I'm fuzzy on what spells are available in the original d&d, but some of the spells from AD&D at least were quite useful for various shenanigans.  (I have a fond memory of using Ventriloquism to impersonate a deity, and on another occasion to make it appear that another character was taking full responsibility for making a young dragon ill).

Personally, if someone wants me to give a new game a try, and I'm not interested?  They can buy the game for me if they want so much for me to give it a chance.

And what did the Zhodani find in their Coreward expeditions?

On a slightly different note, Im tempted to run a Traveller run off where the players find an Ocean World...replete with Cthulhu sleeping away.

I have the 4th edition of Traveller, as well as the Mongoose edition.  In the 4th ed, one got a skill roll for each *year* in character gen, whereas in Mongoose Traveller you get one skill roll per *term*.  Thus, a T4 character is going to be more skilled, generally.  Also, T4 (I dont know about earlier editions, obviously) had some more options at character gen, including special schools you coul dattend before beginning a career.

I figured you might be able to comment on these differences, and whether T4 or Mongoose Traveller is the abberation.

That said, I'll probably pick up the Mongoose supplements.  The cores look close enough that I can simply transport over what I likes, effectively using T4 with some Mongoose strap ons, and I never got Traveller supplements before.  (old school sci fi is something that's grown on me as I got older - back then I was into my fantasy, White Wolf, etc.  I'm a bit bored of 'I was born special' as a genre these days.).

Are there modifications to the hit point rules?  I mean, Call of Cthulhu investigators are pretty squishy, and I probably wouldnt want superheroes that died that quickly...

I suspect it is also because this new BRP is being marketed as able to do any genre.  That means chapters on psionics/ magic, superpowers, various weapons, etc etc.  I've heard some good things about it, but I'm not in a hurry to get any new roleplaying games. (Unless I spot Over The Edge, perhaps).

If there's room for improvement, I don't see why one shouldn't make it better.  If the original rules are good, but *different*, one could perhaps include those as options.

I'm an impatient kinda guy.  I like twists that make you rethink what your character is doing (or even boons that make your character great at something you'd never normally consider doing...).  I just don't like going through character gen until I finally get something decent.  I'm not that committed.

On that topic, I quite like Sorcerer.  There's basically four stats, all your skills use a single 'cover' skill which represents what you actually do...
Plus you assign a set number of points, which is a style of game I tend to gravitate to these days.

(I also like Unknown Armies in that your toughness as a character depends on what you're willing to do, and the biggest rewards go for the biggest risks).

I haven't played any of the lder Traveller editions.  I played one game with T4, so I have that edition and the Mongoose one.  In T4, you basically don't die or get injured - during character creation anyway.  But since you start aging in the game somewhere in your thirties, I think there's an incentive to stop while you're ahead.  Plus you get one skill per year, so you can actually be competent at something before the age of sixty.

In the Mongoose edition, there's the 'Iron Man' option in which you can indeed die.  As it is, in their standard version your character still runs the risk of being severely injured if unlucky, and incurring the relevant medical expenses.  In that version, however, you get one skill per four year term, so you're pretty much required to try and make it to old age.  Plus I found it frustrating that aside from missing promotions, I might completely screw up my ex-military character by losing several points from the one good stat s/he had.

I dunno.  It's one of my pet peeves that too many systems give you the wonderful opportunity to make a character who isn't actually very good at anything.  character limitations?  Great!  But it's annoying to come up with the idea of an agent character, and then arbitrarily get forced out of service in the first term.  (I'm clearly not Traveller's target audience!).

I haven't tried Trail of Cthulhu yet, as well... I already know Call of Cthulhu, and Im finding it harder and harder to learn new systems.  But there are new ideas in there, and the artwork is *beautiful*

Yeah.  It's hard finding room to wedge in a wide open conflict like there is in the beginning of the saga...  But I suspect my players might not be crazy enough to try and bring down Amber themselves anyway.  (possibly..).  In which case, it's largely  a case of setting up a reason for them to want to find out what is going on behind the scenes/ clear their names.

I'm planning to make a big deal of who their parents are, as that comes into play with the whole succession.  Pity the poor wretch who gets Brand as their father.

I think we could easily have an entire thread for embarassing wastes of time in game...

Which is fair enough.  I got my start with early D&D really, so in a sense I started in the same place.  But I like skills - even when the skills are never used.  I'm wierd I guess.
Other than that, I'm beginning to like styles of play that reward the chances players take, and the choices they make.  I like Unknown Armies because the best results come with the highest prices.  In the same way, I also like sorcerer...


Well, one of my players has read the first five in the series (which is all that I'm treating as canon for the purposes of the campaign).  So having them all as unknowing pawns will be a better intro, so I can introduce them to the way things work.  I think the more familial politics of Amber will suit my players more than the somewhat arcane politics you can find in other games.

Off on a tangent here, but I'm always amazed how ancient ruins have perfectly functioning traps <cough>Indiana Jones</cough>.

If I ever have cause to run a game featuring ruins, I think I'll include one armed with a vast array of traps that have long sprung, or plain don't work properly any more.  Possibly including the famous overly elaborate trap that can't ever be reset, and has numerous points that could cause the whole thing to fall flat.