TrippyHippy

Personally, I like bait and switch plots. Then again, I also like games like Paranoia and Call of Cthulhu as preference, so it sometimes goes with the territory. Horror stories use this approach all the time - look at Psycho, From Dusk Till Dawn or maybe Shawn of the Dead in the movies as prime examples. In rpg terms, I think WFRP is an example of a game where everybody starts off thinking it's a D&D style fantasy game, only to work out it's really a horror game. I actually ran an All Flesh Must be Eaten scenario (successfully) where all the characters were 3rd rate celebrities in a reality TV show. Crime stories work well in this regard - there is enough of interpersonal motivation and coolness in the characters and situations to distract from an approaching horror. Run a heist or a jailbreak to get them going, really play up on the drama of the situation, and then introduce the Zombie twist when they least expect it. Sounds good to me.

I like BRP because, as a system, it doesn't try to impose game play styles upon you, and because it's logical to the extent it becomes intuitive. And I like the settings provided for it. I like this site because it pretty much never has flame wars and you always feel welcome.

It breaks down like this: Call of Cthulhu 5th edition was released about 1992 (and a hardback version came out about then too). The cover art wasn't very good, but the game inside was excellent and it had decent interior layout too. Call of Cthulhu 5.5 edition (1998) added a much nicer oil based painting of Cthulhu on it's cover, included the full Call of Cthulhu story for the first time as introductionary blurb, rewrote the Sanity section (to include a much more authentic and realistic breakdown of mental illness), added a Alien Technology section (rather than the excellent Forensics chapter), and made a few technical adjustments to the core system (Starting skills at 1% for example). There was also a hardback version (5.6) released in 1999 I think. Call of Cthulhu 20th Anniversary was released in 2001, and took 99% of the 5th core text (minus a humourous How to play CoC cartoon strip), and then reformatted the book to resemble an old occult tomb. It was designed by Pegasus Speile and it won awards for it's layout and design. The rules (and text) were identical to 5.5 edition. Call of Cthulhu 6th Edition (2004) simply took the interior design of the 20th Anniversary book (in a black and white interior, rather than the 'red ink' look of 20th) and reprinted the package with the same 5.5 cover, albeit with black borders and a new font for the title. It was initially released in hardback, then soft cover. The same interior text was then reprinted for a 25th Anniversary (featuring the 1st Edition hardback cover) and the 30th Anniversary Edition (brown leather cover). The text has largely remained identical since 1998. The interior design and layout since 2001. I think there is a good argument to be made for a 7th edition to polish up the game and refresh it's look - but realistically it ought not come out before 2013.

I think it's excellent myself - as fun and familiar in some ways as a D&D campaign (loads of monsters, and Medieval England is pretty easy to get into), but chock full of authentic and high quality research too. A character sheet would be nice, however.

This is one Cthulhu supplement I am really, really looking forward to.

The new Delta Green edition has been mooted as being 'backwards compatable'. Even though, therefore, they are making it a self contained game rather than a supplement, the system will still essentially be BRP. Also, as far as I can see, Chaosium still very much produce game books for adults. In terms of 'contenders', if game companies sort themselves out, my feeling is that - in 20 years or so - the main game systems (with the widest playing audience) will still be: Dungeons and Dragons (in some form or other). Traveller (In some form or another) Call of Cthulhu and BRP related games (in some form or other). Maybe a Superhero game (or Urban Fantasy game, including the likes of Vampire, Champions and Shadowrun). There may be others, but to me these three or four games represent 95% of the core roleplaying experience, and everything else is just footnotes.

Presumably, the Mongoose release of the Legend PDF is a 'loss leader' of sorts too. I do note that a Pathfinder RPG representative was on the same forum and made it plain that their Basic box set was still profitable. There is also the consideration that needs to be made about the future of books generally, in regards to the advent of eReaders. If the prices of IPads and the like come down in the near future - it may become the dominant medium of all books. I do know that some of the major book chains have been struggling badly recently. Where it leaves gaming retailers in the future? Book- based games may become less and less viable on the shelves - but box sets can't be done electronically. If you want to keep game retailers in the loop - and keep a brand identity on the shelf - then it's a point worth considering.

BRP Sci Fi would be a good idea, if done in the GURPS Space mould. There was some talk about doing a 'Classic Scifi' book in the mould of Traveller, but the two systems are really quite different in approach at their heart and not really that compatable. I also note that there has been some work on BRP Star Wars, but that'll never happen as Fantasy Flight have the licence. Yet, the major rules that are missing in BRP are centred around subsystems like star system, planet, spaceship, and robot design. A core, generic, toolbox would be a significant edition, along with a breakdown essay of genre conventions and ideas, alien stats, etc, would be very useful.

Duplicate post!

Changing tack somewhat - What other genres/licences/games/ideas could be done with BRP that hasn't been done already? There are a few that spring to mind for myself: James Bond 007 - Looking at The Laundry, Delta Green and a host of other modern/spy games coming out this year, my feeling is that gritty modern action thrillers can definitely be done well with BRP. The old James Bond game was percentile based (although quite different to BRP), but for me this would a brilliant license for a game company to develop (Cubicle 7 - I'm looking at you!), and it's a movie franchise that is going to run for at least another decade (and probably a lot longer than that). Yes, I think it could be done in a box set! Blue Planet 3rd Edition - The original game was percentile, but the system was over complex. The second edition's system was much better, but the games' premise was so well suited to BRP it was a shame they didn't consider it. BRP scales well towards playing Transhumans and uplifted animals - in my view better than GURPS does (having seen Transhuman Space and GURPS Blue Planet). And the setting is still magnificent - in my view the best hard sci-fi setting in gaming. Wraith: The Oblivion - I was pleased to see Cthulhu Dreamlands be republished this year, and it reminded me of the pleasures of this type of Jungianesque surreal gaming. Wraith was one of the handful of horror games that actually shone a light on Call of Cthulhu, and the reason was it's emotional depth captured mainly by it's Shadow Play concept (where another player plays your dark alter ego, and tempts him/her into acting towards their own personal oblivion). The game system used by Wraith was simply a generic Storyteller system, so there is no issue with converting it to BRP with the right mindset. It could make a wonderful supplement for Call of Cthulhu, in fact, if you wanted to bring a bit of Edgar Allen Poe into the mix. BRP - Rennaissance - I am really pleased with the historical supplements put out for BRP. Rome was terrific, so is Merrie England. So is Clockwork and Chivarly. So is Mythic Iceland and Cthulhu Dark Ages. So is Val -de-Loup. Hopefully so too will be World War Cthulhu. The list goes on and on. But what about the Rennaissance - The Elizabethan Age, Walter Raleigh, John Dee, Galileo, Shakespeare, The Inquisition, The Spanish Amada, The Holy Roman Empire, the Catholic/Protestant split, burning witches, pirates, exploration, intrigue, Blackadder II...This really NEEDS a major supplement! What else would people like to see?

I think people are really undervaluing the IPs here. The Cthulhu Mythos sells well - if that wasn't the case then companies like Pelgrane Press, Pinnacle Games, Cubicle 7, Fantasy Flight Games, et al, wouldn't keep paying out for the license to make new products. There wouldn't be an imminent iPhone based game just about to be released. There wouldn't be a box set Arkham board game in every hobby shop I've ever been in either. Put it this way - Chaosium has been pretty much the longest running RPG company out there - purely on the strength of the Cthulhu brand. It is that significant. Also, the BRP system itself is a quality IP. It's still one of the most accessible, adaptable and comprehensive systems out there. Almost every gamer can grasp it upon reading it - regardless of whether they are snooty about it or not. Systems, products and presentation need modernising to attract new audiences, of course, but let's not undervalue what the assets are in the first place.

All of those horror storylines are within the scope of Call of Cthulhu, already. Whether it needs to communicate it better is a moot point - the Cthulhu brand continues to sell in a multitude of different media. Delta Green, apparently, is having a new updated edition this year.

I'm not sure there is any evidence that Trail of Cthulhu is doing any better than Call of Cthulhu. They are supporting their line, obviously, which they need to do having bought the license. However, the game gets as much criticism for it's design from some players as Call of Cthulhu ever did, and it's a fledgling in it's comparitive age - I'd like to see where Trail of Cthulhu is in 30 years time, before it is able to hand out lectures in design quality. I don't think BRP/CoC suffers from dice rolling rather than encouraging the story - I'm inclined to believe that the heavily directed 'Narrative' games tend to do this more than the 'sillhouette' approach to rules that BRP has. I came into Call of Cthulhu from White Wolf games, by the way, too. Call of Cthulhu has seemingly outlasted White Wolf too, for the most part. I do agree that the games image and ruleset needs to be modernised - but I'm looking more in the mode of The Laundry game as being the model here.

Vinyls are coming back in. They are being reissued left, right and centre these days. Young people are buying them - I guess because of their novelty, but also because they look cooler than CDs, and give more a sense of ownership than downloaded music. Box sets are also coming back in - virtue of the evidence of the two major publishers making introductionary boxes for their flagship brands.

Like I said, I wouldn't advocate a box set for Basic RolePlaying - I think the hardback book is the best format for it. I am arguing that a 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu should be done as an Introductionary Box set, that could act as a gateway for the whole BRP system. Call of Cthulhu has enough notability as an IP to do this - and I note that Cubicle 7 are already proposing a Cthulhu Brittanica: London Box Set. If a box set is mooted as a potential success, why shouldn't the Core rules be too?

I think the point about Box sets is that they work for some things but not others, and you have to do them right (and it probably ought to be noted that board games generally outsell RPGs on the whole these days, unlike in decades past). Looking at last years attempt at re-introducing the Red Box for D&D, the basic problem I felt was that the product itself was flawed - not enough in it, and not a complete game. On top of that, the major advantage of having a box set is the fact that you can store things in it, in a neat and tidy way. This advantage is mute, however, if you make a bunch of supplements that a) don't fit into it and are often in box sets themselves! Compare this all to the recent Pathfinder box set - which is essentially a complete game (up till 5th level) in itself, very high quality production, set at a very good price, and directly leads onto the core line. I wouldn't be surprised if it emerges as the best selling product of last year, and it's ideal as an introductionary product that you could buy as a Christmas present. For the record, I don't think that every BRP product would benefit from a box set. Different mediums work for different products - the best medium for monographs, for example, is in PDF in my view - as it is the cheapest way of distributing unedited books, while Chaosium can gauge what is likely to sell or not (Classic Fantasy is clearly a strong candidate for a full product). The big gold hardback for BRP core is ideal too. In the case of Alephtar games, well so far we generally have supplements - which wouldn't work in box sets either. What I am arguing for, if Call of Cthulhu 7th edition emerges, is that this can be done in a Box set in such a fashion as to act as a gateway product for the whole BRP line. The game itself is simple enough in rules and concept to be an introductionary game, and if the box is the right size it could actually be used to store extra supplements in it if you wanted. I'm sure it would be a highly successful product, if it was done right and was a complete game, and it would at least be something that would spark interest a lot more than yet another book edition.

In terms of retailers - not that I am aware of. In terms of downloadable PDFs, plenty. The Chaosium site actually shows how much of each title has been downloaded. The RPGNow site doesn't provide the amounts, but does rank the highest selling products into Platinum/Gold/Electrum/Silver/Bronze categories and keeps a chart for current sales.

Indeed, they will. Gamers (like me) don't have time to do research into historical settings (not to the degree of your soucebooks anyway) but it's still very much part of the verisimiltude of gaming to have an authoritive authenticity presented in an accessible way. The medieval period is kind of iconic in gaming, and don't forget that at least one game (Ars Magica) has been in a continuous printing run for years, largely based upon the popularity of that specific European era. BRP Steppes would be excellent! On the other hand, I would be interested in other eras too - I'm pleased to see Clockwork and Chivalry for the Civil War period, but would also like to see the Rennaissance period (think Shakespeare!) and Napoleonic period get some focus too.

Good luck with your plans next year - there are at least a couple of titles in your list that I'll be very interested in seeing - and I think your right to focus on BRP as it stands, as there is something of an Alephtar library developing for historical supplements at least. It's good that they are all compatable too. I've just downloaded the Merrie England supplement and although I have hardly had a chance to proofread it (so I can't advise about typos etc), the clean layout, adventuring scope and general atmosphere generated from just skimming it is superb. If you want a Robin Hood campaign (which I do), this is a winner! Like I said, I've had no chance to really read it yet, but in terms of first impressions, the utility value is right up there with Rome.

Rosen makes a good point about Legend's sales. One might have to qualify it with the point that it was sold cheap ($1 on RPG.Now), but then wasn't this the major ploy of Savage Worlds (Complete RPG, handy format, nice price), to make that game a success? If it works, then go for it - although I would have to see how additional supplements sell to make a full judgement. But we can say that for core rules, this format is popular. With regards to Box sets, it does make a difference as to which products are considered. In my view, there are two categories of choice: 1) Gateway games. Akin to the Beginner Box idea, but noting that only certain licences will really sell to a new audience: D&D, Pathfinder, Warhammer, The One Ring, Doctor Who, Star Wars (perhaps). In this respect, I don't really think BRP would be a seller - but Call of Cthulhu would. I don't, incidentally, think the system needs to be 'dumbed down' either - just tidied up as you would expect in any edition. Moreover, it would be a gateway product for BRP. 2) Boxes with lots of fiddly bits. Especially campaign boxes - Masks of Nyarlathotep being an excellent example, with all the handouts. Beyond the Mountains of Madness ought to really have been a Box Set too. What about the long lost Orient Express campaign? There were rumours that Cubicle 7 would make a Boxed London set to complete their Cthulhu Brittanica series.... Who is the other 'player' in 2012 going to be?

Seems a little quiet round here, understandably, but hey...Merry Christmas!

Well it's the time of the year where it may be fun to take stock of where BRP is, after a few years of establishing itself as a generic system on the market. For my own purposes, my gaming habits are mostly BRP based now, although Traveller still holds my attention too, and I at least follow what's going on in other companies. In a broader RPG scope, the most significant 'events' of 2011 were probably: 1) The gradual emerging of the Pathfinder RPG preeminence over and above D&D, including the most significant release of the year in their excellent Beginner's Box set. 2) The equally excellent release of The One Ring rpg from Cubicle 7 (tempered somewhat by their stalling over the Doctor Who game), which has met with rapturous reviews (but limited circulation around the US, apparently). 3) The Star Wars licence captured by Fantasy Flight Games, including the rights to a new RPG. 4) The general decline of some very established companies in terms of their shop shelf presence and, indeed, actual unit sales - including WotC, White Wolf and noting that HERO games very nearly collapsed totally this year. Times are a changing, although I would note that rising games such as Pathfinder and the Warhammer 40K RPGs are still essentially 'traditional' RPGs, rather than games nominally called 'Indie' (essentially, games designed with more heavily directed gameplay to adhere to specific agendas - I would include D&D 4th and WFRP3.0 in that category, incidentally). Other 'Traditional' games like Traveller or Shadowrun, too, appear to be doing solidly well. We do see high production standards in games such as D&D4 and WFRP3, however, along with more expressly 'indie' games like The Dresden Files (based on FATE) and Mouseguard (based on the Burning Wheel), but they simply don't seem to be as popular as the old style. Take that as you will. So how does BRP fit in? I think it's fair to say that it will never be as popular as D20 titles like D&D or Pathfinder (or possibly the WH40KRP titles for that matter), but in comparison to other generic systems on the market it seems to be doing well. HERO games have apparently stuttered to a halt, GURPS seems more and more content to rely on PDF support rather than physical copy, and really it's just the young turks like Savage Worlds and the FATE system that seem to be in a growth situation alongside BRP. BRP itself can now be found through a variety of different corebooks outside of the 'Big Gold Brick' book (which sells itself largely on having such a striking cover, along with a nice internal layout and a history that other generic RPG systems don't have). The break up and 'open licences' associated with the RuneQuest design has contributed to this: now we have Legend, OpenQuest, Renaissance and the upcoming RuneQuest 6 to choose from. Rumours abound that Delta Green may also be getting a new edition with self contained rules, and we already have The Laundry (brilliant, BTW) to go along with Call of Cthulhu. How many core rules do we need? The fortunate thing is that most of these games and systems are largely supplimentary to each other, unlike the schism you now see in the D20 family of games. There is a greater community feel to BRP and this makes it a good time to be a BRP gamer. BRP has now started to hit it's stride in supplemental support through a variety of different companies, and almost every major genre seems to be covered. Cubicle 7 seems to have the most clout with regard to printing books, but the accumulation of titles from Alephtar Games, Cakebread and Walton, Mongoose, D101 Games, Crooked Staff Production, along with Chaosium's Monograph titles and other publications, are doing BRP proud. I am particularly pleased with some of the releases towards the end of the year - Mythic Iceland, Merrie England and especially Clockwork and Chivalry. It really gives the system a lot of credibilty, and it's only really GURPS that can compete with these types of historical genres. Maybe a few more companies could be encouraged to convert to BRP? It's hard to see this happening to be honest - unless companies can be guaranteed to make sales, they aren't going to jump on board in tough economic times. I for one, however, would love to see (as an example) Red Brick Games converting Blue Planet and Fading Suns to BRP. Is anybody willing to pick up the Conan license and create a BRP RPG with it? Why not? It would also be nice to see an acceleration of the monograph titles being converted to full publications - particularly the popular Classic Fantasy (D&D) book, Aces High (Classic Western?), and perhaps with a Classic Space Opera book to follow? BRP is, of course, also blessed with it's close association with Call of Cthuhu which is almost a generic historical setting itself, and has a massive amount of supplements (still growing each year) that all have applications and utility beyond straight horror gaming (did you pick up on the upcoming World War Cthulhu advert at Cubicle Games? >geeksqueek< moment for me!). It was Call of Cthulthu's 30th Anniversary this year, producing another reprint of their 6th edition that has now served them for a decade. This drew some criticism, although many will be pleased with the chance to pick up a hardback copy at least. There are some rumours of a 7th edition. If this is the case, then surely there is a case to be made for a box set version - akin to the Pathfinder Beginner Box, or Doctor Who perhaps? Haven't we done the 'antique/collector's' book motif to death already? Lets do something *new* with the game - and no, I don't mean throw out the system a la 4th Edition or WFRP3.0 - I mean simplify the system to a beginner level as necessary, spruce up the presentation, clarify the explanations and actually sell the game to a new audience. Everybody seems to want to have a piece of Cthulhu in gaming, and it is one of the few titles that could actually serve effectively as a gateway product (don't they already have box set Cthuhu board games that sell well?) In my view BRP is just as accessible at it's core, if not moreso, than any other system on the market. Maybe a deal could be struck between Chaosium and Cubicle 7 or Fantasy Flight Games to actually get a flashy, full colour Call of Cthulhu box set? Pathfinder has created the model of how it should be done. Could you imagine a better flagship for the BRP system if done right? Could you imagine it not selling as well as the Doctor Who box, by comparison? Anyway, them's my thoughts. What's yours?

You wouldn't need to do much to just lift the rules wholesale and insert them in - replacing the Mind roll with a POWx5% roll instead perhaps - but the meters themselves could be changed. I would note that they create a different narrative dynamic to the Cthulhu Sanity rules, while they may be more in tune with the dark graphic novel material you are citing. In Cthulhu, you enter a 'death spiral' the more you exposed to events, where you generally end up bat shit crazy and become unplayable. In Unknown Armies, you end up as a sociopath as often as not, but generally carry on playing. Also, something that people don't always mention is that the Unknown Armies system is not as simple as Cthulhu's and requires a bit more in the way of book-keeping and understanding of different point levels, etc. I am one of the (apparent) few that find the CoC rules more elegant.

1. How long to wait for a PDF version on RPGNow (or wherever)? 2. How compatable is it with Crusaders of the Amber Coast, Stupor Mundi, et al? Is there scope for more books in the same period in other geographical areas? 3. How dominant is the magic in it? Is it subtle or flashy? 4. Can you play Robin Hood with it? What other campaigns would work?

Making a two-page character sheet into a landscape single sheet design is pretty easy (just reduce the size and print the two pages as one). Have you checked out the generic character sheet downloads on this site? Sorry, I can't be more help, but character sheet design is not my forte.