Running Mythras advice

Baulderstone · March 22, 2017, 04:11:28 PM

Quote from: baragei;953255I think you mean that there was a MRQII-version of Elric by Mongoose. Might be tricky to get to today.

It's still quite reasonable on Amazon. While I still love Stormbringer in its own right, the MRQII version is a lot closer to the books.

Baulderstone · March 22, 2017, 05:16:47 PM

Quote from: Moracai;9532152. Grant the the PCs access to some powerful healing mojo. If not for the characters themselves, possibly a quest for a cult, sorcerer or something like that. The problem here is that the player wont be able to join if he doesn't have a replacement character, or that the questgiver first heals the character and then sends them on their merry way. This way the NPC(s) seem like idiots. Who would send characters on their way without insurance that they'll come back, voluntarily or otherwise.

That's not really an issue if you are dealing with a cult or brotherhood that players belong to. The PCs likely have a deeper relationship with the organization than the single act of healing. Cutting your ties simply to not pay back the single favor is probably going to cost more than it gains the players.

There is also the fact that it is entirely likely the party will have another injury at some point in the campaign. They may want to be on good terms with whoever can grant magical healing.

Players are welcome to be orphan murderhobos if they want to be, but Runequest does provide some solid incentives not to be.

Moracai · March 22, 2017, 05:37:53 PM

Quote from: nDervish;953217You forgot:

4. Have reasonable amounts of downtime in your game instead of assuming that adventurers are out fighting monsters every day.

Ars Magica is a great example of this. Even moderate injuries take a month or two to heal, while recovering from truly serious injury can take years. But the system is set up such that you're generally not going to have more than one adventure per season and the rules suggest that a "typical" campaign probably runs at a rate of one adventure every year or two. If you've got a year between adventures, then you can have six months to recover from your injuries and still be back in action before the next adventure starts.

(Of course, ArM is also known for its troupe-style play, where each player has two PCs, with a mob of lesser characters that can be passed around between players, so it does #1 from your list, too.)

Quote from: Baulderstone;953267That's not really an issue if you are dealing with a cult or brotherhood that players belong to. The PCs likely have a deeper relationship with the organization than the single act of healing. Cutting your ties simply to not pay back the single favor is probably going to cost more than it gains the players.

There is also the fact that it is entirely likely the party will have another injury at some point in the campaign. They may want to be on good terms with whoever can grant magical healing.

Players are welcome to be orphan murderhobos if they want to be, but Runequest does provide some solid incentives not to be.

Good points both of you's.

In nDervish's example there's things that I simply forgot to include, and I could not see the similarity to Ars Magica although I have played it. Regarding Baulderstone's example, there's been too much time I since ran RQ last time. Of course the cult ties are strong, even to the point of giving off powerful healing magics without ensurement of recompensation. Though this might not be the case in all settings Mythras might be used for.

nDervish · March 23, 2017, 06:49:38 AM

Quote from: HorusArisen;953226Not sure it's something I'm using but I remember Stormbringer containing rules for demon summoning, I haven't seen anything like that for Mythras...

I've never seen Elric! or Stormbringer, so I can't say how they actually compare, but I've heard that the "Summoner's Art" magic system in Magic World's Advanced Sorcery supplement is basically identical. Of course, that's based in more "standard" BRP, so it would require some conversion for use in Mythras.

Llew ap Hywel · March 23, 2017, 08:28:02 AM

Quote from: nDervish;953335I've never seen Elric! or Stormbringer, so I can't say how they actually compare, but I've heard that the "Summoner's Art" magic system in Magic World's Advanced Sorcery supplement is basically identical. Of course, that's based in more "standard" BRP, so it would require some conversion for use in Mythras.

It was a favourite read amongst my old collection, now sadly lost

Mostly just curious not sure I need those sort of rules this time.

Baulderstone · March 24, 2017, 01:37:49 PM

Quote from: nDervish;953335I've never seen Elric! or Stormbringer, so I can't say how they actually compare, but I've heard that the "Summoner's Art" magic system in Magic World's Advanced Sorcery supplement is basically identical. Of course, that's based in more "standard" BRP, so it would require some conversion for use in Mythras.

Since you brought it up, the biggest conversion stumbling block is going to be the Power economy. Early BRP has Magic Points as a resource, but you also spend and gain Power as well. There were a lot wonky effects from this, so Mythras, MRQII and RQ6 all did away with Power as a consumable resource.

nDervish · March 25, 2017, 05:24:14 AM

Quote from: Baulderstone;953491Since you brought it up, the biggest conversion stumbling block is going to be the Power economy. Early BRP has Magic Points as a resource, but you also spend and gain Power as well. There were a lot wonky effects from this, so Mythras, MRQII and RQ6 all did away with Power as a consumable resource.

Would you mind expanding a bit on the "wonky effects"? I've read (but not played) BGB, Magic World, RQ2, and a few of the other more "traditional" BRP implementations and frequently consider bringing POW gains and expenditures into RQ6/Mythras, but haven't yet actually attempted to do so. To my eye, it looks like the most difficult part would be reconciling traditional MP stores with Mythras' much lower MP costs (aside from shaped sorcery, I can't think of anything that costs more than 1 MP offhand), but your comment sounds like there would be larger emergent issues to deal with.

Llew ap Hywel · March 25, 2017, 05:49:09 AM

I'd be interested to hear why it's wonky.

Also how easy is BRP to Mythras conversion?

Akrasia · March 28, 2017, 10:12:01 PM

People already have mentioned the MRQII Elric of Melnibone material. I highly recommend the books (the core book, the cults book, and the southern cities book), if you can find them. MRQII is pretty much identical to Mythras mechanically. The EoM magic system is very cool. (I played a sorcerer in Loz's MRQII Elric campaign about 6 years ago. One of the best campaigns I've ever played in!)

A recently published Mythras adventure ("Madness and Other Colours") was originally designed for the Young Kingdoms setting ("Sorcerer's Isle").

And if one wants an 'evil slave-holding empire' (which I believe was mentioned somewhere), the Bright Empire is an obvious candidate. Just set the campaign to before the rise of the Young Kingdoms!

Llew ap Hywel · March 29, 2017, 02:54:25 AM

I used to own them in physical form but my collection took a beating when i moved, however I was pleasantly surprised to find my old Runequest books archived in PDF form on an old hard drive the other day

I've now returned to the drawing board to work out what to use. Only book I couldn't find was lankhmar which was annoying.