Thread: Questions concerning Magic World

Hello

What is MW combat like? Is it real generic like in AD&D or does it use the hit charts and crits in the BRP core book?

Does the MG book contain a campaign setting? If so how does it compare to greats like Greyhawk?

Will they continue to support this game with more books and adventures or is the customer on his own after buying it?

thx

MW doesn't use hit charts, but does use the Major Wounds rules. It has Special, Crit and Fumbles like in BRP core. There's a lot of back and forth, and jockeying for position in MW combat, as in most BRP-based games.

There is a small-ish campaign setting in MW. It's called the Southern Reaches, and is about 200 miles across. It's two baronies, split by a river, who are constantly sniping and pestering each other. They're not at all-out war, but there's tension. Then, add to that the difficulties posed to the area by the strange fey original inhabitants, and there's plenty to keep you busy for a while.

The Reaches were purposefully designed not to be a whole world, but a smaller, more intimate setting. Think something along the lines of the classic Robin Hood stories, where all the action took place in and around Sherwood/Nottingham.

There's a bunch of stuff in the works for MW. Elsewhere it's been noted that there are four supplements written, and making their way into layout: Advanced Sorcery, the Chronicler's Companion, Chronicler's Screen, and the MW Bestiary. There's a fifth book in the works, but that's not been formally announced yet. I will hint that it will include some scenarios, and be tied in to the Southern Reaches.

I think it is also worth mentioning that MW uses variable armor absorption (which I think is an option in BRP core). Like, some armor might absorb 1d6+1, which sort of combines the effects of thickness with how much of your body it covers. Combined with the major wounds rule, I think this gives you the effect of hit locations, in a simpler fashion.

Some key combat rules (not sure which ones are already options in BRP core):

Riposte, meaning that if you have two weapons (including a sword & shield), then a special parry (20% of skill) with one hand gives you a free attack with the other.

Knockback, using either a shield or your body to bash someone and hopefully knock them down or into wall.

Multiple attacks, if you have over 100% skill, you can use it for multiple attacks as long as each one is at least 40%.

Effects of long weapons in terms of keeping opponents at bay, and then the benefits of closing with a short weapon vs. a longer weapon.

So the combat hit location chart and damage that a certain area can take before becoming useless, like in the BRP book, are in MW? Bit confused...

No. There are no hit locations used in Magic World. Instead, it uses variable armor values, and Major Wounds.

Originally Posted by zomben

There's a bunch of stuff in the works for MW. Elsewhere it's been noted that there are four supplements written, and making their way into layout: Advanced Sorcery, the Chronicler's Companion, Chronicler's Screen, and the MW Bestiary. There's a fifth book in the works, but that's not been formally announced yet. I will hint that it will include some scenarios, and be tied in to the Southern Reaches.

I know that MW doesn't use hit locations, but as regards the bestiary can I put a plea in that you include it as an option for that supplement ? Simply because a lot of people regardless of whether they play MW are going to want a BRP bestiary of new monsters

They won't be in the Bestiary itself, but possibly I can see about putting together a freebie PDF that contains all that information for those who want it. I think that could be done easily for most of the critters. I wouldn't bother for doing -every- humanoid creature, as it's essentially the same chart over and over again.

Just a comment, I thought the dedication to Lynn Willis and his name getting first billing was an excellent tribute.

I know I have mentioned it before that I do prefer Hit Locations but awaiting MW we gave a Major Wounds a go just to get the feel for it and to our surprise it worked surprisingly well without making it to abstract as in D&D. We still prefer Hit Locations but raised the question if it will be worth the extra work plugging those rules from the BRP book. Hopefully I will be able to pick up MW pdf on Monday since I wanna see how the expanded Sorcery system holds up or if I still should port over the Magic system from BRP to have that for the more traditional hardcore Wizards that hurl thunder and fire around and use the Sorcery system for magic where you get it from a divine/spirit/demonic source. Either way I am happy that BRP book is available as plug and play options that you can use for MW to shape the fantasy you want.
From what have seen so far the small sample campaign setting looks excellent. If even seem to be able to plug perfectly into my own campaign world that have mostly the northern part fleshed out so far and this will fit perfectly just south of that area. Can't wait to get my hands on the book to explore it even more.

Originally Posted by TheShadow

Just a comment, I thought the dedication to Lynn Willis and his name getting first billing was an excellent tribute.

Lynn was a friend, and mentor to me for many years. I've been in the publishing field (in a variety of roles) for twenty years now, and just about everything I've learned can trace back to something Lynn had taught me at some point. He'd been sick for a while, and when I started on MW his prognosis was "it's only a matter of time". To be completely honest, I took the project on in tribute to him, and as a way of saying "thanks". I'd long thought Elric!/Stormbringer was a great game, and it was important to me that it get a second chance.

Hence the cover painting, "Standing on the shoulders of giants".

Originally Posted by Chorpa

I know I have mentioned it before that I do prefer Hit Locations but awaiting MW we gave a Major Wounds a go just to get the feel for it and to our surprise it worked surprisingly well without making it to abstract as in D&D. We still prefer Hit Locations but raised the question if it will be worth the extra work plugging those rules from the BRP book. Hopefully I will be able to pick up MW pdf on Monday since I wanna see how the expanded Sorcery system holds up or if I still should port over the Magic system from BRP to have that for the more traditional hardcore Wizards that hurl thunder and fire around and use the Sorcery system for magic where you get it from a divine/spirit/demonic source. Either way I am happy that BRP book is available as plug and play options that you can use for MW to shape the fantasy you want.

I used to be a hard-core Hit Locations fan from the RQIII days. But then I fell in love with the free-flowing fun of Major Wounds and random Armor Values. I think they accomplish much the same thing, but a bit faster.

Also, I heartily recommend plugging BRP Magic into the game. It works great, and if it fits your style, I say go for it.

Initially, when I was planning this book out, I was going to include -all- the magic material from the Elric! line. However, when I started pulling it all together, I realized that would mean almost half the book would be spells and magic of various sorts. Despite the game's name, I've long been frustrated by RPG books that focus overly-much on one type of character, most notably mages of various sorts. Note the Pathfinder rules, or most versions of D&D, where half the book is taken up with spells and magic. And yet (to my memory) only a quarter or so of the classes in the game can use them.

So, in the end, we decided to present one solid, good magic system in the core rules, and then leave the rest for the supplement. I honestly hope that doesn't come off like we're making a broken, or incomplete game, only to have you buy more books to 'fix' it. My intention all along was that the core rules would be as complete as the Call of Cthulhu core book, and the supplements would all be 'optional, but very useful'.

Originally Posted by Chorpa

From what have seen so far the small sample campaign setting looks excellent. If even seem to be able to plug perfectly into my own campaign world that have mostly the northern part fleshed out so far and this will fit perfectly just south of that area. Can't wait to get my hands on the book to explore it even more.

That was indeed, the original intent. Chroniclers should be able to drop the Southern Reaches into their own campaign setting, or use it by itself as an isolated realm. I keep going back to the example of the "Robin of Sherwood" TV series, and how 95% of the action in the game takes place directly in and around Nottingham/Sherwood.

My intention was to never detail the areas outside the Reaches at all; to leave them vague and open to Chronicler caveat. Indeed, there've been a number of times when the writers working on the setting asked about creating some NPC, or other thing from 'outside', and making up details of its origins, and I had to rein that back in. I want the areas outside the Reaches to be whatever individual play groups want them to be.