PhilHibbs

7 hours ago, g33k said:

Yes; but what's the time & VAT/cost differences for a UK buyer, between a UK printer and the one in Poland?

There's no VAT on books, either in the UK or in the EU.

And the delay would be trivial compared to the current situation of shipping books half way around the world.

v1.11.2 Alpha 3:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DHJszUEuFiWnEwBSjCwdLlNj9bGwbkvtJsIpdEOIQks

• Added Nochet Adventurer's Guide content (NAG prefix).
• A couple of Hero Wars in the East Isles occupations had a couple of weapon skills that were incorrectly coded.
• Most cults didn't get Spirit Block in their common spells list.

2 hours ago, g33k said:

No idea whether the situation is symmetrical... would a Brit printer suffer similar extra costs/delays going to an EU warehouse?

There might be a delay, but nothing compared to re-routing a container ship around the other side of Africa. Importing books into the UK from the EU is no more complex than importing them into the UK from China.

7 hours ago, g33k said:

...I think the UK/EU combo might have been almost big enough; but post-Brexit neither market is, by itself.

Whilst I love a good Brexit bash as much as anyone else, that shouldn't be relevant They are close enough to be printed in the same place, this issue is about international shipping delays.

4 hours ago, Nick Brooke said:

4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

This is the compelling one for me. You can argue that compiling a searchable database from a large number of copyright works is substantially transformative and does not threaten the works' value. But building an image or text generation engine, yeah that threatens the value.

On the other hand, I do have some sympathy for the "but that's just what people do when they learn" argument, although point 1 (commercial nature vs educational) undermines it. I don't think that AI is there yet in that respect anyway, it isn't learning in a comparable way to the way that people do. It's very much faking it.

Yeah, there are some opinions that, if they were true, rightly should drive those aware of them to extreme lengths to reinforce. If there is a God in Heaven, and a Hell that my soul will burn in for not acknowledging Him, then my missionary auntie is absolutely right to try and convince me to turn to God.

I've seldom come across an atheist that argues that fervently against religion though, unless they are talking about people who take their religion to extreme degrees. Hitch in particular was very outspoken against the evil things that religious people have done and are doing today in the name of their faiths.

4 hours ago, soltakss said:

Wayland's Forge in Birmingham is a good RPG shop.

Asgard Games used to be in Walsall centre but can be found in St Paul's Church, Walsall, near the bus station. It used to sell games and had tables for people to play games, but I haven't to its current incarnation inside the church.

Thanks! I know Wayland's of course, I've been buying gaming material from that establishment's owner for over 35 years.

On 3/30/2024 at 11:48 PM, AndreJarosch said:

Why should a company, like Chaosium, let AI create Cthulhuoid or Gloranthan pictures, which anyone else also can use?

That's a damn good point! However, I've played around with AI art, but I've never used the output as generated. Anything that I've gone on to use (personal use only, like an illustration for a character sheet) has gone through extensive modification and mashing up with other material. For example my new avatar has AI generated components, but all heavily edited, and the final result would, according to my understanding, be my copyright. I would not expect most commercial products using AI to contain virgin AI output. For a start, it just isn't good enough yet. The output is generic and soulless. Anyone familiar with the technology can easily identify AI output, at least when it comes to compositions. Individual elements like faces can be convincing, but not scenes. This may just be a matter of time, but if AI is allowed to dominate the art market and starts consuming its own output, then we will see rapid degradation unless something new comes along that is closer to actual intelligence.

On 3/30/2024 at 7:39 PM, g33k said:

But here, have this:
https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/ai-joker-copyright-infringement.html

"AI’s use of copywritten material..."

"Copyrighted" or just "copyright", not "copywritten". The law is about the right to copy, and covers images as well as writing. Nobody claiming to know about copyright should make this mistake.

On 3/30/2024 at 9:56 PM, Jeff said:

...from the perspective of copyright law we have loads of copy-written works that end up being cut up and reassembled...

Oops, sorry-not-sorry!

On 4/13/2024 at 9:30 AM, kalidor said:

There would not.be this problem if they return to the "pick PDF first, get the printed later" system. I think they dont care much about their runequest customer base. They think this is a petty social club with this "take the pill and swallow It" policy.

The way I understand it as an outsider is, they care about games shops even though it may be costing them to do so*. I've known them as friends for decades. I assure you that you could not be more wrong. They may be making mistakes but it is not out of malice.

* I don't know the economics of how much physical games shops contribute to the overall health of the RPG hobby market to say this with great confidence. But they could take the short term option of releasing PDF first and locking their customers in to then buying the physical book from them.

Anyone know any good games shops, clubs, or gamers near Bloxwich, west mids, UK? Got some friends who have just moved there.

On 4/9/2024 at 1:46 PM, Saki said:

Why not go all the way if your group doesn't want a deadly game?  Just say PCs cannot die and any fatal wound drops them unconscious instead.  No need to make it complicated.

Because I don't want to go all the way. I want drama and options and danger.

9 hours ago, Jason Farrell said:

Why is this book available for purchase, and The Lunar Way is not?

The Lunar Way is a brand new book. They want a coordinated media campaign to coincide with a worldwide release, so they are waiting until it's in all the warehouses.

The general rule is, they don't release a product until it's in all the warehouses. Sometimes there are exceptions to this - I guess as the new Sourcebook is not a brand new release in that it's an update of an existing product, there's less to gain by having a big media blitz to coincide with a worldwide release of a brand new exciting book.

3 hours ago, svensson said:

Every one of my players gets this speech from me:

"RQ is not DnD. There are no 'warm up fights'. The only HP you're ever going to get is on your character sheet right now and any permanent increase in those HP is both very rare and takes a bit of work to achieve...

That was never a hard transition for me because we went more or less straight from basic D&D blue book to RuneQuest, so we never got used to fifty-hit-point fighters.

Any ideas on how to handle sudden fatal blows near the end of a melee round? It sucks if it happens, and can really put players off. I’m comfortable with playing a deadly game, but not everyone is.

I’m thinking, some kind of CON roll each round or die. Gives a chance for last words etc. as well as healing. Maybe balance it by having healing not automatically avoiding death by just bringing HP back over zero, but have the player still roll for survival one more time.

CON×5, ×4, ×3, ×2, ×1 each round maybe. Make all five, you survive!

16 hours ago, MiG-77 said:

4. Ditched, all bookkeeping happens real time in phase 3.

No chance for emergency healing to avoid death?

On 3/25/2024 at 9:28 AM, svensson said:

Where is the GMs Book /Guide /Whatever 'teased'?

In the core rule book, seven times.

v1.11.2 Alpha 2:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ogdrbFApNKU6XJW0G5fJhjuXkh9vP4sQrd0vOR5reac

• Added Keets from Korolan Islands (yes, I lied, I did have time to do the 1D6+1D4+3 style stats)

v1.11.2 Alpha 1:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19Nl2EMDy49x26iMMnQWzPaQo6WUGcjTn7cWZ4XwLofE

• Hero Wars in the East Isles, Book 1: Korolan Islands content, human only so far (sorry, Keet fans!)
  The problem with keets is some of them get mismatched dice for their stats, and I haven't got a solution for 1D6+1D4+3 or 2D6+1D4 yet. I think I know how to do it.
• Also includes some material from the forthcoming Volume 4 - Sofali, and some additional occupations.

I'm off on holiday for two weeks so no more work on this for a while.

v1.11.1 Beta 4:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jE-LXVEtQaBlnd5qgZafyQUPwBtFCyERakvHmT8WKhI

• Fixed some skills not being filled in (Ski, Swim, Voice Mimicry, Treat Poison, Play Instrument, Sleight, Speak Silently)

Français: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10miNJ58ubrxAIYV7QN1MOQdkUky1C03_CetSU_ugqsg
Español: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tKOJfrtPRZFfz0kIinCwnzEV7JzHSrIiqAvsDVDhXbI
Deutsch: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11nENBSC4-b8ghyXjwXrW3adzdARUCnoZn8CPohrAkuI
Magyar: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JJEJItvN2-ksHOMSxKCr643xbbaUTn81RFTBo8cZWi8
日本語: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kmQequ7kmMaeKRYHktcjtvJqHULfveZ4yEwzIyiJ6Kk

Known issues:

• Some skills are not getting filled in: Ski, Swim, Voice Mimicry, Treat Poison, Play Instrument, Sleight, Speak Silently

This is because I added some new JC skills and didn't extend the size of some named ranges that are used to locate and fill them in. Looks like it's been this way since 1.10.2.

So if you have taken a copy of this sheet since September 2022 then you have this issue! Fix coming real soon.

A literal reading of the rules is that if you can get it over 100 including modifier before personal bonuses are added, then you get to keep the value over 100%. It can be done. It's egregious munchkinnery, though, and my opinions on that are well documented.

16 hours ago, TheRandyMan said:

Might just be missing it but i have gone through character creation in RQG a few times now and I cannot work out if the skill cap for character creation includes your modifier? 

Yes it does. P.80:

11 hours ago, g33k said:

I see several pieces of Gloranthan cheesecake on Redbubble... but where's the beefcake?

What we have is realistic art evocative of the practices of ancient cultures.

8 hours ago, Agentorange said:

yeah, gratuitous female nudity is a common theme in Gloranthan/Runequest art.

I disagree that any of it is gratuitous, that's what makes modern RuneQuest art stand out from the tropey fantasies for me. There's no Boris Vallejo here.

And if a poster isn't big enough...

12 hours ago, SDLeary said:

Correct, it is a SINGLE spirit. So if the body dies (from reduction to 0 POW or otherwise), the Shaman should still exist in the spirit world, and if they are the crafty sort should be able to find themselves a new... host(?), or if killed by someone, exact revenge, and then perhaps use their body as host.

If the Fetch dies (reduces to 0 POW), then the Shamans ability to travel the spirit world should be stopped, but their mortal self should be fine. Perhaps they live in a reduced state, perhaps they can find a way to awaken another fetch.

SDLeary

I was going to say "if your arm is cut of, you can't just..." oh wait yeah you can. Regrow Limb.

What we do know is, there's no easy well-trodden path that has been formalised into a rune spell. You need to find some new (or old, lost) way to do it.