Q&A with the new BRP Author

[Jason D]

I'm quite a bit worried with the power here. 8d6 points of damage for 8 mp? What is a warrior supposed to do with that? It will fry everything...

SGL.

Bad example (I didn't refer to the powers section of the manuscript, which was nailed down sometime a year ago) - I now recall that the damage spells are more expensive, and can be dodged or parried with a shield.

[Jason D]

Thanks for the extended summary, Jason. Do I gather from you discussion of sorcery that the rank of effect is no longer connected with the skill level in any way? I know in MagicWorld you took a 10% penalty for every rank over the first.

There is no skill level associated with Sorcery.

(Are you confusing the older summoning-style magic from the earlier editions of Stormbringer?)

[Kloster]

Hello,

As I don't have SB5, I can't check!

Will the combat skills be Attack/Parry (like RQ) or same skill for both (like SB1)?

Is the skill the same for all weapons in same category (like RQ III, same skill for all 1H axes) or different skill for each weapons (like CoC)?

Runequestement votre,

Kloster

[Jason D]

Will the combat skills be Attack/Parry (like RQ) or same skill for both (like SB1)?

The default is that it's a combined skill (your skill in Melee Weapons (Daggers) would be 55% for both attacks and parries.

Optional rules allow for the GM to split attack and parry into two separate skills.

Is the skill the same for all weapons in same category (like RQ III, same skill for all 1H axes) or different skill for each weapons (like CoC)?

The default rules assume a broad specialization in weapon classes. For example, 1-Handed Swords, 2-Handed Axes, etc.

Optional rules allow for more detailed specialization, so you might have Broadsword, Shortsword, Rapier, Scimitar, Saber, etc.

There are suggestions as to handle someone with a narrow specialization handling a weapon of the similar broad type.

[Trifletraxor]

Something I've been wondering about is why was the spirit & divine RQ3 magic system scrapped? It could do with some tweaks, but it was overall a very good system for BRP type of play. I am kinda afraid that some spells from magic world won't be even half as good.

SGL.

[Jason D]

Something I've been wondering about is why was the spirit & divine RQ3 magic system scrapped? It could do with some tweaks, but it was overall a very good system for BRP type of play. I am kinda afraid that some spells from magic world won't be even half as good.

There were a few reasons:

a) Adding both of those systems would have bumped the book's size up considerably, by at least another 30-45 pages.

Including those systems would have skewed the book very heavily towards feeling like "RQ with the serial numbers filed off", which I was adamant that the book NOT become.

c) The BRP book is the spiritual successor to

Worlds of Wonder

, hence the inclusion of the

Magic World

stuff. MW has a classic, easy to use, generic magic system that none of the magic systems from RQ emulate.

The addition of the SB/Elric! stuff was mostly a low-hanging fruit - easy to put in and not tremendously difficult to adapt to the new rules.

I'm quite eager to see those systems make it into a BRP sourcebook*. I just don't have the time or energy to write it.

* I've suggested before that the spirit, divine, and ritual magic from RQ; some de-Lovecraftized Call of Cthulhu magic; the Ki powers from Land of Ninja; more info on demon summoning from Stormbringer (4th edition); and some of the expanded magic from The Bronze Grimiore and The Unknown East would make a kick-ass BRP Magic.

[NickMiddleton]

Plus of course, the RQIII magic systems are still available in print from Chaosium as the BRP Magic Book monograph...

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

[AikiGhost]

Saying that the BRP system does not need technolgy/vehicle design rules is, I believe, a serious oversight and very limiting to the game as a whole because it makes several genres more difficult to put together.

Vehicle design rules should not be in a core book IMHO, they should be in any future Mecha supplement instead.

In fact the inclusion of mecha design rules in Silcore but the lack of inclusion of magic was one of the most annoying design decisions ever made for a game system IMHO.

[AikiGhost]

I didn't take it as a slam... more as a "It would be awesome if someone could write a starship creation/modification/combat system for BRP."

I would happily use it, though I've got no interest in writing it.

Sorry if the answer came back as argumentative.

Personally Id like to see a big book of spacecraft with deck plans and stats, but I have no actual interest in a starship/vehicle construction rules expansion for BRP or any other system. My experience of such systems in the past is that they are without a doubt the most boring dryest reading section in any RPG.

[badcat]

I would like to see some, but on a level with the Buck Rogers in the XXVth Century rpg from TSR back in the late eighties. Something simple and fast, with more space opera flavor than hard sci fi.

[technoshaman]

I have another question dealing combat and vehicles. Will the system be able to handle vehicle combat, dogfights with ships and vehicles, some term use is armored combat? I know chase rules was really big in Call of Cthulhu but not sure in other d100 games.

[Nightshade]

There is no skill level associated with Sorcery.

(Are you confusing the older summoning-style magic from the earlier editions of Stormbringer?)

Sorry, Jason, I meant Magic, not Sorcery--the one derived from MagicWorld.

[Nightshade]

I have another question dealing combat and vehicles. Will the system be able to handle vehicle combat, dogfights with ships and vehicles, some term use is armored combat? I know chase rules was really big in Call of Cthulhu but not sure in other d100 games.

I believe if you look upthread there was already a discussion of this.

[Jason D]

Sorry, Jason, I meant Magic, not Sorcery--the one derived from MagicWorld.

Was this rule in any errata?

I'm fairly certain it isn't in Magic World. If it is, I'd love a page reference on that.

[Nightshade]

Was this rule in any errata?

I'm fairly certain it isn't in Magic World. If it is, I'd love a page reference on that.

Well, hmmm. Apparently I've conflated MagicWorld sorcery with some other magic system I've seen used in BRP or RuneQuest over the years, because you're correct; I can find no such rule. The only limiting factor is time, power available and Intelligence.

[Lord Twig]

* I've suggested before that the spirit, divine, and ritual magic from RQ; some de-Lovecraftized Call of Cthulhu magic; the Ki powers from Land of Ninja; more info on demon summoning from Stormbringer (4th edition); and some of the expanded magic from The Bronze Grimiore and The Unknown East would make a kick-ass BRP Magic.

I notice you didn't include RQ's sorcery rules in there. Personally I love the flexibility that they had, though there were a few fixes needed. Why would you not include those? To much magic already? To similar to other system? Some other reason?

[Jason D]

To much magic already? To similar to other system? Some other reason?

Adding more Elric/SB sorcery and then another system called "Sorcery" would be too confusing, at least in my opinion.

[Nightshade]

Adding more Elric/SB sorcery and then another system called "Sorcery" would be too confusing, at least in my opinion.

RQ Sorcery is also pretty similar to a more complex version of MagicWorld magic (which was also called "sorcery" in the actual book...)

[NickMiddleton]

Adding more Elric/SB sorcery and then another system called "Sorcery" would be too confusing, at least in my opinion.

Just rename it? After all, the Elric! derived system only gets called "Sorcery" to distinguish it from "Magic" (have I mentioned that should have been "Wizardry"? ), so the RQIII Sorcery could become "Thaumaturgy" perhaps...

I wonder if Chaosium still have the rights to John Snead's Liber ka magic system for Nephilim?

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

[Jason D]

RQ Sorcery is also pretty similar to a more complex version of MagicWorld magic (which was also called "sorcery" in the actual book...)

I must confess to wanting to keep Magic World magic simple and basic, leaving the door open for someone else to come along later and make a more advanced version called "Wizardry".

Just rename it? After all, the Elric! derived system only gets called "Sorcery" to distinguish it from "Magic" (have I mentioned that should have been "Wizardry"? ), so the RQIII Sorcery could become "Thaumaturgy" perhaps...

Good ideas all...

I wonder if Chaosium still have the rights to John Snead's Liber ka magic system for Nephilim?

I believe they do. As it isn't translated from any of the French material, I would be surprised if they don't own it.

There's probably ample material for two or three different BRP magic system books.

As I've noted upthread, the temptation to write a BRP Magic book is strong, but after a year of playtest, writing and/or editing 276,000 words, and over three years of development on a generic system, I want to get back to content, which I enjoy most.

[TRose]

For my 2 cents on which magic system for BRP. Although I plan on using The spirit /divine spells from Runequest and Sandy Petersen's sorcery system , I will look at other systems as they come out. I dont mind different sorcery systems as I have always felt there should be different schools of sorcery out there. I Just want to see a sorcery system that is balanced so the non magic specialist dont wind up as a cheering gallery for the finger waggers . If the System is such that a experienced Mage type can easy defeat 3 experienced non mage types and not work up a sweat I probably wont like it.

[Atgxtg]

I'm quite a bit worried with the power here. 8d6 points of damage for 8 mp? What is a warrior supposed to do with that? It will fry everything...

SGL.

The scary thing was that in MW wizards got a staff that acted as a personal POW stroing device. I think it cost you 1 POW and got POW storage equal to the mage's POW, and regenerated POW, too.

WHen I ran MW mages were good for one or two high POW, nasty spells, before being brought down to reality.

Not quite as unbalanced as SB1 Sorcery, but much better on the fly.

[Nightshade]

The scary thing was that in MW wizards got a staff that acted as a personal POW stroing device. I think it cost you 1 POW and got POW storage equal to the mage's POW, and regenerated POW, too.

WHen I ran MW mages were good for one or two high POW, nasty spells, before being brought down to reality.

Not quite as unbalanced as SB1 Sorcery, but much better on the fly.

Well, if you had a mage with a 12 Power (not exactly world-shakingly hard to do or end up with) then you could easily toss 5 4d6 attacks out, that by strict reading of the rules auto-hit if you made the casting check. Two of those would take down most human targets pretty reliably, maybe one in many cases.

[Jason D]

Well, if you had a mage with a 12 Power (not exactly world-shakingly hard to do or end up with) then you could easily toss 5 4d6 attacks out, that by strict reading of the rules auto-hit if you made the casting check. Two of those would take down most human targets pretty reliably, maybe one in many cases.

As I noted before, Blast (as well as the other Magic World damage spells) got nerfed. Still pretty deadly, but no longer guaranteed one-shot kills like before.

[Atgxtg]

As I noted before, Blast (as well as the other Magic World damage spells) got nerfed. Still pretty deadly, but no longer guaranteed one-shot kills like before.

In what way? is it a 2-3 POW per d6, or an increasing scale (like 1 POW=1d2, 2=1d4, 3=1d6, 4=1d8, 5=1d10, 6=1d10+1d2, etc.)?

It is somewhat ironic that Chaosium threw out all the magic systems from RQ and went with the ones from SB and MW. Both had the problem of making those with magic completely superior to those without. SB did get toned down over the years, so demon weapon were no longer had a half dozen d6 damage bonus, but MW was a quick and dirty magic system. I hope it got nerfed a LOT.