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Better Integration of BGB and The Magic Book?


SokMunki

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Hi folks! I've played Call of Cthulhu off-and-on for many, many years (I owned the blue box), but apart from a handful of Stormbringer sessions I haven't touched anything else related to BRP.

I'm trying to run a (relatively) rules-light high-fantasy game using the BGB and The Magic Book (tMB?), but the RuneQuest remnants in the latter book is making integration tricky. Has anyone written up something that helps mesh the two books together, particularly for starting characters?

If not, any suggestions about how to merge the two together? tMB's "Wizardry" seems to mesh well with BGB's "Magic". By occasionally swapping INT for POW it looks like "Divine Magic" might translate over to the "Sorcery" rules. "Spirit Magic"... that I don't know about.

Any help is appreciated!

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What your looking for is Magic World and the supplement Advanced Sorcery. Magic world is the Elric/Stormbringer 5 rules with all the Morcock stuff removed, and advanced sorcery is all the stuff from the bronze grimoir and the unknown east books.you can check the magic world area for more info this book. I think you would like it Ben did a good job putting this together so you don't have to pick through the BGB to run a simple fantasy game. The character generation is simple and fast, the the basic magic system in the main book is very easy to run. The advanced sorcery book is just more options for spell casters that you can pick and choose what you want to add to your game. I hope this was helpful for you, if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask. You have more luck starting a thread in the magic world area if this seems like something might like.

Miles

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Running the BGB with the Magic Book and trying to mesh all those magic systems together will be a chore. I prefer the RQ mechanics personally, but if you never had RQ3 then doing what you are attempting will be quite a challenge. I always recommend people to buy the most recent version of RuneQuest (6th edition); it is brilliant and has all the things I really dig about the system.

However in your case if you are already familiar with Call of Cthulhu and have had exposure to Elric/Stormbringer (and enjoyed it), then Vexthug's suggestion of buying MagicWorld is definitely the easiest option for you. MagicWorld has an excellent quick character generation process, and the game mechanics are pretty much Elric/Stormbringer minus the Young Kingdoms setting. I think there may be a spattering of rules or 'odds n bods' from RQ3 in there as well, for good measure. However it is much more Elric/Stormbringer than RQ3.

MagicWorld is a great book for BRP, and it will save you time trying to sort out which 'nuts n bolts' of the BGB you will need to run a fantasy setting.

The last chapter provides a sample setting of 'The Southern Reache's which can be used to mesh in with any home brew setting; ideal for what you are after. Its more a local frontier region with a collection of various cultures. Great to start an adventuring troupe off; it can be easily ignored if need be.

I heartily second the notion of recommending you order a copy of MagicWorld and go from there. I would suggest keeping to one magic system (such as the Sorcery system provided in MagicWorld), and just change the trappings according to taste and variety. Wizardly sorcerers could be Sages with a focus of lore and magic study, whereas Clerical sorcerers could be Priests with magical spells in line with the nature of their deity. With a little fiddling you can change the spell names, provide different components or requiremenets etc, and you've got magic covered. I would also suggest buying the Advanced Sorcery book if you want to fiddle with magic - the Deep Magic rules are worth the price alone, and there is heaps of other content such as additional Sorcery spells, Rune-craft, Herbalism/Alchemy, and Skill Mastery (off the top of my head).

So go with Magic World and perhaps Advanced Sorcery I reckon. I doubt you will be disappointed with them, as they are pretty much what you are after.

Edited by Mankcam

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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Thanks for the replies, folks! I actually have MagicWorld but wasn't quite thrilled with the (in my opinion) narrow focus/flavor of Sorcery as presented. (I had bought the BGB and MagicWorld as an alternative to running an Elric! game, not realizing that 1. MagicWorld was a standalone game and 2. that it was really Elric! v2.2.) Probably should've mentioned that from the start: apologies.

I'll see about getting Advanced Sorcery and fiddle with that so (as Mankcam mentions) I can get two or three different magical paths even if they roll up into "Sorcery" as far as the system goes.

In the meantime I may try banging a few nails into The Magic Book and see if I can get attached to the BGB in a way that's more to my liking. If I have any success I'll post it here.

...and then, knowing me, I'll probably say "hell with it" and just wind up nabbing RQ6. ;-)

Much appreciated!

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Thanks for the replies, folks! I actually have MagicWorld but wasn't quite thrilled with the (in my opinion) narrow focus/flavor of Sorcery as presented. (I had bought the BGB and MagicWorld as an alternative to running an Elric! game, not realizing that 1. MagicWorld was a standalone game and 2. that it was really Elric! v2.2.) Probably should've mentioned that from the start: apologies.

I'll see about getting Advanced Sorcery and fiddle with that so (as Mankcam mentions) I can get two or three different magical paths even if they roll up into "Sorcery" as far as the system goes.

In the meantime I may try banging a few nails into The Magic Book and see if I can get attached to the BGB in a way that's more to my liking. If I have any success I'll post it here.

...and then, knowing me, I'll probably say "hell with it" and just wind up nabbing RQ6. ;-)

Much appreciated!

If you're just looking for some alternative magic systems, I'd recommend grabbing the Legend core rules PDF for $1 and the free spirit magic PDF for Legend. Legend magic should be easy to graft into Magic World.

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If you're just looking for some alternative magic systems, I'd recommend grabbing the Legend core rules PDF for $1 and the free spirit magic PDF for Legend. Legend magic should be easy to graft into Magic World.

$1 + free = sold.

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LEGEND is basically a forerunner to RQ6, and is great. I totally forgot about it actually, and for the price it's hard not to recommend. I wouldn't be surprised if you buy RQ6 at a later date, but LEGEND is a good stand alone product. The magic in in will be along the lines of what you have been looking at in the BRP Magic Book. The Magic Book was lifted almost verbatim from RQ3 in the first place, so the themes are highly compatible with LEGEND, which is really MRQ2 in all but name and setting (which in turn is really RQ5 if that makes any sense :)). Hard to go wrong with RQ, so LEGEND is a very good option.

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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