seneschal

Several of the older towns in Oklahoma have brick paving in the original downtown area. Hard to replace since they are specially fired paving bricks instead of the softer building variety.

Well, another possibility is that the unscrupulous Queen Dragora led her martial followers into another dimension to found the evil Drake Empire.

One of the great Gloranthan mysteries is what happened to the ducks in RuneQuest 6. They vanished only to return in the newest edition. Theories abound, but I believe they pulled the same stunt as the Amazons in Wonder Woman comics of the 1970s – they left the world and sojourned Out There for a time, literally breaking the glass ceiling to boldly go where no waterfowl had gone before. Anas Gadwell, Captain Quote: “It’s not flying, exactly. It’s falling … with style!” STR 13 CON 15 SIZ 3 INT 13 POW 12 DEX 14 APP 7 Damage Bonus: -1d4 Move: 6 Hit Points: 18 (SIZ+CON) Armor: 6 (Spiffy Uniform) Attacks: Brawl 50%, 1d3+db; Grapple 50%, 1d3+db; Laser Pistol 49%, 1d8 Skills: Command 34%, Drive (Skimmer) 45%, Heavy Machine 30%, Listen 54%, Navigate (Astronavigation) 39%, Persuade 44%, Pilot (Rocketship) 50%, Science (Astronomy) 30%, Spot 50%, Technical Skill (Computer Use) 34%, The Ladies Can’t Resist Me 70% Notes: Pilot profession Vegavis Smew, Engineer and Master Gunner Quote: “Darn it, Captain. I’m a mechanic not an architect!” STR 6 CON 11 SIZ 7 INT 14 POW 7 DEX 15 APP 6 Damage Bonus: -1d4 Move: 6 Hit Points: 18 (SIZ+CON) Armor: 6 (Spiffy Uniform) Attacks: Grapple 57%, 1d3+db; Laser Pistol 52%, 1d8 Skills: Artillery (Ship’s Weapons) 52%, Climb 40%, Craft (Cooking) 37%, Dodge 62%, Heavy Weapons 51%, Martial Arts (Wrestling) 33%, Navigate (Orienteering) 42%, Pilot (Rocketship) 33%, Repair (Mechanical) 47%, Repair (Electrical) 47% Notes: Sailor profession Wyatt Wigeon, Scout Quote: “Oops! Aboriginals. Uh, take me to your leader?” STR 9 CON 14 SIZ 8 INT 12 POW 8 DEX 17 APP 7 Damage Bonus: -1d4 Move: 6 Hit Points: 22 (SIZ+CON) Armor: 6 (Spiffy Uniform) Attacks: Brawl 38%, 1d3+db; Laser Pistol 47%, 1d8 Skills: Climb 40%, Fast Talk 25%, Hide 30%, Language (Duck) 60%, Language (Alien Tongue) 27%, Language (Alien Tongue) 16%, Listen 38%, Persuade 42%, Pilot (Boat) 47%, Research 52%, Science (Antidaeology) 42%, Science (Geology) 36%, Science (Linguistics) 29%, Spot 52%, Stealth 30% Notes: Explorer profession Ensign Whatshisnameagain, Greenshirt Quote: “What was that? Argh!!!” STR 9 CON 9 SIZ 5 INT 10 POW 10 DEX 14 APP 4 Damage Bonus: -1d4 Move: 6 Hit Points: 7 Armor: 3 (Impressive Space Armor) Attacks: Brawl 30%, 1d3+db; Laser Pistol 35%, 1d8 Skills: Listen 30%, Make Officers Look Good 80%, Spot 35%, Track 25%

So, have you gathered enough ideas to launch your campaign?

What you are looking for is Disney's Aladdin the TV series. 😃 It gleefully mixed ancient and Middle Eastern tropes with D&D magic. You had Medieval Arabs mixing it up with Hellenistic mad scientists and Egyptian gods. They even threw in a dinosaur in one episode. Good times!

Whereas on the modern interstate highway system a 500-mile auto journey would take about 8 hours barring mishaps and snack/bathroom stops. The past really is a different country. Any idea how long that Boston to Pittsburgh train ride would have taken?

Great research. So jumping in the car and driving to the next town wasn't something you'd do casually even in the daytime. All those old movies and radio shows where travelers get benighted just below that spooky mansion on the hill suddenly make more sense. It became cliche but travel by automobile really was an adventure.

For combat and '80s kids look no further than "The Monster Squad." A little more context: And ...

I say raid public domain works for a "license" that doesn't cost. "Worlds of Robert Louis Stevenson" or H. Rider Haggard or Rudyard Kipling. Even Arthur Conan Doyle has a bunch of non-Sherlock Holmes adventure and spooky stories that are public domain.

Probably accurate, but anticlimactic

General Grievous (Star Wars) or Tars Tarkas (Princess of Mars) engages our intrepid Orlanthi champion in combat. The non-human has four arms, each clutching a blade. Describe the battle in game mechanics terms per the previous discussion. 🤔

I utterly agree. Each of them deserves his shot at being the next big Disney musical. I mean, that Burroughs guy got both an action movie and an animated musical. No fair! "Each time you reach out your tentacle, I must dive into my pentacle. Why must my lifetime be elder-itch, 'Cuz Grandpa chased down a witch?" i can hear it! Send me a proposal, Sweetheart, and I'll have my people do lunch with your people.

Independence didn't just result in political freedom but a different kind of creativity and a spirit of enterprise. The Brits gave us King Arthur, Robin Hood, Mary Poppins, Doctor Doolittle, Dracula and Frankenstein, Sweeney Todd. American creativity turned them all into big, colorful musicals. (See the Chicken Soup thread on whether that was a good thing.) In the same way, the Brits gave us Little Wars and Tolkien. It took American nerds to combine them with funky dice and expect people to pay cash for the results. The Brits gave us Gilbert and Sullivan. The Americans gave us ... Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber (well, you can't win them all).

Happy Birthday, United States of America! Thank God for the freedom to (among other things) create and play games about elves and storm warriors and tentacle monsters.

Most Nevermores are the size of crows. Older creatures are as big as vultures or eagles. Then as big as pteranodons. As with all Grimm, the longer they survive the bigger and smarter they become.

Being the villain means never having to say you're sorry (or having to justify your write-up). 😉 Based on footage of a fight with a giant Nevermore (link below) a mature specimen appears to be dinosaurian in dimensions but probably has a much lower mass (weight of a pachyderm?) because of its adaptations for flight. Use this lower mass for SIZ. Main attack is a massive peck; treat secondary feather shooting as a volley of spears. In addition to whatever Armor it has, give it Protection vs. kinetic attacks to represent its uncanny durability. Have it make a Throw or Projection roll to hurl feathers at prey. It also has a pretty good Dodge roll despite its bulk. Note that this an unusually large individual. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7QLDpsAUIrk

Being the villain means never having to say you're sorry (or having to justify your write-up). 😉

Works out the same, doesn't it? But that is how the BGB suggested upgrading a black bear to a polar bear. So I went with it. Does the write-up jive with what you see on the show?

What happens if we substitute Sheldon from "Big Bang Theory"?

Beowulf, the grunts of the Grimm STR 6d6+10 (31) CON 2d6+1d6+2 (13) SIZ 5d6+10 (28) INT 1d6+2 (6) POW 3d6 (10-11) DEX 2d6+6 (13) Move: 14 Damage bonus: +3d6 Hit points: 21 (41 CON+SIZ) Armor: 3 (tough hide, fur); 5 on head (skull covering) Attacks: Bite 25%, 1d10+1/2db; Claws (2) 50%, 1d6+db Skills: Dodge 26%, Listen 75%, Sense 90%, Track 80% Notes: Used the Big Gold Book's polar bear stats plus the DEX and skills of a wolf. Nothing particularly supernatural so far, just a large, dangerous predator with low sentience (and the capacity to become smarter).

The old newspaper strip "Prince Valiant in the Days of Kng Arthur" is a good example of how to set a campaign in an established setting. Val was a headstrong Viking prince who wound up a squire to Sir Gawain in the court of an elderly Arthur. He had some interactions and relationships with the legendary characters but ended up having tons of adventures on his own, some as distant as Notth America. He wooed and won a princess and had kids who grew up to have quests of their own.

(After reading "Avalon High" description) Well ... ok then! 😳

If you get the electronic versions of either the BRP QuickStart or GORE you get a 40-page (ish) breakdown of the rules, for free. (Checking ....) Looks like the QuickStart is free. The electronic version of GORE seems to have vanished but a hard copy is about $7.

Camelot 3000 was a comic book futuristic version. I also remember a cartoon from my misspent youth depicting Arthur and his knights as a sort of superhero team in powered armor. "King Arthur and the Knights of Justice"

Although I enjoyed "The Sword and the Stone" I, too, found T. H. White's "The Once and Future King" unsatisfying. Arthur came across as a naval-gazing wuss. Victor Canning's "The Crimson Chalice" and Mary Stewart's Merlin series were interesting takes on a post-Roman Britain Arthur. I didn't care for Stewart making Mordred a sympathetic victim of fate. But Mallory's version, especially the new king's battles with giants and the Roman emperor, is the one that's sticks with me. Once Arthur is finally settled on his throne he becomes a bit player in his own story. The focus shifts to Tristram, sort of The Lone Ranger of knightly set. A movie that could capture the brio of young Arthur adventuring to prove himself to his rivals and subjects would find me an eager viewer.