Q&A with the new BRP Author

[NickMiddleton]

Originally Posted by Nightshade

I don't know how I forgot Other Suns, given I used to know Nicolai.

He's popped up on the RQ Rules mailing list a couple of times and seems a thoroughly decent chap - I love Other Suns back in the mid-eighties and was completely oblivious to the whole "furry" issue at the time - but I was never comfortable with the excessive mathematics in places, nor the starship system.

I think both it and Space Opera suffer from being rather more complicated in execution than most people probably want to deal with in BRP typically, though.

Actually, the "ancillary" SF subsystems in Space opera (Starships, Starship Combat, Planetary generation etc) are pretty good and not excessively baroque IMO, its the rest of the game that's bizarrely complex. But then, I'm one of those people who don't think starship design and combat systems are essential for an SF game...

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

[Atgxtg]

Originally Posted by Nightshade

Tell me about it.

Back before MRQ was released and things started heating up over at the MRQ site, I noted that there were seven authors credited in the MRQ rulebook and drew a Gloranthan Red Goddess parallel that could have been used in the RQ fans didn't like the forthcoming product. As far as I'm concerned, the parallel stands.

Originally Posted by Nightshade

I have to admit after my last experience with doing work for the game industry, I'd also be prone to looking at someone else and going "You go first." One of the things that will be somewhat telling to me is how long it actually takes for it to get out. In the game industry, releases tend to run to about five tiers:
1. "We're more or less on time"
2. "We're late, but at least here it is"
3. "We're backed up because of product in the pipeline/cashflow/personal problems, but it is coming out"
4. "We're going to try really hard to get it out"
5. "We've cancelled it/gone out of business".

Outside of a couple big names, I almost expect the third; I'm pretty much astounded when I get the first.

I expect the third, am not surprised by the fourth, and am pleased by the second. The first doesn't thrill me, as it usually means the product is so shoddy it wasn't worth buying. It's when something goes into the 41/2 limbo that scares me. Things like Chasoium's HEROQUEST, in limbo for over a decade (I had coffee go up my nose when I heard the Greg was releasing an HQ RPG, even if through a different company), or pretty much the entire Decipher RPG line (not dead, but as good as).

As far as writing for an RPG goes, well, I sorta need a rulebook. If I offer to write something I wonder if Dustin would send me some rules?

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

(snip) or pretty much the entire Decipher RPG line (not dead, but as good as).

The Decipher Star Trek and LotR lines are both stone cold dead. I believe they've lost the rights to publish anything for them.

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

As far as writing for an RPG goes, well, I sorta need a rulebook. If I offer to write something I wonder if Dustin would send me some rules?

You'd have to take that up with them.

[Atgxtg]

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

The Decipher Star Trek and LotR lines are both stone cold dead. I believe they've lost the rights to publish anything for them.

Yeah, and it's about time. THose of us over at the TrekRPG site, including a couple of line reps, are completely disgusted with Decipher. But the three years of line reps saying "I don't know, no one answers my emails" was unfair to the fans.

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

You'd have to take that up with them.

That be one heckuva sales pitch. "Hi, give me you game and I write something for it!". Worthy of an Issaries Rune Lord. Wonder if I could adapt that to dating.


BTW, Jason, We're not griping at you or Chasoium (okay, so we all want BRP now, but that's a good kinda gripe), just that all us old timers have gone through enough ups and downs with our favorite RPGs to take a "wait and see" approach. We all sort of secretly expecting/dreading that the bottom is going to fall out and are bracing ourselves for the fall. When that does happen we are usually caught a bit off guard.Even worse is the fear that some big RPG company might snatch up our favorite RPGs and pervent them by adding classes/levels and XP charts.

'cuz it's happened before.


I'm afraid of the RPG bogeyman.

[Nightshade]

Originally Posted by NickMiddleton

He's popped up on the RQ Rules mailing list a couple of times and seems a thoroughly decent chap - I love Other Suns back in the mid-eighties and was completely oblivious to the whole "furry" issue at the time - but I was never comfortable with the excessive mathematics in places, nor the starship system.

Well, he _is_ a mathemetician by training, after all.

Actually, the "ancillary" SF subsystems in Space opera (Starships, Starship Combat, Planetary generation etc) are pretty good and not excessively baroque IMO, its the rest of the game that's bizarrely complex. But then, I'm one of those people who don't think starship design and combat systems are essential for an SF game...

I recall finding the one time I tried to engage with starship creation that it defeated me, but its been 20 years or more so the details are fuzzy.

I don't think they're essential for an SF game per se, but the lack of them can constrain the sort of SF games you can run fairly seriously.

[Nightshade]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

Back before MRQ was released and things started heating up over at the MRQ site, I noted that there were seven authors credited in the MRQ rulebook and drew a Gloranthan Red Goddess parallel that could have been used in the RQ fans didn't like the forthcoming product. As far as I'm concerned, the parallel stands.

Well, I was one of the people on the first playtest list, so I'm, shall we say, not unbiased. :P

I expect the third, am not surprised by the fourth, and am pleased by the second. The first doesn't thrill me, as it usually means the product is so shoddy it wasn't worth buying. It's when something goes into the 41/2 limbo

Sometimes it just means the publisher actually has a realistic idea of scheduling.

that scares me. Things like Chasoium's HEROQUEST, in limbo for over a decade (I had coffee go up my nose when I heard the Greg was releasing an HQ RPG, even if through a different company), or pretty much the entire Decipher RPG line (not dead, but as good as).

It will probably explain a lot if I mention the company I've done work for is Eden Studios. Good people at heart, but about as prone to biting off more than they can chew than anyone in the hobby.

[Sorloc]

I liked the starship / vehicle creation rules in ICE's SpaceMaster supplements, Star Strike and Armored Assault. They became Bladestorm, then ICE lost the rights to the game, the minis, even the setting.

[RMS]

Originally Posted by Simlasa

Yay for metric! That's one thing that always bugged me about GURPS... it just seemed wrong that it wasn't using metric measurements.

First, I do agree with using metric. (For one, it's just a superior measurement system and I absolutely hate having to deal with both systems on a day-to-day basis, when there's no added value to doing it.)

However, I've never understood the idea that you have to convert anything. At the granularity of RPGs, 1 yard = 1 meter. Conversion complete. There's no need to dig the calculator out and start doing 2.54 cm/inch or anything.

[Conrad]

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

There is a grain of truth to it - there certainly isn't what anyone would consider to be a robust vehicle construction system, and the vehicular combat rules are very light. You could probably fake either of them, but it isn't anything like Traveller or Mechwarrior, for example.

If there is any bias with the core rules, it's the same one BRP has always had - that it isn't really focused on settings where complex vehicular combat (or detailed resolutions of mass combat, for another example) are essential.

However, that isn't to say that someone won't come along and write a kick-ass starship construction system for BRP. The thing I wrote was just the core rulebook - it's specifically designed to have additional systems added to it where needed.

Anyone reading your replies in this thread can tell that there is a lack of starship construction rules in the new book.
I would love for someone to resurrect the Worlds Beyond starship rules for a future BRP supplement. However I don't expect this new BRP rulebook to include such a thing. A separate and more specific supplement for space adventures, or detailing a certain space opera background would be the right place for such rules. EDIT With the new BRP rulesbook you can run starship combat. There are some stats for space vehicles like a starfighter, transport and cargo ship plus certain weapons ( missile and energy turrets) have enough range for space combat.

[Conrad]

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

There are spot rules for vacuum, radiation, and zero-gravity combat. If I recall, some of the other sections in the spot rules address (briefly) stuff like non-breathable or corrosive atmospheres.

This is good news, there are a few more rules that can be used for space opera games.