Search the Community

Hi everyone. I popped by this site to find a Stormbringer game I could join. It would have to be a play-by-post, because where I live there are no players even for D&D. There aren't any active games here, though, so I have to ask for leads - at least some popular resources I could browse. Which edition of Stormbringer - that probably doesn't matter much. I'm familiar with the 1st, but I could adopt to the others. Elric!, from people's comments, seems to be streamlined but rather dull - as any once-again revised rule set for the same setting would have to be. And it's the setting that I'm really interested in. Moorcock's books simply had genius in them, and their themes are productive for the imagination. I don't care much about rule systems, so long as they let me accomplish what I desire, and care about rules less and less with the years. The oldest systems, like the first incarnation of Basic Role-Playing or the original D&D, are strong in part because of their awkward features. One of these is having to stick with, in many cases, a seriously random character. Another is tremendous power, and the final say, given to the referee. Yet another is a relative dearth of special abilities, feats, perks etc. All of these traits of early games have been assiduously filed away at by their revised editions, in the name of variety, consistency, fairness, flexibility, psychodrama, power to the people and so on, especially with the advent of videogames and "personalization." And I understand those arguments, but I think they end up missing the point and blunting the edge. Mutual understanding between the referee and players can substitute for any amount of legalism. Likewise, an interesting adventure is something that should come out of actual inventive ideas, not ready abilities and their combinations. So I was pleasantly surprised with the BRP system - clear, flexible and to the point, though with room for a bit of simplification. The rule about special successes in particular had to be changed (what is 1/5 of skill 62, answer quickly). Demons acting as items don't need the majority of creature stats, which just clutter the page. And so on. But these are mostly small gripes, and perhaps they were addressed later on. In the case of BRP's treatment of magic for the Young Kingdoms, I was also greatly relieved to be relieved of powers. Cross my heart, I am sick of characters with powers, "special" powers in particular. Wizards shooting lightning bolts from their fingertips aren't a frequent sight in the better fantasy fiction, and that must be for a reason. Give me demons, elementals, sleight of hand, artifacts, sacrifices and actually having to do something instead of just being special. I also like it that in the Young Kingdoms there is no resurrection, no raising of the dead, which too often makes death a joke in D&D. The Tomb of Horrors is just random kill - it's not the same thing; but life must be actually dangerous to rejoice at victory and survival. I digressed a bit, but with this outline you can see better what I'm looking for. So, any tips on where to find it?