Dragonquest as I recall didn't work precisely that way. It does use a dual Fatigue/Endurance system, similar to what's been described for T20. That is, hits will damage Fatigue unless/until you have no Fatigue left OR a critical hit is achieved.

However I don't recall if there was a way to increase either stat. In the combat-only board game, based on DQ 1e, I believe you could.

I also don't recall if there was a skill or something that would reduce your chance of being hit altogether.

In any case the game is certainly worth a look, preferably in the form of DQ 2e, which made combat less fiddly while retaining the neat characteristics. One thing I really liked about the dual Fatigue/Endurance system is that it abstracts the effect of encumbrance and exertion on stamina. IIRC, the method was to take your encumbrance and overall level of activity in the time before the combat and cross-reference them to determine how much of your Fatigue you'd lose prior to combat. So if you force-march all day in heavy armor and then get in a fight, you're not going to have very many Fatigue points left.

It should also be pointed out that for all its lack of standardized core mechanics, DQ was simpler and more concisely stated than most games released in the 90's and after.

When opimus gave that recommendation, I went and looked on e-bay for one. IIRC (hey - it's been, like, more than two days!), there was one for 30 or 40 bucks. Worth pulling the trigger?

BRP has been my favourite game mechanic for a long time - I first played it when I lived in Montreal - we had a Call of Cthulhu campaign that was a lot of fun. I soon graduated to Runequest III (the Avalon Hill version) and that's largely the version I still play. There was a time when there was very little BRP on the market, but now there's a lot, so I'll try to enlighten a little:

BRP is a recent book by Chaosium that brings together various versions of the core mechanic that existed in many games (Runequest, Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, Elfquest, Ringworld, Nephilim etc.) into one reference volume. The book is a tool-kit of different rules and is intended for generic use. There is no implied setting or even genre.

Runequest, as it exists now, is produced by Mongoose Publishing and is known as MRQ (Mongoose Runequest). It uses the BRP base mechanic, but puts their own twist on it. If it basically designed for fantasy. A recent second edition was put out, so you might see reference to MRQ1 and MRQ2. No, there's some confusion because when Mongoose first released their version they tried to sever the game from its past, so they refer to the versions as RQ1 and RQ2, despite the fact that Chaosium's beloved versions of the game are already known as RQ1 and RQ2. They are different, however.

OpenQuest is a free version of MRQ1 that is built on the MRQ1 SRD. It's a stand alone game suitable for fantasy and historical games, good quality and free.

There's also a version called GORE which was put out for free. I think that version basically took Call of Cthulhu and tried to turn it into RQ (but I could be wrong about that). Its not really supported, but it is an option.

All of these games share some similarities: They are all skill-based roll under percentile games. Like D&D they have 6 or 7 characteristics on a scale of 3-18 (for humans). The mechanics are quite simple, and yet very versatile and can handle a lot of tinkering with before breaking. They were created some 30+ years ago and I still find surprising things that they can do.

If you want to know more about the mechanics I'd be happy to answer any questions. You can also check out http://www.basicroleplaying.com to find out more (currently undergoing a facelift, but functional). You can also download many other games there that are inspired by BRP - like Fire and Sword and Warlords of Alexander - for free.

Thalaba

Thalaba, didn't you mean that OpenQuest is a free version of Chaosium RQ1 based on the MRQ1 SRD?

That seems kind of expensive to me, but only because I'm a cheapskate, not because it's a bad game or anything. Do make sure you're getting the 2nd ed. 1e's combat is too involved for modern RPG tastes, while 3e is dumbed-down in various ways.

There's an "open source" electronic copy of the rules in the file/documents directory of this Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dq-rules/ You have to join (instant sign-up) to see them.

If you get into the game, you also might want to look at http://www.zimlab.com/dq/ and http://www.dragonquest.org/index.html.

Nope. Open Quest starts with the MRQ1 SRD and goes in it's own direction. Here it is in Newt's own words:

"Open Quest is based on the Mongoose RuneQuest SRD (MRQ SRD), with ideas from previous editions of Chaosium’s RuneQuest and Stormbringer 5th, mixed in with some common sense house rulings from the author’s twenty years of experience with the D100 system."

To illustrate, if I remember rightly: OpenQuest doesn't have hit locations, which all versions of RQ have.

Ah, thanks. I'd gotten the wrong idea somehow.