BRP vs. MRQ & the OGL

[Kloster]

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Post Call of Cthulhu, that's really not true; from that point on, they pretty much were built up from BRP, not down from RQ. You can usually tell, too, from the lack of most RQ elements that didn't appear in BRP proper.

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I remember having discussed about that subject with Sandy Petersen about 15 years ago (at the Aquaboulevard Park in Paris), an he explained me that each time they were in doubt for a rule in a game, they were reverting to the original rule: RQ.

Runequestement votre,

Kloster

[Nightshade]

I remember having discussed about that subject with Sandy Petersen about 15 years ago (at the Aquaboulevard Park in Paris), an he explained me that each time they were in doubt for a rule in a game, they were reverting to the original rule: RQ.

Runequestement votre,

Kloster

Well that doesn't suprise me; RQ was a much more full-featured system than the vast majority of its descendents; barring the SF elements in Ringworld or specialized supernatural subsystems, almost none of them actually _added_ anything.

[NickMiddleton]

I remember having discussed about that subject with Sandy Petersen about 15 years ago (at the Aquaboulevard Park in Paris), an he explained me that each time they were in doubt for a rule in a game, they were reverting to the original rule: RQ.

Runequestement votre,

Kloster

To quote the acknowledgements section of the clear credit box in Call of Cthulhu (5.6 and later at the very least):

Thanks are also due to the original authors (especially Steve Perrin) and play group connected with the 1978 roleplaying game RuneQuest, now owned by Hasbro, from which the mechanics of Call of Cthulhu were adapted via the intermediary and out-of-print Basic Roleplaying. Mark Morrison has remarked that when he wishes to see how some problem of physical action is handled in a game, he turns first to RuneQuest. He is no the only one.

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

[GianniVacca]

Even if I agree with most of your arguments, in fact, lots of people have.

At least here in France where Casus Belli (France's premier RPG mag during years) published it with Chaosium approval under the name BaSIC.

Actually BaSIC had way more stuff in it than the original BRPS booklet. It was closer to WoW than to the BRPS booklet.

[Atgxtg]

Actually BaSIC had way more stuff in it than the original BRPS booklet. It was closer to WoW than to the BRPS booklet.

Because it was built from Magic World rather than the BRP booklet, the way Drakar och Demoner was.

That's the thing. Like I have said, and Nick helped to prove, nothing was designed up from BRP. Generally, they were either designed down from RQ or COC, or designed up from WoW's Magic World, or Superworld.

[Nightshade]

Because it was built from Magic World rather than the BRP booklet, the way Drakar och Demoner was.

That's the thing. Like I have said, and Nick helped to prove, nothing was designed up from BRP. Generally, they were either designed down from RQ or COC, or designed up from WoW's Magic World, or Superworld.

That doesn't follow, because the very quote he uses mentions that CoC was derived from BRP. So in essence, almost everything that followed was.

[Atgxtg]

That doesn't follow, because the very quote he uses mentions that CoC was derived from BRP. So in essence, almost everything that followed was.

From RQ. If you look at every RPG Chasoium wrote, there is stuff in them that isn't in BRP, but is in RQ. Most of the skills and base percentages, for example.

BRP was really just whatit claimed to be, an intro booklet tossed in the box to help you figure out how to play the game inside. That's why it was tossed in with a lot of Chasoium products.

I can't think of anyone who'se actually run a BRP campaign, based on the booklet. MOre like a non-Gloranthan RQ campaign, or a Stormbringer or CoC variant. BRP is just too barren. Even the monster stats is gives are just a useless list of numbers without RQ.

[drohem]

I ran a game with just the BRP booklet once. My friend and I backpacked through the British Isles, and space was severely limited. I brought one set of dice and the BRP booklet. We wound up running out of money in Dublin, and had to get jobs and a place to live. We stayed there for a year, during which we created and ran a hard sci-fi campaign with just the BRP booklet as our only system reference.

[Nightshade]

From RQ. If you look at every RPG Chasoium wrote, there is stuff in them that isn't in BRP, but is in RQ. Most of the skills and base percentages, for example.

And plenty had things that weren't in RQ too, such as all of the modern or SF games. Does that mean they weren't based on anything?

To me, a game system doesn't have to contain every mechanic the other games based on the system use; it has to contain the core concepts and basis. That's it. Otherwise, the moment someone wrote a game with a new magic system, it'd no longer "use BRP" even in the new book, as that system wasn't there.

I can't think of anyone who'se actually run a BRP campaign, based on the booklet. MOre like a non-Gloranthan RQ campaign, or a Stormbringer or CoC variant. BRP is just too barren. Even the monster stats is gives are just a useless list of numbers without RQ.

It would have been quite adequate for someone running a game of primitive hunters. The fact that isn't a particularly common desire doesn't make it not a game system, or not the basis of games with much more elaboration.

I think fundamentally you expect more of something to be called a game system, and the basis of other games, than I do.

[Kloster]

Actually BaSIC had way more stuff in it than the original BRPS booklet. It was closer to WoW than to the BRPS booklet.

True. It was also far more than 16 pages, although far below the 300+ of the upcoming BRP.

Runequestement votre,

Kloster