Thread: [Magic World] Let's talk about it!

So, some folks are aware of the "Magic World" game I've been putting together for Chaosium. It's a BRP-based fantasy game, using the core of the old Elric! rules and supplements, but stripped of Moorcockisms.

As the game's winding through the production cycle (I'm proofing layouts as they come across my desk), I thought I'd open the floor to questions about the game.

To start with, some background:

Here are the official CHaosium postings about the first two books:

Magic World: Chaosium.com: News - Magic World

Advanced Sorcery: Chaosium.com: News - BRP Advanced Sorcery

Here are a few interviews I've done about the game:

http://basicroleplaying.com/basic-ro...1/3/#post46733

Dorkland! Roundtable with Jason Durall and Ben Monroe - YouTube

Stormbringer! » Interview with Ben Monroe

And forgive me if you see this thread pop up in different places. I'm going to post the same thing around a bit.

If you have any questions, let me know!

No apology needed. Although we've had these discussion before, Magic World can't succeed without plenty of promotion.

Yup!

As the game's getting closer to release, I thought it would be good to make myself available to answer questions and talk about it. I should also point out quickly, that I'm not an actual Chaosium employee. I'm working on the MW books as a freelance editor, but it's my baby, so I'm happy to talk about it.

So, a thought that occurs whilst I sit here eagerly awaiting the game and in light of Seneschal's comment:

What, besides what has been announced would people want to see in the way of support for Magic World? Not that I have any say whatsoever, nor any influence with Chaosium... But, having had some small input in MW and a couple of the planned supplements it's a game I really like and would love to see succeed.

So: the core book is coming, there's a couple of magic supplements and a Chronicler's pack under way, and a couple of others in development. But what ELSE would people really like to see?

Cheers,

Nick

Originally Posted by NickMiddleton

What, besides what has been announced would people want to see in the way of support for Magic World?

If MW is a strict subset of BRP (right?), then theoretically any BRP supplement is a MW supplement. (So is any CoC supplement with a little tweaking.)

As a practical matter, though, I'd love to see:

- Adventures for Magic World, hearkening back to old D&D and RuneQuest modules.

- Settings for Magic World beyond typical Medieval Times and Conansville: Chinese, Japanese, Polynesian, Arabian, African, Russian, Central and Eastern European, Greek, Egyptian, etc. Lost worlds and red planets might also fit, or even a *real* Dark Ages book, perhaps centered around Charlemagne.

- Alternate magic systems beyond the Gold Book, perhaps integrated with the settings above. For example, a Norse book might include rules for period-appropriate ritual witchcraft (seidhr) and runic magic.

Originally Posted by fmitchell

- Adventures for Magic World, hearkening back to old D&D and RuneQuest modules.

There's something like this in the works right now, but it's too early to spill the beans on it at the moment.

Originally Posted by fmitchell

- Settings for Magic World beyond typical Medieval Times and Conansville: Chinese, Japanese, Polynesian, Arabian, African, Russian, Central and Eastern European, Greek, Egyptian, etc. Lost worlds and red planets might also fit, or even a *real* Dark Ages book, perhaps centered around Charlemagne.

I'd love to see stuff like this, too. Hopefully once MW comes out, people will start pitching more books to Chaosium to support it!

Originally Posted by fmitchell

- Alternate magic systems beyond the Gold Book, perhaps integrated with the settings above. For example, a Norse book might include rules for period-appropriate ritual witchcraft (seidhr) and runic magic.

Advanced Sorcery has half a dozen or so magic systems in it, drawn from a variety of old Elric! books. None of these appear in the BGB.

Somewhat related, the Chronicler's Companion's going to have a thoroughly excellent set of rules by Charles Green about using the Allegiance System to create interesting religions/cults for your game. It ties Sorcery spells in to distinct spheres, lets you put those together and form the basis of a cult. Neat stuff.

Originally Posted by NickMiddleton

But what ELSE would people really like to see?

Nick

Scenarios and simple setting material for the mini-setting. Maybe a short monster book tied to the setting (with adventure hooks). Maybe something more ambitious à la Griffin Mountain.

What I'm not very interested in is alternative fantasy settings. I'd prefer MW to stick to 1 setting and nominally set everything in it, even if it's rather generic and portable (think of Questworld). I also prefer short-medium scenarios to long adventures.

Finally, I'd like to see some cool themes from Sapkowski's witcher novels explored. A dark fantasy scenario pack based on twisted fairy tales. A monster hunters scenario pack full of irony and unexpected twists (complete with Latin names for monsters). A supplement of wizards, their colleges and their machinations. I have no idea if this fits with the setting.

Originally Posted by smiorgan

Scenarios and simple setting material for the mini-setting. Maybe a short monster book tied to the setting (with adventure hooks). Maybe something more ambitious à la Griffin Mountain.

This is the sort of thing I'd like to see too. Chaosium has a history of making really excellent setting material, especially in the Stormbringer line. I'm think of Sea Kings of the Purple Towns, which was basically a whole campaign in a book. I've used it to good effect with several groups.

I have a big old Stormbringer campaign that I've thought would be good for MW. Just change a few locations, add a bit of flavour and *pow* would be done. That said, it would be be more dark fatasy than high fantasy, and might not be a good product to produce in a line looking move away from its Elric roots.

And on top of that my real concern at the moment, with Chaosium flushed with the Kickstarter success from the Call of Cthulhu Horror on the Orient Express supplement, is that MW will be low priority for the next year or so...

Originally Posted by smiorgan

Scenarios and simple setting material for the mini-setting. Maybe a short monster book tied to the setting (with adventure hooks). Maybe something more ambitious à la Griffin Mountain.

There is a lot of talented and (even better) reliable* RPG authors on these forums, perhaps we are the ones to hammer a project like a Griffin Mountain through, and more over take MW in a direction we'd like to see it go? Of course, there's no money in it

Marcus

* - I exclude myself from this, if not both catagories.

Hope this doesn't come out wrong but...

What if anything will set this apart from other BRP based fantasy games? Does it aim to fit a particular niche?

If it is taken from the game in the 80s as I recall it was RQ simplified, sort of a fantasy version of the CoC rules, is that the way MW has gone?


BTW the sorcery book sounds cool.