Your chance to vote in a settigs poll that will...

Which setting would you most like to see done in MRQ??

  • Conan

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Beowulf/Dark Ages

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Earthsea

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Monkey (Baboons NNA!)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Discworld

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Renaissance Italy/7th Sea (noop)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • John Carter Warlord of Mars

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • A good :lol: D&D setting

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Something else

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Whats a setting?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .
atgxtg said:
Done to death? Hardly. I can only think of three books that cover the Roman Empire: Gurps Rome, AD&D Glory of Rome, and D20 Mythic Vistas.

If you're into Imperial Rome (like me), I'd heartily recommend the Fvlminata rpg, which has mechanics based around the Roman worldview, and even uses tali dice rather than regular dice. From top to bottom it was designed expressly for Roman roleplaying, and is a damn fine game (if sometimes difficult to track down). I also know of another rpg book on the horizon dealing with the subject, but professional courtesy forbids me from giving details, unfortunately. Still an Imperial Rome RQ supplement would be cool. Heck, different supplements for different key historical culture-time mixes would be great; Ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, Napoleonic, etc.

cheers!
Colin
 
C. Chapman said:
atgxtg said:
Done to death? Hardly. I can only think of three books that cover the Roman Empire: Gurps Rome, AD&D Glory of Rome, and D20 Mythic Vistas.

If you're into Imperial Rome (like me), I'd heartily recommend the Fvlminata rpg, which has mechanics based around the Roman worldview, and even uses tali dice rather than regular dice. From top to bottom it was designed expressly for Roman roleplaying, and is a damn fine game (if sometimes difficult to track down). I also know of another rpg book on the horizon dealing with the subject, but professional courtesy forbids me from giving details, unfortunately. Still an Imperial Rome RQ supplement would be cool. Heck, different supplements for different key historical culture-time mixes would be great; Ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, Napoleonic, etc.

cheers!
Colin

Is Fvlminata the one that uses d8 averaging dice? I've read about it, but the cant't get to the company wesite to find out more about it. How is it? I hope it not not Roman Empire in the 20th century rpg.


How about an Ancient World series of books where they set up the Ancient World at a certain time peroi, and write up the various Kingdoms and Empires that existed at that time. For example if they did a 300 BC sourcebook, they could do a core setting book with an overview of the Greek, Romans, Egyptians, Carthiginians, Scythans, Gauls, etc. And then do more detailed books for each of the above cultures.

The idea would be that there would be enough info the run Romans or Greek chracters in the main setting book, but if someone wanted to do a dedicated Legionare campaign, they would want the Roman sourcebook. Same idea for magic and religoun. You would get the "short form" writeups of the cults in the core book, with the expanded form in the diffeent culture books.

Each book could be written with the world of of that culture in mind. So the Roman book would dismiss peoples like the Celts as primitve savages, while the Celt book would show all the depth and intracacies of thier culture.

Player could just pick up the settings they are interested in and use the generic stats in the general setting book to deal with "foreigners".
 
Hey atgxtg,

Nice idea r.e. the Ancient Worlds series. I'd certainly buy nearly all such supplements.

Regarding Fvlminata, it's not 20th century Imperial Rome (I vaguely recall such a game, but can't remember its name, though I now also remember another recent Imperial Rome rpg, Roma Imperius by Hinterwelt, which supposes a Rome in which the impact of magic is real).

The following review should tell you a lot about Fvlminata; I personally ignored the gunpowder stuff, and ran it as purely historical, which it lends itself to extremely well (as it is, quite literally, Imperial Rome with a few additions, and a lot of excellent research and detail).

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_7004.html

cheers!
Colin
 
C. Chapman said:
Hey atgxtg,

Nice idea r.e. the Ancient Worlds series. I'd certainly buy nearly all such supplements.

cheers!
Colin

Personally, I like this, too. I'd prefer to see some of the more obscure ancient civilizations done, though - Sumerians, Harrapans, Etruscans, Minoans, even Moguls or central Americans. I'd also love to see Dark Age Britain done with some historical accuracy, or a supplement on 16th C. Border Reivers.

But I'm remembering that RQ3 had an ancient world theme when it came out from Avalon Hill and I always suspected that was part of why it wasn't that popular. Of course, the RPG market is quite different these days.

Cobra
 
But I'm remembering that RQ3 had an ancient world theme when it came out from Avalon Hill and I always suspected that was part of why it wasn't that popular.

The examples and such in the rulesbooks were set in a "fantasy ancient world" sort of setting, yes, but that's as far as it went. AFAIK, no suplemental material along the line of such a setting was ever produced. The rulebooks themselves had maybe eight or nine sentences devoted to the 'ancient world.' :)
 
SteveMND said:
But I'm remembering that RQ3 had an ancient world theme when it came out from Avalon Hill and I always suspected that was part of why it wasn't that popular.

The examples and such in the rulesbooks were set in a "fantasy ancient world" sort of setting, yes, but that's as far as it went. AFAIK, no suplemental material along the line of such a setting was ever produced. The rulebooks themselves had maybe eight or nine sentences devoted to the 'ancient world.' :)

I always thought the Vikings supplement was meant to be one such, although 780AD isn't exactly ancient.
 
Hmmm, everyone seems to like it. And it is going to be an open liscence RPG. Maybe I should shut up and start typing.


""..and that, Mr. Interviewer, is how I got the idea to start Ancient Worlds Games" :)


BTW, my idea was sort of indirectly inspired by RQ3's Fantasy Europe. Back when I was running RQ, all attempts at Glorantha failed miserably (most of my players couldn't get a good enough grasp on the tactics for using Battle Magic . In one fight half the group got cut down tryin to put up Bladesharp and Protection in the third round of combat).

Instead, I had to work on Fantasy Earth and did some notes on different cultures. I ran a fairly succesful Cetlic campaign about 18 years ago, when not many people know about celtic monsters (thanks Sandy Petersen), and this developed from there.

What I found funny was that having a fondness for historial/ancient settings (who knew?), I bout Mongoose OGL Ancients when it came out and thought-"This look like a RQ sourcebook hiding in a D20 setting!. It got cultural mods; specialed, skill based, magic systems; armor that absorbs damage; parry rules; and weapons that can inflict major wounds on a single hit. This can't be for D20!"
 
I always thought the Vikings supplement was meant to be one such, although 780AD isn't exactly ancient.

You know, you're right, they did come out with a vikings and a japanese set of sourcebooks. I suppose those could be counted as such, although honestly, I didn't even think about it that way. They seemed just like two independant publications, unconnected or unrelated.
 
Cobra said:
Personally, I like this, too. I'd prefer to see some of the more obscure ancient civilizations done, though - Sumerians, Harrapans, Etruscans, Minoans, even Moguls or central Americans. I'd also love to see Dark Age Britain done with some historical accuracy, or a supplement on 16th C. Border Reivers.

Me too, and huns, philisteens, and others. Of course not all these cututres existed at the same time, so we'd probably need to have several core setting books to relfect different peroids of history, and then put info into each culture book to cover different eras.

Cobra said:
But I'm remembering that RQ3 had an ancient world theme when it came out from Avalon Hill and I always suspected that was part of why it wasn't that popular. Of course, the RPG market is quite different these days.

Cobra

I think it was a combination of not producting a "tolkien-esque" style fantasy world (like all the other Fantasy RPGs at that time), combined with the fact that Fantasy Eurpoe didn't get much support (just the Vikings Box Set). Rule #1 to survive in the RPG business is to print adventures.

Of course all the RQers wanted more Glorantha stuff anyway--not that we got much more that reprints for quite some time.
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atgxtg said:
Rule #1 to survive in the RPG business is to print adventures.

According to WotC all you need to do is print source books. Of course I have gotten fed up with them and will not touch them anymore. I am a little ashamed that I bought as many as I did. :(

Edit: They give away adventures for free, now that I think about it. Usually in pdf format or through their RPGA franchise.
 
Vikings is great well worth picking up, Nippon Land of Ninja is... well I only have the GW edition and the layout and type setting is awful, I heven't even read it to see if it's any good. :cry: :x
 
Lord Twig said:
atgxtg said:
Rule #1 to survive in the RPG business is to print adventures.

According to WotC all you need to do is print source books. Of course I have gotten fed up with them and will not touch them anymore. I am a little ashamed that I bought as many as I did. :(

Edit: They give away adventures for free, now that I think about it. Usually in pdf format or through their RPGA franchise.

What I think is the flaw with that idea is that if you just print sourcebooks the D20 rules are going to dictate how your setting plays, as opposed to the other way around. For example, D20 is based upon concept concepts that are alomst directly opposite those that were capitalized on by the Romans. A boradsword does more damage than a gladius, and fights are mostly by attirtion, with each side whittling down the other's hit points. THis gives the big brawny barbarian types an edge over the small legionarie amed with a gladius. Realistically, the legionaire could get 2 to 3 attacks off in the time it took to swing a broadswrd, and could do it with better protection, as the barbarian would expose himself whenever "winding up" for the swing. THe thrusting gladius also tended to inflict far more serious wounds, was less fatiguing, and allowed for better close quarters and formation fighting. THe roman tactic of opening a fight with a couple of volleys of pila was devestatingly effective in real life, and little more than a nuisance in D20.

Now the really good D20/OGL stuff modifes the D20 rules to fit the setting. A good example is OGL Ancients. It pretty much throws out the D20 combat system and increaes weapon damages, puts in major wound rules, formation fighting and the like.

If you don't do somethin glike that, though, it all ends up feeling/playing the same.
 
homerjsinnott said:
Vikings is great well worth picking up, Nippon Land of Ninja is... well I only have the GW edition and the layout and type setting is awful, I heven't even read it to see if it's any good. :cry: :x

What hurt the RQ Fantasy Earth stuff the most was that the people who were writing the stuff weren't actually playing it. In most cases things were either "one-shotted" or trasnlated into a Glorantha setting for the playtesters. THis meant that these products weren't as well developed as the other stuff produced by Chaosium.
 
According to WotC all you need to do is print source books.

Well, to be fair, WotC does occasionally print some major-sized campaign modules for the d20 system. However, as they have admitted to before, these just aren't as cost effective for them -- the reason why they got out of the module-writin business, for the most part, is that they could make far more money by devoting themselves to printing more 'rules-heavy' books and, of course, the d20 core books.

WotC also has the luxury of being able to do that. Since mainstreaming the OGL concept in RPGs a few years back and literally re-invigorating the industry, they don't have to do anything but produce the core books anymore.

A smaller company with a non-OGL product doesn't have that option, since by definition, other people won't be freely publishing material based off that IP. With MRQ being an OGL product, it will be interesting to see how they develop it in that regard.
 
Adept said:
...a "good D&D setting" because it would be nice for the poor, hapless D&D'ers to have an easy way out of their predicament

AD&D's Dark Suns may be a very good fit for RQ.
- Piece armour
- magic lite
- ancient roman/egypt feel
 
atgxtg said:
Realistically, the legionaire could get 2 to 3 attacks off in the time it took to swing a broadswrd, and could do it with better protection, as the barbarian would expose himself whenever "winding up" for the swing.

Just a quick comment here. No true swordsman "winds up a swing" like a barbarian in a cheesy Conan movie. The celts had excellent swords, and I'm sure they knew how to fight with them.

In the italian longsword style I study the power is generated by a backward- forward movement (hard to explain, but if you know how to do a "karate chop", the principle is the same), with the blade between you and your opponent as much as possible all the time.

The celtic culture emphasized individual bravery and personal gloory, and the warrior elites fought naked. I bet they were fierce opponent's in a free-for-all melee or a duel, but that's no way to fight against a roman shieldwall, especially when the naked celtic charge is met with a swarm of pila.
 
Even one on one, if the barbarian didn't have a shield they were usually toast. Mr. Legionaire could hide behind that big old shield, close, and thrust. Still, that short chop technique you mention I do believe I have heard of, used with axes as well. Instead of the roundhouse swing you see in movies. Speaking of Conan, how about Valeria's technique with that sword of hers? Shudder. Hey, you know about weapons. What was that thing, anyway. Any historical precedent you know of?
 
Adept said:
atgxtg said:
Realistically, the legionaire could get 2 to 3 attacks off in the time it took to swing a broadswrd, and could do it with better protection, as the barbarian would expose himself whenever "winding up" for the swing.

Just a quick comment here. No true swordsman "winds up a swing" like a barbarian in a cheesy Conan movie. The celts had excellent swords, and I'm sure they knew how to fight with them.

In the italian longsword style I study the power is generated by a backward- forward movement (hard to explain, but if you know how to do a "karate chop", the principle is the same), with the blade between you and your opponent as much as possible all the time.

Poor choice of terms on my part. I didn't mean "wind Up" as in doing a "power" blow (that would be suicde under most circumstaces, and was usually reseved for downned or dazed opponents, and then just to get past heavy armor).

What you do have to do is "swing" a sword. Keeping a broadsword moving is an excellent wat to keep someone at bay (it is just a bit titring to keep doing it).

What the romans used to do was step in and use thier shields to stop the sword blade in swing, and then do a quick thrust while the opponent had to get the blade moving again.
THe big thing was to get in close, maing it awkward for the swordman to make any sort of effective attack without moving the sword up and back, thus exposing himself to a quick thrust.


There is an episode of Conquest that demonstates some of this and several other nasty Roman techniqes.

The big thing the Roamans had going for them was that thier armies were comprised of professional soldiers (who had undergone one whole year of basic training). Most celts, gauls, goths, pict or german opponents didn''t have this. Instead they had a small warrior caste forming the leite of a army comprised mostly of farmers with little combat experience.

A celtic warrior, or Viking Huscarl was a threat. A cletic farmer or viking fisher was not.
 
But all Celts think themselves warriors, indeed. And I had the impression all you had to do to make a Viking dangerous was get him away from the wife and/or drunk...
 
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