PhilHibbs

Page 394 Dampen Damage Extra space in "bonus es".

Sorcery seems very time-consuming to cast! What does the "x Points" number of a spell mean in game mechanical terms? Is this the amount of Free INT it takes? Is it the minimum intensity or MPs to get the base effect? If the latter, then the example on page 384 is wrong. Ah - I think I get it - it's the number of runes/techniques, and the example actually says it has a base MP cost of 2 because of the two runes (Fire/Sky, Summon). Presumably it does not take two Free INT, just one.

Page 385 This implies that he doesn't know any sorcery spells, since Free INT is Int minus spirit magic and sorcery spells known. Unless it is explained elsewhere that his sorcery spells do not take up Free INT for some reason. It seems odd to me that interrupted concentration aborts the spell with no MP cost, but deliberately aborting it costs 1 MP. Surely a sorcerer can just stop concentrating, and thus lose the spell at no cost as though they had been poked in the eye?

Any plans to reintroduce a BRP wiki? There's been some talk on The Design Mechanism forum, but no action yet, and I don't think Pete and Loz have the time to devote to it. I would say that this is the perfect place as there are lots of people already here rather than dividing effort among separate wikis for BRP, Legend, RQ6, OpenQuest, etc. Oh, and the Wayback Machine has a snapshot of the wiki as of Nov 19 2010.

That's similar to what I was thinking, but if the piper is an Orlanthi, and therefore the pipes are bagpipes, then surely he's there to help Orlanth find the way out of the underworld. *Help a kinsman to return from a dangerous journey, or help lost kinfolk find their way home

I don't think I could acquire enough acid.

Depends on the starting temperature... But that leaves open the possibility of interference. Caustic substances would be hard to obtain and I want it to be as much a shock and surprise to the GM as the others players.

Nice. But I'd have to put up with the other players and GM trying to talk me out of it incessantly. Something that is pretty much irreversible once it's begun would avoid that, and avoid the GM making me roll Willpower over and over again.

I want something that will be talked about (in the game world) for a hundred years, something that will set an example that will reinforce the importance and meaning of the rules of the order for generations. Sepuku is honourable, and wrist-slitting is just committing suicide. It has to be done in the style of an execution. Punishing oneself by death is one thing. Deliberately heaping dishonour on it will create a legend.

Tricky to attach yourself securely to something like that.

Several days if possible.

Warning: unpleasant content ahead! I have a character in a game who is determined to set an example. He has committed what he considers to be an unforgivable crime, but no-one else sees it that way, the other players and the GM seem to think it is no big deal and they are determined to smooth it all over and carry on. My character is a member of a fanatical order with very strict rules (Legend of the Five Rings, Kuni Tsugai-Sagasu to be specific), but he has been forced to break those rules, and as soon as certain obligations (i.e. the current campaign) are resolved, he is going to set an example to the world and reinforce the rules by executing himself in a gruesome manner. One of the characters has already vowed to "assist with the consequences", which the player thinks involves helping to reconcile him with his order, but in fact will mean guarding his dying body and cutting it down afterwards. I'm after suggestions or feedback on the manner of execution. The intention is to appall the rest of the group to the maximum extent. My initial idea is for him to to get his hands bound up somehow and hang himself from a hook through his chin, under his jawbone and out through his mouth, but I'm concerned that his jawbone would rip out and he'd fall to the ground in a messy heap, certainly it would kill him unless some spoilsport runs up and casts healing, but it would be more dramatic and shocking for him to hang there and choke on his own blood. Maybe some kind of hood and strap that attaches to the hook and prevents too much force being applied.

Whereas my version screams for itself! http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8129635/RQ6_Improved.jpg

I've had some great success in RQ3 with two swords against creatures with natural weapons, as a successful parry vs an unsuccessful attack deals damage to the attacking weapon. Scorpion men particularly are good for this tactic as you can cut their tail off and even up the number of attacks. Same for broo with their head butt attack.

this one is by Gareth Hanrahan copyright 2007 by Mongoose this one is copyright 1987 by Chaosium

NPCs are not random people. That guard at the door, he's been picked for the role. The evil overlord that the PCs are trying to defeat killed the weak and pressed the strong into his service. So PCs are seldom up against crappy people. And I gave the players 85 points instead of 80, which is still fewer than would be needed to create the sample PC in the core MRQII rules. I find it easier to put the party of 5 up against 3 or 4 tough opponents than more, weaker opponents, because it involves tracking fewer sets of stats and actions. In the dragon fight on the ship that I posted on the MRQ forum a while back, there were 4 Orlanthi rune levels who all were tough enough to hold off 4 or 5 of the ship's soldiers each. The PCs had to get involved in order to tip the balance.

The professional sports were an analogy for combat, which I thought at first you were accepting, but now you're rejecting. The suggestion is that experience in hand to hand combat should be in some way useful even with unfamiliar weapons. I'm convinced that if I was up against an experienced sword-and-shield fighter and we were both armed with two-handed maces, he'd pound me to burger in seconds flat, even if I was substantially more buff than I currently am.

Do you mean, for example, "Combat", with a "Sword & Shield" speciality bonus?

I would expect that a professional baseball player would kick my arse at cricket. And a long jumper would easily beat a shot putter at a 100m sprint. I like the idea of "complementary skill" bonuses, but it could get complicated if a player has two developed skills and wants to use one to get a bonus in the other all the time.

That's the main reason I can't play the piano or the guitar - my brain won't shut up and let my fingers get on with it.

Initiative isn't just about physical activity, it's also about how fast you can cast a spell. It's a simple mechanic for all situations, so of course you'll find situations where it isn't perfect. The pre-errata rules say to figure SIZ into the SR calculation, which would have led to tall sorcerors being quicker at casting spells than short sorcerors.

Not all BRPs are created equally. In Elric!, 100% was considered the threshold for professional level of competency, not epic or heroic. For instance I would rate my skill in Computer Programming at around 150% in the Elric! system. When I started at age 20 I was probably at 75%.

I was a little surprised (pni) to see initiative appear in MRQ2, but with the radically different system of CAs compared to Strike Ranks I think it needs something to figure who goes first. Weapon size is no longer factored in.

Initiative is a simple mechanic for a broad set of situations - part of it is realising that a fight is about to happen.

Ah. That would make a unified BRP/RQ wiki tricky, as MRQWiki is MediaWiki so everything would have to be re-markuped.