QUASAR A science fiction space opera universe

[tooley1chris]

** PDF CORE BOOK NOW AVAILABLE AT DRIVETHRU RPG! **

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/459723/QUASAR?affiliate_id=810507

QUASAR FB PAGE

** QUASAR STAR SYSTEMS IS NOW AVAILABLE ON DTRPG! **

(had a little hiccup in the formatting 🙄)

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/463491/QUASAR-STAR-SYSTEMS

I've placed a color and printer friendly version of the character sheets in the files section for convenience!

https://basicroleplaying.org/files/category/55-other/

 

 

With the release of the shinier BRP Universal Game Engine and Chaosiums very forgiving attitude for third party hijinks I'm contemplating releasing a sci-fi world. 
 Have actually been working on it for about 6 months and have 3 or possibly 4 books planned.
• Core Book (release date Nov 10)
• Star Systems & Races of the Galaxy
• Starship Identification & Construction 
 I've never profited off of Any of my other books but am contemplating it with these. It's been a LOT of work.

Here are some samples as I've been making excellent progress:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by tooley1chris

[rsanford]

 Chris, I truly wish I had just 10% of your’ creativity. Since joining BRP Central around 2015, I have devoured your frequent contributions, and miss those days when you, Ben Monroe, @Chaot, and others engaged in long, intense discussions of Magic World. Magic World was my first BRP game and I learned as much from the discussions on this forum as I did from reading the MW core book. 
 

Good luck with Quasar! I will be first in your inevitability long line of customers!

[DreadDomain]

Best of Luck! I see you have Charisma and Appearance. Would you mind discussing how the game differentiates and uses both mechanically?

[NurgleHH]

Looks fantastic, looking forward to it. Will you only work with BRP or maybe also with Mythras?

Edited July 3, 2023 by NurgleHH

[tooley1chris]

6 hours ago, DreadDomain said:

Best of Luck! I see you have Charisma and Appearance. Would you mind discussing how the game differentiates and uses both mechanically?

I haven't completely fleshed this out yet but as of right now it's like a ranged social attack.

The way appearance affects people is in first impressions, before there is ANY social interaction. When you approach an NPC, there would be a roll to determine their initial reaction/impression of your character. A good result will set a lower difficulty for subsequent social skill rolls,  and a poor result will increase the difficulty. Your appearance modifier applies to this initial reaction roll, so a very beautiful person will find people easier to convince or manipulate or be willing to be friendly.

A less beautiful person will find more people unwilling to talk and being generally apathetic to hostile. A really good charisma could overcome this, but they will be starting from a disadvantage.

[tooley1chris]

7 hours ago, rsanford said:

 miss those days when you, Ben Monroe, @Chaot, and others engaged in long, intense discussions of Magic World. Magic World was my first BRP game and I learned as much from the discussions on this forum as I did from reading the MW core book. 

Thanks for your kind words.

Magic World was also my first dip into BRP and will always be my first love. 

I also miss the days when MW was a hot topic of discussion. Without the awesome people in the forums taking time to patiently explain not only the mechanics but the intentions I would have been lost.

[tooley1chris]

5 hours ago, NurgleHH said:

Looks fantastic, looking forward to it. Will you only work with BRP or maybe also with Mythras?

I'll be honest. I haven't much looked at Mythras, though it is highly acclaimed. Right now I'm sticking with BRP. If this Quasar project takes off I'll likely put out lots of material for it. 

Afterwards? *shrug* I dunno

[g33k]

On 7/3/2023 at 5:08 AM, tooley1chris said:

I haven't completely fleshed this out yet but as of right now it's like a ranged social attack.

The way appearance affects people is in first impressions, before there is ANY social interaction. When you approach an NPC, there would be a roll to determine their initial reaction/impression of your character. A good result will set a lower difficulty for subsequent social skill rolls,  and a poor result will increase the difficulty. Your appearance modifier applies to this initial reaction roll, so a very beautiful person will find people easier to convince or manipulate or be willing to be friendly.

A less beautiful person will find more people unwilling to talk and being generally apathetic to hostile. A really good charisma could overcome this, but they will be starting from a disadvantage.

One notion:
Appearance is usable as a "passive" roll, it's just how they are.  The good-looking character is good-looking whether they're trying or not, whether they're paying attention or not.  They affect everyone who sees them, at all times (*) .
Charisma is more "active."  Their speech, their mannerisms, what they do.  If they're passive, they're not rolling Charisma.


(*) However, it is truly startling what skilled make-up can do to improve someone's real-life APP score; I dabble in photography, and have been startled to see some transformations.

 

[tooley1chris]

On 7/4/2023 at 1:38 PM, g33k said:

(*) However, it is truly startling what skilled make-up can do to improve someone's real-life APP score; I dabble in photography, and have been startled to see some transformations.

 

Indeed I have considered this as well and am tossing around the idea of making APP more of a fluid characteristic.

Just got out of bed after a bender? Penalty

Just finished brawling in a pig pen? Penalty 

Successful Disguise roll applying makeup or fancy new clothes? Bonus!

Also thinking about using the APP score by how many points away from average the score it. As example if the PCs APP is 16 (8 above average) they get a bonus to social skills involving persuasion and a penalty to Intimidation.

I dont know. Like I said I'm tossing it around in my head.

Might toss it out all together😀

I've read a lot of pros and cons to using APP. Would like to hear opinions here.

Edited July 5, 2023 by tooley1chris

[DreadDomain]

24 minutes ago, tooley1chris said:

Indeed I have considered this as well and am tossing around the idea of making APP more of a fluid characteristic.

Just got out of bed after a bender? Penalty

Just finished brawling in a pig pen? Penalty 

Successful Disguise roll applying makeup or fancy new clothes? Bonus!

Also thinking about using the APP score by how many points away from average the score it. As example if the PCs APP is 16 (8 above average) they get a bonus to social skills involving persuasion and a penalty to Intimidation.

I dont know. Like I said I'm tossing it around in my head.

Might toss it out all together😀

I've read a lot of pros and cons to using APP. Would like to hear opinions here.

Based on your last few posts, I'd toss it out. It feels like you like the idea of having it as a characteristic but don't have a real need for it that cannot be covered by Charisma already and at best its use will be very limited.

[Chaot]

On 7/5/2023 at 4:19 PM, DreadDomain said:

Based on your last few posts, I'd toss it out.

I would ditch it too. I hate Appearance. I get it, but it's not something I like expressing in a number. I would rather have Appearance serve more like Aspects from Fate. So, if my appearance is 'Dashing Handsome Space Pirate' or 'Imposing Grizzled Space Pirate', those can be used to augment scenes in different ways.

Say I'm the player, and I'm trying to seduce some information out of a mark. I invoke Dashing Handsome Space Pirate and get a bonus. Later, I'm trying to impress a local official and the GM decides to use my Dashing Handsome Space Pirate against me. The official views me as flippant and untrustworthy. Same thing with the Grizzled dude. Great for intimidation, not so great if you're trying to rescue some kids and they're more afraid of you than the monster.

Currently I use Charisma as the base stat and Influence as the characteristic roll that defaults at x5% but I personally like to use use x1%, x3% and x5% to show difficulty.

On 7/2/2023 at 9:35 PM, tooley1chris said:

With the release of the shinier BRP Universal Game Engine and Chaosiums very forgiving attitude for third party hijinks I'm contemplating releasing a sci-fi world. 

I don't run a whole lot of sci-fi, but you put out a book, Chris, and I'm buying it. I know the amount of work you put in and the stuff you release is always a fun read.

On 7/3/2023 at 12:14 AM, rsanford said:

 I have devoured your frequent contributions, and miss those days when you, Ben Monroe, @Chaot, and others engaged in long, intense discussions of Magic World. Magic World was my first BRP game and I learned as much from the discussions on this forum as I did from reading the MW core book. 

Hey! Thanks brother! That's very kind of you to say. I too miss the Magic World days. Not sure how much I actually contributed to the rules discussion though. My recollection is they were talking real rules and I'd be like.. 'hey man, what if Size was actually different shades of purple.....'

 

[tooley1chris]

Books are coming along swimmingly. 

Races, core, and solar systems books are nearly complete, except making them all pretty and transferring to pdf (that usually messes some stuff up)

Im having to redo some of the starship construction/Identification book. FTL travel is a real pain and while it is a space opera, I'm trying to be sci-fy as well and keep it close(ish) to physics.

Can't tell you how many hours of listening to physicists I've endured 🙂

Also I've mapped out a LOT of stars with solar systems and having to show how far apart each are from each other is time consuming...

I'm still toying with appearance off and on. My current idea is PCs get a bonus to influence for every point above average your APP is and a bonus for intimidate for every point below average. And then penalties against the opposite. I still like the idea. I dunno.

[g33k]

On 7/13/2023 at 11:42 AM, tooley1chris said:

...

I'm still toying with appearance off and on. My current idea is PCs get a bonus to influence for every point above average your APP is and a bonus for intimidate for every point below average. And then penalties against the opposite. I still like the idea. I dunno.

One issue (with both APP and CHA) in a multi-species environment:  the species will likely find different things differently-appealing.  So a high-CHA human may be medium-low CHA to a ( ... scrolls up to check ... ) Altarian, and something below the racial-minimum of a Draconian.

Honestly, having multiple disparate species share the same "CHA" has always struck me as very rubber-forehead sorts of aliens...  It's not even that they'll even be symmetrical, maybe humans remind one race of their worst ancestral enemy, combined with nauseating stench... but humans find that species incredibly cute and cuddly... but neither is likely to find the other particularly "charismatic" in a "follow me on this dangerous mission" way, etc.

I'm with Chaot, in thinking Fate-y "Aspects" or the like might be a better way to go.

Edited July 15, 2023 by g33k
typo... well, more of a thinko, really.

[Atgxtg]

3 hours ago, g33k said:

One issue (with both APP and CHA) in a multi-species environment:  the species will likely find different things defferently-appealing.  So a high-CHA human may be medium-low CHA to a ( ... scrolls up to check ... ) Altarian, and something below the racial-minimum of a Draconian.

What if it was a COSmopolitian stat that indicated how well someone can adapt to the customs of other cultures?

[tooley1chris]

Here's my thinking on APP.

I. Brp It's used to persuade, fast talk, intimidate, etc.

 But in BRP Giants have a lower APP than say Halflings. So a halfling has a better chance at intimidating someone than a giant? Actually worse. A halfling has a better chance at intimidating a giant than a giant intimidating a halfling. 

Just doesn't seem right.

How do you run it?

Edited July 14, 2023 by tooley1chris

[tooley1chris]

So...are there BRP forums besides this most excellent site you good people go to? Most RPG sites I've seen have limited BRP profiles. This must be how a evangelist feels trying to spread the good word in Vegas.

[g33k]

20 hours ago, tooley1chris said:

So...are there BRP forums besides this most excellent site you good people go to? Most RPG sites I've seen have limited BRP profiles. This must be how a evangelist feels trying to spread the good word in Vegas.

Several FB groups, both explicitly-BRP and various BRP-friendly RQ&CoC groups.
Each Group will set their own rules about advert/promo materials, so read their respective Rules and/or About's.

I suspect there may be other spots, too... reddit, maybe?

 

[Atgxtg]

21 hours ago, tooley1chris said:

So...are there BRP forums besides this most excellent site you good people go to? Most RPG sites I've seen have limited BRP profiles. This must be how a evangelist feels trying to spread the good word in Vegas.

Think of how an evangelist feels trying to spread the word in Jerusalem! Probably have better odds in Vegas.

BRP, in all its forms is basically a niche RPG in a niche hobby, and has been that way since the beginning. You might find a few enclaves out there. A few bastions of hope. But d20 tends to dominate, maybe more now in the OGL era than before. OGL encourages game companies to produce d20 content to go after the larger marketshare, rather that creature and support their own game. 

 

If you want to draw more eyes onto your project and get noticed by more BRP fans, I suggest you make some sort of sample or quickstart for DriveThruRPG. A lot of people will check out the freebies, and a few pages, even just a character sheet (which can tell people quite a bit about the game), can put something on a lot of people's radar. I know I've bought stuff because   something impressed me in a preview, freebie, or character sheet.

 

[g33k]

 

On 7/5/2023 at 12:48 PM, tooley1chris said:

... tossing around the idea of making APP more of a fluid characteristic ...

On 7/13/2023 at 7:16 PM, Atgxtg said:

What if it was a COSmopolitian stat that indicated how well someone can adapt to the customs of other cultures?

On 7/14/2023 at 1:14 PM, tooley1chris said:

Here's my thinking on APP...

 

I think it's worth a long hard ponder on "basic characteristics" which are -- if not immutable (barring buff-magic, etc) -- extremely slow and difficult to change; vs. skills which can be trained, and benefit from experience-rolls, etc.

Maybe they shouldn't be as distinct?
Maybe there should be some intermediate category?

 

... etc ...

[NickMiddleton]

My golden rule: never have Stats or stat roles for things that are skills. Specific types of communication in BRP are covered by skills - APP / CHA rolls would only be for very generalised “what sort of impression has the character made?” questions.

I favour Charisma as a stat, but one could equally replace it with SOCiability or COSmopolitan or whatever.

But always bear in mind that statistics are innate, slow changing (as g33k says) and broad qualities. Skills are learned applications of techniques and bodies of knowledge and whilst innate broad qualities contribute, they are a small part of a skill: which is the strength of BRP’s skill categories…

…I am reminded of early days of Magic World when several people in line were (weirdly IMO) concerned that Dodge as a skill was in the Physical group and thus had a bonus of half the adventurer’s Strength, despite the fact that the base score was 2 x DEX, and it was a skill, so fairly rapidly it’s value was going to be dominated by experience.

[RosenMcStern]

APP and CHA often end up being dump stats. Having both will make things worse.

Furthermore, APP is relative to your species. In a game with so many different species that look unattractive to one another, it will end up being irrelevant more often than not.

And... shouldn't EDU be there in a high tech game, instead?

For the rest, it looks gorgeous.

[CeruleanGecko]

On 7/15/2023 at 4:30 AM, tooley1chris said:

So...are there BRP forums besides this most excellent site you good people go to? Most RPG sites I've seen have limited BRP profiles. This must be how a evangelist feels trying to spread the good word in Vegas.

 

Most definitively Reddit, r/rpg and r/BRP seem obvious, some others, maybe avoiding specific IP subs (CoC, RQ, 7thSea...)

[Chaot]

45 minutes ago, RosenMcStern said:

In a game with so many different species that look unattractive to one another, it will end up being irrelevant more often than not.

That's why I like Charisma. It doesn't necessarily measure attractiveness, rather it's a representation of 'force of personality'.

In my perfect world that Death Knight that has an aura of Fear would be rolling against its Charisma. But in BRP this is also measured by the Power stat.

I'm often of the mind that you can easily drop Size and Cha/App from the stat list and not really lose anything.

[Chaot]

20 minutes ago, CeruleanGecko said:

 

Most definitively Reddit, r/rpg and r/BRP seem obvious

When I first started posting in Reddit BRP was nearly non existent. The r/BRP forum was dead. I would mention BRP as an option in other rpg threads and be met with crickets.

My have things changed. There's a lot of conversation about BRP going on now. It's really nice to see.

[Atgxtg]

9 hours ago, g33k said:

I think it's worth a long hard ponder on "basic characteristics" which are -- if not immutable (barring buff-magic, etc) -- extremely slow and difficult to change; vs. skills which can be trained, and benefit from experience-rolls, etc.

Would that necessarily hold true in a SciFi setting though. I could see stuff like cyberware, implants and advanced training techniques potentially shorting the improvement curve for characteristics. 

9 hours ago, g33k said:

Maybe they shouldn't be as distinct?
Maybe there should be some intermediate category?... etc ...

Maybe it's not worth the trouble. As RosenMCStern points out APP/CHA is often a dump stat (looking at you Pendragon). If it doesn't have much of an impact in game then there is no reason to get all that complicated with it. I know some RPGs that make Charisma a skill.

I suppose it will come down to how useful/important CHA/APP/COS/SOC/LUV whatever will be in the game. If the game is more Star Trek-ish with lots of displomacy and efforts to reach out and form a rapport with aliens then yeah this is worth it. If it is more like Aliens, with bug hunts then not so much.