Post originally by Sagramor at 2004-03-19 06:49:51
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Nice review, and I agree with most of your conclusions. There's not enough about the Dark Ages to really get a true feel for the era, and the Germanic roots may jar with those unfamiliar with the place and history.
I do have some quibbles though...
d20 might be the dominant system out there, but I found your constant allusions to it( such as 'Classes... er, Occupations') unnecessary and intrusive. As you point out, Cthulhu's been around for over 20 years, and the BRP system has always provided an alternative to D&D/d20. The way you approach the mechanics doesn't really reflect the fact that BRP IS an alternative system and sort of bemoans the fact that this isn't a d20 book. What's wrong with choice? As you say, it isn't that difficult to convert, and, again, as you rightly say, BRP is a system for 'gritty' play - which, if you want to play in the nasty, brutal, unforgiving Dark Ages, is precisely what you want.
Secondly, how can character advancement be limited and unsatisfactory in BRP? I don't understand your comment on this point. Characters improve in skills, of which there are a wide range. No, Hit Points don't improve, but the experience base for a character does, and this is something that d20 still doesn't handle satisfactorily (IMHO and experience).
But, overall, I agree with your impressions. And, as a European, I'd always thought the Dark Ages to encompass the end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Medieval period - so about 460-480AD through to 1000AD - a good 500 years before 'Dark Ages' is set!
Post originally by Dan Davenport at 2004-03-19 07:11:00
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Nice review. I do have a couple of observations, though:
(1) As I understand it, the Serpent People are part of Lovecraft's shared pre-history with Howard's Kull/Conan tales. As such, it makes perfect sense for them to be in Europe.
(2) As for the adventure being combat-intensive despite the claims of the text, I've always found that to be the case with standard CoC as well. The text extoles the virtues of bookish skills and the impotence of weaponry, but a majority of the adventures I've seen involve a good number of monsters that <u>can</u> be shot to bits and who'll kill you if you can't Dodge out of their way.
Post originally by Acorn at 2004-03-19 07:29:47
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If having 15 be the age of majority for characters in the game, you must not be up on your medieval history. A 15 year-old was, in fact, an adult at that time. Life expectancy was much shorter - few even made it into their 60's.
Post originally by Patrick Riley at 2004-03-19 08:14:03
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<I>(which would have made the various historical d20 sourcebooks more readily usable, particularly dual statted Ars Magica books).</I>
The important thing about historical d20 sourcebooks would be all the system-independent material.
Since you are a d20 and a Cthulhu fan, I assume you have Cthulhu d20. Just use it and all your historical d20 supplements.
<I>I'm also not convinced "Education" makes all that much sense, in how it relates to skills (basically, you get skill points equal to your education times 20, with each skill percentage costing a point). People then were poorly educated, but had a wide variety of skills.</I>
You should think of Education, especially in the context of Dark Ages, as not being limited to academic training. Someone who has a wide variety of skills is clearly well educated (whether or not they have a degree) and thus would have a high EDU score.
<I>Not being a fan of the BRP system, I'll probably end up converting to d20 (shouldn't be that hard).</I>
Then why do you own so many versions of CoC? Since you do not like the system and not much changes between editions, why the expense?
<I>But eastern Germany? I'm out of my depth.</I>
Wow. You must have a very narrow range of game settings you play in. Considering there is neglishable setting material in d20 games like D&D, you must be out of your depth there too.
Post originally by The Ent at 2004-03-19 08:57:24
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Well, yes and no...
In Western Europe during the 14th-16th centuries people seemed to have married when aged 24-28...
The reason why it seems like people died young is that LOTS of children died. I do mean LOTS. Less than half the children born seem to have grown up. This screws the "life expectancy average" up real good.
Once past their teens, however, living to the age of 50-60 wasn't too unusual. Barring wars and such of course...
Post originally by Lisa Padol at 2004-03-19 09:44:44
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So, what it is that's making Chaosium add gratuitous bug pictures? They did it for Dunwich and they did it here.
I'm an arachnaphobe, and not overly fond of detailed pics of other bugs either. And we're not talking cases where there are scenarios about bugs. That's legit. We're not talking about settings where the authors emphasize bugs. There's no bleeping reason for all the dang bug pics.
Post originally by Bejaysus at 2004-03-19 10:34:21
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I think Chaosium use pictures of bugs because pictures of fluffy rabbits, puppy-dogs and cute fucking kittens just don't have the same nihilistic gravitas required by the mind-bending horrors of the Cthulhu mythos.
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