So, some folks are aware of the "Magic World" game I've been putting together for Chaosium. It's a BRP-based fantasy game, using the core of the old Elric! rules and supplements, but stripped of Moorcockisms.

As the game's winding through the production cycle (I'm proofing layouts as they come across my desk), I thought I'd open the floor to questions about the game.

To start with, some background:

Here are the official CHaosium postings about the first two books:

Magic World: http://www.chaosium.com/article.php?story_id=508

Advanced Sorcery: http://www.chaosium.com/article.php?story_id=513

Here are a few interviews I've done about the game:

http://basicroleplaying.com/basic-roleplaying/another-magic-world-interview-2861/3/#post46733

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGaXMs3RQww

http://www.stormbringerrpg.com/?p=329

And forgive me if you see this thread pop up in different places. I'm going to post the same thing around a bit.

If you have any questions, let me know!

Quote from: zomben;594294As the game's winding through the production cycle (I'm proofing layouts as they come across my desk)

Any estimate on a release date?

Why should I play Magic World rather than AD&D 1e?

Seeing as I love AD&D.

What's the elevator pitch?

On another note what can I steal for AD&D?

Ben, your old school Chaosium credentials precede you, but still, it was very good to read the very informative interviews you've linked.

Being a fan of ye olde Stormbringer, my interest is defintely piqued, but the cold, hard truth is that I'm up to my ears in damn fine BRP-powered fantasy (as I've posted before). I got myself a nice, shiny big copy of RQ6, and OQ is on the way, and my MRQII copy didn't stop working when I got RQ6 (though it's definitely looking a bit less sexy, a jilted middle sister of sorts).

So I'll ask a similar, albeit significantly different question to Piestrio's: why Magic World instead of Legend, or RQ6, or OpenQuest?

Advanced Sorcery looks great, though (Deep Magic sounds awesome! Was it pulled from the Bronze Grimoire?). How compatible is it going to be with the above-mentioned (Legend, RQ6, OQ)?

Quote from: ptingler;594307Any estimate on a release date?

I'm hearing end of this year, early 2013.  We're in the home stretch!

Quote from: Piestrio;594310Why should I play Magic World rather than AD&D 1e?

It's entirely possible you shouldn't!  If you love AD&D, and it works for you, no need to rock the boat.  No game is for everyone.

However, if you want a game that gives you that same feel of epic, sword & sorcery fantasy, but with a bit more freedom of mechanics, Magic World might be for you.

It uses the BRP system, and specifically the version of BRP found in Elric/Stormbringer. It uses a d100 roll to determine the results of most actions, and is skill-based rather than using class and levels to determine ability.

As in most BRP-based games, any creature found in the bestiary can be used as a PC. Want to play an orc, minotaur, centaur, dragon, giant, etc? Go for it. Further, there are rules for upgrading common animals to 'talking beasts'. One of the PCs I ran was an intelligent raven with sorcery.

Quote from: Piestrio;594310On another note what can I steal for AD&D?

Anything you want, I suppose. I've heard of people using the BRP/RQ skill system to bolt on to AD&D for years. There's a sample setting in the book you cold use. Stats are handled differently enough that you'd have to do some work to convert over monsters, I suppose.

Here's a couple questions:

• Do you expect to be producing adventures or an extensive campaign for Magic World?
• Will Magic World use the Resistance Table or specific skills in the case of opposed tests (of strength, perseverance, resistance to disease, etc.)?

Quote from: The Butcher;594319Ben, your old school Chaosium credentials precede you, but still, it was very good to read the very informative interviews you've linked.

Great!

Quote from: The Butcher;594319So I'll ask a similar, albeit significantly different question to Piestrio's: why Magic World instead of Legend, or RQ6, or OpenQuest?

I'll admit to being a fan of all those games.  Indeed, for the last 6 months, I've been running through the classic Gloranthan material using OpenQuest.

What I love about them, is that there's a great ability to cross-polinate. Back in the day, I used to do the same thing with all my Chaosium fantasy games. I'd steal bits from RQIII, Stormbringer, Elfquest, whatever, and blend them together willy-nilly.

So, first off, if you're a fan of the BRP fantasy in general, I'd encourage you to look at MW first to see if there's stuff you can use in your other games.  Like Legend/RQ6, but think the take on cultural skill bonuses is too complex? Take a look at the way it's done in MW. Or bolt the "Talking Beasts" rules from MW on to OpenQuest. Or, rejigger the combat skills in Magic World to use the three simple combat skills in OQ.

That being said, Magic World is a slightly different beast than OQ/RQ6. For example, there's only one magic system in it. I culled -all- of the Elric/Stormbring sourcebooks and pulled all of the Sorcery material together in one place. Freeing up room by removing Elemental and Demon magic, gave me room to put in the seafaring rules from "Seas of Fate", plus a greatly expanded bestiary (indeed, almost the entire RQIII monster book was converted over and dropped in).

Really, what I tried to do with Magic World was to pull all the material from various BRP sources you'd need to create a complete, self-contained fantasy RPG. While there are supplements planned, you should have every thing you'll need to run cool epic S&S games right out of the book.

Quote from: The Butcher;594319Advanced Sorcery looks great, though (Deep Magic sounds awesome! Was it pulled from the Bronze Grimoire?). How compatible is it going to be with the above-mentioned (Legend, RQ6, OQ)?

Advanced Sorcery is everything from the Bronze Grimoire that didn't make it into the Magic World core rules. So, Necromancy, Runes, etc. Also, it's got the Demon and Elemental magic that wasn't included in the core. Deep Magic is the "Eastern Magic" from Unknown East.  It's also got Herbalism from Melnibone (though I think it was called, "Drugs" in the Melnibone book), and some other bits and bobs from here and there.

I'm sure you'd have little trouble using the magic material from MW with your OQ/RQ games.

Quote from: K Peterson;594331Do you expect to be producing adventures or an extensive campaign for Magic World?

There is currently a small setting book, with adventures in the works. Think "Keep on the Borderlands" with half a dozen starter scenarios included. This is set in the Southern Reaches setting introduced in the core game, but could be dropped into any setting.

Quote from: K Peterson;594331Will Magic World use the Resistance Table or specific skills in the case of opposed tests (of strength, perseverance, resistance to disease, etc.)?

If I'm reading you correctly, it uses the Resistance Table.  Opposed skills are used for things like Hiding/Searching.

I should also point out quickly, that I'm not an actual Chaosium employee. I'm working on the MW books as a freelance editor, but it's my baby, so I'm happy to talk about it.

Quote from: zomben;594335If I'm reading you correctly, it uses the Resistance Table.  Opposed skills are used for things like Hiding/Searching.

Thanks. I was referring to the skills in OpenQuest, MRQ2, and RQ6 like: Persistence, Resilience, or Brawn that substitute for the Resistance Table.

Nope, for those it uses the Resistance table.

Why does chaosium take so damn long to produce anything?  Probably by the time this actually comes out, I'll have long forgotten about it.

How generic is this?  I've looked at rq and oq and they both look very slanted towards sword and sandal fantasy where everyone casts spells.  I want a flavor of brp that does western medieval fantasy with distinct wizards out of the box.

Quote from: mhensley;594366Why does chaosium take so damn long to produce anything?  Probably by the time this actually comes out, I'll have long forgotten about it.

Because they're thee or four full-time people, and a bunch of freelancers.

Quote from: mhensley;594366How generic is this?  I've looked at rq and oq and they both look very slanted towards sword and sandal fantasy where everyone casts spells.  I want a flavor of brp that does western medieval fantasy with distinct wizards out of the box.

Out of the box, in Magic World you've got to have a pretty high POW (16+) in order to be able to use spells.  There are options noted to change that to make magic more accessible, but bog-standard MW means that focused Sorcerers are not that common, and very few people 'dabble' in magic.

As far as the 'sword and sandal' comment, MW doesn't lean too far that way.  I'm using it right now to run a game based on dark ages/medieval Britain, with lots of weird celtic myth-inspired fantasy thrown in.

In summation, it's more Elric than Perseus.

Quote from: zomben;594374Because they're thee or four full-time people, and a bunch of freelancers.



Out of the box, in Magic World you've got to have a pretty high POW (16+) in order to be able to use spells.  There are options noted to change that to make magic more accessible, but bog-standard MW means that focused Sorcerers are not that common, and very few people 'dabble' in magic.

As far as the 'sword and sandal' comment, MW doesn't lean too far that way.  I'm using it right now to run a game based on dark ages/medieval Britain, with lots of weird celtic myth-inspired fantasy thrown in.

In summation, it's more Elric than Perseus.

Thanks, that sounds pretty promising.  What version of Elric or Stormbringer would you say MW is closest to?

Are there any guidelines for domain management, or mass combat in Magic World? I don't recall them being present in Elric!, but perhaps the memory is escaping me...

And, does it use the same experience check system used by Elric!, CoC, etc.?