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I read OpenQuest1 cover to cover, here's what I thought...


QueenJadisOfCharn

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1. Very clean and straightforward layout. This book is easy to navigate and rules were in the first or second place I'd look for them.

2. The ruleset is a bit light for me in places, mainly modifier variety and and a lack of some rules like location HP and armor/weapon breakage. However, this is part of the author's aim, and it seems like it would be trivial to modify with other d100 rules.

3.The art is well composed, though a bit cartoony for my taste. I felt the same way about some MRQ books - if I were makng RPGs they'd be illustrated like Osprey military manuals and Renaissance paintings. The Grog is strong in this one, and I know my taste for romantic realism isn't universal.

4. This pdf was free and apparently under some kind of OGL. Between that and the MRQ SRD I feel like I might want to build my own variant to address the differences in style I have with the author, this makes it quite useful.

5. Overall, a strong, easy-to-learn version of d100 that could be used to introduce newbs and as a complete game in its own right. This game is simpler than the B/X D&D I run, in fact it is just screaming to be stacked with Classic Fantasy to create a more D&D and less AD&D game.

Overall, Wakboth approves the use of this game, and if Kajabor doesn't turn my bank account into a gaping ruin I might pick up a print copy of OQ2.

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Interesting that you say that Simon. I used to think you were wrong but my recent adventures with RQ6 suggest hit locations may be back on my agenda.
The combat system is too detailed to leave out hit locations. Abstract combat, like AD&D where an attack is an entire exchange of blows and most damage isn't actually wounds, doesn't need or benefit from hit locations; but a game like GURPS or BRP where an attack or parry is a specific move in a short space of time and HP are meat, seems kind of lacking if you don't know where you hit the guy.
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I'm enjoying the read of the OQ-based Age of Shadows, my first thorough exposure to the OQ version of RQ/BRP. I kind of like this version, although to me there are probably too many combat options and modifiers. In any case I'll probably give Age of Shadows a drive, pretty much as written, just to see how it works as a unit.

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I'm enjoying the read of the OQ-based Age of Shadows, my first thorough exposure to the OQ version of RQ/BRP. I kind of like this version, although to me there are probably too many combat options and modifiers. In any case I'll probably give Age of Shadows a drive, pretty much as written, just to see how it works as a unit.

The only game I've run RAW in a long time was D&D Next. I am a meddler when it comes to rulesets, partly because I have too much free time and not enough players.

Regarding Age of Shadows, I like their Elves and some of the magic.

Edited by QueenJadisOfCharn
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I've found OQ's slightly abstracted, broad-brush combat system and absence of hit locations works very well, very well for modern and futuristic combat. Let's face it, when the guns come out it's generally all over but the funerals, the hydrostatic shock takes you down whether it's in the chest or in the pinkie. OQ makes firefights such a quick and deadly sort of an affair I find players try to avoid them and focus instead on problem-solving and character interactions.

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IRL pistol shootings are rarely fatal, hydrostatic shock is a myth and it's the pain that incapacitates, not tissue damage. Most deaths from pistols are preventable by treatment and occur due to bleeding. Pistols are essentially blunt trauma weapons, where a rifle is more piercing damage. Weapons with more penetration and larger rounds are more likely to go deep and hit/seriously damage a vital organ. Even then, instant death is quite rare. Maiming is more likely. Look at WW2 combat statistics and FBI shooting statistics, a lot of disinformation exists due to gun magazines shilling for siperbullets and other such BS. They're on the same level as karate and bodybuilding mags, I.e. advertising disguised as information.

On the subject of working, OQ rules seem to cover things well, but since I've played Hackmaster and GURPS and read a lot of d100 the increased complexity and lethality of Stormbringer!/BRP combat isn't much outside what I'm used to.

Edited by QueenJadisOfCharn
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I ran an OQ game for the better part of a year. We had plenty of combats, and nobody really missed hit locations at all.

Please don't contact me with Chaosium questions. I'm no longer associated with the company, and have no idea what the new management is doing.

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I think the Major Wound system is okay. Its nice and simple, and certainly suits OQ. Despite such, I still prefer the Hit Locations rules for BRP and RQ. I doubt I would run a fantasy setting without it actually, its just more tactile. But this is fairly subjective, and there is certainly nothing wrong with the Major Wounds rules as written for BRP, MW, or OQ.

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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Wow this is like being transported back in time to when OQ1 was initially released ;)

One day I'll have to put together a free pdf called "Auðumbla's Rules" (think about it ;) ) with all the bits of RQ (from its RQ2 or 3 incarnation)I left out that people miss in OQ, such as Hit locations and tick box experience.

Head Honcho of D101 Games
Publisher of Crypts and Things/Monkey/OpenQuest/River of Heaven
The Sorcerer Under the Mountain

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Wow this is like being transported back in time to when OQ1 was initially released ;)

One day I'll have to put together a free pdf called "Auðumbla's Rules" (think about it ;) ) with all the bits of RQ (from its RQ2 or 3 incarnation)I left out that people miss in OQ, such as Hit locations and tick box experience.

Eyeballing it earlier I think I could simply take the bits about hit locations directly out of Stombringer! and throw in BRP impailment rules without changing either set of RAW. This is a solid baseline for d100 fantasy.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Don't sweat it. OQ sits in a great spot, IMHO. It's 100% compatible with the current version of RuneQuest, but offers a slightly 'lighter' entry point. In many ways I see the OQ/RQ6 divide much like B/AD&D might be seen.

As you and I have discussed off-list, I absolutely adore OQ, and can't wait to see more done with it.

Speaking of which, I -finally- got around to ordering my copy of the new version today. Can't wait to get my mitts on it!

Please don't contact me with Chaosium questions. I'm no longer associated with the company, and have no idea what the new management is doing.

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