What System Would You Say?

[Zarameus]

Hello everyone! I come with a conundrum and I don't know where else to turn.

A quick background, I've only played a few games of Call of Cthulhu as the GM. But I have lately found myself wanting a good old fashion dungeon crawling sorta game - so I can make strange and terrible dungeons filled with terrible things. I thought it would be fun to get into 1st edition AD&D, so I bought the recent rereleases and have been looking them over. But I've gotten overwhelmed and confused and now I'm wondering if I should seek a more BRP related approach.

The rigid alignment system was a turn off, as is the rigid class system - but the rules for randomization of treasure and monsters are very appealing. I was thinking it would be much better for me and my gang if I could employ a more Elder Scrolls style class system. That is, classes are little more than a title and the player is free to choose their own skills. I also like the idea of a non-magic centric character being able to cast some degree of magic - like a fighter throwing a fireball now and again.

I know from CoC that you sort of have that kind of open class system, but I never dealt with magic so I don't know how that all works. So now I don't know if I should just play AD&D and remove the alignment and class restrictions, or if I should opt for BRP. But with AD&D, I have lists of default magical items and treasures and whatnot, but I don't know if I have that for BRP so I fear it may take more work. I'm not looking for an existing story - I just need a simple but comprehensive system that I can use to tell my own stories. But I'm not RPG savy so I don't know what to do.

I'm sorry for the long winded and perhaps confusing plight, but I ask for any degree of advice. I'm at a loss so any help would be appreciated. Thank you so much just for reading this nonsense!

[vagabond]

Hello everyone! I come with a conundrum and I don't know where else to turn.

A quick background, I've only played a few games of Call of Cthulhu as the GM. But I have lately found myself wanting a good old fashion dungeon crawling sorta game - so I can make strange and terrible dungeons filled with terrible things. I thought it would be fun to get into 1st edition AD&D, so I bought the recent rereleases and have been looking them over. But I've gotten overwhelmed and confused and now I'm wondering if I should seek a more BRP related approach.

The rigid alignment system was a turn off, as is the rigid class system - but the rules for randomization of treasure and monsters are very appealing. I was thinking it would be much better for me and my gang if I could employ a more Elder Scrolls style class system. That is, classes are little more than a title and the player is free to choose their own skills. I also like the idea of a non-magic centric character being able to cast some degree of magic - like a fighter throwing a fireball now and again.

I know from CoC that you sort of have that kind of open class system, but I never dealt with magic so I don't know how that all works. So now I don't know if I should just play AD&D and remove the alignment and class restrictions, or if I should opt for BRP. But with AD&D, I have lists of default magical items and treasures and whatnot, but I don't know if I have that for BRP so I fear it may take more work. I'm not looking for an existing story - I just need a simple but comprehensive system that I can use to tell my own stories. But I'm not RPG savy so I don't know what to do.

I'm sorry for the long winded and perhaps confusing plight, but I ask for any degree of advice. I'm at a loss so any help would be appreciated. Thank you so much just for reading this nonsense!

I would give Magic World a try - it is BRP based, using the old Elric!/Stormbringer 5th as a basis, but stripping out the Moorcock stuff. It has a setting, but you can easily ignore it.

Magic World: Fantasy Roleplaying in Worlds of Epic Adventure (Basic Roleplaying system): Lynn Willis, Ben Monroe, and Friends, Andy P. Timm, Kenneth Solis: 9781568823652: Amazon.com: Books

It has a dedicated forum here as well.

Another possibility is Classic Fantasy, which is specifically for dungeon crawls.

Classic Fantasy Chaosium Inc.

Ian

[filbanto]

Classic Fantasy sounds like what you are after. It is not as polished a product as Magic World, but it has really great content and will give you that "playing AD&D with a better set of rules" vibe. I've run straight dungeon crawls using the Elric rules (what MW is based off of) and they work fine too.

[Zarameus]

Oh, I'm such a dunderhead. I actually own the Classic Fantasy book and I didn't even think to check it out with these recent stirrings. Looking it over again, however, and you blokes might just be right. It sounds a LOT like the AD&D book that I've been reading, what with the classes and races and what have you, so it may just be exactly what I needed. I think I can even work out a simple way to allow basic spell casting even with non-magic-users.

But Magic World does intrigue me as well. Especially since it even says on the product page that any character can be a spell-caster. So I may actually pick that up as well and compare them directly. But either way, it sounds like I have a pretty good starting point and a pretty good fallback at this point. Thank you so much for being my much needed voices of reason.

I am curious about something else. Being that I was primarily a CoC keeper, I own the Malleus Monstrorum. That is an amazing resource for truly terrible monsters that could really add a dash of horror to classic fantasy. Might you know if the monsters therein would be compatible without much tinkering?

[filbanto]

I am curious about something else. Being that I was primarily a CoC keeper, I own the Malleus Monstrorum. That is an amazing resource for truly terrible monsters that could really add a dash of horror to classic fantasy. Might you know if the monsters therein would be compatible without much tinkering?

I don't own Malleus Monstrorum, but I'm gonna go out on a pretty sturdy limb and so "no problem". I used Cthuhlu monsters in my old Stormbringer games. I think Classic Fantasy gives players the CON+SIZ hit point option so if you want them to be really scary you may want to double HP or something. You also have to figure out what (if any) Sanity effects they'd have on your party. A Deep One isn't any scarier than an orc and Tsathoggua is cuter than most of the demons in the AD&D pantheon, but seeing Yog Sothoth might shake the faith of a palidin:)

[Zarameus]

I don't own Malleus Monstrorum, but I'm gonna go out on a pretty sturdy limb and so "no problem". I used Cthuhlu monsters in my old Stormbringer games. I think Classic Fantasy gives players the CON+SIZ hit point option so if you want them to be really scary you may want to double HP or something. You also have to figure out what (if any) Sanity effects they'd have on your party. A Deep One isn't any scarier than an orc and Tsathoggua is cuter than most of the demons in the AD&D pantheon, but seeing Yog Sothoth might shake the faith of a palidin:)

I was thinking just the same thing. Dagon and his ilk are pretty common sights in most fantasy worlds. Even a Gug, while it may raise some eyebrows, isn't much different on the scale of terror than say an Umber Hulk or something. So I was thinking I would cut out the sanity system for the basic creatures. But as you said, if one of the big guys ever shows their figurative face, it'd probably ruffle some feathers. I always got the impression that some of the Old Ones caused sanity loss for reasons that go beyond physical appearance. Like, humankind lacks the necessary faculties to comprehend the full sight of them, and the brain begins to break down because of it. And Cthulhu has an enormous psychic presence - so he may cause some lesser minded adventurers to lose it because of the mental pressure he exerts, while an accomplished magician or psionic would probably be able to shield themselves from the brunt of it.

But this is looking good, I think we've got the ball rolling here now!

[filbanto]

Realms of Crawling Chaos is a good supplement to check out for adding mythos beasties to your standard D&D world. It is written for Labyrinth Lord, but it is mostly fluff and ideas.

If you scroll down a ways on this page and download Uncounted Worlds 2 there is an article for using CoC as a straight fantasy - tombs and tentacles - kind of game.

[Chaot]

I wanted to chime in just to say that Classic Fantasy is great for this. Also, it's very easy to take aspects of Classic Fantasy and bolt them on to Magic World if you see something you like.

[frogspawner]

By all means, Classic Fantasy. Tweaked to let fighter-types do some minor magic - that's up to you. But how'd you feel about everybody doing their own magic? That'd be full-on good old RuneQuest.

[Chorpa]

As I see it you have two options if you want the flavour of a D&Dish game but avoid the system.

1. Classic Fantasy - As everyone else suggest Classic Fantasy does sound exactly like what you are after.

2. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy - A similar aim as Classic Fantasy but with the GURPS system. Pros: Way more support and small books out to support your games. Cons: Another system (GURPS). It is not a bad system but as most here would agree on BRP is a more intuitive system.

[frogspawner]

Another possibility, if a bit hard-to-find, would be the *original* BRP/Worlds of Wonder "Magic World" fantasy supplement. It sort-of has classes, but is gorgeously simple: 18 pages, including monsters & scenario (but requires a few pages from the old BRP "Intro to Roleplaying" too). A gem - absolutely perfect for fantasy-fan D100 newbies.

[Jeffrywith1e]

Another possibility, if a bit hard-to-find, would be the *original* BRP/Worlds of Wonder "Magic World" fantasy supplement. It sort-of has classes, but is gorgeously simple: 18 pages, including monsters & scenario (but requires a few pages from the old BRP "Intro to Roleplaying" too). A gem - absolutely perfect for fantasy-fan D100 newbies.

It's not too hard to find. Its been sitting on this site with no problem for years...

Worlds of Wonder

[Zarameus]

Oh wow! I didn't expect such a growth spurt on this topic while I've been gone! A lot of support for Classic Fantasy, which is fitting because it's an amazing book. I checked out Magic World, which is also very good. So I'm thinking that I'd find a great balance with both - especially in Classic Fantasy's spells. Magic World has some good ones, but I was really put off by the lack of traditional projectile spells. Luckily CF had just what I needed in that regard. I'm also really hyped for Classic Fantasy's future second edition.

And wow. Thank you for the oldschool BRP/Magic World link - that is ridiculously appealing to me. Not only do I love classically simple rule sets, but that's the first Chimera I've found for BRP. That might just be a perfect tool for easing into the groove with my prospective players.

[frogspawner]

It's not too hard to find. Its been sitting on this site with no problem for years... Worlds of Wonder

Ah, so it has! I remember now - it's the scenario that's hard-to-find. That version doesn't have it...

And wow. Thank you for the oldschool BRP/Magic World link - that is ridiculously appealing to me. Not only do I love classically simple rule sets, but that's the first Chimera I've found for BRP. That might just be a perfect tool for easing into the groove with my prospective players.

Very glad to hear it. Should keep you going until CF2, at least...

Now you only have to convert it from evil metric to fine upstanding imperial measure, and you're good to go!

[Matt]

It's not too hard to find. Its been sitting on this site with no problem for years...

Worlds of Wonder

Just wanted to say thanks for that link. It's awesome to get that old material. No interest whatsoever in Magic World or Future World, but the Superworld stuff I've been wanting to see for a long time.