Search the Community

Hey all, I just uploaded the latest version of The Second Way freeform magic rules to this site. There are lot of small change that came about during playtest. You can get it at the link below or from the download section.

Hi, I’m curious whether anyone has used MW or BRP generally to run a game set in FF’s Titan setting? The setting would suit many of the MW monsters, the Conan-like magic, and also the unusual magic additions (e.g., mask magic) in Advanced Sorcery. In terms of detail, there’s a small paperback for describing the world of Titan, as well as the revised FF rpg system which has the same information. (I bought much of those materials, but I couldn’t get the game system to operate. I tried it once and it quickly, for me and my players, came undone. But the world was appealing.) Here’s the paperback, which is handy - I got mine cheap on Amazon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(Fighting_Fantasy_book) In case you don’t know, there’s also now an exhaustive Atlas of Titan drawing on all sorts of maps and information compiled from the many game books. You can find the attached file here: https://fightingfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/The_Atlas_of_Titan What I think MW can do is provide an elegant system that won’t have the issues I encountered with the FF rpg system. If you want that old-school fantasy feel, and a different setting, it may be worth a look. (You could also use BRP Classic Fantasy in that setting, too.) N

In @Nick J.'s Magic World game last week we lost one of our two fighter type characters. And it wasn't just any character but a hulking killing machine often referred to as an Iron Golem. Not only did Diedtrich have a powerful damage bonus and a magic sword but also a sword profiency in the 90% percentile range. My character, Dietrich's man servant and the other fighter type is at best a mediocre fighter and will probably have a short life time now that Dietrich is gone. That said I thought it would be good to write an obituary for the fair Sir Dietrich. It goes something like this... --------------------- “Wilhelm Dietrich “Sir Dietrich” von Buddenbrock made his last wildly inappropriate and sarcastic comment on July 28th. Dietrich was born and immediately dubbed “our favorite child” to Wilhelm and Joan Buddenbrock (deceased) in March of 1993. Their constant love, support, caring far exceeded anything Dietrich deserved. He is survived by his five wives, sixteen girlfriends, forty three children and overly dedicated warhorse named Sica. He will miss Sica. He had three basic philosophies“work is for the unimaginative”, “never use your real name” and “failure to consume a proferred glass of ale is a terrible waste.” Dietrich died knowing that the Black Labrador Pub in High Hankle is the best place to get a buzz and that a visit to the Daisy Club in Lankshorn will give you a rash that just won’t go away. Dietrich’s demise will now allow all his children to emerge from his shadow. A variety of boys and girls with no upbringing whatsoever complete the list of those left to embellish his memory. Dietrich’s service included five years serving as the Commander of his Lord’s guard and seven years as a professional ale taster and womanizer. His time and position afforded hundreds of people exposure to Dietrich’s unique personality. Half a dozen or so of these might speak of him fondly if pressed. His regrets were few but include eating a falafel from a street merchant in Dreg, opening a door in Dun Cru covered with runes and that no evidence exists of his prowess on the jousting field or in the bedroom. There will be no viewing since his comrades refuses to honor his request to have him standing in the corner of the room with a glass of ale in his hand so that he would appear natural to visitors. Cremation will take place at the earliest convenience and his ashes will be kept in an urn until the party gets tired of having it around. Everyone who remembers him is asked to celebrate Dietrich’s life in their own way. Raising a glass of their favorite drink in his memory would be quite appropriate.

Time for an update. I apologize for it being so much time passing. We are still at work on the manuscript itself. My writing on it had to slow way down, though to be fair a year may have been ambitious on getting this done. Regardless, I hate making a promise and not delivering. Let me list some things we have accomplished. Finalized the visual aspects of the magical language Finalized character creation, in terms of the changes needed. Finalized the look we want for the book. Almost done the free First Look. It will reveal all the folk and their in game stats and how to create characters. In addition it will speak about the world in basic terms. I hope to have some art to put with it. Will also talk more ind depth about magic and maybe a wee few beasties. We have spent a lot of time on dragons and how their existence affects the lives of people as well as their place in religion and the environment. We have talked about demons and elementals and how they will fit into the magic paradigm. Still working on that. Remember, mechanically we are not making many changes at all to how sorcery is done, but some of the details for world building will look different. On the new news front, we are going to be doing an audio podcast of the playtest. More radio drama than actual play, but it will be an actual play. We may recruit some additional players. I have a few questions to ask Chaosium about that, but as long as it is all good, So we hope this will be something all of you enjoy and help you get a feel for how we think the world will roll. Of course, to steal a phrase, your Ashes will vary. Which is one reason we are still committed to a blank slate land where GM's can set their own campaigns if they do not like the main play area. I am not setting any time frames at this moment. We have a meeting today and then we shall see what time I have. I wold love to present something by the end of the month. Everyone has been supportive I want you all to see something. Thank you! To the fans, to Chaosium. Everyone has been great so far. We are still on the road, even it is longer than I anticipated. ~SMH

I want to go ahead and do an update here since most folks Interested in AB&B follow this forum. We have been silent the last two months as schedules sent team members to do other things. So the promised pdf will hit in lat July or early August. I have a couple (or 4) projects I need to finish by then anyway and we can go full tilt in the last half of the year. Where are we? These first six months were spent laying the ground work. Frankly the project is bigger and better now. It will be something worth your time and I hope folks expectations. But we know where we are headed. Delivery Date: Still hoping for December 2019, but we may end up bleeding into January. My team and I have day jobs etc.. Do you have questions? Feel free to ask them below.

Hi, I'm indepted to Questbird, who a while ago posted about combining Spell Law with BRP/Magic World. For example, in my version, spell users get a number of base lists (half INT) at INT% and can cast spells on their lists equal to lvl x 10%. So starting characters can cast lvl 1 spells. In my version, the spells are cast at a POW times 5 casting roll, but the lists are ticked for experience if the roll also goes under the lists %. That way individual lists increase but characters are not unnecessarily whiffy when it comes to using spells. Spells relating to damage, like a shock bolt (lvl 2), do damage based on the demon power list (so a d4 if lvl 2; but in my game I use POW and INT to derive a magic damage bonus, using the same table as STR and SIZ. That way a shock bolt can be fairly offensive). Magic point cost is the lvl of the spell. (Classic Fantasy's Spell Lore can be used to provide extra MPs while being used as an Arcane Knowledge/Lore.) I would suggest allowing characters to have up to half INT in base lists, but the remaining INT is for memorising other spells, with each lvl being a point of INT. This means that characters can also diversify a grimoire and can only hold in memory spells up to half INT in lvl. Thus, a character of INT 18 can only hold non-base spells up to lvl 9 in memory, but can cast base spells up to POW in lvl. (Related to this, I have been thinking of limiting skill levels to a corresponding statistic times ten. This would mean that skill % can max out while being tied to PC stats. It also means a demon with a high STR or DEX can also have a very high skill potential. But I digress.) The aim here (with memorising individual spells, combined with spell lists) is to allow for finding spells as being a motive, and to make sure magic users are not too rigid in relation to starting base lists. However, lists allow for different flavours of magical professions. Casting any spell uses POW times 5 as a casting roll, but for casting non-base spells the maximum lvl one can learn and cast is equal to the lowest base list skill the PC has divided by 10. Thus if out of all PC lists the lowest skill is 23%, the PC can only learn and hold in memory, and cast, a lvl 2 non-base spell. This controls power levels while tying power and diversity strongly to skill in all of one's lists. So lists in general, as a measure of magical skill generally, determine the lvl of non-base spell one can learn and cast. The above system is best if using Spell Law along with the Essence Companion, the Mentalism Companion and the Channeling Companion. The latter is especially great for god-specific clerics, and can model wfrp gods and other dieties. Spell Law on its own fails to do this. (Mentalism might work well as being reserved for elves, but I haven't decided yet.) However, different from the above solely in relation to magic, I would also suggest that Arms Law (or the simpler MERP or A MILLION WAYS TO DIE critical lists) can be used too. One doesn't need to use the attack tables, only the criticals. E.g., anytime a serious wound is done, it is now referred to the critical tables. This is a small change and requires little change to MW as per usual. It is true that such hits might now be fatal, but they also don't inherently lead to the PC passing out after a few rounds. Stunned means parry and dodge at half skill %; unable to parry is self-explanatory, but you can keep dodge at half; and bleeding and extra damage can be converted by the recommended (in an ICE supplement for converting to Runequest) 6 equals 1 (in BRP/MW), perhaps rounding up. Thus an extra 10 hits and bleeding 1 per round can be an extra 2 hits and 1 hit per round. The description also ties in nicely with some healing lists, as nerve damage or whatever may require such specific healing. The sole issue for the above critical lists is what severity column to use: from A to E. This can be answered by skill level. Thus, if the attacker has 40 or fewer percentiles, then use A. 60 or fewer is B; 80 or fewer is C. 100 or fewer is D; and over 100 is an E. This seems to model nicely how skill level makes serious wounds more lethal, and the descriptions model the deadliness of the attacker. This also means that spells can also use the Spell Law critical tables (let the list % determine any severity column), without recourse to the convoluted attack tables which required rolling high. In this system, only the critical tables are used instead of the previous serious wound table in MW. I feel it adds to the flavour of the setting. In a way, the core BRP/MW system simplifies Rolemaster while allowing for the RM spells and gorey detail. In fact, when one considers that RM OB ratings are convertible to MW skill levels, such as creature attack levels, according to RM conversion guidelines, the RM treasures material are also useable. A +20 sword can now be used. (Although you might feel that such a weapon should only increase damage rather than skill rating. But the latter is effectively how RM did it.) In any case, the above provides some suggestions for RM Spell Law and Arms Law to be used with MW. It also suggests how MW can essentially replace the core of RM while still using its other elements. Again, Channeling Companion provides for spell lists based on religious spheres, such as war or fire, or nature/druids, and is essential to give fantasy world clerics the required detail. Wizards, too, are rather elemental in RM, so one might want to allow wizards/mages to pick three elemental base lists (from mage lists) and the rest from closed lists. The GM can decide if closed lists are available for further spell memorisation or not, or if only open lists are. Likewise the place of Mentalism in your world may need consideration. Naturally, dwarves make good alchemists. You might give regular dwarves the Inorganic Skills list as a species trait, which would fit their great crafting abilities. Likewise, elves might get some lists as racial/species abilities. (I would personally use the RM and MERP guidelines that make Hobbits and Dwarves very resistant to magic. Hobbits get effectively +10 to POW and Dwarves +8 for resisting magic. This balances the lack of magic users among these peoples, with the exception of Dwarven alchemists. But that's just me; MERP was my first rpg, so it left a mark!) Any thoughts on the above, let me know. Again, my thanks to Questbird, who started my thinking on the above lines. :-)

Auto-magical, form-fillable adventurer sheet for Magic World. The sheet has been tested pretty extensively by myself, and others have reported success with it. The latest version 2.0.0, is for all intents and purposes "final." The PDFs were created in Foxit PhantomPDF, and use a fair number of javascript functions to calculate all kinds of stuff throughout the sheet, to save you the headache of having to do all of the tedious data entry. Update 5/20/2019 Very minor bug-fix. Changed the way the armor penalty applies to perception skills. Insight is no longer affected, because a helmet that you can't see out of enough to read someone's body language doesn't seem like a very awesome design. I also uploaded the custom sheet I use for my home game that's set in the B/X setting of Dolmenwood by Gavin Norman, that I adapted for BRP/Magic World. I use social class, and a reputation system (nicked from RuneQuest: Glorantha). I can't imagine why it would be useful or interesting to anyone but me, but if you want a game with goatmen, grimalkin, moss dwarfs, woodgrue, wodewoses, and whatnot. Maybe it's something you can pull apart and edit in Adobe or Foxit Phantom yourself? Who knows, the world is your oyster. If you really want the 20 pages long gazetteer and house rules document I whipped up, PM me. Update 12/22/18 Created a version of the sheet that has no calculated fields. All of the form fields are still there, but you'll have to enter everything manually. Hopefully useful for those people that like to house-rule the hell out of their game (you can still import an image file into the portrait box if you want). Update 6/19/18 Lots of changes under the hood and some cosmetic flourishes. This is about as "final" as it gets (unless somebody reports a show-stopping bug). Changes: More easily track weapon skills in the weapons section (no need to use Miscellaneous entries) Type in a weapon type in the skill name field (swords, bows, spears, etc. and it should automatically apply the correct characteristic bonus (uses regular expressions with wildcards, so maybe it doesn't catch every permutation, but it captures a lot). Biggest change: base skills change based on species selected from the drop-down menu based on the default values in the bestiary. Fancy version with a decorative border (royalty-free, open-source art) and a plain, no-art sheet that's a little smaller (about 2mb vs. 1mb respectively). UPDATE 5/12/18: Hi guys, I figured out a way to somewhat elegantly combine the two sheets I was maintaining into one. You can choose standard Hit Points or Heroic with a toggle button now. Additionally, I added some check boxes to make it easier to adjust armor penalties on the fly (without having to zero out values or do the math in your head). and you can check a box if you become a champion of Light, Balance or Shadow and it will adjust Hit Points or Magic Points respectively and no longer references the Allegiance points in calculations. Also some other quality of life improvements, like an extra entry in the species drop-down menu for "human+" that will change the dice roller to 2D6+6 for all characteristics (Elric! style). Lastly I cleaned up some of the code so it should calculate fields faster and the file footprint was reduced by about 15%. Features: Characteristic Generator button (invisible when you print) for 9 species: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Beast-man, Orc, Ogre, and Troll (Human+ uses boosted dice: 2D6+6 for every characteristic) Automatic calculation of derived characteristics like HPs, Major Wound, Characteristic rolls, Characteristic bonuses, Magic Points, MP regeneration rate, and damage bonus. Fields for tracking temporary changes to Characteristics, extra Hit Points, extra Magic Points. Distributed skills summed up to easily reference how competent your character is and for free form character generation. Extra fields for custom skills Skill penalties for armor automatically apply to Agility Roll, as well as Physical, Manipulation and Perception skills (toggle buttons to turn apply the penalties or remove them) Total Hit Points recalculated for characters who have become Champions of Balance (CON + SIZ + POW) Automatically recalculates MP for Champions of Shadow (get POW x2 MP) Grimoire section with fields to help you track spell levels in memory and Free INT. lots of hover-over tool-tips The sheet is in the style of the official adventurer sheet at the back of the book. It's unprotected, so if you have PDF editing software like Acrobat or Foxit Phantom, you can edit these however you see fit. The most up to date sheet below.

Its well done and can be found on the big purple at https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/17/17905.phtml. Let's discuss! For one I would like to see a new Magic World book (Yeah I know I am out of luck) that provides a more fleshed out nautical setting, and gets rid of the various typos and layout errors. What about you?

Hello, everyone! Bit of a newbie question regarding MW: I have recently had the occasion to have a look at the book (since I had bought Advanced Sorcery and saw that it references MW), and noticed that there are more sorcery spells in MW than in the core BRP book. Seeing as how I'm planning to host a fantasy campaign with sorcery as the only form of magic, and noticing the differences, this has led me to wonder if there are any other fundamental differences between MW and the BGB. Having the BGB, should I also invest in MW? What would I be getting? If I have the core rules, could I just pick the ones used in MW and run my game like that? Beside the extra spells, is there any more content that might be of interest? Basically, any information regarding the comparison between these two books would be of use, rules- and content-wise, since I plan on doing the setting myself. Thanks for your time and patience with someone who's a bit lost!

View File Magic World NPC/Creature generator A custom form-fillable NPC/Monster sheet for Magic World. The sheet uses javascript to auto-calculate several fields dynamically and also includes other features listed below Main Features: (as of July 7th, 2018) Simplified skill list, with several custom fields Sums total skill points Helps judge how powerful an NPC/Creature is at a glance. Automatically Calculatates Things like: Hit Points, Major Would level, and characteristic rolls, most fields are editable. Characteristic generator Select a species from the drop down menu and generate characteristics, notes, weapons, damage, etc. Every creature from the bestiary, plus the Abomination and Jack-in-the-Green from Advanced Sorcery. Chaotic Features One-click random chaotic features pulled from the table in the book. All buttons are invisible during printing. Loot Generator Enter a treasure rank, click a button and your NPC/Creature has some walking money or a hoard. If you notice any bugs or have any suggestions on how to improve the sheet post a comment and I'll take it under advisement. Submitter Nick J. Submitted 04/27/2018 Category Magic World  

Hi all I'm a total MW newbie and I'm having a hard time understanding how the whole summoning / binding process works. I have both the corebook and Advanced Sorcery and the info is scattered all over the place, sometimes it's repeated although slightly changed and it get's really confusing. Could someone please make step by step analysis including the Magic Points/ POW costs? Pretty please?????

A weak spot in my adventures is the distribution of allegiance points and allegiance checks. I always seem to forget or have a hard time figuring out what works best. One of the ideas I have to help is, after a session, I could go around the table and use a democratic way of giving points and checks by asking the players how they saw the member of the party acting and what points and checks they should get. i am also going to try to write situations in the adventure to help remind me. How do you handle allegiance points and checks? Any ideas that could help?

Chaosium announces end of Magic World product line Chaosium has no plans to do anything further with the "Magic World" product line, it was announced today. Magic World, published in 2012, was a reworking of earlier Chaosium RPG rules based on the Basic Roleplaying engine including Elric!, The Bronze Grimoire, RuneQuest Third Edition, and Sailing on the Seas of Fate. Statement by Jeff Richard, Chaosium Creative Director: "Chaosium is a small company with two main product lines: Call of Cthulhu and the Glorantha setting (HeroQuest, RuneQuest, 13G, etc). Anything else needs to be carefully chosen - it either needs to be something we think can financially support itself or be something we internally have a great artistic desire to produce. Unfortunately, Magic World does not fit into either category. We are far more interested in projects that push the artistic and creative envelopes than generic fantasy projects. That being said, we know that Magic World has a small but devoted following, and we have no issue with Magic World continuing on as licensed/fan-produced product. And we will continue to sell existing Magic World releases at chaosium.com and DriveThruRPG. We have written to authors working on speculative Magic World projects advising them of this decision."

I was wondering if some one could post a starting character using the standard character sheet. There is not an example in the manual and I would like to see how it looks, especially the weapon and shield section. I am used to Elric!/Stormbringer's skill distribution and I feel like I may be missing something.

Anyone else using freeform magic in your Magic World game? If so what rules are you using? What GM challenges have cropped up? As for me we use our own house rules The Second Way which is a take off of deep magic. My biggest challenge so far are the player's creative use of magic to solve problems in general and the availability of gate spells in particular.

Greetings MW-Users, My queries concern spell levels and memory. A 16 INT spell-caster wants to add Sorcerer's Talons (1-4) @ level-three to her repertoire, taking up three slots in her memory "...book shelf...". She now has 13 levels/slots left (16-3=13). All well and good, but then with narrowed eyes she asks, "I'll also be able to cast this spell at level one and two. I mean, I know it at level one and two...right?" Blink Can she...or to know all three levels of the spell, does she have to dedicate a slot for ST (1), two slots for ST (2), AND three for ST (3)...meaning she'd have had to dedicate SIX INT slots rather than three? Cheers, mates, and thanks for the replies.

So while working on various modules for various projects, I have been developing my notes on a module for The City That Thieves. It is nowhere near done but though I would tease it a bit. The Dueling Houses System: Magic World by Chaosium Setting: The City That Thieves Blurb: Fighting between nobles is nothing new in The City. The latest flare up between the dueling houses of Fire Mares and Lost Knight threatens to get out of hand, however and a number of innocents have been wounded already. Looking to stay out of the whole affair has not worked, since The City has dogged your every step. Now you and some companions find yourselves in front of an old priest, praying in a dark alley. He speaks of a lost rose and a dead friend. Feverishly he employs the 'gods' to set things right and spare The City this madness. As quickly as he appeared the fog steals him away and leaves you with a mission, whether you wanted it or not. For 3 to 6 Players

Greetings all MW loyalists and Chroniclers, The Entangle spot-rule (86-7). I find the phrase, "A successful entangle prevents movement or attacks by the target, for the rest of this round and all the next round" (86), problematic. I cannot imagine an entangled target passively awaiting his or her or its fate during their turn to act in the round. I would imagine they'd resist at every opportunity or attack with whatever means remains at their disposal. I've done my homework, researching BRP BGB, RQ3, SB/E! versions of the rule. I am leaning hard toward Durall's "...there are few entangling attacks that do not allow for some method of attack, whether a kick or a head butt"(196). Before I adapt or qualify the rule and drift away from MW RAW, however, I thought I'd query what remains of the once mighty MW cadre (sigh) and ask how you handle this spot rule? For the sake of full disclosure, the spot rule in question is for a PC who is using a kusarigama with a 3m chain. Cheers!

Hi folks. I have a player who wants to use potions, powders, gels..as their primary method of delivering magic. Basically anything you can whip up as a herbalist/sorcerer. Easy enough to transfer spell effects to a glass vial flung at someone but the issue I'm grappling with is how much they should be allowed to carry? My thought at the moment is they'd expend ingredients, magic points for spell effect strength and then perform a potions roll to brew the potion. The more powerful the spell effect desired the more magic point expensive and time consuming the brewing process. Is it then fair to allow someone to carry seven days worth of magic point expenditure as potions into battle with them? I'm thinking "Maybe run the MP spend for the player backwards incrementing from 0 upwards to character maximum with every potion used so the more magic potions used the more they can brew and carry later." I want to reward the player for the time the character spends in preparation but on the other hand I don't want them dragging a drinks cabinet of potions across the countryside. Any thoughts?