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Hi All I GM’d a version of The Fang and The Fountain from The Perils of The Young Kingdoms for the good folk of Red Moon Role Playing. Extra - Stormbringer Actual Play (with Red Moon Role-playing) It was an intense experience! Hope you enjoy it. Dirk

This is mostly just writing out my thoughts to see if they look sensible, but there is a genuine question at the end. In preparation for a Rogue Mistress playthrough, I am looking at the Stormbringer summoning mini-game 1st vs 4th editions (borrowing Background Events and Passions from MRQ II). Rogue Mistress was written for 4th edition as far as I can tell. For those who don't have the secret knowledge of the Eldest Edition, many players at that time had great fun using the Summoning mini-game to prepare for play. First you had your sorcerer. Generally the game premise was "Everyone is playing Melnibonean Warrior-Priest Sorcerers" cos that was fun and it saved having to roll 01 on the nationality table. Especially for Rogue Mistress this is sort of (but only sort of) the default game mode. Also my group house-ruled a minimum of 16 in each of INT and POW, to save time re-rolling characters who didn't make the minimum 32 INT+POW to be a sorcerer. Once you had your stats and skills you could start the mini-game, which has two stages. Firstly you summoned elementals until you got tired of rolling. The side-effect of this, entirely justified in the text, is that your POW increased with each (well, most) successful elemental binding. The text is clumsier than I remember it being, but it seems straightforward. As teenagers we didn't limit this and one guy stayed up all night rolling 10000 times to see how high he could get his POW. He fell asleep while we were playing the next day which was pretty hilarious. For the upcoming Rogue Mistress game I am thinking of limiting it to 100 rolls, or 90 days, or something similar. In the text there is no downside to binding a multitude of elementals so long as you only bind one at a time, and release the last one (e.g. by asking it to do 4 tasks in a day) before binding the next. So (a) you have to succeed in your Summoning roll and then (b) succeed in your binding roll at POW*3%. If you fail the binding roll your POW is temporarily reduced to 1, recovering 1 point per hour of rest. I don't think there is any penalty for failing the Summoning roll. 3rd (Games Workshop metal album cover) edition tried to slow the mini-game down by requiring a critical success before you could gain any POW. 4th edition kept the critical success requirement and added a stat loss penalty for failing the Summoning roll, and required 2 or more Summoning rolls for demons compared to elementals. This basically destroyed the mini-game, because it was no longer cost-effective to perform Summoning until your Summoning skill was in the high 90s. Stage 2 of the Eldest Edition Sorcery mini-game started once your had your POW at 30 or 40 or 3000 or whatever. This is when you summon demons (instead of elementals) and bind them into your weapons and armour and make magic items out of them. You can only bind a number of demons equal to half your CHA. In 1st edition there were 6 types of demons, and you varied their stats based on yours. High POW means your demons will have good stats, and hence your demon sword, demon armour, etc will be awesome. The limit on this is that each sorcerer only knows how to Summon 2 or 3 of the 6 different types. This created a neat opportunity for players to trade different demons amongst themselves. In 4th edition they swapped out the 6 different kinds for a 'pay for powers from this list of 30-40', so that looks better to me both in terms of matching Rogue Mistress and in terms of interesting bound demons. Also 4th edition has some bookkeeping impositions requiring you to buy expensive blank grimoires to write down all the different Summons you learn. Melniboneans are rich, so this doesn't affect the mini-game -- although it does give you bragging rights "My library has 100 grimoires" etc. Of course taking grimoires from your dead opponents (or trading them with your friends) now has an in-game effect, so that is cool too. Obviously, I'm thinking of using the 1st edition Summoning mini-game as prep for Rogue Mistress. Looking over Mongoose Runequest II and MRQII - Elric of Melnibone (MRQ II Elric is a supplement not a game on its own) there are some interesting things to add to chargen however. In MRQ II everyone rolls to build their family and then on the Background Events table, and then you invent 2-3 Passions for your character based on that. So I'm thinking of how to make all those elemental summoning rolls more interesting. In the text, for each additional elemental you bind at one time, there is a chance of drawing the attention of the lord of those elementals: either Straasha, Grome, Lassa, or Kakatal depending on type. There's a little bit of text describing each one, but not enough so that they have a personality. However, what if you had to roll on some sort of Elemental Event Table (by type) when binding an elemental, and I specify a few different ways of "drawing the attention of an Elemental Lord". I'm thinking of mostly nothing happens, but sometimes you have to agree to do something, or make a pact not to do something or whatever. So, my question is, what can you tell me (suggestions) about the Elemental Lords? What do they like, dislike, what are their motivations? If they are paying close attention to a Melnibonean sorcerer, what will they want to see happen? BTW, towards the end of Rogue Mistress there is a potential encounter with Straasha: a certain oceanic plane (M'oor Talen) is controlled by Pyraray the Lord of Chaos (potentially your Priest-Lord of Melnibone might worship Pyraray), and if you return it to Straasha, he(?) will fix your magic flying interplanar boat so you can leave. I love these little references in Rogue Mistress and I want to make more out of them. Thanks Lawrence Whitaker -- and others -- for writing this wonderful book.

Hi Everyone, I recenty bought an old copy of Stormbringer (4th edition I think!) along with some supplement books. These include Atlas of the Young Kingdoms vol 1, White Wolf, Stealer of Souls, Sorcerers of Pan Tang and Demon Magic. I've noticed a few others out there on Ebay (some for very high prices!). I'm intrigued by the Sea Kings, Rogue Mistress and a few others but a bit hesitant, as I'd like to hear from a few folks who have played them. Also, are there any essentials, stone cold classics etc out there that I'm overlooking? Thanks in advance

Due to reading, and fixing with my roleplaying collection.. And reading far to much on blogs and forums.. Has made me yearning for playing Strombringer and D&D esque games.. So during this vacations i sat down and played around with my old Spanish edition of Stormbringer.. and painting 10 deamonettes for use in Age of Sigmar/ 40 k. this made me want to stat up some demons so Here comes my first work in progress deamonettes for Stormbringer 4th.. If someone more versed in this rule set could point out errors i would be happy,, will probably do more demonic types soon.. Deamonette of Aanesh... STR 3d8 14 CON 3d8 14 SIZ 2D8 14 INT 3D8 14 POW 3D8 14 DEX 4D8 18 Cha 3D8 14 (63p characteristics) Abilities / Skills: Baffle attack 40p 3d6 pot up to 5m, shape change 40p, Garras 20p 3d10% 1d6 damage *2, Hands 30p, Eyes 10p (+1d10 search, detect), saber 20 (int*5 one topic)jump 10p (4 m high), legs 30p 60m/round 200p skills total 263p to invoke hmm, feels kind of weird.. will probably adjust size so it will be smaller, if i understood the Spanish text correctly it costs 3 point per d8 dice. I can not find any mention how to raise the combat skills of the demons... I suspect that there is inconsistencies compared with the English version.. input appreciated.

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!)

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?

Hello! I have lost the adventure from white dwarf 97 And I wonder if someone have an pdf. Copy of it? Its the second part of the madcap series. Help, please

Meanwhile in Switzerland.... Smiorgan receives his copy of the gorgeous Mournblade kit d'initiation... This French rpg has already won me. I'm not going to stop with the starter set. There's a high risk I will buy all the beautiful books and boxes they have put out. If people care, I will post info on this game as I go on reading and hopefully playing it. Some basic info. It's not d100. And is not to be confused with the French edition of Mongoose Elric. They initially had some connection with Mongoose, but when the Mongoose license expired, they got a license directly from Moorcock. http://www.multiverse.org/fora/showthread.php?t=30016

Okay I have a dumb question. On page 42 of Advanced Sorcery (lower left), it says that a bound demon counts against the binding sorcerer's INT-limit of memory... Does anyone know how much it counts? I read the the entire The Summoners Art chapter but can't find the answer... Thanks!

Hi All I have published a Podcast today that you may find interesting. http://wp.me/p4DjgL-83 OR https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-grognard-files/id1028591522?mt=2 It features a potted history of Stormbringer, my personal experience of playing, how White Dwarf in the UK covered the game and an analysis of some of the rules. Hope you enjoy it and listen to some of the other episodes. Thanks Dirk

All, I am running a Magic World game ostensibly set in the Moorcock's Young Kingdoms geography (and using sorcery) but with scarcer use of demons and more mundane threats than than what is suggested in the various Stormbringer adventures. I am constructing a sandbox with the Purple Towns, particularly the Strong Arms as the central location focused on mystery, political intrigue and outdoor adventure more so than combat. I am avoiding building a dungeon crawl of any ilk. I have been considering buying Clockwork and Chivalry so as to leverage its setting, but am worried that it is so closely tied to historical England that applying the setting to the Purple Towns would be too troublesome. Can anyone suggest a setting that has political intrigue, outdoor adventure, mystery, etc... that I could leverage? It could use any rule set (D20, D100, etc...)... A few notes that might be helpful: My world is experiencing the Renaissance with the cultural and technological advances that brings.There are two forms of magic. My own free-form magic and tweaked sorcery rules from Mongoose's Elric of MelniboeMagic is more rare in my game and it is associated heavily with sorcery, murder, evil, etc...Of the plot hooks I have developed much of them tie in some grand way to the conflict between law and chaos.

All, I wanted to make a shout out to Colin Brett! I found his Golden Grimoire campaign on the web recently and it is the best material I have seen for Stormbringer in forever! Thanks for sharing! You can find Colin's campaign at http://www.colinabrett.me.uk/htdocs/storm.html.

Here's what I already know: Magic World is an update of the Stormbringer rules. Advanced Sorcery is a rules supplement with more subsystems and magic systems for Magic World. Stormbringer/Elric have a bunch of magic systems. So; I've got a question: Are there any mechanical subsystems that I would need to hunt down the old Stormbringer books to use, or are there modern updates of all of them? What am I be missing out on (mechanically) if I don't go hunt them down?