Worlds Beyond

[Dredj]

Originally Posted by rust

I like and use both systems, BRP and Traveller, and I will "translate" the
excellent character generation lifepath system of Mongoose Traveller into
BRP as soon as the German edition of MGT has been published.

From what I did read on other forums, there are at least some people with
similar ideas, and who also would very much welcome something like an
updated Worlds Beyond as additional material for their SF roleplaying with
both BRP and Traveller.

An updated Worlds Beyond would need better editing, though it could be sold as is as a pdf.

Soon, after I dig through my stuff after a move, I will post the Worlds Beyond FTL rules.

[rust]

Originally Posted by Trifletraxor

Can you explain a bit about the char-gen lifepath system?

The character's creation is divided in career terms of 4 years each. The play-
er rolls for the major events in the character's life during each of the terms
(e.g. training and skills, advancement, mishaps, life events, etc.), with the
results depending on the career during this term.

For example, if his character served a term as a scout, an event could have
looked like this:

"Your scout ship is one of the first on the scene to rescue the survivors of a disaster. Roll either Medic 8+ or Engineer 8+.
If you succeed, gain a Contact and a +2 DM to your next Advancement check. If you fail, gain an Enemy."

Or he could have failed a survival roll, with a mishap result like this:

"You inadvertently cause a conflict between the Imperium and a minor world or race. Gain a Rival and Diplomat 1."

So, at the end of the character creation the player has both a character and
the framework for an entire background history for this character.

Besides, this system can also be used to create colourful NPCs, and to con-
nect them to the player characters - just think of the Enemy or the Rival
the scout would have made in the events mentioned above.

[Rurik]

I believe that the Traveller SRD has been released on the Mongoose website - though I haven't looked at it yet. I assume it has chargen in it. Either way it is free to check out.

[Conrad]

Originally Posted by Simlasa

I'd like to see Worlds Beyond get a new lease on life... but I kind of doubt there is much of an audience for it that isn't already satisfied with some version of Traveller.

I'd love to see an official Traveller BRP book. I never liked any of the game systems for any of the Traveller games and,after seeing how Future World did things,thought that BRP would make a good system for that universe.
I might try to convert Worlds Beyond to BRP using Stefan Mathias's Traveller BRP notes, seeing as both Traveller and Worlds Beyond are very similar in outlook.

[Conrad]

Originally Posted by Dredj

Soon, after I dig through my stuff after a move, I will post the Worlds Beyond FTL rules.

Dredj, before you do that you may want to contact Frank Shewmake to ask if it is okay.
Come to think of it Mr Shewmake might still have the missing chargen tables still knocking about in a file somewhere. It would also be interesting to ask him if he intended to publish any more products for Worlds Beyond.
Can anyone give me a name and e mail address at Chaosium so that I can inquire about contacting Mr Shewmake? Since this thread shows that there is a (small) amount of interest in contacting the author I may as well try to do so. At the least we may get an interesting interview with Mr Shewmake out of it.

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Conrad

Can anyone give me a name and e mail address at Chaosium so that I can inquire about contacting Mr Shewmake? Since this thread shows that there is a (small) amount of interest in contacting the author I may as well try to do so. At the least we may get an interesting interview with Mr Shewmake out of it.

dustin@chaosium.com is the guy to talk to.

I know from him that Chaosium has the rights to reprint WB, but I don't know what other rights they may have or be interested in procuring.

[Dredj]

Originally Posted by Conrad

Dredj, before you do that you may want to contact Frank Shewmake to ask if it is okay.
Come to think of it Mr Shewmake might still have the missing chargen tables still knocking about in a file somewhere. It would also be interesting to ask him if he intended to publish any more products for Worlds Beyond.
Can anyone give me a name and e mail address at Chaosium so that I can inquire about contacting Mr Shewmake? Since this thread shows that there is a (small) amount of interest in contacting the author I may as well try to do so. At the least we may get an interesting interview with Mr Shewmake out of it.

I will dig out my book, today. But I'll hang on, since I'd rather not get into any legal issues.

[Conrad]

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

dustin@chaosium.com is the guy to talk to.

I know from him that Chaosium has the rights to reprint WB, but I don't know what other rights they may have or be interested in procuring.

Many thanks for that link and information.

[Conrad]

Originally Posted by Dredj

I will dig out my book, today. But I'll hang on, since I'd rather not get into any legal issues.

Dredj, are there any questions that you may wish to ask Mr Shewmake, if I manage to collar him ( this question applies to anyone else interested in Worlds Beyond)?

[rust]

Yep, I have a question, or perhaps a proposal:

It is quite possible that Mr. Shewmake and / or Chaosium are not interested
in publishing an updated print version of Worlds Beyond, for example because
it would be a lot of work to do, or because a commercial success is conside-
red unlikely.

In this case, could it be possible to publish Worlds Beyond as an e-book PDF
for downloading it, for example from the Chaosium website ?

This approach has been used for a couple of older and less popular SF RPGs,
for example FGU's Space Opera, and it seems to work quite well, and to earn
the author at least some money ...