MERP to BRP

[SDLeary]

While it is not BRP, it is d100(modern take on MERP), I’d like to suggest Against the Dark Master.
 

Like Age of Shadow, Tolkien with the numbers filed off. Might even work as a sourcebook, should you not find enough in AoS.

Also out there is Ambarquenta.
 

SDLeary

[Barak Shathur]

On 10/12/2024 at 4:25 PM, Susimetsa said:

Have you done anything to add, e.g., Middle-Earth races to the base system, or are you running it as-is?

Well the races as a whole seem pretty much MERP based, if you take the 'Elf' to represent Sindar elves (so I would modify that stat line somewhat for Silvan and Noldor, say -2 SIZ and +2 DEX for the former, +2 SIZ and POW for the latter). There are no hobbits so I'd take them from Legend, since that's where OQ creature stats mostly come from. As for Dúnedain, rather than giving a SIZ bonus I'm going to say that if you want to be one you ought to have a high score (and NPC Dúnedain will). Unless you really want to play a small Dúnadan, which of course is ok. I also add special abilities and resistances from MERP.

Regarding magic, right now I'm using Innate Magic for Channeling and Sorcery for Essence, but what I did before with BRP was that mages and animists would learn MERP spell lists as skills, and then each spell on the list would have a -5 penalty for each level above one, and MP cost would be equal to level, so that higher level spells would in practice be unavailable to less advanced characters. Not perfect but close enough, and above all it makes conversion from MERP modules much easier. I might switch back to that, we'll see.

[Mugen]

1 hour ago, Barak Shathur said:

(...) what I did before with BRP was that mages and animists would learn MERP spell lists as skills, and then each spell on the list would have a -5 penalty for each level above one, and MP cost would be equal to level, so that higher level spells would in practice be unavailable to less advanced characters.

MERP or RM/Spell Law, with levels 11+ ?

[Barak Shathur]

On 10/14/2024 at 12:32 PM, Mugen said:

MERP or RM/Spell Law, with levels 11+ ?

MERP lists, to keep it simple. 

[Kloster]

1 minute ago, Barak Shathur said:

MERP lists, to keep it simple. 

You're still missing Mentalism. Sorcerers have Essence and Mentalism and some NPCs are sorcerers.

[Barak Shathur]

3 hours ago, Kloster said:

You're still missing Mentalism. Sorcerers have Essence and Mentalism and some NPCs are sorcerers.

IIRC, NPCs in ICE modules had a MERP and a RM version. 

[Mugen]

3 hours ago, Barak Shathur said:

IIRC, NPCs in ICE modules had a MERP and a RM version. 

It doesn't change the fact level 11+ NPCs had access to level 11+ spells.

[Susimetsa]

For my version, I ended up mixing MERP character creation with BRP system. Basically, professions provide static bonuses to certain skill categories (e.g. not 3 per level, but static +15) and access to certain spell categories. Mages have a list of individual spells to learn, as do Animists - akin to how it works for cults in Runequest. As in MERP, professions also provide initial training (experience marks) for certain skills.

I basically tweaked a MERP character sheet I found online to remove some MERP specific elements and to add some elements needed in BRP. Thus, the rest of the game works as a very cut-down BRP, which I hope will be easy to learn for my daughter and her friends (who are the target audience for this, not me). There are sure to be some loose ends here and there, but I will offer them solutions to those as they come up in gameplay. 🙂

Edited Saturday at 06:39 AM by Susimetsa

[Mugen]

@Susimetsado you plan on keeping spell lists ? One of my favourites aspects of RM is that you learn magic step by step, starting with simple spells before you can learn the most complex ones. Especially in more modern RM versions where you learn lists spell by spell, and not all at once.

Using lists-as-skill sounds like a natural way to do it (and it has been discussed here), but there are other ways to do it. Spell lists could be learned like Variable spells in RQ Spirit Magic, for instance, level by level.

Or you could just put restrictions for learning spells, like in GURPS or old french game Légendes : except for the most basic spells, you need to know a lesser-level spell from the same category in order to learn a given spell.

[Barak Shathur]

On 10/18/2024 at 6:10 PM, Mugen said:

It doesn't change the fact level 11+ NPCs had access to level 11+ spells.

I don’t foresee this becoming much of a problem since my stick pickers are hardly going to be duking it out with Nazgûls and the like. And if they do, I’ll probably just import the extended versions of spell lists from RM. 
 

I like the idea of learning individual spells one at a time, as individual skills. Under this system, you might acquire a spell list, maybe as a base skill that all new spells from that list would start at, and then proceed to learn the spells one by one, in order. With the slow progression of skills in BRP type games, I wonder if it would underpower PC casters. Haven’t thought this through yet. 
 

Another version might be that you get access to spells according to your magic skill. Say skill/10.  50% magic skill = spells up to level 5 of all lists you know. This would be a good way of approximating the way MERP/RM level relates to known spells from each spell list.

[Susimetsa]

On 10/20/2024 at 11:05 AM, Mugen said:

@Susimetsado you plan on keeping spell lists ? One of my favourites aspects of RM is that you learn magic step by step, starting with simple spells before you can learn the most complex ones. Especially in more modern RM versions where you learn lists spell by spell, and not all at once.

Using lists-as-skill sounds like a natural way to do it (and it has been discussed here), but there are other ways to do it. Spell lists could be learned like Variable spells in RQ Spirit Magic, for instance, level by level.

Or you could just put restrictions for learning spells, like in GURPS or old french game Légendes : except for the most basic spells, you need to know a lesser-level spell from the same category in order to learn a given spell.

I decided to cut down on the number of spells altogether by making characters learn them one by one, as in RQ. I might change my mind later, but this was the first solution.

Basically,

• Spells are divided into Tiers, with lvl 1-3 spells generally in Tier 1, lvl 4-5 on Tier 2, lvl 6-8 on Tier 3 etc. (exact power level depending on how much I changed the spell descriptions when I brought them over).
• In order to lean a Tier 3 spell, the spell-user has to invest 3 development points to learn it.
• I currently plan to limit semi-users (Ranger, Bard) to Tier 4 spells at most while non-spell users can learn upto Tier 2 spells (if they can even find a teacher).

The basic idea is that the characters will earn 1-4 development points per short adventure or session and they can use them to increase their skills (mundane or magic) at a deteriorating rate of efficiency (like MERP: first 10 ranks give 5% each, the next only 2% each etc.).

There's also an option (still thinking about this) of overcasting or boosting the spells. Firebolt is a Tier 2 spell inflicting 1d6 damage. I might allow Mages to boost such spells by using extra Magic Points to inflight 1 more damage point per Magic Point...

The aim is to make this relatively simple, as the game will be played by first timers (my daughter and her friends).