Is BRP/d100 good system for scifi?

[ORtrail]

I eagerly awaited NPC ship stat page:  http://www.mediafire.com/file/ls3x1zs3kv28sdf/M-Space_fillable_PDF_NPC_Ship.pdf/file

 

The alien universal stat page: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ardtjnzznm2tl8l/M-Space_Alien_Universals.pdf/file

 

One more for today, the lifeform sheet: http://www.mediafire.com/file/7papphj3o89yix0/M-Space_Lifeform.pdf/file

Edited March 27, 2020 by ORtrail

[clarence]

Thanks ORtrail! Good work. 

[Nikoli]

Hi,

I’ve been looking for and struggling with BRP sci-fi for a while. I’ve looked at all the options in the downloads. 

I have M-Space, which is a breath of fresh air, but I’m finding the character sheet and skill list to be rather limiting and not very sci-fi. The skill descriptions don’t really evoke a sci-fi feel for me personally. (As compared to Cthulhu Rising, for example, but it’s frustrating to rely on different game pieces. Incidentally, one of my pet peeves is the lack of a completely blank BRP character sheet - except for Str, Con, etc - so that I can input my own skills. If we had a completely genre open sheet, it’d be awesome.)

Anyways, can anyone suggest how to adjust the M-Space skill lists and professions so that the characters might fit more on to Traveller, Star Trek, or Star Wars? I just don’t get a sci-fi feel from the M-Space character generation and sheet. Looking at the professions, there’s no science officer or even scientist. (The scholar only has knowledge skills, not science skills.) It’s hard for me to see a lot of sci-fi tropes in M-Space at present based on the current sheet and skills/professions. 

The current list of professions also have a variable amount of standard and professional skills, so guidelines on creating new professions would be useful to address the above issues. I guess 5 to 7 skills each from standard and professional skills? (I’m not too fond of the Mythras division into standard and professional skills; I much prefer the old CoC 8 skills approach. I guess I’m stuck in my ways!) 

I presently feel the sci-fi tone is underplayed in M-Space and yet we still have skills like seamanship on the sheet. (That could have been a subcategory of piloting, for example.) 

Any tips from any who have played M-Space in Traveller, etc., would be welcome. Maybe you didn’t make any changes to skills and professions at all?

Nikoli

[Nikoli]

Actually, if Clarence sees this, might I suggest a skill open sheet (just blank aside from characteristics) for the M-Space Companion, complete with guidelines to create one’s own professions? That way, the GM can use M-Space to completely evoke any and all settings by adding their own skills and designing their own professions (including adjusting previous ones). Combat styles, too.

If we really want to use the family of BRP games we need an open sheet.

Nikoli

[David Scott]

On 3/15/2020 at 11:39 AM, almenac said:

So I'm asking about BRP/d100 and how do you feel about it for science fiction purposes?

Historically I've played FutureWorld, Ringworld and Other Suns. More recently I've played Eclipse Phase.

FutureWorld was the easiest to get a grip with as it was thinly veiled Traveller. I love Traveller but until the Digest Group produced their task system that became MegaTraveller appeared, it was my go to system for Sci-F., With a bit of Other Suns added it in, it was easy to play and run. I played some Ringworld, but it was overly complicated with the longevity of characters and expansive skill trees.

Eclipse Phase suffers with a massive overcomplicated rules set and tech background. I enjoyed it, but it was BRP on steroids.

On 3/15/2020 at 11:39 AM, almenac said:

What does it do well

It is straightforward with BRP. Just make sure you get the background right - Now I would just make sci-fi occupations like CoC. 

On 3/15/2020 at 11:39 AM, almenac said:

Where it needs improvement? Any campaign stories etc. are more than welcome.

Just keep it simple. Don't over complicate the tech or spaceships. With most stuff, it just had a simple character sheet (like Star Wars D6). Other Suns went overboard with design - very much like megtraveller.

On 3/15/2020 at 11:39 AM, almenac said:

Note that I'm planning to use my homebrew scifi universe, not an established IP.

Sounds good.

[clarence]

3 hours ago, Nikoli said:

Actually, if Clarence sees this, might I suggest a skill open sheet (just blank aside from characteristics) for the M-Space Companion, complete with guidelines to create one’s own professions? That way, the GM can use M-Space to completely evoke any and all settings by adding their own skills and designing their own professions (including adjusting previous ones). Combat styles, too.

If we really want to use the family of BRP games we need an open sheet.

Nikoli

Hi Nikoli, a character sheet without skills is a good idea! It will not make it into the Companion, but I can put it up on my webpage. 

I also found Seamanship a bit misplaced at first. But I think it’s wise to keep the skill list compatible between Mythras books - as much as possible. Seamanship could indeed be filed under Pilot, but it doesn’t really do any harm as a standalone skill either. Similarly, Sing, Acting, Dance and Musicianship could be combined into Perform. But in the end, I prefer compatibility over focused skill-sets. A blank character sheet would allow you to go both ways though, which would be nice. 

If the careers don’t suit your campaign, creating your own is the best route. I’ve often done that to get the flavour right - even if I just add/remove one skill and rename the career. 

And make sure you look up the skill pyramids in Mythras Companion. They skip careers entirely if you want and is a much faster way to create a PC. 

(Scientist is very similar to Scholar. Just switch the Knowledge skills to Science skills. But I agree, it should have been in the rules. Hopefully, I can add it in a future update). 

[Nikoli]

Thanks Clarence,

I’m not familiar with the Mythras Companion (I don’t really like the look of Mythras so far), but I’ll check it out. I mainly wanted a sci-fi system. I liked that M-Space avoided some of the action points, as I prefer a more narrative approach. I haven’t fully digested the combat yet, which is quite different from what I’m used to (Magic World, CoC, etc).

Yes, I would LOVE a blank skill-free character sheet! I could write my own skills in and photocopy for players. 
 

I noticed the Standard Skills seem to vary around 6 to 9. I guess up to 8 would be reasonable for profession design, and then so long as one has at least 3 for professional skills, that might work.

N.

[Scotty]

Don't forget we have two Sci-Fi adaptations in our Monographs section

They are for Call of Cthulhu, but I'm parking them here as some of you may of had some experience with them.

https://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu-rising-pdf/ and an adventure https://www.chaosium.com/jovian-nightmares-pdf/ both by John Ossoway.

https://www.chaosium.com/once-men-pdf/ by Dr. Michael C. LaBossiere. 

[clarence]

Here’s a character sheet without any skills, not even the Standard:

https://bit.ly/2YdCaXb

Let me know what you think.

Edited April 28, 2020 by clarence

[Nikoli]

6 minutes ago, clarence said:

Here’s a character sheet without any skills, not even the Standard:

https://bit.ly/2KC4o63

Let me know what you think.

I think that’s perfect! (One more for the non-simplified hitpoint locations and they’ll be ideal for any setting.)
 

Seriously, this is great. I have LONG thought that the flexibility of BRP and related D100 games has been hindered by the lack of a flexible character sheet. This kind of sheet truly supports a setting-free, generic sci-fi ruleset. 
 

Well done!

[clarence]

Thanks! I will update the file with a second version containing Hit Locations as well. 

[ORtrail]

Let me know if you want these made into fillable PDFs.  This would allow the Skill list to be edited as needed for each setting, but having to write each skill in by hand would be a nightmare to me. 

[clarence]

50 minutes ago, ORtrail said:

Let me know if you want these made into fillable PDFs.  This would allow the Skill list to be edited as needed for each setting, but having to write each skill in by hand would be a nightmare to me. 

A fillable version would be nifty! I will send you a PM.

[clarence]

Here's a new version both with and without Hit Locations:

https://bit.ly/2YdCaXb

 

 

[Nikoli]

That’s perfect, Clarence!

You even removed the combat gunnery and unarmed, which I was considering mentioning. It’s ideal now as it’s easy to include whatever the game setting requires. And if we get a form fillable version, it will be easy to do. 

I never quite understood why there wasn’t such a sheet for BRP generally, such as in the BGB, since it was intentional multi-genre. All it takes is a misplaced skill to detract from immersion in the setting. So well done for doing one! 🙂 

[clarence]

Thanks! It only took a few minutes to update the InDesign file. I’m happy you find it useful. 

I spotted Gunnery/Unarmed in my second round, and I thought they looked a bit misplaced. 

[Nikoli]

1 minute ago, clarence said:

Thanks! It only took a few minutes to update the InDesign file. I’m happy you find it useful. 

I spotted Gunnery/Unarmed in my second round, and I thought they looked a bit misplaced. 

Yeah. The derivation from characteristics wasn’t needed unless that method was being used by the GM, and the styles likewise. It made sense to go all the way and make it totally blank.

I’m trying to decide on an approach to combat styles that players might agree with and which is fair, so I was thinking that if the profession or culture is academic, there would either be no style available or one. If roguish, like a smuggler, then 2 weapons included in the style, and if war-related or trained, 3. (It’s so I have a consistent approach to it, as the styles are new to me and I’d rather avoid players debating it.) 

I’m really looking forward to the Companion, too. 🙂 

[ORtrail]

It will probably be sometime this weekend that I'll be able to turn out a fillable version of this 'blank' CS. 

[Nikoli]

One final suggestion, though it’s really not needed and is just icing on the cake, is to perhaps have a ‘setting’ label or space on the sheet. This could be beside the M-Space logo to the right, or beneath culture. (One might imagine the M as standing for Multi or Many-Space now!)

E.g., Setting: *Star Trek Universe*. (Naturally, the GM would just input the setting.)

But it’s really not needed and is easily added anyways. But it might be a nice touch.

[ORtrail]

Yeah, just turning the title into a editable text box.  A must really, for a generic sheet. 

Edited April 28, 2020 by ORtrail

[Nikoli]

In other exciting news, I managed to get myself a copy of Worlds Beyond. I’ve been very lucky lately - got both Cthulhu Rising and Worlds Beyond. 🙂 

Now I just need patience.

[clarence]

Good catch! It seems to be quite quite rare these days. I found it a bit too complex for my tastes, but it’s perfect to mine for ideas. 

[jackleg2010]

While I have never run BRP for a sci fi game, it is obvious that it can be done. is 

What you have to do is determine what type of setting you want to run with BRP. Flash Gordan, might be a no, while The Expanse is a yes.

[NickMiddleton]

1 hour ago, jackleg2010 said:

While I have never run BRP for a sci fi game, it is obvious that it can be done. is 

What you have to do is determine what type of setting you want to run with BRP. Flash Gordan, might be a no, while The Expanse is a yes.

I have run both very pulpy Space: 1889 games using BRP, as well as having an ongoing 2300AD game powered by BRp; and my playtest game for the BGB way back when was what became the monograph Outpost 19. My experience is BRP can handle wide variety of tones and styles - I'd be pretty confident of handling a Flash Gordan type game.

Edited April 29, 2020 by NickMiddleton
typos

[g33k]

1 minute ago, NickMiddleton said:

... My experiences is BRP can handle wide variety of tones ands styles - I'd be pretty confident of handling a Flash Gordan type game.

100% agreed.