Create. Explore. Play. BRP’s Universal Game Engine is available royalty-free for personal and commercial use under the ORC license.

[MOB]

Create. Explore. Play.

 

 

BRP’s Universal Game Engine is available royalty-free for personal and commercial use under the Open RPG Creative license, aka ORC license.

 

Basic Roleplaying (BRP) is a system of core rules for tabletop roleplaying. Whether you’re a seasoned roleplaying veteran or new to the hobby, Basic Roleplaying has everything you need for years of entertainment.

 

https://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying-universal-game-engine-pdf *

 

Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine is the complete guide to BRP—the same system that powers Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, Pendragon, Rivers of London, and countless others.

 

BRP is adaptable to any world of your choosing—either previously established, or created from scratch. Use these rules royalty-free to create your worlds, scenarios and even books to sell!

 

 

*Buy now and get a coupon for the printed version later!

So you want to purchase the physical version, but really want to get your hands on so you don't have to wait. We have you covered! If you purchase a PDF we will send you a discount coupon just before the physical book goes on sale to offset the PDF purchase price you have already paid.

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by MOB

[PoppySeed45]

One question - does the company send physical books to Europe (specifically Hungary)? The only way I'd buy it now is if this would give that discount to the book, but the sending price wouldn't be ALSO ridiculous (meaning, it'd be better to wait for someplace in Europe to stock them and buy). Does that make sense? Basically, if I buy from Chaosium, is there a good chance I'll be able to get the book without paying an arm and a leg for shipping?

[Nick Brooke]

2 hours ago, PoppySeed45 said:

One question - does the company send physical books to Europe (specifically Hungary)? The only way I'd buy it now is if this would give that discount to the book, but the sending price wouldn't be ALSO ridiculous (meaning, it'd be better to wait for someplace in Europe to stock them and buy). Does that make sense? Basically, if I buy from Chaosium, is there a good chance I'll be able to get the book without paying an arm and a leg for shipping?

Yes. Chaosium has warehouses in the US, UK, Europe (Poland) and Australia, so once the books arrive and go on sale you’ll be able to order a copy shipped from Poland to Hungary at reasonable rates. And the Chaosium store will be selling physical books long before they’re in any FLGSs (distributors have to get them from our warehouses, just like customers who order direct from Chaosium).

[Jason D]

To echo what Nick said above, our printer and EU warehouse is in Poland. If you are in Hungary, you can order directly from us and it will automatically be shipped from Poland. 

 

[g33k]

On 4/7/2023 at 1:08 PM, Nick Brooke said:

... Chaosium has warehouses in the US, UK, Europe (Poland) and Australia ...

I know the Canadian place folded; hopefully Chaosium is looking for a new fulfillment-center  Up In The Frozen North ... ?

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by g33k

[Rick Meints]

15 hours ago, g33k said:

I know the Canadian place folded; hopefully Chaosium is looking for a new fulfillment-center  Up In The Frozen North ... ?

We are a few weeks away from having our new Canadian shipping partner ready to process orders.

[Nakana]

Perhaps this is premature as the ORC isn't finalized but my question: 

How compatible does a product have to be with BRP in order to be released under ORC and still use the "Powered by BRP" logo? 

For example, if I want to release a game and use the Major Wounds option as it is in BRP, but the rest of the game uses another underlying system released under ORC (say Pathfinder's d20 system) how would that work? 

Edited April 9, 2023 by Nakana

[g33k]

5 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

We are a few weeks away from having our new Canadian shipping partner ready to process orders.

That is awesome news, Rick!
TYVM, and congratulations to Chaosium!

[Stan Shinn]

2 hours ago, Nakana said:

Perhaps this is premature as the ORC isn't finalized but my question: 

How compatible does a product have to be with BRP in order to be released under ORC and still use the "Powered by BRP" logo? 

I have a similar question; working on a sword and sorcery game and was going to emulate some Call of Cthulhu 7e (such as the bonus die and Pulp Cthulhu style talents, all written with original rules text), but wondering at what point house rules make it "not BRP". I was thinking if I noted the key rules changes maybe it would be OK and be called compatible with BRP, so long as you can still generally mix and match stat blocks and subsystems from BRP.

[PoppySeed45]

On 4/7/2023 at 10:08 PM, Nick Brooke said:

Yes. Chaosium has warehouses in the US, UK, Europe (Poland) and Australia, so once the books arrive and go on sale you’ll be able to order a copy shipped from Poland to Hungary at reasonable rates. And the Chaosium store will be selling physical books long before they’re in any FLGSs (distributors have to get them from our warehouses, just like customers who order direct from Chaosium).

That's absolutely awesome! Looks like I just have to convince the wife to let me get a new book...

[MOB]

Salt and Serpent has set sail with Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying Universal Game Engine.

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Watch episode one here:

The following code can be used for 10% off store-wide on Chaosium.com, once per customer:

SALTSERPENT

[soltakss]

17 hours ago, Nakana said:

Perhaps this is premature as the ORC isn't finalized but my question: 

How compatible does a product have to be with BRP in order to be released under ORC and still use the "Powered by BRP" logo? 

I'd use common sense

If it uses D100 to roll skills then it looks like BRP, if it doesn't then it isn't BRP ORC.

Other things are more problematic. For example it doesn't matter whether you use Hit Locations or not, as they are optional. 

You can always write your own magic system and publish it under the BRP ORC, so that is probably fine. Using one from another game might be problematic, unless that is also ORC.

17 hours ago, Nakana said:

For example, if I want to release a game and use the Major Wounds option as it is in BRP, but the rest of the game uses another underlying system released under ORC (say Pathfinder's d20 system) how would that work? 

In that case, I would use the Pathfinder ORC logo and simply refer to the use of Major Wounds from the BRP ORC.

In the OGL, you could use elements from one OGL game in another, as long as you included the copyright section in the relevant section. I am not sure if the same applies to the ORC but I would be surprised if it didn't.

[DamonJynx]

A few questions before I spend my $$$...

Does this update include options for percentile based characteristics as per Call of Cthulhu 7E?

If not, would producing a game using said percentile characteristics (and hence half and fifth values) be OK provided the text describing them is NOT taken directly from CoC 7E?

[albesias]

CAR×5, difficult and special success IMO.

There's no problem for home use and DIY approach but for legal and business stuff better contact chaosium crew.

[peterb]

On 4/10/2023 at 1:05 PM, soltakss said:

In that case, I would use the Pathfinder ORC logo and simply refer to the use of Major Wounds from the BRP ORC.

In the OGL, you could use elements from one OGL game in another, as long as you included the copyright section in the relevant section. I am not sure if the same applies to the ORC but I would be surprised if it didn't.

The section III (Required Notice), paragraph b, point i of the ORC license states:

Quote

A statement based on reasonable, good-faith efforts that identifies each Licensor or creator of the ORC Content You Used and any others designated to receive attribution, including all upstream licensors of ORC Content upon which Your Adapted ORC Content is based or derived from, in any reasonable manner so requested by such parties. For the avoidance of doubt, both Licensor and all parties similarly credited under Licensor’s attribution notice should be included in Your attribution notice unless otherwise reasonably indicated by such parties

So. it works just as OGL did. With the addition that the user needs to state how they wants to be credited (point ii in the same paragraph).

[hix]

I don't get it, the lesson of the ogl debacle was that we don't need a license, why does this exist? my guess is that the B-team of publishers is trying to legitimize themselves.

[Ron Hale-Evans]

@hix That's not the lesson. Without a license, BRP would either be public domain (in which case, Chaosium would have trouble making money) or totally locked down (which we as players don't want). A license lets players use the text of the BRP (or whatever game) relatively freely while letting Chaosium retain some rights they consider important, such as their trademarks.

[g33k]

1 hour ago, hix said:

I don't get it, the lesson of the ogl debacle was that we don't need a license, why does this exist? my guess is that the B-team of publishers is trying to legitimize themselves.

That was not the lesson I took; nor most others that I know of.  If you don't have a licensing situation, new publishers risk running afoul of (c) laws.  The IP-owners *have* to be aggressive with respect to infringement, because they risk the loss of their (c)-protection status if they let things pass un-challenged.

On the upside for most everyone, I think:  the per-system ORC branding lets folks sell their RPG's with a recognizable "system logo" attached; if I see an "ORC BRP" logo on a book in my FLGS, that's automatically going to be one that I at least look at (which elevates it over 95% of the other titles).

The OG OGL saw a veritable flood of d20-compatible products.  Some of those were crap, of course; but the introduction of D&D3e/D20/OGL/SRD was a major growth-phase within the industry.

[hix]

30 minutes ago, g33k said:

new publishers risk running afoul of (c) laws

Only if you are directly copying text or using owned IPs. If you're making your own class and level d20 fantasy heartbreaker, you never needed the OGL. The OSR could have lived without it, because you can't copyright mechanics. If this is incorrect it's news to me.

1 hour ago, Ron Hale-Evans said:

 A license lets players use the text of the BRP

It does not do this at all. It lets you use the SRD at best, depending on the license. If ORC allows you to copy/paste text from BRP I would be very surprised.

[g33k]

18 minutes ago, hix said:

Only if you are directly copying text or using owned IPs. If you're making your own class and level d20 fantasy heartbreaker, you never needed the OGL. The OSR could have lived without it, because you can't copyright mechanics. If this is incorrect it's news to me.

It does not do this at all. It lets you use the SRD at best, depending on the license. If ORC allows you to copy/paste text from BRP I would be very surprised.

People from Chaosium have, IIRC, surprised you.

I'm pretty sure they have stated that the new BRP:UGE "ORC edition" (specifically the text; not the art/graphics/etc) may be treated as an SRD in all ways.

Edited April 12, 2023 by g33k

[hix]

20 minutes ago, g33k said:

People from Chaosium have, IIRC, surprised you.

I'm pretty sure they have stated that the new BRP:UGE "ORC edition" (specifically the text; not the art/graphics/etc) may be treated as an SRD in all ways.

That's pretty cool if true. I may be a cynical grognard, but i want to believe.

[Ron Hale-Evans]

From the copyright page of the new BRP:

With a very few exceptions (trademarked terms), the text of BASIC
ROLEPLAYING: UNIVERSAL GAME ENGINE is available for personal
and commercial use under the ORC license. The reproduction of artwork,
illustrations, graphic design, and trade dress from this book for the purposes of
personal or corporate profit, by photographic, optical, electronic, or other media
or methods of storage and retrieval, is prohibited.

[WisdomOfWombat]

Just a quick question: the character sheet for the new edition only lists powers on the second page. Is there any chance that we'll see official variants of the second page for magic or sorcery?

Edited April 12, 2023 by WisdomOfWombat

[g33k]

2 minutes ago, WisdomOfWombat said:

Just a quick question: the character sheet for the new edition only lists powers on the second page. Is there any chance that we'll see official variants of the second page for magic or sorcery?

Given the freedoms offered under the ORC license -- and that Chaosium has welcomed (or at least not discouraged) fan-created character-sheets since time immemorial -- I expect to see a *LOT* of variant sheets!

FWIW, "RuneQuest" has at least 3 "official" sheets available from Chaosium:

• the main one
• the very-pretty "Artisan" sheet (from the GM Screen Pack)
• the new folded "Folio" sheet from the boxed "Starter Set."

So it's far from impossible that Chaosium themselves will produce new sheets.
I don't plan to wait on Chaosium for that, though!

 

[Saki]

On the topic of Alternate character sheets, I'd love to see a variant with Hit-Location HP.