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May release


badcat

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New notice at Chaosium that the BRP book is 'on track' for this May, for any who have not already been there and seen that. The artwork seems to finally be coming in.

My fingers are crossed. Six to ten more weeks, hopefully, instead of July or August as some of us feared.

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That's encouraging news...let's hope so.

Since I just ordered E0, E1 is bound to be out within seconds! :ohwell:

Is anyone else concerned about the possibility of 4th edition D&D (due out June 6th) stealing BRP's thunder...

Yep. BRP will have no "thunder", that's certain. Now, if they'd got it out before Christmas...

My long-time (thrice-yearly) gaming group is in danger of being sucked down into 4e D&D. One player, disgruntled at his character dying, now insists d100 combat it "too dangerous" and railroading to go "back" to D&D with 4e. (He didn't die in combat, and from what I've seen of 4e it's not much like the 1st Ed AD&D we used to know and loathe in the old days. So that shows how much logic is involved.)

But we should be ready with counter-arguments, to make it clear how BRP is better.

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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My long-time (thrice-yearly) gaming group is in danger of being sucked down into 4e D&D. One player, disgruntled at his character dying, now insists d100 combat it "too dangerous" and railroading to go "back" to D&D with 4e. (He didn't die in combat, and from what I've seen of 4e it's not much like the 1st Ed AD&D we used to know and loathe in the old days. So that shows how much logic is involved.)

You know, I've certainly played RQ3 and Stormbringer in a D&D dungeon-bash kind of way without too much PC death. You just need someone with some killer healing spell and enough POW, plus some reasonably decent skill levels in weapons, dodging, and First Aid. If you're dealing with hardened D&D dungeon-bash types, you can always use the "Total Hit Points" option in the BRP rules - effectively HP equal to SIZ + CON, without the division by two. That really beefs things up. Create your characters along D&D class stereotypes, make sure healing is available, and - blam! If Major Wounds become a problem, make some "Major Healing Magic" available in the form of potions,new spells, "staffs of healing", etc. They'll learn to love the D100 in the end! :D

Cheers,

Sarah

"The Worm Within" - the first novel for The Chronicles of Future Earth, coming 2013 from Chaosium, Inc.

Website: http://sarahnewtonwriter.com | Twitter: @SarahJNewton | Facebook: TheChroniclesOfFutureEarth

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Absolutely!

I have run (very long term, over 10 years with the same core group) a mixture of Stormbringer/Magic World/Arcanum with much success. One thing that sticks in my mind is having an AD&D player in several sessions who said it was actually LESS deadly than AD&D is at the first few levels.

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If you're dealing with hardened D&D dungeon-bash types... use the "Total Hit Points" option... Create your characters along D&D class stereotypes, make sure healing is available... potions,new spells, "staffs of healing", etc. They'll learn to love the D100 in the end!

Most of that is in place, I've made plenty of house-rule compromises already. Thanks for the support, that I'm on the right track. They'll learn to love d100/BRP - or die in the attempt! ;) But you can lead a horse to water...

...an AD&D player in several sessions who said it was actually LESS deadly than AD&D is at the first few levels.

And he's probably right - up to 4e (where it seems characters will get 20-ish HP at 1st level, and everyone gets healed after combats). Too safe, methinks. I reckon the feeling of danger is a major benefit to BRP.

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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I agree with that. The only d&d games I have even partly enjoyed were low level ones, where we had to worry about a 'mere' arrow hit. Or whatever.

So they are trying to make the PCs even safer. What's the point of adventuring and living a 'dangerous' life, even vicariously, if you know you are going to win? The game bores me out of my skull. Everything I hear about 4e shouts 'bad design, stay away' in flashing neon lights.

Christ, Chaosium should hire the WOTC spin artists.

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Greetings

My son and his friends are unlikely to go down the 4e route - they play d20 stuff mainly (when they play - they're 17 so there are other interests) but aren't going to pay out UKP50 or so for 4e. I have run both 3.5e (to get them into RPGing some years ago) and d100. They like both but all think that d100 feels scarier because of the uncertainty. To them that's a good thing.

So I am sure I'll get them to play BRP.

Regards

Edward

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My big problem with DnD has been there since the beginning, levels! That's why I like and have always systems like BRP. No levels and you can really make any kind of character you like by making sure you increase the particular skills you need to make that character.

As far as one system being deadlier than another, all of that is controlled by the GM. I can just as easily kill off a PC in DnD as I can in BRP. I just hate the fact that in DnD, you get more hit points as you go up in level! But I do like the magic system from DnD, so I'll be doing a little work once I get a hold of the new BRP and I'm sure most of my players will have no problem playing a BRP game instead of a DnD game when the current campaign ends.

Those that do, just won't play in my game!

Skunk - 285/420 BRP book

You wanna be alright you gotta walk tall

Long Beach Dub Allstars & Black Eyed Peas

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Skunkape,

If you want to use D&D style magic in a BRP game, you should check out the GORE rules if you haven't already. There is a link in the downloads section on this site. The author took the D&D SRD spells and adapted them to BRP.

I'll have to check them out, thanks for the heads up!

Skunk - 285/420 BRP book

You wanna be alright you gotta walk tall

Long Beach Dub Allstars & Black Eyed Peas

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Reasons I dont like D&D let me list the ways....

1. Classes - too artificial, and stop me building what I want

2. Levels - Why does everything increase all at once what's the reasoning or media based justification behind that?

3. Expanding Hit points - Easy way to model really tough competent characters, BUT. Healing doesnt make any sense in the context of PCs with 55 hps vs normal 5 HP people. Does high HPS = lots of dodging and avoidance skill or is it simply raw toughness & willpower? How come if you tie up a high HP character they don't loose most of their HPs straight away?

4. The magic system makes having wizards that are anything like those in the most popular genre fiction basically impossible.

5. In more recent D&D versions FEATs, piddly +1 and +2 bonuses to certain actions with feats make everything much more of a pain in the arse to track for players and x10 for the GM. really bad design decision IMHO.

6. Basic attack bonus (BAB) being level & class based rather than a skill. Why do I have to play a cleric whose BAB goes up each level even if im the priestess of a pacifist healing god? Ill tell you why because BAB being attached to level is wrong!!! :D

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Yawn. Do we need to do this?

Griping about D&D (especially 4e) might be useful if it helps us hone our arguments and persuade it's players to upgrade to BRP...

[deleted - silly joke]

I can't allow that precedent! Most of my 'contribution' is silly jokes. Please re-instate it! ;)

Britain has been infiltrated by soviet agents to the highest levels. They control the BBC, the main political party leaderships, NHS & local council executives, much of the police, most newspapers and the utility companies. Of course the EU is theirs, through-and-through. And they are among us - a pervasive evil, like Stasi.

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AikiGhost, I agree with every thing you said.:)

Bet you wouldn't make the same post at rpg.net.:eek:

Over the years, I guess we have figured out how to 'fix' all the stuff you mention, but it is an even bigger pain to do so...easier to find a more playable game (BRP, many of the games they call 'fantasy heartbreakers' at rpg.net, whatever) if you can. Honestly, my biggest gripe with D&D these days is simply that it seems almost everybody around here wants to play it almost exclusively.;-(

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