TheHistorian

Charles Green (the author of that monograph) will know better but I suspect Factured Hopes, like my own Outpost 19, was something we as individual authors wanted to do and both we AND Chaosium hoped MIGHT sell well enough to warrant adapting to a full distribution book. A few Cthulhu monographs have done this, and there was talk at one point of Classic Fantasy going the same route but I'm not aware of any original monograph BRP titles that actually have.

I count four Cthulhu monographs and one BRP that have made the jump:

Cthulhu Invictus

Mysteries/Secrets Of Morocco

Mysteries/Secrets Of Tibet

Ripples From Carcosa

In Search Of The Trollslayer

Classic Fantasy is going over to RQ6.

Basic Magic/Creatures/Gamemaster went from old style monograph (taped) to new style monograph (POD) and kinda sorta are connected to the BGB, but not really.  I think. 

Doesn't exist.  Product number 2019 was assigned, but never used, nor recycled to any other Chaosium book.

I never played BRP. Ever. I have however played Cthulhu, and loved it too death. Still one of my favorite settings. I like the percentile system on the surface. But am hesitant to buy into another system just to be disappointed again.

Two things to separate here - system and setting. System is the game mechanics. Setting is the storyboard where those mechanics are applied. So if you've played CoC and liked the system, then you have played BRP - the systems are 99% the same. The setting is flexible - use one that already exists for a BRP based game, or use one that works with any game - BRP will work regardless.

1. How would you compare BRP to HERO and Savage World?

I haven't used the others so I can't compare. All I can say is that I've never seen the need to go looking past a BRP related game.

2. Does BRP lend itself well to world building and unique characters?

As I said above, the setting can be anything you want, so if you want to build your own, BRP will not stand in the way of that. Unique characters - absolutely. There are no classes, so you can make anything you want. Say you're playing in a modern world setting. Who can your character be? Anyone. Child, firefighter, boxer, pilot, politician, doctor, male, female, Australian, French, South African, Mongolian... the rules handle anything, or are EASILY adapted to do so. Want to make a boxer who isn't a very good boxer but knows a lot about chemistry for some reason? Go for it. Heck, the rules could handle it if you wanted to play a cat.

3. I noticed they just released a hardcover copy, honestly I prefer soft to hard cover. Is there a difference between the two? It looks as if the hardcover has more pages? 384 soft 400 hard?

The hardcover does have some corrections to the softcover.

See here: http://basicroleplaying.com/basic-roleplaying/brp-hardcover-2133/6/

There are a couple errata threads here:

http://basicroleplaying.com/basic-roleplaying/typos-errata-corrections-clarifications-322/

http://basicroleplaying.com/basic-roleplaying/brp-hardcover-errata-2879/

Generic - Downloads - Basic Roleplaying Central (this one has compiled errata files you can download)

4. Does Chaosium keep the books updated with each printing like that did with Cthulhu?

Whether a more recent printing of the softcover exists with the corrections integrated, I couldn't say. I'm sure Chaosium sells a lot more CoC books than BRP, so they have more motivation to tweak and correct the rulebooks for CoC.

5. Longevity! We tend to stick with a system for more than a few years. So how is this system holding out? It looks like you have a great community here and that's a super plus!

Well, it depends how you want to count. The current version of the BRP BGB (big gold book) only go back to about 2008. Previous versions of the BRP being published as any sort of separate pamphlet or book go back to a booklet that was a piece of Runequest 2E in 1979.

If you want to consider the entire history of BRP related games, then you have about 35 years of back material that can be used - adventures, settings, supplements, etc. - and it will require trivial to minimal conversion. This isn't like D&D that has changed drastically over the years. I could grab the first Runequest adventure (Balastor's Barracks) from 1978 and run if using the current BRP rules with no problem.

So how much material is that?

BRP (~5 editions)

The Laundry

Stormbringer (5 editions)

Elric

Call Of Cthulhu (6 editions, plus many in between editions)

Worlds Of Wonder

Superworld

Ringworld

Elfquest (2 editions)

Nephilim

Other Suns

Pendragon (~5 editions)

Prince Valiant

Runequest (6 editions)

Privateers And Gentlemen

Mythworld

Worlds Beyond

GORE

Open Quest

Age Of Shadow

Legend

Wraith Recon

Age Of Treason

Clockwork & Chivalry (2 editions)

Renaissance Deluxe

...and I've probably forgotten something

Plus all their supplements, related setting material, years of magazine articles, and many online resources for both the above and BRP adaptations (BRP Star Wars, say). That's a ton of stuff!

Some of those are less connected to main BRP than others, but they all have enough BRP at their cores that you could mine for source material and not have to do much work on the system conversion.

Columbia might still be around, but since N. Robin Crossby passed away, who cares.

Well, there are a few of us... Harn is still developed by both Columbia and Kelestia Productions. And lythia.com is possibly the highest quality site for fan produced material that I know of; the good free material there alone could supply years of adventuring.

Of course, Columbia has a distinct advantage vs. the other companies that were mentioned - they make a ton more money from their wargames than they ever have/will from Harn. We'd love to see them make a push to get back on store shelves with Harn, but them seem to be content to have their few hundred subscribers (plus some additional sales of course) and produce material slowly.

I just looked and it's there and functioning.

I just uploaded it.

Chaosium Digests Archive

Pah! HeroQuest was "Coming Soon" or "Coming Next year" for 20 years!

Pulp Cthulhu recently passed 10 years, so it's getting there!

They also sell on ebay, often even cheaper.

Does the actual printed version have a RQII or Legend logo?

IIRC, BRP Zero started out this way.

SDLeary

Good point. There were monographs for the pieces (Player, GM, Magic, Creatures) and an advance copy of the BGB. And I have a convention exclusive for the original Cthulhu Invictus monograph. Wondering if there are more...

i currently hold in my hands the pre publication proof edition i bought at gen con.

A friend picked this up for me as well. Has Chaosium done a pre-pub convention special like this before?

Generally one in October (Halloween) as well.

Instead of worrying about a hardcover retread of the rules (I count six CoC hardcover rulebooks on my shelf already - 3, 5.1.1, 5.6, 5.6.1, 6, 20th Anniv - missing 25th Anniv) how about something really special? Maybe a translation of Les Années Folles, perhaps?

Fantastic! What about normal animals, which make up the bulk of Harnic non-Human foes? I haven't done an A to B check, but do all those exist with BRP stats already?

Except for mentioning Apple Lane twice, that is correct.

2nd.

1st was a softcover book only.

I'm not sure if this is the right spot to post, but it seemed like the general forum was most appropriate. If not, please feel free to relocate...

So, I'm trying to form a group, and for being in a major city, it's harder than I expected! So I'm advertising on several forums. The format demanded at rpg.net actually does provide a lot information succinctly, so I'll reproduce that here.

Play Location/Method: face-to-face, exact location TBD by group, but in the Boston public transportation accessible area. I can host a small group, but mid to large size may require another location (I'm in Cambridge).

Game/System: BRP (obviously), with some bits translated from HarnMaster

Player or GM? I will GM

Time/Frequency: TBD by forming group, but prefer a long session during a weekend day

Genre: the setting will indeed be Harn, a high realism medieval fantasy setting, generally magic and monsters are rare

Current needs: 3-8 players to start a new campaign

Accept Drop-In Players? No, I prefer a regular group

Accept Spectators? Probably no, but if there are enough seats, I'd be okay with it

Short description of the setting/campaign (5 lines or less): This would be role-playing intensive, mystery/problem solving, basically a thinking game - at least that's what I'd be aiming for. At the moment, I'm planning to start in the Kingdom of Chybisa, but that could change.

Experience: No experience with BRP is necessary. Lack of experience in Harn is probably a plus, as it enhances the mystery! General roleplaying experience in something beyond kill things and take their stuff mode is desired, however.