Character Sheet Is Up!!!

[atgxtg]

But it is only one person's (or more likely one committee's) idea of what a character sheet could look like. And we all have our own views on that.

But if that person/commitee's idea of a character sheet is so far off from what all us RQ players idea of a character sheet, it makes me worried about howclose that person/comittee's view of RuneQuest is going to be compared to ours.

"Persistence" and "Resilience" are obviously saving throws by the back door. It's kinda neat that they can be skilled up, though.

Maybe not. They could just as easily be skills for tracking fatigue and injury.

Use of Characteristics for Basic Skills doesn't mean that there isn't also an initial value.

Except that some skills get a 10+STAT listing. Looks like these are base chances. Character probably pick a "profession" that gives extra skill percentages like in Elric or RQIII.

Overall, does it feel like RQ? Well, to be honest, adding up everything we've seen so far, the answer has to be "no". It feels like a distant second cousin with a vague family resemblance alright, but that's about it.

RQ in name only. Not tht surprising really. THe RQIII rules are owned by Chaoisum and due to be rereleased as the new Basic Role-Playing. That wuold sort of resrict just how much of RuneQuest can make it into this new system (WrongQuest?).

Put simply, for legal reasons alone it can only be RuneQuest in name only.

 

[Wulf Corbett]

The lack of "Level" or "Experience Points" is heartwarming to see. I'd assume that the same mechanism as before applies

Assume away, if you like...

Lack of space for Equipment and Spells is just plain silly. Admittedly, RQ never did place heavy emphasis on Equipment - witness the RQ2 "Adventurer's Pack", for example. But no Spells? Does that mean that everybody doesn't know Magic? Or is there a separate "Spell Sheet"?

This is the RuneQuest character sheet, not the Gloranthan character sheet. Therefore, it's a dead certainty that, no, everyone does not know maic. Does everyone on Lankhmar know magic?

Use of Characteristics for Basic Skills doesn't mean that there isn't also an initial value.

Nor does it mean that there is. If the values are on the sheet as an aid, why then have to bother looking up a seperate table for initial values?

Wulf

 

[Gevrin]

As a 26 year RQer this still says RQ to me. Percentile skills, the expected characteristics, strike ranks, hit locations, weapon attributes, they're all there.

Differences? Well yes, didn't we expect some changes? Skills divided between Basics (i.e. given to every character and probably in every RQ incarnation) and Advanced (depends on your profession/background and the genre you're playing in). Basic percentages based on characteristics rather than calculated (personally I won't mourn the loss of skill category modifiers for an instant). Combat actions - more than one per round I guess. Hero points - well, par for the course these days. Hit points per location rather than centrally. I don't see any of these as a game-breaker.

As for converting from RQ3 (or 2) to MRQ, it's still basically about % skill levels, weapon damage, armour points and hit points. Hardly rocket science. differing spells I see as the biggest problem. I'll probably have to give RQ3 characters the nearest equivalent. But then this never was going to be a reprint. For that look at Chaosium's Deluxe BRP (or whatever it's going to be called).

As for me, I already have RQ3 (and 2 and 1) and see no reason to buy DBRP. If I wanted to play old RQ (and I don't), I already have all the tools I need. Instead I look forward to a rewrite using many modern trends in gaming. It will be different but IMHO this still looks like RQ.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Adept]

First thought on looking at the new char-sheet. "Where's the space for a character potret??"

A proper character sheet has space for a picture, and preferrably well positioned.
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Something like that. How hard can it be?

 

[Malakor]

I typically create a new character journal for my group when a game comes out that one of us will be running. I'm currently planning on using RQ for my home campaign, and based off of the previews and the character sheet that
was posted, I have put together the first draft of my RQ Adventurer Journal.

It will likely change after I get the book in August, since I'm sure there are things I'm leaving out that will be revealed by the book.

I normally (and currently) share the draft with my group for critique and suggestions.

I thought I'd offer the journal to you folks as well, if you'd like to have a look at it (and I'll link to an updated version once it's completed).

Any CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions or criticisms are welcome.


The pdf can be downloaded from here:
http://www.geocities.com/achunter/RQ_Adventurer_Journal.pdf

EDIT: I also added an upload for this on my PBWiki for the world I'm working on. (Leshan is an old campaign, but the wiki is new and I'm currently just throwing my notes in it, so don't expect great prose)

The Leshan wiki can be found at: http://leshan.pbwiki.com/

 

[homerjsinnott]

Instead I look forward to a rewrite using many modern trends in gaming. It will be different but IMHO this still looks like RQ.
Cheers
Dave

Good, I'm glad you like it, me, I prefer things that work well, rather than the latest trend.

I will wait for it come out, take a good hard look, then decide whether I'm going to splash out £50 or more.

 

[Gevrin]

Instead I look forward to a rewrite using many modern trends in gaming. It will be different but IMHO this still looks like RQ.
Cheers
Dave

Good, I'm glad you like it, me, I prefer things that work well, rather than the latest trend.

I will wait for it come out, take a good hard look, then decide whether I'm going to splash out £50 or more.

Yeah, I don't consider whether they work well, I'm just after the latest trend. :twisted:

Dave

 

[atgxtg]

I thought I'd offer the journal to you folks as well, if you'd like to have a look at it (and I'll link to an updated version once it's completed).

Any CONSTRUCTIVE suggestions or criticisms are welcome.

I like this! Here is my two cents.

1) Make the world RuneQuest a little darker on the front page.

2) Maybe add a little color?

3) Put the RQ logo on the bottm of each page

4) Please make a 2 page version of this and post it! Please! Please!

 

[seanwalsh]

Malakor,
Your RQ Adventurer Journal (c) looks very nice. Although, it is a bit long. The Mongoose sheet is nice in that it puts a lot of information on one page. Your journal takes 3 pages to display the same information, although your journal goes into more detail and has more space.
I, as a player, am often frustrated by multi-page character sheets. That is one reason I design my own; to have just the information I am usually looking for and nothing more. Perhaps you could use the left side of the first page for some quick reference stats or something.
Also, as someone previously pointed out, why use a watermark? Where portraits are involved, I like to scan them and paste them on the character sheet. The scroll image on your journal would just get in my way.
Also, it is nice to see some creative discourse. So many, it seems, merely wish to complain. Thanks.

 

[SteveMND]

"Your RQ Adventurer Journal (c) looks very nice. Although, it is a bit long."

Well, that is pretty much the difference between a character sheet and a character journal.

 

[Malakor]

I like this! Here is my two cents.

1) Make the world RuneQuest a little darker on the front page.

2) Maybe add a little color?

3) Put the RQ logo on the bottm of each page

4) Please make a 2 page version of this and post it! Please! Please!

1) Actually, I snarfed that RQ logo from the Sheet Mongoose posted, I'll darken it up later at the office in photoshop

2) I've considered that, but one of the things I like is to make a sheet that doesn't cost a fortune to print if you have to take it to Kinkos or Office Depot, or that looks good if you don't have a color printer. That said, I'll probably add in a bit of color before the final version. I'm also looking at the possibility of a non-overwhelming background, perhaps something similar to the trade dress that Mongoose is using in the book, assuming that Mr. Sprange wouldn't object to that. (I really like the torn paper look)

3) not a bad idea, I'll look into that, Prolly do it in conjuntion with page numbers, which I noticed it could use as well.

4) hehe, I'll try. Probably what I'll do is a trimmed down set with additional pages you can download that correspond to followers/animals, etc, for those who want the extra detail, but not the whole shebang.

Thanks for your comments.

 

[Malakor]

Malakor,
Your RQ Adventurer Journal (c) looks very nice. Although, it is a bit long. The Mongoose sheet is nice in that it puts a lot of information on one page. Your journal takes 3 pages to display the same information, although your journal goes into more detail and has more space.
I, as a player, am often frustrated by multi-page character sheets. That is one reason I design my own; to have just the information I am usually looking for and nothing more. Perhaps you could use the left side of the first page for some quick reference stats or something.
Also, as someone previously pointed out, why use a watermark? Where portraits are involved, I like to scan them and paste them on the character sheet. The scroll image on your journal would just get in my way.
Also, it is nice to see some creative discourse. So many, it seems, merely wish to complain. Thanks.

Thanks for your input Sean.

As you may have seen from the previous reply, I'll whip up a two pager at some point and add it to my site as well, and I'll put a link in the threads here when I do.

Some of my players actually prefer the one or two page sheets themselves, but the Character Journal is for long, ongoing campaigns (the ones where you wind up accumulating lots of notes and papers in a folder or three ring binder)

Actually the scroll image is a bit dark, I meant to drop the opaqueness of it when I put it in, but I got distracted. I do the same as you, I scan a pic or find an appropriate pic on the web and drop into the sheet before I print it. The scroll image was mostly to be for those artistically inclined who actually want to doodle on the sheet. That said, it could still be lighter.

One of the reasons I spread the info over more pages and in bigger areas, is that I'm getting a bit long in the tooth and weak in the eye. Character sheets with everything on one page are often difficult for me to read, thus, I start spreading them out, and figure, well heck, I'm adding this,why not add more

The quick reference stats are an excellent idea, and after I get the book, will most likely be incorporated in the final design.

Thanks for your input. With the help of the folks here, perhaps I can make a decent set of sheets and journals available to our community.

 

[Urox]

As a 26 year RQer this still says RQ to me...strike ranks...

I noticed that there is only one spot for Strike Rank on the sheet, under attributes -- not under weapons as expected.

Overall, I have to say the character sheet is very disappointing and unprofessional looking.

 

[Archer]

Well, that is probably one of the ugliest character sheets I have ever seen.
But it is functional though.
And it allows us to see how some things will work in the game.
I know I will whip up a RQ Character Sheet of my own, as I have done for basically every game I have GMed. I just want to know more what I need to include before going at it (which basically requires the game to be in my hands). Then I will make that available for download.
My character sheets are no works of art, but they are functional, and they definetly are prettier than what Mongoose offers for RQ at the moment.

 

[homerjsinnott]

Instead I look forward to a rewrite using many modern trends in gaming. It will be different but IMHO this still looks like RQ.
Cheers
Dave

Good, I'm glad you like it, me, I prefer things that work well, rather than the latest trend.

I will wait for it come out, take a good hard look, then decide whether I'm going to splash out £50 or more.

Yeah, I don't consider whether they work well, I'm just after the latest trend. :twisted:

Dave

Weeeeeeell, thats how it sounded. As in all things some people do flit from the latest fad to the next. As you said that you have been playing RQ for quite a while I suppose not.

it's still basically about % skill levels, weapon damage, armour points and hit points. Hardly rocket science.

Effectively D&D has 3 of those 4, so I feel that it is about other things.

 

[atgxtg]

1) Actually, I snarfed that RQ logo from the Sheet Mongoose posted, I'll darken it up later at the office in photoshop

I was thingking about putting a big color RQ logo over the spot on the journal.

2) I've considered that, but one of the things I like is to make a sheet that doesn't cost a fortune to print if you have to take it to Kinkos or Office Depot, or that looks good if you don't have a color printer. That said, I'll probably add in a bit of color before the final version. I'm also looking at the possibility of a non-overwhelming background, perhaps something similar to the trade dress that Mongoose is using in the book, assuming that Mr. Sprange wouldn't object to that. (I really like the torn paper look)

I'm with you there. I had to get a few pdf's purchased from online RPG shops printed and color costs a bundle-about $1 per page. But if you are careful you can set it up so it still looks good in greyscale and get the best of both worlds. Even the old RQIII sheets put a little color on them.

3) not a bad idea, I'll look into that, Prolly do it in conjuntion with page numbers, which I noticed it could use as well.

I assume by the term journal that you are going to put the sheet together into some sort of booklet form, so page numbers aren't vital (it's not like a page is going to fall out).

4) hehe, I'll try. Probably what I'll do is a trimmed down set with additional pages you can download that correspond to followers/animals, etc, for those who want the extra detail, but not the whole shebang.

Yea! The follows sheets and stuff can be pinted and added on as desired. I'm just thinking of something that covers the basic character sheet a little better than the "official" sheet w/o needing a 12 page booklet.

THe journals are nice if a campaign seems to be working out (we used to make them for L5R), but sort of a waste if people have a problem keeping thier characters alive (half the the aforementioned L5R group).

Thanks for your comments.[/quote] :shock:

 

[Malakor]

atgxtg, I could probably take the color logo that is available from the website and use it, I'll give that a shot and see how it looks.

and yes, by journal, typically what I do for my group is print out several copies of these and have them coil bound (or if I'm feeling a bit cheap, I'll comb bind them myself - I bought an inexpensive comb binder a few years ago for just such situations)

Just an fyi to anyone considering such. . . Comb binding is good if you want to be able to change pages, but Coil allows you to fold the booklet back more easily and look at one page at a time if you want.

I'm training on some new equipment this week at work, so I'll work on the smaller, 2 page sheet when I get home tonight and I'll see what I can do with the color logo as well.

Thanks,

Malakor

 

[burdock]

percentiles, strike ranks, ugly character sheet, hit locations, charisma, religion..........I'm sure it will still feel like runequest

 

[burdock]

oh....and "athletics" is for making a running leap of 5 meters. "Acrobatics" is for somersaulting whilst doing this.

 

[JohnLokiBeard]

I like the official character sheet.

My players are new to rpging, and their reaction to what I considered a fairly simple self-designed d20 character sheet was "Wow, there's a hell of a lot of stuff to keep track of!" I think they'll be much happier with MRQ.

The MRQ sheet is clean and functional, it's a tool not a pretty artwork. The previews seem to suggest that the books will be similarly non artsy-fartsy, which I'm all in favour of - I want to enjoy the aesthetics of the 'meal' of playing, not the 'pots and pans' used to make it.

I'm a little baffled by Drive though. If it is 'steer a vehicle' rather than 'will to succeed', then 10+POW seems a bit odd - I'd have thought INT+DEX or INT+STR.