Another Magic World interview...

[Greymagius]

Thanks for the information. Am certainly looking forward to MW. now, if it can just be closer to summer than Christmas

[Trifletraxor]

(Magic World interview published in March, ported over from the Index page which is under another transformation: )

Q: So Ben Monroe, aka zomben here on the forums, you have just finished the manuscript for Magic World, a generic fantasy game that will be published by Chaosium. Can you tell us how the work with this game began?

A: Sure! A couple of years ago at DunDraCon (a local games convention) I was having a chat with Charlie. The BGB had been out for a while, and I was waxing nostalgic about past games of RuneQuest, Elric!, etc. We got to talking about a BRP Fantasy game, and what it could entail. A few weeks later I had the idea to take the existing material for Elric! and RQIII, and bash it into a full BRP fantasy game. I pitched that idea to Charlie and Dustin, and they both really liked the idea, so we decided to run with it.

Q: The credits of the playtest copy states that the book is primarily a reworking of previously publications from Chaosium. Can you tell us which supplements you chose to use material from and why just those books were chosen?

A: Essentially, we took the Elric! books, and a couple of RuneQuest III books. The core Magic World book includes most of the text of Elric!, plus the Creatures book from RQIII. I also went through the entire series of Elric! supplements, and pulled the sorcery spells out to include in the core. The RQIII Gamemaster’s Book forms the bulk of the MagicWorld GM pack. I also added the ships and sailing rules from “Seas of Fate” to the MagicWorld core. I’ve always been a big fan of the Earthsea books, and felt they should be in the core rules. Indeed, I’m making great use of them in my own home game.

For the most part, I stuck with these books, because I felt outside of hardcore BRP or Moorcock fans, the Elric! game never really got much notice. It was an absolutely marvelous game, but people who weren’t Elric/Moorcock fans never seemed to really get interested in it. The thought was that this is just a great game, that can completely stand on its own. So, let’s give it a second shot.

Finally, I should add that we did add a new sample setting in the book. The rules themselves don’t reference the setting, and is completely generic fantasy. But, toward the end of the book is a new fantasy setting which I completely love. My friend David Ackerman really pulled out the stops to create a neat little fantasy realm inspired by Celtic myth and folklore. It’s a small area, easily- droppable into any fantasy world you like, or you could just run it as is. Essentially it’s a small-ish kingdom, with all sorts of mysterious shenanigans happening. I love it, and hope others like it, too.

Q: Wouldl Magic World best be described as a de-Moorcocked Elric! or a generic fantasy Basic Roleplaying game system?

A: It’s a bit of both. I didn’t really change the Elric! rules, aside from adding a few things here and there that I liked from playing a ton of RuneQuest III over the years. For example, a simplified version of cultural skill packages, skill category bonuses, etc. Nick Middleton and I fiddled around with the combat rules a bit to make them more in line with what’s in the BGB, but (hopefully!) run a bit smoother.

Q: I see that the forces of order, balance and chaos known from the Elric! setting has made its way over to Magic World. What was the reason that these rules where included in an otherwise generic game system?

A: Yes, they were renamed as Light, Balance, and Shadow. So many fantasy stories and settings focus on great cosmic forces colliding, that we felt they were worth keeping. The way to gain Allegiance points for them are a bit different from the way it is in Elric!, but pretty much if you like Allegiance rules, they’ve stayed unchanged. If you don’t, just don’t use them. That’s one of the great things about this game. If you have it, and the BGB, you can add and remove things until you get it just the way you want it to be.

Indeed, in my home game, I skipped Allegiance entirely, and then bolted on using the superpowers rules from the BGB, and some of the neat new magic stuff from the brilliant Mythic Iceland, and Merrie England books.

Q: Will future fantasy supplements be written for the Golden Book, Magic World or both? Will Magic World be Chaosium’s new default line for fantasy?

My understanding is that MagicWorld will indeed be the core generic fantasy game line for Chaosium for the forseeable future. It was felt that Chaosium needed another core game, one that was accessible to a wide audience, and would encourage people to check out the system. Cthulhu and the BGB are a bit much for that purpose. So MagicWorld was meant to be a slim, complete fantasy game to introduce people to BRP.

Q: The Golden Book clocks in at about 400 pages. Do you have an idea about approximately how big the Magic World book will be? And most important, what’s the ETA?

A: The core rules will be significantly less than that. I’m thinking we’re looking at a 180-200 pp book. The idea was to create a solid, complete game that had a low price-point. I do not know what the ETA on this book is, but I know it’s currently in the production phase, so I’m hoping this year.

Q: Two more supplements for Magic World in addition to the core rulebook is being prepared: Advanced Sorcery and Gamemaster’s Pack. Can you tell us something about the content of these supplements?

A: Yes!

Advanced Sorcery is essentially a reprint of the Bronze Grimoire. I did keep the elemental and demon rules out of the core book for the most part, so they’ve been added in here. Also, the Drugs material from the Melnibone sourcebook appear here. They’re now repurposed as “Herbalism”. So, that’s an all-inclusive book of excellent magic stuff for both MagicWorld, and the BGB.

The Gamemaster’s Pack is essentially a reprint of the RQIII Gamemaster’s Book, along with a GM screen, and probably a pack of forms. I also took a ton of the sample NPCs from the various Elric! books (the NPC Digests I believe they were called) and shoved them in here.

This is really what I think was the most fun part of this whole project. Going through all these great books and supplements, blending them together and then being able to re-present them in a cohesive order.

Q: GM screen? Tell us more! What format will it be? Is it a heavy duty one or a light-weight version?

There will be a GM screen, but it will be specifically for MagicWorld. My understanding is that it will be similar in format to the Call of Cthulhu screen, which is a great screen. Solid cardstock, and a low profile.

Q: What future gems can we expect for Magic World? Are there other supplements for the old Elric! setting waiting to be de-Moococked? Any plans for publishing “fresh” supplements also for the Magic World line in the future?

I certainly hope there will be more material in the MagicWorld line! As far as mining the old Elric! supplements, I feel that we pretty much pulled all the worthwhile rules elements from the existing books. All that’s left is the source material and adventures, and there’s really no point in going to all that work on them.

Frankly, after the core books, I hope that we’ll see new material for the game. I have an idea for a campaign pack for the game, but have not yet pitched it to Chaosium. I need to finish up another supplement I’m doing for the HeroQuest game before I can start thinking about that.

But honestly, I’m really excited about seeing what other people can do with this stuff now.

Read the official press release from Chaosium here.

[BMonroe]

BTW: I've now got an initial layout of the book in PDF. The copy I have is 234 pages. There's nothing more to add to the game, so I'm pretty sure the final version should be about that page count.

[spyritwind]

Is there an ETA for this? Status plz

[Hexelis]

Chaosium Inc. - Articles info

[Hexelis]

Chaosium says March 18th 2013

[BMonroe]

The PDF is available now, with hardcopy coming towards the end of March.

Magic World Chaosium Inc.

[Hexelis]

OK, so it's been out for awhile. Has anyone picked it up yet and what do think? I haven't been able to get it yet.

[smiorgan]

Hi,

I had immediately picked up the PDF. But I waited for the hardcopy until I was able to get it for a reasonable shipping rate. Now I finally have the book in my hands and I'm perusing it more extensively and I like it even more.

* The ruleset is great. It manages to improve on the very solid Elric! rules with the right gentle tweaks: characteristic rolls, skill category modifiers, cultural skills, allocation of professional skill points at chargen, success levels, opposed skill rolls, combat matrix are the areas where I detected significant tweaks. Note that while some tweaks are simply ported from the BGB, the majority are specific to MW. I rate MW combat rules as the best d100 combat rules available (MRQII / RQ6 being a bit too rules heavy for me).

* The reskin from Moorcock fantasy to generic fantasy with a bit of Celtic flavor works. RQ3 creatures fit well in MW. Magic items do not remind too much of their origins. The Southern Reaches and the Fey threat are a cool setting (worth developing!).

While I like it very much, there are also certain things that are not so great in my opinion.

*The art. I know/ own most of the original sources of the recycled pieces. Seeing them out of the original context feels kind of sad. Maybe it's just me. Some pieces have not been scanned at a sufficient resolution and look pixelated. The new art ranges from OK to bad (weapon sketches I'm looking at you!). The cover is fun but nothing to write home about.

*The layout. Too bad the volume does not have the crisp and compact layout of its Elric! antecessor. Nowadays we have small publishers putting out books with great layouts and something better could have been done. MW gets merely a pass in this department.

*Proofreading. This is a mixed one. There are no major proofreading disasters in the book (nothing of Mongoosesque proportions), and some typos have been rectified between the PDF and the print book. There are however a few leftovers from RQ3 or BGB that might puzzle the reader here and there. I feel this can and and should be improved. I hope advanced sorcery will be better.

[Hexelis]

thanks for the review. I always say that with the BGB, you don't really need to buy anything ever again, so I'm sure I don't need it, but I want it anyway.

[Stoatbringer]

thanks for the review. I always say that with the BGB, you don't really need to buy anything ever again, so I'm sure I don't need it, but I want it anyway.

One thing that Smiorgan missed in his brilliant and concise review of MW is that you also get seafaring rules (ship stats, shipboard combat, and survival at sea) which you don't get in the BGB.

Edited June 5, 2013 by Stoatbringer

[smiorgan]

One thing that Smiorgan missed in his brilliant and concise review of MW is that you also get seafaring rules (ship stats, shipboard combat, and survival at sea) which you don't get in the BGB.

Yes, seafaring rules are great. Including the sailing fumble table. If you don't have the old Elric! supplement 'Seas of Fate' you definitely NEED them.

They are more detailed than the ship rules found in Mythic Iceland (a BRP supplement which I adore, BTW). So, I plan to use MW sailing rules also for my future Viking games.

Smiorgan

[BMonroe]

thanks for the review. I always say that with the BGB, you don't really need to buy anything ever again, so I'm sure I don't need it, but I want it anyway.

Oh, totally. I love the BGB and have lovingly tweaked it for many different games.

The intention of MW was really to have an entry point game for the BRP line that appealed to people that might not be interested in CoC. Some new players might find the BGB dauntingly large, and might not like CoC, so maybe they'll give MW a shot.

It's been getting a lot of nice recognition, too, so I hope we hit on something here. Apparently it got a write up in the latest issue of Knights of the Dinner Table.

[Kaleb7]

I'm planning to pickup the BGBin the next couple of weeks to 'tweak' MW a bit, so it has proven to be a good entrypoint for me. BTW, any other MW product ready for GenCon?

[BMonroe]

I'm planning to pickup the BGBin the next couple of weeks to 'tweak' MW a bit, so it has proven to be a good entrypoint for me. BTW, any other MW product ready for GenCon?

Hopefully! I hear a few things are being jiggered around, and there should be one, maybe two items out for GC.