Quote from: Bilharzia;825118On the subject of RQ6's apparent complexity, it really isn't, it's detailed which doesn't have to mean complex. It's not detailed in a Rolemastery way it's detailed in the sense of - here's five different magic systems, five of which are optional. When I've looked at Pathfinder rules or any of the d&d editions from the last 20 years I'm amazed at the detailed set of special rules written for each character class (!)...yikes, but that's the most popular rpg, so from that point of view players love complexity as long as it's about levels, powers, druid spell lists, but if it's about parrying? Woah, are you crazy? That's waaay too involved.

Yes I agree! I find Pathfinder for example to be insanely complicated. And I'm not even sure it's worth it ....

What are you doing with your RuneQuest Bilharzia?

Quote from: markfitz;825121What are you doing with your RuneQuest Bilharzia?

Unfortunately nothing right now! No gaming group any more. All the more annoying after reading your game writeups which are bloody hilarious/fantastic in all the right ways.

Cheers! Glad you enjoyed them! I should do some more ... Unfortunately I've not been getting much gaming this year either. In the middle of finishing a PhD, so I only get to play very occasionally at the moment. Hopefully finishing up that Monster Island game soon and then planning a new campaign with a couple of new players joining in. Talking about games online is like methadone ...

RQ has been voted off the island, so other than tinkering and testing I haven't done much with it lately. Sadly.
I think I have to rig the ballot when Hastur has been tagged and bagged.

Playing a little Cthulhu then are we? I've got a couple of one shots of that as a player on the cards for soon as well....

I'm actually in the middle of a gaming hiatus right now, other than an on-again off-again 5e game. I do want to run either a CoC jungle romp, or RQ6 Monster Island (probably with PCs and other colonists as 16th-Century Portuguese explorers and merchants; the lizard people tribes, and maybe the High Folk, substituted by human natives; and the Island somewhere off the cost of West Africa or South Asia).

That sounds fun. I've substituted the lizard man tribes for humans in my game as well but they're being infiltrated by secretive serpent men....
Portuguese explorers would be awesome. That might work as non standard CoC setting as well....

Quote from: markfitz;825436That sounds fun. I've substituted the lizard man tribes for humans in my game as well but they're being infiltrated by secretive serpent men....

Yeah, keeping the High Folk as serpent men does have that nice Weird Tales vibe, doesn't it?

Quote from: markfitz;825436Portuguese explorers would be awesome. That might work as non standard CoC setting as well....

I chose the Portuguese because I wanted a 16th Century CE level of technology, so you can have longswords and plate armor (if anyone's foolhardy enough to bring it to a tropical island) and even a few primitive black powder weapons; and the early-to-mid-1500s were the height of the Portuguese ultramarine empire, at least until King Sebastian disappeared in a Moroccan battlefield and started the sucession crisis that ended with the Iberian Union.

I see the campaign as moving towards a clash with the serpent men, definitely! Gradually realising that there's a whole decaying civilisation elsewhere on the island is going to be a great reveal I think. I love what they did with the High Folk in Monster Island. Especially those Sorcery schools.

I really like your idea for 16th century Portuguese characters. You sound like you actually know a bit about the period and that can really add hugely to the sense of wonder achieved. Dark things intruding on a world have a hell of a lot more impact if that world is realised in detail. I must admit in my game I went for a fantasy setting, but this time I went for a more pacific islands vibe with the general setting, with some "European" ish characters there as explorers, missionaries, merchants and pirates. I'd been reading some of Robert Louis Stevenson's later work, and that gave me some setting ideas ...

My personal 18thC Monster Island campaign drew to satisfying close late last year with the party somehow managing a TIK (total island kill) - a tale too long to get into here.

Anyway in the prelude to the final scenario I almost killed the campaign myself when I made them roll on the Special Event table and they got a 78 - Pyroclastic Flow... when by the sheerest ill-chance they were passing through the hex of Mount Kamohoali! The players all looked a bit shocked, but I assured them there was only a 1 in 8 chance of it occurring on their NW side of the volcano, so they then went and rolled an 8. Let just say that a lot of Luck Points when up in literal smoke.

Sometimes my own writing is so diabolical it bites me in the arse...

I often use RQ6 for one-off sci-fi games, and last month I ran an RQ6 James Bond mini-campaign for a group of old friends, which was topical since we were in Cuba at the time.

Quote from: Pete Nash;825507My personal 18thC Monster Island campaign drew to satisfying close late last year with the party somehow managing a TIK (total island kill) - a tale too long to get into here.

Perhaps, but it begs for an abridged version!

Quote from: Pete Nash;825507My personal 18thC Monster Island campaign drew to satisfying close late last year with the party somehow managing a TIK (total island kill) - a tale too long to get into here.

Did it involve giant kaiju stomping on everything?

Quote from: markfitz;825506I really like your idea for 16th century Portuguese characters. You sound like you actually know a bit about the period and that can really add hugely to the sense of wonder achieved.

I'm a big enthusiast of Portuguese history and that's definitely a factor.

Quote from: markfitz;825506Dark things intruding on a world have a hell of a lot more impact if that world is realised in detail. I must admit in my game I went for a fantasy setting, but this time I went for a more pacific islands vibe with the general setting, with some "European" ish characters there as explorers, missionaries, merchants and pirates. I'd been reading some of Robert Louis Stevenson's later work, and that gave me some setting ideas ...

One of my players assures me that I excel at horror and/or dark fantasy with a historical backdrop, that it's my trademark as a GM, at least since the Solomon Kane game. In any case it is something I enjoy running at least since Vampire: the Dark Ages came out and you're spot-on; the setting doesn't have to be strictly accurate historically, but it's got to feel consistent and lifelike and whole. Like any RPG setting.

Quote from: Pete Nash;825507My personal 18thC Monster Island campaign drew to satisfying close late last year with the party somehow managing a TIK (total island kill) - a tale too long to get into here.

Haha, sounds awesome! Where did you place MI? And who were the PCs?

Quote from: Pete Nash;825507I often use RQ6 for one-off sci-fi games, and last month I ran an RQ6 James Bond mini-campaign for a group of old friends, which was topical since we were in Cuba at the time.

Is that even legal in Cuba?

And most importantly, how did you handle (a) vehicles and (b) gadgets?

Quote from: The Butcher;825581Is that even legal in Cuba?

And most importantly, how did you handle (a) vehicles and (b) gadgets?

Only if communists win.