CLASSIC FANTASY - A Return to the Dawn of Roleplaying

[b-dog]

It is a very well done adventure.



As much as I would like that as well, it won't happen. You play GURPS, it's the same with 99% of the GURPS books that are out there. For every person that wants all the rules in one book, theres another that doesn't want to pay for the same rules over and over again when they buy a new setting. Plus, the idea is to generate some interest in BRP in the game and hobby stores, putting all the rules needed to play the game in CF pretty much puts us back to square one.

I want BRP to someday fill the niche GURPS did in its heyday, a nice core book on the shelf right next to a slew of settings and worldbooks.

When I wrote Classic Fantasy, I really tried to keep the need to flip between books down as much as possible. I give a summery of each spell that is found in the core book, right in the chapter of new spells. I just make sure to give the page number of the core book to make it a little easier.

The character creation chapter is almost 95% self contained. I think you only need to look up the SIZ table to determine hight and weight.

The equipment chapter negates the need to look up anything in the core book as all relevant data is there.

There will always be a need for the core book, but I think the more we as writers can reduce the need to constantly reference it, but keep it necessary, the better.

Edit: Which may not be possible as Chaosium starts paying authors by the word instead of a flat rate for a monograph.

And thanks for the kind words and vote of confidence.

Rod

I understand about the ned to not reprint rules over and over. But truth be told one thing I hate about GURPS that it constantly references many other books so that is why I am leaning more towards the Basic Roleplay system because there seems to be less book flipping. But anyway, I enjoy Classic Fantasy so far.

[Verderer]

While I more than appreciate it, I certainly understand those that choose not too. Thats why I at least want to get a PDF copy in their hands.

Thanks again

Sure, but personally I don't like to use pdfs either as printouts or on a laptop. Give me a proper book anytime!:thumb:

[wbcreighton]

I like how portable the pdfs are. I also like how Paizo gives their subscribers a free copy of the pdf with every hard copy they buy.

[CthulhuFnord]

I like how portable the pdfs are. I also like how Paizo gives their subscribers a free copy of the pdf with every hard copy they buy.

That would be lovely if Chaosium did that. At this point I'm strongly considering purchasing some of the Core Books as PDFs just so I don't have to lug them around.

[threedeesix]

That would be lovely if Chaosium did that. At this point I'm strongly considering purchasing some of the Core Books as PDFs just so I don't have to lug them around.

Yah, I never liked PDFs until I got a laptop. Now the laptop serves as my gm screen and I have all the books I need for a particular adventure on it. It's great because you can have Acrobat search out a word or phrase and that can be sometimes faster than flipping through a hard copy to find it.

It's nice because not all monographs have an index.

I still prefer the dead tree version when just sitting back to read however.

[Verderer]

Yes, getting a free pdf with your dead tree copy would be nice. PDF's are nice as quick reference with search function, or for printing out some bits for the players, but other than that I prefer books. I hate reading books on the computer screen for some reason. And I generally dislike having a laptop as GM screen, it's pretty clumsy as an object and I find it's rather distracting. So I usually keep it out of the way on the side.

But a laptop has it's uses, for example I have recently started using it for playing music and sound effects during gaming sessions. Used carefully, they really crank up the atmosphere.

[Baron]

I'm glad to hear such nice things about CF. I think being in the stores will help the whole BRP effort immensely. I hope to pick up the new edition of the hardcopy when it comes out. It would be nice if you got to download a pdf version after buying a hardcopy.

I'm a huge fan of the Mystara/Known World Gazetteers, too. I'll be looking forward to conversion notes (in Volume Two? Argh!).

Someone mentioned (in a lighthearted tone) that CF is for killing monsters and taking their stuff. I actually like BRP because you can game and increase your skills without mindless combat being the method of advancement. I obviously haven't yet read CF, but I hope it doesn't carry over the D&D fixation on killing/looting as the aim of the game. I'm looking forward to playing BRP with minimal violence (with my young daughter), and still have character advancement feel rewarding.

Anyway, congratulations on the success.

[threedeesix]

Someone mentioned (in a lighthearted tone) that CF is for killing monsters and taking their stuff. I actually like BRP because you can game and increase your skills without mindless combat being the method of advancement. I obviously haven't yet read CF, but I hope it doesn't carry over the D&D fixation on killing/looting as the aim of the game. I'm looking forward to playing BRP with minimal violence (with my young daughter), and still have character advancement feel rewarding.

Anyway, congratulations on the success.

Yah, that was me. It was more of a joke reflecting on the games of the time more than way CF is supposed to be run. There are no hard and fast rules for what type of adventurers you run, any more so than there are in the BRP core book. That's what I love about BRP, the fact that you can advance your character skill wise, regardless of the number of goblins you kill. But that doesn't imply that I'm against the killing of goblins, pesky little bastards. >:->

Thanks for your interest in CF, I will post as soon as I find out one way or the other that the revised version is available, either for download or otherwise.

[CthulhuFnord]

I didn't get too much of a Kill Things and Take their stuff vibe from the rules. Although they do appear strongly steeped in AD&D and Second Addition. I don't really see the book as a complete supplement, it's more of an expansion on the toolkit options from BRP.
The game could devolve into a hack slash fest, but that would be rely on the GM and the Players. With the BRP's and by extension CF's reliance on skill use and allegiance for character advancement, killing npcs for eps is much less of an issue.

[tedopon]

In my experience thus far, the system itself has made PCs less of a static archetype and more dynamic. This is usually a function of BRP, it being a skill based game, but the difference is more pronounced when the original source material is taken into account.
My group already was pretty much 1/3 or less combat, 2/3 or more talk. Since adopting this ruleset, they've stayed within those general ratios, but where the roleplaying was dominated by a couple individuals, each player has taken a larger interest in the story aspect of the game. They were always interested in the story, but I'm pretty sure that the two players who have started emerging more distinctly than before have done so because now they see their characters as more well rounded people instead of a bunch of poorly visualized caricatures expressed in numbers on a sheet. I think that the rules walk a fine line of infusing just enough of the rigid archetypes endemic to the early non-RQ fantasy games with just enough of the individual customization that makes BRP so awesome. It's an acquired taste, but you wouldn't be reading this post if you weren't at least curious in the first place.
This could normally be attributed to poor GMing, but I haven't done anything different. Our campaign moved right in the middle of a story from 1e AD&D to CFBRP using the same characters. Besides the system, I have not changed anything, except for scaling back the lethality of combats the first couple sessions to gradually learn what they could handle.
Combats are a tricky one. My group tends to be a bit more masochistic than the average group, and they like their combats to pose real concrete threats, rather than consist of a bunch of theatrics and hammy high fives. (Well, I think we all enjoy the hammy high fives, but everything else I said was accurate). Overall, I think BRP characters are more powerful at mid range power levels (which is where we started) than AD&D characters. We'll see if I'm proven wrong in the next few sessions, as I'm increasing the murder factor by almost double. This was the one area of the game I was skeptical about before playing, and I'm very glad we made the change. Less paperwork for me, and the fact it's skill based has made my group utilize even weirder tactics than they already did.
All in all, I'd say that the game is slightly more inclined towards roleplaying than rollplaying, but it really comes down to your GM style. If that's the type of game you want, then that's the type of game you'll get. I'd say that's true of any system to a degree, but this is BRP, so it's the best. HA