the core Mythras rules.

Thank you very much, I will certainly take a look into Mythras. Btw, is Classic Fantasy similar to Mythras for generic fantasy as M-Space is for scifi?

As I slowly dig into D100 games and purchased a lot of RQG and CoC 7th, which I love very much mechanics-wise, I decided to go for BRP as my to go "generic system" for homebrew settings. 

Here's some context. Of what I understand from the "New Version" thread, it is very unlikely that there will be an updated version of the BGB and no generic material for different genres appart from what was already published a while ago. There are books for specific settings like Cthulhu invictus for late roman republic, for  Pulp Cthulhu for pulpy CoC, Darker trails for a Western setting, but nothing setting agnostic with options as levers to adapt to said homebrew settings. Especially BGB lacks supplements for SciFi settings (apart from some specific Monographs which are outdated).

Now M-Space is highly recommended as a general system for SciFi and it was said, that it is possible to salvage it for BRP. As there are more actual genre agnostic supplements for Mythras Imperative, here's the question: Should I rather use Mythras Imperative and its genre books like M-Space generally for homebrew things as my generic system of choice and stick to specific settings with RQG and CoC 7th? Or is it rather worthwile to use BGB as the core and salvage Mythras stuff for genre specifics?

This "of all kinds" includes different variants for supernatural effects, if it's classical magic, or modern psi or the kind of "The Force" and "bionics".

Is there a supplement compatible with BRP/CoC to create certain flexible effects rather than vancian style lists of spells? 

A BRP newbie question about M-Space, which is mentioned alot when BRP SciFi settings are asked for. I tend to go for BRP/CoC as my to go "generic" system for homebrew settings. There's lovely Pulp Cthulhu with the Pulp-O-Meter to make playerchars more resilient. There is Cthulhu invictus for ancient play, Down Darker Trails for Western settings. The only thing I miss is an elaborate source book for SciFi settings.

So here's the question, how much, if at all, is M-Space compatible with CoC? Is it possible to salvage it for BRP/CoC? Or is there too laborous conversion to be done? This includes psionics. Is psionics versatile enough to be used, for instance, for Star Wars "the Force" and Mass Effect's "bionics"?

3 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

It seems feasible. BRP is a little weak in futrsitic SciFi stuff, but it's not as bad off as it once was. 

Are there any supplements or Monographies which could help with a scifi approach?

3 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I'll do as well, because I really do like these game mechanics and love to see more. Even if it's just pdfs.

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

I understand. IMO the best approach is probably to find a game system you all like, and then use that, but avoid using it for something with a radically different feel.

I was planning on running my wife and son first through the CAC quick start scenario and then through the RQG. So having a horror and a fantasy setting I might do an Alien one-shot with the CaC iteration of the rules to have the scifi genre covered as well.

I'd love doing Mass Effect with a generic system, so my hope is somewhat high that BRP will get some love for Chaosium.

10 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

As someone who used to do that, I'd say that I doubt that such a game exists. Ultimately I think the game rules need to reflect the reality of the game world, and thus one system probably won't work well for everything. Or, even if it did, a game system tailored to a specific game setting would do the job better. 

The classic example would be running a four color comic book campaign with BRP. TO get the feel of the comics you need to tone done most of BRPs inherent deadliness. You don't want the Hulk to squash Spiderman that one time Spidey fumbles his dodge roll. 

The main task for me is, to keep the amount of systems to a minimum for my family, especially the kids are not keen to learn a multitude of game systems. And especially when I do some spontaneous one shots, they don't want to learn a new system each time.

I agree that specific game systems for specific settings do best, due to my point from above a very good second best generic game system would perfectly for me, save me much time and gain the acceptance of my family. I want to enthuse my kids for RPGs and not confuse them.

10 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

I think there really doesn't need to be some big differences, between personal and vehicle scale. Remember, a typical BRP character has about 12 hit points, and a tough one might have 16. SO almost any "vehicle scale" weapon is going to be an autokill against a character.

Personally I've used the original Superworld/RQ3 SIZ table to put every stat on the same scale. I think it makes it much easier to stat up things consistently, and it allows for a few math tricks to simply things. 

You are absolutely correct, as BRP is a much deadlier system than others, scaling up would make no sense, if stating up does the job. I forgot to take this in consideration.

3 hours ago, craigm said:

Also consider that the retail market for these didn't appear that great. I thought for sure that the copy that my FLGS had would be gone within a month. I think it took around 3+ months to finally sell, and I doubt they'll be restocking it.

My online FLGS had every box already sold via preorder and were only able to restock after the following KS by Gurps for a reprint of the box and that was immediatly sold as well.

3 hours ago, craigm said:

Also keep in mind that a lot of the writing had been done already for Dungeon Fantasy over the past 10 years. This was more of a "we're finally going to test the waters to see how well a combined version does". Quite a far cry from updating BRP to bring it in line with current product.

True, though having an updated BRP Corebook based on an updated SRD could prove worthwile. For fans and for licensees. And I agree, a generic corebook is probably not as much in demand as setting but it can still produce a sizable following. At least sizable enough to make the production of the generic system worthwhile. Take FFG Star Wars and the Genesys system for instance. In my case I played FFGs Star Wars for quite a while, an when Genesys as the mechanics behind that was published I was hooked because I liked the system behind the setting and could imagine to use the mechanics for my homebrew settings. In the case of BRP it's the same, first I was drawn in by CoC and then RQG and now could envision to have the BRP for my to go for my homebrew settings. If enough think like me, well, it could be worthwile, at least no loss and it would be a kind of prestige to push the house mechanics behind the house settings.

EDIT: And skimming through some covers of products like Cthulhu Invictus, for instance, there are quite a lot showing the emblem "Powered by Chaosiums Basic Roleplaying System". I could imagine, that there is some curiosity about the system behind products you like. Like, wow, I could imagine doing Cthulhu Mass Effect with BRP for my home table.

8 hours ago, DreadDomain said:

I would argue that BRP is at least as well known as Fudge but your point stands, GURPS, HERO, Savage Worlds, FATE and maybe a few others are better known as far as generic systems go and not all of them are doing that well anyway (HERO is more or less inactive at this stage). However, I believe BRP is well known for being the engine behind Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Stormbringer, etc... I would offer that no other generic systems has powered so many popular games. A KS would need to draw on these big names to raise its profile (and throw in Pendragon for good measure)

Exactly, just look at what they made out of the Gurps Dungeon Fantasy pdf document line. This Kickstarter was advertised as "Powered by Gurps" and reached close to 180k. Not bad for a niche product, based on what is almost solely perceived as a Generic System without any setting on its one (maybe Discworld being more or less the only prominent exception).

8 hours ago, DreadDomain said:

Good observation but the Open License cannot do it alone. It's a chicken an egg thing. Fan projects are created when there is already a strong support from an organization and good supports from customers. Also, many conversations on these boards seem to indicate the OGL is not user friendly enough both in how the conditions are framed and the amount of material that is being offered in the SRD.

Indeed, for me as a newbie for instance, I'd have a hard time to create a homebrew setting based on the SRD. Like I mentioned in my Mass Effect example:

On 11/16/2020 at 9:43 AM, Belisar said:

For instance, if I want to create a home brew Mass Effect, so to say a scifi (or space opera-ish in that case) setting, I would have to consider the following:

- how to create the player species

- scifi weapons

- scifi armor/shields

- magic/psi system (biotics)

- space ships/space combat/space travel

- optional setting rules like cinematic (heroic PCs durable), mooks, combat options (hit locations yes/no, etc.)

8 hours ago, DreadDomain said:

True. Chaosium has limited resources and I would expect them to focus them where the revenue stream comes from. I suspect the priorities would be Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, 7th Seas, Pendragon, BRP, QuestWorlds in that order (I have no inside knowledge, this is just me guessing). The good news is that Chaosium has already committed to a few BRP games  ("committed" might be a bit strong) and we also heard about other potential games (Rivers of London, Lords of the Middle Sea, Mythic Iceland, also rumored Superworld). There is hope!

And as BRP/BRP SRD is the concrete of all those settings, it would be immensly helpful for creators (and thus fans as well), to have an elaborated guidlines covering all optional rules and genre options. And as it was mentioned, those genre options could come in their own form of supplements, if it is via Pod or only pdf.

And pdf is another option, you could offer PoD for example via drivethrough in addition to the documents funded in the KS. I've seen quite a couple of RPG KS taking that route to minimize the effort of the production. So you don't have to print books ahead and minimize the risks.

14 minutes ago, DreadDomain said:

By the way, a core book for a generic systems full of options is doable. Cortex Prime is now on my shelves and it's gorgeous. BRP is a simpler system and generally, a character sheet from any/most of BRP variants is still recognisable as BRP. Not the case for Cortex.

It does indeed really look very nice and I backed it, but I struggle a bit diving into such "abstract" games. Something with skillsets like BRP or Gurps are rather my thing. It's probably due to having solely played D&D for decades, that I am used to defined skills. Genesys is a neat generic system as wekk, but it's dice system is a bit too clunky for my taste, like that of savage worlds. But BRP could be right up my alley crunch wise between Genesys and Gurps.

Knowing that @Jason D is involved in BRP and the line editor of RQG, I have high hopes for some BRP love. I appreciate his work since Conan 2D20.

7 hours ago, DreadDomain said:

 

Isn't it more or less what this is?

What a newbie like me is looking for were not only the Core Rules but the additional optional rules, especially for different genres, if it is all in one big golden book or the core in one book and the optional/genre rule in several splatbooks. And I admit, I am a sucker for dead tree products.

For instance, if I want to create a home brew Mass Effect, so to say a scifi (or space opera-ish in that case) setting, I would have to consider the following:

- how to create the player species

- scifi weapons

- scifi armor/shields

- magic/psi system (biotics)

- space ships/space combat/space travel

- optional setting rules like cinematic (heroic PCs durable), mooks, combat options (hit locations yes/no, etc.)

Would be great to, let's say, have an updated BRP core rulebook (including CoC 7th and RQG), as I believe it still covers content only until 2010(?) and a SciFi splatbook I could pick up from without heavily modifiying (not wanting to mimick the video game rules exactly, but using the BRP core/scifi rules for that).

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

In theory, yes. If a kickstarter got a lot of support, finace it would show there was interest and mitigate the risks. I doubt the fanbase is really there for it, but a kickstarter would show if there is or not.

This would be the question indeed. I'm always on the search for the "one" system to rule them all. I'd love to have a system I can put over homebrew settings like a sleeve. As a family father I don't have the time to learn a dozen systems made for their specific genres, I'd appreciate one who comes close enough to cover all, so to say a second best would suffice when it means I do  not have to learn several different settings. Maybe there are enough others with the same wants. Gurps is a nice system for that and the possibilities to customize characters are plentiful. But the charcreation takes its time and the multitude of option might be overwhelming. Genesys is easy to learn but might have too few options. The dice mechanics of Savage Worlds is to clunky for me. BRP couöd be a nice middleground for any of the mentioned systems. 

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

Would probably make BRP even more difficult for new GMs, who have already been confused by the various options. IMO what we probably need is a simplier version of BRP, without the options, and then an Advanced Role Playing supplmenent with the optional and variant rule systems.

Those could indeed be stretchgoals of a KS. Though some optional rules should be included in the core books like combat options to grand a certain degree of modularity.

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

Amen. But I think that runs into a stylistic choice. The rules in BRP are very abstract regarding vehicles. I think that to have vehicle rules that go into any sort of detail, we'd need to have some sort of scale for vehicle values. For instance a direct corrlation between a vehicle's speed in MPH or KPH to MOV and/or Rated Speed. 

But I think most the people involved with BRP justr want generic "close enough" examples to work with. 

There shouldn't be probably big differences between personal and vehicular combat and scales should be able to combine them neatly, up-/downscaling damage and damage reduction respectively. But yes, close enough examples would be fine for different sizes of vehicles.

I don't know if the thread is still a thing but as a latecomer and newbie to BRP I will throw in my 10 cents.

First, I guess, a Kickstarter approach for a new BRP version would be the best, considering that this endeavor financing for itself without a KS is financially risky. But if the KS makes some good money, like CoC 7th (over 560.000) and 7th sea (over 1.3 Mio!) did, if I remember correctly, who knows. If the good name Chaosium is thrown behind it, I could image a 6 figured sum.

There may be no big market for generic systems, but there is surely some potential as BRP is not something completely new. I am only aware of 3 others than BRP: Gurps, Genesys and Savage Worlds. And the Savage Worlds KS was quite successful for a generic system.

Contentwise I could imagine bringing...

...new CoC 7th and RQG inventions to the book.

...cinematic rules like Mooks from AA, to make chars more resilient and heroic for playstyles where the PCs are very competent.

...more about vehicles and vehicular combat. I know, this could fill a splat book alone, but at least some basics would be very nice.

...creation rules, if it is monsters, playable races or vehicles and so on.

Would love to see an updated version of the BRP Core. 😊

I just started to dive into Call of Cthulhu 7e and I really like, what I see now. Combat and skill rolls are easy and intuitive. Still I would like to ask for clarifications on the two following topics:

Diving for cover, when shot at with a firearm:

- Is the dodge roll made before the attack with the firearm? Or is the penalty die applied after a potential hit by the attacker?

- Does the dive for cover count for every attacker with a firearm  in the round? And if not can the defender dive for cover more than once per round, because every dive for cover is technically a dodge skill roll? Or does the target just count as being partially covered for further attacks after one successful dive for cover?

Thanks in advance.