Nozbat

There’s an upcoming Design Mechanism book, which while not Early Modern real world is based on a north Low German Hanse city. I’m not sure who the authors are but if it’s in a similar vein to @Alex Greene excellent Fioracitta, based on a Renaissance Italian City State (and not on some delicious artisan Tuscan bread)… it’ll be worth investing in. Whether you favour the Mythras rules or a BRP derivative, it’ll be easy to convert. Not sure what the timescales are for publication maybe @lawrence.whitaker could update us?

No.. but I must get it.. would you recommend it? I've used 1520 Renaissance as the basis of a Hansa Campaign and was intrigued when my partner suggested one time stopping on the way back home in Lúneburg , when I had forced her to go to the Hansa Museum at Lúbeck. I think she must have secretly liked the 5 hour trip to the Hansa Museum, despite how many times she has dined out on that (awful extended stay'. It had been a longterm ambition to do a Hansa based campaign and being there just increased the ideas. So I did lots of research on Lúneburg, started the game... and apparently being a Salt Merchant, even with a penchant for 15th Century Italian poetry and visiting bordellos, is not fulfilling. Who knew? So, at the merest hint of trouble, they decided to leave Lúneburg for Rotterdam via Hamburg by boat and down the Rhine to Kóln. All is not lost, I can scavenge plot seeds I've done and use them in other situations as they decide to wander off course. There current situation results in them being penniless in Antwerpen, accused of murdering a Papal Legate, on the run and between a rock and a hard place. Unable to leave Antwerpen without shoes or money and being very ill-equipped to enter a life of crime. I believe some are now hankering for the quiet life of watching Salt crystals form in heated pans.

I’m doing 1520 at present so it might be some time before I get round to doing it. We started in Lüneburg but the players seem to have decided on a whim to go to their sick father who was on a pilgrimage to Köln for some unspecified demeanour, thought by the players to have been the poisoning of his brother. Unfortunately, they ended up being framed for a murder of a Papal Legate in Antwerpen and are hiding out in a bordello while trying to work out who to trust in a hostile city. Apparently, being salt merchants wasn’t exciting enough.

Sorry @Butters.. I have both but never actually ran them .. when I do.. I'll be coming back to you for advice

I can totally understand why the pirates are waiting for these copies to be shipped ... if I were a pirate I'd be waiting too. Is the ship passing anywhere near Ireland? Honestly, I'm not readying that row boat and it doesn't really have a skull and crossbones flag.

In my view, it happens all the time. Life is cheap for cultists and whether it’s getting rid of potential enemies or sacrificing innocents to diabolical and uncaring gods, it happens pretty often in my writings. The best published scenario, in my view, Masks of Nyarlathotep starts with a murder. It’s common in my opinion and also very standard. If it’s a Scandi-noir type production, lots of murders are needed btw.

This first part is slightly off topic but I think fundamental to the solution. In any question, it's important to go back to first principles. So, three questions that might help us with infiltration and Sense Chaos: (1) How does the entity perceive Chaos. Is it an opposite? Is Chaos necessary for creation? Like darkness and light? Or Law and unLaw? Or is it seen as absolute oblivion? (2) How is Chaos manifest? And how is the manifestation perceived by others? (3) What is the purpose or goal of infiltration? Is it to normalise Chaos or is it to destroy absolutely? Or does it have another purpose? The temple of Krarsht in the Rubble is an interesting example. Obviously, the Temples goal is oblivion but the human initiates of Krarsht tend to be driven, goal-orientated power addicts that use Krarsht to gain power and standing in human society. Most initiates have never met Krarshtids or seen them, yet their burrows could be everywhere and most (as I understand it) are unaware of the true nature of Krarsht, choosing only an aspect of her. The Ogres that live on the edge of human society. How do they perceive Chaos? Is their goal just to survive and procreate? Why do they need to infiltrate? The Lunars would have us believe that Chaos is a necessary part of creation and will normalise it within their cultural remit and soften its impact (with obvious exception of that big bat thingy). I remember an article, I think in White Dwarf, and I think written by Greg Stafford, and I think it was called Wolfman Zac. It was 40 years ago at least and attempts to find it using search engines have failed me. I seem to remember that the story was about a Chaos Investigator and a werewolf musician (obviously a play on Wolman Jack). I may be wrong but I think the Werewolf was let off with a caution. In the story Wolfman Zac just liked playing music and the curse to turn into a werewolf was an impediment to that causing him to move locations frequently when discovered. Thankfully the Chaos Investigator wasn't a Stormbull as they are well known to dislike Blues music. So how does this link back to Sense Chaos? However any self-respecting Chaos entity (sic) perceives chaos, manifests itself and sets goals, it must be aware that Stormbull has a skill to Sense Chaos and it makes perfect sense that they have ways and means to negate, confuse, obfuscate that sense in order to survive and carry out their goals.

We know the Sense Chaos as a skill (that operates, possibly passively, possibly actively) that in the presence of chaos creates a feeling of unease or pain in the Stormbull initiate and the initiate knows it is close at hand (ie within 15m). The intensity of the feeling gives an indication of the strength of the Chaos entity. The skill is therefore imprecise and not directive in identifying the source so in the case of Jarst Daro, he may have been detected but in a crowd, he could not specifically be identified. The 1000+ crowd is what is likely to have saved him. The Stormbull is likely to accuse everyone within 15m of being a chaotic entity and be removed by the Justices as a potential troublemaker, as he sits sharpening his axe and singing his death song while glaring at everyone with menace. If Jaro was the only person within 15m of the Stormbull he (or possibly the Stormbull) may have been in trouble. Whatever way people operate the skill, it just needs to be consistent. Fudging individual cases for a storyline becomes problematic. A Stormbull can either sense chaos or they can't. A chaotic entity may be able to hide the chaotic taint by use of magic, illumination or a skill. How you choose to do is up to the individual game.

Some Chaos is relatively easy to detect, even a sight impaired Stormbull on a charging Rhino would notice, and therefore probably doesn't need a roll of the dice. Ogres often try to infiltrate society, there are Krarsht assassins and initiates who do not want detection to carry out their roles. As @Ian A. Thomson says, what is the point of trying to infiltrate to achieve their goals without a chance of success? Should those cults have a counter ability of Stormbull? My thoughts as a house rule would be to give specific cults, like Krarsht, an ability to go undetected and make it an opposed roll with one acting against the other.

I think that would freak my players out more than having to deal with rat packs... love it

Had they not just thought of hiring Rentokil? Or the Pied Piper of Hamelin? some well laid traps or a quick tune on the pipes… no rat packs! QED

@Jlopienski I checked the Keepers & Investigators rulebook.. there's a summary in the Keepers book which is not quite a succinct as the GM shield. I never hide behind a shield anyways.. its harder to intimidate and scare players when they can't see the .44 Magnum in your hand as you fiddle with your dice and stare at them with a faraway look that suggests you might just fail a SAN roll and shoot them.

On my Mac, I opened the PDF in Preview, enlarged the image so the screen filled one page. Then I took a screen shot of the first section, moved it across and took a screenshot of the second page etc. You can then print the jpegs. You need to enlarge the PDF first otherwise the screenshot is not sharp when you take a screen shot. I didn't try printing it though. I think from memory the same tables are in the appendixes of the main rules and/or players guide. Sorry didn't check but I'm sure someone will confirm or otherwise I don't have a windows PC but I suspect there is a similar APP to Preview on Windows?

I guess the other point.. is if you're carving runes, circles are a bit difficult to get right. Its much easier to go for lines and curves. On looking at it closer .. there seems to be a Magic Rune on it though.

No Darkness Rune .. but interesting nevertheless https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/22/engraving-on-2000-year-old-knife-thought-to-be-oldest-runes-in-denmark

oh yes... Strange lights illuminating the night sky People setting off into the wastelands that never went there before Creatures never seen before making an appearance Mystery, confusion, wonder... all happening off-screen

I suspect that there very little left to do after all that?

I find it interesting that people want a certain direction or options in written scenarios (not just @Ian A. Thomson's massive opus magnum). There are two aspects to the creativity process that impact on such a notion. Firstly, there is actually creating a storyline to be consistent, viable and fun for all the types of players we encounter at our games. I tend to write my own scenarios rather than relying on published ones, cannibalising some where I like the ideas but want to put my own stamp on it as @Baron said. When doing this I generally focus on maximum game fun (MGF) because I have very different players at the table, some are happy with the idea of roleplaying and getting into character, some prefer rolling dice as a mechanic, some play very different characters, others play the same type of character over and over. That's the nature of the people we play with, they're all different. The end narrative is what makes games memorable. It's what the players tell each other when the game is finished that matters most to me and them. Going back to the point, the best scenarios flow. They move seamlessly to the end point. Forcing situations on players feels false and they see that. What's their motivation for doing something that they wouldn't actually do? I think that's where the consistency and viability come in. Even in sandbox games there is a stated end outcome, the routes to it may be varied, but in my view the end point is immutable and in order for the scenario to make sense, it has to be fixed. If you want the end point to be different, it changes all the preceding variables and requires a serious amount of work which would be impossible to do in such a grand campaign such as Pavis. Secondly, creating a scenario for publication is very different from doing your own scenario. In writing my own, I don’t have to have every detail written. Some I can fudge, some things I did not perceive as happening and others I just make up on the spot. If I’m good at this, the players never know. I just make a note in the margin of my notes and play goes on, hopefully seamlessly. If the scenario requires another route, I write it in between sessions but it always tends towards the same end point. In a published scenario, the creator does not have that option. They can’t perceive every variable or probability of actions for different types of GMs, different players, styles of play and personal interest. Published scenarios require an immense amount of work that need to be detailed, Stat blocks, new skills, new spells, working out mechanics of actions using RAW, etc. It would be a never-ending process to include all options for different outcomes. As @Nick Brooke said above, get your quill, ink and vellum out (or your word processor) and start publishing your ideas. We are a community with lots of ideas and our Gloranthas do vary. @Ian A. Thomson is offering participation in the creation of OUR Glorantha and I think it is an opportunity for everyone to give something. I'm going with @Nick Brooke's hashtag #WeAreAllUs

LOl...I'd forgotten about the RQ3 fatigue rules... but I also ignored them until a fight went on a bit then I'd deduct some percentiles

The simple answer is that if there was a rule like that we’d all ignore it. Having said that..sorcery has always been difficult to conceptualise and to get mechanics right without over-complicating it. I’m probably in the minority if I said I liked RQ3 sorcery. There will be a future new RQG version coming and we’ll have to wait to see how that works.

As @Ravenheart87 has said a lot of the BRP derivatives already use Common skills and Specialist/ Professional skills split. The Common skills are all on the character sheet and the Specialist column is left blank to allow players to construct their own lists. New specialist skills not allocated through character creation have to be learnt from a teacher or through study (if you have a literate milieu). I do think its useful to have all the skills on the front of the sheet but that's my personal choice. They also calculate the base chance by adding characteristics (Athletics is STR+DEX; Insight is INT+POW etc) which I like as there is a different combination for each type of skill. It means that none of the characteristics is redundant and players can benefit from a high characteristic. I'm mostly playing online at the moment and as a GM I need to know how strong the characters are and what their skill level is when designing opposition for game play. I did design a fillable character sheet as one of the many tasks needed to start the game. The players can then upload their character sheets to a Cloud Drive which I can check when working out how strong to set the GMCs. I think the great thing about BRP is you can do what you and your players want. There is no right or wrong way. If the RAW or houserules don't work for the group, have a discussion after the game and change them. Its all about maximum game fun.

I think this version is pretty stable and can be filled in without messing up the boxes as long as you don't add too much text. I increased the box size for Factions and moved the Magic bit to a third page Let me know if there's any problems Blank Character Sheet v5.docx

Excellent call @Ynneadwraith .. an interesting blog of a lot of mostly classical history. He also is keen on one of my favourite military historians, John Keegan.. so extra points for that

Tak, det kan være, jeg tager imod dit tilbud.

Bought it and a Quick Look ... interesting