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Is BRP dead?


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53 minutes ago, DimensionalRambler said:

Been a while, I believe, since physical copies of the BGB have been available for purchase, and... who knows how long since there was an actual release for the system. Is BRP effectively a dead system?

As a standalone system, yes, it seems it is, and no resurrection spell is scheduled. As a set of rules used to build a game, it is Alive and Well (but not living in Paris).

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I've been working on building an RPG on the SRD they released recently and the more work I do on it the more I want the big gold book to reference. I know it's available in PDF but I much prefer working from physical books and sadly I've only seen auctions go for £100+ in the UK. I did see a few years ago Rick mentioned switching to POD for existing BRP stuff but haven't seen anything yet, hopefully that is soonish or we at least get a yes/no in case I do need to bite the bullet and buy a second hand copy for silly money.

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4 hours ago, DimensionalRambler said:

 Is BRP effectively a dead system?

It was kinda stillborn - at least as far as the BGB went. But the core game mechanics are used in virtually every Chaosium RPG from RuneQuest to Call of Cthulhu, and even Pendragon, although the latter uses a highly modified version. So BRP is probably as alive as it ever was, except maybe in the early 80s.

Edited by Atgxtg

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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In a sense, BRP has never been healthier:

We have Call of Cthulhu and Rune Quest going strong...

We have several BRP games in the pipeline:

  • Pendragon 6th edition
  • Rivers of London
  • Lords of the Middle Sea
  • Mythic Iceland 2nd edition

We are probably/ possibly going to see print on demand versions of older titles, such as...

  • Worlds of Wonder
  • Superworld
  • Magic World
  • BRP Big Gold Book

 (These is based on my recollections of chats / social media posts so I might be wrong).

We have the SRD...

We do not have an in print edition of my beloved Stormbringer.... OK, but we do not live in a perfect world...

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, smiorgan said:

In a sense, BRP has never been healthier:

We have Call of Cthulhu and Rune Quest going strong...

We have several BRP games in the pipeline:

  • Pendragon 6th edition
  • Rivers of London
  • Lords of the Middle Sea
  • Mythic Iceland 2nd edition

We are probably/ possibly going to see print on demand versions of older titles, such as...

  • Worlds of Wonder
  • Superworld
  • Magic World
  • BRP Big Gold Book

 (These is based on my recollections of chats / social media posts so I might be wrong).

We have the SRD...

We do not have an in print edition of my beloved Stormbringer.... OK, but we do not live in a perfect world...

Bit of a long shot but can you remember what threads you saw the POD versions of Worlds of Wonder, Superworld and Magic World were in? I’m presuming the answer is no but thought I’d double check. 

I’m new to Chaosium (been playing CoC since 2019) and since then I’ve become fascinated by the history of the company and their lines. I’d like to collect as much stuff from them as possible without paying the eBay tax on out of print material. 

If someone from Chaosium could say what titles/lines they are still planning on making available through POD that would be great! Ideally with a time frame for that but I know that’s a big ask and probably not possible. 

Most things I’m content to wait on but I’m planning on working on my game over the summer when I have more free time so might end up grabbing the Big Gold Book to help out with that since it’s pretty unlikely that will be available POD when I will need it. 

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1 hour ago, glassneedles said:

Bit of a long shot but can you remember what threads you saw the POD versions of Worlds of Wonder, Superworld and Magic World were in? I’m presuming the answer is no but thought I’d double check. 

Worlds of Wonder - Rick Meints told me that a POD/ reprint is likely during a Q&A chat on Discord at the 1st Impromptu Con. No time frame.

As for Magic World, I can quote this post:

Rick Meints is answering "yes" to the question: "Any chance of a POD version?".

Usually, Chaosium does not announce products in advance with precise dates. Reprints/ PODs even less.

Edited by smiorgan
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2 minutes ago, smiorgan said:

Worlds of Wonder - Rick Meints told me that a reprint is likely during a Q&A chat on Discord at the 1st Impromptu Con. No time frame.

As for Magic World, I can quote this post:

 

Usually, Chaosium does not announce products in advance with precise dates. Reprints/ PODs even less.

Im aware of and agree with the date policy. What I was hoping for was something along the lines of what they said about a 7th edition Beyond the Mountains of Madness or updated Horror on the Orient Express and say if we can expect any POD versions within the next year or longer. 

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1 minute ago, glassneedles said:

Im aware of and agree with the date policy. What I was hoping for was something along the lines of what they said about a 7th edition Beyond the Mountains of Madness or updated Horror on the Orient Express and say if we can expect any POD versions within the next year or longer. 

For Worlds of Wonder I have found also this post:

It's clear that those things are not top priorities for Chaosium. And I cannot blame them for that with all the stuff for CoC, RQ, Pendragon and the new games in the pipeline...

  

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A problem with a lot of old BRP/Chaosium games is that they're based on licences that Chaosium doesn't have anymore, so it's not possible to propose them. StormBringer, ElfQuest, Hawkmoon, RingWorld, Nephilim... Those based on Moorcock's books are still very popular, and my understanding is that Chaosium is actively trying to re-acquire the rights for the English market, but the other games were not as successful, so it may not be worth the price.

Also note the children of BRP are alive, too.

OpenQuest, Revolution D100 and Mythras (along with M-Space) are all clearly related to BRP, and offee interesting twists to the system.

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10 hours ago, smiorgan said:

For Worlds of Wonder I have found also this post:

It's clear that those things are not top priorities for Chaosium. And I cannot blame them for that with all the stuff for CoC, RQ, Pendragon and the new games in the pipeline...

  

Yeah that is the problem. They have so much awesome stuff planned that POD things which won't sell as many since they are old and a percentage of the fanbase already owns it and have lower profitability since you don't get any economies of scale from printing multiple copies. At least I can console myself with their shiny new books...

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The problem with BRB is that because it's so generic, referees still have to do a lot of world-building to create enough of a setting. In this, it has the same problems as GURPS does.

I mean, it isn't Traveller's OTU or DnD's Forgotten Realms. You can't just drop characters into Waterdeep or a starport somewhere.

I'm adapting RQG to a Heroic Greek setting [a version of Atlantis] and you'd be surprised at just how much work a milieu is if you've never done it before. Just curating and selecting the artwork to accurately portray the material culture is a larger undertaking than you think, especially if you're not an artist yourself. Then you add in the maps, the cultures, the politics, and the story you want to tell as a ref.... And all of that is a Hell of a lot easier if you've got full color maps, a book you can just buy with all the gear, and Wayne Reynolds doing your artwork, you know?

 

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BGB is too good and Chaosium's staff knows it. I would rewrite the power section trying to explain how to fit powers systems to specific settings.

IMO a system is not dead as long as people keep playing it.

Edited by albesias
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9 hours ago, colinabrett said:

I have the Big Gold Book, which is well-thumbed and the source of great inspiration. I'd love to get my hands on another copy, be it POD or second hand.

I am confused.. you can buy it anytime, can't you? isn't still printed?

I bought 6 copies meself, for "evangelism" purposes.. and I still have them... I can spare one if you really need! ^_^ 

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8 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

I am confused.. you can buy it anytime, can't you? isn't still printed?

I bought 6 copies meself, for "evangelism" purposes.. and I still have them... I can spare one if you really need! ^_^ 

I did a brief BRP:1889 game via the BGB. PROTIP: Semi-professional historians should not run historical based games 😁🤣😂 We have a very bad and hard to break habit of making the game more about the history and less about the adventure....

The BGB is a great resource for each and every d100 fan. It's available online in pdf form from Chaosium and drivethru. If you're a fan of multi-genre gaming, I really think it's a better option than GURPS. Giving GURPS it's due, the system as a whole has excellent genre sourcebooks, with extensive bibliographies. But for sheer nuts-and-bolts world /milieu building, BRP is FAR easier with fewer 'moving parts' in a rules mechanics sense.

Inasmuch as I'm a big fan of paying either my FLGS or the original publishing house my money, I'd recommend Chaosium. You can find all BRP materials under the Other Games dropdown menu.

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5 minutes ago, svensson said:

PROTIP: Semi-professional historians should not run historical based games 😁🤣😂 We have a very bad and hard to break habit of making the game more about the history and less about the adventure....

All too true....

I tried to put the story before reality as much as I could myself... the only time I had to contradict our, then, GM a bit (in D&D mind you) was when some fire followers fell into lava and the GM said they sunk to the bottom. I had to say, hold on there, an organic body is much less dense than magma and they should float (that was important they were immune to fire damage, and also spell casters). 

Note: I study physics, not history, hence the unexpected tangent! 😛 

Edited by Lloyd Dupont
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