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Rules Questions for a Neophyte


Paul_Va

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I somewhat wish my reading of the rules was wrong, however, because 12 seconds is a long time for a character to only take a single combat action. I think that is part of the reason I was confused. From any kind of simulationist perspective, this doesn't make much sense. It's as if the character swings his sword and then just stands there and stares at the enemy for a few moments before doing something else. Moreover, even if the gamemaster implements Attacks and Parries over 100%, it will be a long time before any of the PCs have attack skills over 100%, particularly if the GM caps new skills at 75% as the book suggests. I may have to give some of the optional rulesets a more careful going over before deciding which version I like best.

Your reading of the rules is absolutely correct. The point is explained in the Deluxe RQ3 manual, from which most of BRP is extracted. Alas, this formulation was not transferred, instead. It explains very clearly that an attack roll does NOT represent a single swing but a sequence of actions including movement, feinting, evading and actual strikes (possibly more than one) that start on your DEX Rank and go on for the whole combat round. Thus the rule that you can make only one attack per round against any single target: flurries, ripostes, head butts, kicks in the groin and the like are all subsumed in that single attack roll. This also explains why most BRP weapons can kill or disable with one blow: it is not _one_ blow, it is one round of blows.

Please note that the above applies to melee attacks. With ranged weapons attacks actually are single shots, so the sequence SHOOT-wait 5 DEX-SHOOT-wait 5 DEX-etc. etc. may take place if the RoF of the weapon permits.

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I somewhat wish my reading of the rules was wrong, however, because 12 seconds is a long time for a character to only take a single combat action. I think that is part of the reason I was confused. From any kind of simulationist perspective, this doesn't make much sense. It's as if the character swings his sword and then just stands there and stares at the enemy for a few moments before doing something else.

As others have said, that's NOT what a melee attack represents.

Moreover, even if the gamemaster implements Attacks and Parries over 100%, it will be a long time before any of the PCs have attack skills over 100%, particularly if the GM caps new skills at 75% as the book suggests. I may have to give some of the optional rulesets a more careful going over before deciding which version I like best.

Er, if the GM and players go for an Heroic power level or higher, skills could go over 100 pretty quick (they are capped to 90 in character creation), and at Epic or Superhuman they can start at 100...

Cheers,

Nick

Edited by NickMiddleton
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Your reading of the rules is absolutely correct. The point is explained in the Deluxe RQ3 manual, from which most of BRP is extracted. Alas, this formulation was not transferred, instead. It explains very clearly that an attack roll does NOT represent a single swing but a sequence of actions including movement, feinting, evading and actual strikes (possibly more than one) that start on your DEX Rank and go on for the whole combat round. Thus the rule that you can make only one attack per round against any single target: flurries, ripostes, head butts, kicks in the groin and the like are all subsumed in that single attack roll. This also explains why most BRP weapons can kill or disable with one blow: it is not _one_ blow, it is one round of blows.

Please note that the above applies to melee attacks. With ranged weapons attacks actually are single shots, so the sequence SHOOT-wait 5 DEX-SHOOT-wait 5 DEX-etc. etc. may take place if the RoF of the weapon permits.

This actually explains it quite well and makes sense. I don't think the BRP book explains this anywhere. They should have included it.

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This actually explains it quite well and makes sense. I don't think the BRP book explains this anywhere. They should have included it.

Yeah, the BRP book has some things that were left out, either for space constraints, or we the proof-readers didn't catch (that's what happens when you have been playing with the system for so long - some things are "a given", or house rules/alt rules have become so prevalent, you forget where the core/original rules stop and the house/alt rules begin). There used to be a discussion of rules and text that were left out, but I have no idea where it is.

If you like BRP, and play mostly fantasy based games, I would consider getting Magic World and/or OpenQuest. If you like more tactical options and such, OpenQuest has some, and RQ6 has very detailed combat. I personally play a mish-mash of Stornbringer 1, Stormbringer 4, Elric!, Magic World, and RQ6 these days. I like separate attack/parry, ripostes, skills going over 100, and the Combat Actions/Combat Effects from RQ6. I also like variable armor values and total HP over fixed armor values and hit locations. I like demon summoning from SB1 and 4, as well as Mongoose Elric's sorcery, and the magic found in the Elric! supplement Unknown East and SB5 supplement Corum. Magic World's Advanced Sorcery has some good stuff too.

Ian

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If you like BRP, and play mostly fantasy based games, I would consider getting Magic World and/or OpenQuest. If you like more tactical options and such, OpenQuest has some, and RQ6 has very detailed combat. I personally play a mish-mash of Stornbringer 1, Stormbringer 4, Elric!, Magic World, and RQ6 these days. I like separate attack/parry, ripostes, skills going over 100, and the Combat Actions/Combat Effects from RQ6. I also like variable armor values and total HP over fixed armor values and hit locations. I like demon summoning from SB1 and 4, as well as Mongoose Elric's sorcery, and the magic found in the Elric! supplement Unknown East and SB5 supplement Corum. Magic World's Advanced Sorcery has some good stuff too.

Ian

Most of my games are actually more in the modern Call of Cthulhu style, so I'm looking for rules light combat that largely stays out of the way of the narrative. I've been using Savage Worlds, but it feels a bit "gamier" for lack of a better word than I like. I really liked the Mongoose Traveller system, and I felt it was a perfect match, but I wanted a generic system that would allow me to tell those kinds of very narrative stories. I suspect BRP will be able to do everything I want. It's just a matter of learning the system and finding the optional rules that will suit the particular flavor I'm looking for.

You can follow me on Google+ here: https://www.google.com/+PaulVasquezE

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Most of my games are actually more in the modern Call of Cthulhu style, so I'm looking for rules light combat that largely stays out of the way of the narrative. I've been using Savage Worlds, but it feels a bit "gamier" for lack of a better word than I like. I really liked the Mongoose Traveller system, and I felt it was a perfect match, but I wanted a generic system that would allow me to tell those kinds of very narrative stories. I suspect BRP will be able to do everything I want. It's just a matter of learning the system and finding the optional rules that will suit the particular flavor I'm looking for.

I would still consider Magic World. I think the rules as implemented there are pretty solid (based firmly on Elric!). Random armor protection, general HP, skills over 100%, ripostes for HTH combat, etc. Ben and I also reworded/simplified the multiple Dodge/Parry per round some. Depending on how much HTH you use, I still like separate attack and parry skills as it lets you define characters as defensively minded, balanced, or aggressive attackers.

Ian

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Most of my games are actually more in the modern Call of Cthulhu style, so I'm looking for rules light combat that largely stays out of the way of the narrative.

Then stick with BRP. Other variants, namely RuneQuest 6, do fantasy better, but the Big Gold Book is still hard to beat for a modern game where combat should be avoided because it is _deadly_.

I suspect BRP will be able to do everything I want. It's just a matter of learning the system and finding the optional rules that will suit the particular flavor I'm looking for.

You nailed it. It will take some time to locate your group's sweet spot, but most gaming groups have a D100 variant that suits their style.

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If you want modern BRP then a trip to Cubicle Seven and a look at The Laundry might be in order. Another suggestion would be to take a look at John Ossoway's Cthulhu Rising for a take on Cthulhu in space with an Aliens slant.

Both suggestions are for a look at adapting/selecting options for the BRP system to modern/future games rather than a change of system,

Nigel

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Yeah, the BRP book has some things that were left out, either for space constraints, or we the proof-readers didn't catch (that's what happens when you have been playing with the system for so long - some things are "a given", or house rules/alt rules have become so prevalent, you forget where the core/original rules stop and the house/alt rules begin). There used to be a discussion of rules and text that were left out, but I have no idea where it is.

Is this omission (and others) corrected in the errata or in PDF version?

"Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned." Anonymous

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Is this omission (and others) corrected in the errata or in PDF version?

No, because technically it is not an "omission". The rules work perfectly well without those paragraphs that explain the "rationale". And the paragraphs are rather long, so they cannot be included in an errata.

The only difference is that the people who wrote the Chaosium edition of RuneQuest (Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Greg Stafford and many others) thought it was better to include this explanation, while the person who re-phrased everything for BRP (Jason) chose not to repeat it or put it in a less remarkable paragraph. In fact it should be somewhere in the Big Gold Book, too, it is just that it is explained more clearly in the old RuneQuest, so when I think of this particular aspect of the rules I automatically quote RQ3 and not the BGB.

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