Magic World or OpenQuest - which one to choose...?

I've decided to run a fantasy campaign using some iteration of BRP. I do own most of the RQ variants from RQ2 and RQ3 via MRQ I & II and now RQ6.

Thing is, RQ feels (i) too crunchy and most of all (ii) too attached to Glorantha (esp. the magic systems and the cults) and I want a fantasy game more in the geist of old school D&D with a touch of gothic horror for this campaign (read: Ravenloft style).

Now to my question: I've read a lot about both MW and OQ and I wonder if you guys can recommend, or discuss the pro's and con's of each of these games.

Any hints or tips would be most appreciated

OQ is like RQ. So the answer must be Magic World.

OpenQuest is actually a very light version of RuneQuest, so if the problem is too much crunch in RQ, OQ actually solves it, as I believe Magic World is a bit more rules heavy. Also, OQ is in no way tied to Glorantha, although I don't think RQ6 is either.

But if you are interested in the combination of Ravenloft and BRP, you should check out Chaot's campaign, which has two thread over at RPG.net:

• [bRP Ravenloft] Fall of the House of Shadowbourne
  
• [bRP] Ravenloft
  

Incidentaly he has chosen Magic World as the base with some additional bits from elsewhere, if I remember correcly.

OpenQuest is actually a very light version of RuneQuest, so if the problem is too much crunch in RQ, OQ actually solves it, as I believe Magic World is a bit more rules heavy.

Magic World has more detailed skills, random AP, and the Major Wounds table, but character generation is a little simpler and there's only one magic system that covers a lot of territory, so I think it balances out. Magic World is a thicker book largely due to larger print and a little more hand-holding.

Really, either is a valid choice; it depends on the mood you're trying to create -- old-school Stormbringer or old-school RuneQuest -- and what bits you need.

Combat and skills are simpler in OQ whereas magic is simpler in Magic World. Character generation is simpler in MW. Really, either system is much simpler than RQ and should prove a good choice.

IMHO, ymmv, and all that, it in my experience (having played quite a bit of all three), the complexity goes thusly:

OpenQuest<Magic World<RuneQuest 6

They're all great games, really. And all roughly compatible, so it's a snap to take bits you like from one and shove them into another.

Thanks guys So, OpenQuest is like old RQ2 and Magic World more like old Stormbringer? Is that somewhat correct? I used to own Stormbringer 1st ed, but haven't played it since the 80's. Liked the system, though...

I've thrown my hat in for Magic World. Stormbringer 3ed is one of my favourite games, but I also liked the magic system they bolted in with Elric! and Stormbringer 5ed, but the doom and gloom atmosphere got grating for a while. I looked at Runequest but I didn't like the fact that everyone could use magic from the start. The new Magic World is a breath of fresh air.

Can not wait for my hardcopy.

Hmm. It's leaning towards Magic World at the moment.

OpenQuest is at a bit of a disadvantage here in the comparison stakes, because its not currently available. That is something that I'm currently working on at the moment, with a solid release date of early to mid August for the pdf. A couple of months later you'll be able to check out the free version, OpenQuest Basics, and download/view on line the Developers Kit (which is in essence the entire text of the game). This way you'll be able to compare and contrast to your hearts content

I also think RQ2 without the hit locations and RQ3's three magic systems (with Sorcery being much simplified) is a better summing up of OQ if you are going to compare it to previous editions.

But as Ben says you really can't go wrong with any of the three D100 systems

I would also add that in the text of OQ2, Newt makes the point that you don't have to view the Battle magic as magic. Based on what spells are permitted and banned, you can view Battle Magic as heroic feats, or just the raw talent of a character being able to push themselves in particular ways. And given brp's lethality, such ability to "push beyond the limits" would allow for a more "heroic" game. I don't know if that discussion happens in OQ1 but I feel it is a useful point for "I don't like everyone having magic" camp to consider.

Battle Magic as Heroic Feats is something that came out of play of OpenQuest 1. In a run through of The Savage North, one of the players whose character was an axe swinging Barbarian liked the idea that his magic was more a personal expression of the character's power. Other groups independently came up with the idea and let me know, so I thought it something that I could include as an option in OQ2.

Look at Classic Fantasy.

Since it emulates 1st Edition AD&D in the BRP rules it would be easier to convert the old Ravenloft scenarios to Classic Fantasy.

Here is the CF Link: Classic Fantasy - Chaosium | Basic Roleplaying | Basic Roleplaying | DriveThruRPG.com

I've decided to run a fantasy campaign using some iteration of BRP. I do own most of the RQ variants from RQ2 and RQ3 via MRQ I & II and now RQ6.

Thing is, RQ feels (i) too crunchy and most of all (ii) too attached to Glorantha (esp. the magic systems and the cults) and I want a fantasy game more in the geist of old school D&D with a touch of gothic horror for this campaign (read: Ravenloft style).

Now to my question: I've read a lot about both MW and OQ and I wonder if you guys can recommend, or discuss the pro's and con's of each of these games.

Any hints or tips would be most appreciated

IMHO, ymmv, and all that, it in my experience (having played quite a bit of all three), the complexity goes thusly:

OpenQuest<Magic World<RuneQuest 6

They're all great games, really. And all roughly compatible, so it's a snap to take bits you like from one and shove them into another.

I'm basically in the OpenQuest "camp" but I've been hearing stuff about Magic World that I'd love to integrate into OpenQuest, for example some of the sorcery and the large number of player races. Ditto for the Advanced Sorcery book. Will things like these be easy to port over? I'm not much of a systems tinkerer so the process has to be pretty straight-forward to be of use.

I'm basically in the OpenQuest "camp" but I've been hearing stuff about Magic World that I'd love to integrate into OpenQuest, for example some of the sorcery and the large number of player races. Ditto for the Advanced Sorcery book. Will things like these be easy to port over? I'm not much of a systems tinkerer so the process has to be pretty straight-forward to be of use.

Magic World Sorcery is almost identical to Battle Magic(*), so you can port most of the spells over without much difficulty. You may have to convert player races' skills from BRP to OpenQuest names (which may produce duplicates) and recalculate one or two attributes, but I don't think that's too difficult.

(*) Differences between the two systems:

• BRP Sorcery requires a POW of 16, but spells always succeed; casting OQ Battle Magic requires a Battle Magic Casting skill check, defaulting to POWx3%. You can probably ignore this distinction.
  
• BRP Sorcery caps the magnitude of variable-magnitude spells, usually at 4. Apparently Battle Magic doesn't.
  
• Targets resist BRP Sorcery with characteristics using the Resistance Table, essentially (Active - Resisting + 10)x5% where Active is the caster's attribute (usually POW or MP) and Resisting is one of the target's attributes. Targets resist OQ Battle Magic with Resilience, Persistence, or occasionally Dodge. Converting one to the other should be fairly straightforward: POW, MP, or INT = Persistence; DEX = Dodge or Resilience, based on context; everything else = Resilience.
  
• BRP uses APPearance, OpenQuest uses CHArisma. Spells that target APP increase/decrease physical beauty; whether you want to translate that to CHA or not is up to you.
  
• The format for spells differs in each system, but it should be easy to figure out.
  

OpenQuest is an excellent game. I ran a campaign of it that lasted almost a year, and we had a great time. I highly recommend picking it and MW up, and mashing them together as you see fit.

They're both mostly compatible, with a little massaging around the edges (as mentioned above).