seneschal

Good discussion. See what you started, Tigerwomble? AlthoughI I own CoC 6th edition and supplements and monographs from the same era, for me the BGB is the core rulebook, for a couple of reasons. I missed Chaosium's 1980s heyday, choosing to play other games, although I was certainly aware of Chaosium titles. So I came at the system as a complete newbie. I liked Lovecraft's stories but wasn't sure I was ready for hardcore horror role-playing, and the lurid covers made it look hardcore. In similar fashion, i thought the very notion of Ducks was a hoot but wasn't sure I was ready for the deep dive into RuneQuest and its thick Gloranthan mythology in order to enjoy them. The BGB enabled me to learn the Chaosium house system while applying it to genres I was more interested in. And I came at it in baby steps. GORE was my introduction, then the Quick-Start Edition, then the full Big Gold Book. Non-OGL issues aside, I felt that GORE and the Quick-Start were companions rather competitors. They each explained BRP and provided a useful if limited game framework -- but they tackled the job differently, which helped me "get it" sooner.

Like the sideways thinking. That's what we need here. But if the PCs are powerful monsters, where is the threat to them? If those stupid human NPCs get in their way they can just squash them. And our Clue scenario is all about the PCs feeling vulnerable.

Good idea, and one that could go silly or scary upon the players or Keeper's whim.

The Usual Suspects Vicar Green, cagey clergyman Dirty Secret: A whiff of infidelity. The Reverend Green did not, in fact, attempt an inappropriate relationship with Mrs. Agnes St. Cloud. He had instead urged her to return to her husband, Julian, and attempt to repair her troubled marriage. But the distraught lady threw herself into his arms in full view of the choirboys and Green was obliged to seize her rather than allow her to smash her face into the heavy oaken church furniture. Juicy news travels fast, the Bishop had disapproved of some his sermons, and Julian St. Cloud was a jealous and influential man. Although eventually cleared of wrongdoing by a Church inquiry, Green found himself transferred to a remote and inauspicious pastorate. He clings to his faith in God but his faith in his fellow men has been severely tried.

It has to do with me being a mouthy old fart and perhaps speaking out of turn. Forgive me but know that I'm rootin' for ya. But other posters have made some excellent suggestions. Using the Basic Roleplaying Quick-Start as a solid base, we could add in your latest rules innovations and make them consistent with one another. How much other setting and mechanical options we still need to determine, but we'd end up with a leaner, clearer book that still would be useful.

We appreciate you, Rick Meints and others being willing to sit down and (electronically) chew the fat with us about these things, whatever business decisions you ultimately have to make. A lot of creative people have worked really hard to ensure your success, and as lovers of your games we want it to pay off for you. Ironically, it was because I'd been a Champions player all those years that I could appreciate the Big Gold Book. Despite the specific rules differences, it was highly anagous to Hero System 5th edition, a similar sized tome that served the same purpose. With either cherished volume I can run almost any campaign setting without switching rules sets. That's important because my usual players are notoriously fickle.

What I love about this is the lack of agenda. These Ducks aren't warriors or outcasts or heroes. They're just out for a good time together, with a pleasant lunch enjoyed along the way. If only the Canadian geese that regularly invade my neighborhood were such decent fellows.

OK, so we have to delay your generous wholesale buyout offer to Hasbro for ... a bit. You still got this. I stand by my admittedly nonbusiness major recommendations. Think and plan big. You think you are well-known because cottage industry insiders at Gencon and Origins recognize your company name? Peanuts! You are invisible to the general public, and so are all those wonderfully creative games you urged us to indulge in over the weekend. You need to become as recognizable as Uno and Candy Land. People can't shove their money into your deservedly grasping fists if they don't know you and your product exist. The best way to truly honor Greg Stafford's memory is for you all to become filthy, disgusting .05 Percenters who can hire the most creative writers, the most talented artists, the most meticulous editors and layout people , so you can publish the best games in existence.

Hmmm, we've had space ducks, refugee ducks, would-be dinner ducks, Scrooge McDuck and friends traveling incognito, and Second Coming of ducks. What other reasons can we come up with for our favorite waterfowl to be On The Road? But of course, we just answered our own question. THESE are the ornery con-birds we've heard tale of, only they're much smoother, charming and well-spoken than we'd been led to expect. There is a pair of them, scamming their way across Glorantha, and they'd have gotten away with it, too, if they could only keep their pinions off the henfolk. Beware especially of the taller one, oh women of ancient legend. He will gaze soulfully into your eyes and croon hypnotically of passion and eternal bliss. Pray to the gods in advance that the city guard, or even Dad, are within call if that happens. Yeah, I went there. You can battle giants and dragons on your blasted HeroQuests. But whatchagonnado with Bob and Bing in waterproof feathers?

I guess that's a decision both game developers will have to make.

We sorta-kinda got that with the Basic Roleplaying Quick-Start book, still free in PDF and about $12 in softcover. It is robust enough to run scenarios with human-level PCs. We'd have to expand it a bit to enable new GMs to build their own critters and gear:

An Iron Monkey/The Shadow team-up! I love it! When do we play?

You are right, groovyclam. Much as I love the BGB, having an easy to grasp and play game for eager new customers to dive right into is the most important thing, regardless of genre. I've been wrong.

Well, you know what they say, "He that controls the cylinder seal writes history." 😉 Yeah, part of this is the initial excitement of discovery: I'm sure we will get a more sober and informative assessment as they actually get to study the place. And the Big Apple stuff was my own hyperbole. Can't blame the hard-working scholars for that.

If Cthulhu 7th really is out-selling Dungeons & Dragons 5th across the planet, that means y'all are in the big leagues now. Your competition is no longer little one- and two-man shops such as Goblinoid Games or Monkey House Games. You are up against freaking Hasbro and other giant toy companies of their ilk. Scary, but it is a good thing. And it means you need to think, plan and market your wares differently than you may have in the past. You can't simply maintain a pretty and functional website, post links on DriveThru RPG, and expect customers to somehow discover you online. You must pursue potential buyers like Hounds of Tindalos chase dimensional travelers. Getting actual copies of all your titles on game shop shelves is important. Personal experience shows me that they typically stock the core book of whatever you released last, and that's it. And they are slow to restock. That means that even dedicated gamers have never seen a copy of your beloved Pendragon, for example, and probably don't realize it exists. That's revenue you just lost from the type of folks most likely to appreciate what you do. But at this point, game shops are small beans. You are going after the Barnes & Noble crowd, the Toys R Us crowd, even the Walmart super center crowd. These folks, as well as the traditional nerds like me, must know that your games exist and that they are utterly cool, and that they must be able to acquire them before Christmas, birthdays, and national emergencies. As I said elsewhere in a different discussion, you must learn to dream bigger dreams. People will buy YOUR product rather than Scrabble or Clue or Trivial Pursuit. Hollywood producers will option YOUR fascinating IP for the next blockbuster franchise while Disney and DC cry in the corner. You gotta think that way.

Here is another take on the project.

Bastard children are still your kids and need love, too. If Magic World can reach customers uninterested in the complexities of the RuneQuest multiverse, sell it, sell it, sell it! POD and PDF means you don't have to maintain physical product. Despise no potential revenue stream, especially since you have titles already written, play-tested and edited. The work is already done; go make money off of it. You have no guarantees of what titles will appeal to which customers, so promote all your excellent products, even the ones that may not be your personal favorites. The money you get for them is just as green.

Area big but population 5,000. By comparison, Pauls Valley, OK, Garvin County seat, had a population of 2,000 circa 1983. Site apparently discovered in the 1950s but only now being excavated by archaeologists with the help of an Israeli road construction company.

3d6 stat times 5. I don't necessarily regard it as a problem that needed fixing but it works and I can adapt. I'm an unrepentant Big Gold Book-er but the BRP bosses have chosen other paths.

Thirty-five views so far but no comments? Come on, you Glorantha fans! Here is a real-life Big Rubble -- a 5,000-year-old city sitting atop a 7,000-year-old city. What do you think? What can you do with it in your campaign?

It is possible all these stereotypes are true (or not) at the same time. Ducks, like humans, are individuals but stereotypes about people groups exist for a reason. They don't ooze out of the empty air. So, there are noble warrior Ducks, like the selfless U.S. Marine veteran who risked his life overseas but is in greater physical danger as a civilian first responder in his home city because some of the people he's trying to save are crazy drug addicts. There are sneaky backstabbing Ducks, like the thuggish teenagers lurking in the QuikTrip parking lot for an opportunity to gut you for pocket change. Probably most are Delecti types, like you are, just trying to get by and support the wife and hatchlings, er, kids. And there are those rare adventurer types, the ones with the drive and resources to become Jaques Cousteau or John Glenn. The Ducks in my proposal are essentially refugees, driven by circumstances to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do to survive and heavily tempted to make bad choices. Will your Orlanthi PCs help them, try to stop them, regard them as a major social and political problem, or as an opportunity to demonstrate the kindness of the gods? The choice is yours. OK, next scenario idea.

As I mentioned earlier, i am largely ignorant of Gloranthan lore. The point is that the Lunars are merely going duck hunting, what they perceive as easy prey. In reality, the desperate Drulutz are as dangerous and crazy as rabid dogs, willing to go to any extreme to defend themselves. The overconfident humans may realize this too late.

Heh, makes perfect sense to me. But I don't want to derail the OP's thread. So, per Andre Jarosch, story hooks. Perhaps a lack of water is the whole point. A terrible drought has devastated the Ducks' usual nesting grounds and they must migrate now to survive. They are the Hebrew invasion and Mongol horde mixed together -- a desperate, starving people from a martial culture seeking a new place to settle down. They don't want to be the bad guys and they are willing to talk, but don't delay them long. Those Lunar Empire hunters mentioned upthread had better watch their srep. They aren't dealing with reasonable, rational folks at the moment.

Thanks for the kind words. I, too, am a comics lover -- but not a fan of grim and gritty superheroes (which, based on BRP's game mechanics, seems to be the direction other posters are leaning). I ultimately became a devout Champions fanatic -- not because Superworld wasn't a decent playable game but because Hero Games bothered to write a friendly letter in response to my inquiries (snail mail, people, this was waaaay before the internet). Chaosium, in contrast, sent me a Superworld flier and a terse note, "Play what your friends play." The problem is, they weren't playing any superhero game at the moment. I was the early adopter willing to spend the money and GM a session. And that simple lack of customer service cost Stafford, et. al., decades of my hard-earned hobby budget. Are you listening, nuChaosium? Anyway, I want a Superworld reboot to succeed even if the end product may not be to my personal taste. Not everyone can appreciate Adam West and the Tick vs. the Legion of Doom. And I think our consensus so far is that the next iteration must have a unique bankable setting rather than being just another generic supers run. I already have Champions for that.

Wow. I guess great minds do think alike, although I must confess my German language skills are lacking. If you can translate for me, I'm ready to play! 😄