BRP The Edition Wars To End All Wars

[ReluctantGM]

A new addition is coming with the Comae Engine. from the Frostbyte press email



as we were talking about an ultralight d100 waaaaaaay up thread, I figured it is worth mentioning.

Is there a link you can share? This sounds very interesting to me.

 

[Raleel]

Is there a link you can share? This sounds very interesting to me.

sadly, the email did not come with a link. However, I did email Clarence and point him at this thread, so perhaps he will show up. He's also on the Mythras discord and has spoken in the last day. You can find him and the last stuff he wrote over in the odd soot channel.

 

[Newt Newport]

I'm throwing a cut-down and concise version of OpenQuest, called SimpleQuest, into the ring of D100 systems.

It's more what I initially wanted out of the game, with one magic system instead of three and a few nips and tucks here to make it even more straightforward. It also comes in a 6x9 travel-friendly format, with full-colour art throughout. The only thing it lacks is an adventure, but the Kickstarter has generated a short mythic fantasy setting called Darkvale, which comes with three adventures, and enough ideas to spin off your own adventures.

Overall its got the same relationship that say AD&D has to B/X D&D or Fate Core to Fate Accelerted, basically the same game but slightly different implementations of rulings

Check it out here

• SimpleQuest on Kickstarter until Monday 12th December.

Sometimes time next year, I'll be bringing Skypirates of the Floating Realms to Kickstarter, which uses an even lighter D100 system than OQ. Designed to provide fast and fluid, theatre of the mind style gaming, with very little prep and supporting improvisation. Very similar design goals to Comat Engine from the sounds of it, but completely built from scratch (it has no OGL), with OQ as an inspiration. The aim is to produce a book that is 25% rules, then 75% World (setting/adventures/bestiary).

 

[ReluctantGM]

I'm throwing a cut-down and concise version of OpenQuest, called SimpleQuest, into the ring of D100 systems.

It's more what I initially wanted out of the game, with one magic system instead of three and a few nips and tucks here to make it even more straightforward. It also comes in a 6x9 travel-friendly format, with full-colour art throughout. The only thing it lacks is an adventure, but the Kickstarter has generated a short mythic fantasy setting called Darkvale, which comes with three adventures, and enough ideas to spin off your own adventures.

Overall its got the same relationship that say AD&D has to B/X D&D or Fate Core to Fate Accelerted, basically the same game but slightly different implementations of rulings

Check it out here

• SimpleQuest on Kickstarter until Monday 12th December.

View attachment 52577

Sometimes time next year, I'll be bringing Skypirates of the Floating Realms to Kickstarter, which uses an even lighter D100 system than OQ. Designed to provide fast and fluid, theatre of the mind style gaming, with very little prep and supporting improvisation. Very similar design goals to Comat Engine from the sounds of it, but completely built from scratch (it has no OGL), with OQ as an inspiration. The aim is to produce a book that is 25% rules, then 75% World (setting/adventures/bestiary).

Thanks for the head's up!

 

[clarence_redd]

Hey everyone, Clarence Redd here! Raleel suggested that I post about my new release, The Comae Engine, here on RPGPUB.

The Comae Engine: Recasting d100 Roleplaying

After four years of brain picking and three scrapped versions, The Comae Engine is finally ready!

These d100 rules take the conflict mechanics of Odd Soot and M-SPACE, building a compact game around them, fitting within 40 pages. Everything is instantly recognisable if you’ve played any of my previous games - or any classic d100 game really.

Together with Mike Larrimore (author of Destined and Elevation for Mythras) and William Yon (RPG expert and game aficionado), I ripped everything out to stay as close as possible to Mythras, reducing game mechanics to the most essential parts (instead of just cutting away big chunks and leave nothing behind but a bland simplification).

In many ways, this is Mythras Ultra-Lite. Switching between the full Mythras, Mythras Imperative (that powers both Odd Soot and M-SPACE) and Comae Engine is almost seamless. A single ruleset, three levels of complexity.

Who is Comae Engine for?

d100 RPGs has been around for 40 years, in more versions than you can count. So, who is Comae Engine designed for?

• You like d100 games but prefer quick and simple rules, without losing flexibility.
• You want to create tense scenes without always resorting to violence. Social conflicts, chases, research and complex tasks play important parts in your scenarios.
• You feel limited by traditional RPG’s focus on combat, but prefer rules you are accustomed to.
• You enjoy M-SPACE, Odd Soot and Mythras as they are, but sometimes need a barebones version to play with family and non-gamer friends.
• You play solo RPGs and need simple d100 mechanics to keep storytelling nimble.
• You prefer simple rules, but want more complexity in key areas - like magic, superpowers or starship design - to better suit your campaign.

If any of these sound like you, Comae Engine is worth checking out. It was released yesterday (along with The Red Star for Odd Soot).

Both are available on DriveThruRPG at 15% off during the launch:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/418884/The-Comae-Engine?src=fp_u5

 

[Fenris-77]

Welcome to the Pub C clarence_redd

 

[Vile Traveller]

Welcome to the Pub C clarence_redd

Everyone discerning ends up here eventually, C clarence_redd . ;-)

 

[SJB]

It’s not quite finished, p. 29 breaks down into placeholder Latin, so I’d wait for the next pdf version to be uploaded.

I’ll look forward to thoughts. It strikes me as “Revolution d100 Imperative”.

 

[clarence_redd]

Everyone discerning ends up here eventually, C clarence_redd . ;-)

Haha, it certainly seems that way! It's good to be here : )

It’s not quite finished, p. 29 breaks down into placeholder Latin, so I’d wait for the next pdf version to be uploaded.

I’ll look forward to thoughts. It strikes me as “Revolution d100 Imperative”.

Yes, sorry about that. Comae Engine is technically in beta. I usually avoid public betas, but this time I wanted to get as many eyes as possible on the rules before finishing the book. Hopefully, we can make it even better together. This is also why the print version will be released at a later date. So, if you spot any mistakes or have any suggestions, feel free to bring them up!

 

[clarence_redd]

Comae Engine hit #1 in Hottest Small Press at DriveThruRPG!



The first update to the PDF will be released in January.

 

[Raleel]

glad to see more d100's up there.

 

[SJB]

Ian Thomson is republishing his old Hero Wars Pavis material for RQG. Apart from it being a relief to get back to classic era Glorantha, the stuff is actually properly laid out. NPCs are statted up and the stats for any particular individual are confined to one page - no flipping. It’s not rocket science, but it denotes competence. Telling us that NPC stats don’t matter anyway always invites the response - then design a different effing game.

 

[clarence_redd]

Just a quick reminder that the 15% launch discount on The Red Star and Comae Engine ends tonight!

The release has been a tremendous success. We reached #1 in Hottest Small Press on DriveThruRPG, we delivered more books in a single week than ever before and comments have been exuberantly positive. Like this one from Murallas Blancas:

”Wow, my first look at the two volumes is very positive. The Red Star is an intriguing case and displays a lot of good work. The Comae Engine is a suggestive proposition and includes powerful artwork from cover to interior.” Thorkrim O.

EN World Interview
EN World, the world’s biggest RPG site, will also publish an interview in a few days with the writers of The Red Star - Nils Hintze and Erik Hylander. They talk about the ideas behind the campaign and their previous work with Free League, adding a bit of background to the project. Highly recommended!

Remember, the launch discount ends tonight. Tomorrow, prices go back to normal again. Here are the links one more time:

The Red Star
Print $16 $13.60 (Softcover, Full colour, 84 pages, Free PDF included)
PDF $8.95 $7.60

The Comae Engine (Beta)
PDF $2.50 $2.00

 

[clarence_redd]

And the first review of Comae Engine is out! Graham Spearing at Far Havens blog takes a look at the ruleset:

https://farhavens.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-comae-engine.html

 

[Vile Traveller]

I am quite taken with the Comae Engine so far, I prefer lighter systems now that my gaming is all online or convention one-shots. As always I have some different ideas about skill lists, but that will always be the case for any game and I tend to fine-tune them for specific settings anyway. The lenses are my favourite part, I'm on the fence about tags until I try them out in anger. I hope I get a chance to play this at some point.

How long do you expect the 'beta' process to last? Just curious.

By the way, how did you arrive at the name?

 

[AsenRG]

Welcome to the Pub C clarence_redd !

 

[clarence_redd]

Thanks AsenRG !

EN World posted a short interview with me yesterday about Comae Engine:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-comae-engine-an-interview-with-clarence-redd.693930/

 

[Andrew J. Luther]

Will the Comae Engine have any license(s) for third-party developers? I’m thinking genre sourcebooks and adventures, specifically.

 

[Fenris-77]

Well, the art looks fantastic, so there's that.

 

[clarence_redd]

Will the Comae Engine have any license(s) for third-party developers? I’m thinking genre sourcebooks and adventures, specifically.

Yes, I think so! I never expected the book would be so popular, so I haven’t really given the future much thought. I will have to read up on OGL and licensing in general to figure out the best way forward. Any advice or good examples are welcome.

 

[Fenris-77]

Congratulations on the success you're having on DTRPG by the way. I hope you get the feedback you're looking for to move to v1.0.

 

[Mankcam]

Ever since I read Fate Core I have house-ruled combat scene mechanics for non-combat scenes if I want to focus on drama and vice versa. Whatever I want to focus on in that scene. Sometimes combat is front and centre, but other times I want to pass over it, yet play out a long Persuasion scene such as a Fast Talk or a Court Room or whatever. It’s pretty easy to do this with most trpgs, yet many still don’t spell it out.

For BRP games like Mythras I tend to use impromptu Social Hit Points based on (CHA+POW)/2 or impromptu Intellect Hit Points based on (INT+POW)/2, but almost anything can be used as a capacity timer, depending on the circumstances. Standard “damage” is D6, which can be adjusted up and down and whatnot.

Another way to do it is to replicate the Fatigue Rules rather than Combat Scene mechanics, so it’s all about how you want to pace the scene. I tend to use Fatigue Rules for rollicking bar room brawls and such, whenever I don’t want a lasting impact from a combat scene.

I think RD100 approached things like this as well, I can’t clearly remember, but I know Fate Core was my moment to see this and I have done similar things in most of my games ever since.

I’m really glad to see something like this formally appearing in a BRP rule set, and these days I’m also very interested in seeing a more streamlined BRP rule set, so these rules are likely to be warmly received by me.

I’ve just downloaded COMAE and will give it a good read after NYD.
At this stage all I know is I love the simple character sheet, and I think this is gonna be a welcome addition to my BRP library

 

[clarence_redd]

Congratulations on the success you're having on DTRPG by the way. I hope you get the feedback you're looking for to move to v1.0.

Thanks, it’s been quite chocking : ) And I’ve received a lot of constructive feedback. I have spent this week going over typos, minor tweaks and missing texts. So, v0.97 will hopefully be out next week. Next, I will focus on conflict examples and see if any further additions are needed.

 

[clarence_redd]

Ever since I read Fate Core I have house-ruled combat scene mechanics for non-combat scenes if I want to focus on drama and vice versa. Whatever I want to focus on in that scene. Sometimes combat is front and centre, but other times I want to pass over it, yet play out a long Persuasion scene such as a Fast Talk or a Court Room or whatever. It’s pretty easy to do this with most trpgs, yet many still don’t spell it out.

For BRP games like Mythras I tend to use impromptu Social Hit Points based on (CHA+POW)/2 or impromptu Intellect Hit Points based on (INT+POW)/2, but almost anything can be used as a capacity timer. Standard “damage” is D6, which can be adjusted up and down and whatnot.

Another way to do it is to replicate the Fatigue Rules rather than Combat Scene mechanics, so it’s all about how you want to pace the scene. I tend to use Fatigue Rules for rollicking bar room brawls and such, whenever I don’t want a lasting impact from a combat scene.

I think RD100 approached things like this as well, I can’t clearly remember, but I know Fate Core was my moment to see this and I have done similar things in most of my games ever since.

I’m really glad to see something like this formally appearing in a BRP rule set, and these days I’m also very interested in seeing a more streamlined BRP rule set, so these rules are going to be warmly received by me.

I’ve just downloaded COMAE and will give it a good read after NYD.
At this stage all I know is I love the simple character sheet, and I think this is gonna be a welcome addition to my BRP library!

Thanks Mankcam! Good to hear the first impression was favourable. I would love to hear your thoughts when you’ve read it.

 

[Vile Traveller]

I will have to read up on OGL and licensing in general to figure out the best way forward. Any advice or good examples are welcome.

Definitely do this - I don't think the OGL is really that great for anything other than D&D, to be honest. Some other form of open licence has the advantage of not requiring any contact with the licensee making it attractive to 3PPs, while a more direct free licence (like TDM's Gateway Licence which I'm sure you're familiar with) gives you more control over what is published in association with your game.

 

[Andrew J. Luther]

Yes, I think so! I never expected the book would be so popular, so I haven’t really given the future much thought. I will have to read up on OGL and licensing in general to figure out the best way forward. Any advice or good examples are welcome.

While the OGL has the advantage of letting people make lots of content for your game, a slightly more restrictive license like TDM’s Gateway license lets you maintain a higher level of quality control, and the people who reach out to you for permission are more likely to be a bit more committed to making your game look good (at least, that’s what I figure based on my own intentions in producing stuff under the Gateway license).

The drawback, of course, is having to at least look over and approve every product that gets submitted, which may be a bigger time sink than you would like.

 

[Vile Traveller]

The drawback, of course, is having to at least look over and approve every product that gets submitted, which may be a bigger time sink than you would like.

This is a good point, I have done this and although I don't mind, it does take time. There is often some back-and-forth, some writers want feedback rather than just a yea or nay. Others may end up not producing their intended book, meaning you 'wasted' some time (though I learned something in every case where that happened).

I think it depends on how popular your game turns out to be with 3PPs (very, based on reception so far), and how much spare time you have to engage with them. I have personally enjoyed the process, and gained at least lasting acquaintances, and in some cases friendships.

 

[Spellslinging Sellsword]

I much prefer rpg games to use the OGL just because after 2 decades it's developed a large pool of material that can be combined. So you can do D&D stuff and convert it to Legend or open d6 or whatever.

 

[Andrew J. Luther]

I personally like the OGL because it makes things easier for me as a third-party publisher.

But I also admit that I haven’t picked up the Comae Engine yet, as I just got the Swords of the Serpentine PDF for Christmas and bought the Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery books a couple days ago. But I do plan to get it this week.

 

[clarence_redd]

Thanks, good points everyone! I like the Mythras Gateway license in many ways and the “quality control” it allows. But it just might take too much of my time to go through all projects.

I’m also fascinated by the creative community around Mörk Borg. I assume it’s built around an open license, but I will have to look into it a bit more.

And Happy New Year everyone!

 

[Acmegamer]

I personally like the OGL because it makes things easier for me as a third-party publisher.

But I also admit that I haven’t picked up the Comae Engine yet, as I just got the Swords of the Serpentine PDF for Christmas and bought the Deluxe USR Sword & Sorcery books a couple days ago. But I do plan to get it this week.

My SotS just got in, what a beautiful book.

 

[Acmegamer]

Also, C clarence_redd really love the work you do. I've bought most of it all that you've published. I look forward to reading through the Comae Engine material as well.

 

[clarence_redd]

Thank you, Acmegamer for your kind words! My books are truly labours of love, but at times quite painful to create. So, I’m really happy to hear you enjoy them : )

 

[Acmegamer]

C clarence_redd Since I hadn't snagged The Comae Engine pdf and The Red Star pdf/print, I went and ordered them from DriveThruRpg. I also noted that it had slipped my mind that you had released Junkyard Blues so I ordered that as well pdf/print. One thing, that website of yours is a bit of a PITA. You all want too much personal information including my phone number. I did manage after a few attempts to get the download for The Red Star but I couldn't get it to let me have the Comae Engine character sheet pdf without giving you my name, phone number etc.

So I passed on that. Also it wouldn't allow 2 items in the cart to processed. You should just upload the character sheet, and other files to DriveThruRpg since they're free downloads anyways. Since they have the infrastructure to support that currently. Once you get your website better set up I'd say go having everything there but until then, it's a pain in the ass as I said to deal with.

 

[clarence_redd]

Sorry about that! I’ve had some problems with the downloads and thought this new solution was better. Apparently I was wrong. Give me a few days to research my options and I will make the setup simpler. If you need the character sheets quickly, drop me an email (clarence.redd (a) gmail.com).

 

[Acmegamer]

Sorry about that! I’ve had some problems with the downloads and thought this new solution was better. Apparently I was wrong. Give me a few days to research my options and I will make the setup simpler. If you need the character sheets quickly, drop me an email (clarence.redd (a) gmail.com).

No problem, I just figured you'd want the feedback.

 

[SJB]

Just come across a nice little d100 variant called Segira 1985 (2018). D100, roll under blackjack in which the higher the roll the greater the damage/effect. It’s in Revolution d100 territory, with all rolls player facing. I think it’s a bit too far from “classic” for my tastes but there are some good things to steal.

Segira is a fictional Cold War setting and gets a lot of mileage out of two very simple maps; admirable.

 

[Raleel]

taking a look now. looks like it leans on unopposed rolls (as you say, player facing). the Margin (i.e. the number on the 10s die when you roll a success) is interesting. I might use this a bit, as I've been considering ways of doing more player facing stuff. That would mesh pretty nicely with any d100 roll under.

 

[SJB]

New edition of BRP with ORC Licence is now live. Blackjack is an option for opposed rolls.

 

[AppleJax]

I'm disappointed the BRP rulebook has been neglected. It would be nice to have a consolidation of the various editions of the rules all in one place, such as the changes made in COC 7e, rather than reprinting the rules in every campaign setting book. Coming from a d20 background, I prefer the elegant simplicity of a single rulebook used for multiple campaign settings.

I wish Nephilim wasn't dead too. I've looked into the French version and it's a clusterfrak. The original publisher went bankrupt in the early 2000s just after releasing the new 3e that switched to a d20 roll under mechanic and hugely cleaned up and consolidated the rules and setting while introducing a new major splat (the Ar-Kaim). Every subsequent publisher has absolutely no clue what to do with the IP. 4e was an inferior and incomplete repackaging at best. 5e outright reversed almost all the progress made in 3e and made mechanical and setting changes that have been largely for the worse. It's become a mess of "look how shiny 2010s social media tech is!" (I've seen this attitude in every single surviving 90s metaplot rpg; it's embarrassing af and is going to come off as hugely dated and cringy only a few years from now) and 90s nostalgia. 5e straight up said the Ar-Kaim vanished because the writers either didn't like them or were too lazy to put in the work to pick them up. The 5e Selenim supplement is a straight up copyedit of the 1e supplement, completely ignoring all the innovations made in subsequent books. Pretty much every rule and setting innovation, every plot hook introduced in 3e, as well as most of 1e and 2e, has been completely wiped away.

It's like the writers can't afford most of the old books to consult and had to fill in the gaps themselves based on what books they did have and whatever they could find on surviving fansites. I wonder if that is literally the case, because I'm incredibly surprised that they haven't republished any of the preceding editions in PDF. Even the 5e isn't sold on any e-retailer so it's nearly impossible to acquire the books. The only way you could acquire them seems to be by backing their kickstarter from several years ago.

The fact that they use kickstarter suggests that they have no budget and this IP is on life support. Which would explain so much. 5e looks pretty crappy, even from the admittedly limited view of it I've able to get due to the obscurity and the language barrier.

Chaosium's US version was very messy, experimental, ignorant (apparently they didn't fully translate or understand the French version before taking a go at it), used poor source material (they translated and adapted the French 1e, when 2e was published right after and cleaned up the rules and setting), and poorly planned out (they released supplements that replaced sections of the core rules, rather than waiting to consolidate all this with a new edition), but they were finding their footing. They had a clearer idea of where to go than whoever is running the French version. They avoided many of the 90s clichés that I despise, like the backstory being irrelevant to PCs by giving the PCs past lives where they interacted with or even shaped these events. Also, the US books are readily available on drivethrurpg or the chaosium store and thus easy to share. The Enlightened Magic book even reprints and genericizes their planned rules for revising the sorcery and alchemy rules. I bought EM and it's incredibly flavorful in its attempts to distill and gamify real world occultism. The alchemy rules in particular are chef's kiss. I would love to see more of that.

Also, It's legally impossible for anyone else to have a go at translating Nephilim into English. Chaosium apparently owns the English rights in perpetually due to an agreement with the original publisher (MultiSim) that remains in place with subsequent acquisitions of the IP. So any English translation requires their permission.

Chaosium are pretty much the only company who could do Nephilim justice in any case because they're so flush with that Japanese royalty money and don't have to rely on kickstarter handouts to keep a dead IP on life support.

The only downside is the actual BRP rules. Nephilim was never a good fit for those rules. The first major innovation it introduced as a BRP game was giving PCs multiple POW statistics! MultiSim switched to a simpler roll under d20 system in 3e with single digit statistics that was a much better fit for the setting than anything before or since. (5e introduced only a few innovations that are worth porting back, like replacing mundane skills with past lives as skills or giving every psychosis a rating rather than just some of them.)