Elfquest & Ringworld.

[jackleg2010]

Have either one of these settings been on the forum? Just wondering?

[Bill the barbarian]

11 minutes ago, jackleg2010 said:

Have either one of these settings been on the forum? Just wondering?

On their own not that I can think of, buried in BRP, yes. They are well loved and remembered, Start a topic in Basic Roleplaying and you will have people chime in, guaranteed See. see got one already.  

Try a search and see whatcha can dredge up on either topic. Should be alot

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Every setting is on the Ringworld. Most of them just don't know it.

[g33k]

Not (afaik) with their own dedicated subforae.

Occasional threads, or brief mentions (or extended digressions) on other threads.

 

NOTE that both are non-Chaosium properties, which Chaosium has no license to print/publish; so there's little active/new discussion on them.

 

[Mugen]

7 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

On their own not that I can think of, buried in BRP, yes.

I think it's worth mentioning ElfQuest Magic is the basis of the BGB Psionic rules.

[jackleg2010]

8 hours ago, g33k said:

Not (afaik) with their own dedicated subforae.

Occasional threads, or brief mentions (or extended digressions) on other threads.

 

NOTE that both are non-Chaosium properties, which Chaosium has no license to print/publish; so there's little active/new discussion on them.

 

Both were published Chaosium products published in 1984. Fyi.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

I suspect it's simply s case of not enough members having played either to generate many posts about them. I've read but never played Ringworld, and have only ever seen ElfQuest in on a shop shelf.

[Lloyd Dupont]

Speaking of which.. what is ElfQuest and RingWorld about?! 😮

Edited May 28, 2020 by Lloyd Dupont

[lawrence.whitaker]

19 minutes ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Speaking of which.. what is ElfQuest and RingWorld about?! 😮

Elfquest is based on a graphic novel series by Richard and Wendy Pini. The characters are elvish characters of various clans, but beyond that, I can't tell you much more, as I'm not really familiar with the game or the comics.

Ringworld is based on the Known Space novels by Larry Niven. This is hard SF, and the Known Space series covers a huge number of stories set against man's expansion across the galaxy, and their encounters with some strange and hostile species, including the cat-like Kzin, the Puppeteers, and the extremely dangerous Pak. The game itself is based around the exploration of the titular Ringworld, which is the focus of several novels (although at the time of the game's production, Niven had only written two: Ringworld, and The Ringworld Engineers). Characters are Known Space natives who travel to the Ringworld for exploration. So while there's a reasonable amount of background information on Known Space for the purposes of character creation, the game is actually highly focused on the Ringworld itself: it's size (which is absolutely immense), ecology, and peculiarities (such as maps of the planets of Known Space embedded in one of the immense oceans).

The game is very good. The rules are a version of RQ3, with a very different action system based on 'impulses' that counts up through a combat round, with different actions taking different numbers of impulses to complete. Skills are based on cascading branches, allowing for characters to have a solid grounding as generalists in scientific areas, but higher skills in specialisations. So, a character could have Mathematics 48% (Hyperspace Probabilities 85%). This means that the character has a 48% chance of success with any kind of math problem, no matter how specialised it is, but when working on Hyperspace Probabilities, where they are an expert, an 85% chance of success. It's a little clumsy, but does reflect the root/branch nature of science and other areas pretty well.

Where the game shines is in describing the Ringworld itself: it's perhaps the best reference work for the novels you can find, and it articulates and explores concepts mentioned in the books in ways that make sense and really give you a good grasp on how huge and complicated it is. The creatures book is also very good, with many new sapient species described, and how they fit into the strange ecology of the Ringworld, alongside species from the books.

To get the most out of the game, you also need The Ringword Companion, and a good knowledge of the novels themselves - at least the Ringworld stories, but many of the Known Space short stories are incredibly useful too, especially Protector. 

[Lloyd Dupont]

Thanks for this in depth explanation...

Right now and forever I have been using Homebrew vaguely prepared games.. but as I struggle to come up with a well prepared original new genre (for me) I am thinking to myself... maybe I should have another go at pre made adventures, so much easier.. and you sold me the RingWorld quite well!

[lawrence.whitaker]

17 minutes ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Thanks for this in depth explanation...

Right now and forever I have been using Homebrew vaguely prepared games.. but as I struggle to come up with a well prepared original new genre (for me) I am thinking to myself... maybe I should have another go at pre made adventures, so much easier.. and you sold me the RingWorld quite well!

It's not easy getting hold of a copy. Ebay has one listed at CAD$210 (so about USD$154).

Plus, there weren't many adventures published for it. There's the start/setup for a campaign in the Ringworld Companion, and a so-so adventure, using characters from the novels, in Different Worlds, but Chaosium lost the license before they could really develop the game line.

[Lloyd Dupont]

ha well.. no worries.. and no hurries as well!

[Guest Vile Traveller]

Known Space is a very interesting SF setting in and of itself, even without the Ringworld. I remember a German gamer* who used to post on various Traveller forums who was heavily into some very interesting hard SF worldbuilding using Known Space as the background. The Known Space element was unfortunately why he felt unwilling to publish his material.

*EDIT: Oh wait, rust also used to post here many moons ago!

Edited May 29, 2020 by Vile

[Mugen]

2 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Speaking of which.. what is ElfQuest and RingWorld about?! 😮

ElfQuest was based on the comic books series, and let you play an elf from a tribe of wolf riders, just like the main protagonists of the series.

Rules-wise, it was a strange mix of complex RuneQuest 3 combat rules and much simpler magic rules. As I said, the magic rules are basically the same as the Psionics in the BIg Gold Book from 2010.

Skill bases a re all expressed as a characteristic multiplied by a factor. For instance, STR x3, DEX x1, INT x4 and so on. Bases depend on the character's origin. Elves from the Wolf Rider tribe all have very good Ride skill, for instance.

Access to magic is very random, and character creation lists a chance to start with each possible ability, all based on POW. If you're lucky, you'll start with a handful of abilities. Otherwise, you might only have 1 or 2 abilities. As far as I remember, all elves have Telepathy.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Mugen

[NickMiddleton]

3 hours ago, jackleg2010 said:

Both were published Chaosium products published in 1984. Fyi.

g33k's point I would guess is that the licenses under which Chaosium published these RPG adaptations are both long since lapsed, and thus they are no longer supported (hence no PDF versions legally available etc).

Apart from the official supplements for both games (one for RingWorld, a couple for ElfQuest, and the revised book edition of the latter) I am not really aware that either generated much in the way of support material even when they were available - there were a few articles in Different Worlds I think? But not much else. RW famously ran afoul of contradictory licensing priorities by Niven's agent, and Chaosium famously had to dump all stock of RW at short notice and were giving copies away at one point IIRC. 

Both ElfQuest and RW are interesting as alternate "forks" of the development of the Chaosium House System that we now call BRP that had evolved out of RuneQuest - in particular I've always been intrigued by the similarities and differences between RQ3, RingWorld, ElfQuest and Other Suns (which IIRC Chaosium had seen before it was finally released via FGU) - all of which emerged in the 1981-1984 period.

Cheers,

Nick

[Loïc]

I basically confirm the technical details provided by Mugen. I still have my old (french) ElfQuest core book, and the french GM screen. I had much fun with that. More generally, I'll add:

• ElfQuest is (in my opinion) mainly an initiation roleplaying game. And a good one, with an universe suitable for young kids;
• when I was running ElfQuest, I well-knew the comics (also french-translated), and I think the RPG universe should be a little confused for someone who has never read them...
• last, I think ElfQuest is perfect for "mini" campaigns, but maybe not suitable for long-term campaigns, unless the GM provides a big world-building job...

Then, I still maintain it's a very good initiation game, and if you find a cheap copy on the internet or elsewhere, just pick it up and enjoy!

[Mugen]

21 minutes ago, NickMiddleton said:

g33k's point I would guess is that the licenses under which Chaosium published these RPG adaptations are both long since lapsed, and thus they are no longer supported (hence no PDF versions legally available etc).

That's how I understood g33k's post too.

Nevertheless, Chaosium doesn't have rights on Moorcock's works anymore, and there's a StormBringer/Elric!/Elric of Melniboné sub-forum.

[HierophantX]

Yeah I never played Elfquest but I bought it for a girlfriend in High School after I binge-read her ElfQuest collection. She bought me Stormbringer from the same game shop in Wausau .. I still have that book on my shelf. Guess which one my friends and I played? They didn't have Melnibonean bone bows in ElfQuest! But still. We made characters for fun, which was enjoyable and I have regretted it's status out of print because 10 years ago it would have been a great gateway game for middle-school aged daughters and nieces. Now there are plenty other options.

[Rick Meints]

If someone feels that ElfQuest and Ringworld should have forums set up for them, Trif is the admin to ask.

[g33k]

1 hour ago, Mugen said:

That's how I understood g33k's post too.

Nevertheless, Chaosium doesn't have rights on Moorcock's works anymore, and there's a StormBringer/Elric!/Elric of Melniboné sub-forum.

Y'all understood my be point correctly.

RE the Eternal Champion, I'll point out that there were a BUNCH of different editions (plus a Hawkmoon and a Corum and I dunno what else) ... A much-more-played, much-more-supported license.

[Guest Vile Traveller]

It probably wouldn't hurt to have a couple more sub-forums under Mythic Worlds, even if they don't get a lot of traffic. And having a sub-forum in the first place might even encourage some more threads. I don't think Trifletraxor spends that much time trawling the conversations here anymore, but you could always PM him to ask. For a beetle, he's remarkably approachable.

🐞

Edited May 28, 2020 by Vile

[g33k]

I recall mention of some other sub-forum "maybe" being a good idea, previously.

My fading, semi-senile brain tells me that Trif said he'd be willing, but wanted to see some actual sign it'd be used; he didn't want to just put in the work for a very-occasional thread, ie. to not much purpose...

Easy enough for us in the peanut gallery to say "Do this work... just because.  It'll make the forum... more symmetrical.  Or something."

 

Personally, I'd LOVE to see some ElfQuest and/or Ringworld action.  If Chaosium could show there was interest/demand, it might induce the Pini's and/or Niven to re-up the license!

 

[hix]

I kind of doubt that those games have enough traction to warrant a sub-forum, so why not talk about them here?

So has anyone actually used the impulse system from Ringworld? Seems like it would work in theory, but in my experience most players can barely keep track of strike ranks in a 10 or 12 round RQ system, let alone one that purports to go up to 100 impulses and beyond. I can only imagine the fustercluck that would cause at the table. Any better impulse systems or strike rank systems you can recommend?

Edited May 30, 2020 by hix

[Kloster]

2 hours ago, hix said:

I kind of doubt that those games have enough traction to warrant a sub-forum, so why not talk about them here?

So has anyone actually used the impulse system from Ringworld? Seems like it would work in theory, but in my experience most players can barely keep track of strike ranks in a 10 or 12 round RQ system, let alone one that purports to go up to 100 impulses and beyond. I can only imagine the fustercluck that would cause at the table. Any better impulse systems or strike rank systems you can recommend?

In my experience as a GM and as a player, Ringworld impulse was going very smoothly. You care only of the next action, which means roughly the next 10 impulse. Not very different of the next 10 SR round (RQ3) or 12 SR round (RQ2 or RQG). You don't care of the previous 100 impulses, nor of what will occur in 50 impulses.

[HeartQuintessence]

On 5/28/2020 at 8:26 AM, Lloyd Dupont said:

Speaking of which.. what is ElfQuest and RingWorld about?! 😮

Elfquest is a comic that's been going for 40 years and about 35 of them are avaiable at Elfquest.com ( GO READ IT ITS IN COLOR, FOR FREE~!)

The world is amazing, the character's a re deep and interesting. The series can be loved by  children and adults and actually triggers some VERY thought provoking questions.

 

I would love to do some ELFQUEST, I actually built a cool Elfquest adjacent world (i.e. we know other High Ones left The Star Home, what about their adventures?)

If people are interested I'd be willing to  see about Veritas-- though I think the Elfquest RPG is hard to find (its definately out of print, but there are dozens of other systems that might work better for EQ, since in the elfquest RPG apparently you can fail to telepathically talk to others... ( which is fine if you're an elf who's never done it, but for some elves its a matter of survival to do that... soo.. you shouldn't be able to fail unless impaired in my opinion.)

Edited May 30, 2020 by HeartQuintessence