Old RQ to new RQ conversions?

[ThisIsVictor]

I haven't finished reading through the core rules yet, but I have a quick question.

I have some old RQ books (Pavis and the Big Rubble, Strangers is Pax, Suncounty). Do the stat blocks for NPCs convert directly to the new RQ rules?

I'm guessing characteristic and skills would stay the same. Attributes would be calculated from the characteristics as per the new RQ rules. And magic looks different enough that I would just we do a NPCs magic from scratch, using the original book as a guideline.

Am I missing anything?

--Victor

 

[Magistus]

One thing I wouldn't mind seeing added to the MRQ wiki is other game conversions to MRQ. So anyone that wants to do so feel free.

 

[sidkfjjteidlkkf]

You will have to do some tweaking as the game system is different. Skills will need some adjustments, stats pretty much remain the same accept APP becomes CHarisma. Then you have the Combat actions, which are based on Dex. Not that hard to do...

Other aspects of MRQ are totally different and will need a little work.

Armor is handled differently etc....

Later this month, I will put my conversions for older RQ games on WIKI, as well as those for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Conan RPG, and a few monsters from D20.

 

[ThisIsVictor]

My newb level is still pretty high. How would skills need adjusting?

Some old RQ skills probably aren't in new RQ, so some parallels would have to be found. Would the actual skill percentages need to be adjusted up or down at all?

Magistus:

I'll write up some notes once I have it all figured out and post them to the wiki.

--Victor

 

[Rurik]

There are far fewer skills in MRQ. RQ3 has spot and listen (RQ2 has taste too I think) while MRQ has Perception. RQ2/3 Has skills like Climb, Jump, and Swim while MRQ has Atheletics, and so on.

The easiest conversion would probably be to take the best RQ2/3 skill that applies and give it to the MRQ broad skill. For example, if a RQ2 character has Move Silently 40% and Hide 60%, in MRQ just give a 60% Stealth.

The scale is pretty much the same, so a 40% in RQ2/3 would still be a 40% in MRQ without any conversion.

Another major difference is Armor Penalties, RQ2/3 does not use them, MRQ has significant penalties. Weapon Damage is pretty different too. MRQ Armor Points are very similar to RQ2 - it is RQ3 that has significantly different AP's per armor.

 

[ThisIsVictor]

Rurik: Thanks, that's what I was hoping for!

Armor and weapons I'm not worried about. If a RQ2/3 NPC has chainmail and a long sword, I'll just look up the MRQ stats and use those.

--Victor

 

[soltakss]

You could convert each and every weapon to RQM damage and each and every armour type to irs RQM equivalent, but is it really worth it?

What I do is to keep the stats as written, so they are a bit odd but not very odd, and change the important ones.

Important ones are:
SR - SR is completely different and needs changing, based on Characteristics

Damage Bonus - DB is completely different and needs changing, based on Characteristics

Hit Points - HPs are different, certainly the HP per location is different, so this might need changing

Armour Penalties - if you use them then they need changing

Weapon APs - They are different in RQM, so they would need changing

Runemagic - RQ2/3 has Spirit Magic which doesn't work in the same way. The spells themselves should carry over without a problem. Where you have spells that are not in RQM you should keep the RQ2/3 descriptions as they would be fairly accurate. However, you need to keep track of what Runes the NPC has.

Divine Magic - A major change here in that you dedicate your POW so an NPC is unlikely to have more than 10-15 points of Divine Magic. Or you use a Divine Magic Pool and can dump POW into the pool, in which case the spells should transfer. Some spells do not exist in RQM or have been changed radically (e.g. Sever Spirit) so it's a GM call whether to keep the original version or use the RQM version.

Skills - Some skills have changed, others have been dropped or subsumed into other skills. Acrobatics is the most important one here. But, transfer all skills across and decide which to keep and which to change.

Apart from that, you should be able to use the stats as written up on RQ2/3 material in RQM on the fly with a bit of recalculation as and when you need it.

 

[sidkfjjteidlkkf]

How would skills need adjusting?

Some skills are different and combine previous other skills. Since there is no resistance chart, a few skills reflect the ability to resist magic.

Just simple stuff..

 

[TRose]

Main problem as other have said is going to be magic.
For rune to spirit magic , alot of npc's are going to end up with so many runes that they are going to have to carry them in a wheelbarrow. Might want to tweak peoples rune magic some if you dont want this to happen
And few npc will have any where near the divine spells some old npc's had. Might want to give some Priest some magic items with spells in them to make up for the lower number of spells if you dont like your priest to have only 4-5 spells.

 

[atgxtg]

RE: Conversion

I'd suggest upping combat skills by an amount equal to the ENC penalty, since MRQ encumbrance is much higher than in RQ2/3.

Some sort of values would need to be worked out for persistence and resilience, as those skills do not exist in RQ. I'd suggest something along the lines of adding 1/2 the character7s best weapon skill to resilience and 1/2 the character's best magical skill, or POWx3%, to persisitence so than converted character could provide a challenge to MRQ characters.

IMO, the biggest problem would be that RQ2 and RQ3 character are much more diversified than MRQ characters, due to the change in the experience rules.

 

[ThisIsVictor]

I haven't got to the encumbrance rules yet. Thanks for the heads up though.

--Victor

 

[Blackyinkin]

Hi,

I have run Pavis and Big Rubble using MRQ with very few problems. As said before any good GM can wing slight rules changes..

Simon

 

[papakee]

Whats the best way to adjust strike rating? Thats always a snag for me. I too have ran the modules pretty much using the old stats as written, but SR always trips me up.

 

[Rurik]

Whats the best way to adjust strike rating? Thats always a snag for me. I too have ran the modules pretty much using the old stats as written, but SR always trips me up.

Since Strike Rank is a completely different mechanic in MRQ than earlier editions you pretty much have to calculate it on the fly when converting.

 

[elgrin]

Whats the best way to adjust strike rating? Thats always a snag for me. I too have ran the modules pretty much using the old stats as written, but SR always trips me up.

Since Strike Rank is a completely different mechanic in MRQ than earlier editions you pretty much have to calculate it on the fly when converting.

Being naturally idle, when converting the 'Apple Lane' characters, I set up a spreadsheet to do the tedious stuff like strike ranks, skill stats etc., leaving me free to deal with the unexpected stuff my players threw at me

elgrin

 

[RosenMcStern]

Two considerations. First of all, it could be useful to include a conversion procedure for PCs and NPCs in the wiki, since I think there will be no official procedure for the conversion.

Second consideration: if this need is arising, then the cause can be the lack of scenarios based on the new settings. Anything else in sight, apart from Blood of Orlanth and the third party scenarios?

 

[Rurik]

Darra Happa Stirs is on the schedule for late in Dark Season (err... February I mean).

Still, all this time after the release there are precious few scenarios published. I have always felt that though though the rules were fantastic for their day and age, it was really the quality of all the early scenarios/supplements that made RQ what it was.

I realise scenarios don't sell as well as source books (as only GM's buy them the story goes), but good adventures make players want to play the game (and therefore buy the books).

 

[papakee]

Being naturally idle, when converting the 'Apple Lane' characters, I set up a spreadsheet to do the tedious stuff like strike ranks, skill stats etc.

Care to post your spreadsheet, Elgrin? It would probably be helpful to several peoples.

 

[elgrin]

Being naturally idle, when converting the 'Apple Lane' characters, I set up a spreadsheet to do the tedious stuff like strike ranks, skill stats etc.

Care to post your spreadsheet, Elgrin? It would probably be helpful to several peoples.

Allowing for the fact that it's brutally simple and got some of my house rules included, if you still want I'll pm it to you. (This is basically 'cos I would feel embarrassed about showing it in public before I got another opinion on it. )

elgrin

 

[Magistus]

Being naturally idle, when converting the 'Apple Lane' characters, I set up a spreadsheet to do the tedious stuff like strike ranks, skill stats etc.

Care to post your spreadsheet, Elgrin? It would probably be helpful to several peoples.

Allowing for the fact that it's brutally simple and got some of my house rules included, if you still want I'll pm it to you. (This is basically 'cos I would feel embarrassed about showing it in public before I got another opinion on it. )

elgrin

Or better yet, send it to me, so I may post it on the wiki.