The age of the ORC begins: Chaosium to release a new edition of Basic Roleplaying in April using the Open RPG Creative License

[FlooWAP]

Hi, will I also get the coupon for the print version, when purchasing via drivethrurpg or only, when buying the pdf at the chaosium shop?

[Jason D]

1 hour ago, Travern said:

Quick question, @Jason D: The ORC License draft is marked "FEEDBACK REQUESTED", but there doesn't seem to be a method of submitting this (e-mail, webform, etc.).

How do people send in their comments/critiques/questions? Many thanks,

That's an ORC thing. I am not sure where that feedback goes. 

[leftwingpenguin]

Really excited about this new edition of BRP, and about the system now being released under the ORC license. Hoping this will result in a new outpouring of material for the system, which has always been one of my favorites. 

[Jason D]

1 hour ago, Nakana said:

First, fantastic job on a phenomenal product! I was afraid certain things might be stripped out, but it all looks to be there! 👏👏👏

Second, as to your quote and regarding adding stuff... might BRP Platinum (that's what I'm now calling this) get a secondary volume that BRP Gold teased about?

Thanks! 

The follow-up stuff was a relic of another time. When I first wrote BRP, the powers-that-were at Chaosium were very enthusiastic about doing a lot of support on the line. 

Life happened, and none of that stuff came about, and only a few items were published in support of BRP. 

I'm not even sure what the original plan for support was.

They asked me what I wanted to write and I said Interplanetary, a sword-and-planet adventure book. I got to work on that but life happened and it was never completed. 

[Jason D]

1 hour ago, Mark Mohrfield said:

One minor complaint; I do wish that the Healing ability from Elfquest had been added to Psychic Abilities given Player Characters penchant for getting themselves harmed.

Here you go! 

[Greg]

The Big Gold Book will always have a special spot in my heart. I didn't play RPGs for years but came back to the hobby just after it was released. There was the newness for me of the one-book toolbox format plus the nostalgia of the familiar rules I had played and loved. I would even go as far as to say that it is my favorite RPG book of all time (and I own hundreds).

Having said that, the new version is a very nice addition to the library, and, of course, subtracts nothing from owning the previous masterpiece. I immediately notice cleaner writing; a nicer layout; and beautiful, colorful, evocative artwork. I see there are a few new bits and bobs as well.

@Jason D - I did like the the "Effects" section in the BGB's skills descriptions. Any thoughts to offer as to why that was taken out? 

Kudos to all at Chaosium. You continue to turn out great products.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Greg

[jamiltron]

Great work! I've only been able to glance at it in-between work stuff, but I an loving what I am seeing. The art is fantastic and the text reads more clearly than I recall the original book being.

[Sam E.]

I haven't gone through thoroughly yet, but it looks like it has retained errata from the BGB (and per the nearby sticky thread).

[Nick Brooke]

41 minutes ago, FlooWAP said:

Hi, will I also get the coupon for the print version, when purchasing via drivethrurpg or only, when buying the pdf at the chaosium shop?

You only ever get a coupon when you buy the PDF direct from Chaosium’s website store. You never get a coupon when you buy the PDF from DriveThruRPG.

[Ian Absentia]

5 minutes ago, TheophilusCarter said:

I haven't gone through thoroughly yet, but it looks like it has retained errata from the BGB (and per the nearby sticky thread).

Retained errors?  Or incorporated errata?

!i!

[Travern]

47 minutes ago, Jason D said:

That's an ORC thing. I am not sure where that feedback goes. 

No worries - Paizo's blog just posted the official links to the draft ORC license and FAQ, along with an invite to the official ORC Discord for discussion of them: https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6si9y?First-Draft-of-the-ORC-License-Ready-for

[Richard S.]

Sorry if this has been asked before and I just missed it, but is there going to be a new BRP SRD as well?

[Sam E.]

46 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

Retained errors?  Or incorporated errata?

!i!

Ugh, sorry: not typing well today ...  Retained errors / not incorporated errata.

[Jason D]

1 hour ago, Greg said:

@Jason D - I did like the the "Effects" section in the BGB's skills descriptions. Any thoughts to offer as to why that was taken out? 

To me, they always seemed unduly crunchy.

One of the things I love about BRP as a system is that it's easy to intuit answers or results, so having to look up specific modifiers and exact numbers of people or square footage affected per skill quality result worked against that.

Those numbers also felt relatively arbitrary and didn't add a lot to gameplay, so they were an easy thing to trim. I'm a big fan of high-level guidelines rather than very specific exceptions.  

[albesias]

Ohhhh, Such a beautiful book!! I'm in love!! 

[Rick Meints]

2 hours ago, FlooWAP said:

Hi, will I also get the coupon for the print version, when purchasing via drivethrurpg or only, when buying the pdf at the chaosium shop?

You have to buy the PDF on Chaosium.com to get a discount coupon for buying the printed book on Chaosium.com.

The number one reason is because we have no access to DTRPG sales data for individual customers. 

Edited April 7, 2023 by Rick Meints

[Rick Meints]

53 minutes ago, Richard S. said:

Sorry if this has been asked before and I just missed it, but is there going to be a new BRP SRD as well?

No, we are no longer updating the BRP SRD. It is what it is. The new BRP book uses the ORC license. Use whichever you prefer. No need to tell us which you prefer/love/hate. Both are available.

[jamiltron]

Is there a good place to report errors? I noticed some lingering inconsistencies between CHA and APP in the text, especially in the character creation walk-through.

[Rick Meints]

1 minute ago, jamiltron said:

Is there a good place to report errors? I noticed some lingering inconsistencies between CHA and APP in the text, especially in the character creation walk-through.

Jason Durall will let it be known how he wants to capture such feedback and suggestions.

[MOB]

6 hours ago, Richard S. said:

Sorry if this has been asked before and I just missed it, but is there going to be a new BRP SRD as well?

The way the ORC license works, there is no need for an SRD. The entire text is in effect the SRD, so you can use the whole book - minus the product identity elements (all artwork, illustrations, and graphic design/trade dress, and all trademarks.)
 

Edited April 8, 2023 by MOB

[teo twawki]

4 hours ago, Jason D said:

That's an ORC thing. I am not sure where that feedback goes. 

Into the internet pneumatic tubes to the office of someone named Buttle. Or maybe Tuttle.

[Greg]

2 hours ago, Jason D said:

To me, they always seemed unduly crunchy.

One of the things I love about BRP as a system is that it's easy to intuit answers or results, so having to look up specific modifiers and exact numbers of people or square footage affected per skill quality result worked against that.

Those numbers also felt relatively arbitrary and didn't add a lot to gameplay, so they were an easy thing to trim. I'm a big fan of high-level guidelines rather than very specific exceptions.  

They do indeed add crunch. I use the “Effects” for helpful guidelines. I would offer that, if you are using five levels of fumble/failure/success/special/critical, you are already committed to crunch. 😜

[MOB]

3 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

Jason Durall will let it be known how he wants to capture such feedback and suggestions.

Please note any typos or errors here, quoting page number, the error, and the suggested correction. We will update the PDF. The book has not gone to print yet:

 

 

[pansophy]

9 hours ago, Stan Shinn said:

Is it just me (I'm reading the PDF on a Mac), or is the font in the tables nearly unreadable? This is an example of what it looks like for me, zoomed to 100%. Fonts that microscopic should use a sans serif font I would think.

If this doesn't get addresses, not sure I'd buy a hard copy since I couldn't read it without a magnifying glass and would need to zoom 200% on my iPad. 😕

I can confirm, after printing out the 'System' section as a test at 100%, the text in tables is rather unpleasant to read at the table. It is a tad too tiny and too condensed and opting for a different one would greatly improve the value of the product.

So far, the table text issue stopped me from printing further sections of the PDF as they would be unusable in real-life situations anyway (and I would need to break out a digital copy anyway).

But since this is a known issue and it seems to be rectified in a future update of the PDF, I do not stress too much about it. 😉

Anyway, this is excellent work - thanks to all the people who are involved!

Edited April 8, 2023 by pansophy
clarification

[groovyclam]

12 hours ago, pansophy said:

 the text in tables is rather unpleasant to read at the table. It is a tad too tiny and too condensed and opting for a different one would greatly improve the value of the product.

I second the criticism of the font used in tables - it's too condensed. Probably a hell of a lot of work to fix now though.

The rest of the book design looks nice though.