Mankcam

Yes disregard editions as every edition uses the same stat blocks, except the 7E stat blocks which as very quick to port on the fly (and vice versa). If you are after campaigns, then I would go for the more pulpy flavoured ones like Masks of Nylarthotep and Horror On The Orient Express. I hear that Beyond The Mountains Of Madness is also iconic, but it is currently out of print. For pulp on a smaller scale I would also recommend the Age Of Cthulhu scenarios by Goodman Games. For more intense investigations I would go more purist in flavour and suggest smaller scenarios, although I'll let others recommend these titles.

Well I think the fact that BRPE will be more of a guideline for authors than a public release is fair enough, and I would like to thank Rick for taking the time to clarify this in this thread. It's certainly not the End Of All Things, however it still is a little disappointing to me. I quite like the idea of having a product which is small core ruleset that I can add bits and pieces that I can tinker with to make the setting I prefer. I like the approach taken with GURPS, FATE, Savage Worlds, Insight, etc although I would prefer to use BRP as a core engine. I often watch a film or television show and consider how to run that as a rpg, and BRP is usually the first framework that springs to mind. The BGB was initially very attractive in this regard, however I do agree with Rick's view that it is a vast collection of rules that don't necessarily work with each other, and as such, it really is a bit cumbersome as a core book. I think a much slimmer version would of been nice, something bigger than a quickstart, but much smaller than the BGB. I've always wanted it to be a nice little slim hardcover book, something about the size of RQ2 Classic Edition would have been great, especially with Chaosium's current production standards. But that's just my personal preference. From a practical point of view, having the RQ Quickstart and CoC Quickstart will probably suffice most purposes, depending on whether a GM tinkerer wants to run a fantasy or a modern game. It does make sense to have a slightly different emphasis with these rulesets depending upon the genre. RuneQuest is great with it's Hit Locations, Strike Ranks, Weapon Effects and such; whereas Call Of Cthulhu has always felt smooth and streamlined. I am happy with both of these BRP engines, and historically I have just run with whichever one has felt better for the genre that I have been home brewing. As I've said before, if you have the CoC 7E Quickstart and Cthulhu Thru The Ages booklets, then you already have a BRPE using this engine. However it may have been nice for the content from these publications to be joined under one cover, with all Cthulhu elements stripped out, and that could have easily sufficed as a BRPE. In fact I still am puzzled why this isn't the plan, it doesn't feel like a big undertaking, and it ticks alot of the boxes in regards to having a contemporary toolkit. However all this is only of concern for people who really want to stick to the BRP engine that Chaosium is currently producing. There is Mythras as a big contender for a core BRP system which appeals to many GMs. Mythras Imperative is pretty generic, and ticks alot of boxes if referred to as a generic toolkit. I have not seen the expanded version of Mythras yet, although I suspect it may be more fantasy-centric, given the RQ6 legacy. However the rules exist in the system to cover Sci-Fi (Luther Arkwright, M-Space, etc) so Mythras is certainly an attractive option to GM tinkerers who prefer more simulationist rules. There is also OpenQuest, Renaissance, and soon to be released Revolution D100, so GMs can find a BRP toolkit if they look for them. However I still would prefer Chaosium to also have one in current existence, in addition to their separate product lines. Well at least we know what the goals for BRPE are now. It seems it's primarily viewed as a reference document, which may be aimed more at authors or licencees, rather than a public release toolkit rules for GMs. Vile kicked this thread off in October 2015 and here we are in October 2016 with some direction on it now. Whether it's the answers we wanted is unclear, but I guess it's kinda a conclusion to all the speculation

Yes, the one where we were all sworn to secrecy and took the oath never to mention again outside of masonic circles, heh heh

Yes realistically Design Mechanism should probably stick foremost with their 'Mythic' lines and produce pseudo-historical settings, and/or perhaps continue to further develop the settings they already have, such as Classic Fantasy and Thennla (we need more than just The Iron Simulacrum and The Shores Of Korantia books from Jonathan Drake). However if we are widely speculating on properties, then perhaps some of these may be interesting: * The Elder Scrolls setting of TAMRIEL * Joe Acrombie's THE FIRST LAW (possibly) * Frank Herbert's DUNE * China Meiville's BAS-LUG and finally, a game setting that has been done by two rpgs, Savage Worlds and FATE, yet would be infinitely better portrayed by a gritty BRP engine like Mythras: * Kenneth Hite's THE DAY AFTER RAGNAROK If we were also including a less gritty version of BRP, like OpenQuest, then I would probably suggest: * Joss Wheldon's FIREFLY * J.K.Rowling's THE WIZARDING WORLD * George Lucas's STAR WARS * J.R.R.Tolkien's MIDDLE EARTH This is a Thread Of Dreams, after all

There was an old supplement called 'Blood Brothers' which was a bunch of Call Of Cthulhu scenarios aimed at emulating B-Grade Horror films of the more pulpy variety. It may be something fun for Halloween. Its probably available in pdf

Starting to sound like a Pub Quiz here, heh heh

I think RQ may be be a little harder than CoC 7E to make a generic ruleset in regards to things like char gen. It regards to combat , RQ may not be the best fit either, although melee combat certainly does shine. On the other hand, the CoC 7E engine probably has wider applications. Its practically all there already. In regards to nuts n bolts, the CoC 7E engine is as simple as the BGB rules were, except with one extra success level. Pity about the stat block disparity with expressing Characteristics as %, but the rest is pretty reasonable I think. As far as char gen goes, the skill pts are calculated using different Characteristics for each Profession. Between the Professions listed in CoC 7E and Cthuhlu Thru The Ages you have covered Professions from Jazz Era, Victorian Era, Dark Ages , Vikings, Ancient Rome, and Post Apoclytic Future. It would be simple to either cherry pick those or make generic era versions. Hit Locations are not default, but are presented as an option in CoC 7E. As far as weapons go, CoC 7E covers firearms and Cthulhu Thru The Ages covers Ancient/ Medieval weaponry and rules associated with such. Skill mods are Bonus/Penalty dice as opposed to numerical modifiers, and that's about all that would need to port over. Stuff like Push rules, Luck rules, Mythos Magic etc would probably not be in BRPE. But looking at this, its plain to see that Chaosium ALREADY has a freshened-up generic engine based on the CoC 7E mechanics. They are obiviously just trying to work out whether to run with this, or go with CRQ4 as the core BRPE. I suspect that if they hadn't chosen Mythic Iceland to be the first BRPE release then they would have automatically gone with the CoC 7E engine. Personally I love RQ so I'm happy either way, and if BRPE is cherry picked between the two then I can live with that. However its logical that BRPE could easily use the CoC 7E engine, considering the profile and popularity of CoC 7E. All the game mechanics are already in place. Trimming down the core mechanics chapters from CoC7E and adding it to material from Cthulhu Thru The Ages would be a Sunday drive compared to what Jeff is doing with updating the new RQ rules. The path of least resistance is usually the one that wins out...

Mythic Iceland is a setting that it makes sense to have hit locations, magic, an emphasis on hand-to-hand combat, so it is logical that the version of BRP it uses should be similar to RQ, which has a major focus on these features. However for BRPE it makes sense to have a simplier system with less nuts and bolts, so I guess this is why the game engine build of CoC has often been suggested for a generic rules base. So perhaps the answer is that BRPE may be best served by the CoC engine, yet some settings may be best portrayed with the RQ mechanics. To throw a spanner in the works, Mythic Iceland has already been presented as an alternative setting for CoC 7E in the Cthulhu Thru The Ages book. This includes how to handle things like Shields etc so it is genre specific. Given that MagicWorld was shelved then I guess the classic BGB engine has gone with it. So now it's 50/50 whether they run with CoC 7E or CRQ4 as the BRP house system. You never know, the best thing may to cherry pick elements from both

ok i just saw this and i'll take a look later on when i get home. i been looking forward to see the srd for revolution d100, something to get my mind off a pretty busy day here at work. cheers paolo!

If you're running an OQ game using the MRQ2/Legend/Mythras supplements then you'll have to work out total Hit Points for the opponents, but that's about it. The skills sometimes have different names, but they port across almost seamlessly to their OQ counterparts.Some of the magic is also different, but you can port that over on the fly. Just calculate Total HP as usual, and you're pretty much good to go.

I have a hardcover RQ6 and I bought Mythras Imperative. I figure that I can run Mythras with those, so would there be any other benefit to having the full Mythras book, other than support for DM?

Cool

The original version of ROME was quite impressive so I'm not surprised that this is just as good. Probably the most authentic vision of Rome ever to grace the pages of a RPG book. Question for Loz & Pete: The Mythic Greece book - is it The Mycenaean Age, The Hellenic Age, or some mythical in between era ie 'The Age of Heroes'?

I suspect you are right, especially given that the gritty tactile nature of the setting would be better portrayed with the RQ rules as opposed to the CoC rules. However the only thing that potentially throws the cat amongst the pigeons is that Mythic Iceland has already been briefly presented as a potential setting for CoC 7E in the Cthulhu Thru The Ages book. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it goes

I think I would be happy if the BRP Essientials is built from either CoC 7E or CRQ4 (RQ7), even if it's a slimmed down or primer version of the core mechanics. I'm not fussed either way. The main thing is to have some consistency, rather than have three distinct D100 systems under the one company. A lot of the hard work has already been done for CoC 7E with the Cthulhu Thru The Ages booklet, so some of this could easily be rehashed for a generic BRP rule set built of the CoC 7E engine. But at the end of the day I would be just as happy if RQ is used for the core engine, although I suspect that this will take much more work.

RQ2 First Aid is a cult skill taught through the Chalana Arroy cult. It concerns the immediate treatment of wounds and broken bones to alleviate pain and allow normal healing. Successful use of First Aid on a bleeding hit location can stop bleeding (although two points of damage are not healed), and keep the victim from dying. The user can also rouse someone who is unconscious if he has been knocked out by something other than the loss of more points in an area than the location can take. Rolling a critical means that two points are healed.

Sounds like Australia, except with more whingeing

I think perhaps a skimpy one heh heh

Heh heh yes ever the mediator and optimist I was considering 15-20 Powers for a primer rule set approach, if Powers are to be included. Its debatable if a primer rule set actually should have Powers in the first place. For a more weighty and worthwhile generic rulebook you would probably need to at least double or triple that. Which is the kind of thing you are busy working on Paolo

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Yes a set of generic powers makes sense in a generic rule set, with ideas on trappings just like how Savage Worlds does it. A list of about 15 - 20 powers would cover most effects.I can barely think beyond the 10 effects posted above. Whatever its flaws, Savage Worlds is a good example of how to efficiently structure a core rule book which is is focused on being a generic tool kit.

I think you could potentially get away without magic in a primer, but I won't complain if it is included. I do agree about ditching the CoC 7E % scores for Characteristics, primarily due to the change in how the stat block is presented in every other version of BRP. It was the only thing I think CoC 7E got wrong, and yes it just looks weird. I just don't see what the issue was to alter it at this stage of the game, with BRP being around for 30yrs + . I would rather the stat block had not been altered in this respect. The Luck rules aren't too bad, although I think I would of preferred having a similar concept using Power Points. The main reasons for this is that there is no changes in the stat block itself, and it also gives non-spellcasters a reason to actually use Power Points. However now that the Luck rules are written as such in CoC 7E I suppose it is more important to remain consistent with them. In any case Luck may be a setting rule rather than a core rule, and may not be necessary in a primer.

Yes at least that was one of the advantages of Skill Cat Modifers in RQ3

I agree that the core BRP system should be more or less consistent with CoC 7E. Skill success levels, Characteristics impacting upon char gen development points, Bonus/Penalty Dice (with optional numerical modifiers), the Maneuver rules etc all these things could be used with most settings. I would probably be happy if we also used these CoC 7E influenced core rules for the next edition of RuneQuest. RQ could have additional facets, such as Hit Locations, Encumbrance, Runes, Magic, varied Special Effects for different weapon/damage types, SR instead of DEX order, a greater focus on Parry & Shields, a few extra nuts n bolts etc to make it fantasy or Gloranthan specific. If a core set of BRP rules is published as a 'house system', then CoC 7E should be considered as a major influence for the sake of compatability. Given it's popularity it certainly would be the edition to be compatible with, rather than just reprinting the mechanics directly from the BGB. I would be happy if a slim hardcover of roughly 100 pages is published as the core system, about the size of the 'Renaissance' book, and this replaces the role of the BGB for a generic rule set, or a primer rule set. I wouldn't include Magic or Powers, and just have a broad overview of weapons. For anything more specific then the additional stand alone setting books can be purchased. I still feel having a core set of rules that can used to play any setting is a great tool kit for a GM. I love that I can watch a film, and if I ever want to replicate it then I can use the BGB, so having a current version of being able to do this means others can continue to do this as well. In addition it could encourage licencees to publish/crowd fund different material using the core Chaosium BRP system as a base. It's a win/win having a contemporary set of core rules to be referenced. So yep I would love to see a small core generic BRP book currently in print, and it makes sense for it to have some games mechanics consistency with the rest of Chaosium's published product lines. Kinda like what the Design Mechanism are already doing with Mythras...

Well that is excellent news!