seneschal

Re: Rant. As other posters have said, I think Chaosium and Alephar Games are already doing that with Future Earth, Rome, Celestial Empire, etc. We just need the proverbial "killer app" that gets past the RuneQuest faithful, dazzles the Mongoose intiates, and zaps folks who've never played a BRP-based game ... or role-played, period. Fantasy is big with youth right now (all the magical kid and vampire lover series), so we need to tap into that interest without being too derivative (Harry Jackson Romances the Monster of Mexico, the RPG).

Who needs Cthulhu when you've got the insidious Doctor Fu Manchu, Fantomas, Jadis of Charn, an army of of American gangsters, the Reds, Maple White's Land, King Tut's curse, and all those small town Agatha Christie serial murderers to worry about? Don't fret. The friendly inhabitants of Skull Island will be delighted to provide your exhausted adventurers will a memorable vacation. Did we mention that a recent archeological expedition in the Suez unearthed a giant ring of unidentifiable metal?

I'm working on a marsh wiggle write-up. I'll post it when I'm done.

Glad it was inspirational. Let us know how it goes.

I know some of our RuneQuest veterans despise the use of miniatures in their games but my wife, a role-playing newbie, specifically asked for this Narnia campaign after viewing miniatures wargaming at our local game shop. She and the kids have trouble flexing their imaginations without props but she thought the fantasy miniatures armies and damaged medieval buildings were cool. She said she'd play if I could provide the set pieces and character minis she'd admired. My wife also asked, "How come they're just playing? Your games always have so much talking." Apparently she doesn't get the concept just yet that role-playing involves more than just combat. Previously, I'd run Mazes and Minotaurs and Mini Six superheroes sessions for her and the kids using minimal minis, no maps, and creating terrain on the fly out of stuff that happened to be on the kitchen table. The minimalist approach always worked for my Champions and Traveller groups back in high school and college, but my spouse and kids are very visual.

Thanks!

Here's some of the notes I've been compiling as I think through the campaign. Hope they're helpful. General guidelines, based on The Chronicles of Narnia: Morality is black-and-white. Heroes honor and obey the laws of Aslan, son of the Emperor Over the Sea. Villains don’t. No excuses, you’re responsible for your choices. When talking animals transgress Aslan’s law, they risk losing their intelligence and becoming mere beasts. Narnia is a magical land of talking animals and mythological creatures but good guys don’t use magic, which is a usurpation of the power of the Emperor Over the Sea. There are rare exceptions, but magic-wielders are generally evil (e.g., Jadis of Charn, The Lady of the Green Kirtle). Narnia requires a human king to provide order and protection for the talking animals (since humans introduced evil there) but men are a distinct minority, not more than 1/5th or 20% of the population at most.. Player-characters (the heroes) tend to be normal human outsiders, either from Earth or the fringes of society. Possible non-human PC races include talking (usually mammalian or avian) animals, centaurs, dwarves, fauns, marsh wiggles. In the movies, good-guy minotaurs and antelope-men are possible. Nymphs and wood gods, while important to Narnian society, are too tied to one location to make good adventurers. Talking animals have human-level intelligence and possess the advantages and limitations of their various species. Large sentient animals are typically smaller than their bestial cousins (elephants, bears) while small sentient animals are usually much larger (rodents, rabbits, hedgehogs). Small animals may be swifter and more agile than humans but are more fragile. Quadrupeds (horses, deer) may be strong and swift but lack manipulative appendages. Carnivores have their claws and hunting instincts but may not eat intelligent prey. Narnian creatures that wouldn’t make good PCs include wood gods and nymphs (too tied to one location), giants (too powerful, too bulky), Duffers (too dumb). Minotaurs and deer-men appear as heroes in the movies but are clearly bad guys in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Villains tend to be scheming would-be conquerors or evil magicians. Evil creatures include typical fantasy monsters from Greek mythology and European folklore – giants, hags, werewolves, bad dwarves, wolves, dragons, sea serpents, etc., nothing too exotic or bizarre. Human groups include Narnians (the royal family and retainers, inhabitants of the Lone Islands), Archenlanders (from a friendly human kingdom south of Narnia), Telmarines (pirate invaders who took over Narnia for a time), and Calormen (citizens of a Persia-like empire beyond the southern desert). Human society is generally feudal and medieval, Iron Age technology. No mechanical gadgets exist, and magic items are extremely rare gifts from Aslan. Outsiders can stumble into Narnia if Aslan wills it, usually to enable them to complete a specific quest. The gates between Narnia and Earth are gradually closing. Earth outsiders return home at the exact moment they left. Thousands of years may have passed if they happen to stumble back into Narnia since time flows at different rates in the two worlds. There are other beings and civilizations in and beneath Narnia and in the sea, each doing their own thing and usually unconcerned about Narnian affairs. There are also multiple worlds, accessible via the Wood Between the Worlds. Charn, home world of Jadis, the White Witch, was one of these. Visiting and interfering with worlds other than Narnia is discouraged by Aslan. It is implied that there is a whole lot more going on than the books tell us, and that the world Narnia is part of is bigger than what we’ve been shown. C.S. Lewis’ novels provide brief slices of Narnian history, usually crises when outside human intervention was needed. There are indications that whole civilizations, human and otherwise, have risen and fallen over the course of the seven novels, but the blanks were never filled in. One necessary difference between the books and a role-playing campaign – the player-characters in a RPG session can’t depend on Aslan to always bail them out at the last minute. He may give purpose, guidance, and occasional aid but he won’t guarantee that the PCs’ failures and mistakes won’t be fatal. The Silver Chair and The Last Battle demonstrated that the good guys could fail and could die. The other books contained many near-disasters, even when Aslan was present. The characters’ responsibility to do his will, to do their best to do the right thing, even if it costs them their lives. Typical “Missions” From the Books: Sit on the four thrones of an ancient castle to fulfill a prophesy and end endless winter Help the rightful king of Narnia defeat his scheming uncle Find seven exiled Telmarine lords Rescue a missing prince Warn Narnia of a pending invasion Retrieve an apple from a distant, holy garden Help the king of Narnia against a false Aslan The Ages of Narnia: Age of Innocence – Narnia protected by King and by sacred apple tree. Monsters are few, rival human kingdoms are small and distant, but the exiled White Witch is scheming in the northern wilderness. (The Magician’s Nephew) The Long Winter – The White Witch rules conquered Narnia with an iron hand and the aid of evil creatures. It is always winter, never Christmas, talking animals are oppressed by the Witch’s secret police. Monsters and evil animals are common. (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) Golden Age – Ruled by the two kings and two queens, Narnia has a period of prosperity, international trade, exploration, and growing world influence. Foreign princes come to court the queens as they grow up. Monsters and evil creatures are driven into the northern wilderness, and the northern giant kingdoms sue for peace. (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy) Telmarine Supremacy – Pirate invaders from Earth have conquered Narnia, set up a human kingdom, and driven the talking animals into hiding. Mythological creatures have become dormant. Militaristic society, lots of political intrigue. Monsters are rare, but the Telmarine’s superstitions limit their explorations inland. Encounters with “Old Narnians” are rare. Narnians tend to be suspicious of and hostile toward humans. (Prince Caspian) Second Golden Era – Under Caspian X and his son, Narnia regains peace, prestige and prosperity. New exploration, expanded trade, Narnian navy founded. (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair) The Final Days – Lulled by long peace and Aslan’s absence, Narnians are fooled by a fake Aslan and oppressed by his ape “prophet.” Calormen “allies” finally successfully invade Narnian soil and capture the King. (The Last Battle) Adventure Ideas, Brainstorming: Giant invasion – Wars between the northern giants and Narnia are referred to in the books; characters must detect or forestall such an invasion. Calormene assassins – Southern agents seek to kill the kings of Narnia or Archenland as part of some larger scheme to annex the north. The PCs battle a foreign secret service/secret society. Naval excursions against pirates or slavers – Narnian slaves prized by the southern empire, player-characters must enforce King Caspian’s ban on the slave trade. Here Come the Telmarines – Advent of the Telmarine pirates/invaders. PCs seek to fend off coastal raiders, prevent pirate settlers from getting a toehold on Narnia. Perhaps the campaign could evolve from the naval excursions campaign above. Explore the Lantern Waste – It is part of Narnia but little travelled. What lurks there other than an otherworldly lamppost? Yet Another Witch – Heroes have opposed the White Witch and the Lady of the Green Kirtle. Is yet another magician would-be conqueror waiting in the wings? Mop up – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe says the White Witch’s army scattered and it took a long time to hunt down all the monsters. The PCs are part of the mop-up crew, locating and eliminating evil hold-outs. Conquest of the Lone Islands – There are three, Felimath, Doorn, and Avra. Main population is on Doorn, Felimath is mostly uninhabited. Added to Narnia during reign of White Witch, origin never explained. --- At this point, my wife wants to be a Xena-esque centaur lady, my daughter wants to play a warrior mouse, and my son wants to be Father Christmas (and thus avoid the gritty combat). If the campaign comes off, "Nicholas Kringle, Christmas Corps., Retired" will probably be an Obi Wan Kenobi type able to tell who's been naughty and nice, possess kick-butt quarterstaff skills with his holly staff, and (perhaps) be able to teleport (limitation: only through flues and chimneys).

Oops! I'd been reading it as "Gravy Cannon" and was about to ask that the device be statted up.

Thanks for the input. Your suggestions are helpful. I was planning to skip trying to use a magic system and keep magical effects as atmosphere or GM fiat. In the Narnia-verse, good guys (aka the player-characters) for the most part don't sling spells; with a couple minor exceptions, magic users are NPC villains like the White Witch or the Lady of the Green Kirtle.

My wife recently said she'd role-play with me if I could come up with a Narnia-based campaign, something she'd consider kid-friendly. After pondering the books by C.S. Lewis, it occurs to me that BRP might be good fit. The protagonists (player-characters) aren't movie action heroes or superheroes, they're normal people -- even the mythological ones. They typically avoid or outsmart enemies rather than going toe-to-toe with them. Combat, when it occurs, is as gritty and dangerous as a BRP fan could desire. Defeating a warrior, wild animal, or giant serpent is a major achievement. Taking out a dragon, giant, or sea serpent may not be possible. And many of the potential PC non-human races and animals are already in the Big Gold Book, the Mongoose RuneQuest SRD, and Basic Creatures -- just roll INT normally for talking animals instead of using the fixed stat for regular beasts. Also, Narnia characters defy D&D style classifications and don't "level up," although they do improve somewhat with experience. Overall, it seems a good match. What do you think?

Man, that doesn't give me much time!

The variable physics/power-level phenomenon is a real shame because RuneQuest plus Superworld begs for a Darkwing Duck adaptation. Given the amount of punishment he takes, he'll have to have lots of Defense and Regeneration.

We'll have to wait for the official answer, but I vote 5%! It certainly makes the power more useful that way, especially for characters whose shtick is to avoid damage rather than shrug it off.

Richard Wentworth, The Spider, actually had to battle super villains as a mere mortal. He dealt with an army of 50-foot-tall robots, faced a flying villain calling himself the Bat Man (years before Bruce Wayne adopted his alter ego) who attacked with clouds of poison-toothed vampire bats, and went after an acid-spewing killer The Joker probably cribbed notes from. It all looked like a job for Superman, but he wasn't around yet. But that is a difference I noticed between Champions and its early competitors. Champions had a stun damage mechanic that let its characters take a licking and keep on ticking for justice. Characters in Superworld, Villains & Vigilantes, and Heroes Unlimited might possess awesome abilities but were just as vulnerable as the Average Joe (or Traveller character) when it came to getting hurt. Even normals in Champions and Justice, Inc., were tougher than their BRP counterparts -- and they didn't have to worry about losing SAN.

On the other hand, that BRP grittiness suits a The Spider/The Shadow/Green Hornet style game pretty well, where the heroes may have strange powers or fancy gear but are still mortal human beings.

Just curious, did you think the sentai hero write-up was a good fit for BRP?

Is Malleus Monstorom for Call of Cthulhu a good bestiary for BRP in general? Of course it has the Mythos beings, but does it make a useful animal/monster book for general purposes?

BRP certainly doesn't seem to contain all the options that, say, Hero System would for supers, but it makes sense given the two game systems' origins and evolution over the years. BRP began as a fantasy system that morphed into a generic game. Hero System began as a superhero game that became gradually generic. With morphin' in mind, however, I thought I'd explore the system's super-powered possibilities: Sentai Team Member for BRP Unlike American superheroes, which retain their rampant individuality even when they work as a group, Japanese heroes often are organized into military-style squads whose members wear similar uniforms and possess similar powers, usually provided by technological or magical gear. Squad members are differentiated mainly by their mission specialties and signature weapons. In keeping with their military bent, these “sentai” teams aren’t concerned with battling everyday crime but instead wage literal war against evil forces from other stars or other realities intent on taking over Earth. It’s no-holds-barred combat, sometimes resulting in both hero and civilian casualties. Opponents, usually bizarre monsters or giant robots, don’t get sent to jail, they get vaporized. Sentai heroes run the gamut from grim (Kamen Rider) to silly (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers) but whatever their tone they have several traits in common. They are typically young people, even tween-agers, who must transform into their heroic forms via special gadgets or magic items. Each team member has a unique weapon and/or vehicle, and the team may be able to combine its equipment to create a super weapon, vehicle, or giant robot necessary to defeat this week’s foe. Most sentai television shows are live action, but this generic write-up is largely based on the animated great-granddaddy of them all, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (aka Battle of the Planets or G-Force). Gatchaman’s take-no-prisoners attitude seemed a good fit for Basic Roleplaying’s gritty combat system, and the powers and equipment displayed weren’t too over-the-top. As befits its “science ninja” theme, this team focuses on ambush, stealth, and not getting hit during combat rather than upon powerful energy weapons and impervious armor. Members are designed to sneak around enemy bases and clobber armies of goons, not to go toe-to-toe with a master supervillain or giant robot (that's what the team's super-vehicle is for). Their attacks do modest damage, and if they fail to dodge their opponents’ blows or shots, they’ll be hurting. STR 14 CON 13 SIZ 10 INT 14 POW 15 DEX 17 APP 12 Move 10 Hit Points: 23 (SIZ+CON option) Armor: 4 AP, Kinetic, Heat (Superhero costume and light helmet) Attacks: Signature Weapon 65% (Choose One: Bola 1D4+1/2db, Boomerang 1D4+1/2db, Dart 1D6+1/2db, Grapnel Gun 1D6+1, or Yoyo 1D6+1/2db); Fist 65%, 1D3+db+6; Foot 55%, 1D3+db+6; Rifle 50%, 2D6+2 Skills: Climb 80%; Dodge 65%; Fine Manipulation 45%; Fly 55%; Hide 70%; Jump 65%; Language (Japanese) 70%; Listen 65%; Martial Arts 35%; Persuade 50%; Sense 50%; Sleight of Hand 55%; Spot 55%; Stealth 75%; Swim 55%; Throw 50%; Track 35% Powers: [8] Armor, AP 4 (Costume and Helmet; vs. Kinetic, Heat); [25] Defense (-125% vs. All Attacks per Round); [2] Extra Energy (+20 PP, 35 Total); [4] Flight (Gliding Cape; 4 PP to activate for SIZ 12, 1 PP per Turn); [4] Leap (+8 meters, Total 10 meters); [20] Unarmed Combat, Level 3 (+6 Damage with Brawl, Grapple; +6 AP When Parrying or vs. Unarmed Attacks; -15% vs. Single Attack or -5% Each vs. Multiple Attacks; +15% to Hit with Brawl, Grapple) Failings: Superhero Identity Must Be Turned On (+1); Identity Turned On in Obvious Manner via Catchphrase and Gadget or Magic Item (+1); Must Obey Orders of Group Sponsor (+3); Hunted All the Time by Large Bad Guy Organization (+3) Notes: The Ninja template from the Page 363 of the Big Gold Book provided basic stats and skills. The Character Point Budget was 95, based on the characteristics total, plus 8 points more for Failings (Total 103). Team members’ signature weapons are “real” primitive thrown weapons (Basic Roleplaying, Page 248) rather than manifestations of the Energy Projection power. The Yoyo weapon isn’t a toy but a heavy metal weight with a spike on the bottom. The Grapnel Gun is a CO2 powered device similar to an aquatic harpoon gun. It was not intended as a weapon but its barbed projectile won’t do a human body any good. Other starting personal equipment includes a transformation gadget (disguised as a watch or cell phone or similar device), a helmet radio, and a flowing cape that can act as a parasail or parachute as needed. It doesn’t allow team members to actually fly, although they can leap and glide for distances their PP permits. The science ninjas don’t carry guns but know how to use the ones confiscated from villainous thugs.

I, too, got notice that my (mostly) historical Western adventure The Goblin Hoss was accepted. I'm happy, and relieved. It has been hard to wait. I'd written Dustin Wright that I was failing my SAN rolls. This news (and my new padded room) is working wonders.

Those contest entries have been "being edited" for 7 months now. With the editor now at a convention, per a recent Twitter announcement, I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer to find out the results. The results, also per Twitter, were supposed to be announced by the end of 2011. Oops! I'm secretly hoping the reason there's been a delay is that we all did so wonderfully well that we're getting the full-color-glossy paper-hardback treatment. Yeah, I know. But Basic Roleplaying specializes in fantasy, right?

One of my friends once ran a Sphinx player-character in Fantasy Hero ... named Leon.

Heh, such temporal bouncing around was par for the course in Dark Shadows. No, not the over-the-top 1991 remake, the 1966 original: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Shadows In fact, the hapless characters went to both the past and the future and even experienced parallel time lines, existing simultaneously in two different eras. They'd have been messed up even if they hadn't had to deal with vampires, werewolves, witches and ghosts.

Couldn't you segue from CoC to Val-du-Loup? Your PCs' investigations take them to the modern du-Loup region of Europe. When they go crazy/die, as they inevitably will, instead of perishing they find themselves in the medieval Vale of the Wolf, given the chance to add to their existing understanding of the forces that menaced them. If they succeed in thwarting the menace in the middle ages, they'll have prevented it from affecting the future (their present) and will find themselves sane and whole in the modern era (or whatever era your Cthulhu campaign is in).

But he's only 4 inches long! http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101124/sc_afp/scienceoceansbiodiversity Who knew?

"SIZ 23, I choose YOU!" I had similar questions about Burroughsian Green Martians, who stand 15 feet tall but weigh only about 400 pounds, much less than they would on Earth, because of their less dense low-gravity body mass. Unfortunately, based on the answers I got in earlier threads, there aren't any such guidelines in the Big Gold Book either. Once you get away from humanoid creatures or critters that can be extrapolated from existing animal stats, you're reduced to guesswork. BRP just wasn't designed with such things in mind. On the Gastly, however, you might be able to compensate with the super powers rules by buying up the creature's Hit Points beyond their "normal" mass-based total. For the Bronzor, you might buy up its DEX, Dodge skill or various defenses so that despite its human-level mass, it is extremely hard to hit because of its compact dimensions.