[Q&A] Timothy Brannan (Strange Brew, Ghosts of Albion, Gaslight)

[20:01] <+TimBrannan> Hello everyone my name is Tim Brannan and I am the author of Ghosts of Albion, The Witch and Eldritch Witchery.

[20:01] <+TimBrannan> I worked on Buffy, a short lived Anita Blake RPG
[20:01] <+newsalor> o/
[20:01] <+TimBrannan> and I have a new Kickstarter out now for Pathfinder
[20:01] <+TimBrannan> (Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-the-ultimate-witch-and-warlock?ref=card)https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-the-ultimate-witch-and-warlock?ref=card
[20:02] <+KurtWiegel> Anita Blake rpg?
[20:02] <+TimBrannan> Strange Brew is a collection of pretty much everything I have been doing for the last 13 years into a giant tome.
[20:02] <+TimBrannan> (over)
[20:02] <+TimBrannan> yeah...
[20:02] <+technoshaman> hello
[20:02] <~Dan> (I think he was being silly. :) )
[20:02] <&Silverlion> ..I wouldn't touch that with a wereleopard....:D
[20:02] <+TimBrannan> I only recently have been allowed to talk about it
[20:02] <+TimBrannan> lol
[20:03] <+Bigby> Yo
[20:03] <+TimBrannan> it was fun to do
[20:03] <+KurtWiegel> who was doing it?
[20:03] <+TimBrannan> honesty I don't recall
[20:03] <+TimBrannan> I know they don't exist anymore
[20:03] <~Dan> Oh, you were serious, re: Anita Blake?
[20:04] <+TimBrannan> yeah
[20:04] <~Dan> Huh.
[20:04] <+TimBrannan> i just started re-reading some of the books
[20:04] <+KurtWiegel> Angel+Under Your Skin....
[20:04] <+TimBrannan> i am going to reuse the material I did in other places.
[20:04] <+TimBrannan> one of which is the work I am doing on Gaslight
[20:05] <+Bigby> What exactly is Gaslight?
[20:05] <+TimBrannan> I saw that Jonathan Thompson was here talking about it a bit ago
[20:05] <+TQuid> You're also Silver Branch Games, right? Or am I thinking of another Tim?
[20:05] <+TimBrannan> it is an OGL and Savage Wolrds Victorian game
[20:05] <+TimBrannan> yeah that isn't me.
[20:06] <+TQuid> D'oh! Sorry
[20:06] <+TimBrannan> no worries
[20:06] <&Silverlion> That's Tim Gray, I believe
[20:07] <+TimBrannan> But yeah Gaslight is fun. It is letting me some crazy stuff that would not work in Ghosts of Albion
[20:07] <+KurtWiegel> Such as?
[20:07] <+TimBrannan> like Atlantis and Darwin writing a monster book
[20:07] <+TimBrannan> Hollow Earth
[20:08] <+TimBrannan> just some really out there stuff
[20:08] <+TimBrannan> giving me a chance to try out some things I wanted to do for ghosts that didn't fit Chris and Amber's world
[20:09] <+etaoinshrdlu> (are we in the middle of a Q&A session?)
[20:09] <+TimBrannan> yes. ;)
[20:09] <+TimBrannan> (that was my answer)
[20:09] <+TimBrannan> but if anyone has questions, I am open to about everything
[20:09] <+Bigby> Sounds cool.  Your GoA games were always fun at GenCon.  I'd be interested to see what you come up with in a more open setting.
[20:10] <+KurtWiegel> Bigby! Thanls for the heads up.
[20:10] <+etaoinshrdlu> (sorry for disturbing the Q&A, I just wasn't 100% sure)
[20:10] <~Dan> (No worries, eta!)
[20:10] <+TimBrannan> well I guess Gaslight is the closest. It's not mine per se, but I am free to abuse it as I like.
[20:10] <~Dan> (Oh, and #rpgnet2 is open for regular chat.)
[20:10] <+Geek2theRight> Have you done or are you going to do anything for either Fate or Cortex +?
[20:10] <+TimBrannan> hmm
[20:11] <+TimBrannan> I have this idea for fate
[20:11] <+TimBrannan> if you know nothing else about me you know I am crazy for witches and magic and all that
[20:11] *** AWOLJoe1 is now known as AWOLJoe
[20:11] <~Dan> (Howdy, AWOLJoe!)
[20:11] <+Geek2theRight> Yeah, I saw a theme. lol
[20:12] <+TimBrannan> I have been tinkering with Fate on some I have been calling Ordinary World
[20:12] <+AWOLJoe> (Hello!)
[20:12] <+TimBrannan> hello!
[20:13] <+TimBrannan> it's modern supernatural (cause NO one is doing that) but I want it to be something more along the line of supernaturals living in the normal world
[20:13] <+TimBrannan> and less about world ending horrors
[20:13] <+TimBrannan> so less Buffy and more Being Human.
[20:14] <+TimBrannan> but it still a long way away at the moment
[20:14] <+Geek2theRight> Cool!
[20:14] <+TimBrannan> it's a total vanity project
[20:14] <~Dan> What can you tell us about the scope of Strange Brew?
[20:14] <+TimBrannan> not expecting it to sell but something that could be fun.
[20:15] <+TimBrannan> Ah strange Brew.
[20:15] <&Silverlion> So ...like the Garret Files, or SPI, or what have you?
[20:15] <+TimBrannan> ok so this a Pathfinder book
[20:15] <+TimBrannan> a long time ago I did a d20 book on witches. and so did a lot of people (Green ronin, Mongoose, Citizen games)
[20:15] <+TimBrannan> I wanted to update it to the new Pathfinder witch
[20:16] <&Silverlion> Cool.
[20:16] <+TimBrannan> I was talking to Chistina Stiles and she wanted to update the old Citizen Games Way of the Witch (which I loved)
[20:16] <&Silverlion> How is it different between the original and this version?
[20:17] <+TimBrannan> once we combined our work and I added in all the notes of 10 years of playing 3.x I ended up with 500 pages
[20:17] <+TimBrannan> 512 i think
[20:17] <+TimBrannan> so there are some significant changes to what was my witch.
[20:18] <+TimBrannan> I am keeping the Pathfinder witch as is, makes it easier, but adding a "divine" or WIS based witch
[20:18] <+TimBrannan> and a warlock class
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[20:18] <~Dan> (Howdy, BPIJonathan!)
[20:18] <+TimBrannan> I redid all the feats, skills and multiclass paths
[20:19] <~Dan> (Tim, do you know Jonathan, publisher of the CineUni game Eldritch Skies?)
[20:19] <+BPIJonathan> (Sorry for being late, had family stuff and just got finished)
[20:19] <+TimBrannan> of course!
[20:19] <+BPIJonathan> (Yes he does, if you remember I introduced yall a few days ago :D )
[20:19] <+TimBrannan> love Eldritch Skies!
[20:19] <~Dan> (Oh. Duh.)
[20:19] <~Dan> (Sorry. Long week.)
[20:19] <+TimBrannan> yeah
[20:19] <+Geek2theRight> CineUni still exists???
[20:20] <+TimBrannan> ah! that hurts.
[20:20] <&Silverlion> Yes it does...
[20:20] <+TimBrannan> but also fair....
[20:20] <+TimBrannan> so I guess the big question is what does Strange Brew have?
[20:21] <+TimBrannan> well at the moment I think I am at close to 1000 spells
[20:21] <+TimBrannan> there are a bunch of new hooks for witch-like characters
[20:21] <+TimBrannan> and a bunch of prestige classes
[20:22] <+TimBrannan> it gives me the chance to "fix" things that I did wrong with my d20 witch and add things to the Pathfinder witch that are missing
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[20:22] <~Dan> (Howdy, jtbullet!)
[20:22] <+TimBrannan> for example, I don't like how covens are done in Pathfinder
[20:23] <+TimBrannan> hello!
[20:23] <+jtbullet> hi dan
[20:23] <+jtbullet> pathfnder cover hater...greetings
[20:23] <+BPIJonathan> I think this is a neat book. I hope it makes it. I plan on using a bit of its OGC in one of our upcoming books if it does, if it doesnt I am just going to hire Tim to work. :D
[20:23] <+TimBrannan> well it will be all 100% open
[20:23] <+TimBrannan> I am be one for openness
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[20:24] <~Dan> Howdy, QtGames!
[20:24] <+TimBrannan> I was talking earlier about Gaslight. How it lets me do all the crazy stuff I couldn't do in Ghosts of Albion
[20:25] <+BPIJonathan> Sorry I missed that.
[20:25] <+BPIJonathan> Was with the fam.
[20:25] <+QtGames> Hi Dan. :)
[20:26] <+TimBrannan> true, but Amber was much nicer to have diner with than Jonathon! ;)
[20:26] <+BPIJonathan> I would chose to have dinner with Amber over me any day :D
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[20:26] <+TimBrannan> I was able to treat her to very first Chicago style deep dish pizza.
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[20:27] <+TimBrannan> that's gotta be worth something
[20:27] <~Dan> (Welcome to #rpgnet, TimShorts!)
[20:27] <+TimBrannan> Hi tim!
[20:27] <&Silverlion> That's cool.
[20:27] <+KurtWiegel> Tim: if you had to bolt a magic system onto Cortex (say to improve the underrated Demon Hunters) how would you do it?
[20:27] <&Silverlion> <--also a Tim
[20:28] <+TimBrannan> Love the question Kurt
[20:28] <+TimBrannan> I have been playing with Cortex's magic system for a while.
[20:28] <+TimBrannan> I haven't quite found something I like.
[20:29] <+TimBrannan> At the risk of sounding narcissistic I am partial to Ghosts of Albion's system
[20:29] <+KurtWiegel> Demon Hunters+Supernatural have some great stuff, but it needs a decent magic system. Thought you'd be the one to ask
[20:29] <+TimBrannan> and I tried that
[20:29] <+TimBrannan> and broke everything
[20:29] <+KurtWiegel> GoAs magic system is the best free form system Ive seen
[20:29] <+TimBrannan> thanks!
[20:29] <&Silverlion> I have not read GoA, what's cool about it?
[20:29] <+TimBrannan> It is good, but there is a power difference between Cortex and Unisystem
[20:30] <+TimBrannan> your base Unisystem character is still more powerful than your base Cortex character
[20:30] <+TimBrannan> Ghost of Albion is "Victorian buffy" to put it simple Silverlion
[20:30] <+Geek2theRight> Like the older Cortex games? I don't recall an actual magic system in the newer stuff.
[20:31] <&Silverlion> Yeah, I've heard that, but I was wondering about the magic system :D
[20:31] <+TimBrannan> yes
[20:31] <+TimBrannan> ah
[20:31] <+TimBrannan> well the magic system is a simple skill one
[20:31] <+TimBrannan> but the idea is your magic quality needs to be higher than the spell level you want to cast
[20:32] <+TimBrannan> so the nice side effect is if you want make up a magic effect then your GM sets a power level to it and you know what your roll needs to be
[20:32] <+TimBrannan> so like Mage, but only 1 d10
[20:33] <+TimBrannan> i tried to bolt on the Magic system from Witch Girls Adventures onto Cortex and Savage Worlds
[20:33] <+KurtWiegel> I can imagine it didn't work for either
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[20:33] <+TimBrannan> it was a fun experiment, but ultimately more complicated than it needed to be
[20:34] <+KurtWiegel> I think the closest you'd get to SW would be to use the Super Sorcerer power from Necessary evil
[20:34] <+TimBrannan> WGA is not a bad game and the author Malcom Harris is a good guy, but there is some funky rules in that thing
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[20:35] <+BPIJonathan> I ended up giving away my copy of WGA to a friends daughter.
[20:35] <+TimBrannan> I would love to take something more like the Magic power from Mutants & Masterminds for Cortex / SW, but I would need to play a lot more to get the right feel
[20:36] <+KurtWiegel> I get too lazy and just do it in unisystem.
[20:36] <+TimBrannan> I mentioned earlier I have been playing so much D&D and OSR games of late I am rusty as all heck on these others
[20:36] <+TimBrannan> I am partial to Unisystem and honestly the best magic system is the one in WitchCraft
[20:36] <+KurtWiegel> So any hints on how you'd update GoA to the modern setting?
[20:37] <+TimBrannan> Well GoA has 16 skills, Angel has 18.  No big deal right? well it does make a difference when spending those skill points
[20:37] <+TimBrannan> so I'd keep the 16 skills of GoA, but *maybe* add a computers skill.
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[20:38] <+TimBrannan> I'd use all the rules from Angel
[20:38] * &jcfiala waves.
[20:38] <~Dan> (Howdy, jcfiala!)
[20:38] <+TimBrannan> thematically, well no idea how Protectors would work in the modern age
[20:38] <+TimBrannan> I would grab the Chosen One from Army of Darkness
[20:39] <+TimBrannan> run it pretty much like I do now and grab a copy of WitchCraft to fill in the blanks
[20:39] <+KurtWiegel> I was thinking that the Protectors have been overwhelmed with the expansion of  humanity and the world. Maybe one for each major city?
[20:40] <+TimBrannan> when we did our "Chicago" game we kept Protectors to a city or metro area
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[20:40] <+TimBrannan> there were Protectors of Chicago
[20:41] <+KurtWiegel> So LA, San Fransisco, New York, New Orleans etc.
[20:41] <+TimBrannan> one that looked like Laura Vandervoot.
[20:41] <+TimBrannan> yeah, certainly New York
[20:41] <+TimBrannan> we never really planned it out outside of Chicago
[20:41] <+TimBrannan> we mixed in bits of Dresden Files and World of Darkness
[20:42] <+TimBrannan> I was working (at my day job) with Kraig Blackwelder
[20:42] <+KurtWiegel> I'm trying to de-dresden my UF games: been there, done that well, time to move on.
[20:42] <+jtbullet> they should all look like laura
[20:42] <+TimBrannan> he worked for White Wolf at the time and did their Chicago book
[20:42] <&Silverlion> UF?
[20:42] <+KurtWiegel> Urban Fantasy
[20:42] <+TimBrannan> yup
[20:43] <+TimBrannan> i wish I did more with the Dresden files game
[20:43] <+TimBrannan> my kids though didn't take to it
[20:43] <+KurtWiegel> The Dresden Game is great.
[20:43] <+TimBrannan> yeah
[20:43] <&Silverlion> Ag.
[20:43] <+KurtWiegel> It takes some work. Id like to see what they do with Dresden Accellerated
[20:43] <+TimBrannan> They do like the Doctor Who AITAS game as well.
[20:43] <~Dan> Which was strongly inspired by CineUni.
[20:44] <&Silverlion> My friends found the magic "too punishings" but I don't know. I played and didn't see the problem.
[20:44] <+KurtWiegel> UNIT+Primeval makes me drool
[20:44] <+BPIJonathan> I like the AITAS game too... keep buying stuff for it :/
[20:44] <&Silverlion> Hehe.
[20:44] <+TimBrannan> yeah.  I have Conspiracy X for all that!
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[20:44] <+KurtWiegel> Con X is good, but something there doesn't sit right with me for some reason.
[20:44] <+TimBrannan> FIRST I have to survive getting Strange Brew out.
[20:44] <&Silverlion> Any other rule systems you are working on or with?
[20:45] <+TimBrannan> Pathfinder for Stange Brew.  OSR stuff.  d20/SW for Gaslight
[20:45] <+BPIJonathan> Other than d20OGL and SW for Gaslight, and CiniUni for GoA, when does he have time? :P
[20:45] <+TimBrannan> I'd love to do something with Fate.
[20:46] <+TimBrannan> I still enjoy playing all my OSR stuff too.
[20:46] <+TimBrannan> I just put out The Witch and Eldritch Witchery (for Spellcraft & Swordpaly)
[20:47] <+TimBrannan> that was a lot fun
[20:47] <+TimBrannan> but honestly I play about anything and everything
[20:48] <+TimBrannan> have not found a SciFi game I really love though. Even after 30 years of searching
[20:48] <+QtGames> Congrats on those two, btw
[20:48] <+KurtWiegel> Olympics: did the women all look like Santas Harem?
[20:48] <+TimBrannan> thanks! they are doing quite well
[20:48] <&Silverlion> Always cool
[20:48] <+TimBrannan> hahaha!
[20:48] <+TimBrannan> i just looked up to see that
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[20:49] <+TimBrannan> what else would you all like to know?
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[20:49] <+TimBrannan> I pretty much post everything to my blog or facebook
[20:49] <+KurtWiegel> How did you land in doing Ghosts of Albion?
[20:49] <+TimBrannan> well stalking mostly
[20:49] <~Dan> Kind of a random question, but what was the thinking behind the attribute cap of 9?
[20:50] <+TimBrannan> I had been talking to Christopher Golden, the author of the BBC web series
[20:50] <+BPIJonathan> I am hoping to get around to post my notes to Tims Blog about playing Gaslight with GoA
[20:50] <+TimBrannan> (dan get to that in a sec)
[20:50] <+TimBrannan> and we were chatting about his vampire book that he had out at the time
[20:51] <+TimBrannan> I wanted to make it into a game using WitchCraft
[20:51] <+BPIJonathan> (many a license is gained by RPG companies by "stalking" :D )
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[20:51] <+TimBrannan> Chris instead wanted to do Ghosts
[20:51] <+TimBrannan> Eden didn't want to use WitchCraft, they wanted Buffy.
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[20:52] <+TimBrannan> so I worked out a new system for everyone and spent a lot of time on the phone with chris and Amber Benson.
[20:52] <+TimBrannan> Amber was very pleased with the idea that Tamara from Ghosts was in the same system as Buffy.
[20:53] <+TimBrannan> Any yes, William and Tamara are completely Willow and Tara.
[20:53] <+KurtWiegel> But siblings- ew. Game of Magical thrones?
[20:53] <+KurtWiegel> I kid, I kid
[20:53] <+TimBrannan> well
[20:53] <+TimBrannan> reincarnated soulmates
[20:53] <+TimBrannan> ;)
[20:54] <+TimBrannan> the cap of 9 in unisystem
[20:54] <+TimBrannan> mathmatically anything higher than 9 results in automatic 2 or more success levels.
[20:54] <+TimBrannan> it just gets silly at that point
[20:55] <+TimBrannan> esp with the human max at 5
[20:55] <+TimBrannan> but working with Chris and Amber was great
[20:55] <~Dan> So you think it should have been implemented in Buffy and Angel as well? (I know the latter has at least one archetype with a strength of 10, for example.)
[20:56] <+TimBrannan> I knew I had gone past "fan boy" and into "co worker" when I called up Amber's cell to tell her her great idea broke my game.
[20:56] <+TimBrannan> Buffy and Angel were designed with more heroics in mind
[20:56] <+TimBrannan> punching a god for example
[20:56] <+KurtWiegel> The magic system for GoA bolts on perfectly to Angel though.
[20:56] <+TimBrannan> Personally I use them in Buffy/Angel/Army of Darkness
[20:57] <+KurtWiegel> The legends of the "Cartoon mage" resonate forever in my games
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[20:57] <+TimBrannan> I do allow Magic of 10 in some games.
[20:57] <+KurtWiegel> Army of Darkness is vastly underrated
[20:57] <+TimBrannan> it is.
[20:57] <+TimBrannan> my own character from Buffy was Tara.  Tara as she is in the Magic Box book is basically my character sheet from the playtests
[20:57] <~Dan> (Welcome, Guest76!)
[20:58] <+BPIJonathan> I love the AoD game
[20:58] <+TimBrannan> in my games she got up to Magic 10 and was just "sick" as my Director at the time called her
[20:58] <+TimBrannan> or Sorcery in the Buffy game
[20:58] <~Dan> I love the fact that GoA fixed what I call the "Summon Kittens" flaw in Buffy/Angel.
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[20:59] <+KurtWiegel> Summon kittens?
[20:59] <+TimBrannan> got me?
[20:59] <~Dan> Yes. In Angel/Buffy, all spells are equally draining, whether you're casting "Summon Kittens" or "End World".
[20:59] <+TimBrannan> right right
[20:59] <~Dan> GoA addresses that.
[20:59] <+TimBrannan> well Ghosts is more magic focused.
[20:59] <&Silverlion> Summon Kittends could be "End World"!
[21:00] <+TimBrannan> can't have the stars down for the count and let those vampires and ghosts take all the credit!
[21:00] <~Dan> (brb)
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[21:00] <+TimBrannan> though Kurt I believe your vampire did exactly that
[21:01] <+TimBrannan> now if we could figure out a way to add Eldritch Skies in to the mix...
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[21:01] <+Jetrauben> I LIVE AGAIN
[21:02] <+TimBrannan> what else would we like to talk about.
[21:02] <+TimBrannan> hello!
[21:02] <+KurtWiegel> Yeah. I loved Nigel
[21:02] <&Silverlion> Skies of Eldritch Albion?
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[21:02] <+TimBrannan> Nigel is a great character
[21:02] <+BPIJonathan> ES is coming out in SW flavor for those that are not partial to Uni.
[21:02] <+JoshuaMeadows> Elritch Skies of Albion Darkness?
[21:03] <+TimBrannan> 1000 year old vampire with a taste for the finer things in life.
[21:03] <&Silverlion> No the Dark Eldritch Skies of Albion's Armageddon?
[21:03] <+TimBrannan> Protectors in SPAAAAACE!
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[21:03] <+BPIJonathan> So Tim... tell us about Darwins Guide ?
[21:03] <+KurtWiegel> I had an obscene amount of fun with him. "Oh. Its not Glamour. Its just...theater."
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[21:04] <+TimBrannan> Darwins Guide
[21:04] <+TimBrannan> man I love this book
[21:04] <&Silverlion> What is Darwin's Guidde?
[21:04] <+TimBrannan> I have always been a fan of Darwin, the man for years.
[21:04] <+TimBrannan> Darwin's Guide is the "monster book" for Gaslight
[21:05] <+TimBrannan> so Darwin kept all these notebooks
[21:05] <+TimBrannan> A, B, C.... and so on
[21:05] <+BPIJonathan> Officially "Darwin's Guide to Creatures, Mythical and Mundane"
[21:05] <+TimBrannan> notebook E became roughly On the Origins of Species
[21:05] <+TimBrannan> he worked up to H
[21:05] <+TimBrannan> Darwin's Guide is all the stuff he could fit into the others. Notebook X
[21:06] <+TimBrannan> so the Loch Ness Monster
[21:06] <+TimBrannan> Orcs
[21:06] <+TimBrannan> Dinosaurs and Elementals
[21:06] <&Silverlion> I see, cool.
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[21:06] <+TimBrannan> I tried to write about Supernatural creatures as if a naturalist would have seen them
[21:07] <~Dan> A supernaturalist?
[21:07] <&Silverlion> How does he explain their supernatural stuff?
[21:07] <+TimBrannan> that turned out to be the biggest challenge
[21:07] <+TimBrannan> We.  I used a lot of the science of the time.
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[21:08] <+TimBrannan> So AEther theory and and Vril
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[21:08] <+TimBrannan> lots of things that even Darwin would have dismissed but were in vogue at the time
[21:09] <+TimBrannan> orcs for example are akin to lower primates
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[21:09] <+TimBrannan> some fae are forms of insects
[21:10] <+TimBrannan> I left plenty of room for magic, but wanted to explain things as if there were only natural processes.
[21:10] <+TimBrannan> that was a lot harder than I thought
[21:10] <+JoshuaMeadows> So choose a similar animal form, and add some psuedo-science for an explanation then?
[21:10] <+TimBrannan> I spend a lot of time saying "it's magic!" and this time I couldn't
[21:10] <+TimBrannan> sometimes
[21:10] <~Dan> Do you have a link handy to Gaslight, by the way?
[21:11] <+TimBrannan> i can get one
[21:11] <+TimBrannan> (Link: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/116477/Gaslight-Victorian-Fantasy-2nd-Edition-%28OGL-Edition%29?affiliate_id=10748)http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/116477/Gaslight-Victorian-Fantasy-2nd-Edition-%28OGL-Edition%29?affiliate_id=10748
[21:11] <+TimBrannan> for the d20 one
[21:12] <+TimBrannan> now I did assume that there were other forms of life
[21:12] <+TimBrannan> elementals were akin to Genius Loci
[21:12] <+TimBrannan> something given animating life
[21:13] <+TimBrannan> and other times I used Darwin's own tactic of admiting I didn't know how they worked, like the undead
[21:13] <+TimBrannan> but in the end I am pleased where it ended up
[21:14] <+TimBrannan> I liked doing all the research for it
[21:14] <+TimBrannan> Darwin was an interesting guy. Sort of the last person that wanted to be famous for anything
[21:15] <+TimBrannan> I also worked on a couple of the Challenger's Guides for Gaslight
[21:15] <+TimBrannan> I mentioned those at the start. Atlantis and the Hollow Earth
[21:15] <+TimBrannan> that was also a lot fun.
[21:16] <+QtGames> I bet. :)
[21:16] <+TimBrannan> I dug into all the weird documentaries I watched in the 70s about Atlantis and underground UFOs
[21:16] <+TimBrannan> basically all my games are in one way or another a way of bringing back stuff I read or watched in the 70s
[21:17] <+BPIJonathan> Challenger's Notebooks :P
[21:17] <+TimBrannan> Notebooks.
[21:17] <~Dan> The supernatural is out in the open in Gaslight, right?
[21:17] <+TimBrannan> Are you all familiar with the character Professor Challenger?
[21:18] <+TimBrannan> no it is hidden, like Ghosts of Albion
[21:18] <+BPIJonathan> Its not technically hidden, its just not widely out there. There are schools that teach magic.
[21:18] <+TimBrannan> I played a magic in the open game before, Victoriana and it was fun, but there are things I like doing that requires the muggles to be ignorant
[21:19] <+TimBrannan> yeah I usually play it hidden.
[21:19] <+TimBrannan> habit
[21:20] <+TimBrannan> well I think that might do it.  unless there are some more questions?
[21:20] <+Bigby> Professor Challenger from Lost World and The Poison Belt?
[21:20] <+JoshuaMeadows> So I see that you have both a Savage Wolrds and an OGL version.  Did you do the theme (fluff) writing and then add in the rules, or was it written with one system in mind and then converted?
[21:20] <+TimBrannan> Bigby, the same!
[21:21] <+Bigby> Love the character.
[21:21] <+TimBrannan> JoshuaMeadows that is how I do it, but I am the monkey for hire here!  Jonathon would be better to anwser
[21:21] <+TimBrannan> he was a great character to play around with
[21:21] <+TimBrannan> and I am a huge ACD fan
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[21:22] <+TimBrannan> hello!
[21:22] <+BPIJonathan> It was written with one system in mind and then converted. Though the SW version got a facelift awhile ago approaching it a little differently... trying to keep the spirit of the system in mind but write it with SW in mind.
[21:22] <+BPIJonathan> system = setting
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[21:23] <+TimBrannan> i tend to think in Unisystem or d20 and then convert
[21:23] <~Dan> Any chance of Unisystem Gaslight?
[21:23] * +JoshuaMeadows loves Unisystem
[21:23] <+BPIJonathan> None what so ever.
[21:23] <+TimBrannan> with Darwin's guide the fluff had to come first
[21:23] <+TimBrannan> yeah....
[21:23] <~Dan> Awwwww. :(
[21:23] <+TimBrannan> i know
[21:24] <+TimBrannan> the unisystem license is not a cheap one
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[21:24] <+BPIJonathan> And when ours expires that will be it for our unisystem products, we will move on to something else.
[21:24] <&Silverlion> That's really a shame.
[21:24] <+JoshuaMeadows> Ouch.
[21:24] <+TimBrannan> plus there is already a good victorian game for unisystem!
[21:25] <&Silverlion> What about Vortex? DWAITAS?
[21:25] <+TimBrannan> Savage Worlds is the biggest kid on the block after d20
[21:25] <+BPIJonathan> Our license there is very specific, we have Sherwood on the docket for Vortex, and in layout we have a pulp game that needs a name.
[21:25] <+TimBrannan> and they are both simple enough
[21:26] <+JoshuaMeadows> (Shane Hensley is also a really cool fellow.)
[21:26] <&Silverlion> What kind of pulp game? Classic, Shadow? Space Opera?
[21:26] <+TimBrannan> i mean most SW stuff can convert to Unisystem easy
[21:26] <+BPIJonathan> A little closer to classic than say.... Rocket AGe
[21:26] <&Silverlion> So Operator X and Doc Savage?
[21:26] <+BPIJonathan> Yes.
[21:27] <+BPIJonathan> Both of which could be created in our game.
[21:27] <&Silverlion> Cool.
[21:27] <+TimBrannan> nice
[21:27] <+Caylin> +++++++++
[21:27] <+TimBrannan> Pulp Age is not something I am that familiar with.
[21:27] <&Silverlion> Science, Mystery, and Magic!
[21:27] <+KurtWiegel> Interesting SW is such a big player in the market. I'm glad to do it.
[21:27] <+KurtWiegel> To see it. To see it.
[21:27] <+KurtWiegel> darned olympics
[21:27] <+TimBrannan> haha
[21:28] <&Silverlion> Yeah. I've read a lot of pulp.
[21:28] <&Silverlion> and modern interpetations
[21:28] <+TimBrannan> my son loves SW more than Unisystem
[21:28] <+TimBrannan> i am so hurt
[21:28] <~Dan> How do you reconcile magic being both secretive and wildly flashy in GoA?
[21:28] <+BPIJonathan> We did Doc and his crew in hopes that we could get license to include them in the core book, but Conde Nast  is hard to work with.
[21:28] <+TimBrannan> part of the idea is that magic polices itself
[21:29] <+TimBrannan> if you get too flashy the Protectors pay you a visit
[21:29] <&Silverlion> Shame that.
[21:29] <&Silverlion> Masks, Mystery and Magic! :D
[21:29] * &Silverlion is throwing out random names
[21:30] <+BPIJonathan> Yeah, we were just going to stat them and put them in the book, without any information about their world and just the basic information on them.
[21:30] <+TimBrannan> now it is my personal belief that Pulp age stuff is where Savage Worlds shines
[21:30] <+BPIJonathan> And they wont let us even put them up for free.
[21:30] <&Silverlion> Then again, I've the oddest names superhero game out there..:D
[21:31] <+TimBrannan> that two fisted square jawed hero seem to fit SW well
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[21:31] <+BPIJonathan> SL: Is it called ... Bob?
[21:31] <&Silverlion> No. :D
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[21:31] <+TimBrannan> Jonathan that reminds me, I have a good pulpy super villain for you.
[21:32] <+BPIJonathan> Its one of the reasons I think SW works well with Gaslight.
[21:32] <+TimBrannan> one sec all, sounds like I need to referee at the Xbox.
[21:32] <+BPIJonathan> TB: You have my email. :D
[21:32] <&Silverlion> Tales to Amaze! The RPG
[21:32] <+TimBrannan> back
[21:33] <+TimBrannan> no blood so no need for me to interfere.
[21:33] <+BPIJonathan> Dont have that whole referee the game systems in my house... I only have one child. :/
[21:33] <&Silverlion> I wrote "Hearts & Souls: Superhero RPG."
[21:33] <+KurtWiegel> Good night all. Thanks Tim. Keep up the great work
[21:34] <+TimBrannan> two boys and one of them has a friend over
[21:34] <+TimBrannan> Minecraft issues
[21:34] <~Dan> How much leeway did you have in fleshing out GoA? Do all of the supernatural powers appear at some point, for example?
[21:34] <+QtGames> Glad there was no blood. ;)
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[21:34] <+TimBrannan> Dan, I was given a lot of free reign
[21:35] <+Bigby> Kind of jumping back to the former topic of Strange Brew.  Our group doesn't really play Pathfinder much.  Is there anything in the book for us or is it all pretty much exclusively useful to the one system?
[21:35] <+TimBrannan> more so than on any other licensed project I have done
[21:35] <&Silverlion> Cool!
[21:35] <+TimBrannan> it is Pathfinder/3.x rules
[21:35] <+MonkofLords> Huzzah!
[21:35] <+TimBrannan> but there should be something there for most games.
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[21:36] <+TimBrannan> you could "down shift" it to older forms of D&D easy
[21:36] <~Dan> Howdy, Capricious!
[21:36] <&Silverlion> So it would be useful for my Basic D&D game?
[21:36] <+TimBrannan> plenty of spells, magic items and the like
[21:36] <+TimBrannan> Bigby, what do you play?
[21:37] <+TimBrannan> Silverlion I would grab my book The Witch instead.
[21:37] <+Capricious> Hey Dan, All
[21:37] <+TimBrannan> (Link: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/107132/The-Witch%3A-A-sourcebook-for-Basic-Edition-fantasy-games?affiliate_id=10748)http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/107132/The-Witch%3A-A-sourcebook-for-Basic-Edition-fantasy-games?affiliate_id=10748
[21:37] <+Bigby> CinUni, SW, Fate, Cortex, CoC.
[21:37] <+TimBrannan> all my faves
[21:37] <+Bigby> I'm fond of Hero and Sixcess Core, but still need to convert my group.
[21:37] <+TimBrannan> i would love to say "yes go get it!!" but it is pretty solidly d20
[21:38] <+Bigby> I know at least one guy in our group is into Pathfinder.  Maybe I'll pick it up and insist on playing a witch if he ever finally runs it. :P
[21:38] <+TimBrannan> here is the kickstarter again
[21:38] <+TimBrannan> (Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-the-ultimate-witch-and-warlock)https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-the-ultimate-witch-and-warlock
[21:39] <+TimBrannan> if you can't or don't need to get it, spread it around.
[21:39] <+TimBrannan> the amount we need is high, but like I said it is a huge book. so art, printing and edits...
[21:40] <+TimBrannan> i really could use the signal boost on it.  I am not sure where Pathfinder players hang out
[21:41] <+TimBrannan> i do have a secret cheat sheet on how to use all these witch spells in Ghosts of Albion
[21:41] <+TimBrannan> I could put that up on my blog someday
[21:42] <+JoshuaMeadows> Bulletinboards at Paizo was a good place for some product discussion when I used to play D&D.
[21:42] <+TimBrannan> cool
[21:42] <+TimBrannan> I have a thread up there now.
[21:43] <+Capricious> Paizo bulletinboards are definitely a good place to prowl and hex.
[21:43] <+TimBrannan> nice
[21:43] <+Capricious> Tim, it might have been mentioned already, but the link to your blog post at:
[21:43] <+Capricious> (Link: http://www.landwatch.com/Tyler-County-West-Virginia-House-for-sale/pid/200469309)http://www.landwatch.com/Tyler-County-West-Virginia-House-for-sale/pid/200469309
[21:43] <+TimBrannan> see that is our biggest problem right now
[21:43] <+Capricious> Not that sorry.
[21:43] <+Capricious> (Link: http://misfit-studios.com/blog/uncategorized/witchy-wonders-examining-witches-d20-era/)http://misfit-studios.com/blog/uncategorized/witchy-wonders-examining-witches-d20-era/
[21:43] <+TimBrannan> so many really good games!
[21:44] <+TimBrannan> yup that is my thread
[21:44] <+Capricious> (been land hunting ... Dan, please feel free to remove that)
[21:44] <+TimBrannan> i mean seriously. who here was playing in the 80s?
[21:44] * ~Dan raises hand
[21:44] <+Capricious> The link doesn't work on the Kickstarter Update #2
[21:44] <+BPIJonathan> I
[21:44] <+TimBrannan> where I grew up we had D&D and CoC
[21:44] <+TimBrannan> I played Chill.
[21:45] <+Capricious> Pacesetter or Mayfair version, Tim?
[21:45] <+TimBrannan> and there was this group of "freaks" that played Traveller. (seriously lasers?) ;)
[21:45] <+TimBrannan> BOTH
[21:45] <+Capricious> :)
[21:45] <+TimBrannan> but Pacesetter to start
[21:45] <+TimBrannan> my Chill came in a box
[21:45] <+TimBrannan> but that was it
[21:46] <+TimBrannan> and I lived in a decent place for games, Southern Illinois
[21:46] <+TimBrannan> now we have so many choices and so many of them are so good.
[21:46] <+TimBrannan> that people are not fractionalized, they are overwhelmed.
[21:47] * +JoshuaMeadows only started in the 90s
[21:47] <+TimBrannan> I started in 79
[21:47] <+TimBrannan> Holmes Basic
[21:48] <+TimBrannan> so it's difficult for a new game to get into the market
[21:48] <+TimBrannan> not that there isn't people. there is. not that they don't have money. they do. they just already have 200 games and can only play 2.
[21:48] <~Dan> So what fundamentally separates witches from other spellcasters?
[21:49] <+TimBrannan> ok so Wizards learn magic. how to use it
[21:49] <+TimBrannan> how to shape it
[21:49] <+TimBrannan> Witches are granted power for a price
[21:49] <+TimBrannan> Warlocks on the other hand "take" power from those sources
[21:50] <+TimBrannan> clerics are also granted powers, but they have to serve and work for them
[21:50] <+TimBrannan> their relationship is better understood.
[21:50] <+TimBrannan> i usually have it that witchcraft was the first form of magic in my game worlds
[21:50] <&Silverlion> I started in 83...
[21:51] <+Capricious> Tim, is there a section on witch familiars and their special relationships with their mistresses/masters?
[21:52] <+TimBrannan> yes. quite a lot of familiars and what powers they can grant their witches
[21:52] <+JoshuaMeadows> Do the Witches powers wax and wane with things like lunar events?
[21:52] <+TimBrannan> also a section on why familiars are not pets. or pokemon
[21:52] <+TimBrannan> i have that in there as an alternate rule
[21:52] <+TimBrannan> i can say this. I like it myself, but players hate it
[21:53] <+TimBrannan> but players want that boost in magic and not the minuses.
[21:54] <+TimBrannan> i try to cover all types of witches and things they can do.
[21:55] <+Capricious> Of course, with great power comes great risk. When dealing with pacts, "munchkin" takes on a new meaning. "You broke your pact? Oh dear. <munch> <burp>"
[21:55] <+TimBrannan> so the Baba Yagas, Circes, even to the Pipers, Pheobes and Paiges.
[21:56] <+TimBrannan> well we are at 2 hours now.
[21:56] <+Capricious> How far back, historically (analogous), do you go back in the book?
[21:56] <~Dan> Is there anything we haven't covered that you'd like to bring up, TimBrannan?
[21:56] <+TimBrannan> history of the witch?
[21:56] <+TimBrannan> hmm
[21:57] <+TimBrannan> I talk about Classical witches, which are some of the first spellcasters
[21:57] <+Capricious> Yes. For example, could I run a game set in the dark ages?
[21:57] <+TimBrannan> oh yes
[21:57] <+TimBrannan> it's a Pathfinder book, so anything "D&D" llike
[21:57] <+Capricious> Or even as far back as Ancient Greece or Rome?
[21:58] <+Capricious> Circe, for instance.
[21:58] <+TimBrannan> yes
[21:58] <+TimBrannan> easy
[21:58] <+Capricious> Excellent
[21:58] <+Capricious> Thanks Tim.
[21:58] <+TimBrannan> my pleasure
[21:58] <+TimBrannan> well I want to thank Dan for having me here
[21:59] <+TimBrannan> and everyone here for having me too!
[21:59] <~Dan> Absolutely, Tim!
[21:59] <+Bigby> Nice to see you again.
[21:59] <+JoshuaMeadows> Thanks, Tim.
[21:59] <~Dan> I'll go ahead and log the chat there, but please feel free to hang out as long as you'd like!
[21:59] <+TimBrannan> i'll have to pop my head back in to chat!
[21:59] <+Bigby> Any chance you're going to GenCon this year?
[21:59] <+TimBrannan> i am going!
[21:59] <+Bigby> Running anything?
[22:00] <+TimBrannan> ill have the details up on my blog
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[22:00] <+TimBrannan> (Link: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/)http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/
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[22:00] <~Dan> Cool! I'll see you tehre, Tim!
[22:00] <~Dan> there
[22:00] <+QtGames> Thanks, Tim!
[22:00] <+TimBrannan> thanks all!
[22:00] <+BPIJonathan> I have plans to be around too.
[22:00] <+Capricious> Thanks again, Tim!
[22:00] <+TimBrannan> going to run. gotta check on the kidlets
[22:00] <+Bigby> Cool.  Your games Kurt and I were in were some of the better ones my first couple of years at GenCon
[22:00] <+TimBrannan> thanks!
[22:00] <+Bigby> Catch ya around.
[22:00] <+TimBrannan> I appreciate that
[22:01] <~Dan> Have a good evening, Tim! I'll get you the link shortly.
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