seneschal

Heh. Do we know what movie that clip is from?

See? Elfquest would never generate this sort of passionate discussion despite having Leetah on the cover and its own Marvel Comics adaptation. So, broody pale homicidal elves beat sexy, wolf-loving homicidal elves. Hmmm.

After perusing the threads, other than the Big Two (Runequest and Call of Cthulhu) Stormbringer/Elric! seems to get the most love of all the BRP iterations, even forming the basis for other versions of the game. What makes Stormbringer special in a way that other out-of-print products, say Ringworld and Superworld, aren't? (I mean, with the latter two your character could one-punch that giant cave troll and sent it drifting off into space!)

That was my point earlier in reference to the Odyssey. Bronze Age civilizations and empires were smaller than the later Alexandrian and Roman ones we are more familiar with. Doesn't make them less epic. Augustus Caesar didn't have to worry about every petty god in the pantheon messing in his personal business. The Bronze Age guys apparently did. Consider the Minoan Empire, which ruled the Mediterranean world the way the British Empire did the whole planet in the 18th century. King Minos has the best soldiers and the largest most advanced navy. His trading fleet brings wealth to Crete from strange people living on distant shores. He wows the rubes with his posh palace (a literal maze of rooms), his slinky topless snake priestesses, and his bull-vaulting dancers. He extracts harsh tributes from those dirty, uncultured fishermen on the Aegean coast north of him (that's Greeks to you and me). He's on top of the world -- until a volcanic explosion on the island of Thera sinks his fleet, burns his buildings, swamps the islands the Cretans have colonized with massive waves. The greatest civilization known destroyed in one day by cataclysm. While the Minoans feebly try to recover from disaster, those dirty fishermen have enough breathing room to start to develop a civilization of their own.

Not the physical article I read, but covering some of the same territory (pun intended): https://www.nationalgeographic.org/maps/travels-odysseus/

Easy, in-company solution: take all those excess deities and sic them on the hapless investigators of that other game (what was it called again?), 😄

Re: Bronze Age territory sizes, a couple decades ago National Geographic writers attempted to retrace Odysseus' epic journey, matching events in the poem to actual locations. Turns out the world of Greek myth was (to 20th century eyes) smaller than expected. The world is a much bigger place when you have to depend on capricious winds or your own aching feet to get anywhere.

How about the soundtrack to the 1960s version of "Around the World in 80 Days" or "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines"? Both thematically appropriate. Or the Disney version of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"? Jules Verne invented steampunk, after all.

I am unfamiliar with RQ rules but note that most animals, including catttle, have an average POW of at least 10. Do the powers that be care where the POW comes from? Are there grades of POW, where sacrificing a cow or a daughter is worth more than sacrificing a bunny? Or is 10 POW worth 10 POW regardless of where it comes from?

So, is organization still an issue with the cleaned up, errata-added reprint of RQ2?

The intrepid investigator is going head to head with the Imperial Corps of Engineers? 😯 I knew those interdimensional bureaucrats couldn't be trusted!

"Punch a duck"??? Such a fowl deed would be ducksploitation!

So, asking Miss Glow Hands for her phone number wouldn't end well? Rats! "Say, not to be forward, but are you doing anything after the hero war?"

Are they floating in the clouds, climbing down a particularly rugged mountainside, or a little of both? I can't tell. But it certainly is a dramatic scene. Looks like you'd need a pair of insulated gloves to shake hands with Mister Blue. I mean, he would be willing to shake hands, wouldn't he?

BRP-derived games are a different beast than D&D but there are some things to look for when evaluating monster toughness. Look at the creature's damage bonus; that's how much hurt it can lay on your adventurers. Its attack skill percentage (for example Bite 56 percent) gives you an idea how likely it is to deliver that hurt. Finally, the monster's hit points and armor points tell you how much damage the heroes will have to do to it to take it down. Armor subtracts from damage, so if the player-characters do 6 points of damage to a creature with 3 armor points, the monster only suffers 3 points of injury. I haven't had a chance to peruse 7th edition material but Call of Cthulhu core rule books have tended to have a generous selection of monsters. In addition, books such as the Malleus Monstorum have an extended listing of terrors. In general, investigators will most often run up against human cultists and human-sized critters. There are plenty of other threats but they are so huge and mind-blowing that characters' best option is to avoid or (rarely) outsmart them.

You're welcome. The world needs more pulpy beasts. 😉

The Monster Men Source: Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Monster Men, 1913 In 1912 noted biologist Professor Arthur Maxon suddenly resigned his teaching position at Cornell University and fled New York City for a world cruise with his nubile daughter, Virginia. Midway through the voyage, however, he changed plans and had a laboratory compound built on an unoccupied island off the coast of Borneo. Unbeknownst to his colleagues or his daughter, Maxon had been conducting arcane experiments in creating artificial living organisms. He had intended to abandon these unethical and illegal efforts but his lust for the ultimate secrets of life overcame his inhibitions. Maxon sought to create a new race of supermen and succeeded in growing 12 humanoids in his vats. While possessing enhanced strength and endurance, these beings were hideously malformed in both body and mind. The earliest specimens were savage and bestial, while the last three had enough intelligence to compare themselves unfavorably with normal humans and to resent what the professor had done to them. Betrayal by a scheming assistant and an attack by indigenous pirates resulted in the creatures escaping the compound and reaching Borneo in a stolen native canoe. They were last seen vanishing into the jungle. While they share a common origin, the monster men are as individual as the Disney version of the seven dwarves. They have no names but Maxon numbered them in the order they were created. All of them are dangerous but some of them are passive, others are particularly aggressive, and Ten, Eleven and Twelve possess an animal cunning as well as near-human intelligence. Their bodies are deformed, and the Game Master may wish to assign them specific mutations or chaos traits in addition to their APP 4. The monster men love to fight, love to eat, and yearn for female companionship. Although perfectly willing to attack adventurers who get in their way, they would prefer isolation from mankind. Twelve has become the default leader, guiding and caring for his stupider bretheren. STR 3D6+6 (17) CON 3D6+6 (17) SIZ 3D6+6 (17) INT 1D6+2 (6) POW 3D6 (11) DEX 3D6 (11) APP 1D6 (4) Move: 10 Damage Bonus: +1D6 Hits: 17 (34 CON+SIZ) Armor: 3 (too dumb to die) Attacks: Bite 40%, 1D4+1D6; Brawl 35%, 1D3+1D6 Skills: Language (English) 20%, Climb 40%, Jump 25% Notes:

Still holding out for a good (and faithful) version of The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

For you Runequest heretics who still love your ducks, I stumbled across 97-cent prepainted metal figures at Walmart. It's the Disney Nano toy line. Found Gizmoduck (about 40mm) and Uncle Scrooge McDuck (33mm), a bit large but they are heroic characters. Was hoping for Darkwing Duck but you take what you can get.

Looking over our list of books and movies, it looks as if the settings for psionic campaigns tend to fall into two broad categories -- contemporary/near contemporary or far future (or far past per May). Protagonists are often vulnerable (or not so vulnerable) children. Government tends to be powerful and repressive even in places where psychics are an accepted part of society (Mccaffrey, Lensmen). Does the existence of mental powers necessarily shred the Constitution and civil rights? Regardless of their abilities' origin -- medical experiment, evolution, or alien heritage -- psions tend to seek safety in rural isolation (The People, Village of the Damned, X-Men, Empire Strikes Back). Any other tropes or sub-genre "bits" you can think of for a campaign?

Fun write-ups. And the powers and motivations blocks indicate how this system differs from the Big Gold Book. My favorite X-man was Beast, at least the animated version. In the comics he kept changing, depending who was writing. Was he shy and lovelorn? Brainy and pedantic? Or a savage animal eager to rend and slay? Was he just mishappen or furry? Wait! Did his fur color and coat length just change?

The broo is taller (and more well groomed) than I was previously led to expect. Was he on his way to take class photos when he encountered that pesky human? ("Darn! He scuffed my new bracelet."). 😜

Add to our reading list Anne Mccafrey's "The Rowan," "Damia," and "Damia's Children." Touchy-feelie sci-fi set in the far future.

Ephemerol would add some new plot twists for PCs. If they have to take medicine to prevent their powers from driving them crazy, they can't simply oh hide out in a basement somewhere. They either have to come out to acquire supplies or become hermits out in the wilderness. For a full suite of abilities in BRP you'd have to borrow from other power sets such as Sorcery or Super Powers. Havent seen Perry Rodan but Lensmen series is pretty over the top, too.