A couple of weeks ago I picked up the Chaosium Generic Role Playing system and I am considering using that to begin running a Greyhawk game that is a bit more realistic. Has anyone else experimented with this system?
Ok, so after going over the system I have a few character classes and Associated Skills lists created. They are as follows:
Acrobat: Climb, Dodge, Jump, Stealth, Throw +5 skills from the following list: Brawl, Grapple, Insight, Listen, Spot, Swim, Throw.
Bard: Art (Any), Disguise, Fast Talk, Fine Manipulation, Insight, Language (Own), Listen, Perform.
Cleric: Insight, Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Religion), Language (Own), Literacy, Perform (Rituals), Persuade +3 skills from the following list: First Aid, Knowledge (Occult), Language (Other), (Restricted by type), Perform (Oratory), Psychotherapy, Research, Status or Teach.
Thief: Climb, Fine Manipulation, Hide, Listen, Melee (Restricted by type), Sleight of Hand, Stealth + 3 of the following: Appraise, Bargain, Disguise, Dodge, Etiquette, Fast Talk, Gaming, Insight, Jump, Persuade or Ride.
Also, the Magic system has yet to be really fully fleshed out but it will have allowances for the differences between the spell casting abilities of Bards, Mages and Sorcerers, as well as Clerics and Druids, Paladins and Rangers.
I played around with a couple of different skills lists for Druids, Sorcerers as well as Barbarians and Rangers but I still don't like them. They should be up in a few days...
After I finish the classes I'll move on to racial/cultural differences and abilities. Once that is detailed I'll move on to the mechanics behind the Magic system.
I have considered using BRP myself! I had begun work on a set of conversions for the L1-3 series, but I never did get to finish it... got distracted with other projects.
Just started to use BRP for Greyhawk myself. It's going to be a long haul converting material over but I've been getting some great support from the Classic Fantasy group over at basicroleplaying.com which has helped in these very early stages.
At some point I hope to post some material but I don't know what the levels of interest would be; I'll play it by ear.
Hey, color me still interested. After a long dry spell of no interest in matters Greyhawkian when my last campaign petered out last year, I've suddenly felt the bug again.
Okay, I've made some progress with planning the campaign.
I've decided to reset the campaign in 576 (moving from 593 which was the point we previously reached) which will enable me to build the campaign organically bit by bit from this point; ultimately I found it too difficult, and a little daunting, to incorporate BRP into 593 where there were just so many supplements and a mass of information.
I'll start with the 1983 box set and advance from there converting the supplements as I go and as they appear in the timeline; the second one will probably be the City of Greyhawk box set. I also plan to do a Player's Handbook type of manuscript that will lay out all the races, classes (professions) and how the magic system fits in.
Most of the players are onboard and looking forward to bit of nostalgia and what I'm referring to as the unknown known. By coincidence someone at the Classic Fantasy group has completed a BRP version of B1 and B2 and those may well get a run-out in the early days. I'm hoping to be up and running in the new campaign in 2-4 months, work schedule allowing.
Interesting thread. Was hoping to see more of manus-nigrum conversions, Ragr thanks for the links, and warlock get that itching checked it could be a Grey-rash.
I've made a few advances in converting the campaign and have produced a half-dozen "player's guides" that outline some of the basics to my players. Most of these concern things like Races, Skills and equipment but the most radical, and difficult, was to do with incorporating the magic system. Included below is what I've come up with.
POWERS
Magic will be the mainstay power of the campaign and, as with D&D, will be divided into Arcane and Divine. There will be a further sub-division with Druidic magic a part of Divine and Illusionist a part of Arcane. Only Gnomes have access to the Illusion spell list although that is the only list they use. Druids use the Druidic list only. It is possible to be a caster of both types of magic, a multi-class character if you will; Wizard-Priests of certain faiths are possible, though rare.
Spells are divided into 3 categories that define their power and availability; Common, Uncommon and Rare. A character’s knowledge skill in the relevant type defines the level of spell they can learn.
Ritual magic is the highest level and is considered Very Rare. This will feature permanent spells, reality shattering effects etc. This is Arch-Mage territory and it will be the luckiest (and least irritating) of pcs that gets to cast these, although they may end up assisting one day.
The following new skills are central to the system;
New Knowledge skills
These all relate to the system of magic and consist of;
A character’s score in this will determine whether they can learn a new spell, the frequency level of the spells that can be learnt and the amount of spells that can be memorised. These skills are used whenever a question arises over a magical effect that is a spell. The exact levels I’ll keep to myself at this stage but will reflect the caster’s ability to know common/uncommon/rare spells.
Arcane Rituals
Divine Rituals
Druidic Rituals
These spells are the pinnacle of power and can only be used by a true master. The Spell Lore skills will determine when a caster can master a Ritual Spell but this skill is used to learn the rituals. A character can assist another caster in a ritual and each Ritual spell will have a score of its own just like other spells.
These skills cover the ability of a caster to create a spell scroll that can be used to store a spell in ready, scroll form. The processes are reasonably time consuming and incur a cost depending on the spell.
These skills relate to the creation of devices powered by magic. Each individual item type has a separate skill score within the overall skill, for example; Arcane Device Lore (Gauntlets of Ogre Power) 39%. As there are a wide range of possibilities the exact usage can be discussed when necessary and some crossover is possible using the rules that cover Difficult skill checks.
Spells work as in the BGB except as follows;
Arcane casters require a grimoire, divine casters do not.
Spells cannot be cast direct from a grimoire.
All spells in the BGB are being used as well as those in Classic Fantasy I, which has a master list classifying spells into common/uncommon/rare frequency.
Grimoires can be written in any language and any Arcane spell user who can read the language can understand the spell concepts written. Most Guild Mages will inscribe their grimoires in a code that is unique to that guild; this skill must be learnt by the caster as Literacy (Other {name of guild]) in the normal way. Free Mages tend to inscribe in a written language known to them.
Divine and Druidic casters use ½ POW to determine the number of spells they can memorise. Divine and Druidic casters must successfully use Perform (Ritual) in order to memorise new spells; only one check is required regardless of the number of spells to be memorised. No check is required to dismiss a spell. The results of the Perform (Ritual) are as follows;
Fumble; A most displeasing ceremony. No spells may be memorised for the next 24 hours.
Fail; An inappropriate choice of words during the ceremony. Wait 4 hours before memorising spells again.
Success; A well conducted ritual. Spells are memorised at a rate of one per hour of prayer.
Special; Inspiring stuff. All spells waiting to be memorised are committed to mind in 1 hour.
Critical; A service belonging in a cathedral on a holy day. All spells are instantly memorised.
Gaining New Spells
An Arcane caster finding a spell book or being taught need simply make a successful skill roll to understand the spell and can then copy the spell into his grimoire. The result of the Arcane/Illusion Spell Lore roll is as follows;
Fumble; No further attempt can be made to learn this spell. (Research could be undertaken at a later time)
Fail; No further attempt can be made to understand this spell until the character’s Spell Lore increases.
Success; The spell can be entered into the grimoire. This will take 8 hours.
Special; As above although it takes only 4 hours
Critical; As above although the spell takes only an hour to copy and the starting value of the spell is INT x2%.
An Arcane caster researching a new spell checks his Arcane/Illusion Spell Lore with the following results. A character researching a spell in an inappropriate location will find all rolls are treated as difficult.
Fumble; No further attempt can be made to research this spell. (An attempt to learn the spell can still be made if an opportunity arises)
Fail; The character’s attempt does not succeed and a month is lost.
Success; The character may now make an INT+POW roll for each month to determine successful research time.
Special; As above, although the roll is INT + POW x2%.
Critical; As above, although the timescale is weekly.
An Arcane caster researching a new, wholly original spell checks his Arcane/Illusion Spell Lore skill with the following results.
Fumble; 6 months are lost through fruitless research. Full costs of research are incurred. The spell is not viable and cannot be learnt.
Fail; Mistakes are made during research and 3 months are lost. The spell may still be viable so the caster may try again.
Success; Use usual procedure with INT+POW checks each month with 6 successful checks required.
Special; As above with INT+POW x 2
Critical; As above but with a weekly timescale.
A Divine caster can be taught the rudiments of a new spell by another Divine caster and this is treated the same as an Arcane caster unless the teacher is a follower of another faith. If the teacher is of another faith and the spell is learnt successfully, a further Perform (Ritual) check is required to confirm that spells adoption with the following results.
Fumble; The transformation to a new faith wipes the learnt spell from the character’s mind and the caster cannot learn this spell again except by research. Furthermore, the caster cannot use any Divine spells for 24 hours.
Fail; The spell is not adopted and is lost. The character may attempt to learn the spell again but not from the original teacher.
Success; The spell is confirmed.
Special & Critical; No special result.
A Divine caster wishing to research a new spell, or a wholly original spell, follows the same procedure as for Arcane casters substituting Perform (Ritual) for INT + POW rolls.
Mutations
Mutations are not generally used other than as a result of exposure to some unpleasant conditions.
Psychic
Psychic powers are those used by the following Professions; Diviner; Psion; Seer; Oracle.
These powers could manifest in another character type after creation or could be learnt through a master.
Sorcery
Sorcery is available as an aberrant type of magic which involves dealing with creatures and forces from dark dimensions; Sorcerers are generally mistrusted at best. The following Professions use Sorcery; Shaman; Occultist.
Superpowers
Superpowers are typically those granted by race or, in some cases, by being a member of a Profession that calls upon supernatural aid, draws upon reserves of power, or has special magical talents to further its causes.
Nice work Ragr. I like where this is going for you. I own the BGB and Classic Fantasy so very keen to see where you end up.
My own project took me a slightly different route. I have created a PC Gen quick start, specific to Greyhawk and then got embroiled in a Monster Guide ... Oh Joy! I came to the conclusion that Legend was lacking in the monster department and began formatting my own "Complete Book of Monsters". Took the Basic Bestiary and the RQ Creature Coliseum and compared it to the Monsters of Legend book ... I soon realized I had spawned my own monster
What seems to be a strength of using BRP is that you can quite happily be playing the same game at heart, so it's recognisable, but with plenty of tweaks that make it suited to the type of campaign you want. It's a flexible, adaptable system. I'll share more stuff when it's complete and we can all take bits we like and use it.
One of my pcs is going for a Paladin so I'm working on that as a profession to begin with and how to make it work as a progressing career using the Status skill as a barometer to gaining new powers.
I will definitely share, I just need to ensure to give credit to the relevant Canonfire Sages, where required ... I have used several articles from CF and need to quote the respective authors.
It took me some time to begin to understand the relationships between Chaosium, Mongoose et al. as well as RuneQuest, BGB (... and Classic Fantasy in particular) and then Legend. Several mindset changes as I hadn't played RQ in 20 odd years and I am finally getting there, I hope! So as soon as the docs are completed I will post them.
In the early stages (mainly discussions) with a new group of players. I have been nominated as GM and I will be setting the game/campaign in Greyhawk, using Mongoose Publishing's Legend system.
Waiting on overall PC ideas from the guys before I settle on a location and kick off adventure (mainly homebrew). However, the PCs will come from the same geographic location and I am hoping the adventure will happen organically from the introductory session.
None of my players have ever played RuneQuest/Legend, however, one has played a lot of Call of Cthulhu. One player has never role played before so in a good position to try new rules.
I will keep this thread updated as I develop things better.
Not sure if you're aware of the new book out for BRP called Magic World? On sale at Chaosium? I bought my pdf yesterday and so far I am loving it. The look and feel is really retro and it has a clean, easy to read layout.
Magic World looks really nice and although I doubt that I'll run it I would pick it up if the price was right.
Worth taking a look at OpenQuest 2 if you like your BRP; it's a mash up of BRP and RQ but with a very streamlined, simplified system. I backed it on Indiegogo and the hardcopy will be arriving soon; PDF already here. It also has several adventure supplements or mini-campaigns with an old school sword and sorcery feel.
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