Favourite Edition of Strombringer

[el_octogono]

Yes, if I can name flaw in Elric is that of extremely high percentages, with the book even encouraging starting with combat skills above 100%. Also the rules for allegiance gains is confusing... You're supposed to roll a checked force, as any other skill, but then there are many cases where the GM grants points at will. I just used the latter. The table also has some flaws IMO in dividing too much "evil" actions as Chaotic and "good" as Lawful (or balance). 

[Loïc]

Voted Stormbringer 1-3, essentially for sentimental reasons. I ran as much Elric! than SB, and own more Elric! in RPG bookcases...

[Atgxtg]

2 hours ago, el_octogono said:

Yes, if I can name flaw in Elric is that of extremely high percentages, with the book even encouraging starting with combat skills above 100%. Also the rules for allegiance gains is confusing... You're supposed to roll a checked force, as any other skill, but then there are many cases where the GM grants points at will. I just used the latter. The table also has some flaws IMO in dividing too much "evil" actions as Chaotic and "good" as Lawful (or balance). 

I agree. The ultra high starting combat percentages. I think all they ended up doing was to make combat one sided and boring. It was if they were catering to players who didn't expect their characters to be at risk during an adventure (points finger at D20 crowd).

[Sean_RDP]

On 4/7/2020 at 2:08 PM, lawrence.whitaker said:

1. It was wild and fun
2. The boxed set was ace

This is my answer as well. There was something... I dunno if decadent is the right word, but raw and unconcerned in the design that I liked. I would play any version, but SB 1 is my preferred.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

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Edited April 10, 2020 by Vile
Double post.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

On 4/8/2020 at 2:08 AM, lawrence.whitaker said:

1st ed Stormbringer because...

1. It was wild and fun
2. The boxed set was ace

My feelings, too. A lot of my friends also had the nice GW 3E book, but I don't think I ever saw one that wasn't falling apart. 🤣

Edited April 10, 2020 by Vile

[K Peterson]

On 4/7/2020 at 10:01 AM, rsanford said:

I wonder if anyone preferred Mongoose's edition "Elric of Melnibone"? Personally I am a fan of Elric / SB5....

I'm going to have to pull EoM off my shelf and re-read it. Been a long time since I've looked at it. Still have all my MRQ2 books, and had a blast with the system about a decade ago.

On 4/9/2020 at 7:47 AM, Atgxtg said:

I agree. The ultra high starting combat percentages. I think all they ended up doing was to make combat one sided and boring. It was if they were catering to players who didn't expect their characters to be at risk during an adventure (points finger at D20 crowd).

I have mixed feelings about the high starting combat skills. Two highly-skilled combatants going at it can be boring and take forever. But a lone, skilled PC taking on multiple opponents/mooks, and parrying multiple blows can be fun.

But, perhaps that's better reflected by keeping skill levels under control and dropping the penalty to parry successive attacks.

[K Peterson]

On 4/6/2020 at 1:03 AM, NickMiddleton said:

Elric! as adapted by Ben Monroe remains my default BRP engine;  if I were ever to run in the Moorcock multiverse again,  its what I would use.

Though I voted for Elric! as my favorite, I'd have to think over on whether I'd use it as-written to run a Moorcock multiverse campaign now. Or any sort of dark fantasy or sword & sorcery campaign with the system. (And I rarely run fantasy campaigns these days, so it's mostly just theorizing).

I'd be tempted to fiddle with the system a lot:

• Change the chargen so that Occupations provided competent skill level bases off the bat (more like the Delta Green rpg, or the earlier versions of Stormbringer).
• Re-tool the skills, condensing some.
• Figure out if I want to change the combat success ranges away from the 1% Impale, 20% Critical, etc.

[NickMiddleton]

6 hours ago, K Peterson said:

Though I voted for Elric! as my favorite, I'd have to think over on whether I'd use it as-written to run a Moorcock multiverse campaign now. Or any sort of dark fantasy or sword & sorcery campaign with the system. (And I rarely run fantasy campaigns these days, so it's mostly just theorizing).

I'd be tempted to fiddle with the system a lot:

• Change the chargen so that Occupations provided competent skill level bases off the bat (more like the Delta Green rpg, or the earlier versions of Stormbringer).
• Re-tool the skills, condensing some.
• Figure out if I want to change the combat success ranges away from the 1% Impale, 20% Critical, etc.

😉 that’s why I’d use Magic World - it either directly fixes, or has options that address all those points except skills. And I have a standard house rule for skills that addresses them.

[Atgxtg]

13 hours ago, K Peterson said:

I have mixed feelings about the high starting combat skills. Two highly-skilled combatants going at it can be boring and take forever. But a lone, skilled PC taking on multiple opponents/mooks, and parrying multiple blows can be fun.

Funny. I find the opposite to be true.  I find the fight between one PC with Broadsword 127% and a group of  mooks at 45% to be boring and take forever. In no small part because such fights tend to be insignificant to the story. The player is expected to win, and everyone is just going through the motions in order to give the player a sense of how great his character is.  The mooks aren't expected to actually challenge the PC in anyway, and if one of them were to get a lucky hit and kill the PC it would be anti-climatic and a major setback to the campaign. The PC falling to a mook is really the enemy of a good campaign. Yes, we have to allow for it to keep the game challenging, and give the players a sense that they actually accomplished something, but there little to it. Imagine if Elric got shanked by some random guard during the sack on Immyrr.

Conversely a fight between two skilled combatants tends to be more interesting, as the two combatants tend to have actual goals they are striving for and the outcome of the battle is important to the overall story beyond just the fate of the two characters. For instance Elric losing to Jagreen Lern would result in a sadder, more depressing ending to the Elric saga, but one that still provides closure, in a way that falling to some nameless mook doesn't. 

 

My problem with the ultra high skills is more about it eating up a lot of the PCs points leaving fewer points for other things which results in less rounded, less defined characters and a game that focuses around combat, as well as the lack of understanding and tactical thinking that goes with starting off greatly superior to the average opponent.  

 

13 hours ago, K Peterson said:

But, perhaps that's better reflected by keeping skill levels under control and dropping the penalty to parry successive attacks.

I think that is actually better reflected by the circumstances and motivations for the fight. If there is something more to the fight that just a random fight with a random bunch of mooks just to make the adventure "more exciting" it will be more effective. That why things like defending a tactically important spot, or item works better. The mooks become more than just an obstacle course for the PCs to navigate, but instead become a manifestation of the adventure's antagonist and his/her/it's power. 

[Hionhurn]

Stormbringer 3rd Edition was my favourite 🙂

I was (and still am) so drawn to the cover of that book and the art really helped draw my friends and I into the setting, it was also a departure from the AD&D and Tunnels and Trolls that we had been playing.  Buying the game then lead to my discovery of Michael Moorcock's books and it still maintains a place on my gaming shelf even though the pages are very loose (needs rebinding) next to my Cthulhu collection.

 

[smiorgan]

All editions (including the two Mongoose Elric of Melinoboné) have their own different special virtues (and their flaws). And I like them all. If I have to choose one, I will choose Stormbringer 4, because it's my first one and I had an inordinate amount of fun with it. It also had a great run of supplements.   

Edit: Also, Stormbringer 4 has a great magic system. Its demon powers system is, in my view, superior to its direct successor in Elric! I especially like the revised system in Sorcerers of Pan Tang.

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by smiorgan

[Atgxtg]

Hay, anyone know which edition's rulebook help together the best? I suspect it was SB2.  

[Mugen]

On 4/7/2020 at 8:08 PM, lawrence.whitaker said:

Me, obviously. But then I was also trying to recapture the flavour and atmosphere of SB1 to a certain extent, especially in the magic.

Me too, and essentially because I think you succeeded at your objective.

[mal]

Hi I’m just rereading my Elric books, and I’m thinking of starting a game. Can someone point out the differences between the various editions? Also I’m not quite sure on what versions 1 - 3 are. I thought the books in the boxed sets before the split into 3 books anyway were actually the same...