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Since RPGs tend to build upon their predecessors, it would be difficult (if not impossible) for most RPG companies to exist if companies could copyright RPG game mechanics. Think about it. As much as we like the old CHaosium products, they built upon earily RPGs, such as D&D. Things like rolling up 3D6 for attributes, hits points, weapon damage dice and other all were orginaled in D&D. Even the typical RPG dice (d4, D8, D10, D12, D20 and yes D100), were first created for D&D.

Mongoose sort of let the cat out of the bag when they were talking about MRQI. When people asked how they could base MRQ on the RQ system, since they only licensed the RQ name, Mongoose noted that you cannot copyright a rules system, just specific settings. creatures and such. So there is nothing to prevent someone from practically copying BRP or MRQ verbatim, as long as they don't use copyrighted terms or settings. That is the reason why WotC "allowed" retro-clones of D&D. They didn't have a legal leg to stand on. Now how people view this morally is another matter.

I think a multi-world idea is interesting, but not really a shared world concept. Much like Worlds of Wonder, it is multiple, separate settings that characters can somehow move through. Not much to share there. It could just as easily be several separate setting that have nothing to do with each other that a GM could link (magically or otherwise) for his own campaign. I think that in order for the shared world(s) concept to really work, it must be more of a group effort rather than each author creating his own world. It needs some overarching theme to keep it one setting.

Sadly, no. Nice to know someone gets enjoyment from it. Who knows, maybe somewhere, sometime, somebody was sitting at a keyboard just about the slit their wrists when they say one of my typos and laughed to hard they dropped the knife. Hey, it could happen.

Personally I don't consider myself a BRP grognard, but an RQ grognard (meaning RQ, not MRQ). While it's nice to see Chaosium put something out other than CoC, I'd prefer to play/run RQ, Stormbringer or Superworld rather than BRP. I'm not sure I consider BRP (or even RQ2/3) "the fairest in the land", either. Practically all the features that I liked about RQ have been incorporated into other RPGs--even the RQ setting, Glorantha. Many of the elements that made RQ so enticing (skill based characters, a richly detailed setting, campaign settings rather than adventure modules, an overarching story) are now common to many RPGs. I doubt that we'll get much of a consensus on why people like BRP either. Since there are so many variants of the RQ rules (Stormbringer, Call of Cthulhu, Worlds Of Wonder, Elric, Superworld, Ringworld), the fanbase is really several different groups who each prefer one version or another. Hence the various debates over things like hit locations, Strike Ranks, skill category modifiers, fatigue rules, skill checks, movement, the Resistance, Table, and such. Probably anything (and everything) that one fan liked about one version of BRP is something that another fan hated and a reason why the preferred a different version of the rules. For example, I for one, don't care much for Call of Cthulhu, finding the mechanics poor, and the campaign setting pointless. Lovecraft's theme of creatures far more powerful than man; that man is helpless against, strikes me as the worst possible setting for a RPG possible. Yet, others adore the game, and it has been Chaosium's lifeblood for two decades.

One of my favorite bits about BRP, although one that isn't popular with everyone is the "skill check" experience system. Back when the AD&D group had to wait while the GM tallied up the XP and work out the award per character, skill checks were much easier and faster. Another bit was that is was more "gritty/re;asotoc" than most of it's competitiors. Yet another was that since it used a fixed HP system, it was possible to mix 'n match characters of different power levels. Now, many of the features that made BRP (well actually RQ) popular in the past are now standard in other RPGs. Back in 1980 it was hard to find a fantasy RPG that did use character classes and levels.

That is probably the biggest obstacle to the success of any RPG. Support. Some any good concepts and games have fallen to the wayside because they failed to be supported with additional products in a timely fashion. BRP isn't so much a universal system adaptable to any setting as a toolkit system that lacks any genre. It also lacks some of the tools it needs for certain genres (particular Sci-Fi). It makes a decent toolkit for a experienced GM with a clear idea of the sort of campaign he wants to create, but isn't much help to a fledging GM or one used to running in a pre-existing setting. It really needs some sort of "out of the box" campaign setting and adventures to help out a beginning GM. Yeah, many of us don't need that kind of stuff, but then we have a higher percentage of RPG authors and publishers active in this forum than is typical among the gaming community.

How is the new policy going to affect your future products?

One thing that might be of interest is the relative lack of standardization among early firearms. No only were there various calibers for muskets, but most parts were not interchangeable between guns-even the same model. The tolerances used in manufacturing at the time meant that each weapon was really a custom job. There is a case in the 1800s where one of the arms manufacturers produces a small batch (five I believe) of rifles that with fully interchangeable parts in order to impress the US Army and secure a government contract. The rifles were meticulously hand crafted. None of the other thousands of that model rifle that were produced were fully interchangeable-just those five.

It would kinda suck if you happened to have a warehouse full of books printed with the RQ logo on them.

In my defense, I'd like to mention that constantly switching keyboards from US layout to Japanese layout might be partially responsible for some of my typos. But only some. But I glad that my errors bring you so much happiness.

Well, there was that rough draft that I sent you to look over two years ago. Did you ever read it?

Rosen, Despire what Matt Sprange has made clear, what does the MRQ OGL licence actually state? I recall when OGL D&D came out and evenyone when OGL happy, I raised the thought of companies "pulling theplug" on OGL someone down the road, and everyone said that the companies couldn't do that because of the OGL license. Since OGL MRQ is mostly copied from OGL D&D, wouldn't the same conditions apply? If so, you should be able to print to your hearts content under the OGL license. If not, don't ever print anything for a Mongoose Product again. Ever. It's pretty obvious that the only benefit to pulling the licenses is to wipe out any third party companies. So why help them to cut your own throat? If I were running a company with a bunch of OGL MRQ stuff, I'd have a lawyer check out the fine print and see just what you are actually entitled to do.

I don't hold the crown. That belongs to someone I used to game with who, when making his own character sheets, wrote down Marital Arts instead of Martial Arts. How I regret that I was not the first to proofread that character sheet.

I don't think it was that difficult to please the fanbase. Chasoium had been doing a good job of it up until the AH deal. I think the real mistake was that it took so long for and decent new Glorantha content to come out. Griffin Island was basically a reprint of Griffin Mountain, and Gods of Glorantha was a big let down after the detailed treatment fans were used to after Cults of Prax. Glorantha fans had to settle for reprinted and sketchy material while seeing new and unrelated supplements (Monster Colosseum, Vikings, Land Of The Ninja) come out. It gave the fans the feeling that they were left twisting in the wind. A feeling that remains to this day. Fans knew that they were being put "on the back burner" while AH was trying to go after the mainstream fantasy market. The result was predicable. RQ did gain some new players but lost a lot of it's original fanbase in the process. If Glorantha had continued with the level of support it had under RQ2, then fans wouldn't have minded what other RQ products AH released. It was that we knew that any non-Glorantha supplement meant one less Gloranthan product. As far as the supplements went, I'd say Land of the Ninja was quick a few steps below Giffin Island and Vikings in quality. It lacked the usual attention to detail associated with Chaosium. It gave little on the setting and culture. It contrasted very badly with Vikings. Back to the main topic-it seems that BRP isn't going to become more popular. Chasoium seems to be unable to compete in the modern RPG market. They can survive by selling limited amounts of Cthulhu products to a niche market, but will never be a significant factor in RPGs they way the were in the 80s. BRP is a game with something like 90% of its fans being old time Chaosium fans who migrated to it from RQ, Strombringer, Worlds of Wonder or some other game first printed over two decades ago. We all hoped that BRP would herald in a new golden age for Chaosium, with a fair number of quality supplements being released on a regular schedule. No such luck. About the only bright spot has been your company, which has managed to put out some nice supplements in a timely manner. I don't know why Chasoium can't do the same. But ultimately, if more people aren't made aware of BRP then it won't grow, and will eventually die off as it's fanbase ages.

I'm not even sure that its a Trollkin and not some sort of mouse.

Since the Star Fleet Universe is Star Trek, but liscened through the SF Technical Manual there really isn't that much of a difference. It's supposed to be TOS Star Trek. Unfortunately, over time the SF Universe has changed from being TOS to being modern day with ray guns. THe more recent series don't have an issue with disintegrate. They show it happening in TNG era. Its just that they don't show it as often. That reasonable considering that in most cases it would be a waste of power. Why use the energy required to vaporize someone when you can kill them with a factor of the energy? This would be especially important on a battle where people needed to worry about having enough power to use the weapon multiple times. Of course, since the official trek stuff (and even the SF:Tech Man that Task Force uses for thier base setting) give phases a very high power capcity, and able to fire constantly for hours-power would seem to be a moot point. Sorry, let me claify. I meant that we should split off the debate over the imprtance of setting vs. mechanics for selection of an RPG into its own thread instead of leaving it in the "How to make BRP more popular thread." While the topic does touch upon BRPs popularity (specific settings, especially licensed ones can draw in new players) it seems unlikely that Chaosium will be able to secure the rights for any settings that be worth having (i.e. Star Trek, Star Wars, Middle Earth, Glorantha). So any settings that are released for BRP would be newly created ones. While such setting can develop a following that can help to sell future products, they don't do much to draw in new players.

True, but gamers will realize how rules will affect the ability to re-live Middle Earth, Narnia or whatever. Case in point-there are about a half dozen Star Trek RPGs out there (FASA, ICON, CODA, Prime Directive, GURPS Prime Directive). All of them seek to re-create the Star Trek setting for roleplay, yet each system is different, and some do a better job of emulating the setting that others. For example, when I play Trek, I expect a phaser to be able to kill and/or disintergrate someone fairly easily. Yet it fails to do so in Prime Directive (where phasers are similarin game effects to a firearm). For me, that is a failure on PDs part, and one that would turn me away from that game. BTW, maybe we should split off the setting/mechanics topic off into it's own thread?

No. It's not semantics. There is a big difference between genres and settings. Champions doesn't give the world of Superman, Batman (or even Spiderman). It gives a generic superhero setting. Champions could be used to run the DC or Marvel settings, but doing so would require some work on the GM's part to make it all fit. For example Superman's STR score is going to be quite a bit higher than Champions is designed to handle. There would be some trouble getting some things to play out the same as in the comics, especially for DC, due to the wide difference in power levels for the established characters. Heroes like Batman will have a hard time in Champions, since they eventually will get hit by a super strong character and take more damage that they can soak. THis is where game mechanics step into the foreground. Champions is more forgiving than something like BRP, but it still isn't as forgiving as it needs to be to handle the DC universe. Champions uses a doubling progression that works fine for the genre, but not for the DC setting. If you look at the mechanics used for the various DC and Marvel RPGs, they all employ an increasing scale to help minimize the differences in character ability. Similar problems arises when trying to use Danger International/Espionage for James Bond rather than for a genric espeionage setting. Some of the things that work for Bond in the novels and/or films won't wont in Hero due to the game mechanics. For example, in the novels Bond prefers the Beretta .25 pistol, and can actually kill people with it with a shot or two. In the DI RPG, the weapon does very little damage and can't reliably kill or incapacitate an opponent. In truth, it can't reliably kill or incapacitate an opponent in the real world, either (something that when brought to the attention of Bond's author led to a change in Bond's armament). However, someone playing Bond, or a Bond-like character in a Bond-like game would expect to be able to do so, because that is how it should work in the world of James Bond. Any RPG that is seeking to emulate the Bond setting needs mechanics that helps to do just that. Some systems are better suited for emulating a particular setting than others. FOr example, BRP isn't very good for a high powered supers campaign; D20 isn't well suited for running James Bond or an Old West Campaign. That is one reason why the choice of rules system is important.

Until they reply, "What's a Calocutoolu?" We shouldn't assume that everyone is already familiar with Chaosium and thier previous products. If they are familiar with CoC, then they don't need to be introduced to the system.

I'd like to think that they would do more to promote the RPG if they had more staff and funds. But still, if there were a new company without a following I don't think they would make it. The odds of someone running across BRP are fairly remote. Most local gaming stores don't carry it. The system is almost entirely dependent on the old time fans for sales and "recruting" new players. All we need is a sign saying "Beware of the Leopard". You'd have to ask Chaosium. I seem to recall someone mentioning the idea of doing so before it came out, and fairly confident that Triff would have done so by now if he could, so I suspect they have some reason why they don't want the Quick Start rules available at other sites. As it stands now, few people who download the Quick Start aren't already familiar with the basic mechanics. I can't complain about the size of the "lite" rules through, since it's a free product.

How about something that people might actually see? One big problem with the monographs is that the only people who buy them are people who are already fans of Chaosium. Who else is going to be on the Chaosium website? It's like the way the did the intro/lite rules. Getting them requires going to the Chasoium website and registering as a user. Most people won't go through that just for what amounts to a sales pitch to buy something from a company.And that's assuming that people somehow stumble across a mention of the BRP lite rules while they are surfing the web. It's almost like they are trying to fail.

Fair enough. I wound't want to get you guys into trouble for "spilling the beans".

I'm not sure most of Wallis opions are correct, though. Just becuase DW doesn't sell in mainstream stores doesn't mean that other RPGs don't. D&D and Vampire must be doing alright in the mainstream sotres since they are still being carried and many bookstores have an RPG section. Personally, I think that some of his things that "increase people awareness of an RPG" do little to expand the player base. Specifically: * Sessions of the game being run at conventions. Does little to boost the RPG. People who sign up for events at conventions already know what games they want to play. * Appearances by the creators at conventions. Does less. People have to be aware of what the creators actually created before they will wish to listen to them. So in the end this means that the creators are "preaching to the choir". * People playing the game at local clubs and demonstrating it in their local game shop. This requires that people are going into the local club/game shop to begin with. This means targeting people who are already gamers, and people who are already gamers are already playing something else. What I think Wallis' ideas do is to help sell more copies of a RPG -not necessarily increase the player base. The folks over at Mongoose mentioned a few years back that about 80% of the RPGs that people buy just sit on the shelf. Many gamers own lots of RPGs but only have the opportunity and time to play one or two. I know I own dozens of RPGs but am currently only playing one RPG -and it isn't BRP. I started the campaign before BRP was released and don't want to stop the campaign (or covert it over to a different ruleset) just to promote BRP. Back in the days when RQ2 was a serious contender, there were far fewer RPgs to compete with. Today BRP has to compete not only with all the RPgs currently being supposed, but with all the RPGs that have been relased in the past, especially those that people have already purchased and are fond of. So if they are going to play BRP then they are not going to be playing something else. Whenver I start up a new campaign, I have to think over just which RPG, to run. I've got favorites, and one that I want to try, and ones that cover certain settings I am fond of and so forth. Newbies are good targets in part because they don't have a bunch of other RPgs kicking around that they want to play.