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Help for Newbie (fantasy and sci-fi in same game)


tgcb

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I'm "new" to Basic Roleplaying (though I played the original Runequest for years back in the early 80's)....and haven't been into roleplaying for awhile so I'm just getting back into it.

The storyline I'm working on is a fantasy world with some sci-fi elements (think Elves/Dwarves/Humans in a fantasy setting that may occasionally stumble across a futuristic/alien type device).

Can anyone speak to Basic Roleplayings ability to mix these genre's? A friend of my suggested Shadowrun for this type of game, but given all the positive reviews of Basic Roleplaying, I was hoping to use it.

Also, if anyone could point me to a good comparison of Basic Roleplaying vs. Gurps (or Hero System) I would appreciate it.

If my post is in the wrong area of the forum I apologize.

Thanks!

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The Fantasy world with high tech artifacts is a pretty neat setting to run. Years ago i put together a D20 Starwars campaign with just that in mind.

Genre wise I don't see it as an issue. I'd consider using either Mutations or Psionics (or both) as the power source in the game. Basic Roleplaying does list a number of High Tech devices you could sprinkle into the game.

Grenades - particularly energy ones could be described as misshapen metal eggs, almost organic looking. They radiate an aura of unease and you dread whatever creature would hatch from such a terrible Egg.

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To answer your other question, Basic Roleplaying is generally a simpler system than either Gurps or Champions. The game is also quite tweak-able, as there are quite a other RPG's out there that use the same system.

Gurps I reccomend if you have a head for math and a love for detail. Heros / Champions I recommend if you are a math major and are severely OCD. :D

I've run both Gurps games and Basic Roleplaying. Generally I prefer the latter system. :thumb:

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Running Elric/Stormbringer or RQ or some other BRP Fantasy game is highly recommended. The system is generally fast and makes sense and can be adapted to a high degree of realism/complexity or to simple and easy.

And with books like Call of Cthulhu being BRP (as well as super world, elfquest and many many more) unique sci-fi space artifacts are just a flip of a page away.

Go for it.

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Can anyone speak to Basic Roleplayings ability to mix these genre's?

It's ideal. Go for it - and enjoy!

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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Personally, for me, sci-fi needs a level of fantasy added to it for it to work, be it the Force in Star Wars, Empaths in Star Trek or the full fledge fantasy aspects of 40K and Fading Suns.

In addition, many early D&D modules included alien artifacts and one was even a dungeon exploration where the dungeon turned out to be a crashed alien space ship.

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BRP has shown to handle this pretty well with the original Stormbringer

line, seeing as how the Multiverse comes into play.

You had the Hawkmoon rules with the high tech pseudo sorcery.

And, the Rogue Princess campaign, complete with laser pistols,

revolvers, laser cannons, and an alien type first mate.

-V

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Thanks to everyone for replying.

My current idea for game/supplement:

At some point there is a "Galactic Empire" spanning thousands of worlds/stars.

The Emperor is considered "divine".

You have to be a relative of his to have any real power - so each ruler of a planet/solar system is somehow related to him.

The closer to him blood-wise, the closer you are system wise. So, the guy/gal running Earth for example is a distant cousin, 4 times removed, etc.

Every 4 years the Emperor has a party and it is a great honor to be invited. Some planets always have representatives at the party, others (maybe like Earth) never get any invites. Even rarer at these parties does the Emperor personally honor/promote someone.

There is one system that is "forbidden" - at some point a relative of the Emperor ticked him off and they wiped the planet out in retribution. Over time, rumors and myths about this planet emerge.

Ships jump from system to system using "jump points".

There is a rebellion on one system, the rebel leader somehow sabotages the jump point - knowing how the Imperial space navy would arrive (thousands of ships jumping at once to make a great impression) - his sabotage of the jump point destroys most of the Imperial navy and the empire begins to crumble. There was so much energy released that this basically became a "nova".

Now the other part of the "story" is a fantasy world which is set in this "universe" - occasionally the adventures may come across a futuristic item (an item from the old empire). So there would be "elves" and "dwarves" and such (and maybe new things), and rarely some item that doesn't "fit" in this world.

The GM could set his story at any point in the Empire (pre-empire, pre-tech, empire, post-empire).

Maybe one of the players has "divine powers" (meaning they are somehow descended from the old Emperor). Or maybe the entire race of Elves is from this line.

Maybe "runes" are the language of the old Empire.

A space adventure could be investigating the planet the Emperor destroyed or maybe the ruins of the ships that the jump point destroyed.

That's all I have so far. I'm hoping that my brother (who writes small-press comics on the side will help me flesh this out.) No surprise to anyone I'm sure, but being married and now having kids pretty much takes all your time (in a good way) and it's hard to work on this stuff anymore.

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BRP is ideal for this kind of thing. Shadowrun was written to be multi-genre, but didn't really work for me - the system was too complex. BRP, on the other hand, has a very simple core system and is also designed to be multi-genre, even though it started in Fantasy.

The background you described would be ideal for BRP.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

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