PK Games

I always view advertising slogans to be big bold face lies. So I figured Id create one that was just plain ridiculous for my B61

Having never played Runequest or even seen a book for it, I say thank you for that Jason. Not anything against RQ or what not, but my BRP experience comes from a few Superworld games and alot of CoC. So I would like to once again mention that you are all correct. Its not RQ. Its BRP. :deadhorse:

Im a combat photographer in the army and when Im not at war I sit in my office and edit pictures and video or handle paperwork for my soldiers, which provides ample time to read a forum here and there. Plus, living in Germany right now, I pay way to much for internet at home to not use it.

Powers and Perils anyone?

So every avengers adventure ends with a villain designed so Thor can't beat it by the Wasp can? So you just created the reverse effect. So instead of the powerful character winning every battle and saving the day over and over again its the Wasp? So the player of Thor feels the GM is out to get him every time. My method allows me to have some control over creating that game balance you so often mention (as in the team's powers and skills working in tandem to create an effective team). And to tell you the truth, if I was in a 15th level game and my character died and all the sudden I was playing a new character who was 1st, 3rd or 7th level even, Id probably quit the campaign instead of building the new character. Getting cast off treasure from other characters? Thats pathetic and not the kind of character I or any of my players would want to play. Remember, I do invest time and effort into my games, probably more then I should. My players have always enjoyed my super hero games and it is the most requested genre for me to run by the club. And I am quite an accomplished game master, so your voice of "Takes a good gamemaster", "depends on the ability of the gamemaster" is you attacking others saying its their fault for not being able to handle different power levels. Truth be told, some of us would rather not. Its true. Honest to god. Some of us want to be able to run adventures and campaigns where we dont have to design specific villains to meet stats, but would rather build them to fit the story. Im not going to shoehorn in weaknesses in my villains to allow the weakest character prevail where the strongest cant just to deal with a strong character. Sure it happens from time to time, but I write adventures, nor fights. Fights are part of an adventure, not always the reason for the adventure. Sometimes a player, no matter how good they are or how much the understand the rules and your setting wants to build the 20 or more level energy blast and 20 or more level force field and it just wrecks the campaign. I allow the player to have the character they want, but i ensure it fits the game setting Im running and Im planning and Im working on. And honestly, whats worse? a player playing in a setting he isnt interested in or a GM running a setting he isnt interested in? It is vital that each player be important to each adventure. And sure, sometimes you may want to create a scenario or scene to put a certain character in the spot light. But But every suggestion you put forth so far has been Character A has his or her weaknesses exploited/advantages countered so character B can save the day. Which is maddening for Character A. How about building and adventure where Character A, B or C (or even D and E) have ways to win the day?

Yes my players were well aware of what power level we were playing. But everyone has a different opinion of what that means. Some players listen 100% and think along the lines of balance, others still want that one kick ass power or weapon, and so forth. So what I found works best is for them to give me the ideas, wants and needs for the character as well as their background, description and personality and then I would craft a few drafts and variations. and allow the player to choose from three or four variations of essentially the same conceptual character. Maybe the problem is less pronounced in Super-World (Super BRP), or even HERO system, but in DC Heroes or M&M I find it a major issue. Also with the college club element if saved time for when a new player shows up. I was pretty good at just eyeballing stats and giving players what they wanted without violating the inherit balance of the game. Plus the biggest issue I use to run into back when player's built thier characters was if I was to create "Roboticus" to be there to be challenge for the Thor type character, the Wasp type character was well out of her league. And I find it not fair to make other players suffer because one character has uber armor. Besides, the stats are secondary in the long run. The story is what matters. So your method or my method, neither is right or wrong and neither implies that you or I or anyone else is not on the same page as their players. Hell, thats almost as insulting to me as "Gun Fondler" was to others.

Yeah thats no problem when you are playing Super Friends (the old DC saturday morning cartoon), but if you are running a supers game along the lines of say Watchmen, or Outsiders or in Gotham or of a Marvel Knights level, you have to be careful not to abuse the powers. Or else you lose the sub genre you are trying to play in.

I disagree. Ive played super hero RPGs for years, and when I ran the game at the club in college we had new players all the time. Me being more experienced with the rules and understanding the type of supers genre I was running, it was easier for them and me to maintain that balance and they in the end appreciated the effort. The core players, the ones who came back every week for more, were always upset when a new guy came in and tweaked the rules for his or her character. However I would love to see this world where every GM and all his players had the same expectations!

Depends on what kind of game you are playing. In superhero settings I prefer to build the characters for the players, based on their ideas, suggestions and wants, but thats just to keep power levels in check.

I think it owuld be simple to make guns base % stat based and not have everyone loading up on DEX. Make it a simple formula of DEX+INT+POW/3 + weapon's base % modifier (some weapons are easier to fire). DEX represents natural hand eye coordination. INT represents perception and attention to detail. POW represents self confidence, steadiness and focus. STR min is already listed for weapons.

Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). Such as Artillery (as in the existing write up), Counter Intelligence, Military Police, Combat Camera, Public Afrairs, Medic, Armor, Infantry and what not.

You are probably right, but some of the stats in that section (Galactic Knight, Knight, Gunslinger, Pirate, Ninja) seem to be generic stats, while some (Demi-God) seem to be how you described it. If that is the case, I would rather have the bestiary list not be "hero" characters, but generalized statistics. And the descriptions tend to lead you to believe that this is covering the "generic" entry (be it Gunslinger or Soldier or Ninja).

Unfortunately real life has utterly pervented me from devouring the book completely so far. Damn you real life! That and for some reason I had to go and watch all the Planet of the Apes movies (and TV series) and start reading ERB Barsoom series for some reason. I love this forum!

Thanks. Dont even get me started on the Army's physical fitness test and weapons qualification procedures. But I just nopticed one thing that does bother me about the weapons chart. Sorry I didnt chime in earlier Zane. Why are the base % with weapons a fixed number? Why not make it DEX based?

Id also mention in the text description how commandos and special forces soldiers would vary. And list example MOS Specific Skills.

Stats: SIZ 15 (6'2"-6'4"), STR 15? Id go along the lines of 13 for both of these stats. The modern military trains more for endurance and agility these days as well. I would go with STR 13, SIZ 13, CON 15, DEX 14. The American Military also stresses Education and training, so maybe bump EDU to 15. Im 32 and I'm 6 foot tall and am not allowed to weigh more then 199 pounds. Younger soldiers in my height category are peaked at around 194 pounds. Unless you are using that template for some sort of super commandos, ditch the Knife combat skill. I have never touched a knife in any military training other then the bayonet in basic training and then that was not knife fighiting, that was bayonet fighiting (closer to club then knife). Replace artillery with this (MOS Specific SKill) 40%.

Yup, after several days, weapon chart still doesnt bother me. Now the stats for the Soldier, those are ludicrous.

Think I will just spend and evening here and an evening there having the characters and monsters in the bestiary just go at it. Gunslingers vs Zombies Killer Robots vs Vampires Galactic Knights vs Xenomorph and of course Ninja vs Pirate

Thats how it works in Berlin '61 (shameless plug)

Nothing at all. I fondled my BRP book when it arrived, I didnt have sex with it. I fondled through the pages and devoured the text with my eyes. Doesnt mean I ate it. You are choosing to interpret a comment as offensive on your own accord. If Zane is offended by the term, let him speak up on it. If you are offended by the term just say so without attacking back. In the army, where we fondle guns on a regular basis, we have a rule. If you are offended by something, you confront the person before calling the person racist, prejudiced or ill mannered. What you should have said was "I dont like the use of the term Gun Fondler. It sounds like you are attacking him for his desire to have a better gun system and for his general fondness for guns!" Instead you attacked your target as "Rude, offensive and as attacking Zane." And I dont see many others here agreeing that gun fondler is offensive. Personally, I think Zane is nitpicking. If I was disappointed with every portrayal of military in the movies, I would never watch a movie. I mean come on, have you seen Fantastic Four 2? No Captain would ever wear his or her beret like that. Its completely out of regulations. And Colonel Oneil's beret in Stargate, egads, what is he a chef? Then you have those movies about marines where they call each other soldier? No Marine would ever be called a Soldier, especially by anothr Marine. And Vice Versa. But do I boycott or attack the subject saying "What dont you know anything about the military!" No, I just move on and hope the next time they get it right. Zane could have just said "My group and I dont find the gun tables to be working properly. We think another system is needed Jason and recommend you look at these web sites and books for guidance!"

It isnt offensive. At least not in my vocabulary. No more offensive then terms like power gamer or munchkin.

I have no problem with the way guns are presented. I am in the military, I have a long history of gun use in my life, I deployed with a M9 and a M4, saw and used many other weapons while I was over there. Just sounds like a bunch of nitpicking to me. I understand not liking it, but what has been accepted as part of BRP for 20+ years is probably acceptable to 90% of the players. Overly detailed rules tend to turn players off. Just my opinion.

Then you should lke the Encounters Manual and Red City. As one of the adventures in the Encounters Manual will lead directly into an adventure in Red City. Both introduce new major players in the B61 secret history. If I write it propely however, I could see a set of 3 or 4 adventures strung together over the events of late 1961. It was always intended that the second edition of B61 (which is still probably a year or more, most likely more, away) would be updated and named B62. As I would like to have the story advance. Once I revise the magic system and get out the planned books (B61:EM, B61:RC, B61:TW) I will probably just focus on 20-30 page adventures. Truth be told, I wrote B61: A Very Merry Berlin Christmas over the course of 4 days, hired the artist and had the art by day 6 (Richard is a great artist at a good rate and with great speed and seems to understand my wants). I am always looking for contributors who want to put their ideas in B61 and see their names on the books. Im from the old school of gaming where I believe a good game also needs a good line of support with several sourcebooks. Not like Rifts or D20, but like ICEs MERP or the way Palladium did the original After the Bomb or XXVc.

Hasnt been decided yet if 2 will be direct sequal to 1. But if that is what the general consensus is looking for, well I will have to respect my target audience. The overall arc of the way books will come out is that each book will have a hint at what is to come and eventualy intertwine to unravel the secret behind B61. But im open for suggestions and submissions

If by campaign you mean the beginning of the unravelling of the true conspiracy behind Berlin '61, then you might say that.