Lords of the Middle Sea hype thread.

[smiorgan]

Who else is excited about the upcoming Lords of the Middle Sea by Jason Durall?

I am. I like a lot what I've read / heard about the setting, and especially about the chargen and the tweaks to BRP.

I think any BRP enthusiast and tinkerer, who swears by the Big Gold Book, who endured the lean years of photocopied monographs, who can see the gold beyond the typos in Magic World, should be pretty enthused* by this release, so why all this quiet? Or are you just commenting about it elsewhere?

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*In all honesty, as BRP enthusiast as much as a Glorantha fan, I'm also enjoying every bit of RQG, and think it does not just revisit/ revives RQ2 but  adds quite a few new tricks to the arsenal of BRP rules (with passions, runes, augments, rune points, and seasonal play). 

[svensson]

I'm looking forward to seeing more about it.

I missed LotMS back in the day. I was active duty at the time and soldiers don't have a whole lot of time to keep current on TTRPGs and wargames.

I'm also a steampunk fan of sorts... I loved Space:1889 for it's realism but not so much Girl Genius or Castle Falkenstein... and I'd like to see something like that in a BRP sense. Adding the post apocalyptic vibe to it makes it even more interesting AFAIC. Steve Jackson Games used to publish little concept scripts... ideas that didn't make it into full development... and one that I was REALLY intrigued with was called "A Pox On Both Your Houses". In this, in the early period of discovery and settlement of the New World, smallpox ravaged the Native American population as it did in history, but there was something [some pest or infection] that was carried back to Europe FROM America. And it was endemic, infecting every nation that develop colonies in the New World and then spread through the trade routes. What ends up happening is a mutual die-back, a second Black Death on all three major continents. The setting begins in the late 20th century after mankind has recovered and is beginning to explore again.

THIS is just the kind of thing that the BGB was made for, and I'd like to see how Lords of the Middle Sea handles a similar-ish situation [post-apoc-steam-magick].

[albesias]

I love every jason's facebook post about the game. As a BRPhead I would to read new iterations of classic mechanics for my arsenal but probably take to our table a downgraded version

[smiorgan]

Jason Durall talks about Lords of the Middle Sea:

 

[DreadDomain]

On 2/9/2022 at 9:20 AM, smiorgan said:

Who else is excited about the upcoming Lords of the Middle Sea by Jason Durall?

I am. I like a lot what I've read / heard about the setting,

I know next to nothing about the setting itself so that part does not excite me much. I love the cover though!

On 2/9/2022 at 9:20 AM, smiorgan said:

and especially about the chargen and the tweaks to BRP.

I didn't know about the FB page until this week. I went and read the post on char gen and I am loving it. This type of char gen by steps is what I have preferred since RQ3. In this case, nationality, background, role and archetype, occupation and skills, characteristics, drives and personality traits, contacts, connections and reputation, is exactly the kind of mini game I am looking for. Customizing your ship sounds fun too!

One thing that I would have preferred is for characteristics to influence skills (skill categories), on the flip side, I really like that all the characteristics use the same roll. I was never found of char average 10 except SIZ and INT. 

On 2/9/2022 at 9:20 AM, smiorgan said:

I think any BRP enthusiast and tinkerer, who swears by the Big Gold Book, who endured the lean years of photocopied monographs, who can see the gold beyond the typos in Magic World, should be pretty enthused* by this release, so why all this quiet? Or are you just commenting about it elsewhere?

Agreed! 

On 2/9/2022 at 9:20 AM, smiorgan said:

*In all honesty, as BRP enthusiast as much as a Glorantha fan, I'm also enjoying every bit of RQG, and think it does not just revisit/ revives RQ2 but adds quite a few new tricks to the arsenal of BRP rules (with passions, runes, augments, rune points, and seasonal play). 

Also agree. RQG and CoC have both introduced awesome concepts. And "RQG is 90% RQ2" is absolute propaganda 😉

Edited February 10, 2022 by DreadDomain

[Jakob]

I'm pretty excited for it (and I definitely want in on the playtest!). Jason mentioned Stormbringer as the sweet spot in terms of crunchyness they're aiming for, and that's right up my alley. I also like the idea of a post-apocalyptic setting that is not a ruined, violent wasteland (Mad Max style), but more what the people were able to make of it after the catastrophe, and this seems like it. And I just have faith in the team to come up with a great, original setting!

[Jason D]

On 2/10/2022 at 10:19 PM, smiorgan said:

Jason Durall talks about Lords of the Middle Sea:

 

Such a big head! 

[Jason D]

I did not know this thread was here. I'll try to jump in and reply to questions. Remind me by tagging me! 

 

[smiorgan]

@Jason D can you tell us something about airship combat? One of my fondest memories of my Hawkmoon games was epic and hilarious ornithopter combats. So, this a part I look forward to.

I don't remember exactly which rules we used - the ones in Shattered Island or the French version- but they weren't very sophisticated, quite simple, in fact . And this is a bit what I expect from Lords of the Middle Sea: simple, quick, a bit deadly.

 

 

[g33k]

Quick question(s) about LotMS -- does it have "fantasy" elements?  Stuff like explicit magic, or "impossible biophysics" such as dragons or sandworms, etc?
Does it have "science fantasy" elements like psi powers?
Does it have "alt-science" such as "lightning guns" or steampunk-tech?

Or it is more-or-less a "realistic" setting in this regard?  TYVM !

[AndreJarosch]

I am hyped about LotMS!

I would LOVE to playtest it as a GM. 

I have already four of my friends that would love to play this with me. 
 

[Videopete]

Would love to see more about this game.  BTW what are power points used for? Are we going to see psionics or stunts (physical talents that let you do cool stuff)

[Jeremiah]

I am very excited to see more about this game!

[rsanford]

Really looking forward to this!

[smiorgan]

@Jason D do you have any additional tantalizing anticipations about Lords of the Middle Sea?

 

[g33k]

5 hours ago, smiorgan said:

@Jason D do you have any additional tantalizing anticipations about Lords of the Middle Sea?

Ooooh!   That's right!
Jason asked explicitly to be tagged, a month ago:

On 2/12/2022 at 4:05 PM, Jason D said:

I did not know this thread was here. I'll try to jump in and reply to questions. Remind me by tagging me! 

... but it looks like this is the first time any of us have done so!

 

[kilgs]

What is this madness and how do I possess it?!

[g33k]

4 hours ago, kilgs said:

What is this madness and how do I possess it?!

"This Madness" is a RPG based upon the setting of a long-ago Chaosium wargame (as I think about this, I realize that the same exact thing is true of RuneQuest! heh-heh ... well played, Chaosium!).  It was announced quite some time ago, and is now getting very close.  It was one of 4 titles specifically highlighted/promo'ed here:
https://www.chaosium.com/blogcoming-chaosium-releases-revealed-at-chaosium-con/

(I personally am even-more looking forward to the RoL rpg, also in that announcement; but will not further derails the LotMS thread).

You "possess it" by keeping an eye on Chaosium -- maybe signing up for their newsletter -- and buying it when it becomes available; it's "coming soon."
(I think that means it's done with layout and they are finalizing printer-ready files; but that is just a surmise on my part)

Edited April 12, 2022 by g33k
well played, Chaosium!

[smiorgan]

And now we have the character sheet:

https://www.chaosium.com/bloglords-of-the-middle-sea-update-draft-voyager-sheet-and-some-favourite-interior-art/#.YqC8HSEhQco.facebook

I love how we will have new games from two BRP lineages. Rivers of London based on CoC7 and LoMS based more on a BGB/ RQG lineage.

That's all very cool.

 

[albesias]

Looking the character sheet, I've got the feeling of LOtMS will touch the BRP sweet spot mechanically

[g33k]

11 hours ago, smiorgan said:

And now we have the character sheet:

https://www.chaosium.com/bloglords-of-the-middle-sea-update-draft-voyager-sheet-and-some-favourite-interior-art/#.YqC8HSEhQco.facebook

I love how we will have new games from two BRP lineages. Rivers of London based on CoC7 and LoMS based more on a BGB/ RQG lineage.

That's all very cool.

Whups!  OK, so there's some new info there... and there's a tiny little tidbit that I find to be VERY big news about the setting!
 

Quote

Addendum –

Jason writes: ...
... This side also has a few unrevealed aspects of the setting, including psychic powers and mutations!