How do you think BRP is doing?

[Jarulf]

I agree that the monographs lack focus, but I think that is part of their function; testing the waters. But as Gianni and Agentorange mentioned things are changing. Both Devil's Gulch and Chronicles of Future Earth will be released as proper books, and I undesrstand the latter will have more books as well. The same for Classic Fantasy by threedeesix, which sold well as a monograph.

There is also the Laundry coming out soonish from Cubicle 7. I imagine that will get some support material as well. While the Laundry is self-contained and doesn't require the BGB (I gather), it will hopefully interest some players in it.

[Agentorange]

What you have written is certainly true. A "normal" GM would only want to buy one monograph and use it for his campaign. But I don't see this as a problem: the commercial product is the BGB, which any BRP GM/player needs to play. Monographs are labours of love so it's OK if they don't sell by the thousands.

OTOH a company like Alephtar games has now started publishing connected books: a GM may start his campaign in England using Merrie England and after a while have his party move on to the continent and use Crusaders of the Amber Coast...

So...what we need to do is sweet talk Soltakss into writing: Merrie Scotland, Merrie Wales, Merrie Ireland, Merrie Vatican states and many others ....

[RosenMcStern]

So...what we need to do is sweet talk Soltakss into writing: Merrie Scotland, Merrie Wales, Merrie Ireland, Merrie Vatican states and many others ....

What makes you think that he has not done it already?

[RosenMcStern]

OTOH a company like Alephtar games has now started publishing connected books: a GM may start his campaign in England using Merrie England and after a while have his party move on to the continent and use Crusaders of the Amber Coast...

In truth, a part of the advantage of the three "connected" books about medieval Europe has been lost in the transition between three rulesets (MRQI, MRQII, BRP). But we are now fixing this.

Also, I will soon announce a second Rome book. Pete cannot write it because of time restrictions, but we could find a replacement.

[Agentorange]

What makes you think that he has not done it already?

He's already written Merrie Vatican States ? I'm impressed...

Seriously though, there's more good stuff in the pipeline ?

[RosenMcStern]

Here is the Celestial Empire.

And here is Merrie Vatican. Simon has added plenty of angels and stuff for this edition.

[Agentorange]

Here is the Celestial Empire.

And here is Merrie Vatican. Simon has added plenty of angels and stuff for this edition.

You realise that now I won't be satisfied until there is a Merrie Vatican don't you ?

Mind you given the political skullduggery and power surrounding the Church in medieval times there probably is a supplement in there somewhere. I've got all the historical supplements except "Crusaders of the amber coast" and I hope to pick up a copy this weekend. Celestial Empire is on my wish list when it comes out as well

You mentioned that the issue of having books for 3 seperate systems had somewhat diluted the impact having those historical supplements out, but that you had resolved that. Are you planning to have dual system books produced or something similiar ?

[RobP]

I agree that the monographs lack focus, but I think that is part of their function; testing the waters. But as Gianni and Agentorange mentioned things are changing. Both Devil's Gulch and Chronicles of Future Earth will be released as proper books, and I undesrstand the latter will have more books as well. The same for Classic Fantasy by threedeesix, which sold well as a monograph.

There is also the Laundry coming out soonish from Cubicle 7. I imagine that will get some support material as well. While the Laundry is self-contained and doesn't require the BGB (I gather), it will hopefully interest some players in it.

This brings me back to one of my earlier points, that BRP is nearly always eclipsed by the specialist systems from which BRP derives its rules. In the above case, Devil's Gulch and Chronicles of Future Earth (CoFE) may well catch on, but they will be Devil's Gulch and CoFE - they will not be seen as BRP, but as product lines in their own right.

I think the D100 rules upon which BRP are based on are amazing, when I got on the bandwagon in the '80's it was nice to have a system without character classes or levels. But I think BRP by itself isn't enough. Its like a rulewriter's toolkit than an RPG in its own right.

I'm sure most of the specialist products that derive from it will do well, and whilst one can allude to them being BRP based, I suspect many people will not actively use that connection. They will just refer to their game as RQ, CotC, Devil's Gulch or CoFE.

This all leaves me with one of my original questions - 'Who is BRP actually written for?'

I suspect for people that write and run their own campaigns or people that want to dip between several short and dare I say more shallow campaigns from different genres.

I'm genuinely interested in BRP (through RQ and buying Fantasy Ground's BRP module) and am currently hoevering on the fence for a purchase. The key question I keep asking myself is 'Would I use it?' Followed by 'Would I be better off investing in CotC instead?' which I have to say is very interesting.

I don't know - will have to do some more reading up!

RobP

http://AncientArmies.co.uk

[RosenMcStern]

You mentioned that the issue of having books for 3 seperate systems had somewhat diluted the impact having those historical supplements out, but that you had resolved that. Are you planning to have dual system books produced or something similiar ?

No. We are trying to unify the system, instead. There _will_ be some differences (there are no pagans in Merrie England and no Muslims in Crusaders of the Amber Coast, so some parts of the magic rules are missing from each supplement) but the overall approach to religion, that is a major factor of medieval life, should now be totally consistent, and usable with all rulesets although we are now writing only for BRP.

This all leaves me with one of my original questions - 'Who is BRP actually written for?'

For everyone who appreciates one or more of the setting specific games made with it, and wishes to have a more generalized ruleset that allows him to expand his game: using locations in Cthulhu, or firearms in runequest, or sanity in superworld. BRP is not an alternative to the setting books, it is the building blocks used to make them.

[Thalaba]

This all leaves me with one of my original questions - 'Who is BRP actually written for?'

I suspect for people that write and run their own campaigns or people that want to dip between several short and dare I say more shallow campaigns from different genres.

It is for people who want to use the BRP rule-set with settings that don't currently have BRP rules tied to them. It's for people who want to run BRP Starwars, or BRP Jorune. It is also for people that want to run their own settings using BRP. It doesn't matter whether those settings are shallow and designed as one-shots or detailed and designed as long campaigns.

It's also for people who want to run existing BRP games but like to tinker with the rules - it presents a lot (not all) of the various rules from over the years into a single resource and allows you do try new things.

Basically, it's for the do-it-yourselfers of the world who happen to like the kind of rules that BRP offers.

Lot's of systems are eclipsed by the games they run. Spirit of the Century eclipses Fate. D&D3 eclipses D20. Swashbuckers of the Seven Skies eclispes PDQ#, and so on. I don't really see this as a criticism of those rules. In the past games like RQ, CoC, Stormbringer, etc. were not advertised as being run by BRP. Once you start seeing the BRP logo on more new books (like The Laundry), recognition for the system will increase.

As for the monograms - they have other uses than providing settings to play in: they also provide inspiration. I've bought several that I have no intention of running. I bought them because they have things I want to adopt into my own campaigns. I agree they don't replace books on the shelves, but I welcome the diversity they offer.

[soltakss]

Well, I have written more information on Medieval Europe for Merrie England. Ok, so it's not exactly Merrie Vatican, but it does include a lot of the states of Europe, including Ireland, Wales, Scotland, most of France and some of Iberia. Most areas are sketchily covered but allow adventurers to include Christendom in their adventuring.

The rationale behind this was that at the time of Merrie England, England was not an isolated state. A recent Pope was English. The Angevins ruled an empire stretching from the Pyrenees to Scotland. Knights and men at arms travelled to the Holy Land and back. All these areas are connected and should be viewed as one.

A future supplement will consist of campaigns set in these areas. I'm not sure when it will be, but I am aiming for a supplement with campaigns for Beneath the Greenwood Tree, Albigensian Crusade, Conquest of Ireland, Third Crusade and probably some kind of Templar campaign. Depending on the page count, each campaign might have 4 or 5 scenarios, so the supplement could have 20-25 scenarios. But, I need to talk to Paolo to see if there is a demand for this kind of thing. I might be persuaded to include the Vatican States, but at the start of Merrie England these were small and not very powerful, although they did flex their muscles at the end.

[soltakss]

Having just looked at RQ/BRP Alternate Earth supplements, it is surprising how many are now available.

If you look at the companies producing material for RQ/BRP (Chaosium, Mongoose, D101 Games, Alephtar Games, Cubicle 7) there's a lot of material out and a lot more coming out.

In fact, there's more coming out at the moment thanI can afford to buy.

That can only be a good thing.

[Rungard]

... and probably some kind of Templar campaign.

This would be sooo cool!

[Puck]

If you look at the companies producing material for RQ/BRP (Chaosium, Mongoose, D101 Games, Alephtar Games, Cubicle 7) there's a lot of material out and a lot more coming out.

It may be helpful to have a list somewhere on this site of all the different historical eras and regions that have been covered by BRP and its related games (as well as the related links). There is a lot a good stuff that does not get enough advertisement. This could help out not only people looking for setting material, but also publishers and writers.

Three settings that seem to me to be conspicuously absent are Heroic Greece, Ancient Mesopotamia, and Egypt.

[GianniVacca]

Ancient Mesopotamia, and Egypt.

Ancient Mesopotamia: http://www.basicrps.com/uruk/Uruk_V3.3.pdf (OK, it's in French)

Egypt: http://www.rill.it/?q=node/251 (OK, it's in Italian)

[Puck]

Ancient Mesopotamia: http://www.basicrps.com/uruk/Uruk_V3.3.pdf (OK, it's in French)

Egypt: http://www.rill.it/?q=node/251 (OK, it's in Italian)

These look very cool, but since I cannot read Italian or French I am out of luck.

I had no idea that these existed though. That is where it would be nice to have some sort of historical catalog of what is available.

[Agentorange]

These look very cool, but since I cannot read Italian or French I am out of luck.

I had no idea that these existed though. That is where it would be nice to have some sort of historical catalog of what is available.

I wonder if Chaosium could be persuaded to cross licence it and do a translation ( the egyptian one especially )

[GianniVacca]

I wonder if Chaosium could be persuaded to cross licence it and do a translation ( the egyptian one especially )

If I'm not mistaken, Paolo was in touch with the authors of Basic Egitto some time ago. Paolo?

[RosenMcStern]

I met Andrea Angiolino in person one week ago at a Convention. He is alive and kicking, and writes a lot of stuff for boardgamegeek. It could be feasible to re-publish Basic Egypt in English some day, but it is not a priority and I do not know (yet) what our BRP schedule will be in 2011.

[DamonJynx]

I'm one of the DIY crowd. My next campaign using BRP will be a Swords & Sorcery affair in a homebrew world with bits of CoC thrown in for good measure. The hard part is working out what, if any optional rules to use - thank God for chapter 10!

[Trifletraxor]

To just dip back to the original topic of this thread: "How do you think BRP is doing?"

I think it's doing great! Thanks to Alephtar Games and Cubicle 7, we have a steady supply of high-quality supplements, and the big fanbase produces monographs for a ton of different topics. Even if Chaosium did nothing, BRP is pretty much set.

SGL.

[Merak Gren]

To just dip back to the original topic of this thread: "How do you think BRP is doing?"

I think it's doing great! Thanks to Alephtar Games and Cubicle 7, we have a steady supply of high-quality supplements, and the big fanbase produces monographs for a ton of different topics. Even if Chaosium did nothing, BRP is pretty much set.

SGL.

Yes. I never imagined Alepter and Cubicle 7.

Just finished reading Jennifer Morgue and looking forward to a deadtree Laundry. Love this take on Cthulhu mythos.

[RosenMcStern]

Even if Chaosium did nothing, BRP is pretty much set.

What do you mean by "nothing"?

They kept the torch lit during the Long Night. This is not "nothing".

[Agentorange]

I think he means 'nothing more' ie the present or future tense

[Trifletraxor]

I think he means 'nothing more' ie the present or future tense

That was the intention yes, bit unclear.

SGL.