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YGMV. 🙂 Personally, I'd say joining a band of thieves and "not attacking until the victims defend themselves" is just sophistry, and well-outside the Issaries line; but your group is free to set the lines differently, and there's no saying MY opinion is any better than theirs. There is the concept of a "privateer" -- an officially-sponsored "pirate" that attacks specific "legitimate" targets. Assuming the superiors in the Cult approve of the charter given the captain (and he stays within those limits (plus self-defense, of course!)) then I'd be OK with that.

You would, however, be mistaken in that. They are usually played with hammers and mallets and similar implements. In a symphony, they sit with the drums and other percussive instruments. Wikipedia has a list of percussion instruments, and bells & chimes are listed there; if you look them up directly, they are explicitly categorized as such.

IIRC, someone at Chaosium (Jason? but don't hold me to that ... ) said that the GMPack was going to be pretty quick to produce. Several comments have seemed to treat them as a "set" from the production POV... not just cohabitation in the Slipcase. 😉 I think the 3 adventures & the sandbox are already written, and I recall the Clearwine art-map being teaser'ed quite a while ago. Layout for the screen is likely long-done, just a matter of slotting in the charts & tables from RQG to their long-assigned positions; and one of the fan reports from a recent 'Con showed, if I recall, a 4-page-wide art-layout that presumably is the "front" of the screen. I don't doubt that there IS still work going in on the GM-Pack, and (until the Tribal Edits are finalized and the Bestiary is at the printers) the Bestiary gets priority from the dev-team; but I think they are hoping for one big print/ship order from China. Of course, this is all as an outsider making guestimates. Maybe I'm wildly off-base.

Its fate (or at least its timing) now seems to be linked to the Bestiary; at least, that is the impression I get. I expect the Slipcase Set (RQG + Bestiary + GMPack) will be available at the same time as the separate Bestiary & GMPack components, sometime near-ish end-of-year (I'm hoping for fall rather than winter, but not holding my breath). The rabid fanbase (raises guilty hand) have burnt Chaosium's hand too often; they have realized how unforgiving we are about slippage from announced timing, and have begun "announcing" much less stuff that is speculative or carries the "assuming all goes well" caveat... ... because all does NOT go well! They are, after all, not the Orderium...

Hrm... could-shoulda-woulda... Dark Tower movie would have been the time to push this! Still, wikipedia suggests that (even though it didn't Go Big at the box office and kinda got critic-slammed), they are thinking about both a movie-sequel and a TV series... maybe... So maybe (given the "underperforming" Box) there could be some not-too-expensive RPG rights, that might roll out en suite with the next media...? Lots of maybe there.

I think I'd want to ask a simple question: When I pick up an adventure/campaign/supplement/etc for the system in question, can I run it as-is, converting in my head (maybe with a 1-page or so "conversion guidelines doc" or something, some tables of equivalence, etc) with one of the rulesets in the "clearly IS d100/BRP" extended family of games? As you say, once you've allowed "system A" and "system B" you may have opened the door to "A-alikes" and "B-alikes" and etc... and pretty soon you have more "this is a d100 game" than you have "this isn't a d100 game." If we allow Pendragon's d20, then OBVIOUSLY a d20-centric system is allowed. And EclipsePhase is d100 Roll-High, so OBVIOUSLY roll-high is allowed. And Rolemaster has classes, and... and... and... I mean, to a certain extent all it takes is to really know both systems well, and you can approximate well enough in your head. Someone who has played 1000+ hours of AHRuneQuest3, and 1000+ hours of SJGURPS3 can probably run content for either in the opposite system -- they know what all those numbers MEAN mechanically in-world, intuitively; and so they intuitively know how to make an equivalent in the other system, despite the mechanical differences. But for those of us WITHOUT encyclopedic knowledge of both systems... notsomuchso, no. 🙂 Here's another notion: rather than using a strict Boolean-logic "AND" inclusion principle, let's set some defining metrics and SCORE games in: Linear / d100 roll-under skill-centric Unified mechanic Classless Level-less Traditional STR/DEX/etc "Stats" Hit Locations and/or location-based effects/consequences Maybe other things? Give each bullet a score of 0-3 points (or -5 to +5, or however you want to set up scoring) depending on how RQ2-alike (or BRPcore-alike... MW as ref-standard?) the rules are. Then start scoring some games, see how they rank... Does it clearly show that all the games supported here on BRP Central cluster as high-scoring games? Is there some point-score where suddenly games begin dropping away? Maybe it's just worth having the score as a closer/further metric?

Under/Over aren't necessarily simple "math is reversed " (and therefore mathematically "equvalent" as to odds). There are a bunch of other constraints that COULD play in, depending on the rules... How do you deal with over-100 skills in a roll-under system; what are the mechanics? What is the mechanic in a Roll-Over system, and is it REALLY mathematically equivalent? I mean, sure you could analyze the maths and make sure you built an equivalent mechanic -- but we're talking about EXISTING systems' equivalence & interoperability. High-level D&D3.x characters regularly bring a bonus to the roll that swamps the d20... +30, +40. Granted, they are trying to hit AC/DC at an appropriate level; but if the "floor" of the DC's are simply raised so that the 20th-level PC hits the Demonic Legionaire just as often as the same PC at 1st level hit the Goblin Trooper, then the rolls are the same; but the 20th level PC can reliably wade through HORDES of Goblin Troopers, whereas a horde of Trollkin is still a credible threat to the Rune Lord (and in Mythras, of course, the aggregate of AP's on each side can prove decisive (as can Effects (which sparks ANOTHER train of thought that I'll take over to the TDM forums)).

It might be useful to add some disqualifying criteria -- classes, levels, HP's that spiral ever-upward, etc. These are some of the things that people have cited for decades that they liked better about RQ & the BRP family, vs D&D. Of course, many have observed that "Cults" (which often give special magic, special skills, etc) are uncomfortably "class-like" for such a distinction... arguably eliminating RuneQuest 1 / 2 / 3 from being part of this exercise (and thus eliminating Glorantha as one of the settings to allow). 🤡 How about this: Class/Cult/etc, or Level/Rank/Etc cannot be a "majority" influence upon the system. So if you "need" (FrEx) to stay with Bbn/Ftr/Pal/Rng in D&D3.x to keep the "+1 BAB per level," or if you "need" to stay with Brd/Src/War/Wiz to cast "Arcane" magic... then Class-choice & Level becomes a "majority" influence. In RQ, for example, you can get individual SPELLS unique to a cult (or a few cults), but not whole categories of magic; Humakt & ZZ & B.Gor may be the stereotypical fighters, but an Ernaldan could have just as high a %Axe ... So D&D3 is disqualified because of Class/Level reliance, but RQ is NOT disqualified due to Cults. But admittedly, this is straying into shades-of-gray territory, not clear-dividing-lines. edit: And how does Rodney Leary's "Classic Fantasy" (for BRP/Mythras) fit into any Class/Level-disqualifying metrics?

Agreed. This is the key element I'd want for a "useful" list: usefulness. If I am holding a supplement in my hands, and am not well-acquainted with the system (core rules) it's designed for, can I run it anyway? Or does the supplement rely upon material that I need to understand from its core rulebook, before I can run -- FrEx -- that Bushido adventure in a MagicWorld or RQG campaign? It's looking a bit like the OP is "trying too hard," looking to demonstrate how big/complete/etc the BRP/d100 genre-coverage is; that agenda has gotten in the way of the list being useful. YlistMV.

BGBv2 could usefully consider such things as "Stunts" from Blood Tide, "Arete" from MW/AdvancedSorcery for skills over 100%, some CoC7-content (which is every bit as much "BRPE" as RQG is), and I'm sure other bits and bobs that have come out since the original BGB did; and some tightening/rearranging of the rules, some guidance as to what bits go best together, for folks who haven't been following the game since before the BGB was a gleam in Chaosium's eye...

I may have misunderstood something, but I believe Chaosium is holding off on opening up the sales untill all their fulfillment-centers have the initial stock available. Australia almost certainly had theirs first, but it didn't go on sale Down Under. Makes sense when you think about it: if we frothing fanboys heard that SOME folks were getting theirs, and we couldn't... can you imagine the screams of outrage? The desperate attempts to get Chaosium to just airship one or two cases, etc etc etc; managing customer expectations and special-requests and complaints &c would take up all their time.

I suspect Chaosium may still be doing their due diligence to fulfill the last few KS-backers; there are always a few whose confirmation details got spam-trapped, whose computers dies, who have moved, etc etc etc. Also a few damaged-in-transit they have to replace. And even the straightforward shipments just take time to fulfill. I'm sure Chaosium won't hold it up forever, for 100%-perfect delivery, but they promise KS backers get theirs 1st, right?

That Morocco result was some sort of glitch. I just went back to the link, and it returns results identical to the one you gave (south of the Isle of Wight, tracking to pass to the east and curve 'round to Southampton). Soon. Soon.

I trust you have seen Eclipse Phase? 🙂

Trust @styopa to shoot down a perfectly good moonboat! 😉 12m=39' is one of the classic sailboat sizes. With the transponder on, friends & relatives can have fun tracking it; or the owner, if it's on lease/loan; etc. Or (as noted) somebody just forgot ...

Broadswords only seem manly 'til you've met a Great Troll with a maul !

Very cool rediscovery! I wonder if she's gonna offer it up for sale... The collectors market would seem likely to pay a pretty penny! Any word on her plans?

The info is most-likely correct, not a glitch. 🙂 We'll let the moonboat hypothesis stand, for the nonce...

If you bought the original PDF when it was offered, you got in on the "earlybird offer". 🙂 I believe Chaosium is holding all the arrivals in their respective distribution centers, not available for sale, until all distribution centers have stock...

It is very very findable! It is far TOO findable for most decent folks' comfort. More than one poor thane making his way home from the annual Brewers Judgement at Barntar's Hall has thought he was walking in his own front door, only to find he was in a Highlow Holy Place of Eurmal... So too have various Lightbringer Priests who were on Very Urgent Business to the main Temple of an allied cult. Sadly, those actually SEEKING to find Sit Here... Well, mostly they don't. And nobody EVER finds it twice... Eurmal only Sat There once, after all! Of course, Trickster being Trickster, there may be some "unexpected" exceptions to these rules. Because rules aren't much of a Trickster thing, except in the breaking of them. YGMV -- mine certainly does!

TYVM, Antonio. Sorry for not reading the sidebar more carefully! (For those following via mobile skin, the "side"bar follows at the bottom of the review) I usually find your reviews worth reading. I may not always agree, but I cannot recall ever thinking you were just "wrong" -- it has always been a case of something where I could say "I see why he thinks that, even if I don't share his opinion.". It's always worth my time!

I think this belongs over on the Issaries stealing-vs-robbery & raids / combat-loot thread.

I think many deities would be willing to invest some POW into the survival of a faithful servant who was forward-thinking enough and powerful enough to have an Earthpower spell waiting to trigger... YGMV.

like I said: practical. 🙂 ('cos you can't pay the mortgage with a case of dice)

FWIW. this reviewer does a LOT of reviews. The CoC7 custom dice got a 3+5 rating (vs. the RQ dice 5+5), and the Pathfinder "Ironfang Invasion" and "Skill&Shackles" sets got 3+4 & 3+3 respectively (all Q-Workshop). Other dice have also gotten his 5+5 top-marks ratings. Agreed, though, that it'd be nice to see if he was reviewing a free-to-him gift, or a bought-at-retail product. I suspect so. Hence "license." ;-) nuChaosium seems to include some really practical business-minded sorts; I presume they are getting most of what they want out of this deal (and practicality suggests that'd be money).