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

[Ravenheart87]

It would probably help if it was a sans serif font. I find them more readable for condensed fonts.

Edited April 11, 2023 by Ravenheart87

[Jason D]

We're looking into replacing the font. It's not a small task, but will be done. 

[Atgxtg]

52 minutes ago, Jason D said:

We're looking into replacing the font. It's not a small task, but will be done. 

Something from the Futura font family, such as Futura Light might be a good choice. It's clean, quite legible, has a bunch of variants that could be used for headers, titles and such, and appears to be affordable. 

 

[CussaMitre]

Quick question: the PDF sheets that are fillable don't seem to have all the calculations. What is the policy abou creating an mobile app to handle the sheets?

If there is no problem, I would be more than happy to create one!

[WisdomOfWombat]

The PC sheets seem to be geared towards Superpowers. Is there any plan to release PC sheets for the other power options like magic or sorcery?

[CussaMitre]

On 4/7/2023 at 10:19 PM, Rick Meints said:

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.

Question: here is an information saying that there will be no SRD.

However, in another post, there exactly the opposite information:

Will we get a free SRD that allows us to copy the text easier than the current PDF?

[g33k]

2 hours ago, CussaMitre said:

Question: here is an information saying that there will be no SRD.

However, in another post, there exactly the opposite information:

Will we get a free SRD that allows us to copy the text easier than the current PDF?

 

I am pretty sure the prior (short) BRP/OGL/SRD is not being withdrawn, but neither is it being updated; the new ORC-BRP-UGE is being offered alongside the older document.  Additionally, Chaosium offers various "BRP" games (such as Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Rivers of London, etc) none of which are OGL/ORC/SRD content.

So when you say "BRP" you may be talking about any of several distinct things... and not necessarily the same thing(s) that Chaosium was talking about.

Edited April 9, 2023 by g33k

[CussaMitre]

The topic the I quote us about the new BRP that was released Friday. 

[soltakss]

15 hours ago, CussaMitre said:

On 4/7/2023 at 10:19 PM, Rick Meints said:

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.

Question: here is an information saying that there will be no SRD.

This probably applies to the previous BRP SRD that had its own OGL.

15 hours ago, CussaMitre said:

However, in another post, there exactly the opposite information:

Will we get a free SRD that allows us to copy the text easier than the current PDF?

This applies to the new BRP ORC PDF and the soon to be accompanying SRD.

 

[g33k]

14 hours ago, CussaMitre said:

The topic the I quote us about the new BRP that was released Friday. 

You were comparing two different items; the one you quoted, vs  @Rick Meints "SRD" comment.  What Rick specifically said (reformatted for emphasis):

Quote

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.

That is, he is distinguishing between two different items:

 * The older "BRP SRD" document (which can be found here: https://www.chaosium.com/brp-system-reference-document/, but is a VERY minimal game (with a VERY different license), and (as stated) is"no longer being updated")

 =vs=

 * The new ORC-licensed "BRP UGE" book (which is actively being error-trapped and revised even as we speaktype), as found here:  https://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying-universal-game-engine-pdf/

Note that there is not yet an "SRD" release of this latest volume -- it's a retail $$$ product.  Once the ORC license is finalized, and the error-trapping on the new volume is complete (with associated corrections to the volume) we're told to expect both a printed physical copy, and a no-art / no-layout / text-only "SRD" treatment of these rules.

Edited April 10, 2023 by g33k
(citation correction)

[CussaMitre]

I think that we are still talking about the same thing, but with different words and approach. Your latest paragraph says:

4 hours ago, g33k said:

Note that there is not yet an "SRD" release of this latest volume -- it's a retail $$$ product.  Once the ORC license is finalized, and the error-trapping on the new volume is complete (with associated corrections to the volume) we're told to expect both a printed physical copy, and a no-art / no-layout / text-only "SRD" treatment of these rules.

You said that after the ORC license and error typing is fixed, we can expect a no-art / no-layout / text-only "SRD" version of the latest volume of the BRP. I bought it and I want to use it for a game. But copying the text from the PDF is not so "trivial", as it takes part of the style.

And my question is exactly because of @Rick Meints quote:

Quote

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.

Maybe the problem is that when we say BRP SRD, we are thinking about the published SRD that is available for the BRP.

While what I want to know is if and when we will have the text-only version of the BRP that was released last friday.

(Maybe we should start to call this some other name to avoid confusions? 🤔)

[soltakss]

1 hour ago, CussaMitre said:

(Maybe we should start to call this some other name to avoid confusions? 🤔)

BRP OGL SRD or BRP ORC SRD?

You are confusing the two and mean the BRP ORC SRD rather than the previous BRP OGL SRD.

[g33k]

4 hours ago, CussaMitre said:

...

(Maybe we should start to call this some other name to avoid confusions? 🤔)

"BRP"

Context matters ... 

It could mean the old 16-page booklet, included in various box-sets in years past.  That is AFAIK the original usage/meaning.

It might mean the "BGB" rulebook.

It may refer to any instance of the RPG's fueled by BRP engines -- RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, Magic World, Nephilim, Rivers of London, etc etc etc.

It might mean the "BRP SRD" document (released in March of 2020).

It could mean the ORC-License "BRP-UGE" (just released by Chaosium last week).
 

It could mean, collectively, any/all of Chaosium's BRP-engined games released since 1978 (including such exceptional-case variants as Pendragon); or even the broader/fannish meaning of the various other games (such as OpenQuest, RD100, Odd Soot, etc) based-upon or derived-from various other games that once carried the hallowed name of "RuneQuest" ... often called "the BRP family" of games.

And I may be forgetting one or more other uses... 🤪

[Jens]

One additional wrinkle- while SRDs were required for the OGL, they are explicitly NOT needed for ORC (see the bottom of page 2 of the ORC explanation doc). This means Chaosium does not need to publish a separate text only version of the new book/rules to release it under ORC- the license notice at the beginning is enough. It would certainly be convenient if they did, but if not any of us in the community can put such a document together, as long as that document also contains the ORC notice and the correct attribution (and respects/excludes the named Product Identity elements). 

Of course IANAL, don’t take that as legal advice, and the license is still subject to change. 

[Baphomet69]

On 3/24/2023 at 7:11 AM, CussaMitre said:

That's exactly what I am trying to understand. Based on the announcement, it gives the impression that this version will be available as a SRD for the BRP.

So in the ORC license, the items designated under ‘Product Identity’ are the elements that CAN’T be used? Just want to make sure.

Edited April 11, 2023 by Baphomet69

[MOB]

On 4/11/2023 at 11:35 AM, Baphomet69 said:

So in the ORC license, the items designated under ‘Product Identity’ are the elements that CAN’T be used? Just want to make sure.

Yes

[g33k]

@MOB:
over in the (temporarily locked) Corrections-Thread, you wrote:

Quote

Later this week an updated PDF incorporating all changes will be made available to everyone who has purchased the book.

I presume (please correct me if I'm wrong) that this will also become the version for-sale via Chaosium.com, DTRPG, and wherever else you may be selling it?

Also:  there are widespread reports that long-known BGB typo's & similar errata (as compiled on the fan-assembled "Unofficial Errata" sheet) have propagated onto the new edition.  Seems like a substantial oversight on Chaosium's part !

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by g33k

[trechriron]

On 4/11/2023 at 1:06 AM, Jens said:

One additional wrinkle- while SRDs were required for the OGL...

That's not entirely accurate. SRDs were made as a convenience, but they were never required. In many cases, publishers made them to help define exactly what was open content. "Everything not in the SRD is Product Identity." It reduces a lot of questions about what is allowed or not.

[MOB]

7 hours ago, g33k said:

I presume (please correct me if I'm wrong) that this will also become the version for-sale via Chaosium.com, DTRPG, and wherever else you may be selling it?

Yes