g33k

I know that there's been no "official" rpg for McCaffrey's Pern (except "computer RPG's" which I -- ever the elitist snob -- simply don't count as RPG's). Not even Steve Jackson Games -- who seems to get a license for EVERY fictional world (that isn't otherwise licensed) hasn't got anything! Does anyone know of ANY version (presumably fan-made) for ANY game-system? Obviously -- since I'm asking here -- I am most-interested in some d100/BRPfamily version. I think it looks pretty easy to DIY... humans are pretty much normal. No magic, no "powers," just... human. Dragonriders get a little bit of telepathy, but it doesn't seem to generalize much to non-dragons, or unwilling/unaware beings. It's just like talking privately, only "cooler." (I do recall that Lessa seemed able to very-slightly cause a "don't notice me" psychic effect, but she seemed to be at the limits of human psionic ability). Dragons seem to be more plot-device than PC: both so outsized in physical power, yet so dominated by their rider and by the gold queen of the weyr, that they don't seem very PC'able.. Looks to me like any game in the BRPfamily would be a straight-up implementation, not needing much work at all. Still, if anyone knows of such a project already done... I wouldn't mind not doing the work... lazy, that's me! Thanks! - Steve, the g33k

Thanks to all so far! I appreciate the suggestions... and even more, the discussions/explanations!

Pretty much as the Topic says... does anyone know of a BRP variant, clone (erm, "mutant"?), or just "similar" game, which simply reverses the better/worse scale, so "success" is high rolls, not low? Thanks! - Steve, the g33k

I've been (loosely) following this project for a while. Haven't seen it since the collaboration bits began coming online. I must say, it's looking REALLY nice! Great job everyone, with (of course) special kudos to Clarence! Only skimmed it so far, really. I've got a... quibble? Or maybe a question? ... RE Exposure to Vacuum rules on p. 39. 1d6+2 "feels" like low-ish damage to me, but I haven't researched the question so my "feel" may be off-base. Did anyone actually gather data for damage/actions/etc in this section? Honestly, I don't even know if there's any "real" data available here... Personally, I'd probably add some detail at this level: "explosive" decompression (near-normal to near-vacuum in a matter of a second or so) -- Take 3d4 damage instantly, roll to avoid passing out, and progress to the next category "abrupt" decompression (takes a combat-round, maybe even a few rounds) -- per the rules as-written (emergency-exhale or 1d6+2 damage; hemorrhagic damage 1/2/4/8/etc per round) after that) "fast" decompression (takes up to a minute) -- A slowed-down version of the rules as-written. But there's one thing in the next bit of the rules that I think is just flat-out wrong: If you are automatically-no-roll-to-avoid taking exponentially-doubling hitpoints of damage from hemorraging (per paragraph-1) how the !&*%$#? will you EVER get to the "CONx2" rounds (per paragraph-2) when your sight begins to dim???!? Just getting to CON rounds will be over 1000 hp's of damage... CONx2 rounds is enough damage to kill Cthulhu (except I think he's immune to vacuum). Otherwise (that I've seen so far): a wonderful resource! I'm hoping to move my group entirely away from d20ism, and this seems likely to help my cause a lot! - Steve, the g33k

I do know some about the period, but haven't delved too deeply into the fables and myth-cycles of the different cultures; I know there was a lot of "sharing" where close cognates of one culture's myth would also appear in a neighboring culture. Whether these are common-source derivations from an older myth, or borrowing (as the Romans did from the Greeks) I don't really know. Please *DO* pitch this as a full product to Alephtar (or Design Mechanism for RQ6, or whoever) ! It seems more than odd that the original/best "swords and sandals" RPG doesn't have the biggest, most sprawling historical "swords and sandals" setting!

@MatteoN: thanks for that KS link! A thinly-veiled Persia does indeed sound good. Looks like a d6-engined Persian take on Ars Magica -- Troupe play, centered on the Magi, etc. The cultural references and setting details should be spot-on, though. @seneschal: Yep, the Old Testament has lots of good material... and even its own game, Green Ronin's "Testament" (for d20) complete with 2 expansions, "Hittites" and "Trojan War"... http://www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?keywords=testament&cPath=1487&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto= Thanks too for the M&M link! But -- as I feared -- the answer is, "no," there isn't a BRP game (or supplement) for the setting. If I do it, I'll have to compile my own setting, sourcing relevant textbooks, Biblical accounts, other RPGs (as variously noted, above), etc... :-P And right now, I just don't have the time...

RE those GURPS titles: Egypt might work, partly. What I really want is further-east (Mesopotamia) and some of it is even older than the 5K years of "GURPS Egypt" -- Uruk, Sumeria, Akkad, Ur, Babylon...

@MatteoN Yeah, that looks just right. My French suffices to see that much, but stops there... @Chorpa Rome is really later than I wanted. But there are quite a few Roman resources, actually; not just the one you linked. @Darkholme Again, "late antiquity" is later than desired...

I know that most-any version of BRP, plus a 7th-grade history book, could do a swords-and-sandals game set in Sumeria, Babylon, Egypt, etc... But is there any actual published book (or good freebie) for this, either a complete BRP game or a setting-book specific to any BRP game-engine? Thanks!

+1 jagerfury: Character-sheets with character ! Fitting fonts, genre-matching marginalia, etc... +points for a portrait of the character. BUT, nothing that interferes with legibility, or other aspects of functionality. So... what makes for "functional"? Topical stuff clustered - I don't want to be skimming all over the sheet to find yet another bit of info relevant to the situation at-hand. If we're in melee, I want the combat-stats all in one place; if it's a party or other social scene, I want all the socially-relevant scores in one place. I *most particularly* don't want to be flipping from page to page (or front to back) looking for information I need NOW. Sometimes... maybe even "often" ... this means custom sheets, e.g. a combat wizard will have spells next to the other combat-stats, but a soldier-type with a few minor utility-spells would NOT have spells with the combat-stats.

Well, obviously I'd like all the above -- everything BRP-flavored ever produced, clearly marked as in-print or not, and its relationship(s) / position within the extended family of BRP-derived products! But realistically, anything in-print, that can reasonably be used with any of the major versions of BRP-engine that are also currently in-print. Whatever's compatible with any of the games visible at the top level of the forum -- "BRP" + the things in "The Extended Family". For example, "The Company" (which I know about, but wasn't sure of the BRP-version it was based upon) wasn't showing up on a BRP-Central site-search, so I found the info else-site (via Google)... but that made me realize how useful it would be if there was just a list of "here's what's available."

H'lo, all... Does anyone (I'd assume Chaosium, but really "anyone") maintain a list of all currently-available BRP-based games and/or setting/worldbooks? Thanks! - Steve, the g33k

Slightly-necro (sorry) but I too missed the RQ6 Bundle (to my immense regret) and I too would be interested in sundry other BRP-based BoH's... though not, I confess, Delta Green (I'm just not that into RP'ing the Cthulhu Mythos, is all...) . Just my .02

Thanks! I realize that I can go D/L the doc -- your OP mentioned it. Frankly, I wanted to know a bit more, to know if it was worth my own time to do so: I don't really have time to deal with RPGstuff not to my taste. It's far too easy for me, these days, to waste ALL my available gaming time on stuff that -- while possibly quite wonderful for others -- is, well, a waste of my time (tastes and interests vary, after all). So -- a BRP/Mecha flavored "fate" mechanic similar to -- but also very different from -- the "FATE RPG" fate-point mechanic. Sounds like it IS worth my time (and presumably, NOT worth some others' time... that being the nature of the beast).

Could you say just a touch more about these? Are you talking about something similar to the "FATE" rules' Aspects/Compels/Fate-points? Thanks!

I too really like advantage/disadvantage systems for how they can help differentiate characters. Homogeneity (particularly at higher levels, as beaucoup skill-checks have raised even rarely-used skills to high levels, and rendered the Brawling Fighter very stealthy, the Wiry Thief into a deadly fighter, etc) is a bane of BRP, I think; so Adv/Disadv mechanics could be a welcome palliative. Also, more hooks for characterisation/RP, character-building/backstory, etc... these are all welcome, and these systems excel in such efforts. HOWEVER, I am reluctant to delve into this area because of playbalance issues, increased chargen-time, abuse by MinMax'ers, bloat/creep, and other points (as raised across this thread). That said, I've got some ideas percolating for a BRP campaign, and (if the brew ever gets served (likely a year or more)) might consult some of the mechanics referenced above to create a small-ish system of Adv/Disadv available at chargen... so, thanks all for the discussion!

How about this: Critical parry - get a riposte as an Easy action. Your parry was just exactly like your swordmaster liked to use to demonstrate parry/riposte, you set up your riposte perfectly! Special/"Impale" parry - get a riposte as a normal action. Yeah, you parried well and you get your riposte, but it's nothing special. Successful parry - get a riposte as a Difficult action. You parried, but just barely -- any worse, and the attack would have connected -- and you aren't set up well for the riposte. You can try for it, but the setup is far from ideal... Makes it POSSIBLE for anyone to riposte, but the experts will get better opportunities, more often (and of course their ripostes will be more dangerous to whoever attacked them).

Not quite thread-necromancy... but at least Rune-level healing! So... any word? How'd it go / how's it going? Wish I had noticed this thread before!

So ... ? (i.e. <BUMP>) It sounds like a lot of the work is done, but you're KS'ing the book to help cashflow for the actual production run... is that about right? Is there an actual KS page, or RoH page on the d101 Games site? That is, where can we see a bit more about it? In particular: 28th century... whooo. Sounds far enough in the future for a substantial amount of Clarke's Law effect -- sufficiently advance science indistinguishable from magic -- so I'm wondering how much it's "hard" science (based on best current knowledge/theory) and how much is Handwavium-based "we want this ability so we invent that technology out of whole cloth" (e.g what's a "stellar tap" drive? what's a "Visser cube"?) . I likes me some of both, so really NO answer here is off-putting for me. I'm just hoping to get a better handle on what to expect... - Steve, the g33k

So long as we're admiring the production values of free-to-dowload core rulebooks for Other Systems, gotta give a shout-out to Eclipse Phase ... wtfo??!? how dey do dat? Clearly, one of those gamers who's becoming a successful gaming millionaire by starting as a multi-millionaire...

This seems like a good place for someone "official" to chime in and point to the "official" banner (if there is one) and/or to remark on any "official" stance by Chaosium on this (or similar) issues ... <hint,hint> So far as I can tell -- but IANAL -- this would seem to fall within "fair use" doctrine in most jurisdictions.

How about Julian May's term, "Metapsychic"?

+1 ... Are these available? From a (very quick) skim of the "Downloads" section, it appears they are not...

Erm... bit of hyperbole, that? Maybe a VERY few products had that kind of revenue & profit; but I believe(1) that, in general, they simply sold "better than average." - Steve, the g33k (1): Having corresponded with a couple of game-publishers (who I have NOT asked permission to give a "reveal" on their info, so I won't state publicly ... but they produced campain/setting books, adventures, monster-books, etc), I've been told that their d20 lines tended to do well, but not fantatstically.